Tragedy

Many of you have probably heard about the awful storms that have gone through the south lately.  On Friday, we headed to our basement because on the news they flashed the name of our little community with a tornado WARNING.  Luckily, we only had really bad wind and rain that didn't last long.  There were lots of trees down a short distance from our house, but we didn't lose any.  

The town of Murfreesboro in Middle TN near Nashville had tornadoes that killed two and damaged lots of homes.  The son of a couple in our church had damage to his home.  

There is  a community not too far from us where a lot of our church folks live that had a tornado touch down  that damaged several homes and blew down lots of trees.

The saddest thing --

When I got to school this morning I learned that the town where I teach (I don't teach in the same town I live in) had a horrible storm about 3:30 AM.  One of my former students who graduated from high school last fall was asleep in his bed when a tree fell on his house and killed him.  He actually was asleep in the basement of his parents' home.  He was the neighbor of one of our teachers.  He was one of those really good and quiet young boys.  

Many homes were damaged and lots of trees were down.  My school was without power for a long while this morning.  The school down the street was called off.  We had about half of our students there this morning.  By the time this afternoon rolled around we had about a quarter of them absent.  

The storms are not over today.  We're in line to have more this evening.  The ground is so wet that trees are uprooting.  We always have spring storms but this seems worse than usual.  I just pray that no more or little more damage is done and that no more lives are taken.

Please pray for the family of this young man whose life was taken.

By the way, many of you offered prayers for my principal.  The doctors have no explanation for how well he has done.  He wasn't supposed to make it.  He was supposed to have surgery after he did make it and after he recuperated enough.  The doctors told him the other day that he has no need for the surgery anymore.  They don't know why???  It is miraculous is their only answer!!  He has visited school a couple of times.

"Little House on the Prairie" Dress

An eighth grader who is on the puppet team and in our youth group at my church asked me to make a "Little House on the Prairie" type dress for a play she's going to be in at school on April 23rd.  I adore this young lady, and there was no way to say "no" to her.  So, I bought two patterns and showed them to her.  The first shows the one I hoped she would pick, but I knew she wouldn't.  It is basically a loose fitting gown with elastic around the neckline and a sash tied around the waist.  My thinking was, " There would be no fitting issues with this choice." 

 Of course, she wanted the more fitted style.  I knew she liked this burgundy, dark-reddish color.  I chose the fabric, hoping she would like it.  She does.  So, on Wednesday, I made the bodice and took it for her to try on at church that night. 

I had changed the front of the bodice.  I added the contrasting piece on the front, and I left off the collar (which was a stand-up choker-type collar - I imagined her choking throughout the play).  I added the placket , buttons, and lace.  So, I just decided to add the same contrasting piece and lace on the back.

I then decided to add a deep border of the contrasting fabric and lace around the bottom of the skirt.  

It isn't finished.  I still need to hem it, but she hasn't called me with that measurement yet.  If I had been making this as a REAL dress, instead of a costume that will only be worn once, I would have put buttons on the back rather than a zipper.

I hope she likes it.  I'm going to try to go to her play.  I'll take photos of her in the dress.  She may not want me to post her photograph, even though, indirectly I already have.  She was holding one of the puppets in my post about the puppet wigs.  

This young lady is proof that there are some incredible youth out there today.  Our media just seems to zero in on the troubled ones.  

"The Friend I Hate to Love"

Do you have a friend you count on when you need help, but it grates on your ever lasting nerve to NEED that friend?   I do.

"The Friend I Hate to Love"

I have a little friend, 

Who comes to my rescue.

No matter how badly I've messed up,

He's there to help me undo.

I would like to never need him,

But I find that on him I lean,

Whenever there is a problem

With my stitching and my seams.

This friend of mine is very sharp

And can actually cause me pain.

I hate to love and need this little guy,

But sometimes he's all that keeps me sane.

This little guy is my seam ripper.

He snips my messed up stitches.

Every one that I sew wrongly

He undoes so I can make fixes.

Okay, okay, I know this is corny, but I have a love/hate relationship with this little tool.  I'm glad I've got him, but I wish I didn't NEED him, but I DO!

I got the dress made for the 8th grader for her play except for the hem.  I got the pillowcase made for my cousin's DW.  I got the aprons cut out (3 of them).  I went back and bought enough fabric for the baby slings.  I took off today and sewed and I plan to sew all day tomorrow and most of the day on Saturday.  There's to be an egg hunt on Sat. morning at the nursing home where my mom is, so I'll go to that to be with her.  I think my DH and I might go to the big city(Knoxville) tomorrow night so I can go to JoAnn's for fabric for my friend's grandchildren's coordinating outfits.  We may do a little shopping for ME and out to eat.  Exciting.  We're supposed to have NASTY weather tomorrow.  Today was gorgeous.  My DH mowed for the 2nd time.

Hodgepodginess!!!

I couldn't help but take this picture of the sky the other day.  It had been in the 80s that day.  I had on No jacket.  Today it was in the 30s, and there was a dusting of snow.  These beautiful clouds just made me feel good.  I used to have my students read a story titled C.L.O.U.D.S.   It was about the sky designer for NY City.  He was sad that no one looked at his designs because of the tall buildings.  Then, one day a little girl looked up and, of course, the story goes that everyone started noticing his beautiful work.  He did so well that his boss wanted to send him to some tropical place where he could design even more beautiful skies, but he didn't want to go.  I was one of those kids who would lay in the grass and try to figure out what I SAW in the clouds.  I still do that.  I always had my students design a beautiful sky.   HOW RANDOM WAS THIS?

This is from a book that I am working on.  I probably shouldn't say "am working" on because I haven't worked on it for months now, and I only have a couple of pages left to do.  I guess I'm procrastinating because it is so unlikely that it will get published.  I rewrote the poem, "Twas the Night Before Christmas."  My version is  "The Night Before the FIRST Christmas."  It starts out, "Twas the night before the first Christmas when Jesus was Born.  All the creatures were stirring all over the barn.  They tore down the cobwebs and swept up the hay, in hopes that a King was coming their way."  I really should finish it so I can at least give my grandchildren a copy.

This is a dress that I made when my daughter got married.  Her DH's little cousin wore it.  She passed out the programs.  It coordinated with the flower girls dresses that I made for my grand daughters.  You may remember them from my post about my portfolio.  It was probably in January.  (I can't figure out how to link back to one of my own posts.)   Kellen's had diagonal tucks and pearls on the bodice.  Her sash was embroidered with ribbon.  Jenna's dress was smocked and had little pink bows sewn in with the smocking.  This dress is embroidered as you can see.  The bow is appliqued by hand.  The flower pattern was random, as most of my embroidery is.  You can see that the collar and sleeve cuffs are also embroidered.  There is piping around the collar.  Peeking out at the neck of this close up photo is the half slip that I made for her.  The skirt is pleated.  The fabric is batiste.  I purchased it at this awesome fabric store in Gastonia, NC.  It is huge.  My DD's MIL took me there.  She lives nearby.  I cannot think of the name of the store, but I know it is a girl's name.  

I decide to edit this and add one of the photos of my grand daughters in their dresses, too.  This is a photo of a photo so the quality isn't very good.

I hope none of your mind the total hodgepodginess  (What a word!)of this post.  I have projects in the works, but none finished to show yet.  I'm off the rest of the week, so I hope to get a  LOT done!!!!

A Few More Projects Marked Off

Basket liners for a wedding - 

My friend whose daughter (one of my former students) is getting married in May, brought me basket liners for baskets she already has.

How do you photograph basket liners without the baskets?  I used my couch cushions.  They don't look great this way, but without the baskets it's the best I could do.

  

The only instruction my friend gave me was to use white fabric.  What says "Spring Outdoor Wedding" more than white cotton eyelet?  In my mind, nothing.  It just so happened that I had a bunch of white eyelet in my stash closet.  What grandmother who sews for little grand daughters wouldn't have white eyelet?    As you can see her liners were very different.  One had a gathered ruffle around the top edge, and the  other didn't.  I decided to make a pleated ruffle and edge it with white grosgrain ribbon, which, of course, I already had.  I thought they would look better if they both had the ruffle so they would match.  I just stitched the ruffles around the inside of the top edge of both liners.  The lining I used was from the bolt I bought before I started Easter dresses for slips and linings.   One of her baskets must have handles on two sides because there were ties on the ruffled one.  I made my ties from the ribbon.  I'm anxious to see how these look in the baskets.  I wish I had asked her to bring me the baskets instead of just the liners, but surely they will work.  I'll take them to her tomorrow.

Easter purses - 

I did get the other little purses made for Kellen, Jenna, and Riley.  I'll get them in the mail tomorrow so they can carry them on Easter Sunday.  

Kellen's the lavender flowered to match her dress.  I made a flat purse with a braided ribbon strap.  To keep it from hanging funny when she carries it I sewed a piece of belting that I had on the inside across the top where the flap folds over.  I had purple plastic rings that I braided into the strap.  Just a little something different.

Jenna's is the drawstring purse.  I lined hers, as well as the others with the same canvas lining that I used on Emory's.  It just gives them more body.  The drawstring is the same red ribbon from the trim on her dress. I embellished it with little red bows.

Riley's is more like a little basket than a purse, but I think she'll like it.  I made a pleated ruffle to go around the top edge.  I trimmed it with the same pinkish ribbon that I used on her dress.  The handle is made from the same belting I used in Kellen's.  I just covered it with the fabric and ribbon.  It looks kind of cockeyed here, but it really isn't.  I promise!

Labels for Mother's socks, etc... - 

This wasn't on my list of things to do, but it is something I've been needing to do for a long time. 

 When Mother was in the nursing home in Knoxville, they had a label maker that made iron on labels.  They labeled everything. 

 The nursing home here doesn't have one.  It's easy to just write her name on the label in pants, etc.... , but fuzzy stuff isn't so easy.  

So, I looked, and I found a label maker at Walmart that will make fabric labels, but they didn't have the tape.  They only had the paper and plastic. 

 I went back to the fabric and crafts section and looked for the iron on labels that you put in your kids clothes when they are going to camp.  No luck!  

Then I spied the patches that you iron in your kids' pants to patch up rips or that reinforce the knees, etc..  They had tan ones.  I bought those, cut them in small rectangles, ironed them on, and wrote Mother's name in permanent marker.

UHHHH, be careful if you do this.  I ,uhhh,  didn't pay attention, not once, but twice, and layed the label wrong side up and, uhhhh, put my hot iron down on the sticky side.    Duuuuhhhhh!!  I was in a hurry.  This just made it take longer.  I don't think I'll do that again.  

I think I'll go buy that label maker.  Surely I can find the fabric tape at another Walmart or order it through the company (I can't remember the name brand).  I think the label maker would come in handy for lots of things besides just Mother's socks.  All those little containers for buttons, etc....

Next is my cousin's pillow case.  I should be able to get it done this afternoon in a few minutes. 

Then the baby slings.  I bought 3 fabrics for this.  I couldn't decide which I liked best.  I was getting ready to start and realized that I was supposed to buy 2 1/4 yards and I only bought 1 1/4 yards.  Dumb, dumb, dumb!!!  What is wrong with me?  I need to start thinking better.  Oh well, I got the fabric at Walmart here in town and can go get more when I go to help Mother eat tonight.  It's really close to her nursing home.

One project I forgot to put on my list is to make aprons for two of my friends who are ALWAYS doing nice things for me!!  One of them is a quilter who also gardens, cans, freezes veggies, etc... all summer long. She made me a really neat orange and white quilted throw that has a football looking pattern.  She knows what a University of Tennessee fan I am.  She's always buying me pens with orange ink. (I grade with orange ink!)  She even got me a UT bathrobe once, just because she saw it and thought of me.   

The other makes the most delicious and beautiful cookies and cakes.  She has brought me cookies for special occasions like this year for Valentine's Day. 

Now that I think about it. My friend, Mary, who used to always beat me in the 4H sewing competitions, just got back from a visit to France.  She brought me an early birthday gift (not till May). She got me a fabric tray and a lilac scented sachet that she bought in a shop she said reminded her of me because of the bolts and bolts of fabric.  The lady shopkeeper was sitting there sewing all the things she sells, children's clothing, etc....   So, maybe Mary needs an apron, or something, too.   

Puppets Transformed & 2/10 Done!

Last week the youth of our church led most of the service!!  It was great.  

The puppets performed 3 songs and one skit.  For one of the songs we needed 3 little girl puppets, and we only have one little girl.  They sang, "The Old Rugged Cross."  It was so adorable. 

*********Edit********Several people thought that I made these puppets, but I didn't.  I have made some animal puppets in the past (I'll post about them sometime.), but these are professionally made by Puppet Productions.  They are awesome. ********** 

But, back to the problem. I made yarn wigs for the 2 little boy puppets we do have and transformed them.  Folks in our church thought we had bought more new puppets.  Then, we needed the boys for our skit, so I made the wigs easy to remove.  I bought $4.50 little easy-to-remove elastic-topped baby dresses at Walmart.  They wore those over the little boy polo shirts that I also bought at Walmart for like $4.00 or so.  It looked like little jumpers over the shirts. 

After church we went to the nursing home where my mom is and performed along with our younger children who sang.  The residents LOVED the show!!  Better yet, the kids LOVED the residents and are already asking to go back!

I finished 2 of the 10 projects that I listed on my last blog. 

 My mom, as well as most elderly people, are always cold, especially their shoulders.  A regular afghan won't stay up around their shoulders, and if it is pulled up they can't use their arms, or if it's wrapped around from the back they are sitting on it, and that's not comfortable all day. 

 So, I came up with a wrap that would just go around the shoulders. This is the wrap I made for my mom, modeled by me and photographed in the mirror. 

 I  made the back shorter because my mom is in a wheel chair that's called a gerry chair.  It has a very high back and reclines.  

The wrap I made at Christmas was just a circle cut up the front and across the center for the neck.  I simply zigzagged around the edges.  It has worked well, but they would have to sit Mother up to get it behind her back, and then it would get wadded up and not be comfy, or they would just not put the back around her.  They would drape it on the back of the chair and bring the front around.  I hope this makes sense.  

Anyway, I thought the shorter back would work better. 

 Also, the underneath side of her arms rub the chair arm and her clothing, etc. . . and get irritated, so I made this one so that it would wrap underneath her arms. 

 Her favorite color is lavender, so that's why I chose this very soft, but not too heavy, fleece.  

I also added the ribbon around the neck and around to the front to tie.  The other one I made had no closure. 

 The aides really like the one I made before.  They may not like this one as much because it may be too complicated. (Ok, so you and I both know this is not complicated, but we don't have 10 - 20 elderly nursing home folks to dress every day.  Every little thing adds to their time and stress. ) 

 I've got to get Mother's name on it.  I am going to try to find a label maker that make cloth labels.  Does anyone know of such an item?

Now, for Emory's little purse to match her Easter dress.  I made this like you would a place mat purse.  Have you seen them?  

I made a rectangle by sewing the lavender fabric left over from her under dress and some stiff canvas type fabric for body together, then turned them. 

 I then sewed ribbon and the left over fabric on the short edges of the rectangle. 

 I then folded the rectangle in half, hamburger style and sewed up the sides. 

 Then, I mitered the points, turned it and ironed the creases on the corners.  

Then I stitched one of each of the colors of ribbon left over from her dress onto the top center tied them into a knot to make a fastener matched with a loop of ribbon sewn to the other side top center.  

Then I sewed ribbon on for straps.  

I have fabric cut for the other three girls' purses.  I decided to go ahead and get them made and try to get them mailed in time for Easter.  

One of my puppeteers, an 8th grader, asked me to make her a western style dress for a school play that is to be on April 23rd.  How can I turn her down?   I'm just trying to figure out if it should be a "Little House of the Prairie" type dress or more of an "Annie Oakley" style.  I texted her yesterday and didn't hear back.  I guess I'll have to call.  I'm shocked that she didn't reply because she's a BIG TIME texter, as all of the teens are these days.  I guess it isn't too cool to text an old woman, though.

Why 4H you may ask? & Project Liiiiiist!

I decided to use a 4H background for a few days because I think it is a great organization.  Even though my grandmother, Honey, is the one who initially taught me to sew, 4H played a big role in the process, as well.  When I was in 7th, 8th and 9th  grade I was a 4Her.  There were sewing contests and fashion shows.  Honey would help me sew whatever was required, and I would always enter the sewing contests.  The problem was that my best friend, Mary, would also enter all of these contests.  Her Aunt Lil helped her with her projects.  She ALWAYS won first, and I would win second.  That didn't deter me, though, it just made me more determined!!  

I'm embarrassed to say that I was also in a dairy food demonstration contest once!!  I made a jello salad that had cottage cheese in it.  I had never made it before and I was a NERVOUS WRECK.  I was supposed to pour the jello mixture from a bowl into a pretty dish. Well, I missed the dish and poured the sticky, red, pineapple ladened, cottage cheese, and jello stuff all over the table.  Of course, it ran off the table all over the floor.  I learned a VALUABLE lesson that day, actually two:  I'm not a cook, and if I was going to do something like that again I needed to at least do it once before I did it in front of people!!  I did NOT win that competition.

I did however, win the Share-The-Fun competition with my friend, Fran.  Share-The-Fun was a talent competition.  She and I played the ukelele!!  LOL!!!!  We sang one song named, "The Sow Caught The Measles And She Died In The Spring," and a few other silly songs.  I think we won because they thought we were a comedy act.  We were very serious about our act!  We wore matching dresses.  Hers was yellow and mine was green.  We thought we looked sooooo gooood!  We practiced walking onto the stage and sitting down and then even crossing our legs in sinc;  exactly the same way at the same time!    I think we practiced that more than we did our singing.  LOL!!  We won at the local and county level, then, went to Chattanooga to the district competition.  We did not win there.  Oh well!

 

Anyway, 4H was important to me.

My school has 4H for 4th through 8th graders.  I was the MEAN teacher who required my 6th graders to participate in the poster, speech, and demonstration contests.  I gave extra credit for any other competitions they participated in, like the cooking, and any farm related ones.  Not too many kids live on farms anymore, so not many are able to compete in those projects.  Since, I taught Language Arts, though, I could incorporate the poster (I taught about advertising through this contest), speech and demonstration (it was part of my curriculum requirements to teach speech and demonstration techniques) contests.  The kids all did their speech, etc... for my class.  Those who wanted to also do theirs for the 4H meetings could.  I always had speech winners at the county and sometimes the district and state levels!!  The demonstration competition for the county was one in which I could send as many as I wanted.  We always had to get a bus to take my kids.  Most of the time every one of my kids would win either 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place.  I'm not saying this to brag, it's just that not many other schools would have as many kids at this event, so my kids had an advantage. The past few years they have had an academic competition called the Clover Bowl.  The first year our kids were in it, our 5th, 6th, and 8th graders won at the county level.  They went to the district competition where our 8th graders won 1st and our 6th graders came in 2nd!!  There were schools from all over the eastern part of the state!!   I thought it was good for them to learn to be comfortable in front of people like this.  I wish I'd had more exposure to this kind of activity.

My daughters participated in many of the 4H projects, as well. 

So, I give my thanks and appreciation to 4H for the opportunities they provide to kids!

Now, that I have my Easter sewing done, I have a list of smaller projects that I need to work on:

1.  Make a baby sling   for my daughter's friend.  I've made these for my girls and they love them!

2.  Make a pillowcase for my cousin's wife from a family heirloom linen piece that she had  for the pillow that she had as a baby.

3.  Make a new spring time wrap for my mom.  The one I made her at Christmas time is made from a fleece blanket that has a snow flake design.  I have  a new idea for how to make this.  If it turns out like I think, I will post photos.

4.  Make basket liners for a friend whose daughter is getting married.  These will line the baskets for her programs and favors.

5.  Make doll dresses to match Kellen, Jenna, and Riley's Easter dresses.  I wanted to have these done by now, but they may have to be birthday gifts for Kellen's b-day in May.  

6.  Make a pocketbook to match Emory's dress.  She doesn't have a doll for dressing just yet, so she needs a purse.  She loves them.  If I can get it done in time, I will make one for the other girls, too.

7.  Make a towel head-wrap for me, and one for little Emory.  I made some of these for Christmas gifts and Laura says that Emory WANTS one, too.  She is all of 19 months old!  I will probably try to do these for all of the girls in time for Kellen's b-day.

8.  Make Kellen's and Little Man's b-day outfits.  I used to make something for all of them when one of them had a b-day, but that was before I had Emory and Little Man to sew for, too,  So now they each get an outfit on their own b-day.

9.  Make pillowcase dresses for my great nieces from some pillowcases that were in our grandmother's things.

10.  Make a dress for a 6 ? month old and a matching outfit for a boy who's about 2 for a friend of mine who wants them for her grandchildren.  This will be a money making project!  Yea!  I hope to have more of those in the future.  I've made her grand daughter a dress before.  She wants the dress to be a lot like the yellow one I made for Riley.  I don't make two exactly the same of anything any more.  That's no fun!  

I made these out fits last spring and vowed to never make duplicates again.  There were 6 girls and two boys.  None of them were the same size or the size of the patterns I had.  I didn't get 

the fabric until about 2 weeks before they needed them for a performance!!  Never again!!