He's Making a List...

I love these little people;
and it is not  a slight thing
when they, who are so
fresh from God, love us.
                  ~ Charles Dickens
                         


Kathy looooves her sweet grandgirlies that live in Chicago, and
she never misses an opportunity to sew a little something for
a holiday.  Their little Christmas outfits are completed and probably
already in the mail.   Mine are still a figment of my imagination.





She started with little t-shirts;  the designs are from Embroidery
Boutique.  Kathy is a quilter before she is a garment sewer; her
sense of color is wonderful, and she chose fabrics from her stash
that complement each other beautifully.

                                                                                                                                                                                     I don't know these little girls personally, but it has been fun
 to try to determine from the little grins in the  photographs
 who is a wee bit naughty.

Next she tackled the little skirts, using measurements
 from knee to waist and waist measurements,
 she serged the back seam , made the top casing
and added a band to  the bottom.

So simple and so precious.

UFOs

If a project is good enough for you to start, it is good enough for you to finish.
       ~Ralph Clark Bethard, 1959
         Spoken to his daughter Debra, who did not want to finish
         weaving a potholder on a loom that she had
         received for Christmas.


My sewing room has been invaded by way too many UFOs, and I decided it was time to finally do something about it.  UnFinished Objects are my version of UFOs, and here is my little sister, Bethanne Bethard Hill's version of a UFO,,,

 

Bethanne of course has always amazed me with her art, and if you would like to enjoy more of it, look her up at

www.bethannehill.com !

  Beautiful scenes of farm houses and countrysides and bottle trees and animals;  I have never quite figured out how the flying saucers came into the mix, but this is my sister Bethanne and I am not going to try to figure it out, I am just going to enjoy it.

Back to my UFOs, hopefully one or several will be blogged by the end of the day.

         1. The top of the Candy Cane quilt will be finished

        2.  Little Amelia's Christmas skirt will be together.

3.  Miss Mae's cozy blanket should be quilted.

            4.  Mandy's linen Silhouette pillow should be finished.

                 5.  I should have a good start on 4 little Christmas skirts.

OOOOPS

In the end, only three things

matter: how much you loved,

how gently you lived,

and how gracefully you let

go of things not meant for you.

~ Buddha

I was so excited about the progress on my Candy Cane Quilt.  Too excited, it seems.  I had been admiring this panel for hours, loving the crisp look of the red, white and black.  So I took this photo to send to Kathy, Masterquilter, and as I looked at the photo, I moaned.  No, I probably screamed!  Look at the corners! My top and bottom candy cane stripes were on backwards!

I think it is interesting that I could spot the mistake in a photograph, but not when gazing at it admiringly while it was in my hands.  I must have been too busy patting myself on the back to notice.

So, as Kathy put it..."Welcome to the world of quilting."  HHmmmm.  Some welcome.  I can only say this is my equivalent of putting a left sleeve in a right armhole, or sewing a beautiful french seam wrong sides together.  I was disheartened because all I could think of were those tiny black stripes.

It has turned out not to be as horrible as I first thought.  I was able to UNSEW the candy cane strips with the black stripes attached, and with a little bit of trouble, just swap them and turn them so that my candy canes are continuously facing the same directions.  

I must admit, though, as much as I hate to, that the first reattachment of the candy cane did not go well. Would I have attached it in exactly the wrong place a SECOND time?  Oh, yes I did!  So I unsewed one more time and turned out the lights, turned off the radio,  flipped the switch on my beautiful Bernina 780, and went downstairs to have a glass of wine in my cute Texas wineglass!

But I am looking forward to getting everything in the correct spot early tomorrow morning!

Candy Cane Quilt,

Normal day, let me be

aware of the treasure

you are, let me not pass

you by in quest of some rare and

perfect tomorrow.  

 ~Mary Jane Irion

Time's A Wastin'!

I have GOT to finish my Candy Cane Quilt!  I finished the center panel in class with Kathy, and started work on the half square triangles, but the majority of the work is unfinished.  So I picked up where I had left off a few days ago, and here is my progress....  I had sewn some of the triangles together, thank heaven, so that tedious task was almost finished.                                                                          

Next I embroidered the text for the four borders.  My background fabric is a tone on tone little bubble print.  The quilt calls for a lightweight muslin to be placed behind the embroidery, and I used 2 layers of tear away stabilizer behind that.

This black border that frames the center panel was actually one of the most difficult pieces to do so far.  They are cut  3/4 of an inch wide, and then are sewn to the panel. It frames the picture nicely and reminds me of when I used to color in elementary school and outlined everything in black!  It sets of the center panel nicely.

I am anxious to get back to my sewing room and work on it a little more!

Issa in Children's Corner Katherine

Autumn bowed to place
 a beautiful crown
 on the Queen
 of Morning,
 and her velvet robes
 swam merrily in the
 chilly breeze.
   ~ Terri Guilllemets

     My sweet silly Issa likes her new dress that I began making in Nashville at The Children's Corner Sewing School.  Children's Corner has recently been purchased by 2 younger women, and they are working hard to keep the quality of instruction, products and design that have made the company famous among sewing mothers and grandmothers.

The photo on the left shows the beginning of the front panel of the little dress.  It is not at all difficult; the loops for the buttonholes were a bit tedious to complete, but it went together smoothly.  The loops were accented by little wooden buttons.

This pattern is Children's Corner Katherine;  it was taught by Lezette Thomason. who shared lots of tips and stories with us along the way.  No french seams on this dress,  I zipped up the side seams and sleeves with a long serger seam and was done.  The hem is stitched down by machine and has a tailored look.  

\

I love the simple sleeve on this dress.  It is long, set in, and finished with a tiny bias band at the cuff.  It has a tiny bit of gathering at the top of the sleeve and cuff.  The dress bodice is accented with a matching tiny gingham, and a bias neckline.  It has 3 buttons on the back.  

I have a feeling that Katherine in this soft aqua corduroy is going to be a favorite.