Super Stay At Home Mommy!

Adventures in the life of a stay at home wife and mom

Kids Clothes Week- Days 1 and 2

Kids Clothes Week has begun! I spent yesterday and today working on Apple Loungewear by Shwin Designs!

I have to say, I am absolutely in love with this pattern. It was easy to follow and went together pretty quickly. I don’t think I’ll ever use another pattern for leggings. I am in LOVE with these. And they have a fold over, non-elastic, waistband! No threading elastic through casings!!!!

Enough of my ravings… onto the pictures!

How comfy does she look!!

How comfy does she look!!

And pockets!!! Gotta love pockets <3

And pockets!!! Gotta love pockets ❤

What are you working on??

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Kids Clothes Week!!

Kids Clothes Week starts TOMORROW!!!

I’ve been doing some planning, and thought I’d share what I’ll be working on throughout the week. I’ll post updates as I go, and look forward to seeing what you’re making too!

ON MY LIST:

Apple Loungewear by Shwin Designs: I’m excited for this one! I bought fabric for it back on Black Friday, and have yet to have the opportunity to sew it up.
Super Kid Cape by Peek-A-Boo Patterns: Linnaea is obsessed with playing super heroes. She wraps blankets around her neck and pretends to be Superman. So, when this FREE pattern came out, I knew I just had to sew one for her!
Aurthi Reversible Tunic by Tikatuly: I’ve made several of these and it is one of my all time favorite patterns. LOVE it! This week, I’m going to make one for daughter #2 🙂
Doll Clothes by Ellie Inspired: Ok, so not for my kids to wear, but something for them to play with! Linnaea got an 18″ doll for Christmas, and she needs some new clothes!

Ready to start sewing tomorrow!!!!

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Kids Clothes Week- Winter 2014

I’ve missed the pasted few KCW’s, but I plan to participate in the Winter 2014 challenge, January 27-February 2. I invite you all to join me! It’s a lot of fun, and a great excuse to get some sewing done!! If you’ve never participated before, the idea is to dedicate one hour a day to creating kids clothes (could be cutting patterns, fabrics, or sewing). I’ll be posting all the fun stuff I create throughout the week, and can’t wait to see what you come up with, too! And be sure to check out their Facebook page.

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Happy New Year!!!

Is it really 2014 already?? And has it really been 3 months since my last post?

Oops!! I could throw out a handful of excuses, but I won’t. What I will vow to do is blog MORE this year! I want to commit to at least once a month, hopefully more 🙂

An update on me:

Jessa is now 9.5 months old, and is taking her first steps!! Ack! It happened too fast! I bet she’ll be full on walking before she turns 10 months. We’re already throwing around ideas for her first birthday party. Ummm… wasn’t she just born yesterday?

And Miss Linnaea celebrated her third birthday in October. We’ve started preschool here at home and she has a blast. Christmas was so much fun with her this year! It was the first year that she really understood the magic of Christmas.

This year the hubs and I are working on growing our businesses. (Don’t forget to go check out Country Meadow Treasures!)

Looking forward to an exciting and prosperous New Year and wish the same for all my readers!!

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Today is the day!!!

Today is the Grand Opening of Country Meadow Treasures!! Please, come check out my shop on Facebook and on Etsy! I’ll be doing giveaways, taking part in an auction, and all sorts of other fun stuff to celebrate the day!

maxi3 maxi4 Tunic3 2013 09 16_CMTModelSession001_0063 jacket Nelle Top2

 

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Fun News!!

I’ve been busy, busy, busy! Sewing SO many adorable outfits….. Why? Because I’m opening my own shop selling kids clothes! Exciting, right! Please, stop by and “like” my Facebook page, Country Meadow Treasures, to keep up with what I’m doing. I’m throwing a grand opening event on Sept 29 if I can get 100 “likes”. Join me in this journey!

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Sewing Room Organization

Hello!! It’s been a while! Life with a (colicky) baby and a 2 year old can sure get hectic. I swear the time flies by faster than I can keep track of. I certainly doesn’t feel like it’s been over 2 months since I last posted, but it has!!

Anyways, in my little bit of spare time, I have been focusing on organizing my little sewing area so that I can get back to doing what I love- creating cute kids clothes! I thought I’d share some of my tips and methods to organizing everything in a small space.

Fabric storage:

I have this cabinet in my sewing room (Excuse the mess on my sewing table…) — sewing room

And here’s an idea of what it looked like before I got to work–

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YIKES!!! I had to get organized… I just can’t work in a cluttered space.

So, first things first, I bought some shelves to place in the cabinet. I decided to use THIS method to fold my fabric to display it in a way that I could see everything that I have to work with. It makes it SO much easier to pick and choose fabrics for each project.

Here’s what it looks like now:

sewing room 2

SO much better. (And LOOK, my ironing board tucks right in there too!) I was so overwhelmed with how it looked before But look at it now… makes me smile 🙂 (Yes, I am a total dork, lol. Fabric brings me joy! Just ask my husband and our bank account….)

Pattern storage:

I have a couple different methods for storing patterns. The first are these lovely storage cubes that I found at the Dollar Store. They slide right on the top shelf and are the perfect fit for my paper patterns:

sewing room 3(Don’t mind the bin on the left- it’s filled with ribbon and trim…)

The other problem I ran into was how to store my PDF patterns that I’ve printed. This is still a work in progress, but I’ll explain what I’m working on doing. I bought a large binder and a bunch of plastic pocket protectors. I printed the first page (usually has a picture) of each pattern. Place each of these pages in a paper protector, and then slide your pattern piece (folded neatly) in behind them. This way, I can thumb through my patterns and see exactly what I have and have the pieces organized. Because otherwise, they can become quite the mess!

Also– I don’t bother printing up the millions of pages of instructions anymore. I downloaded Dropbox on my computer and on my phone, and I simply “drop” the instructions into Dropbox on my computer, and then I can read them on my phone as I sew. Huge paper saver!!! (And if you don’t already have Dropbox, get it! I love this program for more than just patterns!!)

Notion storage:

I have a couple different methods for storing notions. First, I have one of THESE drawers. It is perfect for fabric scraps, little containers of buttons, safety pins, etc… I keep all sorts of little odds and ends in there.

Then, back to my little cabinet, I placed this on the inside of one of the doors (another great dollar store find, I think I will probably grab more to put on the other door too!)

sewing room 4

It’s perfect for my scissors, rotary cutter, needles, zippers, bias tape, elastic, you name it! And all those little packages are organized and out of the way. How handy is that!

So, there you have it, a few little secrets to organizing a small space. It’s still a work in progress, so PLEASE send me your ideas!  I’d love to see more!! And, as always, have fun!

 

sewing room organization

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The Liebster Award!

I woke up this morning to a nomination for a Liebster blog award from fellow SAHM over at Creating My Niche! Thank you!!

An award! Woohoo! I am so excited…. but what the heck is a Liebster award??? Basically, it’s an award to recognize small bloggers (less than 200-300 followers).  So, in order to official “accept” the award, I need to do the following: List eleven random facts about myself, answer eleven questions given to me by Creating My Niche, and nominate eleven small blogs.

LiebsterAward_3lilapples

Here goes….

Eleven random facts about me:

1.) I played rugby in high school. I always love to throw that one out there because not many people can say they played rugby. It was tons of fun, but I still deal with lots of knee and shoulder pain from old injuries.

2.) I was the Fair and Rodeo Queen for my county in 2004. Yeehaw!

3.) My husband and I ran away to Vegas to get married. Yes, Elvis was there

4.) I hate, hate, HATE spiders. I couldn’t tell you why. I just hate them.

5.) I have 6 nieces and one adorable nephew. I love being an auntie.

6.) My guilty pleasure…. Teen Mom, 16 and Pregnant, and Dance Moms. Why? No clue… My husband makes fun of me because I spend half the time yelling at the television because I can’t stand the girls or the shows. Ha!

7.) When I was younger, I never really wanted to get married or have children. Now that I have both, I can’t imagine my life any other way. Love it!

8.) Both of my daughters are named after flowers. Just not your typical “rose” or “daisy”

9.) I’m a choco-holic! Especially dark chocolate. YUM!

10.) Before having babies, I worked at a couple different animal hospitals. I may actually like animals more than I like most people…. lol!!

11.) Some day I’d love to start my own small business. Probably just out of the house… Decorating cakes or making clothes or homemade cosmetics. Some day 🙂

My Eleven Questions From Creating My Niche:

1.  If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would buy/do? Lame, but I would pay off all of our debts…. Then I would buy my parents a vacation home really close to us so that we could see them more often 🙂

2.  What is the first movie you saw in a theater? hmmm…. I have no idea. I can remember seeing The Lion King at the drive-in when I was little, does that count? lol.

3.  What is your dream car? A horse… LOL! I’m not much of a car person, but think it would be really cool if my hubby bought an old Camero and fixed it up for me (hint, hint)

4.  How would your closest friend describe you? Kind, quiet, silly, and caring

5.  What is your most cherished possession? Pictures. I am a crazy picture taking lady. I would be devastated if I ever lost them.

6.  What does “happy” mean to you? Happy for me is being surrounded by my family. Watching my girls grow. Being in the loving arms of my husband. My family is my happiness.

7.  If you could pick it, what would be your last meal? Tough one! I’m a food lover…. Let’s see, how about a juicy steak with a side of risotto, spaghetti, pizza, and lasagna. Oh, and a chocolate souffle for dessert. LOL!

8.  If you could meet anyone, past or present, who would you pick and why? Gordon Ramsey… to get some cooking lessons! (I know, I know, I should have picked someone more inspirational. But after the last question, all I can think about is food!)

9.  What is your favorite junk food? CHOCOLATE! Oh, and Doritos. Love Doritos 🙂

10.  What song have you listened to most often in the last few days? The classical music we have playing in Linnaea’s room.

11.  If you were stranded on a remote island, what three things would you want with you (besides food & water)? My family, Kindle, and toilet paper! haha…

My nominees are: (I follow a ton of blogs, but these were the only ones that met the requirements. I love all of them!)

1.) Robbyn’s Nest

2.) Dresses & Me

3.) Mom’s Place of Sanity

4.) When Harry Met Celery

My Eleven Questions for my nominees….

1.) What is your favorite childhood memory?

2.) What was your dream job as a child?

3.) What is your favorite food?

4.) If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

5.) If you could travel back in time, what year would you travel to and why?

6.) If you could be any animal, what would you be and why?

7.) Beach or Mountains?

8.) What is your favorite season?

9.) What is your favorite movie?

10.) What made yo start blogging?

11.) Describe yourself in 3 words:

Yay! We’re all set… Can’t wait to read your answers! And thank you again, Creating My Niche, for the nomination!! Now go, check out her blog! And don’t forget to take a look at my nominees blogs too! They all have lots of fun stuff to share!

 

 

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FREE Girls Sewing Tutorials and Patterns!

Unfortunately, I have had NO time to do any sewing. It’s amazing how hard it is to find a moment to sit down and work on a project when you’re busy snuggling a 6 week old and chasing around a 2.5 year old. I have found myself daydreaming about sewing, and imagining what my first project will be when I can get back to my hobby. Like many others out there, the first place I search is Pinterest, and my Pinterest sewing board has become over-filled with TONS of great free tutorials and patterns. I figured, since I can’t sew right now, I’d take this opportunity to share some of them with you!!

Dresses:

Twirly T-Shirt Dress from The Crafty Cupboard

Olivia’s Best Dress from Emily Taylor Design

Maxi Dress from Life is {Sew} Dailyfree sewing patterns and tutorials

One Hour Sundress from From an Igloo

Racerback Dress from Crafterhours

Delaney Dress from luvinthemommyhood

Snappy Toddler Dress from Prudent Baby

Junebug Dress from Craftiness is not an Option

Let’s God Fly a Kite Sundress from The Ribbon Retreat

Coraline Dress from Craftiness is not an Option

Vintage Heirloom Dress from Sew Set

The Playdate Dress from Sew Set

Toddler Maxi Dress and Shrug from Cat on a Limb

Itty Bitty Baby Dress from Made by Rae

Easter/Spring Dress from Moda Bake Shop

Ruffle Halter Dress from Ellie Inspired

Sweet Tartan Dress from Skirt as Top

Summer Picnic Dress from The Cottage Home

Brooklyn Frock from Sew Set

Butterfly Dress from Sewing in No Mans Land

The Perennial Dress from sewpony

Skirts:

Pleated Skirt from Fleece Fun

Tiered Petal Skirt from Life is {Sew} Daily

Twirly Skirt from House on Hill Road

Layer Cake Skirt from Prudent Baby

Reversible Circle Skirt from This Heart of Mine

Pleated Pocket Skirt from Sew Set

Tiered Skirt from Sew Set

Layered Skirt by Made

Tops:

Tank Top from Happy to Craft

Girls Tunic with Tank Top from Tea Rose Home

Julia Top from Shwin & Shwin

Reversible Apron Top from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom

 

HAVE FUN!!!

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Meet the Newest Addition to Our Family!

Life has been crazy around here lately! That’s because our newest little addition joined our family on March 17! That’s right, our little St Patrick’s Day baby came right on her due date 🙂 After some complications at birth, she had to spend 5 days in the NICU, but I am happy to report that she is now healthy and happy at home with us. Once things settle down a bit and we get back into a routine, I’ll be back to blogging. For now, I leave you with a picture of my little princess!

Miss Jessamine Parisi March 17, 2013 8lb 8oz  20 inches

Miss Jessamine Parisi
March 17, 2013
8lb 8oz 20 inches

 

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