My Second Row

Last week I made a row of 4 blocks for the second person in my Row Robin exchange. She chose similar colors to mine, with brights set off by black. Here are the 4 blocks I did: (keep scrolling down)

Here's how the whole row looked. She requested that we use at least 3, if not all 4 fabrics in each block. I like the way they turned out, but I'm not thrilled with the fabric she chose for sashing, because it has pinks and purples, not reds in it. I hope she likes what I came up with! This month, I'll be working on a country pink and green row. I'm hoping to get it done this coming week, while my kids are on winter vacation.

 Linking this post to Sew Darn Crafty at Sew Many Ways.

I want to share a funny moment from this week:

My son Petey is on his high school technology team. We tease him that he relishes being part of the "geek group". He was telling us that geeks are higher than nerds on the social spectrum. He said, "nerds have no social interactions. Geeks, however, have social interactions with other geeks..." Before he could finish, Katie cracked up laughing and said, "only a nerd would say "social interactions.""
Petey has always read A LOT and had an extensive vocabulary by first grade. I reminded him of the time he was in third grade and was waiting to be picked up. I saw him talking to an older kid and when he got in the car, I asked him what was going on. He said, "oh, I was just engaging him in conversation."

My Favorite Little Pink Dress

This is one of my favorite dresses. I love the smocking, embroidery, scalloped hem, everything. I also love the sleeves. They are a very different shape. They are very full, but not puffy. They don't droop and look adorable on chubby little arms. This dress is a size 2 and was worn by Katie and Rosie for their second birthdays.

Smocked Knit Baby Romper

83 with Fairy Floss on cover

This romper is so cute! I made it before Andy was born while on a sewing retreat with my quilt guild. The fabric is a soft, 100% cotton knit. What trouble it gave me going through the pleater! I nearly gave up. In fact, I had to cut out a new front after the first attempt resulted in several broken needles and ripped fabric. The second time, I pleated each half front before sewing the center seam, then "fudged" the join while smocking. This pattern is from AS&E #83 and it's called "Fairy Floss." It was originally done in pink velour for a girl, but I just used a different sleeve to make it suitable for a boy. The funny thing is that I made this in newborn size, hoping it would fit at the hospital. Even though I forgot how tiny newborns are, I knew as soon as I made it that it was too big for a newborn. Sure enough, it finally fits Andy, who is know a chubby little 8 month old!! I took this picture in his crib the other day and he looks so adorable in this romper. I want to have his picture done at a studio in this outfit, but I have to wait until we recover from our latest cold; it has been a miserable few weeks for us. Have you ever smocked on a knit fabric? I'd love to try again with the very fine pointelle knit fabric. Have a great day!!

Vintage Kitchen Towels

Today I had fun embroidering these 2 kitchen towels with Vintage Curiosity designs by Sew Weird. I love Juli's vintage designs. They always stitch well and I think they most resemble hand embroidery.

The set has 7 large designs, one for each day of the week. I stitched "Bake Day" and "Mend Day" this time. They only took about 20 minutes each and I love the way they look.

 The towels I used are from Dunroven House and they are cotton with a pretty colored border.

 Here's a close-up of Bake Day and below is Mend Day.

These were really fun to do! I'd like to make the whole set some time. If you like these, check out my post on the Vintage Puppies Baby Blanket too. Have a great day and if you want to make mine great, leave a comment! Thanks, Lisa

I'm linking to Sew Darn Crafty at Sew Many Ways

Snow Days and Sick Days...

I can't believe it has been a week since I posted! In that time, we had 2 more snow days off, due to the 24" of snow we had on Tuesday and Wednesday. We also had sick days, due to the stomach "bug" that arrived on Thursday and has affected everyone in the house, except baby Andy (so far- fingers crossed). I am hoping that the weather will start to improve soon and I will have more time to sew and to post. I am hoping to catch up on my Quilt Guild's row robin project and start a smocked outfit for Andy's first Easter.

 Today I thought I'd share this coiled fabric bowl. I have probably made more than 10 of these, mostly as gifts. One year, I made small ones and added some homemade candy and a restaurant gift card for teacher's gifts. These are really fun to make! You just need a package of cotton clothesline type rope (inexpensive at Walmart) and fabric cut into 1/2" wide strips. You can pre-wrap yards of rope while sitting in front of the TV or listening to music and then you are ready to stitch it together all at once. All you have to do is zigzag the covered rope into shape, I started by following directions in this excellent book, It's A Wrap.

It shows you how to make bowls, purses, all sorts of things. You can make these any size, too. They are nice for fruit or bread baskets, to give a gift, hold little candies for a holiday, or it could be used to hold little sewing items! A friend of mine made a bowl with 4 matching napkins as a hostess gift. If you want a fun, easy, and quick project, give this a try!!