Pillowcases & Masks

 I sewed three more pillowcases today - these are a surprise for Julie, Kate, and Susie.

Susie gets flamingos, Kate has the bunnies, and Julie the wildlife musicians (a juxtaposition of two things she likes!)

And I made matching masks for Lisa and Tyler. I will be meeting him this weekend and wanted to have something to give him. Lisa chose the fabric.

Nature Bags for Julie, Kate, & Susie

In anticipation of Cole's family coming to visit for the July 4th weekend, I made Julie, Kate, and Susie nature bags.

Using the leftover fabric from Susie's quiet book for the shoulder strap and top of the bag, I stitched three bags that they can use while out hiking and enjoying nature.

I hope that they are strong enough to hold what they find - I triple stitched the seams on the netting. Fingers crossed!

Mila and Kate's Christmas Pillowcases

I just finished Mila and Kate's Christmas pillowcases.

Mila's is on the left and Kate's is on the right.

I love Michael Miller's fabrics!

Mila and Kate's Thanksgiving Pillowcases

Yeesh! I almost forgot to make these for the girls! And when I went fabric shopping, both at brick and mortar stores as well as online, there was NOTHING available. Luckily, their mamas liked what I had on hand.

Mila is getting the green on the left, and Kate the "Gobble Wobble" on the right.

I will mail Kate's today or tomorrow and hand deliver Mila's since she lives just across the river.

Thinking ahead, I asked the mamas about Christmas fabric choices, and have those cut out, matched to thread, and ready to sew.

Mila's and Kate's Halloween Pillowcases

I love sewing holiday pillowcases for my grandchildren. I just finished the Halloween pillowcases for Mila and Kate.

Mila is getting the pumpkins and the owls are for Kate.

It's just the end of September, but the holiday fabrics are out. I need to go look for some Thanksgiving fabric now!

Kate's Birthday Pillowcase

I absolutely LOVE the fabric that I used for Kate's birthday pillowcase!

Bright, cheerful, gaily colored birthday balloons!

Mila and Kate's Patriotic Pillowcases

I sewed Memorial Day/4th of July/Labor Day pillowcases for Mila and Kate this afternoon.

Kate's is at the top and Mila's on the bottom.

I do love sewing pillowcase sets for each grandchild!

Kate's Quiet Book

Kate's quiet book is done! I began in early January and have been working on it every Saturday. I am so pleased with how it turned out.

I could not find the matryoshka fabric I'd bought for her book even though I looked everywhere in my sewing things, so I went with some mischievous monkeys instead.

This page is a family favorite. My mom had the idea to add the dashed lines to show the bees' path so a part of her is in this book.

 The barn applique is new and adds a lot, I think.

 I put this page in Mila's book and Emily asked for it in Kate's (I saw the idea online and recreated it.)

 A page from one of our favorite childhood books.

 Next time I am going to find some bird appliques or clouds to add to this one.

 I drew the cattails; the dragonfly applique is new.

 This page takes FOREVER to make, but is worth the time.

 Those are earrings that Kate can wear.

 Cole requested this page - a connection to the family apple orchard.

 The rainbow is a new addition to this page.

Something else new that I tried was to color the velcro so that it wasn't just stark white patches on the pages. I think it blends in much better.

 As I was making the cover, I noticed that I was running short on thread.

 And sure enough, I ran out!

But I had another spool that was a very, very close shade, and it worked to finish the cover and make the pillow.

I can't wait to give this to Kate when she comes at the end of May!

Kate's Quiet Book - Making Progress

I am on Spring Break and so yesterday I spent most of the day in my horse room working on Kate's quiet book.

This panel is the furthest along, but there is still some final coloring and sewing to do (as you can tell by the missing apple on the apple tree.)

The panel in this photo is the one I worked on for the longest yesterday. If I could just use one color of thread for everything, that would speed things up tremendously. The tiny apple took four colors, brown, green, red, and white, and some of those colors only had a few stitches. (For example, the apple's stem had a total of five!)

But I am more interested in making something that will last and hopefully be a hand me down to my great grandchildren and so I put in a lot of work that is essentially unnoticed. I back everything with felt or cotton and that takes forever to do. I also use high quality stitching which means lots of thread changes and stitch-type variations (zigzag, straight, buttonhole, decorative, etc.) But I do think it's worth it in the end!

All the pieces are cut and prepped for the third panel of four pictures. I learned a long time ago (Kate's book is my seventeenth!) to have everything cut out and prepared so that they are ready to go as it makes the assembly of the pages go so much faster.

The grandchildren seem to enjoy the fruits of my labor whether it is a quiet book or their holiday pillowcase set. Kate and Julie just received their Easter package from me, and inside was Kate's Easter pillowcase.

You can see it tucked under the book on her lap.

I enjoy it, too!

Kate and Mila's Easter Pillowcases

Easter comes just two weeks after St. Patrick's Day and sort of snuck up on me. Today I quickly stitched up Mila and Kate's Easter pillowcases.

The yellow one with chicks is for Mila and the purple with bunnies is for Kate. The blue one is for Anna, my student teacher's daughter.

Mila and Kate's Valentine Pillowcases.

We had a surprise snow day Tuesday, although it was really for ice, not snow. No local or regional forecasts predicted the sleet and freezing rain that we received, and so none of the roads had any applications of beet juice, sand, or salt in preparation. The roads quickly became very, very slick, and so almost all area schools canceled classes for the day.

Including mine. And let's be honest - what teacher doesn't love a snow day? An unexpected opportunity to sleep in a bit, read a good book, catch up on a few chores? I'll take it, and today I chose to make my snow day a "sew day."

I sewed Valentine pillowcases for Mila and Kate, both of whom turn two this year and so will be getting their holiday pillowcase sets. (I also worked ahead and made Mila's St. Patrick's Day one, too.)

Each pillowcase takes about twenty minutes to make.

And I tag them with orange postits so I know which one goes to who (I don't want to use the same fabric that I used for one of their siblings.)

The Valentine ones are done and just one more St. Patrick's Day to make for Kate. I am also beginning her quiet book, so stay tuned!

Sewing with Trinity

Arriving from Colorado for the holidays, Sarah brought a project for me to work on as a very special Christmas gift.

Trinity wanted for my help in making a baby blanket for Kate.

Her mama ordered the fabric and brought it with her, but Trin and I bought the backing fabric here in Lafayette at JoAnn's.

We worked on Kate's blanket late at night after the little cousins had gone down for the night.

But, once or twice we had to sew while the smaller cousins were up.

 Julie was very persistent in wanting to help us.

 We all got the giggles over the "extra help."

It was so worth it to watch Trinity on Christmas morning when Cole "helped" Kate open her gift.

 It was a very big moment for Trinity.

 I love the expression on her face - the joy of gift giving!

Later, she helped Kate out her new blanket and cuddle on the couch.

Kate's Blessing Dress

Emily and Cole asked me to make Kate's blessing dress.

 With help from Emily, we picked out a pattern...

 ... and some cute eyelet fabric. (I love fabric.com.)

I got busy about three weeks before the blessing, cutting out the lining and the dress.

I discovered I had not ordered enough eyelet fabric and had to order more. Luckily, it came in time for me to get the dress sewn.

 It turned out SO CUTE!

 Emily and I agreed that a grosgrain ribbon around the waist would be a nice touch.

 Perfect! And, as a surprise, I invited Emily's sister, Cathy, to knit some flowers for a headband.

Because everyone was in town, Curt, Kyle, and Andrew stood in the blessing circle.

 A moment to hold Kate as we took pictures.

Vanessa helps me adjust Kate's dress before a photo.

Here's the bow that Cathy knitted.

It was a lovely afternoon, and while we were all sad that my mother's death is what brought us together, it is also what provided the opportunity for all my sons to participate in Kate's blessing,