Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice :)

Little girls are so much fun to sew for! I had some glitches in my sewing machine AFTER I took it in for servicing and updating a couple of weeks ago! But. . . we got the problem solved over the phone which saved me driving 60 miles! But I finally got to sew and do this butterfly applique on this little knit shirt I found at a good sale. I'm noticing that I should have photographed the knit pants a little further down because they have such cute little ruffles on the bottom, too.

This is photographed in Paige's playroom at our house with her tea set and her baby doll that she loves to play with so much (even though lately she's really into Minnie Mouse!).

I photographed both of these in such a hurry to get them posted and I'm so tired that they're both too blurry. Sorry about that. But here is a close-up of the butterfly and you can click on the pic to see it even better. It really is cute. All these designs in this set turn out cuter than the photo of them. She has a pair of yellow knit pants like these blue ones with ruffles, too, that would look cute so we can mix and match. Her favorite color is yellow so I HAD to put some yellow somewhere in the butterfly.

I learned something new by doing this design - adjusting it to a 45 degree angle. I like it that way instead of just putting it on the yoke. It gives a little variety. Happy Spring!

More Receiving Blankets

No photos yet but I tore, hemstitched, and got 2 more receiving blankets ready to be appliqued and crocheted. I just like to have things on hand that are portable to take with me to sit in doctor's offices (been doing a lot of THAT lately! ha!) or just outside watching Paige play or in front of the TV or visiting with my mother.

So now I have two blankets to crochet and applique and one blanket with only the applique left for it to be finished. Photos to follow. All are polka dot flannel which is different from what I've been doing - the white flannel.

The "Secret" Project

I've decided to go ahead and post pics of my "secret" project. I mailed these little flannel 36" x 36" baby receiving blankets to a friend of my daughter for her twin boys born on February 2 of this year. They live in Ft. Meyers, FL, and I mailed the package at least a week ago so I'm thinking surely they've received it.

I tore the flannel to the size I wanted, then hemstitched the edges, crocheted them, and appliqued the little frogs. I just love the little frogs with prince crowns on their heads!

On a earlier post I did another set of twin blankets like this but with giraffes. See December 3rd post.

I have another blanket finished except for the applique which I hope to do soon and I will post. It is off white flannel with off white hemstitching and crocheting and bright pink random polka dots on the flannel so I am going to applique a bright pink ladybug in the corner. Can't wait to finish it and I'll post.

Paige-isms

After our trip to Auburn, I guess Miss Paige is in a football mode. She was at our house playing "tug of war" with our little Yorkie, Farley. Every time she would get the rope away from him, throw it for him to fetch and the moment he would pick it up in his mouth, she would yell "Touchdown Farley!!!"

Updates

I know all these postings lately are probably so boring but I just have been so busy with other things and my sewing machine was in the "shop". Both the sewing machine and the embroidery module got a "tune-up" and were updated today and everything is fine for a year or two (hopefully!). So when I get some free sewing time, I can get upstairs and start sewing again. There are so many sewing projects I want to do. Also, I'm hoping I can post my pics of the "secret" project I mailed out. Hope it will be received either today or tomorrow.

Necessary Things

Two days this week (yesterday and today) were taken up with a little "procedure" I needed - see this blog - so I thought this would be a good week to take my sewing machine in for a little check-up, too. So I am just cutting, cutting, cutting, and I'm sure photos of this would be boring. But I feel so productive doing this. Have some crocheting I'm doing, too.

"Secret" Project

One of my two "secret" projects was mailed today so I will wait until I know it is received and then post the photos.

Scrap Therapy Continued

This is a photo of my scrap therapy session. The first 45 min. or so was a sales pitch, I thought, but we finally started cutting and the teacher was very patient and very good. It seems that I won the prize for beginner. But I did learn so much and cut more when I got home. We cut 5, 3 1/2, 2, and 1 1/2 inch squares. We even got a button to wear! ha! There is a website, too, if you interested you can check this out. I am so excited that I am going to create those little charm packs of my own that I love so much! This should be a lesson in putting colors together and a lot of fun.

Scrap Therapy

I'm too tired to post photos because it was such a busy day but I went to a class today after church at my quilt shop. It was called Scrap Therapy and it was a cheap class, only $10 and all we had to bring were scraps of fabric (no U-Hauls allowed, they said! ha!), two rulers, a rotary cutter, and a cutting mat. I got a very good lesson in rotary cutting and really got my money's worth for the class.

When I got home, I did not want to quit and just kept cutting. But it's very tiring because I have to stand up to make sure I'm cutting straight (I also noticed everyone else standing so I assumed I was doing it right! ha!). We cut 5 inch, 3 1/2 inch, 2 inch and 1 1/2 inch squares. They will offer another class to make a quilt from what you cut in the scrap therapy class. I haven't decided what I will do about that. I have to live from week to week with my schedule.

It was a wonderful way to organize your fabric, especially if you mainly quilt. The teacher in the class said that anything smaller than a fat quarter was considered a scrap so I didn't cut any fat quarters I had. After she made that statement, I was thinking as I was driving home that this is a good time for me to go thru all my fabric stash to organize it better. I am going to keep my yardage that's never been touched as is, keep my fat quarters, put them in color families, and then go thru the other fabric that's leftover from making garments and make fat quarters, and all the different square I can get from them and organize what's cut into color families and sizes. Then I can go right to what I need and I realized with the 5 inch squares, I'm really making my own charm packs. Also when I do the applique on the clothing, receiving blankets, burp pads and baby/children things, I can go straight to my square cuts or fat quarter or yardage and it will be organized.

This is a good time for me to do this since next week I have one doctor's appointment and am having a "procedure" done that will incapacitate me for 2 or three days from sewing. So since my machine is due for servicing, I am taking it tomorrow and leave it with them for the week to service and update it, if needed.

Maybe tomorrow I can post photos of our scrap therapy session! It was a lot of fun!