I have been having a great time lately @ the sewing machine.  The projects that I had on the table in February some are finished, others on hold.

The white blouse I was working on for myself, almost got complete.....up to the point when the sleeves were in....tried it on...and the sleeves were too tight on the upper arm.  Went back to the fabric store for more to re-cut.  I was tooo late....This project is on hold until I get a few things done for the grandchildren then I will get back to it before fall and see if I can work out the sleeve issue.

 Project #3 was the dresses below.
I have the Pilgrimage dresses ready for the granddaughters when they arrive at the end of March.  I will get the hems done when they arrive.

Allie's Dress

Nora Ruth's Dress



 
My niece had her second daughter on Feb 15, and was wanting a big/lil sis set for the girls. Got these completed and they are in the mail.

The twins, Lola & Julian, turned 7 this week.  They each wanted their own theme for birthday.  I decided to make them a T-shirt and cake to match. 


Lola wanted mermaids

Julian wanted monster trucks



I have made birthday cakes in the past but have never worked with fondant.  Found a recipe on the web for making the fondant and decided to play around with this.  This is edible playdough.

 

I made this up early to practice with the colors and do a test picture to make sure that I could get it presentable.

 

Today was the party at the horse arena.  Julian usually goes each week for his therapy and Lola has also been learning to ride.  Cakes were ready and all kids got to ride the horses, had a great day!!

 

Monster truck was harder because the pieces were larger and hard to move to the cake without distortion.

the mermaid pieces were smaller and worked better.

Lola is able to ride alone

 I Did not get a good picture of Julian on the horse but he had a great birthday party with his friends.



I will get busy this week and get Lola's Easter dress ready.  I purchase Julian's and have delivered the shorts/shirt in colors that will work well with Lola's.

Then I want to get several things for the kids for summer started.

Lots to do.....

I have Labels!!

MANY PROJECTS on the table............

PROJECT#1
I have been wanting to develop a nice quick label process for the clothing that I make.  Found a great tutorial(http://patchworkpottery.blogspot.com/2008/09/fabric-labels-tutorial.html) this weekend and I am excited. 



Using Avery LightFabric transfer paper

and twill tape 



PROJECT #2

My sister purchased this pattern(Vogue1165) on sale in November....said it was calling my name....something she knew that I would like.  I am finally getting to start it....

 



I purchased a  white on white fabric because I just do not like plain white but did not want much pattern to show

 

 

I have gotten the fronts pleated and the rest is cut and interfacings ready to work with.  Goal for the week is to complete...

 

Project  #3

I have 2 dresses to get started on for the Pilgramage in April.

 

Project  #4 

Mom is 84 and had a stroke a year ago.  She is doing great.....is a little slow communicating.....and really her only restriction is 'no driving'.  She has been independent all her life and this has been very hard for her to accept.  She has also sewn all her life...so I was watching a Sewing with Nancy episode in the fall and saw a charity 'Tender Loving Care'.  This charity makes or provides clothing for the needy in the Apalachian area.  I ask Mom if she thought she could make some dresses for this project.  She tells me that she is ready to start.  She can not cut things out because of the arthritis in her hands....so I have two on the cutting table to get ready for her to give it a try.....I am excited....want her to continue to feel useful. 

 

Here are Mom's projects:



 

This little dress on the left will be made out of the historical Windham print.  I have made this pattern several times for the grandaughters and it is very cute.  I will cut this in a size 4.

 

 

The second one is a Andover print pair with a plaid that I have had in my stash for quite some time.  I am going to cut this in a size 8.

 

I am cutting fall outfits, because I do not want Mom to feel any pressure....do not know how successful she will be, but if this turns out to be something that she can not handle, I will get them ready before the fall delivery.

 







New Baby on the way......

My niece, Brittany, is expecting her second little girl, Amelia Joy.  Brittany saw a picture and shared that with her Mom(Joy) and I back around Christmas time.  We did not understand that this was similar to what she wanted for the 'Coming home' outfit.









Amelia was originally slated to arrive around Feb 22 but she seems pushing for an early arrival.  So, a couple of weeks ago, Joy received a text asking how the outfit was coming.  Since the earlier message was not clear....we had no idea what she was talking about.  So, once again we received the picture again. .....

I received notice on Wednesday that I probably had 10 days max to get the outfit ready......so it was delivered today. Not quite as dramatic a 'prison' uniform, but I think that it presents the same idea.

The next project will be 'Pilgramage' dresses for 2 of my grandaughters, Nora Ruth and Allie.  These are the fabrics I have chosen.  I took the measurements when they were here @ Christmas.  I will begin later this week and get them all done except hems and then I will have to wait for them to make it home to complete.

I have plenty of other projects to get done....but scheduling will be as time permits.

Progress

Fall has arrived and I am still dealing with the slow progress of our kitchen, and my sewing room refresh.  I have been in somewhat of a mental slump for awhile now. I have been in this process for a year now and much of this time lag being my own fault.  The painter was in and out for 5 months.  Thought he would never get complete. I got the rooms back in place for the children to come home in July and I just could not bring myself to get started again after they left.  I finally got back on track in September.  I want to get complete before Christmas. Over the last several weekends we have gotten the tile backsplash done.  Very pleased!!

Here is the before

Here is the after

We still have a ways to go.  The drawer in the vacant hole....new floors....electrical sockets...floor mouldings.   But we are back on track.  Floors were scheduled for next week, but company called and pushed it out 2 more weeks. Maybe we can get more of our part complete before they arrive.

 

Sewing has been very lax while I have been in the household 'funk'.  Things were moved about so  much that of the time that I just could not get my mind and projects in order. 

 

I did finally complete myself a purse last week.  More of a backpack with added features.

I did the free hand quilting on the white design fabric and also created the black plaid with the chain stitch on the serger.



 

And I love the efficiency of a place for every thing, so I created the pockets for each thing. And the slots for credit cards.

 

Maybe this will be a positive step in getting me back on track to get sewing and completing the many projects I have on the table complete.

 

 

 

Happy Spring!

I have not written in quite some time.  I keep up with the blogs but just have not taken time to post.
I really have not been doing much sewing.  We started kitchen remodel back in the fall.  It is not complete.  Had to put it on hold until after Christmas and then one thing and another and we are not complete.  The painter is suppose to get started this week.

February brought us a new grandson, Thomas Clifton Scott.  This is our youngest son,Clifton's 3rd child.  Clifton is in Med school in the Grand Cayman Islands.  He will come home in mid-April and move the family to the island.

Our grandson, Julian has been very sick for several weeks.  Julian has CP and after 14 days of not being able to keep food, and being hospitalized, they finally determined that his shunt system was really not functioning correctly.  He was transferred from Columbus to Jackson and underwent 2 cranial surgeries in 2 days. He is doind much better and will go back to school on Monday.

My Mom, 83 yrs old, had a stroke on the day that we transferred Julian to Jackson.  She was hospitalized in Columbus for several days and last weekend as we were bring Julian home, we were transferring her to Jackson to Methodist Rehab Center.  She has been through extensive evaluation and we are very encouraged.  We will be bringing her home on Tuesday.  She can eat, is very mobile, but her severe weakness is communication and problem solving.  My sister has been living with Mom for  year due to the loss of her job.  She has been staying with Mom in Jackson and said that the communication is improving daily.  We are so excited.  Long way to go, but a fighter.  I feel comfortable that she will return to a somewhat independent woman.

With all of this, I am getting excited about starting some summer sewing.  I have a couple of Easter outfits cut out and will have to get very busy in the next week.  I have completed some applique for the new grandson, Thomas, and his oldest sister Nora Ruth.

I hope to get more sewing done now.

Quilted Placemats

Another WIP complete!  I have completed a practice project started 2 years ago.  I had gone to a class for free hand quilting and started a project to make some placemats, to practice my new learned skill.  I chose fabric that would go with the kitchen decor.  I completed the quilting almost a year ago but had never bound the mats.  Since I now have a pushing reason to learn how to bind off a quilt.....I found a nice tutorial video on the web from Leah Day(www.youtube.com/watch?v=wprg5vzkuGw) and the binding is complete.  I did a very tight meander free hand quilting, using some large fruit embroidery patterns from Embroidery Library.com.  The color scheme of yellow/red would have gone very well with the kitchen decor on the day the project began.

Sad to say, the kitchen  is in the throws of a major renovation and this color combination will probably not work any more.  I have not made the final choices for color.....but at this time, I am moving away from yellow.

The push to learn the quilt binding technique is shown below.  Also another WIP from 2 years ago.  Julie's quilt top is complete.  The backing has been put together and it is now time to quilt and bind.  I have practiced the techniqe of binding and I am now ready.

I am going to meet with Cheri Weber, quiltedbird, in Tupelo next week to discuss the quilting.  Plan is to have this ready for Christmas. I am very excited about it. 

I have take time off from sewing clothes for several months to complete many dream projects that I have started/planned over the years.  These are 2 of many WIP's moving off the shelf.  Will keep moving on to clean the shelves.  Have more thoughts in my head.....but will not allow new project starts until some are complete.

Surprise! Surprise!

I have, over the years, started many sweaters both in crochet and knitting but never completed them.
While we were in Texas in July, I purchased the yarn for a sweater and it is finally complete.  It was a pattern from Interweave Crochet, Spring 2011.

I hope that it will fit Ally, my 2 year old granddaughter.  Since I am not an accomplished needleworker, so whoever it fits, gets the sweater.

Maybe the next one will be more planned, and sized accordingly.

Still learning, but it was satisfying to complete a crochet project.