I care about the future.

I have heard it said that when you lose your Mother, you lose your best friend, and she is irreplaceable.  It is more true to me now that my Mom has passed on. It has been 12 days since she left this place for the greater one.  I have wanted to call her and talk to her even more since her passing....but my phone plan does not include that capability.  

After her funeral, and cleaning her apartment, two states away, my second oldest daughter and I came home with some treasured pieces of her life to hold onto, and to pass on to future generations.   The next day, my husband came home with the news that his position has been "eliminated".  Nice timing, eh? He has worked for this company for over 20 years, but it doesn't seem to matter anymore.  Some big wig decided the company could make a certain amount of sales, which he then in turn promised to the shareholders that they would meet...then when it didn't happen, one hundred million dollars had to be found, so what did this ceo do? Cut more jobs, disregarding any thought about the company's future growth, just  make the numbers work. So my hubby, and many, many more honest, hard working people, lost their jobs and surely sends this company into a downward spiral.  This ceo will leave this year anyway so he doesn't care about the future. 

I care.  I care about my husband's hard work. I care about all those business trips it took for this global company to thrive, all the birthday's, anniversaries, Father's days, special performances, etc. that he was not with his family for.   I care about the computer and conference calls that had to happen sometimes even on ":vacation".  My husband worked hard to keep work and family separate, but with a large family and being the breadwinner, you sometimes make sacrifices you don't like. I care mr big ceo man. I care that I have a daughter and son-in-law that are about to have our first grandchild, about two daughters in college, about another daughter so passionate about things that I have recently gotten to enjoy with her that is now on the line.  We will loose our home.  We will lose much of what is in our home. But it is only stuff.  Having to relocate, away from that new grandbaby that is coming, away from school and relationships. That I care about. 

So we pack, we toss, we garage sale, we donate. We repair, we sell, we move. 

Ok. I am a planner. I didn't plan for this. it hit me by surprise!  So, instead of just posting my lastest creations, I am going to add my journey through this. I would love to hear from any of you who have come out the other side.  I believe that everything happens for a reason.  And that I have a God that has good plans for me, and my husband, and my children.  

New Sewing Patterns & More! August 2012

Those beautiful vintage fabrics of my Mom's inspired me to make these Glasses Cases Sewing PDF Pattern.  You will find quilted, ruffled, reversible versions.  They all have a small pocket to tuck in your sunglasses when your regular eye glasses are tucked safely inside the main part of the case.  There is also the choice to add a convenient swivel snap hook to clip them to your beach bag or hand bag to have it close at hand.  I gave the case on the left to my niece who is a total vintage girl. She loved the print and it gave her a place to put her newest pair of sunnies! My sister loved the one with the hook and the convenience of having them right where she wanted them to be on her bag.  This is easy enough for a beginner!

Why not get started on making those Holiday gifts now!

Sorry, this is not a sewing pattern, it is an actual product.  I have these in my shop now!  This is a case that holds an eye glass cleaning pad but it is also great for iPhone screens! I just got an older generation iPhone for cheap but was surprised how quickly the glass smudged. So...I use this more for the screens in my life than my glasses! These make great gifts for any age, because who doesn't have a screen/lens of some kind in their life?  Works equally well on: 

eye glasses sun glasses cell phones iPhone
goggles flashlights face shields monitor
helmet visor computer screen eReader screen watch
safety glasses gas mask scopes monitor
camera view finder camera lens' binoculars dive mask
cd/dvd dive mask night-vision goggles ds screen
game boy, psp screen lasers LED meter
tablets laptops netbooks
*******************************************************************************************************************************************
Makes a great gift for: anglers, backpacker, bird watcher, bikers, campers, construction workers, computer geeks, divers, gamers, gun enthusiasts, hobbyists, sun bathers, skiers, outdoor enthusiasts, readers, photographers
********************************************************************************************************************************************** The Cloth: Eco Friendly micro fiber cloth designed for cleaning screens and lenses. It provides a scratch-free way to clean without the need for harsh chemicals that are not good for our environment. It is reusable and machine washable. Just wash on warm and air dry and it is ready to go! The material is designed to remove: oil, fingerprints, dust, dirt, and smudges from all your electronic screens and lenses. Cleaning cloth measures 6" square; colors: variety of soft pastel shades 

BACK TO SEWING PATTERNS:

 3 Purse Organizer Inserts Sewing Pattern!

No more searching in the bottom of your bag for your pens, phone, keys, lipstick, glasses, calculator, hand sanitizer, gum, jump drives, wallet, checkbook, cd’s, etc! Just pop them in the pockets of your Organizer! When you want to change handbags, just pull out your Organizer and pop it in the bottom of your new handbag. Everything stays in it’s place! The Organizer Inserts have a large area in the center, with closed bottoms, and a row of pockets on the inside as well as the outside. The Pocket Roll is adjustable to fit a number of bag sizes and configurations. It can be rolled, folded in many configurations to fit a purse, bag, briefcase, etc.  The pattern is available in my Etsy shop!

Insulated Picnic Large Lunch Sack Sewing Pattern with Sandwich, Snack Bags, Stand Up Snack Bag, Fabric Napkin, Sandwich Wrap 'n Tray

The bag is large enough for a six pack and all the bags you are making with food in them! It can hold larger picnic sized, or xl lunch size containers too. It is double insulated to keep your food cool/hot whichever you put into it. I have also included some notes as to the materials used in this and food safety. If you want to use pre-quilted material it will only make your bag go together faster! 

Extra Large, Picnic Sized Double Insulated, quilted, washable, water resistant Bag
measurements: 11” tall, 8” x 6” on bottom, 21” long handle. Back pocket 4 ½” x 6”
materials: cotton prints for outside, food safe nylon for inside,
1/2yard of Main Fabric, Fat Quarter(s)of Contrast Fabric (s) for Pockets, Quarter yard of Peltex 
Interfacing, ½ yd Batting, ½ yd InsulBrite , VELCRO

Reusable Fabric Napkin: Measures 13" square, uses a fat quarter

Reusable Sandwich and Snack Bags: 7 ¼” x 5” Snack bag; 7” x 7 ½” Sandwich Bag
materials: Fat Quarter of Main Fabric, and Nylon, 7” VELCRO

Reusable Stand Up Snack Bag: measures 7” wide, 7 ¼” high, bottom is 4” x 3 ½” 
materials:Fat quarter of Main Fabric, Fat quarter of Nylon, 7" VELCRO

and as a BONUS: Reusable Sandwich Wrap 'n Tray: Measures 14" across
materials:Fat Quarter of Main Fabric, and nylon, 2- 1 ¾” x ¾” pieces VELCRO

I have had many customers and blog readers ask me for a pattern for these.  So here it is!  I hope it generates more eco friendly food bags for many families!

Blessings everyone! I hope you are encouraged to make great items for your family to use, to give as gifts, and even to sell.  All of my patterns come with permission to sell, with the exception of the Wrap 'n Tray which is only to be made as gifts or for your family to use.  The patterns themselves cannot be resold. 

Where did the summer go?

I last wrote about a Walt Disney World vacation that was fabulous! So, yes, the summer started off great.  I gave each of the children Autograph Book Bags, Disney Water Bottle Straps, and other related goodies and they LOVED them! They worked out great because it put everything within their reach and that little independence was delightful to them.  That made me very happy. It was the first visit to Disney for three of the little ones and  it is so much fun to watch them as they discovered the "happiest place on earth".  The bags and straps are still available in my Etsy shop if you need any.

On the way back home, I received word that my 91 year old Mother was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery.  I got home, washed clothes, repacked and took off to see her.  She made it through the surgery.  The days that followed though were some of the toughest and longest days I have ever had. She struggled to not give up.  It was a very difficult surgery to come back from, but you don't live to be 91 by giving up.  So I watched and encouraged her each day as I saw her persist through physical therapy, every kind of therapy they do.  But it was overwhelming as her old body betrayed her strong will.  She finally got to a decision that she did not think she could get better.  It was also at a time that she had the choice for a medical treatment that would keep her body alive, but not have any quality to it. That was what she did not want.  I was proud of her for standing up and speaking her wishes, even though my heart broke at the idea of life without her.  I have two living sisters. One could not let go. She invoked power of attorney and insisted our Mother have this medical treatment plan.  It took several days but the doctors finally invoked her Living Will that said she did not want this treatment.  It was very hard for all of us to hear her choice, but understandable to two of us. Needless to say, there was an awful lot of stress and hurt feelings.  Be careful what you write in a living will, and more careful who you give medical power of attorney to. It needs to be someone you can trust, and who understands what you really want out of life, and what you don't. This taught me a lot about planning further to make things easier for my kids.

So Mom elected to go to a Hospice care center.  The people there were wonderful.  They took good care of her and we got to stay with her all the time.  They even rolled her, in her bed, outside into a garden area! She loved that!  She had been stuck in a hospital room for 8 weeks. To go outside again was such a blessing.  They were very good at explaining how the body breaks down, with no food, or liquids being given.  She was made tough by all the things she had to deal with in her life. The great depression, an alcoholic father, loosing her spouse early on, loosing a child...this generation really knew how to suck it up and just keep going.  She showed such grace in her last days.  The beauty of her smile when the doctor's told her they would do as she wished and stop all treatments will stay with me forever.  You see, my Mom loved the Lord and she could not wait to get to Heaven to see Him at last.  Her faith was so strong, and her eagerness so displayed that when she woke up, looked around and saw that she was still her, she asked, "Why am I still here? I want to go to Heaven!".  She was at perfect peace.  She did not respond physically as Hospice patients normally do, she was there for two weeks, without food or liquids. She showed none of the usual signs we checked for every day....could the doctors have been wrong? No, she passed away that 14th day, just as she drifted off to sleep for the night, she slipped the bonds of this earth and went home to be with her dear Savior.  I look forward to seeing you again Mom, at my own homecoming party.  I miss you. She passed away on August 7. I will think of her every day, just as I have every other day of my life.

Cleaning her apartment after the funeral gave me the opportunity to see such beautiful linens that people today don't make anymore, treasured memories from childhood brought out in family photos, gorgeous aprons that brought back the smells and tastes of both my Mother's kitchen, and my Grandmother's, to my memory.  It was an honor to clean her apartment for her.  It also inspired me to make some new products.  I will be adding them to my Etsy store soon.  I have also expanded onto a really great site called : Craftsy.  You should check it out!

I missed a typical summer.  But the days with my Mom, and my daughters with her, and my sisters, are irreplaceable and I don't regret being there.

Wow, I need a vacation! How about you? Let's pack up and head to Walt Disney World!

Zippered cross body bags for autograph book, pen, toy, snack, park map? We have those!

 Spring does this to me every year.  I long to escape to someplace magical, relaxing, with no cooking or dishwashing to do.  My happy place is Walt Disney World.  To get started on prep for the next trip, I needed a bag for the kiddos to carry their Autograph books in.  This would take another thing out of my bag and they are old enough to carry their own books.  I wanted a bag that was large enough for the official Walt Disney World Park Autograph and Photo Books they are selling at the park.  So the bag needed to be bigger than the ones I see online for this purpose.  And I don't want anything lost this time, so a zipper closure is a must.  It should be lightweight and have a pen pocket so that can be retrieved quickly when meeting a character.  It would be great if it was made from Disney licensed material too! Having room for carrying a small snack, and park map would be great too.  Ta-Dah: Theme Park Autograph book/Bag with Adjustable Strap has been created!  Some have fun embellishments on them to make them even prettier and I have included a small Disney licensed notebook for drawing in or using for autographs.  Come see all of them in my shop if you are interested in a great bag that would outast a theme park trip to be used at home as a nice reminder of your trip.

Update on Food Safe Sandwich Bag Materials

Please check my first blog post(April 2009) regarding food safe materials, and then Monday, Sept. 19, 2009, for more information on food safe Polyurethane coated nylon uses in commercial products.  It is my intention to provide you with the information to decide for yourself what you would choose to buy or use in your family's reusable sandwich bags.  I am not suggesting you can only get this from my shop at all. I hope that many of you will make your own bags! The goal of this blog is to provide our families with food safe bags! My May 11, 2009 blog post was a list of places that sell the polyurethane coated nylon.  I have no further information at this time.  If you have some newer research that you can back up, please share it.

Let's Make Some Padded Cases for Our eReaders, iPads, and Tablets!

4girlsdesigns has PDF sewing patterns to cover up almost any eReader device, iPads, and Tablets that you may have gotten for Christmas!  If you don't want to spend $30. or more on a case for that Kindle, you don't have to! Now you can choose your own fabric(s), a pdf sewing pattern from 4girlsdesigns, and your own creativity to make a one-of-a-kind case that reflects your personality!  I will list below the devices and the pattern that you would use to make a book style case for your ereader/iPad/tablet or a padded sleeve that you can slip your device in when not in use that fits nicely in your larger bag or pocket.

Updated PDF Sewing Pattern for a book style case for the following devices:
nook 1,
nook Color
Nook Tablet
Kindle 1, 2, 3G, NEW Kindle Fire, Kindle Keyboard
Kobo 1 and 2
Astak Mentor
Be Book NeoCyBook Gen 3
CobyKron 7"
Foxit eSlick
iRiver Story
Lenova Idea Pad 7" tablet
Onyx Boox 60
Pandigital Novel
Samsung Galaxy Tab 7
T-Mobile G Slate

 PDF Sewing Pattern for Padded Small eReader Book Case fits the following devices:
Kindle 4
Kindle Touch
Cybook Opus
Jetbook
Kobo 2Touch
Nook Simple Touch
Sony Pocket 350
Sony PRS300
Sony PRS505
Sony Reader Wi-Fi PRS-T1
Sony Reader Touch
or most readers 6 7/8” x 5”

Padded iPad Case Sewing Pattern for Large eReaders and Tablets Book Style Case fits:
Acer Iconia Tab
iPad 1
iPad 2
iRex Digital Reader
Kindle DX
Motorola Xoom
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
Sony SGPT111US/S
Vizio Tablet B1008



Padded Sleeves are the perfect solution for transporting your device. I offer the following sewing patterns:
NEW PDF Sewing Pattern Padded Case for Kindle Fire, Kindle 4, Sony, Nook, Sony, Kobo, eReaders 8 x 5 5/8 and smaller PLUS Accessory Case: fits:
Most 8" by 5 5/8" and smaller, including:
the NEW Kindle Fire
Astak Mentor
Nook
Nook Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi 3G
Nook Touch with Wi-Fi
New Nook (11/2011)
Be Book Neo
Coby Kyros 4 GB 7-Inch Tablet with Touchscreen and Android 2.2
MID7024-4G Coby Kyron 7"Android2.3, 4GB
Touchscreen MID7016-4G
COOL- ER
Cybook Gen 3
Dell Streak 7(wi-fi, 16GB)
Foxit slick
iRiver Story
Kindle
Kindle 2
Kindle 3
Kindle 4
Kindle Keyboard reg. or 3G Wi-Fi
New Kindle
Kindle Touch reg. or 3G
Kindle Fire
Kobo 1
Kobo 2 Touch Edition
Lenova IdeaPad A1 22282EU-7"Tablet
Nuut 2 NP-602
Onyx Boox 60
Pandigital Novel
Pandigital Novel 2GB 7-Inch Wi Fi Multimedia Tablet and Color eReader R70E200
Pandigital Android 2 GB 9-Inch Multimedia Tablet and Color eReader R90L200
Samsung Galaxy Tab (wi-fi, 3G, 16GB)
Samsung Galaxy Tab7.0 (wifi, 16GB)
Sony PRS300
Sony Pocket 350
Sony PRS-500Sony PRS505
Sony Daily Ed. PRS600
Sony Reader Touch PRS650BC
Sony Reader Daily Ed. PRS950
Sony Reader Wi-Fi PRS-T1
Sony Reader Wi-Fi ereader PRST1
Sony PRS-700
T Mobile G-slate wi-fi 3G/4G 32gb
Velocity Micro Cruz R101
PDF Padded Cover Sewing Pattern for e Reader, Tablet, Smartphones, iPad, Kindle, Nook, More/ Bonus Instructions for other devices.

LARGE Pattern fits: iPad
Acer Iconia Tablet
Apple iPad 1, 2
Asus Eee Pad Tablet
Kindle DX
Motorola Zoom WiFi Tablet
Pandigital Tablet
Samsung Galaxy Tab
Toshiba Thrive 10.1"
Vizio 8" Tablet

MEDIUM Pattern fits:
Alex eReader
Astak Mentor
Nook
Nook Color
Nook wi fi 3G
Nook Tablet
Be Book Neo
Coby Kyros Tablet
Coby Kyron
COOL-ER
Cybook Gen. 3
Dell Streak 7
Foxit eSlick
Kindle 1, 2, 3,Kindle Keyboard
Kindle Touch
Kindle Fire
Kobo 1
Lenova IdeaPad Tablet
Onyx Boox 60
Pandigital Novel Color
Samsung Galaxy Tab 7
Sony Reader Daily
Sondy Daily Ed.
Sony 900
Sony PRS-700
SMALL pattern fits:
iPhone
iPod
iPod Touch
Smartphones
mp3 Players

Last, but not least, is a very versatile PDF sewing pattern for a padded case, with shoulder strap, and  pockets and it is very easy to make!

Large and Small eReader Padded Bag PDF Sewing Pattern-With or Without a Shoulder Strap
Large bag fits the :
iPad
Motorola Xoom Wi Fi Tablet
any device up to 10" by 8 3/4"

Small bag fits:
nook Color
nook Touch
nook Touch wifi
Kindle
 Kindle 2
 Kindle 3

Back Pocket

 Kindle Keyboard, Kindle Keyboard 3G, Kindle Touch, Kindle Touch 3G, Kindle Fire, Kobo eReader, Kobo Touch, most of the Sony line, any device up to 8 1/2" x 6 1/4"