White Wednesday - Antique Bonnet

Hello! This week for White Wednesday I am sharing a beautiful hand-crocheted antique baby bonnet. I was lucky to find this at a yard sale several years ago. It is a very soft cotton thread. The original ribbons were tattered, so I put in new ones. Here's the beautiful back:

It fits a baby from about 2-4 months old. When I see a beautiful antique, I wonder about the original owner. How did she have time to stitch this with all the other chores required of Victorian women? How many babies wore this sweet little cap? I wish I could find a vintage pattern for a similar bonnet and try it myself!

Summer Vacation

Tomorrow I am taking my 5 kids to the beach. I was just composing my "to bring" list:

• 5 bathing suits
• 5 towels
• sunscreen
• 5 baseball caps
• cooler with: 6 water bottles, 5 sandwiches, watermelon, grapes, pretzels, and snack cake
• paper plates, napkins, cutlery, wipes
• baby pack & play
• diaper bag with: diapers, wipes, clothes, hat, blanket, pacifier
• shade for baby: umbrella
• folding chairs 
• camera & video camera
• program Garmin with directions

My girls love to cook and they are quite good at it! For tomorrow's outing, Rosie made this delicious Chocolate Chip Snack Cake. (Click to see the recipe at Allrecipes)
We are going with 3 of my friends; they have 4 children TOTAL! I am tired already and we haven't even left the driveway!

Daygown Sew Along, week 1

Ready to Start!

I started the daygown sew along at the Old Fashioned Baby yesterday. I ordered my supplies last week from 2 great Heirloom Shops, Fine Stitchery and Roxane's Heirlooms. I wanted to make a blue gown for Andy, so I ordered blue Japanese Lawn (only $7.50/yd) and blue Satin Batiste (only $9.50/yd). I had never used either of these fabrics before. They are both so nice that I wavered all week on which one to use, finally choosing the Satin Batiste. I have made my daygowns from Swiss Batiste before, which is also lovely, but I like these fabrics because they have a little more body and a little less wrinkle, while still maintaining the soft hand and sheer quality of the Swiss. Not to mention that they cost about 1/3 the price of Nelona. I will definitely be using these for rompers in the future. I also ordered some narrow lace, narrow Swiss, and I have tatting, so I'm not sure which trim I'll use yet.

I found a sewing buddy to do the sew-along with me. She is a friend from my Quilt Guild who loves to sew by hand. She has never done French Handsewing and is excited to learn. She is making hers from pink Swiss Batiste for her "Grandmother's Hope Chest". So, we got together yesterday and pre-washed, ironed, and cut our fabric. Then we stitched down the back facings. That's it for week 1.