Teaching

I am blessed with a daughter in law that wants to learn to sew.  She came to me awhile back and asked me to help her buy a sewing machine, which we did, but since has had to put it in storage, because they are moving.

Then my son and her came visiting for a few weeks, and while they were here, I needed to go to the fabric store for a pattern, as they were having a big sale.  I asked if she wanted to go, and she did, so off we went.  Unfortunately they did not have my pattern in stock, so I began to look for another pattern close to what I was looking for, and she began perusing through the pattern books as well.

She came across a pattern, that she wanted to get and make a pair of outfits for her twin nieces.  So she got the pattern, picked out some really cute fabric, and all the notions.  She discovered that part of sewing is half the fun!

We then spent the next two days learning how to lay out a pattern, cutting out the pattern including the notches, learning the difference between stitch lengths (basting, topstitching, and regular seam stitches), learning about interfacing, stitch widths, using elastic, making gathers, turning sashing ties, making button holes, and sewing on shank buttons.

This is the first outfit, and I am so pleased with how it turned out for her!  She was a good listener, paid close attention, and never got to frustrated, or wanted to give up at any time.  I am really proud of her and her tenaciousness of sticking it out to the finished product.

Now, isn't that the cutest outfit!  She also made two pairs of short, one solid, and one in the print.  Good job to my daughter in law!

Warmest...

Spring Outside Work

I have been so busy this spring working on getting our property ready for summer.  The garden is coming up with lettuce, peas, carrots, beets, spinach, chard and strawberries.  I only have the first four boxes planted or partially planted.

This box has peas and onions,

This is the lettuce, spinach, and peas box.  Oh yeah, that plant in the upper left hand corner is a voluntary potato that came up this year.

And this box has the carrots and more peas.  I planted several different colors of carrots this year, yellow, red, purple, and of course orange.

Here are my pallet planters that hubby made for my strawberries.  They already have flowers which will produce a strawberry later, and has a total of 50 plants in two of these planters.

Look at how my greenhouse plants are doing.  I have hundreds of seedlings that have turned into real live big plants!  I am so happy that it is such a success for my first year at trying this greenhouse work.

Flowers are blooming in my porch planters,

My son spread three yards of 3/4" gravel in our big driveway.  

My hubby was so nice, and bought me a new work toy to help me with all my work outside and around our house.  WhooHoo!!!

Warmest...

Applique Blocks

A couple of posts ago, I showed a sneak peek of the appliqué' blocks that I started working on for the Patchwork Party Spring Edition 2007 BOM that I pulled out as my next UFO project.

It has taken more time to complete these blocks than I originally planned on spending.  But as the saying goes, in for the penny, in for the pound.  Lots of little pieces, lots of time doing placement, lots and lots of satin stitching around all the little pieces.

I will have to say, this is also a learning curve for me, as I have not in the past ever used the satin stitch on an appliqué.  I had to figure the best place to start, how to pivot in the "V" parts of the pieces, how to move slowly around curves, and how to make crisp points.  You probably can tell the areas I first worked on in the learning curve, as it shows some not so perfect stitching.  All in all though, I really like the way they all turned out.

Here are the appliquéd blocks:

This block is called Nosegay.

This block is called Rose at Dawn.

This block is called Floribunda.

This block is called Sweet Dahlia. 

This block is called Antique Tulip.

This block is called Tulip Time.

The blocks are beautiful, and will blend in with the 12 sampler blocks just perfectly, so it was worth the time and effort in getting them done.  

Warmest...

He is Alive, He has Risen