Maternity Leave + a giveaway

I can't explain why, but I've actually been putting off sharing all this information for a while now. Why? I really have no clue! Maybe because I'm still slightly in denial (although no less excited!) about what's to come. But August is almost here, which means I'm running out of time! :)

Surely you all know by now that hubby & I are expecting our first little one sometime in the next month. Hopefully you didn't think I'd just leave you all hanging with the sew along! Trust me, I most certainly am not, and I'm just hoping you'll want me back after the next couple months since I'm sure these ladies will run the show better than I can! :)

For August, I'm very excited to have Susan from Living With Punks running the show! She'll be working with you on the Fringed Hobo Bag.

I know Susan is really excited for this bag, so there will probably be nobody better to share it with you. Susan probably doesn't realize it, but she's practically the entire reason behind My Crafty Crap! It was her Pillow Cover to Messenger Bag tutorial that kicked my butt into gear about getting the sewing machine I'd wanted for some time, and got me totally hooked on sewing. So I guess you have her to either thank or blame. ;) Susan answered all sorts of random sewing & bloggy questions for me early on, so I know she'll be nothing but helpful as you work through August's project.

September will be run by none other than Sara, from Sew Sweetness. She'll be working with you on the Blossom Handbag/Shoulder Bag. This is, by far, my absolute favorite pattern from the book, so I can't wait to get caught up & make my own.

Sara always shares such fantastic & helpful pattern reviews, and we're getting into the more difficult projects in the book, so I know she'll have some great pointers for you. And good news for any of you who don't own a copy of the Style Stitches book, September's pattern is available for FREE from Sew, Mama, Sew! Head on over now to print your pattern & start thinking about what fabrics you might want to use. You've still got plenty of time, but it's never too early to start planning!

I'm hoping to be back in the swing of things by October, and back running the sew along for the remainder of the year. Of course I'm not going to drop off the edge of the planet during August & September, but crafting may be at a minimum while we get a handle on this whole parenting business. :)

And now for a fun little giveaway. You remember all those origami bags I somehow managed to whip up last week? Of course you do, how could you forget all these lovlies!

I knew all along I didn't really need 22 of them, but I made a couple extra because I wanted to be able to share them with a couple of YOU! I have two to give away, and entering is simple. Everybody gets two chances to enter by guessing when Goose will get here (date & time) and how big he'll be (weight only). The closest guess for each will each get one bag! If the same person guesses both correctly, I'll choose the next closest guess from the date & time guesses. I'll leave comments open for guesses until next Monday, but if he comes between now & then only those who have already guessed will be eligible to win! Obviously the winner won't be announced & bags won't be sent until after Goose gets here, but I'll contact the winners as soon as I can.

I'm sure some of you will have all kinds of questions you want answered to have a better chance at guessing correctly, but I'll only tell you these few things:

- My official due date is August 17

- Like I said earlier, this is our first baby

- Hubby was a whopping 9+ pounder

- I was just under 8 pounds

Good luck!

I look forward to the adventures I know the next few months will bring & hope you'll stick around through my little hiatus.

Don't forget, you still have time to enter your Key Keeper Coin Purse for your chance at July's giveaway. Head over & link up if you haven't already!

Until next time...