To Much of a Good Thing

I have created at least 4 or 5 different layouts for that fabric, and I'm still no closer to figuring out an answer to that pretty fabric.

Late last week Lady Bird brought her babies to see us.  Turns out she has three, two boys and a girl, I can't imagine and I'm rather glad they're her babies and not mine. 

Lady Bird's Daughter was not interested in be photographed and hid behind the bird feeder nearly the entire visit.

It was early in the morning when I saw this beauty out my back door.  This is a Gulf Fritillary on one of our Passion Vine Plants.

These guys are called Carolina Chickadees and they have built a next in the tree outside my DD's room.  It's sweet to hear the little ones chattering.  They are so little and so fast that it's hard to capture one of them in a picture let alone the two.

We also have the Tuffed Titmouse showing up with their little ones.

Isn't that picture funny?  It was one of my attempts at the Carolina Chickadees, and the look on the face of that Tuffed Titmouse was so comical at the swift departure of the Carolina Chickadee, I had to show you.

I've been up to this quilt, which I am calling Patisserie Quilt.  I found the floral Patisserie fabric in the Connecting Threads snail mail catalog.  Isn't it great to find something beautiful out of the blue like that?  I wanted a fabric that would really make the fabric pop, without resorting to merely making it a border or the quilt back.  This is the first mock up that I've completed.  Others came into my head and were rejected nearly that fast.  While the print has many pretty colors in it, the question is always which to show off and while to allow to stand alone.  Anyway, this feels a bit busy so I put it to you.  What do you think?  This one will be a real twin size quilt for DD something at least 55"x90".  It's not like she needs another quilt but the fabric is so pretty, I need an excuse to work with it.

My auctions

I'm selling some items on ebay and wanted to host these pictures.

This auction is for a lot of children's gently used clothes. 

Top left: Little Legends Jeans size 24 months with elastic waist in the back.  Slight wear at top edge of pants and bottom seam of ankles.  Top middle Carter's jeans side 3T with adjustable waist band.  Has detail of flower on back pocket (not shown) and has three working snaps on the outside bottom of ankle on each side.  Slight wear at waistband and ankles.  Guess Jeans size 18 months, fold line along the outside of bands is lighter in blue than the rest of the jeans otherwise they look new elastic waist goes all the way around.  Plaid capris bottom left maker unknown 2T great worn condition elastic waist in back polyester/cotton.  Circo black heavier weight leggings with single back pocket.  Good Used condition.  95% cotton, 5% spandex.  Pink Oshkosh 3T front has a snap and a zipper with two faux snaps on top of zipper on fly.  Elastic waist on back.  Bottom Right Arizona Jean Co. size 18 months faux button and fly area.  Elastic waist goes all the way around.  Very minor wear at top edge of waist band and bottom edge of pant leg hem.

One very gently used Circo jacket sized 2T, fully reversible with butterflies flowers and hearts machine embroidered on it.  There are some orange tinged marks on the under sides of the white part of the sleeves, but otherwise this jacket is in great condition.

Dresses:  Pink polo long sleeved dress by Ralph Lauren size 2/2T doesn't have the tie for the waist.  Small spot near wrist of one sleeve.  Black dress with small fushia, blue, and yellow flowers by Cheeroke 4T has buttons down back heavier fall-winter-spring weight 100% cotton looks like faux velvet.  Some wear on edges. Red Dress by Wonder Kids size 24 months, I recall the white netting sticks out of the bottom of the dress, that might just be because dd was a bit big for it the last time it was worn.  Bongo pink camo jumper worn once, size 3T has some spots on faux fly area and upper pocket.  I'm certain these happened while in storage and a good soaking should bring them right out.  Has small sequins sewn on by machine and adjustable straps.

Leopard print long sleeved shirt by the Children's Place size 4T seems to run a bit small, zipper down the back.  Top pink long sleeved shirt with girl appliquéd on front Okedokie size 18 months has three snaps on back of shirt.  Bottom pink long sleeved shirt by HealthTex size 18 months.  Love this top looks like new no matter how many times you wash it.  Has embroidery on neckline and two snaps in back.

Short overalls Koala Kids size 36 months, beautiful machine embroidery and nice jean material snap crotch and adjustable shoulder straps.  Washed but never worn.  Top blue and red gingham cheerleader style skirt by American Baby size 24 months.  Has white bikini brief sewn in with snaps between legs.  Elastic waist band.  Polka Dot skirt size 12 months runs big has a blue bikini lining - I see a couple of popped stitches along the waist which I will happily run a line or two of stay stitching over upon request before shipping.  Polka dots are screen printed and many are cracked where they were printed on the knit doesn't show when being worn.  Flat front finish with elastic in back.  White bloomers with lace trim along the legs size 24 months for wearing under dresses.  Elastic for waist and leg areas.  Green striped pants size 24 months shows a change in color where elastic gathers on waist. Yellow Shorts by Faded Glory size 24 months.  Small spot on left side of back should wash out.  Elastic waist.

Strawberry Shortcake shirt size 18 months has pilling over entire shirt certainly play wear quality.  Flower tank size 24 months Basic Editions.

Like new swimsuit Bikini.  Circo 3T Worn less than 5 times.

JCPenny Toddler Bobby socks I forget who makes these but I loved them because they don't fall down,  Lime Green, Red, Blue, White with pink ribbon bows on ankles, White with purple ribbon bows on ankles, white with small scallops of color on edges, and pink with heart embroidered on ankles.  These are in used condition and if winner doesn't want them simply let me know and I will donate them to Goodwill. 

As always my auctions include a tracking number and insurance so you need not worry about the location of your purchases.  I am always willing to combine shipping to save you money so why not take a look at my other items?  Thanks for looking.

Smoke Free home with two cats in residence.

Today I took the leap and settled down with some of that "found" yardage.  Truly I knew I had it, the fabric was leftovers given to me and I was certain I didn't have enough to make the long sleeved + long pants pjs for DD like I wanted.  It never occurred to me I suppose that I had enough to make a nightdress.  Night dresses are DD new favorite thing.  She will wear them whenever I let her and will go hunting for one when all she has is shorts and tops in her drawer.

So on to the sleepwear!  I went looking for a pattern for this really I did, but I couldn't find what I wanted.  I know so picky!  So I settled down without even a scrap of paper to help me.  Why do I do this to myself?  At one point after I cut my fabric I looked at it and thought, I have no idea what to do next!  Thank heavens my brain reconnected!  The bodice is square with a bit of ribbon embroidery on the right side.  From there the skirt is full and flows not from gathers but instead from gussets: two big ones in the front and three in the back.  I love how it opens up when she spins around.

 

More progress has been made to the house.  All of the painting is done except for my front door, did I mention it's going to be Poppy Red?  I'm thrilled over that.  DH is working on installing the second window of the day.  Which has us at 2 + the door installed and that 3rd one going in.  It's going faster that I'd dare to hope but we do have many windows.  Each bedroom has two and the living room has five.  Yes FIVE!  While I'm certain you're thinking I'm sure lucky to have DH, perhaps for once it'd be nice to think about that the other way around.  That he's lucky to have me. 

After all I picked the paint, I went to the store and got the paint.  I spent months researching windows and then made a decision and ordered them, I selected the new door and ordered that too.  All while taking care of a child that is rather to much like myself.  LOL.

Yesterday evening an entire family of Cardinal's came for a visit.  As they are a family of six it was like Sonic during dinner rush for birds.  Both parents where working hard to feed and keep track of four little ones.  Clearly there were two boys and one girl.  Didn't get a good look at the last one as it was staying a little further away, but I watched mom and dad feed them all.  When everyone was nearly done the male took the extra step to feed the female a tidbit.  Very cute.  This photo is of the mom and the two boys.  Can you see them all? 

Rest easy my friends and let us all be glad we don't have four children all the same age.

A Clean Sneeze

Do you think keeping every last scrap of fabric can clog your creativity? I truly believe that's what happens to me. Ever since I started sewing 2 1/2 years ago or so now I have kept nearly every single scrap of fabric regular less of the size. I'm working on trying to quit save quite so much if only because I'm allergic to dust and my allergies alone have had me barely glancing at my fabric and looking away in distaste. Yes, I said it distaste! More times than I can count I've been at the sewing machine with a box of tissues and then the thought of dealing with a big bag of scraps... Trying to dig through... UGH! It's a real Sneeze!

Somewhere along the line from when I started until here my brain redefined "scrap". In fact I think it happened more than once. So even in my sash I had little strips a bit of this and a minuscule amount of that. It was so bad when I took the white fabric down to sort it; it looked like a pile of tissues! Now I assure you there weren't any tissues in there, but there were plenty of bits. When I started running out of room to keep my fabric I would shove the little ball of scrap in with the others... Oh it was not pretty!

So now I have taken everything down and refolded it and went through a rather dusty and large pile of misc. sewing stuff as well. Sure enough I eventually located that elusive thing called clean.

Meanwhile DH hurried home from work early to install our new back door. That was another remodeling challenge, but luckily he was up to the job. Explain to me what is it about replacement that has to be difficult? Yesterday the window was a half an inch to big and today the door was over an inch to small. Cripes.

No pictures today of my small tidy sewing area that would require bending and my nose say's "Don't you realize you're out of tissues?!?!?!?"

The best news of all is I had more of some fabrics than I had thought and I was certainly inspired inspite of my sniffles.