Jackson Shirt and Shorts

I ventured away from dresses for a little six month top and shorts. This is the Jackson pattern from Children's Corner and the fabric is from Joanne's. I used leftover fabric from making all of these Frannie dresses. This pattern was all about firsts for me: first sleeves, first pants, first elastic, first french seams and first pleats.
It about drove me crazy. I have had this top and bottom on my desk for about a month now. I cut it all out and then couldn't figure out the pleats. It was all my fault for not reading the pattern correctly. I became so used to cutting everything on the fold that I cut the back on the fold, twice because the pattern said to cut out two, and then I couldn't figure out how it ended up with a split down the back and buttons. So I put it aside, made some dresses, and then realized my mistake. I went back and cut the back in half, figured it out and then progressed on to the front.

Pleats! I played around and finally got this portion right. At least, I think it is right, and it seems to look correct. :)

The next dilemma was sleeves. I completely read the wrong instructions for the straight sleeves instead of the puffed sleeves and ended up with a gather at the top, instead of all the way around. By the time I realized this, the sleeves were all the way sewn on and I was not ripping it all out. I decided I liked the way it came out, so it was a happy mistake.
After that, everything else went together pretty quickly. I love the way the french seams look on the inside, and I liked finished off the sleeve seams with zig zag stitches. That is pretty neat. The pants went together so quickly, and I made the smaller around the waist since Zerah has a small waist.

Overall, I am happy with the way it came out, and now I know how to do all these different things. The next one will go together much more quickly, and I do plan on trying it again. Although, it did test my patience.

Holly and Hunter Jumper: Purple Ribbon and Ric Rac

After making one of these dresses for Cloud, I had to make one for Zerah, too. This is the Bonnie Blue Holly and Hunter Jumper with ribbon ties. It is an 18 month for next summer, and I bought the fabric at Joanne's. I love that fabric with the ribbons and ric rack. It is lined with purple gingham which is one of my favorite things. Aren't little girls so cute in gingham?

Madison Dress

I love the way this little dress came out! The pattern was Bonnie Blue's Madison. The yoke is Amy Butler from her Love line, and the skirt is Kaffe Fasset Lime Sprays from his spring 2009 line. I made an 18 month so it will fit Zerah next summer. This was a pretty easy pattern to make; the hardest part is the buttons on the back. The pattern has three other views that I am going to have to try. It is one of my favorite patterns that I have made so far, so expect to see more like this.

Isn't the back cute with the buttons all lined up? She is going to have plenty of dresses!

Apple and Pear Jumper

I tried a new pattern for this dress, and it was so easy! This is from Bonnie Blue's "Holly and Hunter's Jumper/Dress". I made the version with ribbon ties and I really like the bold white polka dots on the red ribbon. It is lined with red fabric with white pin dots, and the outer fabric is Alexander Henry. It is a size four. This is one of the quicker dresses that I have made recently. It went together in one evening after Zerah had gone to bed.

Edited to add: It was sent to Miss Cloud in New Orleans this past weekend. I heard that when she tried it on she said, "I feel like a princess." I love that!

Aubie Dresses

I received my first clothing commission to make these Aubie dresses for a friend of mine from college at Auburn, Jayne, for her girls. It was fun making these dresses for her, but it is more stressful when you are making them for someone else! I used the same tiger fabric that I have previously used and the "Lucy" pattern from Children's Corner. These are a size 6. I used orange lining fabric and orange and white polka-dot ribbon as well. I also top stitched around the dress in orange thread.

They went out in the mail yesterday, and I can't wait to see how her girls look in them! I think she is planning on using them for the A-day game in April. War Eagle!

Frannie Dresses for Friends

I do love alliteration! I recently made three "Frannie" dresses for some special people. We have really been lucky with generosity from a friend of mine from work and our friends, Rebecca and Phillip, in New Orleans with baby items. We have received two huge boxes of clothes, an extra carseat, two carseat things that fit in the car the carseat goes into (I can't think of what that is called!), a bouncer, playmat, and the list keeps going on. This is all in addition to numerous boxes of clothes and baby items we received from my brother and sister-in-law in the fall! Aren't we lucky to have such wonderful friends and family?

So, I made some dresses for them. My work friend has two little girls that are age 1 and 4 so I made two dresses for her girls; she has already received her dresses. I made another size four for our New Orlean's friends; they haven't received theirs (yet!) so this may be a surprise if they read my blog. I just couldn't wait to share them anymore.

I used the Frannie pattern from Children's Corner, and I think it runs small. My work friend told me that her girls are tall, so they don't work as dresses, but are really cute as tops. I was a little disappointed by this, but now I know that it does run small so I can choose a more appropriate size in the future. The other one is already made, so if it doesn't fit as a dress, maybe it will as a top! Anyway, I really like how they turned out, so I hope they like them, too.:)

Patchwork Scottie Dog

I made the Patchwork Scottie Dog this past week and finished it up while watching the Olympics Friday night. I love patchwork, and it goes together pretty quickly. I need to work on my stuffing skill, as it is a little lumpy but that is okay. It is fun to be able to use all those little pieces that you don't want to throw away. I do love scrap projects because I save all of my little pieces, which can quickly get out of hand.

Zerah seems to like it, too.;) It is a little big for her now though, isn't it? It is going into her easter basket this year. I love that I can take a picture of her with it now, and then give it to her later with her having no recollection of it. Later on, I will have to hide projects for her but not quite yet!

Look at what I did to my hand! It has been hurting for a month now, and I went to the doctor a week and a half ago where I got this lovely splint which only comes off when I am taking a bath or washing dishes. Nice, isn't it? It is helping, but it still really hurts and throbs at times. I have De Quervain's Tendinitis; it can be associated with pregnancy and as result, according to my doctor, seen in breastfeeding moms because your hormones are still different. It is also caused be repetitive movement-which I haven't been doing. I also read that it is common in mom's with new infants because of the different way you twist your wrist while holding an infant. I think this is what happened because it hurts when I am twisting Zerah to put her in her bed at night sometimes.

I originally thought I had injured myself by reading. Isn't that a strange way to hurt yourself? A couple of weeks ago, I was reading Pat Conroy's new novel, South of Broad, while nursing. I had it propped open in my left hand with my thumb holding the pages open. It is quite the lengthy novel at around 1,000 pages so I thought the weight might have placed a strain on my wrist. I guess it could have not helped! The book was really good though. So anyway, I now get to wear this for two weeks to see if it helps and then the next step is cortisone shots. I really hate shots!

sewconnected and sewconnected2

This past weekend I finished some more blocks for the two swaps that I am in. The top two blocks are for my sewconnected group, and they are the last two blocks I need to send out! My month was December, so I am now just waiting for all my alphabet blocks to come back to me.

These two blocks are for Meg of luckyduckyday. She is making a Kaffe Fasset inspired quilt with solids an log cabinish blocks. It is going to be so beautiful with all of the saturated colors she has selected.

This one is for maddieandme for my sewconnected2 group. Her fabrics are so beautiful! She asked for an assortment of blocks, and I decided to make one with lots of triangles. Triangles are hard, but this one turned out pretty well I think. It is neat to look back and see how much better I have become at piecing together triangles over the last year.

Bunnies!

For Christmas, I received Cute Dolls by Aranzi Aronzo which is full of cute softie patterns, so I had to give it a try! Meet two little bunnies.


It was a little too much fun setting them up around the house to make pictures of them together!

Who doesn't like to sit on the front porch and watch the world go by?

They are best friends who like to wear dresses. One is going to stay here will appear in Zerah's Easter basket in a few months. The other friend is going to travel to stay with another little girl. Maybe they will meet again in the future? They hope so!

He has several other doll books out. This was so easy that I might need to pick up some other ones! They are really fun to make. The mouths and eyes are felt sewn on jersy bodies.

Pop Garden Dress

I have finished another little dress for Zerah. This one is made from Heather Bailey Pop garden that I had leftover from making a diaper bag this summer. I used the Frannie pattern from Children's Corner for this one, and I love how it turned out. I really like how the ribbons gather under the arms, and I think it will be cute as a top when she grows out of it as a dress. It is lined in pink with teeny white polka dots-so cute. I made this one in a size two, so it will fit her next summer.