Coming up for Air & a Martha Pullen Report

Yes that is me, coming up for air! Life is crazy.

 

I REALLY wish I was this girl. I might get to everything I wanted to get done.

 

I feel like this is what my house looks like. I don't think my husband would disagree. It is a cinch my sewing room does. We won't even discuss the kitchen.

It feels like I have been out of town more than I have been in. The past six weeks I have been away from home a total of two and half weeks. Time to stay put. I have sewing to do!

The first trip out of town was to Hunstville for the Martha Pullen School of Art Fashion. I had a great time. If you are a faithful reader you know that I am no stranger to "sewing camps." I think it would be safe to say including SAGA Convention for 16 years, I have been to almost two dozen different schools over the years. Not counting the workshops my local SAGA chapter holds. All that to say, going away for a sewing school was not a new experience. The School of Art Fashion was a new "camp" this time around. I must admit I was an abysmal picture taker this time around.

I had the great pleasure of meeting Kathy Dykstra. I took her "School" at Martha Pullen's. I had chatted with Kathy several times on either some sewing forums I belong to or in email. This was our first time to meet in person. She is very warm, laid back, so creative and even more willing to help. 

 

Via Australian Smocking and Embroidery

Via Sew Beautiful Magazine

Many of you may be familiar with her designs featured in both Australian Smocking and Embroidery and Sew Beautiful. So many have been on my to-do list. Much of which I will never complete. Never enough hours in the day.

This is Kathy's sample for the first garment of the school. I have to show you hers, mine ran into a snag right off.

 

See a problem here? It might not be obvious right off the bat. If you study it for a moment you will realize that who ever wears my dress is going to be a bit breezy on her left side. Because I have TWO RIGHT SIDES of the dress! Grr. Don't ask, I have no idea how that happened. I fixed that boo-boo only to make many more. I don't usually ditch something, but I purchased more fabric to start over! I love this little dress and Princess would be beautiful in it. I am determined to get it right.

As part of the "prize package" for winning the Sewing Awards I was able to have tea with Martha Pullen. I apologize for the less than stellar photo. My friend Abbie lovingly agreed to accompany me. We had a great time sharing stories about our shared passions, family and stitching.

 

I was so intent on photographing "details" of the second garment of the school, I neglected to take a picture of the whole project.

Via HS&S Forums Album

It is a sweet pink linen dress with beautiful embroidered bodice edged with corded scallops. I want to finish this one pretty quickly since it is the right size for Princess right now.

It is always inspiring to see so many gathered to learn and improve their skills. The on site retail store not so good. Don't get me wrong, it was a great thing that it was there to shop and dream but not so good on my checkbook. My husband who rarely says anything even asked "What the **** did you buy?" I gladly showed him my purchases.

Friday night was the banquet and fashion show. Darn it, I had left the camera upstairs so I was unable to get a picture of my winning dress on the adorable little girl who modeled it. I am told it will be in the July issue. I look forward to seeing it in the magazine.

All in all it was a great time, I met some new people as well as had the pleasure of getting to know one of my local chapter members better and of course spent four days stitching. It doesn't get much better than that.

From Martha Pullen's I drove behind a tornado to New Orleans for Mardi Gras with some of my kids. That was fun, I hadn't been to Mardi Gras in 35 years. Good times. I have been busy, busy, busy stitching so in the coming days I have more to share with you. Here is a sneak peek.

I hope these busy sewing days leading up to Easter are going well for you faithful reader.

Spring is almost here!

Hitting the Road

Well faithful reader, I'm off. Off tomorrow to Martha Pullen's School of Art Fashion.

 

I'm going to do a little of this.

A little of that.

Some of this. (And yes those ARE my legs! haha)

A whole bunch of this!

Then I will do a little more of this...

So I can do this with my baby girl.

And then I am going to round out my trip with a little of this. I promise not to make the news. I will return with lots of news and hopefully some stitching to show off.

Eat drink and be merry, for next week Lent begins.

An oldie but goodie. I am not going to the home of the ORIGINAL Mardi Gras this time but it is a good reminder. Enjoy

A Little European Flair

Via Kikalakuka

Pinterest can be one of those awesome places or it can be just a wasted time sucker. Okay, so it can be both of those. In the interest of the former, there is also lots and lots of inspiration. I almost wish it would run on the tv screen without me sitting here so I could sew at the same time. It is like vegging on the couch for days watching HGTV while the messy dungeon of your house sits around you. Inspiration is not very useful unless you use it. Said in my most stern voice to myself more than anyone else.

Via Kikalakuka

That being said, several European (?) clothiers have shown up on Pinterest lately and I am a fan!  I will admit that the crossed over collar drives me crazy but other than that, I love this.

Via Angelina Kids

This retailer also has a blog. Just gorgeous stuff. I love this ice blue with the soft grey and white. I know a soon to be young man that just may look quite handsome in this combination. This is a boy's romper. Not sure my daughter will let me put a bishop romper on a boy, but I can make this color scheme work for him. Now to get my hands on that sumptuous twill fabric.

Via Angelina Kids

I adore this!! Love the "square" yoke design on the full smocked bodice. And those grey ribbons at the side. Breathtaking. I have always loved pink and grey together.

I hope this little bit of inspiration got you to thinking about stitching faithful reader. I have been stitching along with a whole lot of cooking going around here.

He needs face and whiskers but here is the first of 10 Peter Rabbits. I think they will like them. Not near as classic as the European garments but cute. I have a bishop, romper and jacket in the works.  Back to it.

And in case you missed it up there, our sweet new baby will be Blue! We are excited.

Stay warm and keep stitching faithful reader.

Are you a fan?

Are you a fan of Downton Abbey? Oh we are around here! (Warning, if searching google for images, beware of spoiler alerts!) I adore everything about it.

Lady Mary's wedding dress so reminded me of the one picture I have seen of my grandmother's wedding portrait. Loved this.

Of course my hands down favorite is The Dowager Countess, Cousin Violet. She cracks me up! Every week my first thought is "What will she say this time?" She never fails to make me laugh.

This is one of my favorites. I love her. Maggie Smith is fabulous in this role. I want to be her when I grow up.

I did accomplish a bit of utility sewing.

The two kiddos needed some more bibs. The ones I made last year were in despicable condition. As always a project that you think will come together in a blink, never does. I bought a large toddler bib last year and proceeded to make up my own. I got tired of soaking Princess' clothes all the time. Toddlers are messy. I could have sworn I posted about these last year but I couldn't find them.

These are last year's crop. Prince was a newborn so he didn't need any monster bibs, these are decided more girly. I used stronger velcro this time, I hope it at least slows him down when he goes to rip it off.

More things going on in the sewing room. I hope to be back soon with progress.

Dare I Say It? .......Easter!

Yes, even if all of your Christmas decorations are not put away (who me?) it is time to start thinking about Easter. If you have more than one to sew for, they live far away, you want to have portraits done,  or you have other larger projects (think christening gown) that need to be accomplished or like me, all of the above; NOW is the time.

So what are you thinking of for Easter, faithful reader? I think Peter Cottontail may be hopping down our bunny trail again this year. He might need some modifications to use in the way I want to, but he is a definite front runner. Princess LOVES Beatrix Potter and has the complete set of little books that she pours over again and again. Her favorite is Timmy Tiptoes and Jeremy Fischer.

What Easter bunnies are you planning?

First posted at Sew Blessed

Cindy over at Sew Blessed posted this cutie a couple of years ago. So cute.

First posted at Creations by Michie'

Michie' posted this one, also a couple of Easters ago.

First posted at Smocking with Gwen

I love these bunnies as well. This was posted by Gwen Milner, who actually designed the Peter Cottontail I plan to use.

These are just a couple of bunny plates. There are many, many more. More than I have enough Easters to smock.  I would love to hear what you are planning. For now, I am off to the sewing room. I will get to those Christmas boxes tomorrow.

And in case you weren't stressed over Easter being only 80 days away, here is a little more to fuel the fire.

A Little Horn Tootin'

I have sat on a surprise for a few days. I am not one for tootin' my own horn. After some prodding, I thought I would share it with you, faithful reader.

It seems I have won the grand prize for this year's Martha Pullen Sewing Awards. I am quite tickled. I entered the Princess' Flower Girl Dress. The prize is an all expense trip to the Martha Pullen School of Art Fashion in February. I have always wanted to attend the school but timing and funds never seemed to coincide. I have gone to SAGA Convention every year since 1997, but this is the first time at MP's. I am looking forward to it.

So there you have my little secret. I hope to see many of you there.

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In other events, I have had to add the word verification on comments in an effort to cut down on spam comments. Sorry faithful reader. I hope it won't deter you from leaving comments but the frequency and content of the spam comments were getting out of hand and I was fearful that they would slip through the filter and appear in the published comments. I do so enjoy the comments and questions that you post.

The last Christmas Sewing and Moving On

The last of the one hour aprons. I made this for my oldest daughter who is a die hard Alabama fan. I love The Alabama Crimson Tide as much as the next person, she takes it to a whole new level. Sooo in honor of the BCS Championship game tomorrow, I will lead off this post with a Roll Tide apron. As you know I have made this apron twice before, here and here. The fabric came from Sew Blessed in Hahira, GA. I had never ordered from them before but service was quick and thorough.

The last but most extensive Christmas sewing project was the nine pair of Santa pajama pants. I never in a million years thought I would be making pajama pants for the whole family. I also never would have believed that all of the boys in the family would have gone with it. Ho, ho, ho, surprises do happen.

For the boys I used Simplicity 9499. Purchased at Hobby Lobby for $.99. Their only complaint was that the pants had no pockets.  Now I ask you, what do you need to carry around while you sleep?

For the girls, I had an old pattern in my stash I used, Kwik Sew 2662. This etsy seller has it, if you are interested.

Here are all nine pairs, in all their glory.

The fabric came from Hancock's. I purchased three bolts back in late October when the idea was first put forth. Luckily I found cute Santas on sale. The t-shirts were purchased on Amazon.com for $7 each. So each pair of pj's were about $16 for both pieces. Not bad considering I tried to get out of this task and looked for pj's to purchase. The cheapest price I could find for any that would work for everyone was $39. That wasn't happening.

Amazingly enough they were such a big hit, modification requests were put forth for next year. I tried buying fabric after Christmas on clearance, but alas everyone else had the same idea. No where on the internet could I find enough yardage of one print on sale. Heaven knows if you are going to look like the Griswold's, they have to match.

Out of everyone, I felt the sorriest for our son's girlfriend. She accompanied him home for the holidays. Not too bad, but remember she had only met most of the family once before, at our daughter's wedding in September. What an experience this had to have been for her. She was such a good sport about it all. If you can count, you may notice that there are ten adults in this picture, one person who shall remain nameless Matt wouldn't play. He isn't getting out of it next year!

That wraps up the holiday sewing around here. As today is Epiphany, it also concludes the holiday season. I hope your holidays were wonderful and the coming year is blessed.

Enjoy one of my favorite Epiphany carols

Brrr, Some Chilly Christmas Sewing

As promised I am back to recap some Christmas sewing. I love seasonal outfits but it seems difficult to get enough wear out them. So to maximize the wearability I went with "winter" instead of Christmas.  Princess could still wear last year's Candy Cane bishop with red leggings, so she had more options. Wildman, sorry there was no way he could wear that romper from when he was 5 weeks old. This year the theme was polar bears.

I used Children's Corner William and Winnie. Goes together in a flash.

I used some turquoise featherwale corduroy lined with matching gingham. Of course it is piped. I thought the legs of  Wildman's would need rolling up but he decided to do some heavy duty growing and that wasn't really necessary.

The shirts are purchased from Carter's. Not quite sure what happened to the shirt in this picture.

Princess is 36" tall so hers is a size 3 with 1" added in length. Fit perfect. Not the best picture. but you can see the fit. It actually does hit right at mid knee though it is hard to tell from this angle.

Wildman is 30 1/2" tall and weighs 25#. I made his an 18 months with 1" added in the stride. There is some leeway in the straps. A loving and caring Mimi with more time would have added a second set of buttons lower on the straps. Didn't happen. If he shoots up as the sudden increase in groceries indicates, his momma will learn how to move buttons. (Excuse the awkward pose and expressions in this picture. The ONLY way to get him to sit still was to turn on the Winnie the Pooh movie and I kept trying to get her to sit back some only to discover a branch of the tree was poking her in the head! Back to that lack of a loving and caring Mimi.)

This is the way most pictures of Wildman go, blurry, out of focus, and on the move.

The outfits were made for this time honored torture tradition. A visit with Santa. Where is Norman Rockwell when you need him? Or those actors he hired? It didn't go well to say the least. He cried because she did. At least Mommy didn't have to be in the picture this year. Kids may never be the same though.

I hope you are enjoying a new lease on life with the coming of the new year and have lots of sewing plans in the works. I need to go through the stash and pleat Easter. Peter Cottontail is in our future. Easter is closer than it appears on the calendar.