Well I seem to be getting worse instead of better about my blogging. The problem seems to be time and my lack there-of. I just can't seem to get it together this year when it comes to my Christmas sewing. I can say I have FINALLY got started, but truthfully I am going to have to keep this nose to the grindstone, or it isn't going to get done. And that would be a first, lol. I just spent WAY too much time making baby clothes I guess. Honestly I think it got started because I had to wait on the pajama fabric from that darling shop I discovered, and I just got into a false sense of I had time. The fabric is still NOT ready to be purchased. They are saying at the beginning of next week, so I am ready to pounce, lol. In the meantime I'll try to catch you up a bit. My sister Diane spent the week-end with me a couple of weeks ago, and we had such a good time. Not a lot went the way we planned it to, but we were both willing to just roll with it so it turned out OK. We saw the movie Hillsong which was basically a documentary about the Christian band and their praise music. It was wonderful. We did a little shopping at quilt stores, and worked on no sew Christmas trees as she wanted to know how to make one. We did not get to her quilt, as she decided she didn't like the fabric she had to do the borders with, so we got that ordered at least. She left it with me and I am going to do my best to get it finished up and delivered to the quilters for her. She has SOOO much on her plate right now what with her recent cancer diagnose, and the fact that she is the one who home schools her grandchildren. She is a very busy lady. We ate some tasty treats we don't usually indulge in, talked and talked and talked, and watched several episodes of Call the Midwife. All in all a really wonderful week-end. Soo glad I got that time with her. Let me show you my tree....
NOT SURE I LIKE THE TREE TOPPER, SO I MAY BE CHANGING THAT. I IRONED THE LITTLE TRIANGLES THIS TIME AS I WENT ALONG AND I AM NOT SURE I LIKE THAT EITHER. LOL. I'LL LOOK AT IT A WHILE AND MAKE MY DECISIONS. I DO HOPE TO MAKE SOME MORE, BUT IT IS WAY WAY DOWN MY LIST SO NOT SURE IT WILL HAPPEN
pretty birthday flowers from Melody and her family
Then last week I celebrated my 62nd birthday and it was just a wonderful day. I enjoyed every call, text, card, gift, and attention I got. And then let's see what else did I do out of the ordinary? I finally got myself to one of my grand daughter Lindsey's volleyball games. It was really fun. They played the undefeated number one team in their league and BEAT them which made for an exciting and action packed game. Lindsey just played an outstanding game. She is very fun to watch. And then....let's see....last week-end both my grand daughter Lindsey and my niece Katie spent the night here Sat. night and then ALL day Sunday going to church and bible study with us as well. We both enjoy them soo much. Sat. night after the girls got here we ran over to Joanne's, as Lindsey decided that maybe I could make her a homecoming dress?? so we went to see what we could find. She had spent all day Sat. with her mom looking for a dress and honestly just couldn't find anything she liked. And the ones she did kind of like cost a small fortune. She really wanted just a simple FITTED little black dress, in a sparkly fabric of some kind. We came home with a pattern that looked like it would work, and some stretchy black sparkly knit type fabric, all for under 25 dollars with my coupons. I had MANY misgivings about this whole project though let me tell you. I seldom sew for myself or for other adults (not that Lindsey is an adult of course, but size wise close enough!) for a number of reasons....It just isn't easy to decide if your going to like something on yourself until AFTER you have already gone to the expense and time to make it. Let's face it. When you go shopping for a new dress, you find many that look just darling there on the hanger, but when you get them into the dressing room you may decide for a number of reasons, that you don't want it. It's too big...too small...the style doesn't suit you like you thought....the color isn't right after all....it's uncomfortable...and on and on it goes. But you simply put it back on the rack and chose again. Not an option of course when you have made it. It might end up in the good will basket or trash heap. And the pattern choices are never all that good. And they don't make them AT ALL in her size. She's a 0! Which meant I knew I would have to alter it, and I NEVER do that well. And she lives a good half hour away so I'd have to get it together and then SEE how it fit her. Just LOTS of reasons to NOT do this. lol. Well, let's just say I should have listened to my first instinct and just told her, NO, I don't think grandma will attempt that. But I can't seem to tell any of them NO, LOL. Sooooo yesterday, I spent a couple of hours putting the dress together. The fabric was a COMPLETE nightmare to work with is all I can say. I honestly had to pin it soooo much to keep it from shifting around I could have screamed, and it rolled up, and stretched something fierce. Just NOT good. I tried to cut it and make to go with her measurements, but like I said I am NOT very good at that. I did not like the way the neckline was done on the pattern, as they had you just simply turned it back and stitching it down which would have been fine but then the outside of the dress would then be near her skin and no doubt would have been itchy. Sooooo I put it on with some bias tape and honestly I don't know how well that will stretch going on over her head....sigh. It looks VERY VERY simple and plain and MIGHT be good if it fits her in the clingy way she hopes, but honestly it looks big....sigh. All I can say is I did try but I will be stunned if it works for her. She is coming over here on Wed night so that she can go to get her hair done on Thursday with me so she can try it on and we will see. IF it fits her close to the way she hopes, I just need to cut it off and hem it up whatever length she wants and that should go quickly. She can dress it up with fun jewelry and shoes and makeup and it "might" be OK, but if not her mother and her will have to hit the stores again and she is running out of time. The dresses have to be approved by the school as she attends a Christian school and they have a pretty strict dress code. It's the same school Melody went to so I am very aware of their code. If I need to I guess I can still take it in a bit, but IF I have made it too small, it is truly over, lol. Let me show you this VERY simple little black dress...
YOU CAN'T REALLY SEE THE FABRIC, AND I HAVE GOT IT ROLLED UP AT THE BOTTOM SO IT LOOKS KIND OF FUNNY. HANG ON, I'LL GO SNAP A CLOSE UP OF THE FABRIC...
IT'S REALLY PRETTY SPARKLY...HARD TO TELL FROM THIS PIC BUT YOU GET THE IDEA.
And then! I think I may have mentioned that my niece is a song leader at her school. For those of you who are not sure what that is, it is a cheer leader basically, who does more dancing then standard cheering. She pretty much does everything a cheer leader does. Anyway, she has a bag to carry her pom poms and gear in and she wanted me to embroider her name on the bag. Sounded easy enough and I did do that very successfully last year for Lindsey's softball bag, so I told her to bring her bag along. Well, let's just say it was ANOTHER thing I should have just said NO to, lol. Well at least after I saw her bag that is. When I did Lindsey's last year she had a little tab on the top of her bag that just zipped off and it was very easy to hoop it and get the job done. Well, Katie's bag did nothing of the sort. The ONLY way to embroider on her bag was to take it partially apart so that I could hoop it. Well, it worked very well, and we decided to add a couple of musical notes on there as well as long as I was at it. It looked darling and I was very pleased with it, but then it was time to put the bag back together and here's where things took a bad turn. Another complete nightmare. I can't even tell you how many things went wrong. At one point I was sure I had ruined her bag, and she would have to start all over and order a new one. Goodness I was somewhat hysterical. But! I pressed on and ripped out over and over and FINALLY got it back together. Trust me I did learn my lesson there. I will NOT be doing that again. If it can't be easily hooped, it's OUT! lol Let me show you the bag.
THOSE MUSIC NOTES ARE DONE IN SILVER METALLIC. I SHOULD HAVE TAKEN A PIC OF THE BAG WHEN IT WAS TAKEN APART AS THIS WOULD BE A LOT MORE IMPRESSIVE, LOL, BUT I WAS WAY TOO HYSTERICAL TO THINK OF THAT!
And then!!! Today I decided to whip up some dish towels for my other nieces Jessie's 30th birthday on Friday. She will be doing my hair on Thursday so I wanted to get them done so I could bring them along for her. Let me show you those....I've used these designs before and I LOVE them!
HER KITCHEN COLORS ARE GREY AND MUSTARD
And now I will show you a little glimpse of some of the Christmas sewing I am doing. I am making all the girls (and myself!) banners to hang. I gave them their choice as to what they will say, and colors they wanted etc. They are super cute and kind of easy to make now that I tweaked the design around some and used felt instead of cotton. But each leaf takes about 35 minutes from start to finish, so the time does add up. Let me show you....
THIS IS LARISSA'S AND IT IS THE ONLY ONE OF THE GIRLS THAT IS ALMOST DONE. I STILL HAVE TO STRING THE RIBBON THROUGH THE HOLES SO IT CAN BE HUNG. I HAVEN'T PUNCHED THE HOLES YET EITHER. I AM HOPING THAT THIS WILL BE EASY TO DO WITH A HOLE PUNCHER.
HERE'S A CLOSE UP OF ONE OF THE HOLLY LEAVES...THOSE LITTLE CIRCLES IN THE RED BERRIES ARE WHERE THE HOLES WILL BE PUNCHED TO STRING THE RIBBON
THIS IS MINE...I USED A GOLD BERRY IN THIS ONE, AND METALLIC GOLD THREAD FOR THE LETTERING
THIS IS A CLOSE UP OF ONE OF THE LEAVES FOR LEAH. I HAVE SEVERAL DONE, BUT IT IS NOT FINISHED. HER'S WILL SAY JOY TO THE WORLD, SO A LOT MORE LEAVES, LOL. IT TOO HAS THE GOLD BERRIES, AND THE GOLD METALLIC THREAD FOR THE LETTERS. THESE PICS ARE NOT VERY GOOD, BECAUSE THE THREAD IS REALLY SHINNY.
Melody's is going to be different altogether. Her's is going to be of Christmas trees instead of holly leaves, and will hang on the wall in Sam and Luke's bedroom. She hasn't decided what it is going to say yet, but she'd better decide soon, lol. I am also going to make all of the girls tree skirts, and the grandkids are all going to get candy cane holder tree ornaments with their name on it in addition to their pj's. See what I mean? A lot still to do!! Plus I have some ornaments for myself, a fabric garland, and some quilted Christmas hot pads that are done in the hoop. Something may have to go, lol.
Well, I know this is long and I do apologize if you are still with me. If I did these more often they wouldn't be soo long and take sooo much time to complete. I will keep trying. Hope you all are enjoying these early Fall days. We have had two whole days of positively gorgeous weather! Blessings to you all! Debbie