the long-awaited kappa kappa gamma t-shirt quilt

 

It only took a year, but I love the way it turned out!

 

My cousin's oldest daughter asked me (late June 2012) if I would make a quilt out of her favorite college sorority t-shirts.  She gave me two bags that contained twelve tees.

And then through a series of very unfortunate events, the t-shirts ended up getting donated.  I searched half of the southeast, but no luck.

With trepidation, she gave me twelve more.  Every time I thought about her quilt, I thought about the tees that I lost.  And I would go through the stomach churning guilty depression and think, "I'll work on it another day."  Well, that and the fact that I worked on costumes for two major high school musicals and co-chaired a huge auction in addition to the normal role of "momster", but I digress.

Finally I ran out of excuses and started putting fabrics together and got more and more excited about the quilt.  Then I found the adorable pink fleur-de-lis fabric and I couldn't wait to get it finished.  The black with white dot fabric (Michael Miller's Dumb Dot pattern - great fabric, silly name) was the proverbial cherry on top. 

 

However, with the last stitches of this quilt, I have decided to take a break from sewing.  I don't know how long it will last, maybe a month, maybe five years. 

 

Anyhoodle.  There ya have it.

sneaky peeky

old dogs, new tricks

 

The other night (after seeing so many beautiful crocheted items on Pinterest) I decided that I was going to learn to crochet, by golly.  I found some really good tutorials on YouTube, ran to the craft store (it took forever trying to decide on colors) and got a crochet hook and settled on these two colors of yarn.

 

Then I set my mind to making a Granny Square.  And I did.  And then I made a couple more.  And then I googled how many squares it will take to make a decent sized afghan.  Oh my. 

 

This may take awhile.

doll

For quite some time now I have wanted to have the title

Doll Maker.

 

Enter Jayne.

 

Hi, I'm Jayne.

 

 

Jayne is a modified creation from the Black Apple Doll pattern.

ps - She is mine and I won't let the kids play with her.  Is that wrong?

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 Here she is sitting on my bed.  She asks, "Aren't you going to sit down beside me and fold laundry?"  And then she offers to help, "I have long arms, so I can help fold sheets."

I am so glad I have these pockets.
First of all, they are so. freaking. adorable!
Second, they keep my hands warm.
And third, they keep my arms from floating away (see picture above).

 

"That'd be nice, Jayne. Thanks," I say. 

So after we get all the laundry done (she is great company), she spends some time kicking back on that great big bed of mine.

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Perhaps the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, because Jayne is sweet, but she won't take any crap from the likes of anybody. 

 

Excuse me?

 

thinking outside the box

So, I went shopping today to get an outfit for tonight's special 20th anniversary dinner with King.  The shirt I bought had cap sleeves, but a really cool neckline.  Slimming even.
I cannot wear short sleeves. So, thinking outside the box, I bought a second shirt and made sleeves from the second shirt.

Turned out beautifully.  Now, on to dinner.

sewing lessons

This morning was my 5 year old's preschool graduation.  I mended a sweet heirloom dress for her into the wee hours of the morning and showed her the dress when she awoke.  After she put it on, I realized it was a tad see through, so I made her some bloomers. 
She was standing beside me watching me sew and wanted to know what "that red button" was for.  "That's the button I have to press to get this off," I said, pointing to the zig zag presser foot. 



photo credit

She watched me for awhile longer and then wanted me to tell her all about what that "Stomper Shoe" thing was for.

file under: good to know!

Chica and Jo have a very handy calculator tool for making tiered skirts.

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Or, if you would rather not do all that gathering (I despise!) you can just purchase one of these lovelies made by Rebekah Merkle at Amoretti Designs.  I just stumbled upon her wonderful site and I am so glad I did!

 

Just looking at her designs makes me happy.

So beautiful.  So feminine.  Very cheery prints.

I swoon at the dresses she has available, too.

She looks like the kind of person you'd want as your next door neighbor, doesn't she?