Yeah just in time for little Sheamas' arrival...our new friend Lis is due any day now. I managed to get the maya wrap done before leaving for our 10-day holiday trip in --oops--18 minutes ago!
It took over an hour to get the 5" pleats folded--OMG, I realized I only needed to fold 18" down from each end and not the whole 5 yards of fabric! What can I say...it has been over 6 years since I used a baby wrap or sling. I hope our friend Lis like the choice of fabric picked out. If not, I know how to make another one quick and easy :0D
Thanks to our friend, Michelle S, to get this delivered to Lis and a little Tiger for Megh's 5th Birthday.
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Blue sky...sun is shining. The weather is sweet...make you want to move those dancing feet. In early part of the afternoon, our kids enjoyed a welcoming Surprise by briskly snowfall but all melted within minutes upon landing.
It's a busy day at the Peery lane, just as I've foreseen it would be. I'm a bit swamped getting ready for tonight's SPA party, finishing up community quilts,
teaching one of the COOL girls to sew a quilt, packing for a 10-day trip, finding sitter for the birds, cleaning the house and the messy birdcage...running million miles a second. Some days are just too busy to create a masterpiece in the kitchen for the potluck dinner. Today is one of those days. Hmmm...Chinese takeout will have to do!
To complicate my schedule further, a mixup on my part, a friend dropped off her daughter at 11 a.m. instead of 1 pm as I thought erroneously. Now, my day is totally off. Anyway, it was fun to lay out the pattern with a 10-year old. For a first-timer, Madelaine did great. We finished sewing all but 2.5 stripes-not too shabby for 3 hours' worth of machine sewing. Madelaine will finish piercing the rest of the blocks and ironing the seams at home. Next time we meet after our 10-day trip, Madelaine and I will add the sashs between stripes, borders, and bindings. Meanwhile, check out her first machine-sewing project:
Tonight's COOL Moms' Night Out is in honor of a special friend (which I will have to keep it a secret for now. Michelle S.) She will be presented surprise CARE "Full" (not Felted as referred by many) baskets, filled with handmade goodies, from the moms coming this evening. The two wash clothes I chose for the occasion are intended to salve the hurt a little bit - to let Michelle know that her friends are thinking of her, know the gut-wrenching disappointment she feels, and wish we could magic the pain away. Hope these gestures help her move on from the heartbreak.
The Angel measured 8.5" by 10", in Bernat CottonTots Pastel Dreams. The staggered fern is 10" x 10", in Lily Sugar n Cream Playtime. Both are 100% worsted cotton, washable/dryable, and knitted with size 8 needles. They will get softer with each wash--I love how they both turned out.
Following are some holiday samplers I decorated, over the wet weekend, out of wooden cutouts with acrylics paiints and glitters...they are adorable and fitting for upcoming winter festivities. I got more cutouts for COOL Kid's Club next project in first week of December.
Don’t you just *love* surprises?! There’s a new sewing tool in town, and I have one - the new Side Winder bobbin winder!
Granted - my machine's bobbin winder works fine. But, I find bobbin winding a collossal pain to unthread the sewing machine to do so especially when you are sewing up three community blankets in an afternoon. When there’s a new toy to be had, why not enjoy it?!
Besides, I am a bonafide gadget gal!A rainy day, a day that symoblises tear dripping for heaven, for those who hope that it could wash away everything on their heavy mind. What have we accomplished when it is raining, covered with clouds, foggy, shivering outside? How many obsessions can one have?
Read Patti Medaris Culea's latest book on how to create funky, glamorous, realistic, and whimscial clothing and accessories for a fashion art doll. And this
and this 
and this
Make Bead Stitch Markers - except I was distracted...instead, I attached the only stitch marker created this afternoon to the felted bowl I've been embellishing since Friday evening.
Nothing in this world that bring more joy to us, than our children. They are Hope. The world is their oyster. They make us go all mushy; and we fall instantly in love with them all over again.
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"Likewise teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women..." Titus 2:3-4
You may wonder what the title and the Bible Scripture have to do with each other. Well picture these:
I truly believe that sewists that have been in the game for awhile should take younger women or beginning sewers under their wings and share their sewing knowledge...share their sewing trials and tribulations...share their sewing triumphs and their low points...and when necessary share their fabric and accoutrements. Shelly Creach does just that for our girls here at our 4H Sewing Club "Sew Much Fun."
Today was about so much more than sewing...it was about spending time with a godly woman whose love for sewing I so admire and who understands one of my greatest joys in life. It was about encouraging that love and fanning its flames. It was about serving our community. But, mostly the 2.5 hours that we spent with Katherine, Amy, Kim Eberhardt, Kelli Conklin and Shelly Creach were fun! So much fun! We laughed and talked while the girls busy sewing the blocks together for their first ragged Harmony quilt to donate to local seniors in December.
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DD#1 and I had a blast bargain-hunting at Hancock's and Joann's today. We walked out of both stores well under $100. We have more than enough of fabrics to cover our holiday home-made gifts list...YIPPY!
I have hopes and dreams of wonderful gifts to be made from these pieces. There is so much joy each time I look at my collection. I can actually hear it singing lovely songs to me. Am I crazy? Maybe...definitely crazy about fabric.
I love the color and feel of textures. I love how it handles. I love sewing and owning it. It is one of the best part of sewing ~ turning a flat piece of fabric into an awesome three-dimensional garment or personal/home accessories.
I liken owning fabric to the paintbrushes and paint that an artist uses to paint an amazing picture or portrait. Or the gardening tools that a gardener uses to till and grow a beautiful garden. Or even the pages and computer that an author uses to create an imaginery world that we all want to journey to. I mean we all create things, right?! So why wouldn't you have many different pieces of fabric, thread, notions and patterns to use to fashion your own wearable fantasies!
Not as pictured in D. DD#1 made a slight alteration to the pattern.
Instead of a one-piece underlay dress, she has chosen black top and a deep reddish maroon crinkled silk for the underlay skirt (darker than pictured.) The overlay is the bright red, shimmery/beaded sheer polyester material. I love DH's choices. We can't wait to get started!
Stay tuned for progress updates. (Update is now available here in our new crafty blog.)
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Well...we went in with fabric in mind for a Maya wrap. Then, we spotted these dinosaur & safari flannels--they are soooo cute and ON SALE. Next time, I'll have a shopping buddy go with me, instead of DD#1, to keep me under wrap.
Now, what are we making with them? Ummmmm...any good idea for a baby boy?
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4H readjoined after a long summer break. Though we started much later than most clubs, we are not concerned. Most clubs meet only once a month; ours meet once a week--part of an advantage of having a homeschooled club and a generous, dedicated club leader. This is truly a God-Sent for our kids. They learned not only sewing skills; there are other valuable life applicable skills they acquire throughout the year through record-keeping, taking part in cookie camps making thousands of cookies, writing an essay for leadership...
Last week, the kids, moms, and club leader met to fill out enrollment, paperwork, pay the dues & club fees, and decide a few projects for the year. I bought over a large trash bag size of cotton fabrics for the club to use for their sewing projects. Gosh...It must have weighed a ton! I barely was able to lift it out from the van into Shelly's house.
For the next month, the girls will learn to make ragged harmony quilts to donate this holiday season to seniors in our local community. Following that, hopefully they will have enough time to make some gift and tote bags as gifts.
Yesterday, in joined effort, the girls learned to use rotary cutters for the first time and managed to cut 108 squares for one harmony quilt. They will begin sewing squares together next Thurday. We cut another 108 pieces of squares today for a second quilt to be sewn for charity by the club members.
Once these projects are completed, the girls would like to make some quilts for themselves. It would be fun to do fabric shopping for these handmade holiday gifts.
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True learning-learning that is permanent and useful,that leads to intelligent action and further learning, can arise only out of the experience, interest, and concerns of the learner.
John Holt
Real heroes are men who fall, fail and are flawed, but win out in the end because they stayed true to their ideals, beliefs and commitments.
Actor Kevin Costner
Yeah just in time for little Sheamas' arrival...our new friend Lis is due any day now. I managed to get the maya wrap done before leaving for our 10-day holiday trip in --oops--18 minutes ago!
