Two weeks ago (has it been that long? I’m not sure I’ve yet recovered!) Petunia was really sick. Puking her little guts out sick. Her body was not using insulin in the regular way and so I had trouble keeping her blood sugar up. Movement lowers blood sugar so she spent some time resting on the couch with PBS Kids and has a new favorite show: WordGirl .

Last Thursday she said “Mommy, I want a WordGirl costume.” No problem. “Today.” she says. Well, okay, let’s see what I can do. Never one to shy away from a creative challenge, we hit the thrift stores to see what we could find, hoping to find a pair of red long johns that would be perfect for the costume. Of course they were not to be found. But we did find a red shirt that would be workable (and a fabulous bright turquoise scarf totally unrelated to WordGirl that she could not live without, of course). We headed home and during nap time I created that base of the outfit, the WordGirl shirt that she has been living in since its’ creation and a pair of WordGirl boots out of fleece. We had a pair of pants that were perfect already in her closet and, on a trip to the fabric store the next day, I found a yellow satin remnant that would be perfect for a cape. I quickly fashioned a cape yesterday morning while she was playing with The Daddy and voila! WordGirl costume:

She is thrilled and, seriously, has worn this thing every day. Now to figure out how to get her to let me wash it…any ideas? I’m thinking I’ll need to sneak it out of her room at night….

This week has been long with few breaks to sew. But I did manage to get started on the Princess room decor banner. This was one of the ideas that was generated earlier this week by a friend and I really had fun putting it together! A bright spot in an otherwise arduous week.

Now to attach the binding and make the loops! Coming soon…

Today I have a need to “work”. It is not in quotations because I do not take it seriously. It is in quotations because I enjoy it so much that it seems weird to call it work. Sewing is my passion and what I love to do. And after the past few days with a diabetic child who has a stomach bug (not a good combination), handling it on my own because The Daddy is out of town, I need something to enjoy. I can’t enjoy a glass of wine because I am “it”, on-call, and on duty. I did, however, enjoy a large serving of Ben and Jerry’s after I finally got Petunia to bed last night. But I need more.

She is stable today. Her blood sugar is higher than it “should” be but I spent most of the day yesterday trying to keep her stubbornly low blood sugar up so I am comfortable letting it ride. Nothing worked to keep her blood sugar in the normal range for a very long time. Then it worked for a while. Then she threw up again and we started all over. It was a nerve-wracking and dangerous situation. We ended up in the ER and home very, very late.

It is weird to call creating work because I do it, among other times, when I’m stressed out. It calms me and it is therapeutic. But it is work because it is my business. It is something that I am actively putting effort into and nurturing on a daily basis. I am learning, creating and producing and, dare I say it, having something for myself. And, today, I need a little something for myself. So, while she is sleeping, I am getting started on the wonderful ideas generated by a simple question on the Snugglebug Designs FB Fan Page “What do you want to see in the shop?”. And it’s helping.

Before I had my child, I had little time for creativity. I know that sounds weird to say that I had less time before I had a child but I allowed myself to be driven in so many different areas that I didn’t take the time to be creative. Driven at work. Driven to stay in shape. Driven to be better at other not-really-that-creative hobbies. Once I had my Precious Petunia, I felt I had to slow down in many ways. The things I did had to be able to be done with her, or at least with her there. Sewing was one of the things that I could do with her in the same room. So, sidewalk chalk drawing took the place of surfing. And sewing took the place of reading and drinking a glass of wine after dinner. But what I realized the other day is that creativity has taken over my life. I have found that whether we’re stringing beads or building sand castles, I have the overwhelming need to create. While I am not an artist (stick figures at best, people), I am creative (or “crafty” as The Daddy says). And I need creativity in my life. We “embellish” our simple sand castles with whatever we can find on the beach and draw our “happy places” in chalk. We make bead and marble “displays” and build “houses” for her toy horses with blocks. I even created a “Casa De la Tires” from an old Amazon box when she was big into the movie Cars. I see pattern and color and want to manipulate it in just about every activity we do. The need to be creative is there and I have to indulge it. It doesn’t even have to result in a product or something to show for the creativity. It just needs to be allowed to be expressed. A creative Momma is a Happy Momma. And what I’ve realized is that because I am a mother I have allowed myself to be more of who I really am and less of what the world expects me to be. I have found strengths and desires that I never knew I had because I was on a different path. I like this path better.

I LOVE Tea Rose Home ! And I have been meaning to refashion several things in my wardrobe for a long time, inspired by her tutorials. Well, I finally just did. It is still somewhat a work in progress as I am thinking of adding another row of ruffles but, for now, I like it!

This is the tutorial that I started with. I love the flowers! But I thought I might like a little something different. I had looked at her wonderful ruffled t-shirt makeovers and thought a ruffle might be nice. I hated the neckline of this t-shirt:

It fits nicely but the neck was just too high. Very plain. So I cut the neck off:

Ahhh, there we go. That’s a bit better. I just cut right around the banding of the neckline so I didn’t make it that much larger but it made a big difference. Then I took one of my husband’s old t-shirts that I have been slowly but surely re-purposing into other projects and cut 1 inch strips:

I joined the ends of the strips together to make a long piece and gathered it into a ruffle. Pinned it onto the neckline, just under it, stitched it to the neckline and:

I’ve washed it since then and it ended up with a lovely smooshed appearance that I like.

Not a huge change but just enough that I’ll actually wear the shirt.

I also had a plain white tank top that I liked but, again, it was plain. And I forgot to take a picture of the “before”. Typical for me. But it’s not hard to figure out what it looked like before from the “after” pic:

I will direct you back to Tea Rose Home for the tutorial since she did such a great job showing how to do it!

So now I have two “new” shirts that are not plain. Yay for not plain!

In between karate class, grocery shopping, auto maintenance appointments and general business planning, this fun 4th of July celebration banner nagged me into getting it finished. It sat on my cutting table calling to me while I cooked dinner, begging me to sew a seam, demanding that I go to another fabric store to find the white extra-wide double fold bias tape that was sold out at the first store to finish it. And I listened! (It’s hiding out in my shop now)

I listed this eco-friendly reusable baseball-themed birthday banner in my Etsy shop earlier this week and have tried since then to think up a clever or interesting post about it to no avail. Well, it sold today (yay!) but I thought I’d show you the finished product anyway since I previewed it in a previous post:

Instead of wax poetic about the banner, I will talk about how lucky I feel. As I was zipping down the road after dinner, headed to the post office to ship this little birthday treat, I realized that I love where I am. The panoramic view of the ocean that hits me when I drive out of our little street and onto the main intersection, the fact that the weather is such that I can wear a skirt, tank top and flips right now, and that I get to stay at home with my Petunia and be creative lightened my spirit this evening. There are things in my life that are almost unbearably difficult sometimes but they aren’t right now. Right now I feel lucky. I AM lucky. And I will remember that the roller-coaster always goes back up after it goes down when I “forget” how lucky I am.

I hope that you feel lucky today, too.

Sometimes over here at Snugglebug Designs it is pretty slow-going. Momma can be severely sleep-deprived from middle of the night blood sugar checks some days or there are a gazillion errands to run or my new-found zeal about getting back into shape (via P90X) takes up most of my time that used to be used for creativity. Since I posted last, I have made a teensy bit of progress on a new, sports-themed banner (a couple of them, actually) and I thought I’d give you a little sneak-peek! I love the contrast of the red stitching on this baseball themed one! It will hang by a red binding and have red letters.

I’m not quite as far on this one. I’ve only got the pennant pieces cut out but give me a couple of uninterrupted hours and I could make some real progress! Of course, I’m not holding my breath for that uninterrupted time. It will be finished like every other project is: one seam at a time, sneaking away while I am in the middle of making dinner while Petunia and The Daddy play outside. This one will have orange binding and letters, I think, although black or white could also work.

FUN!

I posted a while back about Petunia’s Birthday Banner and loved it so much that I made one for her preschool . And yesterday I finished the first one for the shop . I made this one out of mostly flannel because I had so many cute flannels to use in my stash! I also used a geometric patterned cotton that coordinated nicely. It all came together so well…it was such fun! I know I say that in all my posts but, really, isn’t that why I sew?

These are a great, eco-friendly way to celebrate! I’m also going to make some without lettering for room decor. There are so many cute prints to choose from…that will be the hardest part.

Just finished this cute little Happy Birthday banner for Petunia’s classroom today!

I’m starting on the first one that I’ll offer in my shop tonight! These are so cute I want to make 10 of them!