This 'Sacred Sewing Room' is so inspiring.

A little over 5 years ago I found myself feeling lost.  At the time, I had been a stay-at-home-mom to our 3 boys for 9 years & had also been caring for another little boy, 3 days a week, for almost 2 years. I had always wanted to be a SAHM & I couldn't understand why I was no longer feeling fulfilled with my role in the family.  

 
Around this time my best girlfriend, Terra, had started sewing clothes for her daughter. Everything was adorable & her new talent inspired me.  The only problem, I didn't have a sewing machine or know the first thing about sewing.  So, I bought my first sewing machine (identical to Terra's), packed up the boys and headed 3 hours away to Terra's house.  Our kiddos played during the day and at night Terra patiently taught me the basics of sewing. Those 4 days changed my life.  I slowly realized that I simply needed something that was "mine".  That may sound selfish to some of you and I am OK with that. Sewing created the outlet I needed to still feel like what I did mattered.  Because, let's face it, no one was complimenting me on my sandwich making skills and house keeping abilities (although, that may have been because I am not a great house keeper...ha!).

Now, onto the reason I decided to post to my blog after almost a year off.  An old high school friend tagged me in an article that she posted on Facebook.  Although, my situation is different, I related to this story so much.  It reminded me of the insecure place I was in 5 years ago & how much sewing has helped me be a better Mom & wife.  I hope you take a few minutes to read it. 



Who knows, maybe it will inspire you to share your skills with someone & help change their lives.  Just like Terra did for me.


Smiles~Beth

PILLOWCASES~OUR NEW "GO TO" BIRTHDAY GIFT

It seems like my youngest monster, age 7 (going on 16), gets invited to ALOT of birthday parties.  This past summer he requested that I make his buddies their gift (it was a joint party).  I tried to convince him to just go to the toy department with me and pick something out or simply give a gift card. I was leaving for Florida the next day with my middle monster for a baseball tournament.  He wouldn't go for it.  His argument was, "Mom, you are such a good maker.  You shouldn't just make things for us."  How was I supposed to argue with that? 

 

After a little thought (and help from my girl, Terra!), we decided that I would make pillowcases. I found this super easy to follow tutorial by Missouri Quilt Co. and whipped 2 pillowcases up fairly quickly. 

 

 

My monster chose the soccer ball fabric.  I thought it was a perfect choice since the boys are all teammates :)  I added their soccer #'s to make them more personal.  I used heat transfer vinyl.  The white vinyl glows in the dark...super cool. We also included some candy, I figured if they didn't like the pillowcases the candy would be a hit ;)  Luckily, both boys loved their personalized gifts.  So much that pillowcases are now our official go-to gift.  It seems that both girls and boys of all ages love them. 

 

 

This one was for a classmate.  Instead of using vinyl, I appliqued the birthday girl's name on with fabric.  I personally love this one.  It may or may not have something to do with the fact that I hardly ever get make girly things ;)

 

 

For this 2-sport playing birthday boy, I made a flippable (is that even a word?) pillowcase.  One side soccer and one side baseball.

 

 

And this one was sent across the state to an old neighbor that broke his ankle.  I thought he might need a little something to lift his spirits.  Although he has been raised in Missouri, he has Packer pride just like his Dad.  It too has glow-in-the-dark vinyl :)

 

If you have doubted making handmade gifts for a birthday boy or girl, please don't.  It's amazing how special it makes them feel.  Believe me, the smile on their face will take away any doubts you may have.

 

Hope your Monday is marvelous!

Smiles~Beth

 

 



DOWNY & QUILTS FOR KIDS

Did you know that Downy Touch of Comfort has teamed up with Quilts for Kids? (apparently this is old news but I just heard about it!)

Quilts for Kids is a fabulous program that strives to provide comfort (through quilts) for children in hospitals around the US.  I recently got in touch with my local chapter to find out what I can do to help.  It is much easier to help than I thought.  I made a simple request for a quilt kit (yep, a free kit) and within a couple of weeks I received a package full of precut fabric and instructions on how to complete a 4-patch quilt.  All I have to do is sew it up, grab some batting, quilt, bind & mail back within 4-6 weeks. It even comes with a quilt label.  Super simple!

I love what these quilts represent and look forward to getting it done.  I have also picked some neglected fabrics from my own stash in hopes to get a quilt done for Katie's 100 Quilts for Kids.  Also, a wonderful charitable foundation. 

If you have a sewing machine and a little free time or some fabric hiding in a closet somewhere begging to be used please consider contributing to of these great causes.  If you don't have time to sew but have some fabric they will happily accept it.  Every child deserves some comfort.

Smiles~Beth

MARGARET'S HOPE CHEST...I HELPED, CAN YOU?

While reading one of my favorite blogs yesterday I found myself inspired (and not in the usual way).   Amanda Jean @ Crazy Mom Quilts has teamed up with Carin @ Margaret's Hope Chest to help donate quilts to children.  How wonderful is that?!?! 

Amanda Jean designed a super simple quilt block that anyone could make (seriously, if you can sew short straight lines, you CAN make this block...no matter your sewing skill level).  I knew right away that I wanted to help and was instantly rummaging through my stash to find fabric. I quickly had 18 blocks cut out.

I am hoping to get all of these sewn up and sent off by the end of the week. 

If you would like to help put a smile on a child's face, you may find out how you can here.  I would be happy to provide the fabric if you live close by :)

Smiles~Beth



FAMILY PICTURES

We had family pictures taken not too long ago and thought I would share them here.  They were taken by the ever so talented April Yost of A Yost Photography.  I can't say enough good things about April.  She was amazing from the very beginning.  From working with me & our complicated schedule to calming me down when I realized we forgot the middle monster's orange tie to dancing while taking the photos to get just the right look from the boys to checking in to make sure I received our order ok.  And the pictures, well, they speak for themselves.

A big thanks to April for capturing these beautiful moments for us.  If you live in the Kansas City metro area I strongly recommend her for your next photo shoot.

A Yost Photography

(This is my personal opinion & I have not been compensated in any way)

Smiles~Beth

SMS GIVEAWAY DAY WINNER!

So sorry for the late announcement.  We had a very busy weekend of baseball that consisted of 9 baseball games (6 wins, 2 losses, 1 tie and a trophy!).  Needless to say, we all felt like this by the end of the last game.

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I want to thank everyone who entered and especially my new follwers!  Although I wasn't able to respond to most of the comments I did read every single one.  I am surprised (and jealous!!!) to know that so so many of you have been to Italy.  My favorite was to Cabo San Lucas a couple of years ago.  It was the first trip the hubs and I had been on alone since our honeymoon (10 years prior)!!  I have a feeling that our upcoming trip to Orlando (Disney, Universal Studios & Sea World here we come!!) with my side of the family will take over the #1 slot though ;)  Ok, now for the winner!!

It's Valerie!!!!

Valerie said...

LOL I wish I had a vacation story from some place exotic, alas. My favourite vacation was to Tadoussac, in Quebec. We went for 4 days, an anniversary getaway. It's supposed to be a whale-watching mecca, but the whales didn't get the memo and we saw zero of them. But we did stay in a charming B&B, went for hikes through the woods and brought home a very charming souvenir who showed up 9 months later :)

May 21, 2012 10:32 AM

Congrats!!!  I have already sent you an e-mail.  You can expect your goodies soon!

Smiles~Beth

MODERN QUILT GUILD MEET UP

Last night I went to the Modern Quilt Guild meet up in Kansas City.  It was my small way of trying to be part of the Spring Quilt Market.  I only live about 30 minutes from where it was held and since it was open to anyone I figured I would take the chance of looking like an out~of~place stalker so I could meet a few really cool & inspiring bloggers. 

I am so happy I went!!  Although I am not sure I can say the same for my hubby.  He was such a trooper :)

warning~there are a couple very blurry pics ahead, sorry!

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There were 2 people I was looking forward to meeting and was able to meet them both.  Hopefully I didn't make too big of a fool of myself while talking to them ;)

First is Amy of Diary of a Quilter.  I have been a follower of her blog for a long time and am so thankful that she shares so much of her creativity with her readers.  She is the author of some wonderful patterns and also has free tutorials on her blog. 

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Next is Amanda Jean from Crazy Mom Quilts.  If you are a regular reader you probably recognize her blog name from all of my Finish It Up Friday posts and the All Star zigzag quilt I made for my littlest monster.  In addition to her blog she is also the author of new quilting book, Sunday Morning Quilts.  I stupidly left my copy at home.  I wish I had brought it & had her sign it for me, oh well.

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I also met & chatted briefly with Julie from Jaybird Quilts.  I didn't get a picture with her but I did manage to snap this one of her enjoying the announcement of all of the prizes.

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I snapped this picture of Amy Bulter.  I wish I had the nerve to go say hi to her. I truly am a big fan of her fabric. 

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Although I didn't get to go to the actual Quilt Market I was able to score a couple goodies, courtesy of the owner of Bound in Stitches and a sweet gal named Trina Thomas of Oklahoma.

Yep, that's Amy Butler on the cover!!!  Thank you, Michele!

A super cute pencil from Liberty of London...thanks Trina!!

Another worthy mention would be that I met Kathy Mack of Pink Chalk Studio.  I am pretty sure she thought I was crazy so I opted not to scare her by asking for a picture ;)

I had a great time meeting these quilty gals.  Amy & Amanda Jean have been a big influence on me & have helped inspire me over the past few years.  It was truly a pleasure to meet them.  Thank you both for sharing so much of yourselves with us and for taking the time to chat with me. 

Smiles~Beth

BOARD & BATTEN IN THE KITCHEN

I have needed wanted to change our home decor for a while now.  It took a couple years of bitching begging but I finally got the hubs on board...yay!!  The first step was painting (you can see part of the process here).  Next, with help from one of our more-than-wonderful neighbors, the board & batten went up.  

I didn't do a step by step post because there are already so many great how-to's out on the web. You can check out a couple I found helpful here & here.

BEFORE
 (I had already started to rip down the wallpaper before I realized I forgot to take a pic)

PROGRESS

AFTER

I am SO happy with the way it turned out!  And it will look even better when we get rid of that curio, paint the buffet and replace the kitchen table & chairs (ordered last week!!).  I am still deciding on a color for the buffet.  My original thought was to paint it black but I am tempted to go bolder with a pop of color, maybe orange.  Any suggestions?

Tomorrow, our very handy neighbor is coming over again to help the hubs put trim around the living room window, change out the front door trim to match and start the process of replacing our baseboards. 

I will be sure to post pics soon. 

Linking up with:

Hope your Wednesday is treating you well!

Smiles~Beth

WINTER DINO HAT {FOR MY LITTLE GUY}

It's starting to feel a little more like Fall around here.  With the colder weather coming I thought it was time to make my little guy a new warm hat. 

The bottom scale isn't really all crumpled...guess I should have fixed that, oops!

I followed this great tutorial by Christine at From an Igloo, thanks Christine!  It has been in my favorites and then moved to one of my Pinterest boards for awhile now.  I love that it easily covers his ears and the back of his neck so I don't have to worry about him being warm enough at recess.  It went together so quickly that I may just make him another one but maybe a monster version...we love monsters around here! 

 (The only thing I did differently to the hat was to add a tacking stitch in the top of the hat to help keep both layers together while taking it off his head.)

In case your wondering, my little guy LOVES it!

He is such a goofball!

Happy Tuesday!

Smiles~Beth

 

Linking up to:

 

Finish it up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts

 

DRUNKARD'S PATH QAL {PROGRESS}

I did it!  I finished sewing ALL 325 blocks together for the Drunkard's Path quilt~a~long! And, on time!  Happy dance!!

I have to admit that not all of my blocks look this pretty.  Although they are all sewn together I still have piles of blocks that look like this...

Ironed and ready to be squared up

and this...

Sewn, ready to be ironed & squared up

The hard part is over for me.  Sewing all of the curved seems definately took me WAY out of my sewing comfort zone. After conquering so many blocks I might even dare to call myself a pro at it (well, maybe not yet but definately closer!).  I am looking forward to getting all of these small blocks sewn into larger blocks and then into a quilt top. Now that there are only straight seems left to sew it should go by rather quickly, whew!

It's not too late to join in over at OCD {Obsessive Crafting Disorder} or Needle and Spatula.  Come on, it will be fun!

Smiles~Beth

FABRIC LOVE {ECHO BY LOTTA JANSDOTTER)

Have you seen the new fabric by Lotta Jansdotter?

I fell in love with it when I saw this post over at Film in the Fridge and then again when Anna of Noodlehead made a few of her Go Anywhere Bags with it (oh how I love that bag!).  Ever since I have been patiently waiting for ECHO to arrive in online stores.  I was so happy to hear that it was available early at Hawthorne Threads and I immediately ordered some for myself.

Left to right: Stepping Stones in Yellow, Spring Buds in Grey, Small Spring Buds in Grey, Spring Buds in Espresso, Small Spring Buds in Espresso, Scattered Pods in Agave, Small Spring Buds in Mustard, Spring Buds in Mustard

Spring Buds in Mustard is my favorite!!

I think Standing Stones in Yellow will make a fabulous throw pillow.

The colors are beautiful and the fabric is soft, I can't wait to make something using them.  I might even use the Spring Buds in Mustard to make myself a skirt.  I think it would look great with some boots!

I do want to note that the Spring Buds in Grey seems to be a little darker (with a hint of purple) than the other grey prints (I wonder if anyone has this issue?).  Still beautiful though! 

Are there any new fabrics you are excited about?

Smiles~Beth

HALLOWEEN PICS

Hope you all had a fabulous time out and about on Halloween.  Here are a few of my favorite pics from the night...enjoy.

Happy Tuesday!  Can you believe it's already November?!

Smiles~Beth