#SewToShare - Personal Progress: June 2015

Well, I'm trying to chip away at my summer goals list.....slowly, but surely!

Cook more, especially with my children.

Sew curtains for my youngest daughter's room. (FINALLY!!!)

Fresh paint for several rooms in our home. In Progress....and more added!

New skirts for my girls.

Sew "Busy Bags" & Totes for the foster closet. In Progress, A BUNCH!!!

Read some chapter books aloud to my kiddos.

Gifts for our local Animal Shelter.

Participate in library events.
Sort my patterns. ALL of them! 

Visit the zoo.

Help my youngest daughter, now 5, sew her first "something".

Create a pattern/tutorial for a special medical comfort item.

Sew some adult sized bibs for my grandfather.

Make new oven mitts, potholders and such for our kitchen.

Go on a picnic.

And, take a few naps! ;) Never Enough!

Hmmmm. 

Seems I've added waaaaay more than I've finished! ;) Oh well!

Update my 10 year old's scrapbook.

Rip the carpet from my stairs, sand and paint them. 

Take of the giant mending pile. 

I'm sure it will continue to grow....

Here's a few pics to share with you of my cutting progress. Since I tend to do my donation sewing in "batches", I've done a BUNCH of cutting!!!! These are the piles prepped and waiting for me to stitch...

A few remaining ballerina dolls I found under some other items.

A bunch of bibs.

I got carried away cutting "Busy Bags" for the foster care closet and these are the ones all set to start sewing. 

The below stack still needs a bit of fusible fleece interfacing....I just ran out. TWICE! lol!

A nice stack of security "blankies" that I'll get to at some point to maybe go with the bibs. 

 And more Teeny Tears diaper gifts than I can count! I think I may end up doubling my original goal of filling 1 bushel sized basket! :)

A bit more family sewing is on the list for the day. Prepping some PJs for my girls headed to camp, and some super hero pillowcases & valances for my boy's newly painted and decorated super hero bedroom. The fun never stops! ;)

How's your summer sewing going? 

Any "Sew To Share" goodies to tell us about?

Babyville Boutique - Adorable Woodland Diaper Covers!

 It feels so good to have had a bit of sewing time this weekend! With a variety of sicknesses bouncing about our home for over a month now, everything but "survival mode" necessities like laundry and baths have been pushed a little further back on the priority list. This weekend I finally got to spend the entire day Saturday in my sewing room and it was sooooo good!

These sweet diaper covers are a few of the things that have been waiting far too long for me to get to, and I'm so happy to have them finished!

 My Littlest Fella is a very heavy wetter....the heaviest of all of my 6 children! He manages to leak through about every diapering combination we come up with! He has to be double diapered for bedtime, and so that requires a larger than normal cover. We had reached the point that we only had one that would easily work for this. And these new ones are sooo much nicer and more comfortable for him to wear!

I made each of the covers using the Cloth Diapers Made Easy pattern book by Babyville Boutique. You can read more about my sewing from this book on my previous posts HERE and HERE.

The covers are trimmed in a soft Fold Over Elastic that makes a very nice and easy finish, but also makes the covers easier on my Little One's legs since regular elastic can often leave red marks when on overnight. 

I used snaps for the closures on my covers. Snaps are durable and will often last much longer than the alternative hook & loop closures. Plus, they are more challenging for toddlers to take off of themselves too! ;)

The snaps require reinforcement, so I simply used scraps from my diaper cuts. The Cloth Diapers Made Easy book includes instructions on this as well.  

A new item we got to try from Babyville Boutique, are the Boutique Snake Soakers and let me just say, WE LOVE THEM!!!!! They are the perfect solution to our little heavy wetter! The Soakers are long enough that you can fold them over however works best for your diapering needs. Unlike most other types of cloth diaper soakers/inserts, they are topped with a plush microfleece which is not only safe against babies skin, it helps keep it dry!

And does it get any cuter than prints like this!?!?!? I remember when I first started sewing cloth diapers near 8 years ago, it was nearly impossible to find fun waterproof prints to sew with! Babyville Boutique offers a great selection that is easy to get your hands on at your local JoAnn's store. (and did I mention you can use a coupon!???) ;)

Another added bonus that I adore are the personalized sew-on tags they offer to coordinate with all the cute prints and colors! 

I love my tags!

 And if you're wondering about fit.....well, it's GREAT!!! Here's my Little One wearing his favorite cover getting ready for bed. Mama can't believe how big he's getting! For reference, he is 2 years old, 28 pounds, and this is the size Large from the book above with a diaper and the Snake Soaker. Full coverage in spite of the extra bulk = pleased parents and a DRY bed!!!

Babyville products are also so versatile that they work well with items you may already have in your stash too, like the camo FOE and little fox label I've used with these covers.

You can find this cuteness and more, like I mentioned, at your local JoAnn's and other sewing shops, as well as on line at BabyvilleBoutique.com.

As always, a warm THANK YOU to Babyville Boutique for providing materials for me to sew and share with you, and in this case, my family! 

Project FINALE!!!!

This is it!!!!

The final day of our 2014 3rd Quarter Project!

I'm still hoping to get a few receiving blankets finished up tonight to add to the goodies heading to our Crisis Pregnancy Center. 

Then.....tomorrow.....it's time for the 4th Quarter, and FINAL, Project of 2014 announcement!

I'm so excited as I have recruited a most adorable assistant for this special project! Will share all about it tomorrow! :)

More Baby Sewing with ONLY 2 weeks left in our Project!

 ONLY 2 WEEKS LEFT!!!!!

That's right....our 3rd Quarter Project is coming to a close! 

Have you been Baby stitching along with us? If so, we'd love to see & share your finishes. Just add them to our Flickr Album HERE so we can! 

Here's my latest finishes for donation to the project...

 These cheery tag blankies are a great quick sew project that helps finish off fabric remnants and those end of roll ribbon pieces! The playful hedgehog print and red dot minky fabrics came as part of the last "Bits of Binkeez" donations received from Binkeeze For Comfort. These blanket trimmings have been such a blessing to me and allowed me the opportunity to sew and share so much more!

I had the orange fleece as a remnant and was able to clear out all kinds of ribbon bits from bow making and the like while making these! I finished a stack of 8 to add to the other goodies going to our Crisis Pregnancy Center. 

I also finished another 16 bibs. These were all made using remnants from other projects, so they helped clear out a bit more of my stash I've been trying to purge. 

I'm hoping to finish up a few more things over the next couple of weeks as time allows. We'll be excited to deliver all these goodies knowing they will be a blessing to the families that receive them and the workers that are able to share them. :) Still time to join in....and I sure hope you will! Find all the details linked at the top of the sidebar.
 

#TBT - Sew Baby Book Review & 100 Quilts for Kids

Visit THIS PAST POST to read my review of the Sew Baby book and see the darling quilt I made from one of the patterns. :)

And if you haven't yet, maybe you'll consider donating a quilt to our 3rd Quarter Project collection in honor of the 100 Quilts for Kids challenge! :)

Baby Quilt for 3rd Quarter Project

This sweet ducky quilt is my latest finish for our 3rd Quarter Project. 

I bought this kit last year anticipating to sew it up for one of our projects and never got around to it. It was a really quick and easy sew and will be perfect for donation to our Crisis Pregnancy Center for our current project. 

The instructions had it to where you would piece the front and then just sew it to the backing. Didn't really say "quilt" to me that way, so I added a little batting and quilted a little wave pattern on the backing fabric first. 

The kit was made up of a variety of soft fabrics.....cotton, flannel, satin and the center is a fluffy, plush fabric. I hope the baby and family that receives it will enjoy using it. :)

This is the first of several baby quilts I hope to finish this quarter for donation. Additionally, I will be participating in the Quilts for Kids 2014 quilt drive for children in need with each one created for donation. You can learn more about how you too can participate in this wonderful project by clicking the image below...

Keep sewing and spreading the word, we have the opportunity to encourage many this month with our efforts! Learn more about our current project and how you can be a part here.

Hopeful Threads 2014 - 3rd Quarter Project

Introduction to Teeny Tears....a very special organization

I sew a lot for babies. 

However, I don't think I've ever sewn anything quite so meaningful as this.

 These are Teeny Tears diapers. Teeny Tears is an organization that provides these tiny bereavement gifts for families who have lost their tiny bundles. 

My aunt knows how I love to sew, she also knows my heart. When she sent me a link to Teeny Tears I immediately had to check out it. Upon reading through the website, it was without hesitation that I emailed them to find out how to get started and check on the hospitals nearest me that they have served. I received a very prompt and warm reply from one of the coordinators, and well, this is now a new personal project for me. While I am obviously new to the group, the community of volunteer seamstresses is incredibly talented and encouraging, as you would likely imagine. 

I will be sewing these tiny cloth gifts for our local Children's Hospital. After they are stocked, I hope to gradually reach out to other hospitals in my area to see what need they might have as well. 

To give you an idea of the tiny size of these little diapers, that is a Size #2 Safety Pin and is only 1.5" long.

Sewing these has been a very touching experience for me. There are moments it is overwhelming when I consider that this may very well be the one and only item a mother is ever able to cloth her baby in. And, as she says goodbye to her precious one.
I have never experienced the loss of a child through stillbirth, miscarriage or soon after birth....though I have experienced loss of those I mother through foster care, and this has been one of the most difficult grieving experiences of my life. While not exactly the same, it has provided me with something tangible to help me relate to these mothers and their families. I gently swing between feelings of complete unworthiness to have this privilege, to the overflowing blessing of getting to be a part of this sacred time. 

I am humbled.

I am grateful.

I am full of prayers of comfort and hope for these families.

While this is entirely separate from our Baby Sewing project this quarter, I invite you to learn more. Perhaps there are some of you that would be interested in sewing for Teeny Tears or similar bereavement outreach efforts. You can visit the Teeny Tears website here.