Baby Smile has an Announcement!

Baby Smile has an announcement!

That's right! She's going to be a big sister!

For a few short months I will be a mom to an 18 year old, and two under the age of two! Yikes!

I made the dress as an announcement to the family! We had lots of fun with this one! It was so funny at how long it took for some to figure out what it said and meant!

These pictures were all taken by my mom at a big bbq and bluegrass festival this past weekend. There was a big motorcycle ride that was a benefit for my sister and one other young guy that is battling cancer as well, the ride ended at the festival! We all had a great time!

Couldn't you just squeeze her! She's almost always this happy! 

Check out those big blue eyes! Sometimes they look like big blueberries:) And that mouth full of teeth! She has all of her teeth in! She got them all two and four at a time! 

She was having lots of fun! She ran around under the big tent and said hi to everyone! I bet she ran about 10 miles that afternoon! She should have slept well that night! And would have had her loving papa hadn't given her two capri suns and some of his sweet tea! All were firsts! He said she wanted them and he couldn't tell her no! She slept til 3:30 am then was up until after lunch! He really does love me, even if he wants me to have triplet boys!





Leslie's Quilt

So have you heard about The Bloggers Quilt Festival? I almost missed it! But I saw Rachel's post about her awesome Love quilt and she shared about the festival! Thank you! So I decided to share my quilt story.

As you all know my sister, Leslie, has been battling breast cancer. Back in April my entire family and many friends all participated on a team for the Susan G Komen 5k, in Leslie's honor. Even Leslie walked the one mile fun walk, exactly one month after her double mastectomy! I'm so proud of her!

When she first found out she had cancer and that she would be having surgery and going through chemo, I wanted to make her a "chemo quilt". I've heard that chemo can make you very cold while you're recieving it. So she needed a pretty quilt to help keep her warm. I used my favorite fabric line by Kate Spain, Terrain! I just love all the colors and so did Leslie!

This was a complete surprise to her! I made it and gave it to her the day of the 5k. I wanted it to be a signature quilt so that all of her friends, family and anyone else that she wants to could sign it with happy thoughts of encouragement to get her through this battle.

I haven't seen it since the day that I gave it to her, I live six hours away and can't be there often. But I know that she has many many signatures on it now!

I made the quilt using strips from a Terrain jellyroll and 2 1/2" strips of white Kona cotton. Sewing two stips of Terrain with a strip of white in the center and then cutting them into squares. I then alternated them and sewed them together into a lap size quilt. I've done a few small quilting projects for myself so I've always done very simple quilting on my own machine. Which is what I did with this, I just used my walking foot and quilted around each white strip of fabric. I thought with the signatures and the bright fabric that the quilting should be kept simple.

I really didn't get any good pictures of it before I gave it to her! Mainly because I finished quilting it at 11:30pm on Thursday night before leaving at 3:00am on Friday morning to drive 6 hours to go to the race and tried finishing the binding in the car before I got car sick! Nothing like the last minute!

I did learn that I need a new sewing machine! I need one with a thread cutter and a knee lifter! Quilting around all of those white strips and then having to go back to trim up all of those loose threads, ugh! I used my moms for another project after this and it really spoiled me!

So if you haven't been to see all the other quilts in the festival yet, you should get there soon! They are awesome!

Twirl!

This past weekend we tagged along with Mr Smile on his work trip to Orlando! So while he was in conferences all day, Baby Smile and hung out at the pool and found quilt shops!

While at one of them I cam across this book. I've seen it before and just loved it.

But when I turned it over and saw the back, "give your girl some twirl! " I just had to get it! You see, Baby Smile has started "twirling"! She's so funny! She just goes round and round until she falls down! When you ask her if she can twirl no matter what she's doing she stops and starts twirling! So she has to have some new twirly clothes! 

I just can't decide what I want to make first! Of course I'll have to cute the sizes down to fit her cause she's itty bitty!

I even want me a dress like that one!

Has anyone else seen the Dolce and Gabbana line of dresses that are all made from fabric with fruit and vegetables on them? They are awesome! I so want a dress made out of tomato fabric! And since I don't have $2000 laying around for a dress, I think I'll just get the fabric and make me one!

At this quilt shop they had these yummy little fat quarters that are going to end up being little clutches!

If they had had anymore of either one of those I would have gotten enough for a dress or at least a skirt, but that was all they had. So I'll be on the look out for some!

They also had some lovely zippers for $1.00!

So I grabbed a few of those as well!

We had a great time! I have more pictures of the actual trip that I'll share later!

My Hydrangeas!

(this is PennyMac named after the late great Penny McHenry)

I just love Hydrangeas! They have to be one of my most favorite flowers! I have lots of favorites but this is right at the top!

Right now I have about 14 in my yard. Some are planted in the ground and some are in pots. The ones that I've kept in pots are mainly so that they will keep the same color, because once they are in the ground here they almost always turn purple! You can manipulate the colors by changing the acidity of the soil, but I've never done that. I like to see them in their natural color! But my desire is to have a red hydrangea, I'm not talking dark pink I want red!

(Ayesha)

She was a very pretty pink when I first bought her. The next year after putting her in the ground she came back this very pretty blue color! But I would still like to have her in pink as well!

(Invincibelle)

This beauty was given to me by my good friend Mary. This is the breast cancer hydrangea! It will get very big pink blooms on it. They just start out very small! Mary is one of my best friends here and is in the garden club with me! She's the one that talked me into taking on the role of garden club president! I've missed so many meetings this year being out of town that I'm surprised that they haven't fired me yet!

(Princess Lace)

Princess Lace is one of my only lacecaps, all the rest are mopheads. This is one of the three featured hydrangeas at this years Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival, which will be held in Douglasville, GA the first weekend of June!

Both of the above are PennyMac!

I just love how the blooms are a different shade of purple and blue all over!

These don't have a name. They were sent from a florist with out a tag. They were given to me by one of my closest and dearest friends April when I had my baby boy. I call it Bubba Blue. His name was going to be Eric and my daughter Morgan called him Bubba. I think the name is perfect, just like the color! It is such a vibrant blue! It did not bloom last year, but it certainly has made up for that this year!

The same thing with this one, only it was given to me by my mother-in-law. I call it Bubba White.

These last two were my very first hydrangeas!

I'll post more pictures as the others start to bloom out!

And if you're looking for something to do the first weekend in June, come to Douglasville and join us for the Hydrangea Festival! It's a real treat! We have a flower show that all 5 garden clubs take part in. It even has a table design section. This year I will be doing a table design myself! I'm so very nervous about that. This is the festivals 5th year and I've been a part of the planning for the past two years. The flower show has won at state and national levels every year so far! That is just amazing!

I think that every yard should have at least one hydrangea!

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The Foldover Clutch

The Foldover Clutch! I saw a purse like this at the mall and decided that I could probably make it!

And I did! I'll make another one and do a tutorial. It was very easy! I made it in about 45 minutes. The flower was a pin that I made last year and just added it for looks and it can be changed out!

I love how the zipper turned out! And it was probably the easiest zipper that I've ever put in!

There is just something about different color linings that I just love! They go together but are not matchy matchy!

This is what it looks like laid out flat. I like that it has room and you can carry more than in just a regular clutch and still have the look of a clutch! And with the zipper you don't have to worry about things falling out!

For this one I just used fabrics that I already had. Black crepe that was left over from a skirt that I made. The lining was from the remnant bin that I found on sale a long time ago. And one of my favorite fabric stores back home has a big zipper box that you can buy by the pound. I've gotten some great zippers in some amazing colors that I wouldn't normally buy to just have on hand.

I'll be sharing a tutorial soon!



Leslie's Lap Buddy Sew Along

Come and join me on a sew along!

When my sister, Leslie, had her double mastectomy in March she left the hospital with 3 drains which is a normal part of the surgery. Before she had her surgery, Mary, an awesome nurse that works with the mastectomy patients, gave her an apron to wear to help hold her drains from dangling and pulling on her surgical sites. She said that the aprons that she gave her were donated by Komen (I think) and that they normally cost between $65-75 and are not covered by insurance. These were such a life saver for Leslie! The drains fit securely inside the pockets of the apron and therefore did not hang down and she didn't have to try to stuff them in a pocket or pin them to her shirt.

My mom and I being the crafty people that we are, decided to come up with a pattern and start a sewalong for these aprons to be donated to area hospitals and surgical offices that perform mastectomys. These will always be by donation and will never be made for a profit! We have absolutely no interest in making money off of this! That being said, if you are reading this and want to help out but don't sew or have the time and want to donate supplies we would be more than happy to accept them, just message me here!

We want these to stay in your local communities because unfortunately Breast Cancer is everywhere and these can be used everywhere! If you don't know where to take them in your community please message me and I will find a place for you to send them!

All you need is:

 a fat quarter or a piece of fabric that is 18" x 22"

a package of Extra Wide Double Fold Bias Tape 1/2" wide or 3 yards if purchasing by the yard

(make sure that it is the double fold so that it is wide enough!) (I may have purchased single fold the first time, ooops!)

and a sewing machine!

First with the fabric laying face down you will fold over one side of the 18" edge 1/4" and iron (if you have a serger you can just serge this edge and go to the next step).

Fold over another 1/4" and iron.

Sew down the edge of the fold that you just made.

It will look like this.

You will then fold down the unsewn edge to make an 8" fold.

 Then bring the sewn edge up 5 " and pin in place.

At this point if you have a serger you can just serge the edges if not just sew with a straight seam. You could probably skip this step if you wanted to, but I think that it makes it easier to keep straight when you sew on the bias tape.

Then mark the middle of the pocket and sew a straight stitch down the center to make two pockets.

Now open up the bias tape. You will cut two pieces that are 8 1/2" long. That will leave you with a piece that is 92" long for the tie.

Bias tape has a wide and a short side, I tried to take a picture but it didn't turn out. Put the widest part of the fold on the back side of the apron and the shortest side on the front. This way when you sew down the front you know for sure that you are catching the back side of the bias tape.

Pin the 8 1/2" pieces to each end of the apron leaving the overhang at the bottom of the apron.

You will fold the bottom of the bias tape to the inside and then fold the edge back over, this will make for a cleaner edge. Bias tape will not ravel so you can leave it if you wish to.

But it does look cleaner to me when its folded!

Then just sew down the edge.

Next you will do the same thing with the remaining part of the bias tape along the top edge of the apron. Find the center of the bias tape and match it to the center of the apron and start pinning. Fold over the end of the bias tape like you did for the edges and start sewing at one end and sew all the way to the end of the tie.

That's it! I left the ties really long! The woman that will get the apron can cut to the length that works best for them!

Thank you so much for joining in this sewalong! I just pray that every woman that gets one of these aprons will heal quickly and that she will endure a little less pain when wearing the apron!

Please feel free to share this on your blog, facebook, twitter, etc and please post pictures in the flickr group if you'd like!

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