APIL Water Day

Ascension Parish Inclusive League had a water day today. A water slide, slip n slide, a swimming pool and lots of water balloons were the activities for the event. Everyone had a great time.

Dr. Kelly Ray, Community Psychologist, attended the event to observe and help our team with suggestions to help us work with the children. At the board meeting after the event, Dr. Ray answered questions and gave us helpful suggestions.

A swimming pool and a water hose. What could be better?

Everyone joined the activities when the water balloons were brought out.

My daughter and APIL Director, Betsey Baldwin, was a likely target for the water balloons.

The co director, Courtney, and board member, Sunny, also joined in the water balloon fun.

A plastic tarp, some no tear shampoo and a water hose was all we needed for a slip and slide.

Add a few plastic balls to the pool added to the fun.

Even though it was very warm outside, the water helped cool things down and created a fun day. The grant APIL obtained has allowed the program to expand to other areas of the state. A program in Hammond and Mandeville are in the works thanks to the grant and guidance of Rebecca Mandal, Karen Sheridan and Jennifer Whisenhunt of the Resource Center on Psychiatric & Behavioral Supports.

Ascension Parish Inclusive league is a recreation league in which children with and without disabilities participate together in activities and sports just for fun! This is a non-competitive league for ages 4-13. If you have questions, would like more information or would like to volunteer for the events call (225) 621-9661.

Tester Creations - Sunny Wrap Dress

Here are the dresses the testers made from the Sunny Wrap Dress Pattern. They came out so cute.

Kati made this one which shows how great this pattern is for embroidery. She said it took a few hours to embroider all the "Under the Sea" designs but look how beautiful it looks. Check out Kati's blog. It's in German but their is a button at the top that you can press to translate to English. It isn't perfect but you can get an idea of what the posts are about.She added more along the bottom of the back. Doesn't it look great? I don't have an embroidery machine but have it on my wish list. Adding that extra touch makes such a difference in the completed outfit. This tester, Sarah, added applique to both sides of the dress. The combinations of colors and the use of the fabric from one side on the applique of the other was so creative and looks adorable.

Thanks to Sarah and Kati for helping me out with the great dresses and comments. What a blessing to have such talented and creative customers that transform my designs into beautiful outfits for their little girls.

I made the changes to the pattern and sent the finished product to YCMT today. It should be available soon on the YCMT and is currently listed in my Etsy shop.

Sunny Wrap Dress Pattern

Sunny Wrap Dress pattern is now available on Etsy and soon to be available on YCMT.

Sunny is a wrap dress pattern in girls sizes 1 through 4 that is fast and easy to make. It is a aline style with extended shoulders to form a hint of a sleeve. Included are instructions for a reversible and non reversible style. This dress is a great canvas for embroidery or applique.

My Mom

Saturday was my mom's 83rd birthday. We celebrated her birthday in Destin this past weekend. This is a picture of my mom and dad sitting in front of their room. They were so cute. They chatted with everyone who passed. We called them the official hotel "greeters".

Here is the cake my daughter got for her. She was so happy about the cake and all the birthday wishes.

Today she came to my house and I thought it would be special to have pictures of her crocheting. I have many memories of her sitting on the sofa or chair crocheting afghans and baby blankets. All of us have afghans she made for us and she also made several baby blankets and packed them away for my future grandchildren.

She is such a special person. I pray that the rest of their lives are blessed with good health and many great celebrations.

Photo Shoot, Bubbles, Balls, DressUp & Playdoh

I babysat for a friends daughter who will be featured on the cover of my pattern, Sunny which will be available soon on Etsy and YCMT. Here are some of the pictures from the photo shoot.

Besides being so adorable, she was a great model, following all my directions.



This is the reversed side of the dress with an applique. She picked a gerber daisy as soon as we got outside and carried it around with her.
After we took a few outside, we went inside to add a long sleeve shirt underneath.
After the pictures were done we played with building blocks. She liked stacking them up and knocking them down. I had her name the colors as she stacked and she knew them all.Another friend brought her three children over while she and her husband went to dinner to celebrate Father's Day. The boys were my models for the Betsey/Joey Shorts Pattern and the girl was one of the models for the Annette Reversible Sundress Pattern.

I pulled out the "craft box" I use for such occasions. I recently restocked it and added playdoh and markers. The playdoh worked out fine but the markers were probably not the best idea. Thank God they were washable. I didn't take pictures but one of the boys had marker on his ear and face and the other on his feet. I managed to wash off the evidence before mom picked them up.

Time for dress up!

What child doesn't like bubbles.
These little ones are so sweet and innocent. How blessed I am to be able to spend time with them. They inspire me to enjoy life's little pleasures.

Bean Bags for Foster Care

We had sewing night for a cause with Aimee and Stephanie and their little girls. We made been bags for the foster care program. Read more about it here and here.

Smocked Dress Project

I pulled out the pleater to smock something for a gift for good friends who's daughter is having a baby girl sometime in September. This will be their first grandchild and they are so excited. I actually met them when they were pregnant for the daughter that is having the baby (20+ years ago). Wow. How time flies.

The fabric in the background is what I'll use for the dress. I like making blue dresses for baby girls. Not sure if it is because blue is my favorite color or I know they get alot of pink and I just want to make something different. This dress will have a smocked insert with the skirt having pleats. It also has short puff sleeves and a collar. I'll post a picture when it's done.

As you can see, I used blue thread that matched the fabric for most of the design with just a little pink for some added color.

Flowers

A co worker received a bouquet of flowers that were so pretty. I had my camera with me and took these pictures.

APIL Event - Scavenger Hunt/Crafts/Spacewalk

Today at APIL (Ascension Parish Inclusive League) we had a scavenger hunt that consisted of things to stimulate all the senses. They collected leaves; looked at bugs and rocks, listened to wind and birds; felt the tree bark, grass, rocks; smelled the pine tree, air, grass and watched clouds and leaves falling to the ground.

After the scavenger hunt, we went inside to make crafts with the leaves we collected. We placed leaves under white paper and colored over the leaf forming the outline.

They glued the leaves they found on construction paper to form "leaf booklets".

There was a fundraising event setting up for the afternoon at the park and they allowed our group to use the space walk.

My daughter and director of the APIL program decided to join the fun.

The fundraising group were kind enough to allow us to purchase sno cones even though their event wasn't scheduled to start for a couple of hours. The temperature was very warm so the sno cones were a welcome treat.

The next APIL event will be a water day and is scheduled for the end of the month. Even though it was hot, we all had a fun time.

Pattern Preview - Sunny Wrap Dress

Here is a preview of the new pattern I'm working on called "Sunny" in sizes 1, 2, 3 & 4. It is fun and easy to make.

I had a picture of the back but it didn't work like I wanted it to so had to redo. Hopefully will be ready for testers next week.

Betsey/Joey Shorts - Customer Creation

Look at this handsome young man in his new customer creation made from Betsey/Joey Reversible Shorts pattern with an added applique from a pattern on You Can Make This.

Here is what she said:
I loved your shorts pattern. Again, wonderful instructions. I also followed the link on your blog to youcanmakethis.com and got the whale applique

She added a small pocket to the shorts back to better distinguish the front from the back and a wave applique on the back of the tshirt. He's just as cute coming or going.

Here is the reversed side. What a great color combination.

Thanks for sending these great pictures.