I was inspired by my friend Amber and this item on Pinterest.
Washable rip-stop nylon on the inside. Reusable LOTS of times. Less $$$ spent on Ziplocs.
I love sewing.
I was inspired by my friend Amber and this item on Pinterest.
Washable rip-stop nylon on the inside. Reusable LOTS of times. Less $$$ spent on Ziplocs.
I love sewing.
I hand-stitched some owls for a baby shower recently, and the kids were really interested in what I was doing. Then they began asking me if they could help.
It sounded really intimidating to “teach” them to sew, so I freaked out a little inside. But then I realized how much of my own sewing has been trial-and-error.
So, I threaded some needles, gave them some felt hearts, and let them go to work!
I did show them how to do a blanket stitch, but they did most of the work on their own.
It was fun to watch them begin to learn a new skill that will come in handy in their lives. Sewing is very practical (not to mention a fun, creative outlet).




This past weekend, we celebrated my nephew and niece’s birthdays. For their birthdays, I sewed reversible tote bags and crayon rolls (bet you wouldn’t have guessed that from the title of this post – duh). It was not as hard as I expected it to be – at all – and I’m pretty happy with how they turned out.
If you want to try making a tote bag for yourself, I referenced the tutorial here, though I didn’t use her measurements.
On to the pictures of the final products…
I think Emma liked hers! She wore it around the party the entire time after she opened it.

My friend Kristen (my older sister’s best friend from high school, who lived with us for a while after they graduated, so is more like an older sister to me – are you tracking?)…Let’s start over…
Kristen has had some difficult pregnancies. Her first daughter was born at 26 weeks gestation at 1lb 10oz, and spent a couple of months in the NICU. She’s a beautiful 9-year-old now, and doing just fine.
Later, when I was pregnant for Jaden, Kristen was pregnant for another baby girl. She (and everyone else) was heartbroken when her baby Angel was delivered at 20 weeks, and didn’t survive.
Well, Kristen became pregnant just one more time, and this time the doctors put her on bedrest early on and did an extra precautionary measure (probably TMI for some of you, so I’ll refrain) to help her stay pregnant longer.
Kristen went into the hospital at 27 weeks, and they were able to keep her from delivering. She went home at 28 weeks, and she stayed on bedrest and endured weeks and weeks of labor. And – PRAISE THE LORD – she kept that baby in until 34 weeks. What a blessing! We are all praising God for this little one…

Since Brooklyn was a 5-pounder, she was a tad small for newborn size clothes. And my friend Loribeth had sent this Itty Bitty Baby Dress pattern my way a while back. So I decided to try my first attempt at clothing!
With a few changes to the original pattern, I think it turned out quite nicely!
The original pattern only called for the bodice and top layer of skirt. However, I thought it would be fun to add a petticoat with lace to the bottom. See?

And instead of just gathering the skirt, I made inverted box pleats, ’cause I like the look of them better.

Then I made a cute little (well, HUGE in proportion to her head, but that’s all the rage these days) headband to match. (THANKS to my awesome friend Dana for telling me how to make these!)

Now I’m just waiting for Kristen to send me a picture of sweet Brooklyn wearing it sometime. In the meantime, I’m getting the creative itch again!!!
Last spring, I posted about my friend Amber’s awesome sewing skills that she’s passing along to me.
Early this summer, my sweet, amazing hubby allowed me to buy a sewing machine and accessories from someone on Craigslist. Since then, I’ve been having fun doing some basic projects.
I learned how to make the crayon roll, with a little added monogram on the outside for fun. Here’s a crayon roll tutorial if you want to try it yourself. And here’s a peek at the latest one I completed. (Ahem, Melissa, if you read this…don’t show this to Emma. She’s getting one exactly like it for her birthday. Except with an “E,” not an “M.”)



If you’d like to learn more about how to applique, I found this tutorial really helpful. It was actually pretty simple and fun to make these shirts for our good friends the Dows, who just had twin girls (and now have four girls altogether, with names all starting with the letter “M” – which you probably could have figured out on your own). Sorry if you already saw these pictures a while ago on Facebook.


I also made a cute little hair accessory to go with the shirt for M #1′s birthday, but alas, totally forgot to take a picture. Maybe I’ll snap one if I ever see her wearing it.
Anywho, this is my fun, new hobby that I have almost no time for, but love anyway. If you sew and have any fun ideas for me, please share!
I have never made a baby book for any of our four children.
But I'm making this book, one post at a time. Remembering the day-to-day, the funny moments, the important milestones.
These are our memoirs, and we humbly share them with you.
...or subscribe via email:
Copyright © 2012 · Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in