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.