Elephants

These elephants were in Grandma Ruby's embroidery pattern collection.  They made me smile.

Dresses

This year I'm making two dresses for Halloween: a "Baby" dress for my friend, Lida, and a "Sherlock" dress for myself...

They will be the third and fourth dresses that I've ever sewn.  Dress Number 1 is a hideous green linen that lives in the back of my closet, while Dress Number 2 is a Jamaican floral print that I actually wore to two weddings this summer.  While my success with Dress Number 2 has inspired more self-confidence, I would love to actually know what I'm doing.  So I was really excited to discover "The Couture Dress" on Craftsy.  Yesterday morning I bought the class and then spent most of the day watching the videos lessons.  Couture sewing is going to take an eternity, but the results should be worth it.

I've go the pattern pieces cut out.  Next I need to mark the stitch lines then cut out and mark the muslin.

I made this sketch while proctoring the ACT this morning.  After four hours of fiddling with it, I couldn't get the shoulder to look like it wasn't disjointed.  : /

Threads

"Everyone has a quilt story.  It's about being loved and cared for.  And I think that's one of the things I'm trying to say with my work.  So if people think about the time their grandmother wrapped them in a warm quilt, it's perfect." --Terese Agnew, on Craft in America Episode VIII. Threads

Summer Adventures, Fall Projects

It's been such a busy summer, full of travel and adventure...

Catadupa, Jamaica 

Waterton Lake, Alberta, Canada 

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone 

Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Naches Peak Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park, Washington

But now it's September and back to business.  It's time to get a head start on donations for the church's craft fair in November.  So I've been knitting up dish cloths...

And embroidering kitchen towels...

And last week I caved in and joined Pinterest.  My first Pinterest inspired creation: the ubiquitous gray cowl.

Piecework

Last week I joined the sewing circle at my church.  I spent a morning pinning quilts together and listening to the older ladies talking about the delights of JELL-O, among other things.  Two of us worked on pinning quilts while a group tied squares in the dining room.  I took home a stack of squares to piece together as homework.