Silk & Satin

With a new neice in the family (and premature by a month), I knew I had to get to work on a Blessing gown.  Kathryn was born the end of January and was dedicated on Mother’s Day.  I used the pattern from the cover of  Embroidered Christening Gowns.  I made this in white instead of pink.  The under layer is satin batiste and top layer is silk organza.  What a dream to smock!  The smocking is also beaded.  I felt like I was sitting in a cloud when I would work on the dress.  For those interested, I spray basted the 2 layers together to pleat with Sulky KK2200.  I was worried about doing it that way but it all went together smoothly and allowed be to pleat without a second person helping.  The picture is not great because white doesn’t photograph so well.

Needle Books

I joined a needle book swap on Swap-Bot last month and this is what I sent out.  The first lady’s profile mentioned that she liked turtles, so I had turtles dancing around my head all month.  This turned out to be more than a needle book.  It has felt pages for needles and a pocket for other sewing items.  You can click on each picture to make them larger.

This is the front:

 

This is the back:

This is the inside right with pocket:

This is the inside left with a scissor fob that I made to send for hearts:

The second partner’s profile said that she likes vintage things.  I have a bag of vintage feedsack scraps that I had bought from an estate sale that have been marinating in my closet for a couple of years.  I dipped into the bag and made this:

 

This one does not have an inside pocket.  I will be posting photos of additional needle books and a tutorial soon.

Crafty Sunday

I’ve been playing around with some beading.  I’m only interested in making some sewing related tools and maybe a watch or two.  These are the scissor fobs I made today.  If you are interested in purchasing:

From left to right:

1.  Green measures 6″ long with lobster clasp and tassel- $12.00

 2.  Purple with fleur de lis charm measures 4 1/2″ long with lobster clasp-$14.00

3.  Pink with ivory shell and tassel measures 7″ long with lobster clasp- $12.00

4.  Blue with tassel measures 5″ long with lobster clasp-$10.00

5.  Pink with fleur de lis measures 4 3/4″ with lobster clasp- $14.00

 I will be putting these in my local heirloom shop this week to sell so if you are interested, please email me ASAP.

 

While the children were in school Friday, I went antiquing.  I found this cake pedestal.  Someone asked if I bake a lot of cakes *tee hee*.  Nope, I just like pretty things.  This will probably live in my sewing room with other pretty things sitting on it

Making Summertime Memories

It rained almost every day for 2 straight months this summer.  Our backyard has a large dip that Aaron parks his truck over to change the oil.  This “dip” was full of water and mud and this is what came of a rare sunny afternoon:

Moooommmmmaaaaa, the boys are getting me muddy!!!!

We finally convinced the princess that it was okay to get dirty )

We made some wonderful memories this summer….

More Vacation Pics

On our way home from Gatlinburg, we stopped in Chattanooga.  We saw Rock City and Ruby Falls.  What an amazing sight.  To see the falls in the underground cave was a spiritual experience for me.  It was so awesome to realize how great a Creator we have.  This is a picture off of Lover’s Leap at Rock City:

Can you see my family in this picture of Lover’s Leap?

 This is Fat Man’s Squeeze:

And this is the High Falls under Lover’s Leap:

This the swinging bridge.  I was fearfully trying to hang on to the bridge and take a picture while there were rowdy boys on the other end, jumping on the bridge.  I don’t think I want to do that again!  Abby and Nate were tired of smiling, my hero (Luke) just goes with the flow (he looks scared huh?), and Aaron looks like he decided to take a nap lol.

 

This is the last of our vacation pics (bet you’re glad huh? lol)

Life Gets in the Way of Blogging (long, picture heavy post)

Well after recuperating from the fire, the children got out of school for the summer and life is always hectic when they are home. We took a week long trip to the Great Smoky Mountains and stayed in a cabin on the mountain (eek!). My daddy got to come and meet us for most of the week, and we had a ball. Made some great memories.  You can click on the pictures for a bigger picture.

Here’s the children with Popa:

 And here is Abby with Popa:

This was at Dollywood. We got there one evening in time to catch Veggie Tales Live on Stage and then went right into Untamed Illusions (a magic show that included a white tiger, a lion, and tons of sheepdogs). The kids talked about these shows more than any other part of our trip.

We rode the sky tram up the mountain to Ober Gatlinburg one day. I really enjoyed that. We got to view the mountains on the ride up and it was so gorgeous. This at Ober Gatlinburg. Aaron and Abby rode in one Ski Lift and Luke and I rode the car behind them. We were riding further up the mountain so that we could ride the Alpine Slide back down. The Alpine Slide is a plastic “thing” (like a thick sheet!) that slides in a concrete trough down the mountain. You have to sit on the plastic and control it with only a hand brake. Ok people, I was already freaking out on the ski lift. I only let go to take this picture. So you can imagine how they laughed at me put-putting down the mountain on my plastic sheet when they were zooming down and having the time of their lives lol.
 

And this is in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We rode through the park the day after Daddy left. When we found a spot wide enough to park on and not to steep to climb down, we stopped and let the kids go in the stream. They couldn’t walk out too far because it got deep quickly and was very cold. We almost didn’t get Nate to wade, because he was so scared. Right before we left, he got brave and let Aaron take him out to this rock. Then he decided it was fun and wanted to stay. Of course, Moma didn’t get to go because she had to stay on the bank and yell at the kids to be careful. Also Moma is the mastermind behind all the terrible photography, so that’s why I am in none of the pictures.

 

Here’s my Abby girl. She is like a fish when she gets around water. I wasn’t worried about her because she is usually cautious.

Luke on the other hand is not so cautious. In fact, he tends to push the envelope when no one is looking. He loved walking and slipping on the rocks and proceeded to fall in the freezing water right on his butt. Needless to say, we had to ride with the windows down because we couldn’t use the a/c all the way back to the cabin (2-3 hr. ride). That’s my cowboy

Here are 2 of my 3 favorite men in the world.

We also saw the Dixie Stampede one night. This was Luke’s favorite thing we did. After the show he went around the arena and petted every horse. And by the way, this is the only picture of me on vacation lol.

We also stopped at Chattanooga on the way home and visited Ruby Falls and Rock City at Lookout Mountain but I’ll save those pictures for another time.

And this is pictures of the boys from their end of the year school program. The boys had a seperate program from Abby since they were in K and pre-K. My cowboy cleans up nice huh?

 

 Whew! I had a lot of catching up to do. Hopefully, I can show some things I have been working on all summer now.

Trying to Resume Life

Here is my sweet Katie bug in her new bonnet. A box arrived Monday from Maggie B. and it included a couple of dresses and this bonnet. Katie was in love! She didn’t want to take it off all evening. Thanks Maggie for the beautiful dresses. You have been such a blessing!

She sat (im)patiently waiting for me to finish taking this picture so that she could put the bonnet back on lol.

Tragedy

Monday night at 11:00 my little sister’s house caught on fire. They were all asleep but thankfully their oldest child (4 yrs.) woke everyone up. I thought I would share some pics of what was left for family and friends to see. You can click on the pictures for a bigger picture.

The refrigerator is laid over in front of Faith’s bedroom door. It’s a miracle that they got out.

This is the back wall of the living room where the fire originated.

This is what was left of the washer and dryer.

Donations can be made to this paypal account: icrochet@bellsouth.net

GULP!!

I finally worked up the nerve today to chop up the Easter dress. Abby went through patterns and magazines this weekend and decided on what this will become. This is all that is left…

I guess this will be my Project Spectrum project since I can’t get motivated with any other blues.

And of course I had to share my baby doll. Luke has been patiently (NOT) waiting for a cowboy quilt. We have been picking up small cuts of cowboy fabrics since last year. When we visited Granny and Daddy -O- a couple of weeks ago, Granny had put this fabric back for him. He was so tickled to see the horses The other night, Luke asked me what I want to be when I grow up *tee hee*. I said, “Well I guess I need to think about that”. The he proceeded to say that he is definitely going to be a cowboy when he grows up

Heirloom…..

def.-Something that has been in a family for generations

I hope the heirloom quality outfits that I make become true heirlooms. I hardly keep anything that I make. I put lots of hours and love into everything that I make (ok, maybe not everything ). I just hope that these special gifts become as special to the recipients as they are to me. I have also learned that the hours of time spent stitching these creations are a great time for prayer and meditation.

This dress is from Australian Smocking and Embroidery #38 (sorry, no link as this is a rare issue). It was originally named Tuesday’s Child but I think my version will be called Serenity (The absence of mental stress or anxiety). Serenity is the only word I can use to describe the first month of this year. I have made changes during December that have already started to have a wonderful effect upon my state of mind. I have battled depression for the last 5 years and for the first time I feel that I am free from it rather than just having a respite before the next wave. Every time that I think of these changes, I will think of this dress. Anyway, on to the eye candy….(excuse the first pic, the light was awful)

This is the cover dress and I have loved it since I first layed eyes on it. It is so yummy, I could just eat it!!

It is of course a bishop so the whole neckline is smocked and embroidered with bullion roses and forget-me-nots.

The hem is part shadow-work embroidery and part bullion roses and forget-me-nots. Shadow-work and bullions are my absolute favorite embroidery. I love to see a picture take form from thread.

Tomorrow I will post pics of the Hedera socks that I finished today (shew! barely made the January deadline that was self-imposed).