Katie's Pillow

Last night Katie had asked me to make her a pillow after she had seen the one that I made for my mom.  What she didn't know was that I had just bought some Mermaid fabric and was planning on making her one! So last night I sat up after the kids had gone to bed and made her pillow. I placed it under her clothes for this morning so she was pleasantly surprised when she came out to get her outfit for the day.  Here it is...

Happy Mothers Day!!

Happy Mothers Day to all you wonderful mothers out there!! My oldest who is 7 made me pancakes with his therapist for lunch, he is so sweet :)  And my younger two gave me tons of hugs and kisses, my favorite present of all.  And I made my mom a pillow.  Its the first pillow I have made since being in home ec in high school but found some great fabric that she is just going to love.  She is a huge Elvis fan and well here is the pillow I made.

A homemade functional sewing basket

So as you know I am a newbie to the world of sewing and therefore don't own a sewing basket, as hard as that is to believe :)  And I got sick of having to dig through the drawer I kept all my sewing stuff in to find what I needed.  So instead of going out and buying one I decided to try and see if I could make my own. First of all I found a shoe box to hold everything.  Than it was coming up with an idea of how to keep the thread in one place.  I kept thinking that I would have to have some sort of tube or something sticking up that I could stick through the hole in the spool of thread.  Looking around I couldn't think of anything small enough to fit until I seen a box of big nails I had. I figured I could either tape them standing straight up or I could kind of hammer them through the bottom of the box and then put the spools of thread on them.  YAY me for coming up with a great idea, just kidding of course.
Next was finding some way of keeping all my blanket binding together and not just scattered in the box.  That is when I decided to tape a peice of cardboard across the box and then stand up the packages of binding, which worked out great.  Than it was coming up with an idea of where to store ribbon, needles, my pin cushion, etc. I found an old bowl lid I wasn't using and sewed around hardened fabric and then placed the bowl in it.  It made a great organizer and place to store all the extra stuff.

How To:

1. Find an old shoe box and possibly a lid from a slightly bigger shoe box.
2. Tape the lid to the bottom of the box.
3. Push large nails up from the underside of the box, this is where you will put your thread.
4. Find an old bowl that you can put in the box for extra stuff like needles, extra bobbins, scissors, etc
5. Cut a piece of cardboard to fit inside of the shoe box and tape it in to hold your binding in place. (in the picture above the piece of cardboard is placed between the bowl and the binding, I made it go in curved to fit around the bowl).
6. If you found a slightly larger top of a shoe box, tape it to the underside of the smaller top of the shoe box so that there is a little lip on one side where you can store additional things.
7. If you don't have a larger top of a shoe box, tape the underside of your box where your nails are to ensure they don't fall out when you are moving it around.  
8. And tada!!! You now have a functional sewing kit that didn't cost you a thing to make. And you can decorate it any way you like to make it more glamorous.  My shoe box was already kind of cute so I didn't decorate.

Introduction of sorts

I have never been good at intro's but I will try my best, feel free to ask anything that I leave out.
I am Linda, 28 years old, single mom of three amazing children. 
My oldest and my only biological child is Alex who is 7 and was diagnosed with autism when he was 3.5 years old.  Its been a crazy ride but I can say that he has come so far, from being so far behind his peers to doing acedemics that are a grade level above where he is at, from being in his own little world to being over social (something we are working on), from multiple meltdowns a week to maybe one a month, from having tons of sensory issues to finding ways to help those sensory issues so they are not much of an issue any more. He loves running, climbing, video games, and playing with his siblings.
My middle child Katie is 6 and came to me when she was 9 months old. She is biologically my niece, but in my heart she will always be my daughter. Katie was diagnosed with pFAS (partial fetal alcohol syndrome) when she was 3.5 years old, then diagnosed with ADHD and ODD when she was 5.  She struggles with memory, hyperness, attention, and impulse control but has made alot of progress. She loves to play house and do girly things but is also a tomboy and keeps up with her brothers.
My youngest is Aiden and he is 3.  He came to me right from the hospital and has never left my side.  The plan for him was always adoption so he didn't have the back and forth between homes like Katie did. Aiden had so many issues his first year like jaundice, group b strep, a staph infection, torticollis, plagiocephaly, and multiple sensory issues that made feeding a challenge from birth until he was 1.5 years old. But now he seems to be doing great.  Eventually I am guessing that he will also be diagnosed with some form of fetal alcohol syndrome but for now I am just waiting and seeing.  He is a pretty typical 3 year old, he loves cars, trains, and being outside.
As for me, I love spending time with my kids.  Its amazing being a mom and watching them grow. Even though I am a single mom I have an amazing support system and am greatful for it. I like to do digital scrapbooking, and play around on the computer, I enjoy going for walks.  I am just now getting into sewing and quilting. I have always been the type to roll up my sleeves and get things done.  I would rather be the one putting together the computer desk than just sitting there watching.  I like to dig in and get things done. I love being creative, with whatever I am doing.