A couple of things

First off I think I had mentioned in an earlier post that my #2 daughter has learned to smock. So I made her a couple of ready to smocks for her to give as baby gifts. I hope she takes pictures of the finished gowns so I can brag on her. But here is the gown I made for her. It is the same gown as the ones from the Wee Care post except in an infant size. It is from the Ginger Snap Daygown Book IV. Imperial batiste. And I used a simple Swiss beading for a sleeve cuff. An added pretty without being fussy. She can leave it plain or weave ribbon through it if she wants to dress it up some more.

I am a big believer in natural fibers but there is very much a time and place for a poly/cotton blend, especially if it is as nice as Imperial by Spechler-Vogel. It washes well while still looking nice.

The second finished project is an Easter Egg. I know this has no place in the grand scheme of usefulness but it is cute. A friend and I were asked to teach smocking for the local EGA chapter and since it is almost Easter we thought Easter Eggs would be appropriate. I am a project class taker, I personally hate a "practice piece" class. The challenge in that though for a chapter program is that it had to be small and simple because there isn't much time. So this fit the bill. My picture has a blue cast to it and I have no idea why. I could work and work on that or I could just post the picture. I chose the latter. It pretty much has all of the basic stitches, outline/stem, cable and baby waves. There aren't too many stitches that a person can't make if they have done these. All others are just a combination of these.

I won't say that this is the best stitching I have ever done but it conveys the idea so I can go with it.