Archives for September 2011

Sep

Girls Appliqued Shirts: GO! Baby Fabric Cutter

This past week the girls and I decided it would be fun to make some appliqued shirts using my new toy the GO! Baby Fabric Cutter. I recently got this great new machine and I think I might be in love. I’ve done my fair share of applique, but the idea of cutting all the shapes out always seemed to un-motivate me to do very much.

The GO! Baby Fabric Cutter is a machine that can be used for quilting or applique and is made by AccuQuilt. Basically, you purchase dies of all different shapes, run them through the machine and it cuts them out perfectly every time. I have three dies to go with my machine right now, but there are tons to choose from – I have the little critters, birds, and flowers.

My girls and I picked out some scraps of fabric from my stash that we thought would be fun on some little t-shirts that I picked up at Walmart. I added a light-weight fusible interfacing to the back of each fabric scrap and away we went.

The machine is not operated by anything but a hand crank on the side. I would lay the fabric on top of the different dies and the girls would turn the crank to cut the fabric through the machine. They thought this was so fun to actually get to help mommy with a sewing project. Mind you, my girls are only 2 years old and 3 and a half and they had absolutely no probably turning the hand crank. You definitely wouldn’t want to leave little ones alone with the machine, but it was great with grown up supervision. I asked each of them what shapes they wanted on their shirts and we cut everything out accordingly.

Once all the shapes were cut, I removed the paper backing from the interfacing from each of the different shapes. Then we laid out the different pieces on each shirt. The next part was all up to me, but by then the girls had lost interest, so it work out just right that way. I ironed the appliques onto each shirt and then did a combination of machine stitching and hand embroidery on each on of the shapes.

I love how these shirts turned out and I think the girls love them even more! It’s not very often that I get to work on sewing projects with my little ladies, since they are so young, so this was pure joy for me (and them, I hope)!

The GO! Baby Fabric Cutter is the smaller of the two machines offered by AccuQuilt. They sell a larger version that can accommodate bigger dies, but for my purposes, the GO! Baby is just right.

Right now AccuQuilt is offering 22 FREE patterns when you sign up for their email newsletter! All you have to do is submit your email. Click HERE to sign up and download your free patterns!!

Sep

Sew Magazine: Blog of the Month

Several months ago I was contacted by a UK sewing magazine, called “Sew Magazine” and asked if they could feature my blog as the “Blog of the Month”. I couldn’t believe it…….really? Little ole me? Well, it was true! They said they like to feature an inspirational sewing blog each month and they had chosen my blog for the September 2011 issue. Wow! To say I was flattered would be the biggest understatement of the year!

Last week I was sent my copy of the magazine. To be honest, I’ve never purchased this magazine before, but I think I may have to going forward. Not just because they were so sweet to include me, but because it is a truly beautiful sewing magazine. It came packaged nicely in plastic and each copy of the magazine includes a monthly sewing pattern. This months pattern is a knit dress with a really fun, funky jacket. There is a whole section of the magazine dedicated to sewing with this pattern that includes ideas, inspiration, and helpful hints.

When I flipped to the “Table of Contents”, I couldn’t believe my eyes – is that my little girls bedroom? Sure enough, pictured under “Sew Living”, is Savannah and Matilda’s Shared Toddler Bedroom. Pretty cool.

And then flip to page 50 and there I am. I had no idea they would be including MY picture in the magazine, but there I was with little Miss Matilda. They wrote a nice feature about the blog and how I got started in blogging.

I seriously pinch myself every time I have something featured in a print publication. There is just something so, so gratifying about seeing your name or business in printed form. It’s definitely something you can hold and keep forever. Like I said above, I am beyond flattered to have been chosen as Sew Magazine’s “Blog of the Month”.

You can click HERE to check out Sew Magazine’s website and you should be able to find the magazine where a large selection of crafting and sewing publications are sold (such as Barnes and Noble). The magazine is loaded with information and has free patterns, templates and projects throughout. I would definitely say their target audience is a bit younger, but I think everyone could find some great information in this publication.

Thanks for letting me share these exciting moments with you all. When I started this blog almost 2 years ago, I had no idea these are the types of opportunities that would come my way.

I feel blessed, very blessed!

Sep

Our Sweet Baby Boy: Caspian Finn Wilkes

Our sweet baby boy has arrived! Caspian Finn Wilkes was born on August 31, 2011 at 12:10 AM weighing 7 lbs. 2 oz and 19.5″ long. And he is perfect!

I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better delivery – no c-section – I got to do my VBAC!! I guess it’s true, 3rd time’s a charm!

Labor and Delivery Story:

So here’s how things went…….I started having a dull backache in the morning of August 30th, but wasn’t quite sure if it was anything. It was a constant uncomfortable feeling, but since I was induced with my other two, I didn’t know what to expect. August 30th was Savannah’s first day of preschool and I was bound and determined not to miss this milestone for my oldest baby girl. The first day was just an hour long introduction where the parents stayed with the kids. So we were there for an hour and then headed home.

I had asked Brett to work from home that day so that he could stay with Matilda during school and I also had a feeling something was going on. So after school, I dropped off Savannah with Brett and headed to my Dr.’s office where I already had my weekly appointment scheduled. I told the nurses and Dr. that I just felt very uncomfortable and had a constant dull pain in my lower back. The Dr. checked me and I was 3cm dilated and 100% effaced. So he sent me over to the birth center to find out if I was contracting. Luckily my Dr.’s office is on the grounds of the hospital.

The nurses in the birth center hooked me up to the monitors for about an hour and sure enough I was having contractions. They weren’t consistent, ranging between 3 to 7 minutes apart, but when the Dr. checked me again, I was at 4cm. So he decided to break my water and off we went to try for a VBAC.

I called Brett and told him to head over to the hospital. He arranged to have his parents come over to stay with the girls (thankfully they only live 10 minutes away). To be honest, I didn’t even have a bag packed. I had some things set aside, but I was pretty sure I wouldn’t go into labor early – shows what I know, right? So Brett got my things together and came on over to the birth center.

It took quite sometime for me to get to 10cm, but once I was there everything happened really quickly. Baby was Posterior (positioned to come out face up instead of face down). When I heard this, I was kind of disappointed because Savannah was in the same position and the labor was incredibly intense and I had to push for three hours. Luckily, I had a wonderful labor and delivery nurse who had me push in all different positions and we were able to get him turned around into the right position before he came out – yippee!!

Once baby Caspian, “Cass”, had come down into the right position, it was a matter of minutes before he entered the world. He came out and immediately started crying and so did my husband and I. Brett got to cut the cord (which we’ve never gotten to do before) and things were just perfect from there.

Cass never had to leave our side. He nursed right away like a little champ for about 45 minutes and then they gave him his first bath right there in the room. It was beautiful, just how I had always envisioned labor and delivery to be.

We stayed in the hospital for about a day and a half and then headed home. And that’s where we are now……..getting adjusted to our new family of five.

The girls came to meet their new baby brother and were both immediately in love. My biggest challenge is going to be making sure they don’t love on him too much. Miss Matilda doesn’t quite know her own strength, so we’ll have to make sure he’s well protected, but I’d rather too much love than any other feelings that could have come about.

Brett has been great – he really is everything I could ever ask for in a father and husband. He’s been doing all the laundry, keeping up with the girls, changing Cass’s diapers, making meals, doing dishes. I’ll be pretty sad when he has to go back to work, but luckily my mom, “Grandma Jane”, is flying in from Texas next Saturday to stay for a week.

We are SO thrilled to have this new, sweet little guy as part of our family. I look at him sometimes, and can hardly believe he’s mine. His sweet little head, his cute little ears, his funny expressions, his tiny toes and fingers……….they are all so perfect.

So, I will be taking some time to enjoy this little guy and get into some sort of routine with now having three children under age 4. I have a bunch of giveaway and review posts that I have pre-written prior to having this little guy so you will be seeing those in the next several weeks. And then after that, we’ll just have to see……..you’ll here from me, but I’m not sure how often. I’m just going to roll with it.

Welcome to the world, Caspian Finn!