Oh Sew Happy!

My mother came to Arizona during Rodeo Week and brought presents with her. Let me start by saying that my mother is a talented cook, crocheter, and sewer extraordinaire. She has crocheted each of my little ones a blankie to leave the hospital with and keep them warm during the night. Through the years, she has made countless burp clothes, changing table covers, and hats for my little ones. I love having these amazing blankets and other items as keepsakes for each one of my children.

Katie's original blankie was a gigantic project for my mom. It took her much longer than anticipated to finish and turned out to be more "fragile" than we expected. Since Katie can't really use her blankie on a nightly basis, Granny decided she needed another one. Katie received her new purple blankie...she was SO excited and now sleeps with it every single night. Bobby got his new Toy Story blanket and loves curling up with it at bedtime...he insists that it go under his comforter and that he gets tucked in just right.

I was gifted with my very first sewing machine and several days of lessons to go with it. My mom patiently taught me how to read the pattern instructions, how to pin and cut the material, and then how to slowly piece it together. I undertook 2 projects while my mother was available to train me.

Katie has fallen in love with Tiana from The Frog and Princess. She loves to play dress up and pretend to be a different princess every day. So, I promised her (quite boldly) that I would make her a Princess Tiana dress. Little did I know that I was undertaking a complex pattern for my very first project. My mom read the pattern instructions with me, explained sewing terms to me, and helped me get all of the fabric cut out. After 2 days of juggling kids, cleaning, and cooking, her dress was finally ready to be pieced together. I truly enjoyed watching the dress "come together" as I carefully stitched each piece together. Although there were some moments of frustration, I had so much fun making Katie her princess dress and am very happy with the model product!!!

Bobby, not one to be left out, decided he needed me to make something for him too. He picked out a Musketeer cape and tunic pattern and then carefully selected the fabric for his costume. We cut out the fabric, but saved his project for the end. Although I was able to make the tunic on my own, I was having trouble reading the directions for piecing the cape together. Fortunately, my mom had a couple of hours before she had to head back to Kansas to show me how the pieces fit together. Bobby's cape took much less time than Katie's dress. Just a few short hours of stitching the pieces together and Bobby now has a reversible cape to pretend play with.

I love, love, LOVE my new sewing machine. (Thank you, Mom!) I can't wait to start my next project and look forward to making some extra special outfits for my little ones.