Butterfly Kisses

This post was partly drafted well before Sunday and was due to be published on Monday, but, alas, a bug called "The Flu" came in swiftly, ravaging our family, taking out every man, woman, and child in our home!

I am asking you to pretend that today is Monday.

The official Pregnancy/Infant Loss Awareness Day.  

Deal?

_______________________________

Today is about Violet's Quilt.  One of my Butterfly Kisses Quilts.

 The one where I played with purple/violet flying geese and designed a violet embroidery design.

I never got a chance to post the finished project because I was over anxious to get it in the mail and to her mom.   Luckily, her mom took one for me!

I cringe when I see this photo because it is all wrinkled and wonky.  I swear it wasn't before I sent it! I guess I need to wrap things like that better?  At least I hope it straightened out for Devany since the day she pulled it out in that photo!!

Who's Devany?  Devany is Violet's mom,  and is a blogger over at Still Playing At School.  We found each other through the vastly growing "babyloss" online community.

Devany also happens to be a Scentsy consultant.

She, apparently, was so appreciative that she decided she was going to run a 2 week online fundraiser for Butterfly Kisses.  Any orders that she receives will be shipped out directly to the customer, anywhere in the country (sometimes the world).  ALL of her commission from this "party" will come to Butterfly Kisses!  She wouldn't take no for an answer from me.

You may or may not know, that I do my Butterfly Kisses embroidery at no charge.  I am trying to keep it that way, but with shipping it gets to be a bit much sometimes if "traffic" is busy or items are large!  I sometimes receive small donations, and I ABSOLUTELY appreciate it.  As many of my quilt followers know, however, things are not so cheap these days.  My costs sometimes lie in the threads and fabric depending on if I am using my already established supplies or not.  However, the real costs lie in the stabilizer I have to buy for my embroidery machine and the shipping.  Occasionally, I also donate an entire quilt if I feel that it is necessary.

If you are interested in buying something like a warmer, hand soap, bath tablets, drawer scent packs...you name it... please go check out Devany's Scentsy Website.  It would be sincerely appreciated.  When you are ready to buy, you just click on the left side that says "Buy From Party".   She has a designated a Butterfly Kisses Party that you can order from.

Thank you Devany for doing this for me.  I don't deserve it!

Dual Posting with Butterfly Kisses

You Would Think...

That I would be done with quilting after the hours spent on the t-shirt quilt last week...

FINISHES:

But as soon as the T-shirt quilt went out the door, Bunny and I were determined to finish his Sharpie Marker Roll Saturday afternoon!

And we did!!!!

I am actually so jealous to see all 26 colors that I want to make one for my own pack of 24!!!

He did such a fabulous job matching up the colors from my scraps, that I think I am going to have him help me with mine!


 Oh...I forgot...the T-shirt quilt. 

More pictures HERE!

IN PROGRESS:

Do. Good Stitches.

 

I am so excited to recently be included in this charity bee!!!  I am going to be a quilter for the Imagine at Do. Good Stitches!! Which means I am responsible for two blocks a month and a quilt every so often!  So now you will be seeing a blocks in my WIP posts!
This month includes this color palette

....at least I hope I have it right!

NO PROGRESS:

Retro Flowers QAL

Twin quilt for nursery

Christmas quilt 

Baby girl quilt kit 

Thank you quilt 

NEW PROJECTS:

Secret project. 
 I hate when I see this on other blogs because it is such a tease, but I don't want to ruin the surprise for this person!!!!  I finalized my design, worked out my cutting measurements, and ordered the fabrics this past Sunday!

Merry, Merry Snowmen (by Bunny Hill Designs)

 Yes...I joined my first Block of the Month. I had to have it.  I can't imagine a better fabric (French General) or style for my family room if you remember my change in Christmas decorations HERE.  It started in February, so I have to catch, up...

I am not exactly sure how all this happened...I am guessing I am a little crazy...

Linking up with the only other people that quite understand the crazy...

Quilters.  We are a strange breed, are we not?

Challenge? Game On!!!!

I have some homemade gifts planned for Christmas.

Kari at UCreate and Ana at Ana White Homemaker have challenged the craft community to MAKE TWO.

Hand make an extra gift and give it to a child in need?

No arm twisting needed at all!!!

I will link up with the party as soon as I get finished!!!

Want to join?

I DARE YOU.........

Go HERE!!!!!

Miss Carleigh's Blanket

Another Butterfly Kiss is about to head back home to her momma!

I DID NOT DO THIS EMBROIDERY!  IT WAS ALREADY DONE!

I can't tell you how much it means to me that these moms trust me enough to send their precious blankets to me and allow me to do something that is very therapeutic for me.

My family is becoming very used to taking boxes and envelopes from our mailbox or porch and just setting them on my studio counter.  No questions asked.

I definitely know that they understand how important it is for not only ME, but more important for the ones we are giving just another piece of their baby back.  We understand the need to have physical reminders that say "THEY WERE HERE".

As I am editing these amazingly perfect feet print

and/or hand prints,

I sometimes hear comments such as "Oh, so cute!" 

and "Look at those!  So tiny!". 

When I fret over making a print more solid or make it less blotchy like their actual print, I just have to ask my dear hubby his opinion. 

We usually end up both agreeing that even though the prints don't look solid, they are EXACTLY the way they are on the paper that their prints touched.

So if you noticed missing patches on Carleigh's prints, they are not a mistake, they are the open areas that were created when her actual prints were made.

  They are what make Carleigh different than every other baby that has arrived on this Earth. 

I wouldn't dare change what God created himself, right?

About the baby that those precious little prints belong to?  

Miss Carleigh.

  Her mom blogs often about her. 

  Just click on the button to read about her and her momma. 

 

You will love getting to know the two of them!

Time, Talent, and Treasure

     The three words we hear from our pastor on the subject of Stewardship.  Many have the misconception that the churches have their hand out for your money (treasure).  But the fact of the matter is that they need our time and talents.

As a mother of three boys that are attending parochial school, I use this same philosophy towards my efforts for school.  Of course, we pay tuition, but I try to spend some time and put my sewing and crafting skills to work also!

So what is this colorful mess?  This year's contribution to our school auction.  Admittedly, I decided to help my friend who wanted some help for PURELY selfish reasons.

I wanted one something ALL for myself!   This is my oldest son's last year at our school.  He is graduating from 8th grade.  As much as he would love to stay, our school include the high school grades.   My girlfriend and I really wanted to make our 8th grade project special.  It is the last chance we can get something made/designed especially by our child.  Each student chose a charm and a paper.  They also were tasked to write a paragraph either thanking their parents, describing what their experience at the school meant to them, or something spiritual.  They then asked them to pick one word to be placed in the bezel.

We wanted to just make pendants.

But then realized, unfortunately, that some of our students have lost their mothers.  Yes, one left us way too soon just a few months ago.  So then we thought of other uses for the bezels.  

We came up with these:

 

We thought...

• key chain
• Christmas ornament
• rear view mirror decoration

Frankly, anything you can think of, right?

So I probably will forget to hand in my receipts from the large purchase of supplies, so there is my treasure.  Oh yeah, I have to buy mine too!  As for time...many hours, thankfully shared with a good friend.  Trying to get 75 students to cooperate wasn't as easy as it sounds.  Let alone making sure we used the right paper and charm for the right kid!  And talent?  Not mine, just bringing my knowledge to the table for this one!

  As you can see above, I already put Josh's in a shadowbox, but I hear that the moms are already planning to wear theirs at the graduation ceremony.  I better get the glue dots off the back of mine so I can wear mine too!

  I PROMISE I will post the tutorial on how to make these sooner than later!  And I have a funny story that proves that motherhood does cause brain damage (as Bill Cosby would put it!).

 But in the meantime....aren't they pretty all laid out?

Miss A's blanket...

is on its way to her momma since yesterday afternoon.

Hope she likes it.......


Edited to Add:  Since her momma gave permission!  This is for Miss Amelia Grace.  She left her Mommy, Daddy, and Big Brother Noah way too soon.


For more information on how to have your baby/babies footprints embroidered on a blanket...check out Butterfly Kisses

Daddy's Little Girl

" Here she is

All peaches and cream

Our sweet little girl,

Our long awaited dream."

-Author Unknown

My dear hubby has been much on my mind lately.  I left him last weekend to go on a scrapbook retreat.   I honestly didn't hesitate because he has always taken care of the boys without any difficulty. 

I also know that he is quite capable of taking care of a baby.  He had to take care of our two older boys when they were babies when I used to work evening and night shifts as a young nurse in the Army. 

What is on my mind is that I still haven't asked him is what he thinks of having another baby.  Let alone what he thinks about having another boy.  What I haven't asked him is how he is feeling?  I haven't even asked him about how his grief is with this arrival of such a bundle of joy.  Least of all, I haven't asked him if having another boy makes him miss his little girl all the more.  I can honestly say that it has.  I wish she was here.

 

But here is what I DO know.

I know that he lovingly tends to Jamie's tree. 

 I know that he is able to say her name without choking up.

  I know that he shares my blog with others. 

 I know that he is supportive of my blog, my online support group, and my craziness (like mailing my doppler to Canada yesterday to a CTT momma carrying a rainbow baby).

  I know that I sent him this link to an article that was brought to my attention on my online support group.  It is the story about three NCAA basketball coaches that all have a common bond.  The loss of their babies.  We are HUGE fans of college basketball (just ask my mom...I think she knows all the Big East teams after her visit)Dearest hubby immediately responded to my email.  He said that he had seen it featured on CBS sports during the tournament.  His quote "it was an unbelievable piece.  I forgot to tell you about it."

I wonder if he forgot to tell me because we don't discuss this issue outright, or if he really just forgot.

Why don't I ask?

I don't know.

 

Butterfly Kisses

Jamie's Quilt. 

 When she was born, we were enthralled with the perfection of her feet.   We could not keep our hands off of them.   We used her quilt for some of her NILMDTS photos.  She looked just precious on that quilt.  A few months later, I told hubby that I was going to embroider her name and her footprints on her quilt.  I was nervous, but he thought it was a good idea. 

 I chose brown to go with the quilt, but now wish I had gone with either a bolder larger font or a different color.  The background is so busy. 

But honestly...it doesn't matter....I love it.

So this leads to my charity:

 

I have finally perfected the digitizing and embroidery process.

Any baby loss momma that has a blanket or quilt that they would like to have their baby's name and footprints or handprints on....please contact me.

Yes....the footprints are the EXACT size of her actual footprints that were done at the hospital.  All I need is a scanned copy of your baby's or babies' footprints/handprints and the measurement (length and width) so that I can digitize them for my embroidery machine.

 
This is all free of charge.  I have already received a bit of funding to get this off the ground!

If you are currently carrying a baby with a very poor or fatal diagnosis and would like your baby's name on their blanket for their birth day, I can also help you out.  I have done a few already....and one of them actually defied his odds!  He is quite the healthy infant.  Boy, were those doctors wrong!

 If you are interested please fill out this FORM HERE or contact me on my FB page!

Hello 2011!! Hopes...not goals!

The New Year brings resolutions....but I have never liked that.

The New Year brings goals....I have always liked them, but don't like the feeling when I don't meet them.

So I am going to call these, my hopes!

• Internet hopes:  I hope that I get my website whipped into shape quickly....preferably before the arrival of Baby Button.  I hope that I can use the Internet to connect with more crafter/sewers so I can improve my blog and website. 

• Grief hopes:  I hope that all the mommas that are lost and confused when faced with a poor or fatal prognosis, find the great group of women I have "met" on my online support group.  I hope they find this blog and see that their lives can "go on"...but with a new meaning. 

• Sewing:  I am hoping that I haven't bitten off more than I can chew!!!  I hope that I can make customers happy, balance my own family's sewing needs, and still find a bit of time to do some charity work!  I hope that my repertoire really does expand to more than housewares and quilting.  Kid/baby clothing...here I come! 

• Baby Button:  I hope he/she arrives safe and sound.  It is all that matters.  After that...I hope that I can rein in my worries and be "normal" mom instead of crazy anxiety ridden mom!  And I hope Button keeps inspiring me to make unique things for others!

• Embroidery:  I hope I keep learning more about embroidery and my own machine.  Maybe a more commercial machine in the future....but that might have to be a hope for 2012 or 2013!!

• Quilting:  I hope I finish the pieced quilt top I already have.   I hope I make more!!  I hope to have a quilt for my own home for each season to use/and or display in our family room.  I hope that I get a Quilting longarm machine.  My machine just does not accommodate large quilts as well as I like.  I hope we find room for it!  I also hope that I can try my hand at a t-shirt quilt.  Then I can do so for others.  I also hope that I finish a certain family's memory quilt.  Their dear father's shirts and items are safely tucked in a bin in my closet.  No...I don't hope, I WILL get this done by the end of the year!

• Crafting:  I hope I remember to take photos all year of the different things I have done this year so I can share them with my blogging/online craft friends!  I hope I get all of the Christmas ideas that I never got to are all done before it arrives again next year!

• Scrapbooking:  I hope I finish my 2010 Family Album.  That would make 2 whole years complete (out of the 14 we have been married *insert grimace face*).  I hope I can also complete 2009 and stay on track for 2012!  Other albums I'd like to finish?  Christmas album, CTT mama pages, Josh's School Album, Disney Trips Album, update the other two school albums....and attack at least one of the two little guys' baby books.

• Family: Last on this list...but certainly not least.  I hope that I can meet every (or at least most) needs they have.  I hope that I always remember to put them first, even if I do have a long list of Hopes.  But, I think I already know that because I am calling them hopes...not goals. 

So here's to hoping!!!!!!

Quilt for the Kids

The newest blog I am following is Quilts for Kids.  Their goal was 52 quilts this year (one a week) and they just finished 54.

CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!

Hoping I can join in their fun somehow, or if not get inspired to do my own charity quilting!!!!!!