Thursday, July 31, 2014

Civil War Days

I attended my first large Civil War event last weekend. I just visited for one day. I thought you'd like to see what went on and some of the beautiful clothing.
Here is where I spent much of the day. The more experienced reenactors have tents and "flys" (the canopy over us). It was not too hot that day, but the shade of the fly was welcome. I sat in the corner and worked on hand-piecing 9-patch squares while chatting with the ladies.
Here is a view of one family's large tent (Mom, Dad, 4 little girls). The fly is to the right. The Mama with the baby packed trunks, food, clothing, bedding, a lovely pram, baby seat, 4 tables, chairs, etc. I don't know how they did it!! Her baby wore a pretty white antique baby dress and cap.
I saw my first battle. These were Union soldiers firing their cannon. You could feel the booms- they were super loud and shook the ground!


 The ladies put much effort into their costuming. They all had proper headwear (I didn't) and even wore the proper under-pinnings, despite the heat.

In the afternoon, we started to get dinner ready.


 It was very good. We had to remember to bring plates, cutlery, glasses. The menu included: roast chicken and ham, 3-bean salad, Boston brown bread, macaroni salad, deviled eggs, and peach pie.
After dinner, people visit. This Confederate group had a banjo player and someone playing bones, I think. It sounded really good!

There were animal reenactors, too, including horses and a baby duck! Sometimes chickens attend.

In just a couple of hours of visiting time, I completed 6 quilt blocks, stitched by hand. These are not pressed yet, but I think they look pretty good! Someday I might have enough to sash them into a Civil War Quilt. It was an interesting day!!


Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Antique Boy's Suit & My Beautiful Ballerina

Today we did some photos of Rosie in her dance costumes from this year's recital. There were dozens of gorgeous shots of her in the 4 costumes, but we both especially liked this ballet photo.
We also did a few pictures of Andy in an antique button-on suit. I was surprised it fit so well, as he is tall for just-turned-4! The suit doesn't have a size label. It is one I bought a few years ago on vacation at Cape Cod. 
My favorite thing about this suit is the zig-zag lace on the front. There are triangular tabs that button to the other side. This would be cute on a dress front, too.  I hope use this idea in my sewing someday. 
I have been doing a lot of sewing, but I need to take some pictures. I made a slat bonnet for a Civil War event and I had a sewing school with a friend, so I hope to blog about those soon!
 
 

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Thank You Veterans!

Well, it's not Veteran's Day, but a friend of ours is retiring from the Air Force tomorrow. We have been invited to the ceremony and a picnic afterwards, so it will be a fun day. I thought a personalized wall hanging would be a good gift. Here's what I came up with:
The embroidered center has patriotic components from Sew Weird's Vintage Military set. The border is 3" half-square triangles. Here's a close-up of the embroidery:
I really, really like this embroidery. I love the stripes on the flags. Can you tell I used metallic thread for the flagpoles? The eagle is really attractive, too. I just like the lightness of this design, rather than the usual "fill" designs. The lettering is Embird Alphabet 23. 
Everything I used for this was "stash"! I even got this embroidery set free for submitting a photo a long time ago. Many of the fabrics were from my Quilt Guild auctions or fat quarters I won. The backing was from a July 4 dress I made Rosie a LONG time ago!
I hope he likes it!!

Monday, July 14, 2014

Block Bonanza part 3: Funky Faces!

I have enjoyed sharing the Block Bonanza Quilts with you. Today I am featuring Ellen's Funky Faces Quilt! This was the most challenging block I made, but also the most fun.

This first block is just so awesome. The quilt had mostly women's faces (and 2 children), so the last person to make a block made a man. Isn't this block just perfect!!??

I love the curly hair, the mustache, the winking eye!



I'm sure you remember seeing the block I did: Andy's face. Unfortunately after I digitized this, all of my embroidery files disappeared. Poof! I had a back-up disk, but this was too recently done to have been backed up, so I lost it.

Here are all of the blocks together. What a fun wall-hanging this will be!!

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Ella's Ballerina Bubble

Happy 4th of July! Hope you had a good old-fashioned, patriotic family holiday. We had about 30 people here for a cookout in the pouring rain! It was fun anyway!
Today we got to see our little buddy Ella. I was able to quickly machine embroider a knit bubble for her. Her Mom was great to try it on so I could get pictures!

I started with this soft green knit bubble from Martha Pullen. I got it at one of their super sales and I sure wish I had bought more! This is a size 2. The knit is wonderful and the front is a faux-dress, so there is a layer of soft knit behind the embroidery.
The back is just the elastic legs, but the front has the little dress overlay. Snaps at the back and crotch will make it easy to get dressed.
The design is the 4x4 faux-smocked ballerinas by Just Sew Pretty. I left off one of the borders to make it simpler. I think it's a cute little girl design.

Ella likes her new bubble and it looks so cute!!