Sew Cute!

Guess who's going camping?  Guess who has new T-shirts to wear when they go? These designs are from Planet Applique.  Scaling the designs wasn't at all difficult; I was a little worried because one set of T-shirts is 3 months and the other 3T, but it worked out just fine. Without a doubt they'll be the best dressed little campers there! Don't let these photos mislead you; the camera angle is weird, but the stitching is actually level on the shirts!

Sew cute!
Life is Good!

Initially Speaking...

When it comes to monogrammed children's clothing these items typically are so uniquely personalized that there is little that can be done with them when they're outgrown... usually they can't be handed down to friends or family unless the initials are the same. This is a non-issue with items monogrammed for Lynnleigh (these two onesies, shown here) or for big brother Gregory. My daughter in law is saving every little thing that bears their name or initials for a someday quilt to be composed of patches from their personalized baby and childhood clothing. Clever. Imagine how much I love that idea!

While I had the embroidery module attached this past week I monogrammed a couple of super cute cotton knit dresses for Lucy Ann too, she'll make these look adorable! My daughter doesn't have plans to construct anything from personalized clothing and that's always been a distant concern in the back of both of our minds: "we wish we knew what could be done with monogrammed clothes once they're too small...". That thought hasn't ever been so great that it stopped me from monogramming for her, but it does feel limiting. Anyway... a few months ago I was in a quilt class displaying Lucy Ann's Picture Play quilt for show and tell and a class member told me that she had a baby granddaughter whose name was also Lucy Ann! I was so surprised. You can imagine my amazement when I learned that her Lucy Ann has the same last initial as our Lucy Ann! My first thought: "would she be interested in "inheriting" monogrammed items"? She told me that she thought her granddaughter's family would love that. My daughter thought this was one terrific solution too! And so, I delivered the first load of personalized clothing from our Lucy Ann to hers last month! There will be lots more where those came from! 

For Lucy Ann now... and later on too!
Life is Good!

Ready And Waiting

As soon as the weather cooperates Lucy Ann will have a warm weather wardrobe ready and waiting; you'd never know if you looked out the window today that it is, already, OFFICIALLY Spring; it's sleeting!  Our daughter brought some bright and cheerful fabrics with her during her recent visit and spent naptime and an hour or so after the kiddos were in bed for the night in the sewing room working on some cute little sundresses for Miss Lucy Ann. I had to smile at the way my daughter approaches her projects; instead of a paper pattern she consulted a downloaded PDF pattern filed on her I-pad which sat beside the machine as she constructed this dress, very efficient!  Her favorite mini-model was more than happy to try on her pretty new dress the minute she woke up the next day.

Please forgive the lack of focus on this photo, I simply couldn't resist posting it due to "the pose"!

The back is as cute as the front, don't you just love the gathered shoulder straps?

Because there's never a dull moment, the next day our little model fell from a bed and suffered a small laceration above her eye; a trip to the pediatric emergency department had her put back together as good as new in no time but, naturally, it put her Mommy far behind schedule with her sewing projects.  They left right after lunchtime yesterday to return to the Capital City; since our daughter had the second dress already 90% completed I told her to go ahead and leave it and I would finish it for her. I took a quick glance at the instructions on her tablet before she left and was ready to go... or so I thought! An hour or so later, after doubting my memory and my retention rate I ended up purchasing the very same PDF pattern and printed out my copy on paper so that I could look at it (I'm rationalizing this action with the thought that I have another granddaughter who'll want one of these before too long)! There's more than one way to consult a pattern! Right? Groan.

I got it finished... it's ready and waiting!
Life is Good!

Pumpkin

Our little pumpkin had a birthday earlier this month! Here she is, on her big day, holding the very clothes that she wore home from the hospital two years ago! Do you think she's grown at all?  I embroidered a few little T-shirts for her yesterday. The one on the left is to coordinate with the skirt fabric beneath; the one on the right is just because she's our pumpkin.  Nana loves you, Lucy Ann!
Life is Good!

Finally, Some Spherical Success!

They're ornaments, and they're supposed to be ROUND. Hmmm. My first few half-dozen seven attempts to smock round ornaments onto this baby corduroy yielded squashed, lopsided, (not even close to resembling an orb) shapes. My seam ripper is getting dull from the intense workout. I actually told my husband last night, as I was lifting out stitches, yet again; "maybe this is just too difficult for me". The pattern might be hard, but I am stubborn, I kept at it. (I even had a dream last night about squirrels digging up the acorns they had buried and leaving them exposed... because they weren't round enough!) At long last, I realized what I was doing wrong. I was crowding the rows too tight, they needed to be spaced out so that the shape could take form, it was a lightbulb moment... and a round one, at that! How many times do I have to make the same mistake, over and over, before I take that necessary step back and analyze the error of my ways? (Obviously at least seven times!) Finally, when I understood what the problem was, perseverance paid off and the ornaments started take on a sphere-like, rounded shape. I'm so glad that I didn't give up, they're not perfect by any means but they do resemble ornaments now. I can't wait to embellish them with some pretty little sparkly seed beads, soon they will twinkle and shine; but even then, they won't hold a candle to Nana's sweetest little Christmas dress model!

Life is Good!

Show And Tell...

Gregory's wallhanging is done (with his personalizations attached)

and installed in his room: I think he likes it!

I had leftover flannel from the backing, so made him up two small snuggle blankets to match.

I managed to get a little Christmas jumper sewn up for a shop sample at my LQS:

Well, actually, I made one for little Miss Lucy Ann too; while I was at it!

Now... from the "do as I say, not as I do" lessons to live by: check underneath your hoop when taking it on and off your embroidery machine. If you don't you might just stitch through a shoulder tie! Arrgggh! So, actually, I made THREE jumper fronts, but who's counting?

And, as long as we're on lessons... don't pack a bottle of Glue Baste-it in a box (sideways) with all of your appliqué pieces and leave it there for two weeks after you return home from a retreat because you forgot were too lazy to unpack all of your supplies; that is, unless you enjoy the challenge of cleaning up a fused-together, hard as a rock, mess! Yep, it's true. I thought the border was ruined, but after an overnight soak in warm water all the glue had softened and, luckily, it came right off. It lived up to it's water soluble claim. I like to think of myself as a field tester.

Whew!

Life is Good!

Rumble In The Studio

There's been a rumble, and I thought it was brought about by my sewing frenzy today. I stitched up this shop sample for my LQS. (I am currently in love with Riley Blake fabric!) I'm familiar enough with this pattern for these little pants by now, it's easy and only has two pattern pieces. I finish up inside the garment with French seams, no raw edges. If you would like practice with your seam finishing techniques let me suggest constructing the ruffles and attaching them to the TOP of each pattern piece (where the waistband casing should be) before joining the pieces together. Then, you can take the French seams apart, remove the ruffles and try it all over again; this time attaching them to the BOTTOM of each pattern piece, at the hem. I'm getting really good at attaching ruffles with French seams... you can be too, with enough practice! Just keep your seam ripper handy.

So, I'm blaming it on the earthquake,

it threw me off balance.

Now I know what that rumble was.

Life is Good!

In Stitches On Saturday

The embroidery machine was humming with past weekend at The Strawberry Patch! Some custom burp cloths were created, as well as two onesies and a small tote bag that were personalized for my grandson. Strawberries (my first attempt at "picture" smocking!), blossoms and rick rack were added to Lucy Ann's smocked summer dress during the evenings after the machine was shut down and it was time for handwork. I'm happy to be finishing up the prep-work on the last three (of 16!) quilts for presentation to our high school graduates at church this coming Sunday. Sadly, Sundance has been collecting dust while the other machines have been logging in hours of their own, I'll have to do something about that and get her back on track soon. Yep, there's a bright light shining at the end of the over-commitment tunnel and I'm glad to report that it's NOT an oncoming train.

Life is Good!