And the Green Grass Grew All Around, All Around.... And a felted vest!

This is the view from my front door during our snow "storm". I use that term loosely, because I know that many of you live above the Mason Dixon Line and would not consider this as snow at all, but here in the South, it really is! Actually, the snow is still falling today, and it isn't quite as easy to see the grass. This photo, though, shows that the snow did lay on the driveways, roads, etc.... right away. Actually, it's more like a sheet of ice!!! It crunches when you drive on it!! It is really cold; it hasn't been above freezing for over a week, now!

This photo is the view from the front of my house to my in-laws' house, next door. As you can see, we drive through the field between our houses when it's really cold out, or raining, or dark, or when we just don't feel like walking that far! LOL! It really does help my fil when he brings my mil over to our house, too. Of course, we could drive over on the highway, but they increased it from 2 lanes to 4, and we now have to turn right out of our drive, go a short way up the highway, cross over to the other side, drive down the highway to the next cross-over, which is across from my in-laws' drive. That's just too much trouble.


I have actually started sewing again. Well, I did make those curtains, but I don't count that as real sewing. I guess I would if I liked doing it and could do a better, more creative job when making them. Anyway, I posted a few posts back, a photo of some one dollar sweaters that I bought at the Dollar Tree. They are all either 80 or 100% wool. I felted them per Gwen's directions! Thanks Gwen. I cut out 5 vests, one for each grand child, from the sweaters. This is the first one I've gotten done. This one is for Jenna. The sweater started out as a dark gray with a pale gray window pane design on the front. In each corner, where the light gray lines cross, is either a red or a blue spot of color. I have one sweater that is solid red. I decided to save it to cut from for the designs on the other vests. Some of the hearts I cut out are from that sweater. Some are from scraps from some of the other sweaters. One had a really bad 80's design on the front with blocks of pink, turquoise, etc.. that I can cut from to make designs for the vests. I cut out one pink heart from that sweater. One of the sweaters has blue, hence the blue heart. As you can see, I used buttons from my button collection to decorate some of the hearts. I used embroidery floss to stitch everything by hand.

Since the fabric is felted, it will not ravel. I just butted the sides and shoulders together, and used a blanket stitch to join them. I used a blanket stitch, whip stitch, crisscross stitch, or whatever to attach the hearts.

I stitched one large heart on the back. The gray fabric with the white and red pinstripe is going to be used for a skirt, pants, etc... for each grand to wear with the vests. I was hoping I could felt it, too, but it must not have enough real wool in it.
I bought it at this little family run fabric store down the road from me. The cardboard it was wrapped on was labeled 100% cotton, but I knew better. The lady who runs the store told me it was wrapped on a cardboard left over from another bolt of fabric. Anyway, this is one of those stores that used to buy all of their fabric from factory overruns and seconds. Some of the fabric in the store has probably been there for 20 years. Some of the tables have fabric piled on them higher than my head. I have to hunt through the piles sometimes. However, they have recently been updating, buying much better quality fabrics (still at reduced prices compared to everywhere else), organizing, displaying the fabric so that it can be seen more easily, and generally making it a better place to shop. The lady who runs the store is the mother of the owner. She is in poor health, so sometimes I cut my own fabric. I always put away my fabric, etc...... They also have a barrel of buttons that you can buy by the cup full. They have vintage patterns, etc...... I have almost always found what I want when I go there looking for something I can't find anywhere else. This is actually where I bought my curtain fabric. I once was looking for fabric to make a tin man costume for my daughter. They had this shiny silver backed curtain fabric that was perfect! I have bought mermaid fabric that looks wet and sparkly and fishy, there. I always go there if I need any kind of costume fabric. I have bought fabric to make a turtle costume, all kinds of princess type costumes, wooly animal costumes, furry animal costumes, you name it. Lots of quilters go there because they sell great quilting cottons.If you are ever going to be in SE TN and want to find this store, email me and I'll tell you how to find it.