Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I am thankful for my loving husband and my precious children, there are just no words to describe it.....I am so blessed.

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Molly is thankful for "our new baby chicks" (that we are raising in the house until they get their feathers).

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Tim is thankful for his truck (that is broken).

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Madeline is thankful for "My baby doll" (her new Mae doll).

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We are also excited and thankful that Ben is able to be home this Thanksgiving! It's just not the same without Daddy ya know. There are lots of other firefighters and public servants that will be away from their families today and I want to say a BIG thank you to them! Especially our cousins Jared and Shondu who will be missed today at dinner, and the guys at Gardendale Fire Joe, Allen, Nate, Chuck, and Jason. We love you all and really appreciate your service today!! THANK YOU!!!

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The song is Maddies favorite.

Meet the newest member of our family......

Dorothy! Isn't she lovely! When I saw my cousin Amy's pink Kitchen Aid last Christmas I was instantly in love! I have wanted one ever since but they are just so expensive.....A few days ago Ben came in the side door through the kitchen (he never does that) and I caught a glimpse of a box and then I heard him sit something heavy on the table. I whipped around to look and it was her!!! My very own pink Kitchen Aid! She's finally mine! Molly and I decided her name should be Dorothy. I can't wait to really put her to work, we have only made cookies and a cake so far. I bought the ingredients last night to make a few deserts for Thanksgiving and I can't wait to start!

It feels like she has always been here now. When I walk through the kitchen and see her sitting there it just makes me smile. She's home.

The Handmade Birthday

I have been gearing up all week long for my girls birthday party Saturday night. All sorts of handmade goodies have been on my mind! On my list is: Sleeping bags for their Olive dolls, tiny Mae dolls, diaper bags, birthday dresses, and a birthday banner. Well the week has not gone as planned, as usual. Wednesday night my baby spiked a temp (around 103-HOT) at church and she was still running a fever this morning when she woke up. It's probably another virus because everyone has been sick lately. The really sad part is that we had to cancel their party. They were a little disappointed but we hope to have the party one night next week before Thanksgiving. With all of this going on I didn't get as much done as I wanted to, but I have finished their Mae dolls and a little extra friend I didn't plan on making. I made Maddie a Professor Paws yesterday after I realised that she was so desperate for a kitty that she had taken to carrying around this disgusting old brass cat - that for some reason, no matter how hard I try, I can not get rid of! I have thrown that ugly brass cat away at least five times and somehow he is always rescued! He came to my home in a bag of junk that I drug home from my Aunts house and now he is determined to stay! Ugh! - Back to ole Professor Paws, Maddie LOVES him! She carried him around all day after I finished him. I think I will try to throw the brass cat away again today.

The girls are really taken with their Mae dolls too. I let them play with the dolls a little after I finished them up to make sure that was exactly what they wanted and believe me they passed the test! You see Molly had a "little sister" for her Olive doll in mind. I got my Mae pattern a few weeks ago, and the girls really liked the pictures of her, but Molly didn't feel like she would be small enough to be a little sister. Well, I solved that problem. I just printed the pattern out at 75% of the actual size and it made the sweetest little doll! She is so tiny! The girls say she is the perfect size to fit carry around.

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I better go get a nap while Maddie is asleep! I will be back soon with more handmade birthday goodness! If you are interested in the Mae doll you can get a Mae doll or pattern HERE, and Professor Paws and Olive can be found HERE.

Praying for Alyssa and Autum.....

My heart is so heavy today. This was the message I found on her blog yesterday:

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"On Friday we learned that Olivia's heart was no longer beating. We had to wait nearly 36 hours for a hospital bed to become available for Alyssa to deliver her. Early Sunday morning Olivia's body came into this world, her spirit already with the Lord."

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Please keep them in your prayers.

It's been so long!

At least it feels like it! I have had sick kids. Molly, Madeline, and I had a virus and Tim had an abscess in his front tooth. Yeah, remember this? It has come back to haunt us, but luckily the antibiotic has gotten rid of most of the infection after only a few days so the dentist decided not to pull the tooth. Score!

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We are all feeling much better now and I am ready to get my little used book giveaway going. Molly chose for me. We did the ole 'think of a number between 1 and 31' and she chose 10, Tiny House.

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The picture above is of a couple of dolls the girls and I made using Emily's pattern HERE for some friends at the nursing home a couple of weeks ago. They LOVED the dolls. We went at a good time too because we were able to do crafts with the residents! I don't know who had more fun, the children or the elderly women! I'm trying to come up with something to make for this weeks visit, but I am coming up short. There is just not many things that they can have there, ya know. Hopefully I will think of something by Friday. We normally don't take anything unless it's Christmas but my sweet friend Ms.Godwin has had such a hard time lately. We promised to bring her a craft every time to cheer her up and to give her something to look forward to. She seemed to perk up after that so I don't want to disappoint her.

Here I am babbling when I need to be in bed! Saturday night I'm having my girls a Birthday party and I still have soooo many things to sew and clean before then. The count down has started!

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PS. I have added more pictures of the long sleeved Miss Madelines to the last post!

Miss Madeline with LONG sleeves

I have had several request for this since it has been getting colder, so yesterday I put together a little tutorial for making the pattern with long sleeves (any size). This tutorial would probably work for your other patterns too, as long as it's a gathered sleeve. Just click HERE to get the free PDF. You will have to scroll to the bottom of the page to find it, and as usual you are welcome to any or all of the other freebies on that page. If anyone has pictures of their long sleeved Miss Madelines that you wouldn't mind sharing I would love to post one so everyone could get an idea of what it looks like. Thanks!

Tanya was so sweet to offer her pictures of her long sleeved Miss Madeline so that you could get an idea of how it would look. She used the Miss Madeline pattern to make a sweet little top. All ya have to do is shorten the pattern and omit (if you desire) the waistband. She also added some sweet little pockets to hers too. She said that the picture on top has more fitted sleeves and the picture below has a little more puff (directions for both styles are in the tutorial). Thank you Tanya!

Someone else has also offered pictures that I will post as soon as I get them!

View B

I have looked at way too many 50's readers in the last couple of weeks! LOL! Here, my friends, is View B. I added a little circular collar and I think I'm in love. When Maddie was wearing it today for our little photo shoot (with her double strap brown leather shoes- perfect!) I really felt like she could be in one of those readers. I'm just trying to ignore the fact that the play house she was standing in front of has a big muddy smear behind her head and is in need of a good paint job. I think I will work on that later on today.

I feel like I am off to a pretty good start with this design. I think there is something for everyone. The more trendy folks can leave off the collar and do it up in hot pink and black and have a cute and sassy dress. The more vintage gals, like myself, can choose the more retro fabrics and use both designs (we have already seen that). And for the in-betweeners or more classic gals, I think this dress would look pretty snazzy in gold silk dupioni with a red sash for Christmas.

But now it's your turn. It is 'speak now or forever hold your peace' time. You, the people who buy my patterns, can tell me what you want. You like view B or no? The floor is open friends....have at it. I will be answering all questions and joining in the discussion in the comment section of this post.

PS. (About the last post.) Since I had more than a couple of people that wanted my extra copy of "Stepping Heavenward" I will leave the comments open for a couple more days and then I will draw a name. I can't pick! LOL! Edited To Add: Jessica said that she really needed a Peter Pan collar. Well this is not exactly a Peter Pan but it is Peter Pan-ish. Since the neckline is gathered (by the way that saves us from buttonholes and plackets which makes this dress very beginner friendly) a traditional Peter Pan collar was not really an option, but it did get me thinking. A while later it hit me that I could just make a gathered Peter Pan, it's not exactly the same but it gives the same feel. To get an idea of how it would look I gathered up the collar on this dress in the center and added a little button.

And I should mention that the tights were what she was already wearing with her purple polka dot tutu when I decided to take these pictures, nice, I know. That's what I get I guess, I finally cleaned the mud smear off of the playhouse so I can have more decent pictures and now the tights. I think I give up. I think I kind-of like it anyways LOL! While I'm telling secrets I should also say that the sash is pulling funny because it is still just saftey pinned on, lazy pattern-maker-woman! Now after all that blubbering, could you tellme if you would like two collar options? Thanks :)

On my heart....

"Yes, I am in earnest. I want to see little children adorning every home as flowers adorn every meadow and every wayside. I want to see them welcomed to the homes they enter, to see their parents grow less and less selfish and more and more loving because they have come. I want to see God's precious gifts accepted, not frowned upon and refused."

This is just one little paragraph from one of my favorite books "Stepping Heavenward" by Mrs. Elizabeth Prentiss. This one paragraph has had me reflecting for days. Reflecting on my own life as the mother of five "flowers". I am sure, at first glance, that nobody would ever accuse me of not living this way....but when I look into my own heart I am convicted of not opening my heart completely. There are days when I let circumstances control my attitude toward my children. Seeing this, others would probably say "Well everybody has bad days". But is that good enough? Is it good enough to live that way and write the bad days off as just normal? Is normal what we are called to be? I want to be able to believe in these beautiful words when nobody has their shoes on and church starts in 30 minutes, or when I have not had a break in days and I just want to take a bath by myself. I want my children to be able to see a loving attitude when we are in those situations, not just when everything is going my way, because isn't that ugly attitude making them feel "frowned upon and refused"? And if I am not growing "more and more loving" I am probably not growing "less and less selfish"either. I know this will be a life-long project, I will not be able to conquer this next week, but it will be something to strive for and to be aware of on this journey Heavenward.

The book "Stepping Heavenward" is Elizabeth Prentiss' journal that she started when she turned 16 on January 15, 1831. She wrote of her walk with God and and her struggles through to motherhood. It is a beautiful testimony to her life of Godly womanhood. I love this book so much that I have finally purchased it in hard back which leaves me with an extra. I would love to give my extra copy to another woman who could learn from her beautiful walk with God. If you would like it just let me know and I will pass it on.

Edited to add: I have been told that that this story isn't true, but loosely based on the author's aunt. Just thught I would let you know too. :)

New Pattern Coming Spring 2009

Here's my little secret, my newest pattern. I still have some work to do but I am loving the design of this sweet little dress. It has a "Dick and Jane" feel to it, but with a modern twist. I have had a lot of fun with this pattern so far. I'm not sure about sizing yet, I thought about having 6 months up to a size 10, but I am wondering if 10 is too big.... Would people want this dress in a size 10? I know there is a serious lack of "big girl patterns" out there, but I'm not sure if a 10 yr old would wear this style. While I work out these little details I will keep you all updated. If you have any suggestions now is the time to speak up! I hope you all like this one!

xoxo,

Samantha

Before and After

Before After

I will have lots more pictures later, along with some very sweet stories of our week together, but for now I will leave you with this. I have a lot to catch up on around here so I better get to work!