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!!

Smocked Sundress Sew-a-long

Laura did a smock-a-long at her Ellie Inspired Patterns Group this week. I love sew-a-longs because, like taking a class, they make you finish a project in a limited amount of time. The camaraderie of working with a group of ladies is also encouraging. So, when Laura showed the pretty, free pattern we would be making, I had to sign up!

The pattern is a smocked bodice sundress with ruffled straps. It buttons in back. The original has a smocked insert, but since I was using all one fabric, I decided to "release" the smocking from the bodice to the front skirt. One of my favorite things about hand smocking is its natural elasticity, so I like to take advantage of it when I can!

The smocking design is very simple, but elegant. The center section, unsmocked, will become a puffing strip once it relaxes from the pleating. I back-smocked the diamonds to give the waist more stability.

Here's the back, pre-buttons. I used a wonderful 100% cotton batiste from Martha Pullen Co. It was only $3/yd at one of their crazy sales, so I bought A LOT! The sleeves are trimmed with cotton Swiss embroidery, which I gave a brief tea bath so it would match the ecru smocking.

I have always loved scalloped hems, so I thought I'd do one here. It is hard to see, but there are 12 6" scallops around the bottom. I stitched them by hand with a small running stitch using 1 strand of ecru DMC floss to match the smocking.

And here is a closer view of the hem. It's still hard to see the stitching. Maybe later I will add a little embroidery or something to make it stand out.

I love the way it turned out and the whole thing was completed in less than a week- yahoo!!

Block Bonanza Reveal, part 2

Here is the next installment of quilts that were part of the recent Block Bonanza at my Quilt Guild.

This colorful quilt has a seahorse theme. If you look carefully, all of the center squares were provided, along with the fabrics and suggested patterns. I was running really late when I worked on this one, so mine is the top-left, courthouse steps block.

The girl who designed this quilt wanted everyone to do the same block- I don't know the name. We were to choose our own fabrics and use a yellow background with blue centers. Mine is the top-left block.

This quilt is a very contemporary mix of batiks in subtle colors. Mine is the center block, a paper-pieced star. I was very disappointed with the lack of contrast. I was trying to do something different than all the "white" backgrounds, but I should have used it, too.

This is another very colorful quilt by a girl who loves purple. My block is the snail trail in the center of the top-9. Someone in our group didn't like their first block and made an alternate, which is why there are 10 on this one.
I'll end with a sneak peak of what I am currently working on. It's the smocked sundress "sew along" over at Ellie Inspired. Lots of fun and easy plus a free pattern- how can you go wrong? I love sew alongs because I feel like I have to keep up, so it makes me finish my project quickly!

 

We are officially on summer vacation as of yesterday, so I hope to be blogging much more often!