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chick pincushion

When my seven year-old granddaughter Madigan came to visit, we worked together sewing a doll's dress for her younger sister O'Malley. Madigan decided mychick pincushion could use some "feathers".

  

tea towel bread sack

I have embarked on a journey back to the era of preplastic. For several years, I have stored leftovers in emptied jars with lids that once held things like pickles, peanut butter, applesauce, and olives. I bring fabric bags to the grocery store to carry my purchases home in. I bring my own jars to the local food co-op to fill with bulk baking supplies... flour, nuts, seeds, grains, and spices/seasonings. I have been baking my own bread, therefore it eliminates the store-bought bread bag, however I was placing my homemade bread in a plastic storage bag (i.e., Ziploc, Glad), so I had made absolutely no progress with that segment of my plastic-free goal. So today I sewed a cloth bag with a drawstring to store my homemade loaf of bread instead of using  a plastic bag. Amanda Soule, on her blog soulemama.typepad.com, shared the idea recently after some research into how bread used to be stored "before we had preservatives keeping our bread longer or tupperware in which to store it". The bag is made from a vintage tea towel with the hemmed sides cut off to use as a drawstring. So clever and quick to make.

 

April 14, 2009

Today's mileage: 0 

Total mileage for April: 52.25 miles (same as yesterday) 

Bible reading? Yes.

  

and the winner is....

This morning, Dick blindly selected Kim from Wabasha, Minnesota as the winning entry in my free giveaway drawing. Congrats, Kim! I will mail the plantable calendar off to you in tomorrow's mail. The calendar pages are printed with such adorable artwork and the anticipatory fun waiting to see what flower varieties will sprout forth from the seeds embedded in each month's page... well, that is just priceless. Thank you to all who participated in the giveaway. Stay tuned... there are sure to be future giveaways.    

 

I used this clothespin bag hanging from my cleaning cart to gather all drawing entrants' names. I made the bag yesterday afternoon from the bodice of a thrift store shift dress using directions from the book Free-Style Handmade Bags & Skirts. In less than an hour, the transformation took place. It's difficult to see in the photo, but there is the prettiest cheerful color of yellow gingham lining the bag's interior. The directions were actually to make a purse, but the bodice's neckline on this particular dress was cut so low that I decided it was more suitable for a clothespin bag. I'm thinking maybe the dress's skirt will possibly take on a new life as a pair of pillowcases.

Mar. 24, 2009

Today's mileage: 0

Total monthly mileage for March: 53.75 miles (Same as yesterday.)  

Bible reading? Yes. 

apron fabric

Yesterday, a local quilt shop offered a 25% discount on all cotton fabrics, so I picked up a yard of this Heather Bailey "Pop Daisy" print. On my computer's screen, some of the flower's petals look lilac in this scan... shudder (purple is my least fav color), but in reality they're pink. Also, the center "spoke" in the flower is red, not burgundy, as it appears on my screen. Both Heather Bailey and Amy Butler have coordinating fabrics in each of their lines, but I didn't want to be a Bailey or Butler walking billboard. Therefore, it will take me a bit longer to find two more pieces of fabric to go with this one before I am ready to start cutting out my second apron from the "A is for Apron" book.

 

Feb. 15, 2009

Today's mileage: 7.25 mile bike ride

Total monthly mileage: 42.25 miles

Bible reading? I'm in the book of Exodus reading about Moses.

flannel pjs

I broke one of my rules... a very recent one that I came up with... regarding not buying fabric until I have completed the project that I'm presently working on. In the same outing, when I purchased the fabric for my bib apron that I made from the "A is for Apron" book, I spied an adorable little piece of pink tulip/geometric print flannel. I bought what remained on the bolt after holding it up to me to see that it measured from my waist to just past my ankles. Perfect, I thought, to make pj bottoms. Just the right amount... if  I only had one leg, I realized when I got home. I would need twice as much because with 45" width fabric, the front and back pieces can't fit side by side when the fabric's doubled to cut out 2 of each piece. Not to be discouraged, I decided to make capri length, so I returned to the store to get a coordinating fabric to make a border which I turned up into a cuff. (I slept in them last night and the cuffs stay turned up because I tacked them in a few inconspicuous places.) Rickrack instantly transforms anything into a party, so I added a row of that to tie the two pieces of fabric together. The pjs turned out cuter, I think, than if I hadn't been forced into rethinking my original plan and they are so soft... like sleeping with a cuddly kitten. To complete the look, I will make a fabric transfer with the words "nitey nite" to scrawl across the front of a short sleeve top or tank.

   

O.K., so now that this project is completed, I give myself permission to look for the perfect fabric to make another apron from the "A is for Apron" book. This time it will be to wear out-n-about over a summer top and a pair of jeans rolled up on the bottom or a pair of capris with some gingham-patterned flip flops. I'm thinkin' summer...

Feb. 13, 2009

Today's mileage: 2 mile morning walk 

Total monthly mileage: 34.5 miles

Bible reading? Done. 

aprons

Growing up in the 1950s, it was commonplace for me to see women, especially on the farm, wearing aprons. Even on T.V. shows like "Father Knows Best" and "Leave it to Beaver", crisp freshly-ironed aprons were a mainstay. My mother was no exception so I sewed an apron from the A is for Apron book by Nathalie Mornu in honor of her. I will be wearing it whenever I am in the kitchen baking.

There are so many cute patterns to choose from in this wonderful book. For my first one, I chose a vintage-style bib apron. It was so much fun to make that I already decided which one I will sew next.

   

Dick's Aunt Tommy... I consider her my special aunt, too... thoughtfully shared the following "History of Aprons".

The History of Aprons

In the past, the principal use of an apron was to protect the dress underneath. Because most housewives only had a few, it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and they used less material. Along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven, it was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.

From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven. When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids. When the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms.

   

Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron. From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables.  After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls. In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.

            

When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds. When dinner was ready, she walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

            

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.

            

felt ghosts

 

My friend, Debbie, and I each made a set of these friendly ghosts over thirty years ago. Each October we bring them out of storage and happily remember the time we spent together making them. The ghosts are made by cutting two identical pieces of white felt from each of three different pattern pieces. We hand embroidered the smile and eyebrows and glued black felt eyes in place. A little dab of white paint on each eye brings them to life and gives them character. Next we machine stitched the two identical pieces together around the edges, leaving the bottom open, then glued on a cat and bats cut from black felt. Insert a cardboard paper towel roll and toilet tissue rolls so they will stand upright. 

 

These are the original patterns that Deb and I used to make the felt ghosts. You could eliminate the bats and cat and they would be just as cute. That's what I would do if I made them again.

scarecrow treat pail

 

I made this lined scarecrow treat pail from mostly flannel and wool fabrics. A 3-gallon coffee can fits inside. Although it went together relatively quickly considering the many pieces that are each machine-appliqued in place, the hand embroidered face with the straw tucked underneath the hat, and the buttons stitched onto the front of the overalls... it is too labor-intensive to make one for each of my five grandkids to collect their treats on Halloween. So I purchased some candy corn themed cellophane bags to pack some treats to send them in the mail. 

 

I chose brown rice marshmallow treats and "Sun Drops" which are like M&Ms but without artificial coloring and more nutritious ingredients including dried cane juice, unsulphured molasses, whole rice solids, beta carotene color, beet juice color, and caramel color. Tucked into an unbleached waxpaper sandwch bag is a handful of sprouted whole almonds.

 

The treat bags are ready to be mailed to Madigan, O'Malley, and Navan along with some fun greeting cards and an orange outfit for one of O'Malley's dolls... maybe for a costume so she can accompany O'Malley trick-or-treating on Halloween evening. Caitlin and McMullen are just 3 1/2 and 4 1/2 months old so they are perfectly content with their mommy's milk... no treat bags for them this year.

Tammy Doll Closet

When I was nine years old, I received a Tammy doll for Christmas. The dolls were manufactured from 1962-1966. Every doll came dressed in a blue one-piece jumpsuit and a pair of white tennis shoes. In addition, a plastic stand was included to support her in a standing position. My mother and I sewed every outfit pictured on this pattern envelope. To store the clothing, I constructed a shoebox closet using  instructions that were included in this pattern. My original closet is long gone, so I recreated it. When I was searching for a shoebox of the proper size, I didn't realize that they came in so many varied dimensions. An extremely helpful sales associate kindly removed the shoes housed in one that was as close in size as I could find and placed them in a generic box used for orphan merchandise. I found some floral contact paper at Walmart that is virtually identical to what is shown on the pattern envelope and what my memory tells me looked like the one that I originally made as child. Because the shoebox wasn't exactly the size requested in the materials list on the back of the envelope, I had to adjust the dimensions of the contact paper covering. Here is a photo of my completed closet.

Hanging in the closet are all of the handmade clothes that either my mother or I made. The hangers are made from chenille stems following directions provided in the pattern. The original closet rod was made with a chenille stem inserted through a drinking straw and bent downward at each side of the closet to hold it in position, however I chose to use a dowel rod for more rigid support. The only other change was the door hinge mechanism. The original closet had brads attaching the box lid to the box. Dick came up with an idea to use a 12-inch "piano hinge" that he hot glued into position. It's the perfect length and works quite well although just a tad thick when closing the door. It will close, but it's tight. I like how the closet's top is swooped down a bit. It makes it look old and used. The Tammy dolls are not my originals. I ordered these two with brunette and auburn-colored hair on eBay because I couldn't remember my doll's hair color. Both came in their original box. I still plan to purchase a blonde to complete my set. They are quite pricey, especially ones in their original box, because they were only produced for a limited number of years unlike Barbie dolls which are still being made.    

hemming jeans

I recently purchased two pairs of bib overalls on eBay. I like them for gardening. Well, I really wear them everywhere. Although I may be wearing more skirts since I devised a simple way to turn a dress into a skirt, but that's another post. The legs on the overalls were WAY too wide and they were also too long, so I first stitched a deeper inseam. Next I cut off the bottom of each leg, turned it up, and machine-stitched it all the way around. The results, as you see in the photo, accomplished my goal but not the best-looking. Well, wait until you see the results after hemming my second pair of overalls!

"Oh," you say. She hasn't done anything yet." But I have! They are shortened and the original well-worn double-stitched hem is still intact. Now, you say, "How did she ever do that?" I ran across a "How to Hem Jeans" tutorial. If you look really closely in the photo on the leg that is under the sewing machine's pressure foot, you can see a bit of a ridge, but it's not noticeable to anyone else when you are wearing the jeans. This method is unbelievably amazing and it takes less than 30 minutes... for real! For the first pair that I already hemmed the old way, I am going to add a strip of colorful fabric along the bottom. After learning this alternative method, they really look quite pitiful without some embellishment.