A New Project, Bear's paws

When I finished the smocked dresses and the crazy quilt bear, I felt as though I could start a new project. After much consideration, I decided to make another crazy quilted bear. This one will be larger than the last one and it will be made of cotton and silk fabric. So far, the fabric has come from my stash except for the purchase of the felt for the bear's paws. I haven't finished piecing all of the parts as yet but I did complete two of his paws. I put frogs on them because I love making bullion frogs. The other two paws will have bees on them, I think. I used DMC threads for this project.

The Gift is Finished

I'm happy to report to you that I finished the smocked dresses this afternoon and will deliver them to my daughter tomorrow afternoon. The baby shower is next Saturday. I always make smocked dresses in size two or three so that they can hopefully be worn more than once. Too much work goes into making them to make them in a size that a child will outgrow very quickly.
The pattern I used is McCall's #3531 in size 3. I used view D and added pieces to the smocking insert and then cut out the yoke. Also, I added the ties in the back because I like that look.

A Gift in the Making

Several weeks ago my daughter asked me to make smocked dresses for a friend of hers who is having twins. This friend loves fashion and I happened to have a smocking plate with pocketbooks on it that I thought would be perfect. After calling several quilt shops in my area I found the fabric to co-ordinate with the smocking. Today I completed the picture smocking and will immediately begin the back smocking which holds the pleats in place. Hopefully by the weekend, I'll be able to start the construction of the dresses. I have to have this project completed by September 18, 2011 which doesn't give me too much time.

Crazy Quilt Bear

Several months ago, I met a woman who makes and sells bears who had an old patchwork quilt that she said she'd cut up so that she, two friends and I could make bears. My part in this was to teach embroidery stitches to be used as trimming on the bears. This week, my bear was completed when his ears were sewn on and his mouth and nose were embroidered. This project was lots of fun to do and now I'm thinking about making another bear from new fabrics. Because this bear was made from old fabrics I was constantly concerned with the strength of the fabric. All in all, I'm pleased with my bear.

My Hussif

Three years or so ago while looking through the Crazy Quilt on line magazine I spotted several hussifs and fell in love with them. In preparation for Marcy Tilton's surface design workshop, I started the crazy quilt block. While at Design Outside the Lines, I silk screened some of the silk. When I came home from Taos, New Mexico, I made the patterns for the pockets and flaps and began the process of embroidering and sewing on each of the pieces. Yesterday, I sewed on the cording and attached the front to the back and today I did the last of the finishing work, sewing on the button and closing up the hole that I used to turn the piece right side out.

Dog Sitting

I spent this week with my son's two Bernese Mountain Dogs so that he, his wife and three children could go on vacation and not worry about their furry children. When I wasn't taking care of them and paying attention to them, I worked on some projects, a quilt block for my calendar quilt, a doll dress for Adina's Bitty Baby doll, and a tape measure that will be a gift for a friend.