0-3 months white dress

My oldest daughter had been working on a gift for a baby cousin that had yet to be born.   This is for a kind aunt and uncle, my in laws, who let us stay with her when we had mold damage in our bathroom of our home which caused us to leave our home.  Which took several months to remedy.  The aunt uncle  are kind and let us stay at their home through an operation on one kid and several illnesses in my children they where and are good sports about the whole thing.  We love them dearly.

This dress is hand crocheted in size 10 thread.  My daughter added 2 antique mother of pearl buttons to the back and tons of ribbon roses to the dress.

Santa stocking

Have been working on the Santa stocking for my cousin been in bed most the last few days.  So it is making a little bit of progress.  The one on the right is the one I am trying to match color wise. I think it is pretty close.  My tension so far is pretty close to that of the original sock I am copying.  But we will see what happens when I get to the intarsia part the color work area of the socks hanging and the Santa body.  I have not done much intarsia so in my knitting it is very much a week point for me.

 As to the color matching

• My cream is a little light in color but that could  be age of the old wool.   
• My red is a brighter red also could be age.  
• My green is more a blue green that has nothing to do with age I just had a hard time matching that color and the skin tone well I purposely made that a tiny bit darker less pink more peach also for that part since so little is used it is tapestry wool.

• The angora part the beard that is not coming out as close as I would have liked it to be.  But since the store only had one type of angora I had not a whole lot of say in that part of the yarn choices. 

Because of the intarsia color work the pieces is knit flat then joined in the round after the green section is done.

a few projects

Last night I started to knit a pair of what the author calls traditional Portuguese lace socks.  This is in the hopes they would help me to figure out the toe section I want to do on the fair-isle style  yellow and red socks that I want.    Those yellow and red socks I want to make have a stitch  count of 12 to 14 per inch.  That may not seem like much but when you look at a single square inch that equals 144 to 196 stitches which is an insane about of stitches per inch... If you then  compare that to 91.375 stitches per square inch for the lace pattern of the sock just started yep it will take 8 to 12 times longer to knit.  My kids got me sick last night or I would be further along on this.

The pattern for the lace socks can be found In Andrea wong's etsy store
 
Other projects started at my home.

I am doing cross-stitch contract work.  Two of them to be exact, they are wedding samplers.  This is for the same lady I have done all the baby announcements for in the past.

My middle daughter has started to make a few hand made books.  She is using the coptic book binding technique taught on a long time ago on my blog but she is using paper instead of fabric.  I think she is making six of these.  She has been real sick for a while so this is something she can do while in bed.

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There is also another knitting project on the horizon. This is a knitted Christmas stocking for my cousin Eric.   We as children: my 6 cousins and my older sister brother and myself grew up together at my Vova's house  ( grandmother's house).  She had the nuns in the area hand knit us all  Christmas stockings.  Some how a few years back my cousin Eric's went missing his was the second oldest grandchild stocking.   So I am borrowing my oldest cousin Kelly's sock to make a copy of it to give to Eric, this was requested by my Aunt Nonnie.  I could have just bought one on Ebay or Etsy for him for 40 some dollars that would have been the same pattern but it would have been made out of acrylic yarn.  Ours being the age they were are made in all wool.  So I will be making his so it will be made out of wool like the rest of them.  Won't be the original but it is as close as I can do.

Now to just buy the pattern and of course knit it.

Beads for a wedding

My family has been helping my sister in law with some wedding stuff.

My daughter is helping her aunt with some special wedding items.  My sis-in-law had a necklace and only one earing that went with it, the other was lost long ago when mom was alive and owned the set.  This set was from my mother in law my sister in laws mom of course so it is sentimental and special to her since mom is in heaven watching over all of us.  So we wanted to do it and the people it represents honor and use it at the wedding... all of it.

My daughter cut apart the original earing before I could take a photo of it.  But I have this photo that my sister in law sent when we originally discussed this idea and it shows the necklace too she will be wearing at her wedding.

supplies used

• seed beads

• gold 
• off white silver lined
•  bugle beads
• curved gold arched metal
• glass cut glass-gold
• mother of pearl
• 2 hair combs
• 2 clip on ear-ring backs
• 1 steam of rhinestones found in wedding area of hobby lobby we cut it apart for parts
• gold wire
• beading tools... wire cutters needle nose pliers and so on
• silk florist corsage leaves
• wood skewer for final flower made
• floral tape
•  jump rings
• beads from the one original ear-ring 9 discs one roundish central bead

So my middle daughter Azure set to work dismantling the one earing so she could make a set of ear-rings two hair pieces and with the left over three pieces from the earring she made a flower her aunt could keep as a memento.


My daughter made two hair combs one with some of the original beads for the central flower and then she made a second comb that had no beads from the original hair clip but was a compliment to the first hair comb.

Next she made two ear-rings we still had to get earing clip backs when this photo was taken.  She made them into drops with the original beads as the dangle.  She could have made the ear-rings with two dangles each but it was starting to feel a little to big again so we opted for just one dangle hanging from a rhinestone.


After that there was three disk beads left and the central bead from the original earing so she made her aunt this flower to keep in vase so she could remember her wedding and her mother.

 These photos where taken when she was still making the hair piece originally it was a little larger and we made it smaller after her aunt saw these pictures as she doesn't want large things in her hair just small accents.  So these photos below are what is left of the original work before she and I dismantled it.

65 flowers

So today was a family get together to help one of my sisters prepare for her wedding next month.   My children and i sat in a room making 3 boutonnières, 2 corsages, the brides bouquet, the bouquet toss bouquet 11 arrangements for tables and 65 origami flowers... my children also helped make oriental fan decorations and lanterns and hanging paper ornaments for the wedding it was fun doing this for her she is such a nice person.

We also collected some beads to make her hair piece which me and my middle daughter will work on together.

My youngest and sewing class

My youngest daughter has taken a sewing class at school.  I know it is funny that I have not taught my children to sew.  But I have taught them embroidery, crochet, tatting, knitting, bead work  and many other things.

Sewing is something still taught in schools so I have figured they could learn as I did in school or community classes and self taught.  She first took a cte class last year where she made an apron I have no idea where that item is and she also hates it for the way the teacher taught her how to sew it.  My children do know what sewing is supposed to look like so when they get taught wrong they know it pretty quick.

This year so far she has made a wind sock followed by a muslin bag.

My daughter wants to take the wind sock apart because she does not like the fact that the teacher had them use cotton and not rip stop fabric.  That was the first thing she said when she came home with the project.  The teacher uses the wrong materials for projects.  So she plans on making it into two circle draw string bags. She is learning in the class, she is usually ahead of the class and board out of her gourd and becomes the teachers helper to get the rest of the class caught up.  So she is what I thought she would be.  Because she has been around it so much I figured she would learn better on her own and she would have but this at least keeps her focused on certain skills and will be useful then she can go off on her own later.  For a beginner her work is great.  I wish her much success in her class I hope she does not get too board in it.

For her second project the made a muslin draw string bag.  Because I had given my daughter red thread for her class it looks sort of like red work on her bag.  They were supposes to do 1 to 2 fancy stitch embroidery on the bag when making it so they could get use to fabric interfacing as a stiffener.  As you can see she got done quickly and did more than one or two.  I told her it looked like a traveling shoe bag.  She said it was just a bag but yes the size was right for that so that is what it will probably become her bag to put shoes in, in her suitcase so other items do not get dirtied by them.  I actually really like this real simple little bag.

She is sick in bed today so I wish her well.  You can see her to the right she does not feel great.

Her current project at school is a sort of back pack with a pocket with a 7 inch zipper.  I am proud that she is taking this class and learning I am also proud that she excels at it as I figured she would.  Doing hand work and things of that sort has always just been part of our family.

Good luck to my Baby Bug in her projects.

And so it begins... Trek

My family is LDS ( Later day Saints).  One of the things we like to do as Mormons is to remember our past and look to the future.  One one way of doing that is to go on trek.  My family this summer all 5 of us will travel together to do a four day trek.  I hope this will be a very binding experience for my family.  The start of that is to sew clothes for my family to were during those four days.  Two outfits per-person  for my family that means 8 dresses, 4 aprons, 4 bonnets, 8 pantaloons... 2 shirts for my husband ( he will buy his pants I think).  So this is the start of that project  I could make blouses and skirts but that is harder to me to carry more items so I will make dresses. 

I found some of the fabric at walmart the striped one the cream with tan flowers and the white with blue flowers.  Not were I usually shop for fabric but it was 2.50 and on clearance and a very light weight cotton so I think it will work well especially since this is only for four days did not want this to be terribly expensive.  The rest came from my stash of fabric the plaid i used for little woman and I will be using it again using the same pattern I used in little woman.  In fact all 8 dresses will be the same pattern in the exact same size  as me and all my daughters pretty much wear the same size dress these days which will make this go faster.  One of my daughters the youngest has actually passed me in height recently so this will not last long that we can do this.

If you want to see the dresses pattern  all fancy for plays follow these links below.  But for trek I will make them much more simple with less layers so my daughters and I do not over heat.
from Little woman
Amy's blue  dress 

Jo's red dress

Meg's blue dress

I also made a brown one for beth and two gray ones for beth but not sure I ever made a post on them and a gray  black white one for jo but never posted about them.

Beth's Gray dress with pink trim and Amy's blue dress with apron

Beth's Brown dress with 100 year old lace  Amy's blue dress Jo's  red dress

Amy's first dress with red trim and Beth's brown dress

Jo's dress black white gray with red flowers this was the actresses favorite dress of the play

Beth's dress with White trim Meg's Blue dress

The first dress all the sister's in little woman wore for act one all the same dress pattern just embellished differently to make them look different.  Amy's red and gray dress Meg's blue dress Jo's red military dress and Beth's brown dress

So this is a pattern I have made at least 7 times already  i think actually 8 times and will make 8 more times I can pretty much make it in my sleep these days.

Crossing Fingers

I applied for a contract job at UVU yesterday. Wish me luck I think the interview went well ( 3+ hours). I know it is only a short term job but I have lots of talent to share and I could learn so much working for the costume department for the university for a few months.

I am thinking of going back to college as a student to get a BFA in Theater Arts with an Emphasis in Costume Design.  Life is interesting how it changes and grows and goes back to the beginning all at the same time.  Not sure yet but I am putting it out there.  What do people think on this that know me or follow my blog just curious.  My oldest daughter said cool mom maybe we can take classes together.  I love my kids they are my rock at times.  My husband seems all for it too could not ask for a better family.

Pre-Valentine's Day

My grandmother was a florist for years, so was my aunt, my older sister, and I was a florist for years.  So yes you can guess correctly in that Valentine's is like one of my least favorite holidays because it always meant lots of work and not seeing those you loved.  It also meant customers coming into my work because they felt guilty not because they wanted to make their loved ones feel loved.

My grandmother is in heaven and this is now one of those holidays I think of her.  Which does make the holiday a little better to me as I remember working with her side by side when I was a little girl.  When I think of her I think of the little guardian angles she passed out I have two types from her.  My Aunt Virgie actually started this tradition but my Vavo carried it on.  I have saved many of these tokens over the years I plan on giving them to my grandchildren on their 8th birthdays at their baptisms as a gift from their great great grandmother in heaven.  I think it will be special or at least I hope so many generations tied together in a little token.  I have 12 tokens so I have saved 4 per child of mine if some have less than four I will save them for those who may have more than 4 kids.  Yes there are two types of angles that are different the silver colored ones are the more prized ones as that is the type most people in my family remember but she did pass out two types of angles.  Most probably do not remember the rest (the goldish coins) but they are all still from my Vavo.

The photo in this post is of my beautiful  Vavo and two of my three children when they were little people.  The picture in the picture on the right of two of my children they are wearing two dresses that I made them for Easter one year one is sewn and one is crocheted I made the headband too that the younger is wearing.

Hope you have a lovely Valentine's with loved ones and remember the day is about love for all not for guilt.

Knotty gloves, civil war, origami

I have been working on alterations for costumes for a local theater company Hale Center Theater for Les Misérables.  Having fun and learning lots the best of all things.  So I do not have much to show for that.Sorry but alterations never look like much even though they are a needed thing.

But I been making a civil war dress that I might put up for sale in my etsy shop so watch for that.    If has over 25 yards of fringe on it already and may get up to about 30 yards and over 7 yards of upholstery fabric and a few yards of yellow satin liner and contrast.  Hard to tell in the photo but it is a pretty dress.  It is obviously only half done.  I plan on making lots of costumes in the near future for sale.

I also frogged a raspberry colored sweater I was given by my mother-in-law.  It is a cotton rayon blend this is nothing but a bunch of yarn balls now waiting to be used.  This photo was taken during the process of dismantling.  There wear some mighty big snaps on that sweater.  It was a style of sweater I would not use but the yarn I liked.

 

My oldest daughter started a pair of gloves recently using Patons Kroy black sock yarn.  She raided my yarn stash with out asking.  But I guess that is ok since she is making the gloves for me and I have wanted to make these for a few years.  So now I get them and all I had to do was have the yarn.  she is leaving the tips off of the fingers so I can still use my phone.

My youngest daughter as always is playing with origami.

So this is my families last week in a nutshell although we did have ball room performances too. The girls,  my oldest two, also went to an 80's dance.

Snowy Feather Lace Cape Finished

My kids had a concert choir retreat this weekend.  I got called by my middle daughter saying my youngest had to be rescued off of the mountain and that I needed to go up there.  My family is bleeders and this is what she was afraid of that my youngest was having a joint bleed and a bad one. Several of my family member have Von Willenbrand's Disease it is genetic similar to Hemophillia.  So I had to instantly go up the Canyon about an hour drive to where my kids were.  With her medicine and bandages and so on.  Since this was four hours before the retreat would be over I took my knitting project with me.  Easy to do as it was already  in my car.  I took care of my kid and then sat down for the retreat to be over and continued to monitor my youngest.

 

While sitting there I got all but the last row of my knitted cape done. Which I did when I got home as well as getting wet and hand blocked it.  It was a pretty quick and easy knit to do.  I really like the way the lace came out on this project.  I do not usually get to make things for myself to keep.  So it is nice to make something for myself.

I would say more about the accident but I would not be able to say anything good about the rangers and their lack of help.  I am grateful for the father of one of my middle daughters friends.  Who packed out my child on his back for a mile.  Not a small feet since she weights 125 pounds.  I am grateful for my middle daughter who kept her head (not like the teenagers with her who panicked) she got help and took over when the EMT's did not know what to do.  So she checked for a break or a sprang.  Then placed the compression bandages on my youngest after she had iced the ankle by packing her glove with snow and stuffing it in my daughter boot so it could be cold but not make her sock and pants wet ( oh yes the EMT's did not even have those bandages she had to go buy them).  I am glad my children have been taught to be self reliant and to keep a level head too.

Amusing the name of this is snowy feather because my daughter who is 13 years old, was snow shoeing and only weighs 125 pounds for her height of 5 foot 6 a feather at that height.  It will always be a reminder of the day she was carried off of the mountain.  So apropo.