Another of Mrs. Mary Lee's quilts ~~ finished

I am happily reading Boris Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago. It's slow going—I'm on page 113 of 560—but the story is getting more interesting as I advance. Pasternak won, but declined, the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1958 for this volume about Russian life beginning with the Bolshevik Revolution moving through World War I to 1930. One reason that the novel is a struggle is that I have to stop and research events, people, terminology, and so on, quite often. It's a big undertaking, to say the least. Why am I doing it? That's another post. 

I've been working on a few small projects. One project seems to be ongoing—that's some little shorts and pants for Miss Milly. She is potty-training and occasionally has an accident. Keeping her in clean clothes is easy. If there are extra clothes!

I decided that it's easy enough and cheap enough to make shorts. Plus, I don't have to go shopping—the best reason, I think. The fabrics were in my nursery stash. Two pieces were too small to make pants, so shorts they are. 


The weather predictors in our area keep promising that it's going to turn cool any day now. Finally we can feel a little dip in the temperatures, from high 90s down to mid/low 90s. Eventually we'll need some pants, so I've made a couple pair of those and a couple capris, as well. These two are ready for hems and elastic and two were worn home before I could get pics. 

The other project under my needle has another of Mrs. Mary Lee's quilts. The blocks in this one are especially pretty and difficult. Every block has four Y seams! Who would want to make this many Y seams? I guess if you've already made well over 100 quilts by hand, a few Y seams aren't too much to take on. 

I liked the square motif so much that I decided to stick with it. I call this "squarish" but, while I thought it up on my own, I've seen it on Pinterest since. I guess I'm not the only one with good ideas. 
It reminds me of 1960s Formica counter tops. 

I'll leave you with a few pictures of Mrs. Mary Lee's very pretty quilt. It's 70" x 86" in size and it will go home to Anna, who will trim it and add binding before giving it to a family member.

   

Milly's Bubble Romper ~~ A Finish!

I decided this morning that I would work on one small project and try to get a finish. And goodness gracious, I did it! I've been wanting to make a little outfit for Milly, but I had a particular pattern in mind. An hour of searching in the studio did not unearth that pattern. 

However, I did find a bubble romper pattern which I like very much. It's a New Look pattern by Simplicity that is no longer in print. I bought it almost 20 years ago and used it to make Dusti a couple of outfits. It seems appropriate to use the same pattern for Dusti's little one. 

It also looked like a quick, easy project. It is. But it had been a while since I've used this particular pattern. The back closure gave me fits. I finally managed to create a placket. Not necessarily the one in the directions, but a closure none-the-less.

And Miss Prissy was in a cranky mood, until she finally fell asleep--after one dirty diaper, a bottle of apple juice, a rocker and a good ten minutes. Whew! Getting her down when she is over tired is a job for someone younger than I!

Anyway, while she napped, I sewed like a mad woman. My inspiration was this lime green butterfly print. I had to place the pattern pieces with extra care because I was using an oddly-shaped, scrap fabric. There was just enough.

I thought I'd get away without the directions, but eventually I was forced to pull out the Bernina instructions. I couldn't remember how to shift the button hole stitch to the next section. I also had to practice button holes on scraps because, well truthfully, it's been so long I didn't feel terribly confident. And though they will hold, they won't look great doing so. I guess I'll need to practice a bit more.

Choosing buttons also took a little time. There are so many choices. I auditioned two sets but eventually chose the lime green. 

I insisted that we try the outfit before her mom took her home. It's too big. But not by much, so I think I can cut it down and get the right size without too much struggle.

She is growing so fast that she'll probably out-grow it before the summer ends. I think I'll make one without the piping. That slowed me down more than I expected. I have a feeling that there are a few more shortcuts that I can make. That will mean I can make several of these that we can use for play clothes throughout the summer. 

And that's my finish for the day and the week. 

I'll Be Linking Up With These!

My Quilt Infatuation (NTT) 

Crazy Mom Quilts (Finish It Up Friday)

Busy Hands Quilts (Finished or Not Friday)
Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!)

News on the Home Front

Is that our daughter-in-law, Stacey, has a new job. She will become general manager of a restaurant not far from here. There's a caveat, however. Isn't there always? Stacey will have to attend a training which IS far from here, so she'll be gone for days at a time...for a few weeks. 

Since the other adults in their house are working adults, someone has been wrangled politely asked to take over babysitting services. Guess who that someone is? Why did I retire? Did I have big plans? Is it possible that the universe is conspiring? 

Now don't get me wrong. Milly is a doll...sweet and beautiful and good-natured. Perhaps having so many adults in her life means she's also a little spoiled. Regardless, when she makes "pretty eyes" it's impossible to walk away. So I've been enlisted. 

Learning the word no

Expect more baby posts and pictures for a while. If today was any indication of how things will go, I won't have any sewing to share. In ten hours of Milly I've accomplished a nap and a few pitiful little pincushions. 

Remember that I made a bunting for a friend earlier in the week? Well, cutting those triangles left me with lots of unused right triangles. They couldn't go in the bunting and there were so many that I decided to use them right away. 

Bunting and pincushions together

I sewed two pieces together along the angled cut, which gave me a rectangle. Then I cut those rectangles so I could mix up the different fabrics. I really love this soft, romantic collection. 

Actually I pulled the fabric from my stash. I could have pulled more pieces like these but felt that I needed to repeat some of the fabrics so the bunting would have a cohesive look. 

In the end I cut two pieces from most of the fabrics though not all. Regardless, my friend loved the pictures, so I'm calling the bunting a success, and that means the pincushions are also a success, right? 

 Back of pincusions

I also used some of the fabric to piece the backs of the pincushions. In the end I used almost all of the scraps to create these four.

Baby Amelia Bibs ~~ finishes

taking selfies in a new bib 

Our granddaughter Dusti often works on weekend nights, and needs a babysitter. In come the grandparents, ready to cuddle, change, feed and bottle the little stinker. She seems to grow and change quite a bit from one week to the next. Last week she pushed herself backward in her stroller. This week she can push forward and pretty much go where she wants. 

Milli is a cutie! But she drools, spits, and blows bubbles non-stop. Which means she needs a clean bib quite often. So that's what DeeDee made early this week. In fact, I made four. I really like these little bibs. A friend bought one at a craft sale and asked another friend to make a few. That second friend asked me to work on a pattern. 

I made quite a few changes, but the basic idea is that there are straps so the baby's arms have something of an armhole. The straps prevent the baby from pulling the bib off, and the width and length of the bib really help catch the dribble.

It's wide enough to go under the arms a little and cover the shoulders. I bought a cotton terry from Lola Pink while there last week and also these cute baby prints. Can you believe I had no baby prints in the stash? 

Before making the first bib, I figured out how to avoid using bias to close every seam. It was bulky and looked messy unless the stitches were exact. I wasn't happy about either one, so I changed the design to add some length and to almost eliminate the bias, though it does still form the straps and a tie for the back. If I make more, I'll change the ties to velcro or snaps. Otherwise, I'm loving the four I've made. 

Linking up with

Sew Can Do (Craftastic Monday)
My Quilt Infatuation (Needle & Thread)

Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!)

Busy Hands Quilts (Finished or not Friday)

Rolling Along

I made two discoveries today. First if you want an organized space, I have a fast way to make it happen. 

Knock the entire organizer down. Haha  As you pick things up from the floor, you may as well put them in order. It really doesn't take very long to decide, get started, put things away. It all happens rather quickly. Try not to say the words I used...that slows things down.

The other discovery is that babies will sleep and play while you quilt! Dusti called and ask for free babysitting for a couple of hours. A "couple" became five or maybe six. Who keeps track when multi-tasking? 

Don't be fooled by the cute pictures. Great-grandies can scream just as loudly as ordinary grandies. But for the most part we had lots of fun, and DeeDee (that's me) quilted for almost two hours while she napped, played and hiccuped. Apparently babies like long-arms as much as dryers.

Ariel's visit

Since I agreed to babysit Marley for a few minutes and I needed to run to Walmart, I thought I'd do both at the same time.  I can't sew with grandchildren underfoot, and especially with this little rascal.  Besides, I figured a quick trip with a three year old wouldn't cost too much in the way of time or money.  Surprise, I was right! 

We walked out with string cheese, grapes, and a car booster seat...all for about, oh, $20.  Wait, I forgot our reason for going in.  I needed some muslin to match the color I'm almost out of.  So, we did drop by the sewing department, where we also saw some Ariel fabric. 

For those of you not privy to the world of princesses, Ariel is the underwater princess of Disney's Little Mermaid movie.  I thought I'd skip by quickly with the excuse of first finding what I needed, but she did not forget the almost-promise. 

Our conversation when something like this:
"You got what you needed?"
"Yes."
"Good, now Ariel."
"No, we have what we need.  Let's just finish so we can go."
"You promised." 
"I did not promise."
"You said a almost promise, so we havta go."

By the time we got home I'd decided that the half yard of Ariel fabric would make a cute, quick skirt for her.  I was right, except for the ripping and resizing I had to do to get the elastic tight enough for her skinny little rump and the amount of time I needed to settle her down or the time needed to hear the whole Disney story. 

Funny how a three year old doesn't get that if I'm the only one who remembers the name of Ursula the bad witch, I might know the story.  Her animated version is much more interesting than Disney could ever possibly achieve.  That is partly because she plays all the parts and jumps/dances around in the telling, including swimming on the floor.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to work on the current project which, it so happens, does not include a Disney character.