It's in the Bag!

An extraordinary amount of rain has permitted an extraordinary amount of time in the sewing room this spring.  Normally, the Call of the Garden would be indulging my senses and working the bod and the Sewing Room would be gathering cobwebs.  Not so this year.

But how delightful to be able to work on such lively and spring filled fabrics (mostly Amy Butler) while the rain replenishes the scorched soil of last summer...

New babies always bring out a particular creative side of me.  I want to welcome each one well and affirm the new mama; letting her know that what she is about to do is the most important thing in this world.....

I want her to know that the community of mamas support her in her endeavor to deliver and nurture her and her wee one and understanding ears are only a click, call or drive away....

I love to be involved in the preparation of the advent of the new life into each family....

If even on the most practical level, it does my heart good to know that a reminder of my support is being carried around on the new mamas (and papas) shoulder....

And in serving the practical needs, embellishing the mundane is right up my alley.  Gone are the days of plasticky diaper bags with insipid pink and blue animals frolicking across the front.  Gone are the standard issue bags that served mostly to embarrass the wearer.

No, diaper bags are a statement now.  They are an accessory of the  most important kind, revealing the individual style of each of the most important wearers.  The diaper bag, for the first few years, is the security blanket for most new moms, carrying inside, all that makes having a very portable baby realistickly feasible!

And if you can have fun with the mundane, you can have fun with anything!!

Thank you again, Anna Maria Horner and Amy Butler and many others, for publishing wonderful New Mama books to add some very fashionable wearability to a new mama's life...

And I get to be a part of the process!  Love it!

Boot(ie) Weather

In a scene repeated for the third time in two weeks, we once again embrace our Winterly Tools and fight the Gifts of Nature.
Hubby and I watched this amount start yesterday on our way home from Bloomington. Little did we know that when we said, in unison, Here it comes!, did we ever figure on 12 inches.
So.
It's here and once again I do what comes naturally...
OFF TO THE SEWING ROOM!
One more snowfall brings us closer to spring, Spring brings us closer to gardening and gardening makes me abandon the inside of my house for another few months until the heat of summer forces me indoors for respites.
Much sewing to accomplish and an Etsy shop to still start and more work on the book.
So snow on. (please forgive my selfishness)

Today's project:
Amy Butler's Cutie Booties.
Like most of Beloved Amy's patterns, I strongly desired more sketches for my poor non technical brain. But tis good practice for me to stretch it a bit every now and then.
Pretty, bright fabrics from Randi at Fresh Squeezed Fabrics made me forget the howling and blowing of snow off my roof outside my sewing room window. Brrrrrr.

Don't you love fun linings?

And here are the completed little Cutie Booties!
Adorable, huh?
(The second one was harder to do than the first. What?! Told you about that left brain situation I have)
Sunny, bright, fun addition to my growing inventory for the childbirth conference.

Unless I can be convinced otherwise.......

Reporting In...*sigh*

Back in Mitchell.
Thrilled to see Hubby and Youngest Son.
And Dixie.
Having a dog greet you after an absence is a fun thing. Like her oxygen was just delivered.
Love to be back in my home with all it's absurdity.
But........
Oh my. What I left..
The picture below shows the simplicity of my week.
A little girl and her family, learning each day new things, about each other and about how a ten month old sees the world.
Each day, new things that we take for granted but a baby sees as fresh and exciting.
A shot in the arm for those of jaded years.
Then to have the joy of meeting several new lives, well, I do believe I have reduced my accumulation of years by many, many months!
Refreshing.

Hubby and I traveled to Cincinnati following some snow and awoke to more on the Sunday there...
No matter. Warm and cozy and relaxing watching The Grandaughter remember Grammy and Poppy...

Nothing like Vivien to inspire some creativity...Shouldn't we make CoryAnne, the new dolly that I brought her, a dolly of her own? Thanks to Kris for the fun material!

And shouldn't we go to the Thrift Store that Becca told us about, on Monday where everything is 25 percent off? Shouldn't we buy all the old school toys for Vivien's future endeavors? Shouldn't we buy 31 items for 34 dollars? Shouldn't we have a riot doing so?
Yes, we should.

Pretty sure I should measure the summer outfit for The Girlie on her...Pretty sure she will love the Owlie Material purchased with Aunty Baby Girl on her last visit...

A trip to Joanne Fabrics is a must on each visit.
1. It's close by.
2. It's brand new.
3. The staff loves Vivien.
4. All Christmas Decor was 90 percent off.
What?!
Yep.
And not your typical cast off crumbs. No siree. Top notch stuff. See the cart. Full to the brim.
A Debbie Mumm snowman (see him in the cart?), 100.00 for 10.00 for Miss Vivien's second Christmas next year.
Oh we had fun there. A book on crocheting food for Eldest/Admin. A wonderful book on sewing for babies/toddlers for Newly Adopted Daughter Kris.
And we had 40 percent off coupons too.
Uh huh.
Score.

Miss Viv hates food.
Yep.
Coming from a family that thinks, acts, breathes based on our next meal, our Little Miss is quite skeptical of this thing called solid food.
Despite Grammy's best effort to make it appealing and fun, she nixed the whole idea.
Her mama has a nifty little Foodifier that sneaks banana (but not carrots; she was on to mama by then) into her cynical little mouth.
Under the table is another story.
Like a teenager smoking behind the garage, our Little Character found big fun in snarfing the crumbs left behind the last foodathon by her Big People and her little buddy, Will.
Hysterical.

So not all our Thrift shop scores worked out.
Vivie's Papa had some shirts that didn't work out.
So is that a bust? Oh no, she says. Let us repurpose. Let us make two stocking hats and a pair of pants for some little person, ala Made by Rae's last summer post.
Good, good idea. And both Will and Viv looked adorable....for three seconds..(did I mention that Vivien dislikes head coverings almost as much as food?)

Wednesday is La Leche meeting day.
Got to meet an amazing assortment of loving mamas. Young women bent on giving their little one's a good start in this crazy world. Loved meeting all of Eldest/Admin's lovely friends....
Knew about them from Eldest/Admin but getting to meet them and their little ones, was quite a treat.
And Vivien thought that all these ladies and their progeny, were meeting for her! Miss Social visited her friends and willingly gave a smile to those not so well known.
She even played a rousing game of Peek Through the Little Blue Chair with two adorable boy type friends.
She giggled and smiled and played like quite the girly girl.
Loved it.

After La Leche, it was only fitting that we go to First Watch and involve ourselves in some serious breakfast/lunchy type good good food.
With two babies that were nap deprived, this was going to be good.
But thanks to pretty quick service, good mothering on Eldest/Admin and Newly Adopted Daughter, things went well....
Fun times.
Sleep Deprived Vivien proved the trooper she is by embarking on a TJ Maxx extravaganza after First Watch.
Grammy hit some great deals and Miss Viv kept her sweet self highly amused with a bright yellow package of cocktail napkins.
Shouldn't she have some new books for such good behavior?
Of course...

Poppy thought that our growing girl needed some new jammies. Ones with doggies on them would be novel; a break from the pinks that most baby girl's get inundated with...(even though her papa did request, early on, that we tone down on the pink...His favorite: Crazy Dee's green and brown polka dots....)
I loved my play time with the Quick Witted Little Lovely....
Here we were playing whilst mama grabbed some extra zzzz after a bumpy, pre walking night....
Gladly. Two hours of heaven; playing, laughing, learning and Viv instigated cuddling session...Is it really Thursday and I have to leave her????

Ah.
So here we are at the half way point, North Vernon Indiana.
Lunch with Unca Jordan while Grammy tries to figure out how to pack her in the car quickly....
Alas, I know her mama would chase us down the highway without benefit of car if she had to, she's that good of a mommy.....
So we get in our last hugs and smoochies and say till next time(month)
Don't forget me Vivie....We have more fun to make.....

Christmas Project!

Don't you think Vivien needs a Christmas Stocking?
One that can follow her through the years?
One that reminds her of her first encounter with design through her curtains, quilt, diaper bag, burp cloths and all the other little projects that those scraps came up with?

So we grab our scissors and eke out the tiny bits of Amy Butler et al, that remains of the First Year Projects.
Squares, approximately 3 1/2 inches, are cut.

Ten squares are made and placed into a configuration like this:

A handy little fabric marker was used to draw a stocking shape from the squarish one made with the little squares...
Fortunately, since the time I was young, I have always cut out, freehand, letters from construction paper. I guess I wasn't patient enough for stencils. Didn't even use a pencil. Just grabbed my scissors and had at it.
Not saying it is perfect, or even good; it's just how I do it.....

To apply the letters, I used Stitch Witchery first then used a simple blanket stitch for embellishment..( I love Stitch Witchery!)

Got into my stash to fill in when I ran out of Amy...
I pressed on some fusible fleece to the wrong side of each sockie..
(Here, you could place a backing and quilt the squares for an added touch..

I made a lining out of gingham, extra long at the cuff so that I could fold it out.
I placed the lining into the stocking, wrong sides together.
Folding the cuff down and adding a contrasting color, a real Christmas Stocking forms..
Cut a smallish piece, about 3 1/2 inches by 1 1/2 inches; sew right sides together, leaving ends open
Turn and place on heel seam at the top on the cuff.
Sew the hanger onto the cuff.
And here it is...
Ready to head off to the fireplace of a little girl in Mason Ohio!!!
(you hear me, Santa??)