Stitch in Time May 2012

[EvaJ]

Debby, I hope that what Jen said about the pants, will help and you can get on with making them fit. The blouse pattern is great. I agree with the fabric but then they will go with the purple pants.

I finished up the doll clothes this morning. They are pink linen and I used the last of this fabric for the hats. These hats I remember wearing when I was a little girl. Going to church on Sunday always meant you had your coat and hat to match and white gloves were worn. Things have really changed in this day and time.



These dolls are 24" and 22" tall. Then I left enough fabric in the cuff area that if the sleeves have to be let out for the taller or longer arm doll that the people can do that.

[DrDebby]

Eva, darling little coats and hats. Times have surely changed.

Thanks Bonnie. I didn't model it because I was taking the picture when I was home alone. I don't know how to set up a time delay shot on my new camera, if it even has the capability.

Jan, thanks for your 2 cents. I did measure crotch length and that's where I'm going to have to make adjustments. Because of the severe point and curve down the leg, I don't get the full benefit of the straight length through the crotch area. Just looking at your little pants pattern shows me that this, even tho' drafted according to the directions, is the wrong shape. I have an idea to fix it and will, when I can get back into my workspace (DH is using the space right now. ) give it a go. Thanks again, you confirmed what I suspected was the problem. The inside curve is the wrong geometry.

Today DH is home (as mentioned above ) and my cutting table is in the room with his computer. When I open the cutting table up to work, he can't sit at his computer. So... I may wait until he's back at work. Today was taken up with meeting with our "contractor" for the bathroom. He was telling us what we have to do to demolish our bathroom in preparation for him putting in new. He also likes to visit and was here for almost 3 hours. I have an appointment with the dentist tomorrow, so am still being careful today. I'm also supposed to get my paper delivered that I ordered to make books. I need to get on that fairly quickly if I'm going to get a journal made for mom for Mother's Day on Sunday.

[blestlady]

Hello all.....Eva, the coats and hats are just darling. I have to use Debby's word because they are!

Debby, I have a real nice Canon camera and I just point and shoot. I know it can do a lot more than I use it for. Have never used a time delay. I think mine has it but not sure either.

Just took care of plants, bushes, small cedars just planted and all outside. I needed to fertilize the bushes I planted last summer. They are doing well. Also just saw 3 lovely hollyhock blooms on the plants my church friend, Dot, gave me a few weeks ago. First I have seen and they are pink with dark purple lines radiating out from the center. I love it! Some she gave me have double blooms, those are seeds. I have to wait to plant them. "After May 10th" must follow the rules.

Tom and I walked down the hill to the mailbox earlier around 1:00. He was going to take the trash can back up the hill and I was just going to get exercise. Saw my neighbor out digging a strip by her driveway to plant tomatoes and peppers. She already has cabbage growing there. I went down to talk to her and we sat out in a shady spot by her garage door. Three hours later I was home! She couldn't believe it when she saw a school bus going by. It was nearly 4:00! We both like to talk. I thought Tom saw me go over to talk to her. We were walking back up the hill on opposite sides of the driveway but he didn't see me go down to Fern's. He said he watched a whole episode of a show he records, worked on the lawnmower and talked to someone on his ham radios inside the house and in the car! He said he knew I was ok. Think he knew I was talking to one of the neighbors.

Needless to say I got little done at home today!

Here is the hollyhock.

[blestlady]

Here is the bib I finished tonight to add to the bib and "shoulder protector" set for the friend at church.


It's a Lily Chin Signature collection pattern. I made it all in one piece which is different from the pattern which added the ties and border separately and showed it in 2 different colors. It is in cotton yarn like the other items I made for the baby.

[poochemio]

Debby you got a camera? Well that's a good thing. I think that your shirt would be great to wear to your booth at the farmers market with all those vegetables on it.

Bonnie, hope my hollyhocks make it up this year, there are supposed to be some on the property. Cut bib.

Cute cute outfits Eva. I had to wear gloves to church when I was a kid, and a hat.

Laundry day, so I went to town, dropped some stuff at the thrift store and bought another student sized desk, this is a newer one, sort of like the ones we had when I was in elementary school, metal frame with adjustable legs. Don't ask what I'm going to do with it, I don't know, I just know it needed to come home with me and the price was right, and if I get tired of it, it can go back to the thrift store. Needs a good scrub and maybe a bit of paint, we'll see tomorrow.

I did some stitching on my denim skirt this morning, it stitches pretty easily. I wanted to try out some stitches and techniques from the online boro class I'm taking. Nothing like actually doing something to remember it. I'm thinking of turning the skirt into a stitch journal...just a thought, it may not happen, it's a cool blank canvas in my eyes, and rather boring in a way as is. I did take a photo of it before I started so maybe I'll do a wip thread, but not tonight, past my bedtime.

[rue d'oak]

morning all!

Debby, glad that the fitting ideas were a useful reality check.... pants are such a bother!

Eva, love the pink coats and hats. Yes, I grew up with never going into San Francisco without hat and gloves! OK such social decorum was a bother in ways, but there was an elegance to daily life that we have lost.

Silly me, Bonnie, I meant to comment on your burp cloth project. GREAT idea!! And what a great place you are living in, when you can stop for such a long chat with a neighbor.

Hello to Margo!

Jen

[EvaJ]

I am sitting here wasting time waiting on my order that is on the UPS truck. I want to see and feel all my new fabrics and fur.

[DrDebby]

Bonnie, cute flowers. The bib is cute too. Are you still working on the shrug?

Margo, would love to see a WIP on a denim skirt used as a stitch journal. I think it would be awesome. Yes, I finally got a camera. It's a General Imaging camera for 1/2 the gift card I got from the dead one and the same functionality I had on the previous one. The lovely thing is besides a 2 year warranty, it runs on AA batteries. Something I was told wasn't made anymore. But here it was sitting on the shelf at the Radio Shack in the city. I was able to get DH new speakers for his computer and a huge pack of batteries all on the gift card. It was great.

Hi Jen. Yes, pants are a bother. But, while I'm fine wearing a dress most of the time, there are times I want to wear pants. With us going on a cruise in September, I'll want pants for shore trips because I'm sure there will be climbing in and out of buses or walking around or something. I'd just feel more comfortable being able to wear pants.

Eva, did the UPS truck arrive yet? What did you get?

I went to the dentist this morning. I gave him what for about the crown. He claims that the tooth was damp/wet when they glued it in place. He said he noticed it but was hoping for the best. Here I was thinking maybe I was mistaken to be upset about it because this tooth has seen a lot of dental work and maybe it was done being a tooth. After all this is the second crown. I was having visions of having an extraction or something equally gruesome. But, no, the tooth was wet. He claims that mid process when he noticed it, it was better to continue than to try to back everything out. I suppose, but, he could have warned me rather than me having a surprise last Saturday.

I've told y'all how small my place is and that doing one project precludes me doing any other project. Well, I've spent the balance of today, when not at the dentist, re-arranging my little world so when I'm not tripping over DH, I can open up the cutting table and get back to work on the pants. I'd really like to be making books, but the paper I got is 24" x 36" and I need to full cutting table to be able to do that too. I did get a different brand of graphite pencils to try. I was not happy with the Derwents I have. So, maybe it's time to pull out the sketchbook... yeah, that's a good idea.

[poochemio]

Debby I'm so glad your camera dilemma is solved. You certainly want to be used to a new camera before a trip.

The weather is stormy today, the clouds are amazing. I should probably get some pastels out and try and sketch them that way. What kind of pencils did you get Debby?

[EvaJ]

It is 4:30 and I still am waiting............

[EvaJ]

Well the box finally arrived a little after 5. Too late to do anything tonight but I will start in the morning. I got a lot of fabric, one was a grab bag of fabric all in white and off white. then some satin in red and pink, a glitter net, a light green gaberdine, white on white brocade, and of course the white and grey fur. I need to make some fancy dresses for the holidays and they had all this fabric at a large discounted price. The fur was discounted but still was $26 a yard but they sent me 70 inches of fur and it is 60 inches wide so I have a lot. I have been a customer of theirs a long time.
So tomorrow I start on the fur. Tonight I am crocheting and watching tv. Or I should say the tv is on and I am listening to it and looking up every so often.

[blestlady]

A year ago today we moved into our house here! Closing was April 29th but we spent over a week cleaning it and working on the leaky faucet etc. This year has flown by! I am 100% a mountain girl now.

And yes, Jen, it is a great place to live. My SIL told me recently (she is in FL and loves it) that we seem to have more friends here in a year than we ever had in FL in 30 years. I think that's true, too! We knew lots of people in FL from being there so long, but we seem so much more at home here and are enjoying the people so much more for some reason. I think we fit!

Debby, I put the shrug aside temporarily until I get the baby stuff done and ready. Tonight I'm making a washcloth just making it up as I go, it matches the last bib, or same yarn anyway. Wet tooth, huh? That dentist doesn't sound like the brightest crayon in the pack, does he?

Eva, you sound like us tracking your UPS delivery. Well, we have to so we will be on the lookout in case the guy does something stupid like give the package away to the first person driving by as he sits there thinking how much he does NOT want to go up our driveway! But we also do it because we want our order by the time we order it, lol. You sound like me waiting to lovingly finger a yarn order. What are you crocheting tonight?

Margo, I'll look forward to the WIP thread!!

Ok, I'm off to bed........I kept us up till midnight last night and I lay in bed till around 1 a.m. going to sleep, yet awake at 7:00. I got up and Tom slept till almost 10 a.m. I felt like he needed it and it was my fault we were up so late. I piddle too much at night on the computer, TV or crocheting.

[poochemio]

Bonnie, I'm so glad that you feel your new home such a good fit. I totally understand how you feel, after 6 months I feel the exact same way about our new home. You know my sleep patterns have totally changed since the move too. I'm up at the crack of dawn most days, no matter how late I went to bed. This is a total change from a lifetime of staying up to the wee small hours and then sleeping in. I think it's kind of exciting. We also have to sit and wait for our deliveries, not sure where they would leave it if I weren't home and who wants the sun beating down on it all day, or the coyotes tearing it part.

Eva, it sounds like you got quite a cache of treasures there. I'm excited to see what you make of all of it. You just seem to grow more inventive with your fabric and dolls by the day. If I were a collector of dolls I would want them all to be dressed by Miss Eva!

Spent the day yesterday sulking because I felt crummy or sleeping. I sketched a bunch in a book I bought at the library cause it had such luscious laid paper, then went to be at 5ish. I woke up at 6:30 with a wonderful idea fresh in my mind. Made sure I told my guy about it so I didn't loose it. I was in woe about my latest purchase, the metal school desk last night before I went to sleep, what am I going to do with this to make it not a depressing addition to my studio. I'm going to dismantle one of my old falling apart dictionaries and tear up the pages and decoupage the whole thing, inside and out and the legs included. It may take several layers as the paper is very thin, but I'm so excited about the idea. It fits, I first became enamored of dictionaries sitting at a desk just like it. I have one in every room, cause if I have a question about a word I want to be able to answer it immediately. We saw a show at a museum in Santa Fe a couple of years ago where the artist had covered a variety of useful everyday objects with paper, I think it was newspapers. It was very cool a whole sitting room tableau where even the lamp and it's shade were covered. I thought at the time what could I use it one. Well several years later and in a dream it came to me. I'm so stoked. Those pages may end up covering much more than the student desk. I wonder if glue will stick to plastic? I have all of the kitty litter bins filled with art supplies and sat up as a stair case for my cat so she can get to the overhead racks where she likes to sleep. Off to look at my mod podge jar, UNLESS someone has a better idea on glue to use for this project.

The little skirt was on hold yesterday cause my hands hurt but I'm still percolating ideas. This online class I'm taking with Jude Hill has gotten my fabric and thread ideas boiling over in a manner they haven't been in years. A very good fit for me the way that woman thinks and muses. I just wish I didn't have to stop to eat or sleep.

Well off to do some artistic musings and doings. Just simmering away here in the high desert!

[EvaJ]

Wonderful idea to cover the desk in paper. I have never used Mod Podge. I have used white glue thinned down for this type of project and then covered it with poly. I sure want to see what it looks like when you are done.

Right now I am working on a fur doll coat in the fur I got. The coat is already together and only have to do the lining up and we will see what it looks like. The fur isn't quite what I expected but it should work.

Off to cut out the lining and sew it up and add it to the coat. I am also running the washer and dryer. Don't have to watch it, I can hear it when done as the utility room is next to the sewing room.

I love the house we live in too. We have been here 8 1/2 years and I still love the room we have and how it is set up. I am comfortable and I can't say that about some of the places that we have lived. This is our last house and I never want to have to move again. It is also paid for so I don't have to worry about getting kicked out.

[EvaJ]

Stopped back in to show you the jacket I just finished from the fur I got last night. Fully lined and a antique looking hook an eye closing at the neck. Shown on a 16 inch Strawberry Shortcake doll.