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?"