The Latest

Here are some of my latest sewing therapy projects. The flannel blanket above is a baby gift for an adopted child. My oldest daughter designed it and it turned out so cute, I think. I like the pink and purple together.

Here's a close-up.

When I look at this shirt I did for a friend's grandson for Christmas, I think the title of my post should be Paying My Dues!! I did this shirt three times before I got it right, and as I was working on this last one, I kept saying to myself "you gotta pay your dues, you gotta pay your dues." ha! On the first shirt, the design was just too small without a name or some type of lettering to go with it. On the second shirt, it was looking good until the satin stitching started on the tires. I was trying to take a short cut and not put spray adhesive on the fabric for the tires and the fabric slipped on one tire so there was a tiny little place where the fabric was not caught in the satin stitching and it would have raveled when washed. Hence, this third shirt. I took my time, didn't take any short cuts and it turned out good. I'm such a perfectionist anyway which drives me crazy!

Here's a blurred close-up. I tend to get the camera "shakes" with close-ups some of the time!

No camera shake here with the close-up but I didn't iron out the puckers. I was in a hurry on this one getting the photo done.

And the final photo. All was good therapy for me.

Now I'm working on yet another baby blanket in a soft green with hemstitched and crocheted edging. I haven't decided what I'll applique on it yet but will post it soon.

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.

Better Photos, Better Explanation

I had a beautiful day of sunshine today and was able to photograph outside without freezing to death! I think these photos are much better. This is the cute vintage-style pattern.

This is the fabric I'm using to make the dress for a little girl who lives near Chicago.
I love the kitties!

Here's the fabric with the little snails that I want to do for Paige and I've begun to cut it out with the rotary cutter!

I hope these two photos show how you cut out a child's dress with the rotary cutter. It's really different. You fold the fabric and use a quilter's ruler to angle the fold on the right side. Then you use the pattern at the top to just cut off the un-needed fabric and also there's a little pattern piece to cut off un-needed fabric at the bottom (not shown) to curve the bottom of the skirt. So instead of placing a tissue pattern on top of a fold of fabric, you just have one pattern piece to use and cut away unwanted fabric to shape your front and back. I hope I have explained this so you understand.

Here is the front of the dress done the same way. The other pattern pieces for the top and bottom trim I'll do with the chocolate brown solid cotton and will just be cut out as you would a regular pattern.

Thinking About Spring Sewing

Isn't this the cutest little dress pattern for spring and summer? I ordered it from that *darn* kat on Etsy and have already chosen fabrics to sew up two dresses.

It's late and I tried my best to get a close-up of the fabric on this one because the little snails are SO cute! This will be the main body of the dress and the top and bottom trims will be in a chocolate brown.

Here are the two fabrics together but as I said, it's late, and I didn't get a very good shot of them but I have started cutting it out. It's cut out with a rotary cutter. I've never cut a little girl's dress with a rotary cutter but I like it. It's different. I'll keep you posted on the progress although I'm trying to plan a SECRET 60th birthday party for my hubby this weekend and will probably not get to the sewing machine until that is done! I'll post a photo of the fabric for the second dress I'm making from this pattern tomorrow. I'm making it as a gift for a little girl who lives close to Chicago.
(I'm sorry but I think these are the worst photos I've ever taken! ha!)

Exciting News!!!

I think I mentioned earlier here that I lost a camera card a few months ago. It was a 2 GB card and I knew I had photos of my granddaughter's 1st and 2nd birthdays, my mother's 80th birthday, Easter and just a lot of photos that were precious to me. I dropped the card between the console and the passenger seat. My husband and I searched and searched. We even vacuumed that area and surrounding areas with a new vacuum bag, tore open the bag and still - no card. So I had the idea of taking my vehicle to a body shop, let them take the passenger seat out and see if the card was under there somewhere. My husband took it to the body shop for me on Monday (this week) and voila, it was there! I cannot tell you how happy this made me and it was so much fun looking over the 459 images (!) that were on that card. So here's one I wanted to share. These are flannel baby blankets that I hemstitched on my machine, appliqued the cute little giraffes, and then crocheted the edging for a baby gift for twin boys. They are in Jackson, MS, now so I could not photograph them again. They're so soft and cuddly and I just love the cute little giraffes. Hope you enjoy baby things. I love them.

A New Outfit for Paige

Today was a babysitting day for me but she was an angel and let me sew in spurts. I made the pants today that go with the top/dress. The top is so long that it could be worn as a short dress or as a long top with pants as shown. This is a Children's Corner pattern called Abbie. Although I didn't do any embroidery or applique, it took some time because of piping, collars, lining and a very different styling in the top.

I love the colors and the paisley print. And I think it has an oriental flavor to the styling. The top was a little bit of a challenge for me but I'm glad I did it and learned something new. I love to sew for my little angel!

A Stocking for Paige

I found this stocking at Target today for Paige and I just want to personalize it. Any ideas from anyone?

Gingerbread girl dress - the white top was embroidered on fabric from a leftover pillowcase. I don't like to "waste" anything when I'm sewing or crafting! I took this photo before I put the lime green buttons on it.


I think this was my first attempt at being brave enough to applique on actual clothing. Beforehand, I had only practiced appliqueing on scrap pieces of fabric.



This was my second attempt at appliqueing on Tshirt material which is not that easy because of the small size of the Tshirt.

This skirt is from a new pattern company and I love all their designs. I called this her "hippy outift"! I embroidered the flowers on the brown Tshirt to match the colors of the dots on the skirt. It was a lot of fun because they were unusual colors.

These were all so much fun to make because she always says, "well, thank you Bear Bear"!