Baby Blanket Service Project

I humbly write about a Service Project that my MOPS group recently did together. This is not to bring me credit or praise but to tell you the story of listening to your heart and that maybe this post will lead you to do something similar for someone else.

On September 21, 2010 one of our MOPS members lost her precious daughter, Ella, in utero at 40 weeks. Before I had received this email on September 22nd about the death of Ella, I was checking out my blog list and had just come across Tasha's Creations Corner blog post called Tiny Baby Blankets for a Cause. It was the most heart felt post I had read in a long time and remember thinking to myself what an amazing cause . Little did I know God was directing me...

The emails between the MOPS members were ideas and thoughts of what we could do for Ella's family that was grieving the loss of their baby girl. Immediately I made the connection and I knew God was speaking to me. Yes, I believe God can speak to us even through blogland. I had run across Tasha's Creation Corner Post almost at the exact time I received the heartbreaking news. My heart was bursting through my chest with grief and overwhelmed with the intensity that I knew what our group needed to do. We needed to come together and honor baby Ella through a Baby Service Project. We would make baby blankets and donate them to the hospital she birthed Ella. This is how we could help Ella's family heal by "Remembering Baby Ella" and reaching out to others.

Then came the hard part to share this with my MOPS leaders what came to my heart, it was difficult because they didn't know me very well, and I didn't know Ella's mom at all. We had said hello a few times but never had spoken in depth. God is amazing. He gave me the strength to humbly introduce my idea and once it was overwhelmingly agreed upon, I had to talk with Ella's mom. Let me tell you, I have never been more amazed by a single women. I stumbled through what our MOPS group would like to do and she graciously accepted. Not only did she accept she said she wanted to be apart of the Service Project and help.

The Service Project was coming together. To implement the project we asked for monetary contributions, fleece donations and donations of time sewing and caring for our little ones. Everyone in our group were so generous! We had a total of 2 sewing dates and were able to make approximately 40 blankets!

Before we started the service project we prayed Ella's mom and family, we prayed for the families who would be receiving these blankets, and our time together.

Here are some of the amazing women sewing their little hearts out. Although the circumstance of us getting together was very sad we had a great time in fellowship with each other.

Even the women who could not sew were put to work. Here was our cutting station.

Ella's mom sewing baby blankets.

Our fearless MOPS leader sewing on my machine. It was great to take some of these women out for their comfort zone and have them sewing. Who knows maybe this will inspire them to start sewing more regularly.

Now this lady was a true inspiration. She is sewing AND wearing her baby! This has led me to believe I can still sew after baby #3 gets here. She was determined to help and having a new born was not going to stop her.

This little guy was happy as a clam. Isn't he cute?

Here is our fabulous sewing group that came together to Remember Baby Ella. Ella's mommy is in the grey.

We made two sized blankets ones that were TINY 13X13" like Tasha did and we also made 26X26" baby blankets. We plan on adding a tag on the blanket with a Bible verse and Baby Ella's name. We want the families who receive these to know they are not alone and are being prayed over.

As I said before, I humbly tell you about this Service Project because it is not about me. I fully listened to God's direction (although scary) and I was used as a vehicle to help another person.

Even in tragedy God is good! Although we don't understand we believe God has plan!

A Crafter's Deluxe Christmas

I have truly had a Crafter's Deluxe Christmas. I am so excited about my new toys that I have to share.

My sweet brother had another little elf (my sister) tell him that I would LOVE a SideWinder. This is a gizmo that allows you to thread your bobbin outside of the machine. BRILLIANT!! Love this. I have already used it and I give it 4 stars!! Only a sewer could get excited about something like this :)Then my HUGE surprise from my in-laws was my VERY OWN SILHOUETTE!! I have drooled over this machine for probably a year now and I am so excited to have my own. This machine literally takes crafters to the next level. I have not used it yet but once I get a couple hours to spare I am going to get this bad boy going!! Oh the possibilities of this machine are endless!!

I received a whole bunch of other wonderful gifts and people were so generous to me and my family this year but I had to show you some of my new toys that I will be using this year as I craft! Isn't it funny how new toys make you ultra inspired!!

What new crafter toys did you receive this year? I would love to hear.

Homemade Christmas for the Kids

I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas. Ours was absolutely one of the best. It was simple, joyful, and full of laughter! Nothing in this world brings me greater joy then being with my family.

I wanted share with you some of the homemade gifts that I made this year for my children. I would have to say...they were a hit. Here are some great photos of our Christmas morning and the kids receiving their Homemade Christmas Gifts and some excellent models of the gifts. It was a hoot!!

Here is the Dinosaur Towel I made for my son. My brother trying it out for effect!!

Wesley received a Superhero Cape to go along with the sword he received from Santa!!

Lawson got a cape too, plus a sword (the girl needs to be able to defend herself from her brother)

Here is the back of her Super Hero Cape.

Wesley wasn't willing to show off his cape, so my dad did for him. My dad is so funny!!



Lawson also received her Garment Bag and knew exactly what it was and told me "This is for my dresses for when I travel this summer to see my grandparents." The girl apparently already has a travel agenda for the summer!!

Along with the Children's gifts I did make them their Christmas Casual Outfits, Dressy Outfits, and Christmas PJs.

Casual Christmas Outfits.


Lawson in her Dressy Christmas Outfit. *I never got Wesley in his coordinating dressy outfit because of the stomach bug!


Lawson in he PJs. I love these PJs.


Wesley had coordinating pants (pictured below) and did have another shirt to wear but insisted on wearing his "Joy" shirt. Apparently, he was overjoyed about this shirt and not his PJ shirt!!

Here is my family on Christmas Eve. (3 out of 4 looking isn't bad)

Everything this Christmas was perfect. I love sewing and creating for my kids!! It makes for such great memories!! I even love the little frenzy it puts me in to try and complete everything by Christmas Day. I love the pressure...but always promise myself I will be more prepared next year!! Ya right!

I hope you enjoyed a little snippet of our Homemade Christmas!!

Merry Christmas

I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas! I hope your Christmas is filled with joy and tons of happiness. Our Christmas morning has been nothing less then wonderful!! I love Christmas through children's eyes. Plus, it is fabulous to have my parents here to bring a little Christmas magic for the big folks. They make us feel like kids with wonderful big and little surprises!

I have not posted all week thanks to my wonderful procrastination skills and the stomach bug that struck my son. I am happy to say every single project was completed (some on Christmas Eve) AND my son is 100% back to his old self.

Now, my over-worked sewing machine is going to take a break and so am I!! I will be back next week showing you some of the gifts my friends and family received and a 2010 round-up.

Merry Christmas Friends!

God Bless.

Superhero Boo-boo Pack Gift Set

My friend is blessed with 3 boys who LOVE superheros. Well, 2 of them do the third one is 3 months old but will most likely by default! For her Christmas gift this year I gave her Superhero boo-boo packs--personalized for each boy.

They are rice filled packs that can either be microwaved for 20 seconds or put in the freezer.

These Superhero Packs are sure to get any superhero feeling like new in no time at all!

Insert instructions.

This is how I packaged it. If you leave the rice packs in a zipper bag you can leave it in your freezer so they are ready for life's little emergencies.

Here they are again! I hope it helps eases the pain of superhero injuries!!

I have to give credit to A Creative Momma where I saw the boo-boo packs. I just tweaked the design to make it extra personal. Thank you ladies!

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Gift for a friend and one for me- Camera Strap Slip Cover

Another Homemade Gift has been made!!!

For one of my friends I planned on making her a homemade camera strap cover. She has a fancy Nikon camera and knowing her I thought she would enjoy spicing up her camera strap. Before I gave her my homemade gift, I felt like I needed to "test" out the instructions. BTW- The instructions are perfect from SewCuteShop. In testing out the "gift" I got a camera strap slip cover too!! Yippee!!

Here is the gift she received. I don't think her husband will mind having this on their camera, do you??

Merry Christmas to me and I hope my friend enjoys her homemade gift too!!

Dinosaur Hooded Towel Gift

This year the gifts my husband and I are giving the kids are going to be Strictly Homemade, Santa is another story. This task can be pretty tricky because homemade gifts are not near as cool as DVDs, cars, and trucks. One way to make homemade gifts more appealing is to make sure you incorporate their interests into what you make.

I have an almost 3 year old son who is finding dinosaurs rather amusing these days. He loves to scare me with his roars, and attack me with his claws (in a fun way I promise) he saves the real rough attacks for his daddy! To make bath time a little more enjoyable I thought I would bring his love for dinosaurs to the bathroom and make him a Dinosaur Hooded Towel. How cool is this???

I made this with half of a towel set I bought at Walmart for $8 in August. It came with 2 towels, 2 hand towels, & 2 wash clothes. This was a lot of fun to make and I will be making this again as a gift! Would you be interested in a tutorial? If so let me know. Otherwise, I am not wasting my time. To many other things to do.

I think my little man, Wesley, is going to LOVE this!!

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Handmade Christmas Dress

If you know anything about me or are a regular on this blog you know I love to sew for my kids, my home, and my friends. This time of year I am EXTRA busy trying to make everything homemade because to me that is one of my ways of showing people how much I care and how special they are to me. Check out my to do list...

For my children I love making them their keepsake Christmas Outfits. This year is my second year making my daughter a Christmas Dress and I am SO PROUD of the dress I made for her this year. It fills me with a joy to see her look so beautiful in something I made special for her with nothing but a heart full of love!!

Lawson's 2010 Christmas Dress

The back side.
Her first time wearing her Christmas Dress we went to a Mother/Daughter tea party at a friend's house. I thought she looked BEAUTIFUL!!I have to say a special thank you to my Aunt Shellie who gave me a gift certificate to fabric.com and made it possible for me to buy the material to make Lawson her Christmas Dress (and Wesley his Christmas pants)! Thank you!!!

Zipper Free Garment Bag Gift with Tutorial

I have successfully finished another Homemade Christmas Gift. My daughter is receiving a garment bag for Christmas. She might not LOVE it per se, but she will get use out of it and I think it is a practical gift! Plus, it matches her travel bag I made her years ago so it is a must for her to have a matching garment bag (she just doesn't know it!)


This garment bag was very easy to construct and I have included a tutorial for you!

Finished Personalized Garment Bag. Bonus...no zipper.


Here is what you need...

1. 40" of material (get some with good body not quilters cotton)

2. 1" grosgrain ribbon on a spool

3. sewing supplies...thread, scissors

4, Scrap coordinating material

5. Heat n' bond


To make this easy I used a garment bag I had to trace out my pattern leaving a 1/2" seam allowance. (I have no idea who DJT is, but thanks for the garment bag!) . Cut two.

Once body of the garment bag is cut out, I took one side and appliqued an "L" on it. Remember to trace you image on the shiny side of the Heat n' Bond!!



Do you like it how I was attempting to go all Laverne and Shirley on this "L"?
Here is the appliqued "L" on one side of the garment bag.

Now to construct the bag...with right sides together fold in half.

Then cut the top peak flat. It is approximately a 2" cut folded or 4" unfolded

Then cut a piece of grosgrain ribbon the length of the cut. Fold in half and stitch. Do this on both sides. This is your opening for your hangers.

Both tops with with grosgrain ribbon.

With right sides together start at the bottom and make a 1/2" stitch. When you get to the grosgrain ribbon go in about 3/4" and stitch all the way up. See below. Do the same on the other side.

Turn inside out. Press Flat.

Add a 1.25" hem at the bottom.

Add 14-20" ribbon (your choice, mine is 14" long) to the bottom. Mine is about 5" in from the

sides. Turn twice and stitch. On the other end I used Fray Check.
As a special feature I added a grosgrain hook on the "L" side of garment bag. So you can fold the garment bag in half and hook on the hangers. This piece is 8" long. Turned twice on both sides and sewn in the middle of the two ribbons.

You are done!!

Garment bag finished, folded and hooked on the hangers.

Full length.

I loved making this and I think my daughter will get lots of use out of it over the years!

While I was making this garment bag I was thinking of all the other gift giving occasions I could make something similar like high school graduation, college graduation, birthdays, going-away gifts, etc.

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I Interrupt Christmas Ideas to show you Monogrammed Pillows!

I am busy working on Christmas Gifts but I wanted to take a break and show you some pillows I made on the cheap for my den couch. I am slightly A.D.D...I can't stay focused on one thing for a very long time....I get bored. So bare with me...

One-of-a-kind Monogrammed Pillows!!

Ideally these pillows would be identical but since my decorating budget is $0, I had to make do with what I had- drop cloth material, trim and wool material. The 24"X24" pillow inserts are from a botched couch project my mom started!! (I love being the recipient of her botched projects)

I started out by adding gimp trim to a 25X25 material. To find the right lines I folded in have twice. Can you see the iron lines?


To get the Monogram Letter, I used gingham material. Some people have great computer programs that do these type of monograms. Then some have graph paper. If you don't have graph paper use gingham material (same thing, right?) It works! I found a circle object that fit the center perfectly and then drew my monogram.


Copy your monogram on Heat'n Bond. Remember to copy it on the bumpy adhesive side of the Heat'n Bond or you will be VERY DISAPPOINTED (note from experience)

Iron pattern onto wool and cut out. Peel off paper then place pattern on pillow and iron in place.


I have 2 kids, plain ol' Heat'n Bond will not work in my house. For extra security sew around each letter 1/8" from the edge. Here is the final results.

Here is the other pillow with pretty fringe.

I LOVE the way these turned out and I finally have pillows that will stay upright on my leather couch. Plus they are so comfortable!!

Wasn't that worth the interruption???

I am sharing this at...
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Make it Fantabulous Momma's Kinda Crafty