Fishsticks Designs Giveaway! It’s a doozy!

Posted on by
123

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.

Oh boy, I am excited to share this giveaway with you today!  Bonnie at Fishsticks Designs has graciously offered a fantastic giveaway for you!  I adore Bonnie, she is a very kind soul and extremely talented, she’s made up of all kinds of special, and like all our designers she is groovy woovy.   She reached out to Create H.O.P.E as soon as it was announced and her pattern, Watered With Love Layette, is a best seller.  Her attention to detail is amazing, her patterns are so well written I think my 15 yr. old son could whip up her designs without a hitch, and he doesn’t sew!  Fishsticks Designs is all about adorable, comfortable clothing and accessories.  Knits are used often and her diaper bag is amazing.  Another great thing about Fishsticks Designs…she has boy patterns, AND they are cute!!!  That my friends, is not easy to find.

Now for the eye candy….drum roll (I am literally making that annoying sound as I type)….

First up…The Mama & Baby Bag!  This awesome bag is loaded with pockets and lined with waterproof PUL!  It has a matching waterproof changing pad and wet bag.  The fabrics, and color combination is adorable.  Red and aqua, so very hot, even the trendiest momma will love toting this around.

Second, a set of Bonnie’s knit patterns, including the Undercover Bottoms Boxer Briefs, the Charlie Tee & Hoodie, Rockin’ the Raglan Tee and finally the Little One Layette.  As if that isn’t amazing,  winner will also receive a $20.00 gift certificate to The Fabric Fairy!  The Fabric Fairy is a great store with an amazing selection of great knit fabrics.

Last in this great giveaway is a copy of her brand spankin’ new Everyday Camp Shirt and she’s including some adorable fabric from Ann Kelle’s  Remix and Ready, Set, Go! lines.  1 yard of Chocolate Argyle Plaid and 1/2 yard of Lime Rush Hour.  I can’t wait to get my hands on this pattern myself, my Jack is always asking me to make him something, he would love this shirt, and I would love him in this shirt.

 

So what do you think?  Pretty great, right?  This is how this giveaway is going to work…

For every pattern you buy in our store, you’ll get 5 entries, just leave us a comment and I’ll take care of your entries.  You may enter the giveaway without buying a pattern, but I will need you to leave your contact info as a comment.  If you share this giveaway, please comment where you shared it and that’ll enter you also.  

Are you all ready for the holidays?  I sure am, but I’d sure like some snow to cover up my dead, brown lawn.  We’ve got snow in the mountains, but nothing really in the valley.  My oldest is just finishing up his first semester of finals and then he’s home for almost a month! I cannot wait to see him every morning, geez I miss that boy, even his smelly laundry.

Good luck on the giveaway, it’ll end this Friday, so you’ve got 4 days and minute to win it!  This giveaway is being linked to the incredible giveaway being held at www.sewmamasew.com/blog!  This giveaway will be open to international winners, although your patterns will be PDF’s.

Remember you are everything to someone with nothing!

When it rains, we smile…

Posted on by
1

I know I promised to reveal the brand new pattern, but guess what?  We have FOUR new patterns to debut!  Two of which compliment each other perfectly, so I’ll be showing them off tomorrow.  I know, I know, I promised today, but it’ll be worth the wait.

 

Would you believe it, if I told you…

Posted on by
2

That this gorgeously plump, healthy baby didn’t always look so sweet.  He looked desperate, severely malnourished and quite frankly scary.  Little Flower received this little guy in 2010, his remote orphanage couldn’t figure out why he was constantly vomiting and unable to gain weight.  He was hospitalized and they couldn’t figure it out either.  Luckily for this little person, China Little Flower was contacted and a short time later we have a baby with more rolls than the bakery.  His story is one of hope, love and dedication.  You can read all about him here.

Here is his before picture….I know it’s really hard to look at.  Is this really the same baby? It is, hard to believe but true.  This is what Little Flower does and I am so grateful to be part of it.  Thank you so much for your support, they do amazing things with your 5.00.

Tomorrow is an exciting day!  We have a new designer with an adorable new pattern!  I made it up and let me tell, you all are going to want one.  Perfect for Christmas!  Be sure to stop by and get the scoop :o )

Remember you are everything to someone with nothing!

Twas’ the night before Christmas….a giveaway….

Posted on by
6

Our good friend Lisa is trying her best to fill the stockings of some really special little one’s in China this year.  I created this sleepover set just for the occasion.  I might be biased, but I believe it turned out lovely.  Best part?  You can be entered to win it with a small donation of 5.00, (you can certainly donate more)!  It will be up only until midnight tonight, so you better hurry if you’re interested.

The set includes a sleeping bag lined with minke, a small pillow perfect for her little head, jammies to bring on the sugarplums and finally Bella’s favorite book all about Fancy Nancy and her Splendiferous Christmas.  All done up in Riley Blake’s sweet Christmas print, I used over 10 different prints!

The jammies are a size 3, the bottoms have an elastic waist and the top is comfy knit with “bootful PINcess buppons…as best explained by Bella”

I believe in “paying it forward”, if you give to this special cause, then I would absolutely be over the moon excited to send you one of these….our gift to you,  Why?  Because we love you, isn’t that a fantastic reason?!  Short on cash?  No problem, I want you to have it anyway, because nothing but blessings await me if I give a small portion of what I have, and this friends, is such a small portion.

 I will send you this pattern via email, just send me your email address, please make sure it won’t kick it back to me.  Those cute little girls?  They happen to be Lisa’s…she has been so gracious to share her photography skills with me over and over again.  Friends….what on earth would we do without them?

Here’s the link one more time, www.thelongroadtochina.com.

Remember you are everything to someone with nothing!

Silly girls….sewing is for boys…

Posted on by
3

Happy Monday!  It snowed here in Utah, not a whole lot, but let me tell you it is COLD!!! Are you getting all your holiday decorations up?  Shelley sure is!  Let me tell you, her front porch is something out of a Martha Stewart magazine, the girl has mad skills.  If you’ve never visited her blog, you must!  It’s loaded with free tutorials, gorgeous pictures and all kinds of other good things.

I swiped this from her blog….does your front porch look like this?  Yeah, mine doesn’t either.  A girl can wish though, right?

Many of you may or may not realize that Shelley’s patterns benefiting One Heart Bulgaria funds a youth sewing program.  Why is this important, you might ask?  To answer this question, we need to ask an important question.  When a child “ages” out of it’s orphanage, where do they go?  They have no family.  No skills.  They have nothing, I know I am always saying that, but it’s true, they have nothing.  Imagine having nothing.  Not even the clothes on your back are yours, everyone shares them in an orphanage.

The program we have chosen to fund with One Heart Bulgaria is a sewing class held once a month for some wonderful, bright, teens.  They are learning a life skill, something that can allow them to use as a profession or trade.  More importantly, they are learning a skill that will give them confidence and joy.  Sewing is fun!  Creating is so important to the human psyche, in discovering talents we learn more about who we are and what we are capable of.  I also believe that the time they spend with the sweet woman mentoring them is invaluable.  It’s important to understand that these children live in very large institutions, much like warehouses.  They are understaffed, run down, awful places to call home. Many of these children act out to get attention or even sadder they just shut down and resign themselves to the fact that they are just orphan #___ and nobody really cares.  Why it is a surprise to the government that these children turn to prostitution, gangs and suicide when they age out is beyond me.  Once again,  I just love  Kristin’s thoughts on the issue…”All children really need is love and a soft place to land”.

We received these great pictures taken at the most recent sewing class!  Look at those boys!  There is just something special about a teenage boy, I have four, so I might be a bit biased.  One look at these pictures and you can see that they are having a good time, working as a team and soaking up the attention of the camera and instructor.  I know the resolution is awful, but you get the idea, right?

She’s concentrating really hard, making sure those lines are straight and probably thinking…”hey, this is pretty cool!”  I can’t really tell, but it looks like she may be repairing some jeans?

Learning to measure twice and cut once!

Awwww….we love you too!  Seeing these pictures made me feel so good!  It’s nice to see where the money goes and to know that it’s making a difference even though it’s very little. Be sure to visit our store and pick up some of Shelley’s patterns if you haven’t yet, they are written so well, an amazing value at only 5.00!  Thank you for helping us to make this happen, we hope your week is amazing and full of good things, because you certainly deserve it!

Remember you are everything to someone with nothing!

Lina’s Auction has started!

Posted on by
1

Hop over to Lina’s auction…there is all kinds of lovelies over there.  Such as….

Are you kidding!?  The NieNie skirt!

Our own Red Thread Stitches has several items available and this is one….so sweet!  Love the Amy Butler fabric combination.

Ladybugs & Lasso’s has these adorable Christmas outfits, one for a boy and another for a girl!

And this is one of my contributions, a size two Macy Giggles Dress and Sally Sunhat.  Lovely for the beach, no?

Who’s Lina?  She’s a precious 5 yr. old that weighs in at a whoppin’ 11 pounds.  She has a family all ready to love her, they just need a bit of financial help.  So, let’s do what we can, shall we?

Remember you are everything to someone with nothing!

The post guaranteed to make your day….

Posted on by
4

Have you ever seen anything SO adorable?!  This is today’s post from China Little Flower’s blog…the last pic just made me giggle and it felt so good to giggle.  I also adore Mu Mu’s crossed feet in those adorable tights.  Be sure to become aFaceBook follower, you’ll find them under Little Flower Projects, they do such a good job of giving updates.

Helping Out

The children of Little Flower love to help out! Here are some photos of some bigger kids helping out with the little ones…
Mei Mei asking if she can hold Baby Hu:

“Wow, this guy is heavy!”
“But I like helping out!”
“OK, time to let Mu Mu have a turn.”


Later on, Mu Mu with Baby Feng:

“Look how cute this little guy is!”

“Oh, I could just squeeze him!”

And with Baby Feng and Baby Xiao:

“Twice the fun!”


Mu Mu makes a great “big sister”:


After all that cuddling, Baby Hu decided he wanted to try.

“Yep, you’re right! It is good fun!”
 Remember you are everything to someone with nothing!

Reality and love all jumbled up…

Posted on by
3

This is the newest blog post over at China Little Flower.  Breaks my heart, but leaves me so unbelievably grateful to the dedicated staff serving the children in their care.  Please, if you haven’t, visit our store and purchase a pattern.  100% of the funds goes directly to the care of these precious, innocent orphans.  Keep this little one and her caregivers in your thoughts and prayers please.

Little Ai Li

Baby Ai Li arrived a few weeks ago, tiny, frail and seriously ill. Shortly after she arrived her condition worsened, and she was admitted to the hospital. After more than a week of treatment she showed little improvement and it was decided to discharge her back to us for palliative care.
.
This little sweetheart has a serious heart defect. There are also concerns about a chromosome disorder. It is expensive and risky to operate now, so surgeons are recommending we wait – if her general condition improves then we will consider the surgery option again later. But we all all painfully aware that she may not survive to become strong enough for surgery.

Babies like Ai Li are never easy to care for. She is very fussy and irritable, finding it hard to get comfortable. When she’s crying and fussing her heart rate and oxygen levels are very unstable, so the nannies work constantly to keep her calm. Her needs for special nursing care and close observation are intense. And of course, cuddling and loving a little baby who may not live very long is one of the most emotionally draining jobs out there.

Although the work is never easy, we are so grateful to our nannies who dedicate themselves to children like Ai Li. And we are also grateful to you, those who support us in what we do. Thank you!

Remember you are everything to someone with nothing!

Black Friday Sale!

Posted on by
Reply

For today and tomorrow only, buy one pattern and choose a second one for FREE!  When you checkout, just buy one and then let us know which pattern you’d like for free in the message section.  Be sure to include your email address!  Visit our store here!

Meet Jason…he’s ready for a family to call his own!  You can read more about precious Jason on China Little Flower’s blog.  Are you ready to adopt?  Do you know someone that is?  Help us spread the word!  His smile is just too sweet, don’t you agree?

 Remember you are everything to someone with nothing!

All my chicks are gathered in…

Posted on by
1

My oldest son went and turned 18 on me, he graduated from highschool and moved away to college.  I miss him everyday, he is a prince of a boy.  I cannot believe how much he has grown in just a short semester away.  Brayden was the first Parry to leave the nest, and it was hard to watch him fly away.  Despite his parenting, he turned out pretty darn amazing. Isn’t he handsome?  I love you Brayden Parry!

This mother hen is so thankful to have all her chicks safe at home.  I hope you are surrounded by those you love this weekend.  Happy Thankgiving Y’all!

Remember you are everything to someone with nothing!