The Ballad of Barbara Allen

They buried her in the old churchyard    
They buried him in the choir
And from his grave grew a red red rose
From her grave a green briar.


They grew and grew to the steeple top
Till they could grow no higher
And there they twined in a true love's knot
Red rose around green briar.


     I love my sister Bethannne's paintings, and she texted this one to me today with a link to the folk song, Barbara Allen. It is a sad song , but it was interesting to read about its history and listen to some of the different versions on the internet.
       I have always wanted to try reproducing some of her images in fabric, so I thought I would give it a go with this painting.  I used her crow on the branch,  some of the leaves and the daisy on the left side of the painting.  I used Wonder Under and pressed it to some different colors of linen that came from my stash, and carefully cut out the crow, the white daisy petals, the daisy center and the green leaves.

     Using my #23 foot, the clear applique foot, I used a small zigzag to go around each little linen cut out.  I was going to just use a straight stitch and leave the edges raw, but since I had used linen I thought it would ravel too easily.  I loved the look of the black on the natural linen backing, with the small touches of color.
     My last step is to make some piping and sew up a little pillow.  A nice little surprise for Bethanne.
    

Look for Bethanne on Facebook, or go to her website, Bethannehill.com to see some of her interesting paintings.  She has a beautiful show now at Blue Spiral in Asheville, and her work can also be seen at  Leipers Creek Gallery in Franklin, Tennessee or Monty Stabler Gallery in Birmingham.

Drunkard's Path

A quilt will warm your body and comfort your soul.

                                               ~Author Unknown

     I have made it perfectly clear, by now, gentle friends, that I am not a quilter.  But I want to be!  A Bernina instructor came to the store today and showed us how to do these quick quilt blocks, and it was  fun!  The block is Drunkard's Path, and it can look very different depending on how you arrange your squares.  I had to spend a good portion of my time ripping out, my squares don't have perfect right angles, and I didn't finish, but I had a great time.

     Kathy cut our fabric for us, and we rotated machines to get

the benefit of sewing on different machines with different features.  It

was a great way to compare machines and  I got to use all those fun

decorative stitches

     I have ordered some fabric and with the support of my buddy Kathy, hopefully sometime in the not too distant future you will see some REAL quilt squares on Bibi Sews! 

This pitiful rendition will make a real quilter smile, but like I said during our little class....a room full of nice women and a sewing project, what's not to like?

Another use for the Bernina Cut Work Accessory

   We have used the Bernina Cut Work Accessory before to do cut work on linen towels, and the results were pretty.  The concept is really amazing when you actually think about it....instead of a needle, you put the tool in your machine and it has a little blade that cuts out your design.  For these three projects, we used the punched out design as an applique, rather than focusing on the cut out portion of fabric.  The flower design was in the software,  I added the lettering with the Alice font.  The gingham tulip was cut out with the blade by just attaching my fabric to hooped Hydrostick.  The software tells you when to turn the blade to a different angle...1, 2, 3, 4...and then your design is all punched out.  You then attach your applique to the project, and complete the rest as a regular embroidery design.

Where flowers bloom, so does hope. ~ Lady Bird Johnson

         Kathy punched out the frog with the accessory

 and the software, and then applied it to a bib.  This design

used a straight stitch around the frog instead of a satin

stitch, and I like the effect. 

My last project was another applique; I used white linen on hydrostick and cut out the white portion of the design,  attached it to the linen towel with 505, and then completed the embroidery around it.  I like the result and plan to put the name of a friend under the Fleur de Lis.

The cutwork package is a little pricey, and it is nice to have a second option for its use.  If we get some samples done with free standing lace, I'll show you those!

He is Risen

Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in spring-time. ~Martin Luther


It is Easter morning, and I am doing what I have done for many many years.  Sewing buttons on a little dress.  I wonder how many grandmas and mommies and nannas and bibis are doing this very thing.  I would have done it last night, but I was tired.  But a cup of coffee, a sunrise, The Messiah playing softly and a needle in my hand make a great way to begin a day.
 
Happy Easter, dear friends.

Bluebird of Happiness

I meant to do my work today,

But a brown bird sang in the apple tree,

And a butterfly flitted across the field,

And all the leaves were calling me.

~  Robert Le Gallienne

     I have made my 2 little songbird dresses without a little girl to try them on, so I am holding my breath in hopes that they will fit Katelyn and Sarah.  I had a dilemma with this dress, which is made from Children's Corner Louise, because I thought it needed a little something extra.  I did not have enough of the pink polka dot to make a sash, which would have been my first choice.  I just barely squeaked out enough piping for the armholes and neckline.  So I added a monogram using the last of my polka dot. I am still on the fence, I may like the simplicity of the dress without the monogram...but oh well,  Sarah is certainly going to know what letter her first name begins with! 
     And I really am going to start my paperwork, some sewing chores, and house cleaning later today...honest

Thank You Aunt Marge

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.  ~Leonardo DaVinci

     Tucked back in a corner of the cleanest and most organized basement I have ever had the pleasure to explore sat this little sewing machine .  I carefully dragged it over to the center of the room and lifted the lid.  I was thrilled.  It was a very old metal singer, in beautiful condition.  Barry, the sewing machine man at the Sewing Center has since told me it was a Singer 101.  . It does not have a belt; it is gear driven, and it is beautiful.  It does a straight stitch. That's it.  No zig zag, no decorative stitches, no reverse stitch.  A beautiful straight stitch.  The Singer lettering on the throat is worn off from years of gently raising it up to use.
     I remember when I was about 12, visiting Uncle Earl and Aunt Marge, and the absolute thrill of Marge's sister, Ann, making a dress for me on this machine.  It was a blue and white gingham shift with ruffles around the bottom, and it would actually be pretty much in style today.  I loved that dress and wore it out.

     I have been sewing little Sarah's songbird dress today, but I keep coming to the den and playing with my little Singer,  I have hemmed a pair of pants on it and it just hums along.  I have a feeling this little machine in it's pretty oak cabinet is going to give me years of pleasure.
And I am not a photographer, but thinking about simplicity  made me appreciate the view out of my kitchen window.  My rose bush is going crazy and I have a thing for rocks (don't ask me why) and this one lives on the window sill.  Simple things.

Sweet Niece

Esme:  1.French,  "beloved "or "esteemed"

   I got this picture of my sweet niece Esme through email, and I can't enlarge
the picture, which is sad because she is sooo cute.
   Esme took a sewing class last summer and started this precious top .  She was
able to pull it out last week and finish it up by herself.  She has grown up to such a beautiful young lady, is an accomplished gymnast, an excellent student, and has
recently been accepted into the Alabama School of Fine Arts. Esme acts with the Bards of Birmingham where she will learn to put her new sewing skills to use while
helping make costumes    The part of Miranda  will be played by Esme in their production
of The Tempest. Can you tell I am slightly proud of this sweet niece?
   I hope she will come and visit soon so we can sew together again!

Roses and songbirds

Dear Father, hear and bless
Thy beasts and singing birds,
and guard with tenderness
small things that have no words.
                   ~Anonymous




I have been away from my blog for awhile ;  I went to Ohio
to plan the funeral for my Aunt Marge, who was 92 .  Marge

and Earl had no children, and through the years have been nothing but kind to me,  so it was a sad journey this time across the Ohio River.  Aunt Marge was a lover of roses and songbirds; she spent many hours looking out her window at her bird feeder, and brought home many, many awards from rose shows. And no matter how many times I visited, and as her memory became increasingly foggy, she would always ask, "How are your girls?"  

     My first day home I was eager to get back in my sewing room and make this little dress for Katelyn .  I texted photos of different fabrics to her mommie's phone , and Katelyn chose my favorite one, a songbird print.  She chose pink accents rather than green gingham, and I headed to my little room and got busy.

     I chose this pattern by Trisha Smith because I love the way her patterns fit, and I thought this style was precious.

     The cutest part of this dress is the detail in the back with the keyhole opening and bow.  A happy accident was my lining.  As I laid my dress onto the lining, the dark pink and white polka dot came through the white background of the bird print.  Thankfully I had a pale pink polka dot in my stash, and was able to cut out a second lining.  I liked the addition of a third print and the pale pink worked perfectly.

I used my ruffler again for the bottom ruffle and my new invisible zipper foot for the piping.  Now I need to find pretty pink buttons and make some bottonholes before I go to Birmingham.  I hope Katelyn likes it, and I am sure that Aunt Marge would approve.

Spread your wings, and let the fairy in you fly! ~ Author Unknown

 

Katelyn and I have read about fairies during our last few visits.  She decided that she needed a cape, so a trip to Hancock's was necessary.  Oh my goodness, it took a very long time to choose the perfect fabric; she wanted dark pink and she wanted sparkles.  After some help from the nice lady that worked there, she chose a dark pink ever so lovely fabric and this burda pattern. The fabric was as sheer as a fairy wing! We could not resist the peacock blue feather boa;  mommy may be picking blue feathers from her Berber carpet for weeks. I am not so used to sewing on such fancy fabric, and did not have any idea how I was going to proceed, so I just dove in!



  After I cut out my pieces, I sewed them into the circular shaped cape.  I did not put the collar or hood on it, and finally settled on just a bias binding around the neck.  It worked well, so I used a pink grosgrain ribbon (with beautiful sparkly silver polka dots) to trim the outside of the neckline and hang into ties.  I had enough ribbon to double the ties, stitched them down and they look loverly on the sparkly fabric.

My last embellishment was silver and pink ribbon which I ran through the trusty Bernina #88 ruffler foot.  A Bibi with granddaughters could not do without the magic ruffler!  I attached it to the hem, then covered the back seam with a tiny grosgrain ribbon.  I will not soon forget the smiles and hugs from my sweet little Birmingham girl.