Patchwork Shirtdress Completed

 

This dress really looks cuter in person.  Even my husband thought so.  But, here it is anyway.  Remember, I started with 4 different fabrics: 3 black and white cotton prints and a fine welted black corduroy.   After cutting the 3 prints into strips, sewing them together into stripes, then zigzagging all the seams, I cut across the stripes into strips, turned everyother one in the opposite direction, then sewed them together into stripes again.  Again, I zigzagged all the seams.  I really didn't want all those frayed seams inside this dress.  Then, when I still didn't have quite enough fabric, I pieced the sleeves, and used the black corduroy for the placket, under collar, collar, cuffs, and sleeve tabs.  Rather than make a tie from the fabric, which would have been bulky, I used this black and white polka-dotted ribbon that I had in my ribbon stash.  White buttons completed the dress.  I tried to take closeups of the placket, collar and cuffs, but my lighting was all off.

Below, is a picture of a toy hammock that I made while I was in AZ for the girls' playroom.  I should have made it a little bigger, but you know what they say about hindsight.  I put grommets in the back center and on each end.  Actually the ends are gathered into two sections, front and back, because I felt that there would be too much thickness for the grommets to go through.   I love the wooden letters in the windows that spell PLAY.  The other window has GIGGLE in it.  The giraffe was given to Lil E by her Grammy.  She loves her to dress GiGi in dress up clothes.

 

My daughter covered this 3-D cardboard "B" to match the nursery fabrics.  She covered the edges with pink polka-dotted fabric to match the curtain fabric.  She has this hung above the crib, now.  The "B" is for the new grand's first name.  Isn't that clever!

Today, I am going to make some props for the next puppet show that our Heavenly Hands Puppet Team at church is going to present at a fall festival in the next town up from ours.  We are going to do a show about different Bible stories that all children are taught in Sunday School: Noah's Ark, Jonah, Daniel in the Lion's Den, The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock, and the Golden Rule.  We are starting off with the B. I. B. L. E. song.

Tennessee Presents Textiles!

FELLOW BLOGGERS,
I'm on the committee that is planning a "wearable arts" fashion show.  This show will be on Nov. 13, (so if you live anywhere near East TN mark your calendar).  It will be an amazing show of art work that is, as it says above, WEARABLE!  There will be garments made from fabric created by ladies who shear their own lamas, spin the yarn, and then knit, crochet, or weave it. There will be felted items, such as vests, scarfs, and bags of all sorts.  Some  garments will be made from fabric that has been quilted by these ladies.  A few of my children's things will be in the show.  Another lady who makes grown up garments from vintage items will be presenting some of her creations.  There will be tie-dyed and hand painted garments.  These are amazingly unique!  There will even be some jewelry in the show.
If you are a quilter, you probably know who Rachel Clark is. (Click on her name for a direct link to her blog post in which she writes about this event and to learn more about her.)  She's our special guest that day.  She'll be doing a trunk show in the morning!  I cannot wait to see her creations.
We'll have lunch and time for a little shopping.  The fashion show is after lunch.  So, plan to come and make a day of it.  Bring your friends for a wonderful girl's day out!  It's to be held at the Tellico West Conference Center located in Vonore, TN next to the Grande Vista Hotel.
Go to tennesseepresentstextiles.blogspot.com to learn more and see pictures.  I'm going to put this link on my sidebar for your convenience.
Just let me know if you are interested in coming.  I'll need to get tickets to you, or you can contact the Monroe Area Council for the Arts at monroearts.com for even more info.

I promise that you will not be disappointed if you come for this event!  I have been BLOWN AWAY by the creations I've seen the past few years!

What Do You Do When....................

You have this black and white polka dotted printed cotton,         

 this black and white floral printed cotton,                                                                              

and this black and white checked print cotton, but not enough of any of them to make anything?                   

You cut them in strips of different widths, then sew them together.  Then you cut strips again, and sew     them together again.  You make sure that you have lots of black thread and that you fill lots of bobbins because you go back and zigzag every seam across the width and the length so there won't be any frayed seams on the wrong side.  You think about making all French seams, but decide that you aren't that crazy or have that much time!                                                                     

Finally, you choose a pattern (McCall's 5156) to make using this new patchwork fabric for your nearly 8 year old granddaughter for her birthday.   And when you cut it out, you realize you still don't have quite enough fabric, so you use a fine welt corduroy to make the collar, the front placket, and the sleeve cuff.  My husband just left with his camera, so I didn't get a picture of the corduroy.                             

This photo has nothing to do with anything in this post, but it is one I took when we were coming into Tennessee after our trip to AZ,  I thought the sun set was so pretty.  This photo doesn't give it justice.                                                                           

3rd Birthday Pictures and a few more............

Here's Lil' E with her balloons.  You can see the festive birthday decorations behind her. 

As you see, the girls had matching flamingo pillowcase dresses that I made.  I couldn't resist this fabric at JoAnn's.

Lil' E's aunt, one of my other daughters, made the invitations and cupcake toppers.  Some had E's, some had 3's, and some were adorned with flamingos.  Lil' E wanted blue cake with pink icing.  Her mom made pastel orange and green icing, too.  The colors were picked from a striped tray that my daughter has that she likes to use for parties.

You can see that we made and put flamingos on the party hats and on the wall.   Lil' E tries a hat on her favorite doll that she's had since she was a newborn.  (This is really the 4th one of this doll.  Because of Lil' E's allergies, Molly gets washed ALOT, so she wears out quickly.) A yellow one for baby sis has been ordered.                                                                                      

Here's Lil' E using the new gift from her mom and dad.  Her dad is an avid and really GOOD golfer.  They have already taken our newborn grand to the driving range.  So, Lil' E got her own, real, set of golf clubs.  This picture is a little blurry, but you can see Lil' E taking a swing at the driving range.  Her golf bag is in the front left corner of the picture.       

Now, for some other pictures.  Here's Lil' E giving her new little sis her first kiss in the hospital.                                                    

       She looks like a tired little mommy in this picture holding little one.  This chair was losing all of it's little foam beads when I got there, so I made a new INSIDE cover for it.  Now the beads stay put, and with a freshly washed outer cover, it's as good as new.  

In this last picture, Little one is on the quilt that her Aunt Malinda, my cousin, made for her.  It is so pretty and soft.  It is backed with yellow seersucker!  Love it!                                                

New Grand!

 

                            

                                          One day old and ready to go home from the hospital!

Yes, she really was smiling!

In the little bubble suit I made for L(ittle)B(aby)G(irl) while I was there.  Big sis in a dress I made for her hugging her sister.  We had to be careful and really watch those hugs.  Some of them were scary!  Some were just sweet!

I know, I know babies do not turn over when they are only 3 weeks old, but this one did.  She did it numerous times, so it wasn't a fluke!    Her big sis turned over at 2 1/2 weeks.   Do I sound like a proud Granmomma, or what?                                                

I'll post more picts of LBG and her big sister's 3rd bday party in a few days.

Home!

I am home.  Give me a day or two to catch up on my "real" life and I'll post a few pictures, etc.... of the dream life I've had for the past month! 
Tomorrow, it's back to the nursing home.
Then, to my storage part of my basement to get rid of stuff.  That is my number one goal now that I'm home.  I've got STUFF of my mom's, my grand in-laws, my daughters, my husband's store that he sold, my aunt in-laws, etc.........  Gotta DEclutter my life!!!!!!!!!
Then, it's back to the sewing machine for Halloween costumes (there  are 6 grands to sew for this year), J's (almost 8) birthday, R's (not too far from 5) birthday, a Christening gown for a friend, and it isn't too long before I need to think about Christmas outfits for, by then, SEVEN GRANDS!  Yep, we are due another one in November!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm thinking about going back to work part time!  I'm thinking of either signing up to substitute teach (because I can always say no if I'm busy) or to teach GED classes.  I've thought for years that teaching adults who really want to learn would be fun.  Hum.........................?????????????????
It's almost time to repaint the nursing home windows, too.  I think I'll do some PRETTIER fall pictures instead of CUTE stuff like I did for summer.  What do you think?  I think they will like either.

In October it will be time to go to CT for another grand's bday!  Like I said above, J is nearly 8!  Then, back to the NE for a new grandbaby in Nov.  R's bday is in Dec.  We may have to celebrate with her a little early and include that celebration with the new baby visit.  I don't know who all is coming for Christmas, but I know that the desert family is supposed to be here sometime the day or so after.

Party Time!

Tomorrow is Almost 3's birthday party!  Her birthday isn't for a few more days, but Saturday is the best day for a party with little ones.  We are hoping the weather will be okay, meaning not TOO HOT for the little ones to play outside with water balloons, etc... for a little while.  There will be tons of indoor balloons, too.  She wants a FLAMINGO party, so we have made lots of flamingo decorations.  One of my daughters makes invitations and all kinds of party things.  For this party, she made the cupcake toppers.  They are perfect!  I'll get pictures.  Little one wants blue cake with pink iciing.  Her mom made some with pink, but she also used light green and light orange on some of them.  She has these really neat striped trays, etc... that she likes to use for parties.  The colors are matching these serving dishes.  Almost 3 just went to bed, so as soon as her baby sis has been fed, the decorating begins.  We are surprising little one with all the festive decorations.  She has seen none of them!  She will be so excited.  Her best little friends are coming to help her celebrate.
I'll be home the middle of next week, so life will get back to normal.  Well, normal for me.  My sister, husband, and cousins have been sharing the nursing home duties while I've been gone.  My sister is staying at our house while we are here to celebrate this birthday.  She tells me that things are really bad with Mother right now.  The staff is encouraging taking Mother to a hospital to try to get her meds adjusted, or whatever it is that is causing her to have the issues with yelling, crying, etc... that she is having.  If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that we did this once already and had a horrible experience, so I'm not so sure this is the right thing to do.  The hospital, (a different one from last time) doctor has said he does not think Mother is a candidate for this program.  I am really scared that the nursing home administrator is going to tell us that they can no longer care for Mother because of her yelling.  She is causing a disturbance, so I understand, but what in the world will we do if that happens?  Please pray, if you are a praying sort of person, that this won't happen and that Mother will find peace of mind.