Baby eyes

My grandchildren are BE-A-UTIFUL without a doubt, inside and out. Here are there beautiful eyes.

Weddings

I have finally tackled a BIG job, or at least have begun the job. I am scanning all the pictures that I have gathered and don't know what to do with. It runs the gamut from pictures from long past to extended family to recent favorites. I am sure they will show up now and again on this blog. Here are some wedding day photos just to get started.

The first is our niece with her cousins, my oldest is on the brides left.



This is my husbands sister's wedding day. I had not met him yet, he's the third from the right.



My parents wedding day. They had matching suits made, very cool.



My mother in law, she had the dress made for her.



My nephews wedding with all the family that was able to attend, impressive.



My mom's parents on their wedding day,

How does your garden grow. Vol. February

In Texas, February is still winter like the rest of the US, but if you look closely, or even casually observe, you will see small surprises everywhere. I love the tiny little treasures hidden here and there around the garden. Since this is the end of February, I decided to go out and capture the garden as it wakes up to spring. With all that I found today, I am sure there will be many magical surprises in the next month. I don't work the garden, my hubby does, I just observe, enjoy and anticipate. Another thing I am not particularly interested in is the name of each flower. They are delightful with or without a name. In my mind they are all beautiful and stir thoughts of God and His amazing creativity. This part of His creation we can SEE, but I also like to imagine the infinite beauty that is there that I cannot see. From the infinite immensity of the universe, to the infinite minuteness of atoms, strings and the things that strings are made of.

The first I absolutely know the name of, our lovely Texas Bluebonnet.

Out to lunch

Yes, I have been sewing, in between all my lunch dates. In the past week, there hasn't been much eaten here at home. I can get little bits done between all my fun with an intense session of sewing last night. I finished up the second CASA donation dress. I also helped my youngest fine tune her tuxedo pants and shirt so she can work events and earn some extra money. Smart kid, why not?

So this week, even though it didn't go as planned was full of time with friends and enough accomplished to feel like it wasn't a total waste. Wish that laundry and vacuuming and stuff like that didn't interfere with my creative side. I am SO wanting to lose myself in sewing, my list is over a dozen items waiting in the wings, but meetings, errands and obligations just keep popping up, and if there is an opportunity to enjoy my friends or family for an hour or two, well, that is the REAL stuff of life, not passing up those opportunities. I love my family and friends, they fill me up!!

A very Happy Birthday

Today was not my birthday, but because it was my last child's, it's a bit nostalgic. I loved being pregnant and I also enjoyed the power of giving birth, and I did it each time without any meds. Yeah, maybe a bit crazy, but no regrets. Three times!

A simple lunch and a walk, what could be better, at least from my end? A happy mom.

The picture above is my little one at age 8 and the one below is me at age 8. Hmmmm, I see a resemblance.

Memory Lane

As I was scanning the pics of my prom dresses, I scanned a couple of others that I liked. Not sure why I picked this one, but I like it! A typical little kid out having fun and getting dirty. I wonder why someone chose to take this particular picture, but I like these that are not posed. I just look like a happy little kid, being a happy little kid. Yeah, I stopped for the snap shot, but I am sure I was off playing right away again.



This one is of my brothers, at least the older two, the younger two hadn't come along yet. Aren't we the cutest? Knowing my brothers as well as I do, their expressions are spot on.

shopping fun

My lovely husband knows exactly how to make me happy on Valentin's Day, take me to the best fabric store ever and let me brows and pick out some things. This time it was mostly for men's shirts. I have enough to make three little boy cowboy shirts and four men's shirts, one for my son, son-in-law, husband and another special young man. I also found an adorable polka dot but am not 100% sure what I will do with it yet, but am getting an idea! Wait and see!! I did get some fabric for a skirt for myself as I live in them and when you wear them daily and they are made from less expensive fabric, well, they don't hold up so well. This time I found a lovely light weight wool in black. I will get lots of use out of that! Later I purchased a book with ideas for purses and bags, use for all my scraps! A fun weekend. We also saw a wonderful dance troop and had a hoot at a gospel brunch. Way fun.

CASA Gala

We attended the Court Appointed Special Advocate Gala this past weekend for our county. My husband calls it PROM and it is a bit like that, only WAY more fun. I don't remember having all that much fun at mine, but I DID like my dresses each year. My grandfather bought me the one for my Jr. Prom and my mom made me one for my Sr. Prom. I liked it so much I still have it back in my closet. That is one thing about me, my taste pretty much is my taste and hasn't changed through the years.

ANYway . . . the two ladies that were in a bidding war finally got frustrated and were standing close to the dress as the auction was nearing the end. The one lady was sitting with us at the table and suggested they come and talk to me. I offered to make a second dress, so they were both happy, and CASA got a bit more than they would have. Since I don't have access to lots of $$$ I use my time and talent. Another little dress I made also went for a nice price, but I was super happy with what the women were willing to donate for "The Princess Dress"

Now, back to work, I have another Princess Dress to make.

Bluebonnets

It is the dead of winter and we have had some nights below freezing, but we have a large, beautiful bluebonnet plant smack dab in the middle of the front yard. Just had to share. Isn't it lovely?

Monday. shirt day

On Monday I was able to stay home all day and sew . . . Heaven! Plus I was trying some new techniques, which is why it took my all day to make the shirt. The cuff placket I am very pleased with, so I will be doing that from now on. The way the instructions had me attach the collar . . . not so much. I like the way I have been doing it for years, so will continue. I learned to make the small pocket in the collar for the collar stays, which keep the collar nice and straight. That took some time, but absolutely worth it. The collar stays are removable.

My husband says "no pockets" as they only collect lint. Works for me!! This one is from fabric we bought downtown, nice. I am getting better at choosing the right interfacing and all. The neck is still slightly larger than the 15 1/2 that he needs but with this pattern (no attached back yoke) it is a bit tricky to make the collar smaller, I need to have the yoke back with the attached main back piece having the tuck of fabric. I have that pattern ready to make his next dress shirt. I will be downtown soon and will get some more material for dress shirts, and get 2 1/2 yards which is what I need for the nicer dress shirts with the yoke back. This pattern was from the cowboy shirt I have been making, but of coarse I leave off the fancy cowboy yokes. My son, I found wears the same size shirt as my husband and my son-in-law fits in them as well. Hmmmm, wonder if another potential shirt recipient is also that size????? How easy would that be?

The perfect man's shirt . . . I hope

I have wanted to do this for quite a while. I first made my husband a dress shirt in the mid 70's. Our mom's would send him material for his birthday and I would make them into dress shirts. I haven't made him any for quite a while. They turned out pretty good, but I know I can do better now that I have more experience and more time to do it just right, including the fit AND the details. I have gathered several patterns and sets of instructions on fit and details, and hopefully will get it all together with the best of each aspect of shirt construction.



The material is from the fabric store downtown, hubby picked them out himself. They are rather lavender/pinkish and have a nice subtle texture to them. They feel wonderful and I am washing them right now. Once they are washed and dried I will iron on some light weight fusible interfacing and wash and dry them again to see how they react. Sometimes the fusible shrinks just a bit and there is puckering, which makes me crazy after the hours spent making the shirt, so am trying to avoid that in the future. The Pellon says it does not need preshrinking, but it doesn't always actually act that way. These two pieces were interfaced, then washed and dried. The light weight (on the left) turned out OK, but the heavy weight (on right) did shrink and pucker, even ironing did not get it out.



I made the entire pattern, which is custom measured for my husband, out of muslin. I did the interfacing patterns as well because it is annoying to have to cut them out and trim them accurately each time, so I cut them out from the muslin and carefully trimmed them so that I have it just right. I can set on the interfacing and cut away, no trimming. The other aspect of having a muslin pattern is it is so easy to lay out and cut, no pinning, because the pattern doesn't shift the way the tissue patterns do. Plus it is more accurate from what I find.








I am also going to try something I have never tried before. Putting small pockets in the collar for stays. Many of his purchased shirts have them and he likes that aspect. I also have two versions of making the placket for the cuff slit, I will practice two versions and see which I think is the best. Time and effort are not the issue, it will strictly be based on LOOK!

So we'll see how it all turns out. I have been working on a cowboy shirt for my grandson, and although I still need to put the buttons on, it's pretty cute, I think he'll like it. I will take it to him in May along with his pirate costume.