Princess Maddie Dress

I dreamed up this dress over the past 3 years and finally had the perfect inspiration - a little girl named Maddie. Two Ottobre pattern played a large part in this creation. If you are an Ottobre officionado, see if you can pick out the two patterns I borrowed from. ;)
The fabrics are by Michael Miller.

Swirly Fun!

Twenty cans of shaving cream in one week sounds like a desperate woman's frenzy to rid herself of every single unwanted hair on her body! On the contrary, I've been learning a new method of dying fabric. ;) The creamy marbled result that comes from the shaving cream technique is fascinating, artistically expressive and highly sought after. It is also quite labor-intensive.

I played Chopin on my iPod while creating these, and looking closely, you can see his Etude #12 in Cm - my favorite! This lovely pad set is going to an expecting mama building her postpartum stash. The fabrics will be added to my gallery for future custom orders.

Recent Customs

Here are some recent customs I did for a wonderful customer half way across the globe from me. I used the Swirly dye technique for a few of them and hand painted the others. I call it 'Pad Art'. My mother calls it 'Silly'. But I like the way one customer put it, "It makes you happy when you pull your pants up!" Hahaha!

Introduction

Go With The Flo Pads were designed by Robin, a fellow Work-At-Home-Mom, in 2005. The trim contoured fit and ingenious stay-put wing design quickly made them a great success. In January of 2008, I took over production for Robin while she enjoyed an extended babymoon. In June, she approached me with the option to buy Go With The Flo, and I am now the proud owner of it!

You can expect the same level of outstanding customer service and product quality that customers received from Robin. There will be one thing different: There will be more instock for your shopping pleasure! Every Friday at YINIA...and occasionally at GWTF and Etsy.

July Party Dress

The birthday girl needed a special party dress for her 5th birthday! Uninspired until the night before her party, I took one of my original designs, the LeleWrap, and transformed it into halter top, backless summer dress. I used white cotton batiste for the dress and a velvet burnout sheer for the sash, underskirt and binding. I love the way it turned out, and so does my princess. :)

Kimono Diaper Set

I'm doing a change up on my blog...Instead of just my musings - which have been nonexistent as of late - I'll be posting projects I'm especially proud of. In my "spare time" I am a clothing designer and the cloth diaper lady of Maui. This set is a sweet cloth diaper starter set for an adorable Japanese baby girl. It's called 'Kimono' in honor of my absolute favorite fabric ever (shown on the cover at right). Included in this set are a half dozen hemp TriFolds, 2 Honu Shells and 2 Hemp Fitteds. There are two more covers to be added to the bunch, but I miscounted my snap supply and am currently stalking my mail-lady. Didn't she pick out some gorgeous fabrics?

I'm Mommy's MAN!!

My baby boy just turned 2 today. I can't catch up to how fast he's growing. He is still as snuggly as the day he was born, though. :)
He and Daddy have a play argument that carries on from day to day...
Daddy: You're Mommy's boy, aren't you?
Son: No, I not the baby! I'm Mommy's MAN!
Daddy: I'M Mommy's man.
and back and forth they go. It brings a smile to my face everytime I hear them.

I was well into my first trimester when my daughter was turning 2. There are times I feel I shorted her on my attention as I dealt with morning sickness and exhaustion. She is such a special and wonderful little girl - how can I get frustrated and angry with her? So often, I take for granted the blessing I have of being able to stay at home with my babies and laugh and learn with them all over again.
Throughout the mad rush of the day, I hear the counsel to take a good look at my children and enjoy them at the age they are now. How true this is. How fast time passes! And what did we end up accomplishing in those moments that we pushed our loved ones to the side with replies like, "Not now, hunny, Mommy's working", "In a minute; I need to finish this" , "We'll read together as soon as I'm done with this"... Oh, for the wisdom of one who has seen all her children to their own lives and now has the time to reflect on such moments as these.

And now, as my little one asks me to play with him, I'm going to drop what I'm doing right now and get down on the floor with him. After all, He is only going to be in these Terrific Twos for a few months. :)

PINK!

PINK!
The day I found out I was having a girl, I knew I was in trouble. What would I do with a girl?? Boys, I understand. They're easy - give 'em something to bang with and let 'em get dirty. Oh, and make sure they've always got enough to eat because a hungry boy is an unhappy boy. ;) But girls? They like frilly things. PINK frilly things, and bows and foo-foo dresses. I'm a surf shorts and T-shirt girl and hate the color pink, so maybe you can understand my dilemma. But the U/S said I was having a girl, so I prayed for a tomboy like me. Weeeeeeeell, I prayed for a Chevy K-5 and got a porche. She's a girly-girl through an through, and I wouldn't trade her for the world.

Her favorite color is pink, therefore everybody's favorite color should be some shade of pink. You could say she sees her world through rose-colored glasses. 8D
I recently had a birthday, and being the sweetie she is, my daughter wanted to make me a card. "What is your favorite color, Mommy?"

"Hmmm...I like many shades of blue..."

-"And pink?"

I also like forest green-"

"And PINK?"

"Yellow is nice, and I like orange-"

"AND PINK??"

"Sometimes I even like red" (I was trying to get as close to pink as possible without it being pink")

"And pink is your favorite color, too?"

Realizing I wasn't winning, I surrendered. "Yes, when you make me something, my favorite color is pink."

Monkey See - Monkey Do

Monkey See - Monkey Do
I am held in the highest accountability by two very short persons. Absolutely no room for hypocrisy - let me tell you! I am still chuckling in embarrassment over this most recent episode of not walking the talk...

I needed another spool holder for my threads. MIL (mother-in-law) is known to have at least one of everything, and sure enough, I spotted one not being used. With my ever watchful 4 year old tagging along beside me, I snagged the empty holder and began filling it with my spools of thread. I didn't think anything of it until a little voice chirps out, "That's Grandma's. You didn't ask! You're supposed to ask her before you use it, aren't you?"

Feeling slightly guilty, I fished for a justifying answer. "Grandma doesn't mind me using it - she has lots of stuff - she won't even know it's missing. But, yes, I will ask her tomorrow." Now, I should've admitted she was right, I was wrong, removed my offending threads, and returned it back to it's place...but I didn't.

Fast forward 24 hours later, We are back in the shared room with ours and Grandma's things. Without a backwards glance, my little girl marches up to a box holding a beaded purse she's been admiring for several days and picks it up. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I'm hearing a conversation about that beaded purse..."Mommy, can I have this?" "No, honey, that's Grandma's. You don't take Grandma's things without asking first"...then I got distracted by my younger son, throwing a rock inside the house - or something like that.

Later that day, as my daughter was cleaning up her toys in the living room, I spied that beaded purse among her belongings. Now, I felt really guilty. I knew she had seen my actions in spite of my words and had copied me. Very meekly, I repented of my error with the thread holder to her and then said we needed to return both the purse and the holder. We went together to Grandma's house to return the items. I told MIL in a low voice that I had set a bad example for my daughter, and she had followed suite.

Thinking it was funny, I related the whole story to Daddy. As we laughed about it, a little voice pipes up from the other room, "Mommy was setting a bad example, Daddy."

Little elephant ears!

GOOD MORNING!!

10 Ways Baby says GOOD MORNING!
1. Insert 1 tiny index finger into Mom or Dad's nasal cavity or ear canal. ( be sure to smile sweetly)

2. Select individual hairs on their scalp to pluck. (should be followed up with a hug to avoid reprecussions)

3. Use lotion pump to do messy surgery on the eye. (It works! The eye opens!)

4. Methodically drop the doorstop or other heavy, rock-like object. (the dumber you look, the better)

5. Pull over something that has lots of little pieces, then plink each object back one by one.

6. Position your dirty nighttime diaper directly in front of their face and slowly backup until you reach contact, then sit.

7. Perfect the 'Steam Roll' and the 'Body Slam'. (This one works better with Dad since he wakes up praising your wrestling skills. Mom is not so happy.)

8. Grab the edge of the covers and run!

9. Attack your sleeping sibling. (the ensuing screams are very helpful)

10. When all else fails, Tamper with the alarm clock until the radio blasts. (Guaranteed to get a rise)

Eyes of a Child

Teaching Mom
For kids, things are black and white. There is right and there is wrong. They don't see in shades of grey like adults do. This has caused me to back myself into a corner with my 4 year old on more than one occassion.

The ongoing discussion at hand is concerning Easter. We celebrate Resurrection Sunday - the day Christ rose from the dead after conquering sin and death. There are no eggs or bunnies involved in our celebration, but we have a wonderful fun time with singing, dancing, and a big party with lots of delicious food. When others around us began to talk about egg hunts and ask what the easter bunny was going to give them, of course my daughter wanted to know what we were missing. Because it's not the point of my writing today, I won't go into the details, but if you are interested in the history of Easter, then one place to find a summary of info is here History of Easter.

Suffice it to say, the origins of Easter are far from Godly and have no place in the celebration of Christ's Resurrection. After explaining this to my daughter, the first question out of her mouth is, "Why do (insert names of friends of ours) celebrate Easter & Resurrection Sunday?"

Another subject that has me backed into a corner is a non-religious one: makeup. Personally, I hate the stuff. I don't like the media brainwashing so prevalent in our society that makes little girls begin to dislike the way they look, and influence women to nip, tuck, hack, suck, inflate, and paint their way to a better self image. I'll admit I wore makeup for a few years in my teens in my search for my identity, but gave it up a couple years before meeting my husband. As a very girly little girl, my daughter loves to dress up in all sorts of foofoo clothing - it must all be some shade of pink and have ruffles - and prance around the house. At a baby shower, I reeived a set of makeup brushes as a door prize, and not knowing what else to do with them, gave them to her to play with. I thought she'd use them for painting or something. Having no previous exposure to makeup, it is uncanny how she automatically began to "apply" her makeup with them! Thus began the discussion about why we don't wear makeup. "Makeup is for women who don't think they are beautiful without it. Outward beauty is nothing but vanity - it's the beauty inside that must be seen: kindness, gentleness, meekness, love, patience, peace, and joy. You are very beautiful both inside and out." I thought it was sage advice: honest, reassuring... But listen to her response! "Why do Grandma and my Sunday School teachers wear makeup then? Aren't they beautiful?" Hmmmm....

The word that keeps coming to mind as the answer to the above scenerios is 'COMPROMISE'. We compromise our standards, our morals, our beliefs, in the name of tolerance and political correctness and even imagined beauty. Everything is acceptable and right if it makes the involved individual happy.
...but how do I explain this to a 4 year old? Things are so much simpler in black and white.

Introduction

Aloha!
I'm Ru - a work at home mom (W.A.H.M.) on the island of Maui. Everyone around me, including my own husband, is blogging or reading blogs. I've been putting it off because I balk at fads like a Baalam's donkey balked at the angel standing in his path. Buuut, I figure it's time to make use of this thing. It is kinda cool after all. ;)
What's in the name? I call this Teaching Mom because this is where I'll be sharing all the fun - and serious - things I learn being a mom. Like, just yesterday, my 15 mo old son careened down the hallway into my full length mirror and shattered it. It was supposed to be mounted safely on the wall that same day. I was an hour away from doing it. Lesson learned: The saying that breaking a mirror is bad luck is BS because it doesn't take into account boy toddlers who are tiny bulls in china cabinets!