Maddie's birthday party - part one!

My little Miss Maddie turned two yesterday, and on Sunday she had a My Friends Tigger and Pooh Birthday party! We had a grand old time. Right before the party she tripped over a crack in the sidewalk and took a header into the open car / car door jamb and ended up with a spectacular shiner. We got to go hang out at the ER for awhile, thank God Auntie Liz and Danny came to help corral the babies because I was there by myelf with two rambunctious convicts intent on escaping. Luckily it was ruled just a bad bruise.

I made Maddie a Winnie-the-Pooh birthday skirt from some blue Pooh fabric she had picked out and some yellow bumble bee fabric I got in the Sew Mama Sew! FQ swap from a lovely lady named Kristin. I probably should have tucked her skirt in so the waist showed better, but here is Maddie modeling her Pooh Bear Birthday skirt. For the record her shirt was just plain yellow when it started out, but at the end of the day it looked like a stain remover before picture - strawberries, tomatoes, green frosting . . . you name it she had it on herself!

She had a blast! I tossed the skirt and the shirt in the wash right after the party because they were so wrecked! Sign of good party I say! I will be posting some pictures of all of the other fun things at the party soon!

Maddie

Two years ago today I became the Mommy of the sweetest, prettiest, most wonderful baby in the world. After six years of infertility, two losses, so many trips to the doctor, rounds and rounds of shots, and a horrific night in the ER with early pregnancy bleeding, we were so blessed to be able to welcome our little Maddie into the world in our home, attended by the most awesome midwife and midwife's assistant ever, and surrounded by our friends and family.

Madeleine Grace Melendez

Apil 26, 2008

Miss Print - Kaye's got a give away

I first found Kaye's blog Miss Print though the Sew Mama Sew! give away event. Kaye is a lovely girl from Canada. She is studying to be a librarian and loves L.M. Montgomery, so of course she's a-okay in my book. To celebrate her hundredth post she is hosting a great give away.

Try not to hate her because she's gorgeous and smart and talented . . . I try . . . most days I succeed. It helps that she is really sweet. That aside, enter her give away and follow her blog!

You could win :

This lovely fabric from Moda!

Or . . .

Crochet Blocks in a Box (this would make a great gift for a certain Mother of mine . . .)

Happy entering!

The Vintage Sheets Blog

I am so thrilled about this new blog! I love vintage sheets! They are so soft and pretty!

Make sure you enter the Grand Opening Giveaway! Day One is this awesome pattern for pillows made from vintage sheets. I want it! Do you?

Update: Oh man, giveaway Day Two is for some awesome vintage sheet fat quarters! In fact for twelve of them.

You heard me! ONE DOZEN! Yay!

I am willing them into my mailbox. Come enter with me!

The Rusted Chain

I have been online stalking (stalking is maybe a little bit of an exaggeration . . . but just a little) Beki from The Rusted Chain for a little over a two months now. I don't even remember on which blog I first saw her jewelry, but I fell in love with her pieces. I mean, who wouldn't?? Check some of these out!

This Two Tabs necklace is adorable!

I love the Worship Always necklace!

The oh, so pretty Ella earrings!

And my personal favorite the Est. necklace with initial and wedding year. I've been drooling over it!

So, when Beki offered a $30 gift card to her store to one of her twitter followers I jumped right on the opportunity, and I won . . . it may or may not have been due to taking the stalking to a whole new level and tweeting a bazillion time. I, of course, picked the awesome Est. necklace and I haven't taken it off since I got it two weeks ago! I love i The amazing thing is how Maddie and Jamie proof this thing is, they've both tugged on it pretty significantly . . . James likes to play with it while he is nursing.

Here is an iphone self portrait of me wearing my necklace:

I encourage you all to visit The Rusted Chain's store . . . and don't forget my birthday is in June!

I Have a Notion - to win some goodies!

If you need sewing and crafting supplies and accessories, I Have a Notion is the place to go! Not only does Kelly, the owner, have a great store, she also has a fun and informative blog. I Have a Notion (IHAN), is turning one year old, and to celebrate Kelly has been hosting a full month of giveaways. Here is the amazing thing, you can still go enter every giveaway until the 15th!

One of the amazing things she is giving away is this amazing little machine called an AccuQuilt Go. . . how cool is this, it's like a Cricuit for fabric/quilting!

Also, who doesn't love Amy Butler patterns? I'd really love to win one of these!

A collection of silk fabric? Don't mind if I do . . .

So, really, why are you even still reading this post? Click on over to IHAN and start entering! You don't quilt? You don't sew? Well, firstly . . . why not? And secondly, I'd be more than willing to take any of these awesome prizes off your hands if you really can't figure out what to do with them.

Happy entering!

Easter Dress

Let's start this post off with a little Jamie cuteness shall we? He didn't get an Easter outfit made for him, but I think he is rocking these threads anyway. What a chill little monkey he is!

I barely "finished" Maddie's Easter dress in time. By "finished" I mean it was finished enough to be wearable - the zipper was only basted in and the waist ties weren't really on correctly. But hey, she was able to put it on and wear it to church, run around hunting eggs and lugging gravel around Grammy's backyard (she is obsessed with that gravel), it even made it through a hand washing afterwards so I could get it ready to rework and tidy up a few things on it. The dress did end up a lot larger than I thought it would seeing as I made it in a toddler 2 and Maddie is at the top of the weight range and over the height range for that size according to the pattern. This was my first time doing an entire dress from a pattern and I actually had fun. The pattern was a Project Runway Inspired for Simplicity and it was fun to get so many options for sleeves, skirt type, and add ons. Maybe not the best idea to pick as your first pattern one that has a collar, zipper, and is fully lined, especially when you start only a few days before the event! Oh well! I was also really thrilled with the bubble skirt, just want to make the next one shorter and puffier, although the nice thing is she will be able to still grow into this dress.

Here is the most amazing thing about this dress. I already had everything I needed to make it! The pattern I got months ago for 99 cents at Joanns during one of the Simplicity pattern sales! The linen for the bodice was one of my old skirts. The gorgeous fabric I used for the skirt is from the meadowsweet line and I won that online in a giveaway sponsored by Jane's Fabrics! The lining I used muslin left over from the skirts I made for the maternity pictures last year. The tulle for the bubble skirt and the interfacing for the waistband I already had from other projects! The only thing I had to buy was a zipper! Amazing!

She really, I mean really, loves that gravel. She had a whole Easter basket with candy and a stuffed lamby inside but spent an hour carrying around the gravel in an old plastic plant container. I cannot explain it. Most of these pictures were taken with my iphone, all of the "real" pictures are on Grammy's camera, but I still don't think I got a full on picture of her looking at the camera that shows the whole dress. Well, actually I did, but she's laying on the floor in the middle of a huge tantrum, and I can't post that can I?

Joshua

We have been crying with, and praying for, our good friends Steve and Olive who lost their almost full term little boy a little over a week ago. We rejoice that baby Joshua is in the arms of his heavenly Father as he waits for his parents to join him in heaven. Please keep Steve and Olive in your prayers. They live in Indonesia and we wish we could hold them in our arms, but we trust that God has His wrapped tightly around them.

This is from Glory Baby by Watermark. I love this song.

I can't imagine Heaven's lullabies

And what they must sound like

But I will rest in knowing

Heaven is your home

And it's all you'll ever know, all you'll ever know