Bibs and Burps

Pirate Girl Shirt

A friend asked me to make her daughter a fun girl-pirate shirt to wear for her pre-school's Pirate Day. After looking around online I found this applique design:

And here's the little cutie sporting her pirate shirt, complete with pig tails and tutu. Look at those big blue eyes! I hope you had fun at Pirate Day, Miss C!
 

Blue and Green

I've been waiting on baby Wyatt to be born so I could post this one, and he's finally here! Congratulations, V!

Baby Sets and Technology

I never get tired of doing these fun sets. I still love the classic pink and green, and how great is the name Isla?
Today is another catch-up day, since I haven't accomplished as much in the previous few days as I had hoped. With the end of the school year approaching, Ava and Gentry have lots of projects to finalize and turn in, so I'm the gopher and fact-checker. Yesterday I spent longer than I planned to visiting several different craft stores looking for a cornucopia. Do you know how hard it is to find a cornucopia in the middle of April? Impossible, actually, since I never did. I guess we'll have to go with Plan B on that one.
It amazes me in this technological age that 4th and 5th grade students don't really "turn in" papers. They take their flash drive to school with them or upload their presentation to a website. It's nerve-wracking to not actually see a hard copy in their teacher's hand, but that's how it's done now. Just this morning, Ava and her carpool buddy were sympathizing with a friend whose entire semester GT project had been accidentally deleted from the community website yesterday by someone else. She still has her notes, but hours and hours of work vanished irretrievably in seconds. I can't imagine how disappointed and outraged that poor girl (and her mom) feels. Back up your work, kids!
Now I'm going to fix a second cup of coffee, lock myself in my sewing room, crank up the Pandora and get to work.

Bib and Burp Sets

I'm catching up on emails and enjoying my quiet house on this Monday morning. I'm not even hearing the hum of the dryer, which means it's time to go switch loads again. There's a busy week up ahead, so I'm just going to let it sit for a little bit and enjoy the silence. Happy Monday!

Chosen

A family we go to church with is involved in an adoption fundraiser and asked me to make something for the silent auction. Since adoption is close to my heart, I happily agreed! Adoption is such a special way to unite loving parents with babies or children in need of forever families. I have several friends who are in the process of adopting internationally, and some who have just brought their babies home. God bless you all for walking that long, difficult, expensive but very rewarding journey. I made this set in honor of my big brother who joined our family through adoption before I was born, and I'm so very grateful he was "chosen" for us.

Pink, Brown and Turquoise

I have a million things to do today so I'm just jumping on quickly to post this sassy set. 

The camera cord went missing for about 24 hours and our lives have been in complete chaos because of it. Ava needed to download photos for her GT project and was beside herself that she couldn't do it yesterday. I finally found it this morning when I decided to search my car, because there was just no other place it could be. Weird. I've also misplaced a very sentimental charm bracelet and am in denial that it is lost. I've retraced my steps and am hoping it will just turn up, but chances are slim to none. I don't lose things, ever, because I hate it so much, so this is a big deal to me. I'll let you know if by some miracle it appears, but don't get your hopes up.

Birthday Shirt

Monogram Pillow

The classic monogram is one my favorite designs for pillows. This customer sent me a swatch of her daughter's bedding fabric to make it truly custom and match perfectly.

Easter

We had a meaningful Easter celebration that actually began last weekend with the traditional cousin egg hunt and family dinner. While my girls remind me often that they are getting older and want so much to be big, they still get pretty enthusiastic about an Easter egg hunt. Tatum was just a blur the entire time so this was the best I could get.



Gentry found the coveted gold Prize Egg this time! Nothing says Easter like cold, hard cash.

Their buckets were filled to the brim. I'm pretty sure this candy will still be in our pantry in October, when we'll throw it out to store the crazy amount of Halloween candy they'll bring home in their trick-or-treat pails.

It got hot fast and the pool was calling their name. Thank you, Gentry, for accommodating me with a smile. Your sisters were not so solicitous. "Can we swim now?"

My mother-in-law is the consummate hostess and always has the best tablescapes, especially for the kids table.

On Easter Sunday we had our own family dinner after church services. We rarely use our formal dining room, so it's always a special occasion when I pull out the good china and goblets. The girls got to dust off their "fancy" manners for the meal.

Don't I look like I got up at 6 a.m. to pull this whole thing off? I have a new appreciation for my mother who always cooked Sunday dinner, invited at least one other family over to eat with us after church and made it look like a breeze. Mom, you're a superstar. I crashed immediately after the dishes were put away.

 We took lots of pictures because I don't know when this is going to happen again.

I especially enjoy having the girls help me prepare the meal (now that they actually help more than they hinder) and they had fun setting out their dyed eggs with our names as placecards.

Tatum helped me bake the strawberry bunny cake and Ava & Gentry frosted and decorated him. I literally had to hold my OCD hands together as I observed to keep from "fixing" a few flaws (do bunnies usually have vampire teeth?) but I didn't touch it. This is their very own creation. The pink sprinkles for his ears were a little thick and added an unexpected crunch but it was actually pretty tasty.

 
It was no small feat getting us all ready for church in the morning. With 4 girls in the household there is a lot of hair to be brushed, straightened/curled and held back in some form or fashion, but we even had time to snap a few photos before leaving. Love these 4 precious Easter blessings!

 My little Tater Tot, who is getting big way faster than I'm comfortable with.

 Gentry, as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside

And sweet Ava, the brainiac and rule-follower.

Oh, and please excuse the hanging basket laying in the flower bed. It's responsible for shattering the window last week during an especially windy storm and scaring the daylights out of me, so it's still in time out.

I hope you had an Easter abundant with blessings and the full knowledge that Christ is risen!

Easter Items

 

 

Mouse Ears

I did this pair of shirts for two little friends sharing a Mickey-themed birthday party. I love that they're a matched set.

Summer Tees

A sweet friend from church asked me to make some fun, summery shirts for her toddler son. Elmo was a must.

 I'm fond of this friendly shark with the toothy grin.

 And I love the fresh look of blue seersucker in a classic monogram.

A Pineapple PSA

After downloading the pictures from my camera recently I came across a series of photos I had forgotten about. I had just bought a pineapple corer and been pleasantly surprised at its effectiveness and ease of use so I felt I needed to document it. Usually I'm a skeptic about kitchen gadgets that only serve a single purpose but I decided to splurge this time. I've never owned or used one before, but my family loves pineapple and I feel better providing fresh fruit for them as opposed to canned. It's great! We've enjoyed pineapple for dinner several times a week since, and my older girls can even core it themselves. The only downside is that the pineapple slices rarely make it to the dinner table before disappearing. If you've been using one for years, I apologize that we're a little late to the party. Allow Ava to demonstrate:

 At this point I was fairly sure I would be documenting the amputation of my oldest child's left thumb.

 Whew! All digits intact.

 Add a little elbow grease, twist a few times...

 and remove the insides.

This is her favorite step in the process:

 If you haven't tried a pineapple corer, go get one. It actually works!

Today is going to be hectic. I need to pick up a few Easter items for my girls and then sew like the wind for the rest of the afternoon. I didn't get as much accomplished over the weekend as I would have liked because the weather was amazing and my 6-year-old needed me to fly a kite with her, so I'll try to make up for lost time today. Happy April!