Giving Thanks for…

life. Jesus Christ. grace and mercy. adam. addie. topher. creativity. music. dogwood blossoms. mom and dad. my health. the freedom to worship. paved streets and running water. our church family. susan and sarah. my sewing machine. satsuma trees. friends that get me. friends that don’t get me and love me anyway. the creativity of my children. facebook (sad, but true). my in-laws. an incredible elementary school with teachers who love my child. nita. rose bushes that bloom in the fall. a favorite football team (win or lose, though winning is great). jane. ashley and ashley. my Bible. encouraging phone calls from friends and family. good books. teaching sewing. a full pantry. brainstorms. hot coffee. cars that run. teaching swimming. a safe home. BG’s reading ability and LM beginning to sound out words (such precious sounds). little jobs that mean i don’t have to get a real one. random funny text messages. creative aunts and witty uncles. the generosity of others. the wisdom of a few. a cup of tea. sock puppet shows and silly stories. doc. rex. coupons. past opportunities to grow. lsmsa. obu. friends and family who have died but left me with lessons and wisdom and memories. this blog and all my blogging friends who leave comments. second chances. jokes that really make me lol. rainy days. sunshine. hand-me downs. snuggles with my children. popcorn and movies. quiet moments to stop and reflect. crazy moments when Christ calms me. sad moments when Christ lifts me up. struggling moments when Christ carries me.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations. Psalm 100:4-5

Wait a second! Where did October go?

So, suddenly I’m dating my checks with an 11, my clocks have fallen back, I have an 8 year-old and folks are talking about the deer they are bagging (which reminds me—I’ll happily take a pound of sausage off someone’s hands!).  What in the world happened to make October move by so quickly that it’s already November?  Maybe the time slipped away while we were…

Trick or Treat

At our house, Halloween can be translated into Mommy-I-want-you-to-make-me-a-(insert crazy thing here). This year, the Big Girl wanted to be a 50’s girl.  Easy enough.  Little Man requested a pteranadon.  Yeah, I know.  Go look that one up!    And before you ask, no, there isn’t a pattern that I could find!  To see their costumes from years past, click here.

The Pumpkin Patch

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Early Birthday Presents!

The BG received her birthday gift a little early from Momo and Popo.  This little Janome Sew Mini is a pretty decent little machine.  She whipped up her first pillowcase this afternoon.  (Check out those personalized labels Momo bought her.  Perfect for gifts for her friends!)

Our Trip to the Corn Maze

Enjoy today's pictures from our trip to the corn maze and a local farm.

The Big Girl’s Pumpkin

My blog has been hijacked!!!  My almost 8-year old has taken over.  Here’s her post:

Today I made a pumpkin for the table.  This is how you do it.

1.  Get your supplies.  You will need:    hot glue    pipe cleaners    orange fabric    Timtex    iron    pencil    scissors
2.  Draw 2 pumpkin shapes on the Timtex.  I used a stencil.
3.  Cut them out.
4.  Put 1 pumpkin shape in the fabric like this: pretty side down, Timtex, pretty side up.
5.  Press it to make it all stick together.
6.  Cut out the shape.
7.  Do it again for the other one.
8.  Make a cut in one from the bottom to the middle.  Make a cut in the other one from the top to the middle.
10.  Slide them together to make a pumpkin.
11.  Twist the pipe cleaner on the pencil to make a stem.
12.  Have Momma hot glue it on your pumpkin.
13.  All done!

A Pumpkin A Day…

It’s October!  So, it’s time to pull out the pumpkin pan…

and whip up some pumpkin loaves…

for the perfect teacher gift!

(I found the recipe at www.allrecipes.com.)  

It’s Fall!

I love Fall!  I love the colors and the smells and the sounds of the season of fall!  I think my favorite fall colors are:

What are yours?

We're Off to See the Wizard

Happy Halloween!

Yes, the costumes are hand-made. No, don't look for reviews. Yes, I am crazy. No, I didn't spend a fortune on fabric this year, mostly stash.

Here's a sneak peek...

In the midst of school carnivals, volunteering, teaching swimming, Halloween crafting and slumber party planning, I've finished a 4-piece mini wardrobe for myself. I'm very excited. I'll be taking the posting the pictures soon, but here's your sneak peek...

Spooky Shirts

I stumbled across this idea the other day. I had to try it.


These are tee-shirts and bibs that were in my stash. The pumpkins and cat are store-bought reusable "fabric stencils". I used fabric paint and stippled the paint into the image.


The spiders are done using freezer paper.

Here's what I did:

1. I drew my spider onto the paper-y side of Reyonlds Freezer Paper.
2. I cut out my image with a razor blade. Several times I had to stop and remember that the part I was removing was not the important part. Instead, the relief was the piece I would be using.
3. Using a hot iron, I pressed my freezer paper into place (shiny side down) onto the teeshirt. I found (after several green blobs) that a tight "stick" was very important.
4. I sprayed the area for Simply Spray Soft Fabric Paint. I used Green Apple. Like any spray paint, too much gets drippy. I found that this worked best with 2 very light coats. That gave me plenty of color without seeping under the stencil and creating a green blob. (Oh, and I stuffed a plastic bag inside each shirt so paint wouldn't soak through to the back.)
5. I removed the paper after 30 minutes or so.

I finished 6 shirts (well, 10 total, but 4 turned into green blobs) and 3 bibs in less than 3 hours, the Little Man helped, and we had lots of fun!

Spreading the BOO!

Here's a fun way to spend the evening. Sharing BOO treats with all our friends.

The poem:

The time for Halloween fun is near.
Monsters, pumpkins, and bats are here.
A treat filled with spooky goodies galore,
Has been left by friends at your door.
Keep the fun going with a ding and a dash.
On to the neighbors--leave a treat and run fast!

The treats:

The gorgeous full moon:

Perfect!

Halloween sewing

Look! It's only October 11th and I've already finished 1 Halloween costume!!!!! (Just ignore the fact that she actually needed it on October 10th at 6:30 and I finished it about 5:30 that same day.)



This is from Simplicity 3997. I made view D out of red and black buttersuede, based on the drawings my Big Girl made several weeks ago.

If I did it again, I would make it a little bigger than a 6, as my BG is tall! I added the fringe and pockets by hand, simply because I had a lot of car pool time this week. It probably would have been easier by machine--but you must be home to do that!

As for the Little Man's--still underconstruction...

What I've been making...

In addition to everyday life, I've been baking...







and I've been sewing...

Simplicity 3667


Personality Childrens Clothes




Simplicity 4020


Simplicity 3692


and getting my fall designs together...







visit http://www.personalitychildrensclothes.com/ to see them all!

Are you ready for some football???

Saints vs. Colts TONIGHT!!!!

It's football season! And tonight's the game I wish we'd seen last February! Archie's boy vs. Archie's team. What a fun kick-off to the fall! Hopefully, I'll still think so tomorrow...

Speaking of this beautiful and fun time of year, be on the lookout for my new fall designs at PersonaliTy Children's Clothes. I'm adding my new Halloween designs this weekend, including a gingham bat, an applique pumpkin, and a sassy candy corn for those "not so little" girls!