This and That

We will be leaving this afternoon for our vacation. First to Baton Rouge for Mila's recital tonight -- how exciting is that? First recital! Fee and I will have camera at ready. Then on Saturday, we begin the trek to San Destin. Yesterday: packing and completing tasks for imminent departure.

This will be almost like a family reunion: Fee and I, our kids & grandkids and my brothers, Steve & Marty, and their families. Their will be 17 of us in all and we are going to have a huge family portrait done while there. The photographer has already been booked.

Today, I'm just finishing up details. Hoping not to forget anything important. Clothes, meds, sun tan lotion, camera, etc. I have cuffs, beads, embroidery floss, pearl cotton, needles, Dorset button rings, etc. all packed up and ready to include.

I have several Dorset buttons in progress for these cuffs, but haven't decided on beading yet.
The backs with my label.I have 4 more cuffs that I'm working on -- in lighter, more summery colors. Will try to get all 8 finished in between the beach, the pool, the reading, the wine, the conversation, and all else that will be going on. So...I guess that won't be happening.

Yesterday, I made a swimsuit cover-up. :) Bought the shirred cloth and then stitched it right up without even a hem, as the bottom has a selvedge edge. It will do. Maybe when I get back, I'll cut the selvedge off and put in a hem, but I've been pressed for time.

Check out Debby's give-away. I'm already a winner there, as I got in with the first comment. I think this is a great way to get rid of all of the stuff you don't want anymore-- but that someone else might be thrilled to have. In fact, I've seen an ETSY shop that sells the left-over bits from her own sewing experiences. Of course, I much prefer free, so thanks, Debby!

Bryce Eleanor has found her tongue. You can see Chris was taking a picture at the same time. See that foot propped up. Badly broken ankle. On this day, he had already had one surgery. Within a week, he had to have another one. No flying for this guy for a while.

Cuffs

I've been working on some cuffs...because I like doing them and can use (and make) Dorset buttons for decoration and closure. These are the 2 that I've finished and there are 4 more in the works.

Hooded Towel

As God is my witness, I will never do terry again. There are fuzzy bits of terry everywhere. Everywhere. But I did finish the hooded towel for Bryce. How many things would I do differently? Many, many things, but I'm not planning on doing another one of these any time soon. Had to bind this like a quilt so... a lot of hand sewing, but that wasn't a problem as I was watching disk 3 of All Creatures Great and Small.

Catching up...

I forgot to post these pictures of the yoga tote I made for Robin. It is big enough to hold the yoga mat, a big beach towel (for when we visit the steam room after class), shoes, change of clothes, etc. It is really BIG, but she says she likes it, and she can certainly carry everything in one bag. Which , of course, I can't in the bag I made for myself that only has room for the mat.


Quilting the fabric...We had torrential rains and flooding here on Tuesday night. Unbelievable amounts of rain fell in just a couple of hours. Cars abandoned on flooded roads, homes & apartments with water inside up to several feet high, lightening that struck and burned apartments near us... We were very lucky and had no problems, but the damage in some areas is really terrible.

Mila's Dress & Happy Mother's Day!

Finished Mila's dress yesterday. Much easier, much quicker than the little bubble suit.


Neck detail with bright buttons.
To make the details a little different, although I loved the bright little ribbons on Bryce Eleanor's, I had this great ric rac for to peek out of the hem.

So...then I made these little cloth shoes to go with the bubble suit. I had a pattern I'd gotten from the web a couple of years ago, but had somehow lost the instructions. After checking out several sites, I found JoAnna's Stardust Shoes and used her instructions. Next time I will use her pattern as well because the shape of the foot is better on her pattern.

And there should be enough left to get several more little projects out of this cheerful material...

And now I'm getting ready to go down to the cabin at Raft Bayou where we will have a late lunch with Amelia, Chris, and Bryce.

Hope all of you have a wonderful Mother's Day!

A Little Sewing

Aaaahhhh! My computer seems to have recovered. When it began giving problems, I tried everything (clean, compress, delete, etc.) and nothing seemed to help. Now, on its own, it seems to have decided to get well.

I've made a little bubble suit for Bryce, have almost finished with a dress for Mila out of the same material, and finished the yoga bag for Robin last week.

Love this material! Bright and cheerful.
Detail of front tucks.Back with snaps.
This little devil took me longer than I care to admit. The pattern seemed to have steps missing (or my comprehension has huge gaps), and eventually, I just tried to put it together in a way that made sense to me. Which required some unsewing, but which at least allowed me to complete the darn thing.

This inspiring article is about the way in which classical music is helping lift children out of poverty in Venezuela. Here is a little video clip of the children in concert. Very uplifting.