First; here is the out of print pattern.....

This is a little girls dress that I set aside and now I'm close to finishing. Plaids are so rich and fun to play with. Of course, when I bought this fabric (years ago) I'm sure my manager asked me what I was going to make with it! (my old boss at the fabric store) And I probably just said, "I don't know yet! It will just go into the fabric stash until I find the "right item it needs to be!" Well, to be perfectly honest, I'm sure I didn't tell her that.... (she would have looked at me funny! As you are now!) But I'm sure I told her I didn't know yet! A while back I believe I showed you the plaid and maybe even the pattern..... (researching!) Alright... I didn't show you the plaid, or the pattern.... I just wrote about them a little is all. Back in May! Ahem, well.... some of us just can't win! But I will try to rectify that right now!

The picture of the oop pattern was just my starting point. First; I changed the neck made it a bit larger.... more open.... so that the little girl can wear a blouse or long sleeve t-shirt with it and it won't be too clingy. Also; I wasn't into the old fashion sleeves.... (see oop pattern above!) Just too much fru-fru for me! I wanted it to be a bit more simple, and mostly have the main focus on the plaid and the person wearing it! Notice the cute print lining the bodice? Well, the pattern doesn't call for it to be lined, just faced but during a trip to the fabric store a while back, I happened upon this.... It called out to me! And it was just the right piece to go inside of this cute plaid! I still need to hem, add buttons and button holes. And honestly... one day when I find someone to wear this then maybe I will get a picture of it on someone. But until then, it will hang in the closet..... waiting! One more thing, on the pocket front edges I put just a tad bit of light yellow ric rac. Just to give it a touch of whimsy!

It's been fun. I'm not too sure yet about what buttons to use. Maybe I will go with just a clear round type.

Now that you know that I've not just been messing around... I guess that's all for right now! I suppose it better be! It's almost November.... Actually today is the oldest grandson's b-day!

Happy Birthday Little Guy! We love you!

It's Starting To Feel Like Fall

So yes, life gets busy. What can I say! I forget to write things down and well b/4 you know it... a month has past! Almost two!

We took care of the grands again... it was fun... they are growing up so fast though.

Here they are out in the garden playing in the dirt!

Our oldest grandson (he is almost 5) wants to be a Transformer for Halloween. His mom is working quite hard to make him a cool costume. A week or so ago, he looked at the costume (which is being made out of cardboard) and said, "Mom, are we going to spray paint it? Cause I don't want the kids to look at it and say he's wearing a box!" "I don't want to be embarrassed!" Our daughter did the "mom thing" and told her DH that no matter how much time she puts into this, that when all is said and done, if he looks at it and he thinks their son will be embarrassed.... she will scrap the entire thing! Now is that love or what? I'm thinking yes! Indeed yes! I will have to take pictures of the grands to let you see how things turned out!

I've been busy working on a pile of fabric's that I've pulled from my stash.... I'm about half way thru them... I'm cutting out 10 1/2x 10 1/2 inch squares; 4x4 squares, and triangles... oh, and also strips that are 2 1/2 inches wide and all sorts of lengths. There are a lot of floral's, some lights and some dark prints, also a variety of dark's too. I haven't come up with the type of quilt that I will for sure make with these... actually, I'm thinking it may end up as more than one quilt.

This picture; is of the second half.... that I haven't cut up yet!

About a month or so ago... I bought this dress on clearance... which makes it more fun and cheaper to play around with.... I did get it at a better price.... than shown here!

http://www.coldwatercreek.com/product-detail/52081/58263/cotton-tiered-dress.aspx?colorid=013&refLink=outlet-dresses.aspx&Skn=outlet at Cold Water Creek....

It's an all white dress, if you go to this site you will see it... anyway I don't really wear sleeveless dresses, but I do like to play with things I buy. Not only do I see in my mind what I can do with fabric, but I also see things on people, in catalogs, store etc.... and think.... hmmmm, what can I do to improve or modify them so I would like to wear them?

So, this is the added eyelet to add to the length. I still need to do the sleeves.

Alright now for one, it was a bit too short for me..... (which because I had forgotten to read the customer comments... I could have figured that out b/4 hand... but I didn't! )I'm not crazy about my calves.... so I like a dress a bit longer. Also the sleeveless thing.... not quite my thing. So, because the dress has a variety of materials that it's made from I'm going to add sleeves that I have made from a couple of materials. For the base of the sleeves I will be using a knit white spandex, and then over the top of that I will be using a doily..... I know your laughing now.... but you just wait! Hopefully when it's done, you won't be! The dress has a cotton layered bottom and the top is made out of various knits. Since there wasn't enough of the doily to make the entire sleeve, that is why I'm using the spandex knit to build a base. Hopefully when it's done you won't even notice the base and your eye will go to the embroidered cotton doily. If it turns out like I plan.... I will be happy. And let's be honest.... I'm doing this for me right? So, who if anyone needs to be happy? You got it! Oh, and your probably wondering..... why is she working on a dress she won't wear now until Spring? Because that's just how I am! I just don't always get to things when I need too!

What with canning and fruit drying and recovering from hurting my back.... (I have no idea what I did....) but it's taken me several days to feel like a human again.... I've been walking around like I'm 90 years old. But stubborn as I am.... I will persevere!

Oh.... I did take time to brush out the dog.... there was an entire other dog in the bag that I put that old hair into! She looks much cuter now.... and I suspect that she is much happier too.... no more itchy hair to try to get off when she is outside!

I will be doing another post, so this is all for now!

Talk About Fast Service

O.K. for those of you in the U.S. we all know that yesterday was a holiday. Labor Day weekend is the last full on weekend of Summer! And well, as weekends go it was a good one, shopping, dinner with some of the family and well.... more shopping! What's not to like? I have to tell you about the service we got.... talk about fast... I'm almost speechless! And if you know me, it takes an awful lot to hush me up! So DH has been after me since about Wednesday last week to please order him a pair of new tennis shoes (sports shoes... hey, they are white/navy and have a tread for traction.... that's why I call them tennis shoes.... not that he plays tennis... just how I am!). So teasingly every time he would see me, (even if I came back into the room after being gone for a few minutes.....) he would ask me.... did you order my shoes yet? And so on and so forth..... So, yesterday being a Holiday as I said, I placed an order.... the operator told me well since this is a holiday they will ship tomorrow, and be there no later than Wednesday! Yeah! Next time DH sets eyes on me..... (you know the question..... insert here!) I could say, Yes! This a.m. I get an e-mail saying that the shoes shipped out at 1:30 a.m. this morning. I thought, nice... DH will be happy to know that they are on the way! I told him b/4 he left for work this a.m. (yes, I checked my e-mail early this a.m.) Anyway.... that being said, I told DH and he was quite happy leaving for work! At 10:15 a.m. the door bell rings, I figure it's my company, albeit a bit early...... Nope! It's the UPS truck! He has just delivered a box! And yes! It's the shoes that I ordered from Zappo's! I couldn't believe it! I mean it hadn't even been 24 hours and they were here already! Just what we ordered, talk about fast! WOW!!!!!! I must say, I'm very impressed by the speed of their service! I didn't have to pay shipping! Just so you know..... I'm getting nothing besides the satisfaction of knowing that their shipping/service department is totally awsome! Just thought I would past that little tidbit along!
More later.....
Edit: Bye the way honey...... I ordered your shoes!!!! Oh, and then.... when we found out that the size we ordered were wayyyy to big!!!! I reordered a smaller size! Done! They will probably be here tomorrow night! LoL....
Edit: Here we go again! This time the shoes were shipped even faster! They were shipped at around 3:00 a.m. Kentucky time and got here b/4 10:00 a.m. Utah time! And on top of that instead of charging our credit card again; and then giving us a refund when the other shoes were returned.... no.... the gal says to me..... "I will just transfer your $$$ over to the other pair of shoes, so we don't have to charge your card again!" Really? Wow.... I can't tell you how very impressed I am. Plus like I said above..... no shipping charges either way! O.K. this type of service, just doesn't happen. I mean, they are seriously making an effort! It's working for me!
Goooooo Zappo!!

Summer Is Over......

Although I no longer have kids in school, public, private or even collage for that matter... I am always touched by the fact that the neighborhood streets and yards are so much quieter when the kids go back to school. Summer for the most part (at least for the kids) is over and now it's back to the matter of learning and taking in knowledge. I hate to be the one to break it to them, but that is one thing that never ends! Learning or the work of learning to me is always there. There is still so much for me to learn... I didn't go to collage, but it seems I learn something new all the time... so just going to the college of life is important to me! I get a bit nostalgic about things this time of the year... thinking on how quickly our family grew and learned so many important things of life. And now, our grand kids are moving quickly down these paths also. Sometimes it's hard to see this happen, others.... well I get excited to see and to share with our grand kids some of the very things that excited me when I was their ages.

Alright... I know it's been quite a while since I took the time to post anything so I will try to do a better job the rest of the year. I ended up going on the Pioneer Trek.... to help with the cooking. I didn't actually do any trekking... but it was a wonderful experience anyway. Cooking, packing lunches for around 200 people a meal was well.... busy, exhilarating, hot, hard at times, silly, tiring, and at times we had to be just down right inventive! But well worth the hard work and the company was wonderful! I sooo do appreciate my dear husband and missed him very much. I was glad that I DID NOT SEE ANY OF THE RATTLE SNAKES THAT SOME PEOPLE SAW..... apparently a couple were seen but they just waited for them to slither away off the path and onto other travels..... YUCK!!!!! And there was one that managed to go into the girls bathroom..... (because someone didn't close the door..... like the signs said!!!!) but it was taken care of and is now viewing us from.... let us say.... more Heavenly Aspects.... ahem, get yourself into the bathroom and that's what you get I suppose! I came back with a bit of a different aspect on the wearing of pioneer clothing.... Those women were Wonder Women..... wearing dresses all the time, hot, cold.... with the breezes whipping in and out and well.... I do have a whole new light on how I feel about all those women.

I put together a quilt top/and the quilt it's self for another one of our Primary to hand tye. The only thing was..... 2 yep that's right..... only two girls showed up to help tye it! They were here early (which worked out fine) and had to leave after an hour to go to their soccor games. They were a big help though by helping me to get the quilt put onto the quilt frames. Sorry no pictures of that action.... but I do have a couple of the quilt.

Front: just a 9 patch

Back: a cute flannel that I had... and a little pink to finish it off. Nice to be able to grab something out of the fabric stash!

And last but not least: The Helper Dog!

She seemed to think that I couldn't do what I was doing without her help! She is right of course. After taking several shots this one seemed to say, don't you think that your done now! She is our sweet girl!

Our grandson..... the youngest, turned 2 a couple of weeks back and we had some family fun right here.

He is a pro already....

He is a "pro" already... he was hitting the ball and setting it back on the "T" all by himself.... (which is nice for mom because we know who would really be doing it if he couldn't do it for himself!).

Our granddaughter and her "Papa", were having a little of fun!

I've also been working on more of my "string quilt blocks" not sure how many I have now... but it's getting up there! Also I have been doing some alterations for moi!!! Wonder of wonders! I know, I don't think to sew for myself sometimes.... it's just that there is always something else to be done! My friend Karma if you will remember let me "shop" in her daughter's closet (Karma's daughter passed away 2 years ago and a while after she was gone I was invited to look at and try on and take home any clothing that I wanted. Her daughter had wonderful taste and since having died of cancer her weight went down rather quickly and she had all sorts of sized clothing. Some brand new, some not... but most all were in such good shape that her family felt that it would be nice to share. After all was said and done, I went home (feeling rather guilty really) with several large boxes of clothes. And come to find 14 people had shopped at "Diane's Closet" as we called her place and each went home with a huge amount of clothing. Diane was a wonderfully warm and caring and sharing person in life and in death. Her family misses her very much. I want to thank her family for being so generous to me and to all those that these clothes helped along the way! I have another story to tell concerning some of the clothes or at least one coat that came from "Diane's Closet" please see below*) and I brought home a number of dresses that I needed to take "in" and take "up" for that matter. Some of these dresses had never been worn before. They are so pretty and Summerish..... I should have finished them lonnnnnng ago... but, such is life! I have one more to do.... and I will have a complete new summer wardrobe! Some of them can be worn other times of the year (I'm not one who "has" to wear certain dresses during certain seasons.... some of them need to be worn... just Spring/Summer/very early Fall but I will decide as the seasons come.)

I do need to work on some up coming Christmas presents too..... we all realize that Christmas is coming......only 4 months away! Dear Hubby and I found one sweet present for the grand kids, and it will be an "early" Christmas present they will receive around Thanks Giving. I can't show a picture of it right now because our oldest DD just can't stand it when she doesn't know "the secret"..... so this is mostly just to tease her!!! LoL.... Bet I get a call as soon as she reads this!

Well, I hope all of you lovely people are sewing, crafting, and enjoying this beautiful day and the season to come. There won't be too many Summer days left I think... live each day to the fullest!

Our Heavenly Father Loves you all... Don't forget that!

Oh, and when your done sewing; don't forget to turn off the lights! Until the next post!

* I mentioned a coat that I received from Karma's daughters closet; telling about this closet of clothes made this story come to mind. I don't think that I've shared it... if I have and I know that I have to some, please just skip it and have a great day! If not.... please read on; A coat that I had seen in "Diane's Closet" went to one of Karma's sisters... it was a lovely green wool coat, a long dress coat to be exact! I had tried it on and it fit like a glove and then my hands went automatically into the pockets (I guess I'm just a pocket person at times). Inside the pocket were a pair of somewhat longer knit green gloves to match the coat!

After trying it on Karma mentioned that she thought that it might fit her sister and she really ought to have her try it on! Can't say that I wasn't disappointed, one I love green and although I really didn't need this coat (because I have a nice navy blue one) I would not have minded owning this one! Karma took the coat to her sister saying if it didn't fit her she would bring it back to me. I didn't really give it much thought after that. A few months later ( we were "shopping" in Diane's closet some time in March I think or April) Karma and I were working on a project together and she mentioned that the green wool coat didn't fit her sister and she pulled it out of the closet and gave it to me! Such a pretty coat and all I was very pleased. Fast forward to last December..... I had a meeting at Church and it was a very cold day and one of the ladies of our group and I were waiting outside the office of our Bishop for the meeting to start (in the hallway) and I had on a sweater over my dress and the green coat! The lady..... named Peggy (named has been changed to keep from embarrassing her) was sitting and shivering! She didn't have a coat on! I asked where her coat was and she said that she had left it at home, because she didn't like to wear her parka like coat with dresses! I asked her if she wanted the one I was wearing? She just looked at me, I think maybe she thought I meant just to get her warmed up! I told her the situation of how and where I got the coat and that I had another dress coat at home and I was more than comfortable to give it to her! I think she was pretty surprised.... maybe even shocked really. She didn't really know what to say I think. So she basically said no.... that's o.k. I will be fine. Later after our meeting, I confronted her again, (when no one was around and I had taken the coat off during our meeting) this time I asked her to please take the coat, that really I had another at home and to please use it with my pleasure. I had put my scarf into a bag I was carrying and gave that to her later too. (it was a scarf that I had also gotten with the coat!) She was sooo excited! She told me that green was her favorite color! I told her see..... it was meant to be! And then I told her that there were gloves in the pockets to match! She was all smiles as was Karma when I relayed the story to her.... with the name of the actual person. So, that's the story. I wasn't really supposed to have that coat after all. I was just to hold it for a little while. Love...... pass it on!

Happy Birthday (Tomorrow) America!!!!!

Well, it's that time of year again. I did mention last post that we would be celebrating the 4TH of July soon. I've a lot to be thankful for! This old country has been pretty good to me and I just thought I would find a couple pictures to show you what I have to appreciate! The Church, Family and the beauties of this wonderful country. There are a lot of pictures on the internet that show all sorts of wonderful views, vista's and ocean's, mountains and valleys... forests, streams, rivers... that I could have added, but I felt that you probably already have a favorite picture or place that means a lot to you. Each one of these places can touch my heart in a different way. ( edit:What I should have said, is that each of those type of places touch my heart and that I just couldn't decide which pictures to add... so the most important pictures are of my family! ) I am sooooo greatful that I have the opportunity to live in The United States of America. I was born here and after being in the Military and serving my country and being away from the U.S. I learned so much more to appreciate all there is in this Great Country! No matter whether you live in the U.S. or not, remember to appreciate where you live and the freedoms that you may have! Take care of our old world..... It's the only one we have!

God Bless America!!! I hope that those of you who live in the U.S. will have a wonderful and safe and happy July 4TH!

Who Is That Lurking Around The Computer?

Yes, believe it or not! I'm alive and well. For some reason I've just not felt like blogging lately... just blog lurking here and there. That and the creativity in my sewing room has up and left! Seems that sewing time gets interrupted when gardening etc... happens. But I will get it together one of these days!

So, what have you been doing? Anything fun?


We had some great company a couple weeks back. Our son and our DIL came to visit and it was non stop busy-ness.


We went to the zoo... the family (or at least some of the family and extended too) went and we had a great time. In all toll we had hmmmmmm, 15 of us there... and only 6 were kids! Well people under the age of 8 that is! Pretty good odds don't you think? This is one of the first animals we saw when we got there. And they don't even have to be caged!


The giraffes were trying to keep cool.... I can't imagine how much lemon aide it must take to cool off a giraffes throat can you?

We saw the baby elephant and of course lots of birds and critters. Ate lunch, took a train ride.... we took up most of one entire section of the train. Not too sure who the biggest kids were... then again yes... mostly the "older" ones! They had a great bird show and we saw a beautiful Bald Eagle (one that had been hurt and so can't fly fast enough to catch food so it can't go back into the wild) an owl, and a couple of hawks. They had them (most of them) trained to fly to different perches and they would soar right over the crowds heads... so they told us not to raise our hands or stand up while the show was going on!



I'm so in awe of these beautiful creatures! They are amazing to watch! It brings me to tears to see them! I could watch them all day!


I thought that these two photo's were very appropriate for this week here in the United States! We are celebrating the birth of our country on the 4Th of July! Fireworks, parades, music, flags.... Eagles.... our beautiful home and all of our Freedoms.... What's Not To Love! Happy Birthday America!




As we walk off into the sunset... or at least to the car park! Hey... this zoo has lots of hills and walking and/or pushing a stroller gets tiring! Needless to say, we were all pooped and a little sunburned! I sunburned my hair part... I'm still dealing a bit with the peeling..... ever burned your scalp? Yep.... it looks like dandruff when it peels.... yuck! So, if you see me.... be fair warned! It's not pretty!


During this fun visit we celebrated 3 birthdays, Father's Day, someone being preggers (well it was her belated birthday gift shopping), we had a family picture taken and had a bar-b-q and various other eating events.... family and food goes hand in hand! We dined out a few times, Mimi's Cafe (for breakfast for the birthday girls), Taco-Taco, Chili's, a restaurant that I forget the name of..... for lunch with DD and my Nephew from Oregon..... God Father's Pizza, oh, and because we were getting soooo much rain believe it or not..... I made Chili one night! (Yeah, well don't feel too bad for me having to cook.... I opened some cans of chili and then added a few cans of black and red beans!) With the fact that it was birthday time we of course had various celebration desserts..... Frozen Yogurt Pie, Strawberry Shortcake, and then home made Cheese cake. Which is a story in it's self! I will try to make it short! LoL..... sooo funny... I over whipped the batter for this cheese cake and put it in the pan size that was recommended a 9 inch pan (the release type pans.... I can't remember off hand what they are called!) and while cooking it grew and it grew and it grew....... so after cooking it for the required time; it still wasn't done! (too bad I didn't think to take pictures!) I left it in longer 30 minutes longer to be exact! Nope.... all it did was over flow the pan! Pieces dropping left and right and smoking up the house! And mind you it's at night so I had to open windows and turn on the ceiling fans to keep the smoke detectors from sounding the alarm! LoL.... All in all I finally took it out of the oven (it was about 3 inches over the top of the pan) and took a bread knife and sliced it across the top into the garbage disposal! Heavy Sighhhhh! Cooked it for around 30-40 more minutes and it was done! Not pretty but done! And the next day it did taste pretty good.... I learned to not mix so much and maybe next time use a larger pan! Oh, and my DSIL Tammy.... told me to tape foil to help support the sides of it if it raises up too much!
All in all.... we had a great time.... I'm sure that the extra weight will look good on me! No! I'm working that off now!
Until next time..... remember what we have learned! Save the beating for the whipped cream!


For some reason the comments area is running together with the end of the post? So I've tried several times to fix it.... if at first you don't suceed... try, try again. Which I have... so now it's just go for broke!

What Has Been Keeping Me Busy

It has been a while since I last wrote but as things go I've been keeping out of trouble, mostly! I worked on a costume for a friends neice's 8 year old daughter... (got that?) it was a mermaid costume that she needed for a school something or other! Here is what it looked like when done; http://mccallpattern.mccall.com/m5498-products-8714.php?page_id=915 It was a bit of a trial because I was told she had a 28 inch waist and then that she was 8 and I finally got her neck to waist measurement and waist to floor measurement. Not a whole lot to go on! Oh, and I was also told that they figured a ladies 10 would fit her? Hmmmm, not sooo much! We worked it all out I tried in on my friends granddaughter a day or so b/4 the little girl came to try it on... and took it in some thru the back and waaa-laa! Done! I didn't get a picture (I seem to forget the camera in situations like this) and so you don't get to see the final project... but it is done! They were happy with it... and mom told daughter that look.... you have your Halloween costume all ready too!
Now I'm working on an OOP pattern.... (out of print) just because... one I will put away because I'm not sure who it is for yet! It's a cute little purple plaid dress, button up the front and it will have pantaloons too that can be worn but don't really need to be worn.... I will find the pattern and post a picture of it and the material too. Now I've decided that instead of any type of lace I'm going with a cute light yellow Ric Rac... hopefully pic's later.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL YOU WONDERFUL MOTHER'S

I am posting a day early.... but, better early than my semi-usual late.
It's Mother's Day, and whether that brings back all sorts of memories (hopefully all good) or it's just a wonderfully relaxing day I hope that it will be a good one for you and all the mother's and future mother's out there.

I spoke to my mother last night. We have been playing phone tag all week and so we finally caught up and got to sit and visit for a while. Thanks mom for taking the time to track me down again!
My mom is one of the great women in the world. She is kind and loving and very supportive. Her journey through life has been in the company of a loving husband. (that would be my dad) Hopefully she doesn't really remember the trials that I personally put her through... (we won't go there!!!) and being as I want to make this day as wonderful as she is I won't bring any of those things up either! When I became a mom I knew that although I was a bit nervous about it all, (taking a tiny little baby home and caring for him was a bit scary) I knew that my mom was planning on coming to see us and helping out for a while! That was far more of a comfort then I think she knew. Just having my mom there meant that if or should I say when, I made a mistake... she would be there to back me up and help me make it right! My mom in her work a-day life was a court reporter. You know, the people you would see in the court room during a trial that take down everything you do or say. I know that it was a challenge for her. I'm sure that there were times that she just wanted to chuck it all and tell someone to go suck an egg! (ahem.... oh, well that is more like me not mom!) But as far as I know, she never did that. People came from far and wide to ask for her help and she would give it. She was Relief Society President twice while still working full time. She hadn't been a member of our Church for very long before she was asked to take on this responsibility. But, she did it and did a great job each time. Always there to comfort, console and sustain the members of her ward and stake she set a great example to me and to my family. (dad is no- slouch either.... but remember, it's Mother's Day... Father's Day is next month! )
I just want my mom to know that I Love her and that I would admire her even if I weren't the best daughter she ever had! (of course, I am her only daughter so she really doesn't have much to compare too! LoL...)
Here is a little Mother's Day Poem that we are sharing with our Primary kids and their mother's on Mother's Day. Oh, it is supposed to have some trail mix to go with it.... you will understand when you read it! Enjoy... and have a bit of trail mix on me!

Mother's Day Poem
(author unknown)

In this bag of goodies you will find,
Reason's that make you one of a kind.
The pretzels are for the twists in life you've helped me through,
Teaching me by example, the right things to do.
For all the times I've driven you "NUTS",
But if needed your door was never shut.
Times when I've made you mad, but still you'd forgive,
So the Marshmallows are for the squishy hugs you always give.
Raisins are for the wrinkles that will come your way.
But I still hope to be like you someday.
M & M's for all the times it's just mom and me,
I'm so glad I'm yours for eternity!
This bag makes a yummy mix which can become a big mess.
Luckily I know it will get cleaned because my mom's the best!

It's a bit childish... but you know, I will always be her child! And she will
always be my mom! Love to you mom! Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful
mom's and mom's to be out there!

What's That Old Saying, You Can Count On Death And Taxes

Well, at least the taxes are done! Hopefully I'm not quite to the point of the other one!

Things have been a bit hectic around here to say the least. But every now and then something gets accomplished and well that's a good thing.... (as Martha says, lol now I really could care less what "Martha" does or says. That is her business, but that is "her" catch phrase so I will just give credit where credit is due.) I finished my little GD's dress's. And here, is proof!

I should have taken a picture with her in them. But I was scrampling to get over to her mommy's house to help put a swing set together so I just grabbed the dresses and no camera.

I just found out that the neck on this red one is a bit big for her, so her mommy is going to tighten up the elastic a little.

And of course this is the one that was going to be an Easter dress, but when I cut my finger it made it harder to do right away. You really have to look closely to see that it is an Easter print, eggs, bunnies etc... but it will look cute on her. Maybe a picture some other time. Too funny, her daddy was just telling me the other day that the people who take care of GD in the nursery at Church were saying that they hardly ever see GD in the same dress twice. This gal is always excited to see what GD is wearing each week. Oops! Now that's not totally my fault! But she does look cute in dresses!

One other thing that I finished for a friend didn't actually have anything to do with using the sewing machine. You may have seen some of the patterns that will give you measurements to cut out pieces to make some things with? This pattern is for an apron. It's really cute, but since this friend is 89 years old, she was having trouble trying to figure out what and how to do this. So, I've made her pattern pieces to go with the pattern. Hopefully it will make it a bit easier for her to cut these aprons out. To see the apron pattern go here:

http://www.vanillahousedesigns.com/p132-four-corners-apron/#more-112 I could probably just take a picture of the pattern front, but it does say on the back not to make any reproductions of it. So, I will just let you go look if you are interested.

Don't sew with dull needles... it snags the material! I tell you this because I keep forgetting to change mine!

Last But Not Least, Some Sewing Does Get Done Around Here

Before all the rig-a-ma-roll over my figure, I was working on several projects. I was going to cut out a dress or two for DGD. That didn't happen until afterwards... and well it took longer than I had planned. You try cutting out fabric around pattern pieces with a finger sticking straight out! It tended to get into the way a bit! LoL... but that part is all done now. The dress isn't made yet, but I plan on working on that sometime tomorrow.

Her is the pattern that I'm using Simplicity 5895 view A I believe it is. The pink one.

And here are the fabric's the plaid is a cute and bright fun one. The other piece is turned the wrong way... (sorry about that) is an old Daisy Kingdom piece. It will be lined with a pink fabric to show off the print better.

Everything is cut out.

For today, I'm doing a hem on a prom dress for a friends granddaughter. We shall see if I get a picture or not.

I almost forgot!

Here is the basket of strings (strips) that I was working on when the "unfortunate accident" happened! I did get a bunch done on it, even with finger pointing going on! I decided it would be easier if I just used scissors! So I did! This is no small basket either! It's picnic basket size at least! Sad thing is, this didn't even put a dent into the stash!

And then the next picture is some of the string quilt blocks that I made. I put a black variety into the middle section. These were pieces that I had left over from when I made DD#3's wedding quilt. But the pattern is neat because you can turn them in different directions for different effects. I made the muslin backing pieces 5 inch squares. You could make what ever size you wanted. It's a great way to use up your scraps!

Alright! That is it. I'm all caught up on what I've been doing in the sewing room.... that of course is not all I've been up too!

Last weekend DH and I had some fun hanging out under the kitchen sink replacing the faucet! Yep! And it doesn't even leak!

Make sure you have either resharpened rotary cutter blades or a new one on your pinking rotary cutter... it's the pits to try to use them and only get the cutter to work ever so often!

Hope that your days are filled with joy and/or sewing!

Wait! What Happened To Spring?

Last week everything was all pretty and Spring was popping out all over and then over-night we got this! DH and I woke up bright and early, and it had turned cold with beautiful (it's always pretty to us!) snow coming down on the dog as she did her early morning potty break! She came into the house with snow all over her coat. It's my job to make sure she gets wiped off. You should see how she looks at me when I get a towel out! I don't let her come upstairs until it's done and she is more than ready to get up to the warmer area's of the house.

A couple of weeks ago, (I'm still trying to play catch up!) just b/4 DD#1's birthday, we girls got together to go shopping! What's not to like? We took her to Ross's (for those of you who don't know Ross's is a discounted store that somehow gets all (well some) of the things that weren't selling at the major department stores and sells them at a huge discount!) to see what we could find for her some of her birthday presents. Her sisters go through and pick out all sorts of things clothing wise for her to try on and we have a great time having her model stuff for us! You are only allowed 8 pieces each person to go into the dressing rooms.... and believe it or not with the 4 of us... we had exactly 32 pieces! It was a hoot really! These girls are not brutal, which is helpful. But being sisters they are a big help to one another and point out what works and what doesn't!

Too funny, last year b/4 a family reunion I took them (o.k. so they dragged me!) to Penney's to find a bathing suit for me! I won't go into the embarrassing details about how we finally came to a deciding factor but, we now keep an eye on DD#3! (You know who you are! We love you!!!) It's a lot of fun, with lots of laughing goes on. And I'm sure more than once people asked to have a different changing room! Enough said!

All and all we had a great time... as is always the factor when you get the 4 of us together.

Afterwards we ran over to Cafe Rio for some dinner. Good Mexican food. They don't want pictures taken inside the cafe.... so, so be it! No pictures of all the lovely food... yum! I'm suggesting next time we just go somewhere for a dessert! Or as my friend Karma calls it.... Non dinner!

I had fun... and hopefully I will be excused for any embarrassment I might have caused the other 3! It happens to everyone! I will leave it delicately at that!

Next post... I have been doing some sewing! What I was doing when I cut myself!

Playing Blog Catch-Up

For those of you who do not like to see things like stitches etc... you may as well not even look at this post... your not really missing anything. Really! Just a couple of pictures of my finger that got cut. One has stitches and there is one after they are taken out! So... if you are squeamish you don't even need to read this one!

Things do get busy when your behind sometimes. For those of you who like pictures... these are the before and after of my finger stitches.... before as in when I had the stitches and after... hmmm, yes, that would be after I got them out. Oh, and sorry that the first one is a bit blurry... it was after I took off the wrappings and for some reason I couldn't get it non-blurry... yet the second one is not. Go Figure!

At this point I was trying to bend it, because it was super stiff from being straight and pointing at everything/everyone for 10 days!

I'm now where I can bend it and pretty much flex it pretty well. As you can read.... I'm typing again! (Which to me seems to tell me that it is much more flexable... probably was the best thing I could do to help recover!) O.K. that's that... on to more interesting things.

Pictures of The Underground RailRoad Blocks

So, here are the two blocks or in the second one's case partial block... it kind of gives you an idea of the block size. 6 inch square. The second one still isn't finished because well.... I had the cut finger issue!

You can see how small these pieces are because that is a standard large spool of thread. More later when I get them done!