Hey all you pursemakers!

Looking for a cause to donate a purse to? http://www.craftsdirect.blogspot.com/ I just found this at the Crafts Direct site in their July 30th post. Anna Marie's is a local battered women's shelter. Just thought I'd bring some attention to it for those who might be interested.

The little pattern modification experiment is going well. I got the trial run done enough that Lexi could try it on and it fit really well! I am pretty excited about that. I promised her I would finish it up and she could have it. Now I have to do just that! LOL. Really all it needs are sleeves and bottom hemmed, a few more snaps and some decorative trim. I'll post a picture when I get it done. It looks sort of funny right now with all sorts of blue markings all over it. LOL

Adventures in pattern drafting....

Well, here I go trying to duplicate the outfit I saw on Etsy. I made a tissue paper mock up of the front piece. What do you think?

I'm thinking this might actually work. I am thinking I'll try and get a trial run made out of some fabric I have here, if I have enough of the one I am thinking of to use, and have Alexa, my other six year old niece try it on. If it is cute enough, I'll just let her keep it. Problem is, I see Alexa tomorrow at 4. YIPES! I'll have to get mine's hinder in gear tomorrow and get it done.
I had thought I might do a tutorial on how I did it, but it was more involved than I thought. I had to freehand the neckline a bit to make it smaller and I also had to redraw the armhole curve a bit as well, to accomodate the sleeve from another pattern. I figured it would be too hard to do a tutorial with the freehanded neckline. I might eventually do a tutorial on an easier pattern modification, though. We'll see...

Blissful afternoon......or not.....

I had to work last Saturday and when that happens I get a day during the following week where I only have to work half of the day. This happens about every 6 weeks or so. Often I have errands and things that need to be done on those days, and rarely I get the chance to go straight home and do whatever I want. I had a half day yesterday and it was one of those rare times when I had nothing else planned but to go home, eat lunch, walk on my treadmill, and do some sewing before cooking supper. As I sat down to my sewing machine, I was thinking about blogging about how nice and peaceful it is to have a quiet afternoon at home just the cats and my sewing machine. I was busily sewing away when one of my cats, Aeris, who is two years old and still pretty rambunctious at times, came into the sewing room. She kept trying to get into things, but then finally settled down and laid down on the desk behind my machine. She was just laying there being good when I turned my back on her for a few moments to look in my manual how to do something on my machine. I turned back to see her struggling with something in her mouth. (Now, if you don't know, cats have a hard time spitting something out once it is in their mouth because of the way their tongues are made.) I saw just a glimpse of metal. My heart skipped a beat, it was a straight pin from my pincushion. I quick scruffed her and forced her mouth open and looked for the pin and I didn't see it. Terrified, I took her to the kitchen where the light was better and opened her mouth again and still didn't see anything. At this point I was thinking that she swallowed it. I was ready to pack her up and take her to the vet. She wiggled and got free of my grip and so I went back to my sewing room and looked for the pin, I didn't see it right away, but there was one lying there next to my pincushion. Whew! I still wasn't 100% certain that she didn't swallow one, but she is acting fine more than 24 hours later. Moral of the story, never turn your back on both a cat and a pincushion at the same time. So much for my peaceful afternoon!

Finished Moda quilt!

I finished the Moda quilt on Sunday! I love this little quilt. I love how they all crinkle up after you wash them. It is far from my best work however, I do have to say that this is the best corner mitering I have ever done. Finally getting the hang of it. The fabrics make up for the mistakes that are in it. This quilt just makes me smile. I am keeping it for myself. I rarely ever keep anything I make, it either gets sold or is given as a gift. I need to start keeping more of my things, I think!




Duh....

it suddenly dawned on my last night before I went to bed and now I know exactly what I need to do to make this top. I just gotta dig through my patterns and find something with a non-gathered sleeve in a size 6. I'm going to modify this pattern. It will be easier than I first thought it would be. I am thinking about using one of the "celebrate spring" Moda fabrics for the pants and the appliques, or doing embroidery in the same colors as the pants instead of applique. I'm so excited about this project now! I just have to wait until I get some more spending money. LOL

The challenge....

Recreate this adorable outfit! How cute is this? I am in love with every aspect of it! The seller that has this on Etsy, however, wants $115.00 for it. A bit pricey. I want to make something similar for my niece, Claire for her birthday in October. The problem. I got no pattern. The solution??? Modify an existing pattern or draft my own using a sloper. Modifying a pattern is something I have done to a small degree in the past, but this will require a lot more than I have done before. I have never worked with slopers before, but I am considering it for this project. I checked a book out of the library the other day that gives me instructions as to how to make them, BUT, I don't have Claire here to measure, as she lives in Texas, and I am in Minnesota. I could maybe get Carrie (her mom) to do it for me, I don't know. I am relishing the chance to really draft my own pattern, something I have wanted to be able to do for years, but never had the guts to really try it, but I am scared that it won't turn out right, especially with no one to try it on and see how the fit is. I really need a child size dress form. Should I do it?



I think I must be nuts....

After going on the garden tour last weekend, I have decided that my flowerbeds need an overhaul. On top of that, I am thinking about putting in another one. One of my beds did not do so well this year. The only things growing in here are the tulips that you can't see this time of year, the creeping phlox, which isn't blooming this time of year, and the remnants of a rose that died and just came up from the root and will never bloom, it's just green sticks with leaves. Oh, and a bunch of weeds. Lovely, huh?

I am thinking a couple of peonies and some other perennials, or maybe some flowers that attract butterflies.
My daylilies are now in full bloom and they look good this year. This picture was taken last weekend before they really started blooming. I am happy with this bed, for the most part. It needs a few holes filled in, but the plants I have here will eventually get bigger, too. The lilac is only 3 years old and it will get much larger, and if I can figure out how to overwinter the wiegela so that I don't wind up cutting it back to the ground every year, it will get bigger, too, and maybe it will actually bloom like it is supposed to:)

I'm really not very good with landscape design, it is all trial and error for me.
Last weekend I moved a few plants around, probably not smart as it was really hot and it probably stressed them more than they should have been stressed. I also planted a couple of new things, too. We shall see how things do.
As for my quilt? Well, that is a project for this afternoon. I still have yet to cut the binding strips, piece them together and get them sewn to the quilt. Then I can sit down and hand stitch the rest.

Garden Tour 2007 pictures.

Here are some photos which higlight some of the garden tour that I went on yesterday with my MIL and a friend. We went to 8 different houses, so there was lots to photograph. Some of them were absolutely gorgeous! One was a friend of my MIL and her yard was absolutely amazing! She has a little "fairy village" set up at the edge of a wooded area in her garden with little fairies and miniature houses. She also has a koi pond with huge koi fish in it and a couple of fountains. One of the other houses had a shade rock garden in the back. No grass whatsoever in the back yard, just paths and beautiful rock garden. Amazing! The last house's garden was a hillside which was almost all rock and it was really sort of crazy how you can still plant things with color when all you have is a few inches of soil to work with. I put together a little quick time movie of all of the pictures. You can see it here, but I will warn you that it is a rather large file, so it may take a little while to stream for you, especially if you are on dial up. It takes about 8 minutes to play.




Just for fun...

I saw these on my friend Kirsten's blog, so I thought I'd give them a try.
Your Power Bird is a Swan

You are a truly graceful and gorgeous creature.
You easily see beauty in yourself and others.
Intuitive and in touch, you can often guess what the future will bring.
And you're flexible enough to accept the changes that life has in store for you.

You Are A Lily

You are a nurturer and all around natural therapist.
People see you as their rock. And they are able to depend on you.
You are a soothing influence. You can make people feel better with a few words.
Your caring has more of an impact than even you realize.

We interrupt this quilt...

For whatever reason something posessed me the other night to deep clean my kitchen. I have spent the last two evenings scrubbing and moving things and throwing things out and organizing what is left. I'm not quite done, but I hope to be soon. I have not worked on my quilt at all, but that's ok, I'm not on a time table for this one. It feels good to know my kitchen is much less grimy than it was a few days ago, too. Thus the lack of posts the last couple of days.

Tomorrow I am going on a garden tour with my MIL and a friend for a little while. That should be fun. I'm thinking I should charge up the camera. Maybe I can get some ideas for what I'd like to eventually do in my yard. If I get some good pictures I will be sure to post them.

I am thinking about doing a series on the steps in doing a reborn doll. Mainly because I have three of them I need to finish. One I am keeping for myself, the others I may try to sell. These will probably be the last that I do for a while. I probably won't try to sell them anymore. They are a bit expensive to make and it is hard to make anything back from them. It has become a popular enough hobby that the market is flooded with dolls, and many of them are poor quality and that has brought the median price down considerably than what it was about 4 years ago when I became interested in them. I know a lot of ladies who actually sell them at a loss and only continue to make them just because they enjoy making them. There are a few, however, like this one which are very well done and bring astronomical prices. Let me know if you have an interest in seeing how these dolls are made. I do not claim to be any where near as talented as the artist that did the doll that I linked to, but I do know the basics of how they are made.

Nearing completion...

Here's my little Moda quilt all quilted up. Only the binding is left to do! I have purple fabric for the binding. I think the border really adds to it. It is certainly not sans puckers, but hopefully they are small enough that they won't show too much when it is washed.


Close ups of some of these great fabrics.

This small yellow floral is the same as what I used for the back.


I hope I can get it done by the end of the week!

A little progress....

I got the border put on and the Moda quilt sandwiched. I am ready to sit down and do the quilting, now. Maybe this evening I'll get the chance. I have to work until 5:30 and I have some housework that really needs done, but maybe I'll get the chance to work on it a bit after that. It shouldn't take long to do, it is a very small quilt. I'll post more later if I get some done this evening. I am excited about this little quilt. It is turning out pretty cute despite all of its flaws. The border helped to square it up a lot. I'm glad I put it on. It fools the eye a bit and it makes it about 4 inches wider and longer. I actually thought about doing two borders, but Moda fabrics are expensive and I wanted this one to be all Moda, just so I could say I did a Moda quilt. I know, I'm weird. Anyway, hope you all have a great day today!

I went shopping this weekend...

I bought border fabric for the little Moda quilt. While I was at Gruber's finding fabric for that, I saw these Moda fabrics. I am in LOVE! The colors are just scrumptious! Much more vivid than this sight makes them look. Oh for lots of money to buy them all! LOL They had the fabric all done up in a kit there which was mostly just small squares set on point and a border around it. The kit is here, at the lower left, if you want to see it. It's called "Spring Break". I also bought backing and binding fabric for the little Moda quilt, batting for both my Mom's quilt, and the Moda one and binding for my Mom's. (I went to Joann's, too.)

I also went a little nuts at Joann's and bought some fabric to make some little dresses. I don't have time to take pictures and post them right now. But I want to make little sundresses with contrasting underskirts. Any votes on what size I should make?

Is a border in order?


Do you think this quilt needs a border? And, if so, what color? It measures about 43.5 x 35 inches right now. Pretty small, but I am intending it to be like a toddler nap quilt sort of thing. I made this from the two moda "sanctuary" charm packs that I bought. I sewed squares together diagonally and cut them apart to make the diagonal blocks, then I sewed them together into pinwheel blocks. I would not recommend this method unless you are a real stickler for accuracy and get all the diagonals exactly the same. Some of my blocks were pretty wonky. It didn't go together too badly, but it is FAR from perfect.

I spent the better part of the day yesterday at my machine and cutting fabric. I also nearly have the top done for the quilt I am making my Mom for her birthday in the fall. I just have to even up the sides now and maybe do some embellishing. I cut different widths of strips the width of the fabric and sewed them together. Yes, I did plan it out on graph paper first. It is inspired by this sweet quilt by Leanne Beasley. I don't think I am goind to do as much hand embroidery as Leanne did, though.

I used fabrics that had this "mother and child" motif because it isi for my mom, she has always loved babies and small children.



I am considering another craft show in the fall, but I have reservations that it may be out of my league. The entry fee is $60 if I get my application in by the 15th of this month, otherwise it is $70. Seems a bit spendy to me, but I have only done the one show. There was barely any attendance and I made $54. It makes me wonder if I would make back the $60 at a bigger show, or if there would be so much other stuff better than mine, that mine wouldn't sell at all. It is so hard to say. What do you all think?

Happy Birthday......



My friend Amanda shares her birthday with the USA and also her sister! I hope that you have a great birthday my friend, and that you know just how much you mean to me! I pray that God will bless you richly today!
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