A Dress for my Little Goose

Lucy will be two in just a few days.  I finally got around to sewing her dress that I cut out when I did the princess dresses for Dot and Zoe.  The material on these dresses are just too hard to sew with.  It frays like the devil, and then when you cut off the frayed material, it sticks to your hand and will not let go.  I don't think I've ever been so happy to finish something.  I love the outcome, but I will think twice before ever using this type of material again.

I hope this will fit.  I used the same size pattern as I used for the older girls.  Lucy is pretty good sized for her age.  The length will probably be the biggest difference.  This is supposed to be a short dress, but will probably be long on her.

I have been working on the Christmas gifts for the ladies of the family.  I will finish them tomorrow.  Next, I will probably get started on the afghans that I plan to make for the men this year.  I have already made afghans for all of my kids a few years ago, but I think they can use another one.  I can't think of anything else to make for them.

Cowboy Ellis

Ellis was in town for a few days last week and stayed over at my house.  He said that he really needed for me to make him a cowboy vest.  I went down stairs to look for some material to make it with.  I was surprised to find just the very thing I needed.  I didn't even know that I owned this material, and I don't have a clue where it came from, but it was perfect for the project.  I found a huge ironed on patch with a cow's skull and some Indian feathers on it.  I was able to use the material it was ironed on to to make the back of the vest.  I found some other material that I used to make Joey's Luke Skywalker boots for Halloween to make the front of the vest.  When I finished it, Ellis said that he needed to have some holes in it.  He meant that he wanted button holes.  I was not going to put buttons on the vest, but he really wanted them.  I, of course, put in the buttonholes and sewed on the buttons.  He wore the vest everyday, until he accidentally got peanut butter on it and his mom said he had to take it off so she could wash it.  Here are some pictures of my little cowboy in his vest.

Side view of Cowboy Ellis in his vest.

Vest from the back.

Front view...raspberries and all.

Plum tuckered out from all his hard cowboy playing.
He played so hard that he fell asleep on a grain sack in the barn.

Dolls are Done!

I was able to finish both of the dolls I was making for Portia's and Lexi's birthdays.  I do not need Lexi's until June, but I wanted to do it at the same time as I made Portia's.  Her birthday is the 21st of this month, so I needed to get it done to take to her this weekend when we go to visit them in Maine.  As always, the hair is the most difficult process, and Portia's did not come out quite like I wanted, but I it will have to do.  Lexi's doll has a little bit better result, I think.  I wanted the dolls to sort of look like the one I was making it for, but that was asking a little bit more than I was able to produce.  At least, the hair and eye colors are close, even if the hair style is a little different. A problem I incurred while I was making the clothes, is that the clothes patterns that came with the doll pattern were not big enough for my completed doll.  I had to make adjustments for everything.  The stockings were easy...I simply cut them larger.  The shoes would have been harder to adjust, so I just used a shoe pattern I used when I made shoes for Lexi for her first Halloween cheer leading costume.  The shorts were not high enough on the body, so I just added a band.  The shirt was way too small, so I put a band down the front edges and one along the bottom of the shirt.  I think it worked very well.  Another small problem with one of the shirts, was that I was trying to use up left over material from other projects, and I got a little too close to the bias edge of the material.  On the side I could see, it was fine, but on the reverse side, it had JoAnn's Fabrics written along the edge.  I didn't realize that I had the JoAnn part on one of the shirts.  It came out in a good place and looks like I did it on purpose.  I guess maybe Portia's doll can just be named JoAnn. Whatever...it is done.

This is Portia's for my little blond, blue-eyed baby girl.

This is Lexi's for my little brown hair, brown-eyed baby girl.

This shows the dolls from the back to show the hair styles.  Portia's hair is very short, and Lexi's is longer, though not quite this long, yet.  It was the best I could do with yarn hair.

I really have no idea what I will do next.  I guess I will probably go back to making the Christmas presents for the ladies.  I have them almost finished.  Still keeping them a secret.

Mending Complete/Mud and Flowers

I got to the mending for Ellen last night.  I finally had gotten to the store to buy the ribbon I needed to make the ankle straps for the shoes.  There was no excuse for me not to get to it.  Here is a picture of the random mending that I needed to do.

From L. to R: repair moth holes in the dress, make ankle straps for the shoes, add the tie belt to the purple skirt, make ties for the back of the yellow top, reattach the shoulder straps on the other top, and stitch the crotch of the black pants.

My biggest concern is the moth holes in the dress.  I tried just stitching them as Ellen had suggested, but it did what I was afraid it would do...it puckered.  Then I tried steaming them flat, and that worked.  However, it now showed little holes again that weren't as big, but still holes...too much flattening, I guess.  Then, I used heat wizard to bind some similarly colored material to the back, hoping that the holes would not show through and that it would keep the material from tearing where I had stitched it.  It finally looks pretty good...not fantastic.  I think Ellen will still wear it.  It shows up close, but not from a distance, and probably not when being worn.  The other problem that came up with the dress, was a stain that appeared when I applied the heat.  I am using stain remover, and I hope that it will remove the stain.  If not, I may not have been much of a success with the dress.  The other things came out fine.  The straps for the shoes ended up being quite easy, after all.  I had thought that it was going to be more of a problem.  I simply bought some ribbon that matched as closely to the color of the shoes that I could find.  I cut the ribbon to her ankle length and attached snaps to the ends.  I think it will work just fine.  The other items aren't even worth talking about.

I am going to start a new project today.  It will be to make baby dolls for Portia and Lexi  for their birthdays.  I bought the material last night, and will try to get them cut out today...if Joey and Lexi allow me to do it.  Otherwise, I will begin this evening after they leave.

I just thought about adding something to my blog that I hadn't really considered as being craft work.  After thinking about it, it really is a type of craft, even if it does still fall in the line of cooking.   My daughter-in-law, Kim, had a first day of spring party for her kids and for Lexi and Joey who I take care of each day.  She organized a scavenger hunt for the kids to find things outside that showed that spring was beginning.  Joey still looks out the window and tells me he sees the green grass (which was one of the items they had to find on their scavenger hunt).  Later, we planted bean seeds, and then we came inside to make mud and to plant the candy flowers that I had made into the mud.  Mud, of course, is a dessert made from chocolate pudding, ground up oreo cookies, and gummy worms.  The night before, I had made lollipop flowers from melted red chocolate to plant into their mud dessert.

This is how Joey's bean seeds have sprouted and begun to grow on 4/5/12 ( planted on 3/22/12)

Joey putting in the mud pudding

Lucy checking out the worm before putting it in the mud.

Dot with a look of satisfaction that the worm is
no longer in her hands.

Lexi wasn't sure the worm was safe to touch.

Joey putting on the top oreo cookie top soil.

Lucy looking at her planted lollipop flower.

Dot just loving her flower.

Joey and his completed project.

Lexi wondering: "Am I really supposed to eat this?"

Total bliss!

"Could anything get better than this?"

Happy Birthday Nancy!

I can't believe it...I actually got the second sweater done in time to send it off to Nancy for her birthday.  I finished it today, took a picture of it being modeled by Cheryl, and sent it in the mail just seconds before the post office closed.  I am pleased with the outcome for the most part.  I am not that happy with the way the sleeves hang over the shoulder, but that is the style the pattern called for.  I was also disappointed that the shoulder cable patterns did not line up from the front to the back, but it doesn't show up as much with the sleeves sewn into the sweater.  I hope Nancy will be happy with the final outcome, and that it will fit her.  I wish it was a little bit longer, but I made it to the measurements that she requested.  Hopefully, it will be long enough to look good.

The front view shows how the shoulders hang over the shoulder and meet the sleeves part way down the arm.  This feels a little bit strange to me.  Hope it will be okay on Nancy.

The side view shows how neat the cable pattern looks going up the arm.

From the back, you can see the complete cable pattern, which was much simpler than the last sweater, but still very pretty.

I hope to get a picture of Nancy wearing the sweater.  Maybe, I will be able to post that when I get it.  I'm not sure what I will do next.  I have some mending to do for my daughter-in-law, Ellen.  I don't really like to mend clothes...I'd rather do my own thing from the beginning.  However, Ellen likes to keep me busy with fixing things for her.  I have never known anyone who likes to keep wearing things that are worn out, but that girl sure does.  She has things that she really likes, and doesn't want to let them go when they wear out.  She's way too busy to do it herself, so she asks me to do it for her.  I don't really mind.  I guess that is what mothers-in-law are for.  Anyway, I know she will use it if I fix it.