Fall is the super busy time for rodeos, festivals and craft fairs, so it's no wonder the sales for our "Sewing With Leather"  book jump tremendously during this time.

Probably the best selling item is the pattern for the Custom Fit Leather Chaps Pattern , where you can make your own chaps and be assured that they will fit YOUR measurements.  Here's a quick diagram of the chaps:



As you've probably guessed, I'm in the middle of making a set of leather chaps for my little 6 year old grandson (big brother to those quads I talk about all the time).  His school has a "western" day each year and the day school started he reminded me that he NEEDS TO HAVE chaps for western day, AND he wants to be a cowboy for halloween.  Jacob is in the first grade this year, and already has a cowboy hat, boots and a set of gun belt/holster and play rifle that he got for his birthday from his cousins, so the only thing lacking is a western shirt and set of chaps. 

The Chaps Pattern  at the SewingWithLeather website  has easy step by step instructions, so you can actually make a set of these for a child, as well as for an adult.  OK Jacob - I'm on it!!

Most of you know about my daughter, Denise, and her 4 year old quadruplets and big 6 year old son.  From time to time I get emails asking "how in the world does she get ANY work done?" -- and I'll have to admit I  have no clue how she packs so much work in such little time that she has.

In addition to family matters, she also has a very popular coupon blog, ShopperStrategy and is also in the middle of getting her Masters Degree online.  She's also created the very popular coupon tote, which she calls the Coupon Clutch.  Some of her blogging friends (those who have similar type coupon / deal blogs) have also made comments as to how in the world she gets everything done.

One of her blogging counterparts was so interested in Denise's "story" that she asked Denise to do a little write up of what she does and how she got into the coupon clutch business, etc.  Michelle, at iHeartPublix.com  has posted Denise's story, which I would like to invite you to check out.  Check out those quads in the very first picture -- aren't they just the cutest things you've ever seen!!!  They were nearing 2 years old at that time, and Denise could no longer afford diapers, so one day she decided to go "cold turkey" and get them all potty trained.  There were 4 little potty chairs in their bathroom at home and 4 little potty chairs in our bathroom at our house, so no matter where the little guys were, there were potty chairs available!

Have you ever tried to potty train ONE little child??????  How about FOUR at the same time!!

Check out the ReaderSpotlight at iHeartPublix  and read Denise's story.  This story is a TRUE example of "when you're given a lemon ....... make lemonade"

We're not talking about teenagers or married grandchildren trying to help the "oldsters" out here --- we're talking about those "almost" 5 year old quadruplets and their big 6 year old brother!!!

One of the quads, whose name I won't mention (but Brandon you know who I'm talking about!), LOVES to clean and organize things.  His REAL name is "change, re-arrange, organize, move around", and all those sorts of names.  Several weeks ago he cleaned up the boys' bedroom -- by stacking all the toys, etc against one wall, then wanted me to move the living room furniture into the bedroom to fill the empty space.  I told him if I ever got some new furniture I'd consider doing that.

Well, now comes the REAL story!  A few weeks ago on a pretty Saturday afternoon, I tried to get all the kids to go outside and ride bikes, go for a walk or just do something outside.  Everybody except Brandon went out - he wanted to stay inside and watch TV.  So, because I can't be everyplace at the same time, didn't want to force him to go outside, I said ok he could stay inside as long as he just stayed in the chair and watch tv.  He said he would.

While the rest of us were outside, some of them got hot and one by one started coming inside.  Then somebody got hold of a glass flower vase, accidentally dropped it and boy howdy did we have a mess.  That vase shattered into a thousand pieces!  I quickly grabbed a broom to sweep it all up trying to be very careful to get all the corners, etc so there wouldn't be any little pieces of glass for the next set of bare feet that came out into the garage.

I guess it was about 5-7 minutes later, with the glass completely cleaned up, I got the last one that was outside and told her we needed to go inside and check on the rest of the kids.  When little Sarah and I came inside, this is what we found.........



I couldn't believe my eyes!!!!!  THIS is my front room -- you see the door in the very back?  It USED to open so people could come in!  On the far right hand side of the picture (can't see it for all this furniture!) is my china cabinet against the wall and our "formal" dining room table and chairs, and on the far left side of the room (and picture) - also can't be seen here, is a roll top desk and a curio cabinet.   All this area that is STUFFED with furniture used to be the OPEN area where people could walk inside.  These little guys had moved little card tables and chairs (far back side by the door) in from the play room to their "new" living room, moved chairs and stools and big cushions from the playroom into this area, moved my living room couch (from the actual living room) into this open area, moved another side chair into this area and were in the process of moving my husband's recliner into their "new" living room.

The little guy in the blue shirt with the big smile was the ringleader of this change up of our house!  When Papaw came in and looked around, all the kids were so THRILLED with their new living room that he said to leave it like that for the weekend.  They'd worked very hard putting it all together, so the best I could do was dig out the vacuum and clean the "old" living room floor where all the furniture USED to be.

Here's another view of the "new" living room with the little "change, re-arrange and organize" boy sitting in a chair probably thinking about how he could get the TV moved into his new living room.



Anybody need help getting furniture moved???  We have quite the crew here that would love to help!

I just found out about ThredUP, a clothing swap website where you can box up your children's clothing that no longer fit, list them on the site by size for somebody who may be looking for clothing that size.  If you have clothes that somebody wants to have, you can ship them free -- I LOVE the sound of that.  Then if you see a listing of clothes that would be the right size for your children, you can request the box from the owner, and at that time all you have to pay is for the $13.00 priority mail shipping.  With "almost" 5 year old quadruplet grandbabies, and their 6 year old big brother, we have bunches of outgrown clothing, and NEED tons of clothes the next size bigger for them to grow into.  Talk about saving money on children's clothing - this has to be the greatest thing going!

There is a small membership fee to sign up and be able to list your clothing items, etc, and now Heather at MiscellaneousMom.com  is having a giveaway for a premium membership.  The giveaway will end tomorrow night (9/21) at midnight, so run on over using the link in the previous sentence to comment on whose closet you'll be cleaning out!

I've mentioned to you in the past when the coupon clutch website  got in new designs, but I believe they have hit the jackpot with the new cat and dog PET designed fabrics.  The coupon clutches, as you know, are fabric covered binders that look like designer tote bags, allowing you to carry all your important coupons to the store in style!  Anyway, back to the topic!  If you are a cat lover, you'll fall in love with the new "Cats On The Beach"  pet design fabric -- check it out:



And, if it's dogs that you prefer, you haven't been left out.  Check out the "Favorite Dog Breeds"  fabric design as you see here:



Aren't those just the most adorable pet designs you've ever seen?!?  However, if you're not particularly interested in pets, just wander on over to the Coupon Clutch site  and scroll through all the other super cute designs that are available. 

One of the favorite places our grandchildren LOVE to visit is our local Navy Museum of Aviation History.  They call it "the museum of airplanes that don't fly".  The museum is a two story building that has either on the floor or hanging, all types and styles of navy airplanes from years past, in addition to a complete section about man's visit to the moon.

Oh, I can't forget to mention the big play area for children, where they can "fly" some airplanes and have a great time.  Here's a picture from last Saturday when we went there.



This has to be one of the greatest attractions in our town for tourists - it is awesome.  And for those rainy / cold days a trip to the Navy  Aviation Museum has to be at the top of the list!!

I'm wondering how many of my readers have a sewing business, a website or a blog.  If you have any one of those mentioned, then you're very well aware that there are many ways to make money from having certain "advertisements" on your side bar, or on a separate page, as would probably happen if you have a website.

Those links from your sidebar could be very lucrative for you, depending on the type of affiliate program that's being offered.

PatternsThatFitYou.com , which is one of our most popular websites containing information about making patterns according to your own measurements is pleased to announce the launch of the new affiliate program  for the site.



By signing up for the affiliate program, you'll be able to give your readers access to our free pattern making and pattern changing classes; in addition, you'll be able to make a whopping 15% commission on every sale that is referred from your website or blog.

For additional information, you can check out the post on our Sewing Business blog , OR you can go directly to the PatternsThatFitYou.com website  and click on the "affiliate" link to see all the information.

I am accumulating a LOT of empty thread spools and I don't know what to do with them.  When we first started sewing  coupon clutches, I threw away some of them, but immediately realized that they could be used for projects for the kids.  The good thing is that all the spools are the same size (we order the same brand in all the colors we need, so the spools are the same).  I have a box of probably 50-60 spools now and keep adding more as I do more sewing.

My little 4 year old quadruplet grandchildren and their big 6 year old brother LOVE to do "projects" and "activities", so I'm thinking these would be perfect --- but what to make?

Do any of you keep the empty thread spools as you finish with them, or just throw them away?  If you or anyone you know has done any type of project or craft item using empty spools, could you please pass it along to me? My grandchildren would be ever so grateful!

Are you an avid coupon collector and user?  Do you need the clear pocket pages for photo albums?  CouponClutch.com  has all of their clear pocket pages on sale through September 15. 


The above picture shows the 4-pocket pages.  These polypropylene 4-Pocket pages are acid free, archival quality that is perfect for storing coupons. This product features high clarity and strong welds. The pages have 4 - 3 1/2 x 5 pockets and fit all standard 3-ring binders and albums. Package of 10.

The package of 10 (available in 3-pocket, 4-pocket, 6-pocket and 9-pocket) are on sale for 15% discount, now through September 15.  So, whether you are a coupon collector, or need these pages for photo albums, baseball card collections - whatever your need may be -- run by CouponClutch  to get them while they're on sale!

It appears that many of you have decided to start sewing for full figure and plus size women, at least that's what it looks like by the way our "Sewing For Full Figure And Plus Size Women As A Home Business"  have been flying off the shelf!   I'm not at all surprised, as the statistics show a growing number of us getting into the "overweight and obese" category.  I'm very pleased to say that those of you who have purchased the Sewing For Full Figure and Plus Size Women as a Home Business have given us very positive feedback on your increasing business.

I would like to mention, while we're on the subject of "full size, overweight and obese", that you shouldn't forget about all those overweight children that can't find a single thing to wear!  Sewing For Plus Size Children as a Home Business  is a complete manual that gives information on how to alter regular store bought patterns to fit the overweight children, as well as complete information on how to use child's personal measurements to make patterns for him/her.   What I've seen at playgrounds at schools (and in malls, restaurants, etc) are overweight children who basically live in jogging pants and an oversized sweatshirt because there literally are no clothes that will fit properly. 

Then throw in the issue of "uniforms for school"!  Our grandchildren attend school in a county that requires uniforms at all the county public schools.  Private schools usually require uniforms as well.  When dropping off or picking up the grandchildren from school I've seen children with clothes so tight you wonder how they can even breathe!  Then there are the blouses or shirts that rise so far above the waist (skirts or shorts waistband is under the tummy) that the entire tummy is showing.  Think about it - if YOU were wanting to look nice in a public place and there's NOTHING you can wear that would look nice, or make you feel good about yourself, what kind of a day would you have?

If you are in any kind of a position to do some sewing for these children, I'd recommend that you give it a try.  And, this overweight/obese children issue isn't just in our area or certain areas, it's in every area of the United States - all you have to do is open your eyes and see the multitudes of overweight and obese kids.  Plus Size Children.com  not only has information about making patterns for children, we also have sewing patterns for plus size children.  Our patterns have been made using actual plus size childrens' measurements, so they're all set for those overweight and obese children-- all you have to do is get the size range that will fit the child you're sewing for, open up the pattern and get an outfit put together for the child.

I feel very sorry for children who have no proper fitting clothes and nowhere to look for clothes.  If you're interested in helping these kids, and making some extra money, check out the Plus Size Children website for patterns and pattern making classes that are available.