sharing the love

I discovered Back40Life on etsy a few months ago and have swooned over her gorgeous vinyls ever since. But alas... every time I end up with money in my PayPal account, it ends up being spent on fabric. So when she offered a $25 giveaway in her shop last Friday, I happily entered and even more happily- I WON!

There are LOTS of things in her shop I would love to have for myself, but one of the things I had to do when I entered was comment about my favorite thing in her shop. Well, the first thing that caught my mind was actually something for a dear friend of mine. Here's the story:

My friend's husband had a vasectomy shortly after the birth of their 4th child, and as the months went by afterward, she became increasingly upset that her family was "finished." Knowing that ALL things are possible with God, she followed Hannah's example in the book of 1 Samuel and prayed that God would send them another child. Lo and behold- she did conceive again 2 years after the procedure, and she knew without a doubt that she would be having a little boy. She knew right away that she would name him Samuel, and he was born 10 months ago looking more like his daddy than any child I have ever seen! He is such a sweet miracle baby.

My friend is moving into a larger house this weekend to accommodate her larger family, and Samuel is going to have his own nursery. I know how special this verse is to her, so I am choosing to use my Back40Life credit to purchase this vinyl for Samuel's new nursery.



If YOU would like to win something, I encourage you to become a fan on my Facebook page- I'll be giving away a $34 credit to my etsy store on the 17th!

Testing, testing...

Several years ago, when we were both new to the boutique sewing world (on eBay, back in those days...) I "met" Patty Young of modkid fame when we were both members of Adagio Bleu Studios. It has been amazing to watch her career take off since then- if you haven't seen her fabric lines or patterns, you are really missing out. They are amazing!

I was lucky enough to be chosen as a tester for her newest line of patterns, and just before Christmas I received a box full of fabric from her latest collection, Flora & Fauna, along with the rough draft pattern for the dolly-sized modkid dress bag! Her pattern books are so beautiful and easy to use- full of colorful pictures, helpful tips, and easy-to-follow steps. While this was a more complicated project (it involves zippers, grommets, and gussets, oh my!) the conversational tone of her clear instructions helped me create a gorgeous garment bag. Wanna see it? It's the turquoise hummingbird one on the inspiration gallery page.



What about you? Want to try it?

Like I said, this is not a pattern for beginners, but if you are an experienced seamstress you should give it a try. I am going to give away one copy of the modkid dress bags pattern which includes instructions for both the dolly size bag I made and the larger girly bag (shhh... I'm not a girly girl but I may have to make one of these for myself!) If you'd like to win a copy of this pattern, just leave me a comment telling me where you would like to travel with this garment bag. If you'd like to promote this giveaway on your social media of choice (twitter, facebook, etc.), feel free to do so! I'll be randomly choosing a winner on the night of my son's 10th birthday (this Thursday, January 28).