Good Thing

Isn't she lovely?! I'm not sure what it is but there is just something about this Ragamuffin Quilt that I LOVE! Maybe it's the orange colors (my current favorite)! I'll be adding it to the Etsy store soon.

Yahoo....Schmahoo

I've been having such a horrible time with my TwinMommy website and I apologize to anyone who has been trying to view the site! It's been over a month now that the site has been unavailable and it's driving me crazy!
I'm REALLY considering dropping it all together and just sticking with my Etsy site. Anyone else done this? I would LOVE some feedback!

OK...that's my rant for the day!

Attention all Crafters.....

Hear ye, Hear ye....
Sew Mama Sew's November Handmade Holidays are underway!
If your the crafty type and your looking for some GREAT handmade gift ideas then be sure to check this out. Sew Mama Sew has put together an entire month's worth of great hand crafted gift ideas. You can view the site for a breakdown of daily tutorials...just click the link above!

Be sure and check out the Placemat Tutorials for today! The first one is mine....yeah!!
Thanks Sew Mama Sew for including me in your fantastic holiday promotion.

New Shopping Cart Cover

Updating the Busy Baby Shopping Cart Cover design is a project I have been working on for a little while now. I really wanted to find a way to make the cover more portable and much simpler to use. First on my list was to find a way to eliminate the need for a separate carrying bag for the cover. Now I know that there are a lot of covers out there that just roll into themselves and fit into an attached bag but I just felt like a little tweaking was in order!
So...after some trial and error I finally decided that my favorite solution was to have the cover roll up ( keeping the inside clean) and securing it with elastic straps. This allows you to use the seat belt (now included with the cover) as a carrying handle.
I like this version for several reasons:
*The included seat belt can be washed to keep it clean instead of using the one in the cart.
*The cover rolls into itself so the inside part that baby sits on stays clean.
*The elastic straps make it really simple and really quick to roll it up and secure.

So far the response has been really great! I think this design will be around for quite awhile.

Lions and Dinosaurs Oh My.....

Forgive me while I back track a bit on the way to getting caught up!

What a great Halloween we had this year. This was the first year the boys really had opinions about what they wanted to be! Once I knew they were sure they wanted to be a lion and dinosaur we headed off to the fabric store to get our supplies (It can be a little challenging to come up with Florida weather friendly costumes!!). It took a couple of afternoons and a lot of help from the boys and poof....costumes. They really enjoyed getting dressed up and had such a good time trick-or-treating with Brandon and Bryce.

I can't wait to see what they will want to be next year!

Catch up time....

I'm back.....

I wish I had some especially exciting news or reason for why it's been so long since my last post but instead I simply have a very long list of little things that seemed to all come at once! Funny how life works that way.

There have been lots of changes going on around here. Changes with business and changes with the kids, moving to a new house, and the list goes on and on!

I'm not even sure where to start so I'll just dive in and sort things out later....

So I found this little video today on one of the blogs I love to read and it was hysterical so I thought I would share! Normally I don't click to watch videos because my blog reading time is usually very slim but today I thought why not. There is of course a million other things I should have been doing, like making patterns for the boys Halloween costumes (coming soon!) but I'm so glad I got this good laugh in today!

Enjoy.....

Patchwork Placemat Tutorial

I know I've mentioned before that I hoped to include a tutorial or two along the way and while that may have been quite awhile ago.....here's tutorial #1!

This is my first tutorial so hopefully it will be easy to follow! I'm always open to comments and suggestions! I would like to do more of these so any feedback to improve them as I go would be much appreciated!
I am so in love with all things patchwork right now so I figured this Placemat Tutorial would be appropriate! So let's get started.....

SUPPLIES:

*Fabric for front of placemat (I used linen here)

*Fabric for back of placemat (I used a chocolate brown quilter's cotton)

*4-5 coordinating fabrics for the patchwork piece

*Fabric for the lining (I used a cotton fleece for a softer more flexible placemat)

CUTTING:

*Cut 1 piece of your front fabric measuring 19" x 8" and one measuring 19" x 2"

*Cut 1 piece of your back fabric measuring 19" x 14"

*Cut 1 piece of your lining fabric measuring 19" x 14"

*Cut 17 pieces from your coordinating fabrics each measuring 4" x 2"

PIECING:

Determine your desired pattern for your patchwork. Take your first two pieces and place them right sides together. Pin and sew down one long side with 1/4 to 1/2 inch seam allowance. **Please note...the less seam allowance you use will result in a little more trimming of the edges when you piece your patchwork to the main pieces.** Thanks Lisa for bringing that to my attention!!

Remove the pin, lay the two fabrics open and press the seam on the back to one side. Flip it over and press again. Continue this with each patchwork piece until you have them all together in one long piece.

With right sides together lay your 19" x 8" piece of front fabric on top of the patchwork piece matching up the top edge of your patchwork piece with the bottom edge of the 19" x 8" piece. Stitch the long edge together with a 1/4 inch seam. Repeat this process with the bottom edge of your patchwork piece lined up right sides together with the top edge of the 19" x 2" piece. After both sides are attached use your iron to press the seam edges on the back as well as pressing down the front.

Your almost finished!!

Pin the 19" x 14" piece of lining to the wrong side of your completed placemat front. Match up and pin (right sides together) the 19" x 14" piece of backing fabric with the completed placemat front. **Once you've done this you should see your backing fabric on one side and the lining fabric on the other with the placemat front sandwiched in between.**

Leaving an approx. 4 inch opening stitch all the way around the placemat with a 1/2 inch seam.
Trim the corners and pull your fabrics right side out through the opening! Press the entire placemat with your iron, fold in the fabric at your opening and sew a finishing stitch all the way around the placemat. I like to sew a second stitch about a 1/2 inch in around the entire placemat as well.

That's it! These are great for the holidays, everyday, hostess or housewarming gifts, etc....

Coming Soon.....to an Etsy near you!

There are a few items I've had available on the regular TwinMommy website for awhile now that I am very happy to be getting ready to offer on the Etsy site as well!


The adorable pants pictured above are the Baby Bunz! They are super comfy Carter's wide leg baby pants in soft white cotton with an adorable patch of fabric added to the backside in a perfect location for showing off baby's best asset! These are great for boys and girls alike and make for a really cute boy/girl twins gift when paired with the little girls Ruffler Onesie!

The Brooks Diaper Bag has been a very popular pick for some time now so it only makes sense to offer it on the Etsy site as well! Made with mommies of multiple children in mind...this bag features four smaller pockets across the front (perfect for bottles, sippy's and a water bottle for mom) and a large pocket across the back with lots of room for crayons, books, etc! Inside the bag are four more pockets for diapers, wipes, cell phone etc and a key fob for attaching you car keys. The closure can be done with a matching grosgrain ribbon or magnetic snaps!

Best of all, this bag is quilted for stability with a hard bottom insert that can be removed and the entire bag can be WASHED!

Farewell to a much loved Paci!

I love this picture so I thought I would include it in our salute to the much loved pacifier! This is my sister-in-law with Jackson on a recent Disney trip. It is one of the last pictures we have of Jackson and his paci!
It's just been over a week since we lost the last pacifier and so far so good! Josh and I promised ourselves we wouldn't buy anymore and when the last one went.....that would be it! So shortly before bedtime we noticed we had misplaced the paci and of course we panicked. After looking everywhere we decided to send him to bed with the "scissor paci" as he calls it (I cut the tip off of it) and it only took a moment for that particular paci to come flying back at my head and the screams for his regular paci to start. Fortunately he was really tired so it only took a short period of crying for him to give up!
Nap time the next day was a different story but after another two days he just quit asking altogether!
We have been pleasantly surprised at how well and how quickly he has adjusted to not having it!

Two Treasuries!

Wow...am I excited! After a quick peek at the treasury on Etsy this morning I noticed that I am featured in TWO treasuries!! Thanks ladies for including me. The first treasury includes my Kiwi Dreams Gift Set and the second includes my Meadow Flowers Mini Quilt.
What a great way to start the day!
Now it's off to the eye doctor but I'll have more posts later today!

Oh....and a very BIG CONGRATULATIONS to George and Laura on the birth of their baby boy! We are so happy for you!

A boy and his paci....

and his blanket too! When the boys were just babies we spent what now seems like a ridiculous amount of time trying to "help" them learn to keep their paci's in their mouths. I never imagined that process would bring us to this point.
Proving to us in yet another way that they are very different....Jacob isn't now nor has he really ever been attached to a "lovie" of any sort. Jackson, on the other hand, has many loves in his life....including the two that he brought into the car on our trip to the Science Center! I noticed the blanket coming with him and that's OK by me but it wasn't until we stopped at a red light and I turned to take a picture for a post about our trip that day that I noticed he had snuck out the paci as well. (Side Note: I couldn't help but be bothered by the word "snuck" so I did a little research and would like to clarify that the correct word to use would be "sneaked" as the past tense for sneak.....aren't you proud mom!)
So here we are at almost 3 and because he's not allowed to have it unless it's nap time or bed time, I just can't figure out how he got it (considering I keep it in a kitchen cabinet...makes me wonder if he's got a secret stash) or how he managed to get it in his pocket, get into the car and get it out of his pocket without me noticing!
Of course once I turned to take the picture and HE saw that I saw the paci...he knew he was busted and threw it on the floor.
I think he just likes to carry it around...after all, you never know when you may need a little "lovie"!

What I need....

I'm really sorry Nate if your seeing this...just look away quickly and the sting won't last as long!
This clutter is the reason I need this!
I found these great Car Litter Bags by Allyson Hill on Etsy and think they are such a great idea. Of course being a crafty girl I figured I would just make my own version...but who's got time for that!
So now the time has come...I'm ordering one this week! The hard part will be choosing a fabric! The car will be so tidy and I know of at least two Larson men who will be so happy!

You Can Call Me Al!

Frankly, I'm more than a little disappointed in myself and shocked just a bit that here we are, three games into the college football season and THIS is my FIRST Alabama post! Shame, Shame, Shame.
OK...now we can move on!
In the Roll Tide spirit (that's the University of Alabama for those of you who (gasp) may not know) I decided this was the perfect time of year to add a sweet little elephant to the collection! Sadly, the above pictured elephant has been replaced (ssshhh...she doesn't know yet). I'll have pictures of the improved version up soon.
Meanwhile, this little Pinafore dress is just adorable with the elephant attached and now I have to find a sweet little girl who needs a great new dress to help cheer on her team!

GO BAMA!!

Custom Orders....Round Two!

These sweet little ladies are part of the second installment of a really fun custom order! Matched with a pretty floral and grassy green they have been lots of fun to put together and I think they turned out adorable! I'm not sure what they'll be filled with or where they may find themselves but I have no doubt that these ladies will bring a real sense of fun to any location! They'll be leaving this week ..... so long ladies, it's been a pleasure!

Praise to the Toddler Nap

I'll say it now and I'm sure it will be repeated many times as the months go on...... WHAT am I going to do when the kids stop napping?

I can't help but ask myself this everytime I'm at the sewing machine feeling really productive while the kids are napping. I'm sure that using nap time for sewing will be replaced with sewing while their at preschool and there is no reason to panic but...I just can't help but think about it everytime!

So today while I was being productive I finished up an order of Monogrammed Hooded Towels. They came out just adorable. There is just something fun about monogrammed items!

I also found the time to sew together a couple of quilt fronts! I've had the squares ready for what seems like a lifetime and I have just been dying to get these together. Now I just have to add the batting and backing, quilt them together and viola!

Oh..one last thing..I couldn't help but put together another Ruffler too! I love the way the Green Tea fabric looks for the flower. Lucky little girls!

Monkeying Around

The boys and I headed out of the house this past weekend to give daddy a little quiet football time and somehow we ended up at Monkey Joe's AGAIN!

The boys always love it and get more adventurous each time (yikes)! That is until "Monkey Joe" makes his appearance and then it's straight to mommy yelling "mommy carry" (yes...both of them) and screaming at Monkey Joe to "go to bed".

Playing of course promptly resumes once the monkey has made his exit!

I love looking at these pictures of them playing and seeing the determination in their faces...everything is serious business for a 2 1/2 year old...even playing!

Featured

I'm up way past my bedtime tonight and just had to make a quick stop by my Etsy shop before sleepy time and look what I found!!!
It's my first Etsy treasury feature!! This treasury was put together by a customer from a few months ago and I am so excited that she picked my blanket! You can view the entire treasury here:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=8373
Whoo Hoo....now off to bed! Happy weekend everyone....

Ice Cream Sprinkles

Isn't she lovely......?

I honestly thought I would just sort through my fabric today! You know....color coordinate, cut down scraps into quilt pieces, etc...and then I found this ice cream fabric. I loved it the first time I used and think I may love it even more this time! Needless to say, I didn't complete the intended task after getting sidetracked with this little project. I haven't sewn down the button yet. I'm still deciding if I like it or not but with or without it I think this is just adorable.

I know everyone else if unveiling thier fall fabrics right now (It is after all nearly September) but when you live in the land of the perpetual flip-flop like I do it's ice cream sprinkles nearly all year long!!

There is a good reason God decided to give me two boys and not girls......I would NEVER get anything done. I would spend all my time making "girly" things.

I hope to have a couple just like this listed on the Ready To Ship page and my Etsy Store soon!