Lindsay Wilkes

Sep

Tortellini Chicken Soup

Fall is finally in the air and nothing feels better than a warm, comforting bowl of chicken soup. This is a little different take on your traditional chicken noodle soup. If you’re looking for something to soothe the soul, this would be it!

Tortellini Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

1 rotisserie chicken or two (bone-in) roasted chicken breasts

1 package fresh tortellini (8 oz.)

Olive oil

2 carrots, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 box chicken broth (I prefer low-sodium organic)

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon salt (more, if needed)

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (for garnish)

Directions:

Shred or chop chicken. Heat a large, heavy bottom pan over medium heat and drizzle bottom with olive oil. Add chopped celery, onions and carrots. Cook for approximately 6-8 minutes. You want the vegetables to cook, but you really don’t want to add much color to them.

Add thyme and cook another 2 minutes. Cooking the thyme with release more of the flavor. Feel free to add more if you like a stronger flavor. Add salt and pepper as well. Like I’ve said before I love black pepper so I would probably add more, but I included a modest amount for this recipe.

Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Once the soup is boiling add fresh tortellini and cook according to package directions (probably 6-8 minutes). In the last several minutes add your chicken.

Sprinkle the top of the soup with some grated Parmesan cheese before serving. I love this soup with good ole Saltine crackers crushed on top or some crusty french bread for dipping.

Sep

Finny and Zook – Whimsical Nursery Art Giveaway

I am so excited about this giveaway and I hope you are too! Remember my post a couple weeks back revealing Caspian’s Nautical Nursery? And remember the fun nursery artwork that I ordered from etsy.com for his walls? In case you forgot, here are the prints I purchased for his room from Finny and Zook…..

I chose these three different 8 x 10 prints and then matted and framed them myself. I was so impressed with the high quality of this art work. I knew I wanted the Anchor, Boat and Crab because those fit with the nautical theme and I liked that is was an “A, B, C” thing going on. I chose the prints and then let Finny and Zook know the nursery colors and she selected the perfect colors to match the nursery. Pretty neat, right?

Well, today Finny and Zook is going to be giving away TWO 8 x 10 prints of your choice to one very lucky The Cottage Home blog reader. Right now they are offering over 300 different prints to choose from so making your decision about which ones to choose might be a little difficult, but there is just about any print you could imagine!

Here are a bunch of my favorites from their shop……..

So, as you can see, there are many different modern options. I love the clean lines of this artwork – perfect for a nursery, playroom or kids room. There are also many different size options to choose from, but like I said above, today’s giveaway is for two 8 x 10 prints.

Here’s how to enter the Finny and Zook Whimsical Nursery Art Giveaway:

Please do one or all of the following. Leave a separate comment for each entry.
1) Visit Finny and Zook and let us know what print is your favorite (click HERE to do so).
2) Become a fan of Finny and Zook on Facebook (click HERE to do so).

Giveaway open until Thursday, September 15, 2011 at midnight (CST). Open to US residents only.

Sep

Winners!!

I’m pleased to announced the winners for our past two giveaways, the Ellie Inspired pattern giveaway and the fabric gift from me to you (aka Guess baby Caspian’s birth weight).

The two winner’s of the Ellie Inspired pattern giveaway are………..

Congrats to MJB and Sara!! You are going to love sewing from the new Ellie Inspired “Serenade” dress pattern!

And the winner of the fabric giveaway from me to you (aka Guess baby Caspian’s birth weight) is……

Congratulations, Brooke!! Great guessing – baby Caspian was 7lbs. 2oz, 19.5″ long and born on August 31st. You’ve just won two full yards of fabric of your choice from my personal collection. Can’t wait to see what you create with it!

Thank you to everyone who entered both giveaways! I have another two fabulous giveaways coming up soon that I know you are going to love, so please stay tuned. If you are one of the winners, please email me, thecottagemama[at]gmail[dot]com with your contact information and we will make sure to get you your prizes as soon as possible!

PS: If you are interested in becoming a sponsor of The Cottage Home blog, please email me, Lindsay, at thecottagemama[at]gmail[dot]com for rates and more information.

Sep

Green Mountain Coffee and Keurig Coffee Maker Giveaway

My husband and I are huge coffee drinkers. I’m not quite sure how people, especially mom’s of young children, are able to function without it. But what I am even a bigger fan of is when an item or product that I love and consume daily is socially and environmentally conscious.

I also love my new Keurig Coffee maker and today we are giving away a brand new Keurig Coffee Machine and Green Mountain Coffee to go with it. To read more about the benefits of Green Mountain Coffee and enter to win these wonderful prizes, please click HERE.

Sep

Blog Book Tour: "Sewing A to Z" by Nancy Zieman

Welcome to Nancy Zieman’s “Sewing A to Z” blog tour! The tour has been going on for a little while now, but today is my day to host and I’m so thrilled to do so. Nancy Zieman (of the show “Sewing with Nancy“) has recently come out with this fabulous new sewing reference book called “Sewing A to Z“. And it is just that, Nancy addresses just about every sewing technique there possibly is…….from A to Z.

When I received my copy of the book from the publisher, I sat down that very night to check it out. I immediately looked over at my husband and said…….”This is a great book!” Now my husband probably doesn’t care too much about sewing books, but I just had to tell someone right then and there. Not only is “Sewing A to Z” a great book for a beginner sewer, but it is a great reference for sewers of many different levels. I love to see what techniques and tricks other fellow sewers use to complete different tasks such as piping, quilting, ect……

Nancy has a very friendly writing style, so you don’t feel overwhelmed by all the wonderful information. Not only does she give great instructions on different techniques, she provides wonderful tips on different sewing notions and ways to make your sewing life a little bit easier.

As you can see in the picture above, this book is loaded! Nancy covers everything from applique technique, basting, edge stitching, piping, serging, and the list goes on and on.

As most of you know, I love piping so I really enjoyed reading all about Nancy’s piping technique. I’ve never used a piping foot before, but I found it very intriguing and may have to look into getting one in the future. She covers how to make your own piping and inserting it as well.

Quilting is a whole other story. I would definitely say I am a beginner when it comes to quilting, so I gained a wealth of knowledge through her information about different types of quilting, quilting feet for your sewing machine, as well as the different notions that can be used.

And finally, thread. The thread section of a sewing store can be extremely overwhelming for someone who is just starting out sewing. What to use? Polyester, cotton, embroidery? Well, no need to be overwhelmed, Nancy goes through them all so that you can feel confident the next time you make your thread selection!

You’ve got to head over to Nancy’s blog and check out her “Sewing A to Z” post. She is having a HUGE grand prize giveaway (worth over $450) that I’m sure you are going to want to enter. She will be choosing one random winner that comments on her blog post throughout the tour. Here’s a peak at the prize package, which includes this book as well…….

If you would like to check out some other reviews about “Sewing A to Z” from other blogger’s hosting the tour, click on any of the links below.

Sewing A to Z blog tour:
15-Aug Nancy Zieman’s blog
16-Aug Whipstitch
17-Aug Sew Mama Sew
18-Aug Diary of a Quilter
20-Aug Amy’s Creative Side
22-Aug Quiltville
23-Aug Crap I’ve Made
24-Aug Eileen Roche’s blog
25-Aug I’m Just a Guy Who Quilts
26-Aug The Free Motion Quilting Project
27-Aug Sew Serendipity
29-Aug Lazy Girls Designs
30-Aug Pat Sloan Blog
31-Aug Tallgrass Prairie Studio
1-Sep True Up
2-Sep Sew News
6-Sep Off the Cuff Sewing Style
7-Sep V and Co.
8-Sep The Cottage Home
9-Sep Colette Patterns

If you are new to sewing, I highly recommend this book. I am pretty much a self-taught sewer and this book would have saved me a lot of time and headache during my first years of sewing!

Click HERE to purchase “Sewing A to Z” by Nancy Zieman.

Thanks for joining me on this tour and I hope you enjoyed learning about this great new book!

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!

Aug

A Fun Little Contest and a Giveaway from Me to You!

So as you know, I am due with my third child, a baby boy, on September 6th. Right now I am scheduled to have a repeat c-section on that day. I had a regular delivery with my oldest, Savannah, and then an emergency c-section with Matilda due to her heart rate dipping and her face front presentation.

If I go into labor naturally prior to September 6th, I will attempt a VBAC (assuming everything looks good). If not, we’ll play it safe with our scheduled c-section. Things are kind of up in the air. But I thought it might be fun to do a little guessing game with you guys if you feel like playing along.

Here I am at almost 39 weeks with my enormous belly. I can’t tell you how many people have asked if I am carrying twins. Nope, only one baby in there and I always carry really far out in front. My oldest daughter was born five days LATE with an induction due to preeclampsia and PUPPS. She weighed 7 lbs. 15oz. and was 21 inches long. Matilda was also a preeclampsia induction, but five days EARLY and weighed 7 lbs. 12oz and was 20.5 inches long. So far with this pregnancy no signs of preeclampsia at all!

So I’ve let you know about my previous deliveries to give you a basis for your entry into the contest. Here’s how it will go. Leave me one comment and let me know 3 things:
1) How much you think baby boy is going to weigh?
2) How long will he be? and for the tie-breaker……..
3) What day and time you think he will be born (hour and minutes, please)?

So I will pick the winner based on the person who gets the weight or closest too it, but if we have two people who picked the same weight, then I will use the length and if we still have a tie then I will use the date and time as the tie breaker. Sound good?

Want to know what you are playing for……..here’s the prize – I’m going to let you choose two yards of fabric from my personal collection. You can choose two full yards of one print, a yard each of two different prints, or a half yard each of four different prints. I’ll leave it up to you. But these are all 100% designer cotton fabric and some of this fabric can be a little difficult to find lately.

Here are your choices:

These are all fabrics that I currently own by the bolt. I may be selling some of this yardage off in the near future if I don’t need it all for the shop……we’ll see. So if you aren’t following along on Facebook, it might be a good idea to head over and join us to find out the latest from The Cottage Mama (click HERE to visit the facebook fan page).

**PLEASE NOTE: This contest is for The Cottage Home blog readers ONLY. Why? Because I love you guys and want this opportunity to be just for you. You MUST be a follower, feed subscriber or email subscriber to enter. If not, feel free to become a follower or subscriber and enter to win!**

And one last thing, I am writing this post on Sunday, August 28th and am pre-scheduling this post. So who knows……….have I already had baby boy? Probably not, but you never know!

Aug

Baby Boy’s Room: A Nautical Nursery

One week and counting until our little bundle is scheduled to arrive! I thought I would share some pictures of the nautical themed nursery that we’ve put together for our special little guy.

My husband, Brett, painted the room. Surprisingly, he let both girls help for about 10 minutes. That was enough time for them to get covered in navy blue paint from head to toe – he is a brave, brave man (and a super-wonderful daddy). Brett had already put up the chair-rail and crown molding when we did the girls nursery, but he painted the navy blue and tan that I picked out from Home Depot. Both paint colors are Behr and they are in satin finish.

This room has always been our nursery, but it’s taken on a whole new look now. No more pastel pink and green, we’ve moved onto navy blue, tan and red. I definitely think it shouts “boy”! All of this furniture was already in the room from the girls and I’m really happy that we went with a honey colored wood because it works just right for a boy or a girl.

We had this little round table in the nursery before, but I just changed out the overlay. I sewed a large square of fabric from Riley Blake’s “All-Star” fabric line and kept the cream colored tablecloth that was already on the table.

I’ve always loved our glider. I just love rocking and gliding with little ones. Occasionally I still take one of the girls in this room when they need some mommy cuddle time. Both of them still love the soothing motion of the glider. If you are debating on whether or not you might want one for your nursery, go ahead and get it, it’s well worth the money. Ours has an ottoman that glides with it as well. We ordered this one through target.com and it has held up really well.

The pillow on the glider was sent from my mom. As I’m sure you know by now, she’s always making special, handmade things for the kids. She made this pillow and matching quilt for baby boy’s nursery. She named the quilt “Oceans of Love”.

Here are some more pictures of the “Oceans of Love” pillow and quilt made by Grandma Jane……

I love that my mom puts a label on every quilt. The beautiful thing about quilting is that these things can be cherished forever; therefore, a label with a date makes this a true family heirloom that can be passed down.

My mom was inspired by a quilt she had seen on “Moda Bake Shop” but she adapted it to make it her own. I think I need to get Grandma Jane on the blog to do some quilting tutorials, what do you think? Don’t know if she’d ever do it, but you never know…..hint, hint.

I added a bunch of different nautical accessories around the room that I really think pull the theme together. I wanted to do some accessories that were nautical, but not necessarily “baby”.

This distressed wooden flag is probably my favorite piece in the room. It is screwed into the wall above the crib so it is nice a sturdy.

The sailing ships rug was something my in-laws had in their basement that they had never used. It even still had the tags on it. It must have been there just waiting for us to have this little guy.

These three pillows won’t stay in the bed during our little guy’s first year, but we usually keep our newborn in a bassinet in our room for a little while. So for now, they just look cute in his crib. The polka dot sheet is from Pottery Barn Kids.

The “Welcome Aboard” steering wheel as to be another favorite of mine in this nursery.

Now this poster does not exactly go along with the “nautical” theme, but it’s my husbands favorite childhood book and he really wanted it in the room. This shelf is right above the changing table. I think the poster looks nice and the colors match just right!

“Dream” is a word that I hope my children always keep in the forefront of their minds. I want them to always know that anything is possible if they put their minds to it. Life is so much more exciting when you have big dreams. Hopefully this sign will remind our little guy of this always.

I ordered these three art prints from Finny & Zook on Etsy. I love to support etsy sellers if I can and I fell in love with this shop when I found them through my etsy search. They offer many, many different prints and you can choose any color you would like to match your room or nursery. There are many different images from A through Z as well as alphabet signs and different sayings.

I purchased these prints and then found photo mats and frames at my local Michael’s craft store. All three prints are next to the large mirror on top of the dresser (didn’t get any good pictures of the dresser).

Our little baby boy should be here soon and we can’t wait to meet him!

I hope he loves his room……..I think he will, don’t you?