Sewing Splendor and Monogramming Mehem

**WARNING: Whitney K. = if you are reading this - - -STOP.

You can not read it until Sunday afternoon...

I've been as busy as a bee sewing and monogramming this summer. It truly gives me peace and makes me feel like I'm home, ALONE, enjoying being ME. Reality is that the kids are chasing one another as they run the circular path from the office to the kitchen to the living room to the front hall over and over again while laughing hysterically and throwing in an occasional high pitch scream that only the neighborhood dogs could hear. But thanks to my mom and dad, all I have to do is turn on my machine, and I am immediately whisked away to Happy Sewing World where somehow all loud noises and stresses seem to dissipate and all I hear is the perfect hum of my sewing machine.

I have a customer that just boosted herself to the top of my happy list. She needed gifts for one of her friends whose daughter is due with her first grand babies. And to make it ever more fun - they are twins: one boy and one girl. She wasn't in the mood to do any shopping yet wanted something extra special for these babies. She gave me a few guidelines, but after that, I was allowed to run free with the order. One guideline was that she wanted them to have corresponding outfits with their names monogrammed on them. The other guideline was that she also wanted coordinating hooded towels. And that was it - the rest was up to me, and cost was not an issue. ROCK ON!

Leave it to Janie and Jack to have the perfect outfits, and leave it to Joann's to have the perfect fabrics - let's get started!

Talk about perfect outfits for twins! I think my favorite part is that the girl's outfit is monogrammed in blue, and the boy's outfit is monogrammed in red. I think it helps to give it an extra finished look.

These are the parts of the hooded towels. There are not put together yet, but you get the idea.

Closer view of what will be the hood parts of the towels.

I made this pillow for a special two-year-old little girl, Ingrid, in Texas Children's Hospital here in Houston. She is awaiting a bone marrow transplant, but until that day comes, she continues to be a very sick little girl as she struggles to deal with her disease. My special friend, Alicia, who is one of Ingrid's nurses, (I mean - one can only imagine what Alicia has seen. She rarely discusses work and her patients: It is too painful for her to go back over her day, and she tends to change the subject quickly. But, every now and then she opens up and gives you a small and heartbreaking glimpse into her job. She has seen lots of children and babies die. She has seen insurmountable suffering. She has seen parents struggling for answers as their hearts were breaking over their dying children. May the Lord bless her as she tends to these special patients.) asked that our small group's summer Bible study to pray for Baby Ingrid (you know it has to be extra bad for Alicia to talk about it, so I awaited anxiously to find out this little girl's story). Ingrid is so ill as she lies in her hospital bed. She has extreme diarrhea, which has given her the worst diaper rash Alicia has "ever seen" - and that's saying a lot because you know she's seen a lot. Ingrid is too ill to play or sit up for that matter. To quote Alicia, "She has zero quality of life right now!" After hearing Alicia talk, I felt the Lord pulling at my heart. I wanted to do something for this poor baby girl - SOMETHING. But what?? After further exploration, Alicia told me that Ingrid is a big fan of Dora, which led to a lightning bolt of ideas racing through my brain. I thought about making her a Dora blanket or shirt, but Alicia said that both would probably be ruined due to the diarrhea, so that idea was out. Then I decided that perhaps something that could stay at the top of her bed would be best, hence the idea of the Dora pillow was born. Alicia also shared that Ingrid's room has a T.V., but it can only play VHS and the hospital does not have any VHS copies of Dora. They have DVDs, but no VHS. No prob! Amazon has LOTS of Dora VHS to choose from, and Grant and I had a good time going through the list as we placed the videos we thought she might like the most in our virtual shopping cart. Since she can't play and basically lies around feeling horrible all day, we are hoping the Dora tapes will help her pass the time... The most recent update I received was about two days. Alicia told me Ingrid has been moved to the ICU, but that we could still bring the pillow and the tapes. All that's holding me back is the tapes haven't arrived yet. HURRY UP, UPS! As soon as they do, we are off to the hospital with goodies in tow.

Lastly, I made these shirts for a brother and sister that attend our church. It hit me that I never bought a baby gift for the little girl, Ella, so I decided to make coordinating shirts that she and her big brother could wear to try to make up for my slight oversight...

Do you get it?? Their names are the exhaust coming out the back of the vehicles... And of course there are three Swaravski crystals in the middle of Ella's wheels. A girl needs a little bling, ya know?