Big girl dress, Easter and a few others

Some people have asked for a big girl dress. So here it is. It is a size 8 shift style dress. It is made from Amy Butler fabric. It is fulled lined and buttons down the back. It has 2 front pockets that are lined and embellished with a yellow ribbon. I will sell this dress for $46

White/Red seersucker pillowcase dress. The fabric is white background with pink/greens/reds flowers and butterflies. This fabric is pricey and only sold at boutique fabric store. The ties are pink/white gingham. It is a size 4 and sells for $38. I can make this dress in a 12m up to size 8. I can also do it in different fabics. Email me if you have questions.

Amy Butler peasant top and pant. I made this same top in a dress style see previous post. It is also available in a pant style. The pants have a large ruffle around the edge. This outfit is available in size 12m to size 6. It can also be made in other fabrics. It sells for $60

This is Corinne's Easter outfit. It is called the "abby". It is a top that buttons across the front and down the side. I did hand emboidery work on the collar that matches the floral print in the fabric. The fabric is Liberty which runs about $36 a yard. The pants are made from a green micro check. I made piping from this micro check and trimmed the collar and sleeves. I can make this set for you. I can make it in a cheaper fabric and still embillesh the collar with embroidery work. Email me if you want me to send options. In average cost fabric I would probably charge about $74 for the set.

Birthday's, pant set

Our sweet girl turned 4 last Friday. She loves parties and all the stuff that goes with. She is so into princesses, pink, dress up, ect. Her Aunt took her to get her nails done on friday. She loves brightly painted nails, but her nailbeds are so small they couldn't put a design on the nail. She is still such a tiny little girl - weighing in at 26 pounds at 4 years. She got dress up clothes from grandparents and a new "princess" bike from us. She has loved riding the bike. So we have spent the last few days walking up and down the street as she rides her bike. On Saturday she donned herself in her tinkerbell outfit - wings and all, purse, and put dolls in her bike basket for her mid afternoon ride.Although, she told me on Sunday that she also needs a princess helmet - the yellow bug one no longer will do. We are now coming up on the 2 year anniversary of Corinne's adoption. It is amazing to think we have now had Corinne for 2 years - 1/2 her life in China and 1/2 her life with us. Corinne has many heavenly gifts but there are a few that really standout. She is resilient, persistent, sweet, good hearted, easy going, loves activities. In her 2 years in China she lived with her birth family for 3 months, orphanage, China Care home, and a foster family. That is alot of uprooting for a anyone especially a young child. But she is resilient and fell right into our family and found her place. This is not to say there won't be any abandonment issues but I do think God has bestowed on her gifts that will make it easier for her to deal with when the time comes. Below are some birthday photos. I also included photos of Graham being a great older brother. He is patient with Corinne and always willingly paints her nails. She also loves it when Graham sleeps with her. So her birthday was wrapped up with Graham sleeping with her.

She has a squeal of delight watching her new bike being rolled in.

I love my bike!

Big brother sleeping with me

Getting my nails painted. Glitter pink of course!

I also have another outfit. I can make it in many different fabrics so if you like it email me and I can email you photo's of some fabric options. I think the pants are especially cute in a micro check gingham. The top criss crosses in the front with little ties that pull through button holes and tie into bows. In this outfit I used a chocolate gingham for the ties and I trimmed the top in chocolate gingham piping. The top has a small ruffle that goes around the neck and front of the top. The top of the sleeves have a slight gather on top. The shirt is fully lined. The pants are finished off with a ruffle cuff. I will sell the outfit for $54. Corinne wore this outfit today and had many compliments!

New apron dress and cats

I love this apron dress. It is hard to find soft pinks and browns that mix well and have a "little girl feel". I was suprised to see how all these fabrics pulled together since I bought them all at different times. This dress will sell for $56. I can make it in size 12m to size 8. It is made from 5 different complimentary fabrics. The straps and hems are made from a pink micro check gingham. 3 of the other fabrics are Amy Butler fabrics.

I also made this cat dress. It is more labor intensive. My daughter loves cats and I thought she would enjoy the dress. It is suppose to look like "cats climbing stairs". The dress is made from a pink micro check gingham. The "stairs" are made from a strip of chocolate brown ric rac running diaganolly down the dress. Each cat is appliqued onto the dress. Small black beads are sewn on for their eyes. I hand embroidered the cats whiskers onto their faces.

Front of the dress

Back of the dress

Yellow tabby. In this photo the color of the dress came out wrong it is a light pink.

171's, snakes, princess, fundraiser giveaway for Fadely family

Those of you in the adoption community know what a 171 is. Well we got our's last week. We didn't expect to get it till the middle of April. Last time it took 14 weeks to get this precious government form. This time we got it in less than 3 weeks! For those of you wondering "what the heck is a 171". It is a form you need from the government stating you are eligible to adopt and bring home a foreign born child. Now some might wonder why we have a 171 since this was no longer going to be done after March 31st 2007. Brook and I knew we would adopt again and I had been told about the new scary mounds of paperwork for the I800. Last year we decided to go ahead and submit the I600 prior to the March deadline. In Tennessee you have up to 1 year to submit your homestudy. We didn't start our homestudy till December and finished it in January. So what now??? We don't have an agency, we have a competed homestudy, 171, 1/2 our dossier done. We have really stuggled with the whole agency decision especially since we are doing special needs again. We really think we want to use a smaller more attentive agency - if you have an suggestions email away.

Heading states "Notice of favorable determination concerning application for advance processing of orphan petition"

Our girlie girl. I made the hat for Dr. Seuss day at preschool- remember Go dog Go - "Do you like my hat"

Is that really my girl petting a snake?!?

I am lucky to have a community of adoptive mom's. We get togther once a month for a 6:30am breakfast. It is a neat group of Godly women with much wisdom. One of the girls in the group, Tisra Fadley, has received her referral from India. She is a beautiful little girl with a blood disorder. Tisra and her family are doing a fundraiser/give away to raise money for the adoption. It is a raffle giveaway. Some of the prizes are a digital Canon Rebel xs, blog makeover, digital photo frame, wii, ect. Go and check it out. Here is a beautiful photo of her daughter (see below)- Makes you want to go to India! And guess what you can. There are 130 MILLION orphans in the world. UNICEF states that 43% of the children in India are moderate to severe underweight. Here are some other amazing statistics.

---One third of American consider adopting, but less than 2% actually adopt.

--- If 7% of all Christians adopted there would be no more orphans.

Jesus commanded us to care for the orphans. Maybe all aren't called to adopt but we are ALL called to care for them - remember James calls it pure relegion. There are so many ways to help.

The newest Fadley member, waiting in India

Sewing retreat

I have been sewing with a group of girls for almost 2 years. Each one is so talented and have taught me so much about sewing. Twice a year the group of us go away for the weekend to sew together. This weekend was our "sewing retreat". It is always so much fun and a great time to rest from all of our mama duties. Thank goodness we all have loving husbands that are willing to hold the fort down at home. One daddy even had 6 kids by himself this weekend (only 4 were his). Below I have 3 more new creations.

Amy Butler Peasant dress $40

This are 2 cute coordinating fabrics. The neck edge and sleeve edge have a lettuce edge. I can make this dress in size 12m -6. I can also make this dress as a top and make a ruffle pant out of the dot fabric. For the pant set it is $60

Daisy fun pant and monogram tee $42. The pant is made from an Amy Butler fabric. The hem of the pant is an aqua gingham micro check. The tee is monogrammed with the same gingham. I can make this in a size 12m-8

Cross Tee and apron skirt $42. This skirt is made from 2 coordinating fabrics. It is a size 4/5. The tee is labeled as size 4/5 and measures 15.75 inches from shoulder to hem. The skirts waist measures 21 inches and a little over 12inches in length. The cross is appliqued with a zig zag stitch to allow a little fraying to give a more "vintage" look. I don't know if I can get more of this fabric but contact me if you are interested. I can also make this same style in different fabrics. The cost may vary depending on the expense of the fabric. I can make it in size 2t - 8

Kids, non sewing related

You know the saying "kids say the darndest things". I have a 4 year old soon to be 5 little boy (Davis) who is always coming up with the funnniest things. We also joke that he has a special relationship with Jesus - he frequently is sharing with me spiritual truths. For example we were in a store and he and his sister were allowed to pick out 1 ornament for their small bedroom Christmas tree (2.5 feet high). The tree has a theme - it is decorated with all faux candy and faux gingerbread cookies. At the store there was the fake candy and some crosses. Davis said I want the cross. I reminded him about the tree "theme" and asked if he was sure he didn't want to stick to that. He looked up at me with those big eyes and in a loud voice said "Mama don't you like crosses" I saw a few shoppers glance my way and smile. Needless to say we went home with the cross. Last weekend Davis got in trouble and when I asked him what had happened he said "Mom Satan just gets in my head and gets it all stirred up" he also told me the next day "mom I think Satan puts on a costume and tries to dress up like God so I will do bad choices." Pretty good theology for a 4 year old. The last Davis story I will share happened today. Today Davis was getting in the car and looked up at me and said "mom I love being me". I told him "it must be alot of fun to get to be you", he said "yeah it sure is".

I will share one Corinne story from today ( remember she has been home for almost 2 years). Corinne was in the car today and I thought she said "ai ai" (something she was called in China). I said to her did you say Gui Ai (her chinese name). She said "no, yucky gui ai". I then said Gui ai is a pretty name. She said "no like Gui ai it is yucky" She abhors it if we say her chinese name and then will tell us to only call her Corinne (her middle name is her chinese name). It is another reminder that eventually all of "this stuff" will come out and have to be dealt with. Right now she is dealing with it at a 3 year old level.

New outfits and older girls and boys

Size 3t Fairy Callie $48

It measures 21.25 inches in Length

This dress is made from "fairy print" with a white background. The hem, straps, chest are made from a matching lime gingham. The chest and hem are also pipped in a pink & white "whipstitch" piping. I have not sewn the buttons on yet, but I will make lime gingham covered buttons. Personally I love the callie. In the spring you can wear a short sleeve tee underneath the dress, but in the summer wear it without a tee. It looks great on all body types. I can make in a size 6m-6

I made this outfit for another little girl last week. I used a chocolate brown tee and trimmed the skirt in large chocolate brown ric rac. I have a few more brown tees and red tees (in toddler size) if you are intersted in ordering this skirt set.

Size 3t Frannie Ribbon dress, $48

This dress is lined. It measures 19.5 inches long. It has red/white ribbon under the arm that gather the dress when pulled and tie in to a bow. You can gather the dress as tight or loose as your want. The back of the dress has one button at the top. I am now taking orders for this dress. I can make it in size 12m to size 8. I can make also make this dress in the apple/pear fabric and the large yellow floral fabric (see auction item in previous post)

I have had people contact me about making boys clothes. As of right now I don't think I am ready to add boys clothing. In a few months I might start making boys shirts with embroidered tees, but as of right now I don't think I can add that to my plate. I want to add here that I have an amazing friend *Beth* who does all my monogrammed/appliqued tee's for me. My sewing machine embroiders fine on fabric but does a poor job on knit. So Beth offered to do all my t-shirt work for me - it is her gift to my family! Thanks Beth - our new baby appreciates you helping us bring her home!

I have also had people contact me about making larger girls clothing. Most of my patterns go from a size 12m up to a size 8. Some patterns only go to a size 6. If you are intersted in other sizes or outfits in different fabris just email me and I can let you know what is available. Below are good options for a dress for an older girl. These are not actually dresses I have made. It is pictures of patterns I can use for a dress.

A-line Lillian

Criss-cross halter dress or top

Tiered sundress