Dressmaking

Happy New Year!

I bought some very sweet Christmas fabric featuring May Gibbs designs to make a dress for Jenni to wear to school during December.

Maternity dress patterns are very few and far between these days and the patterns I had from when I was pregnant seemed far too dated.  I used a Vogue dress pattern for this dress but it was a little short in the front so I added some extra inches to the centre front when I made it again.

The maternity t-shirt pattern I had from 1982 is still ok and the pineapple fabric I found in Spotlight was cute.

Jenni really liked the Christmas dress and sent me some links to fabrics she liked in Spotlight - beautiful cotton poplin and cotton/linen mix.

When I was shopping for these fabrics, I also looked for fabrics for more t-shirts and cotton knit dresses.  Was very pleased to find the Jocelyn Proust print for $5/m if I bought more than 3m.

Jenni the day the parcel of dresses arrived:

There was enough of the animal print fabric left to make a dress for me.  I've never worn animal print and haven't worn the dress yet.

There was also dressmaking for T's Original Girl Doll - these for were a Christmas present.

Mill Hill cross stitch santas and an angel were made for the little ones this year.  I make a handmade decoration for them each year.  Next Christmas there will be four.

Christmas 2020

Mum's self-designated job each year is to spread out the ornaments on the Christmas tree after the grand-children have placed them on the tree.

Decorating this year seemed to take much longer than other years - probably because my brother, Philip, and I have been doing work on the verandas, replacing the railings, and this has led to even more work (as it does) painting trims, the front door etc.

The garland of pre-school/kindy artwork is my most precious Christmas decoration.

Friends gave me a gift voucher for my birthday and I used it to buy this beautiful red berry tree - it's much sturdier than the white tree and Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs are much more secure on this tree.  I'm thinking of leaving the tree out year round.

Mum was very happy with her woven Christmas Tree wallhanging from Jenni and Kurt (made by Jenni).

We were extremely fortunate that our family could be together for dinner on Christmas Eve after all the uncertainty of the previous couple of weeks.

Picnic

A client asked for an orange quilt and decided on a smaller version of "Picnic" designed by FigTree and Co - the lady had bought another orange quilt of mine as a gift for her sister last year and wanted a lap quilt to complement the first quilt.  I had a few of the fabrics still in my stash so I was pleased it all came together so well.

The binding is the same fabric as the first quilt

and Jenny (AngelCake Quilting) used the same Pearl Swirls design.

"Sewcialites" Block 12 is Faithful designed by Thimble Blossoms:

A few weeks ago I made some blocks to start "Stroll", also designed by Thimble Blossoms.

Section 1

Sections 2 and 3

Section 4

I don't think the quilt top will be together before the New Year - there is too much dressmaking and Christmas sewing happening at the moment and most spare time is spent working on the veranda upgrade.

Had a very busy weekend - T&H stayed over Friday night and Saturday, Elizabeth and I went out for dinner then to a drag show on Saturday night and Gulli came over on Sunday and Monday.  Mum visited each day as well so it was great she was able to spend time with the little ones.

Chinoiserie No 2

My daughter-in-law claimed the first "Chinoiserie" quilt and I had so many floral fabrics still in my stash I cut out another one a few weeks ago.

It was finished in early December and I love how it turned out.

I asked Jenny (AngelCake Quilting) to use the same design as on the first Chinoiserie - Narnia.

Mum turned 93 on 4 December.  Quite a few of the family crammed into her unit for dinner - it was a fun, loud time and Mum loved it all. 

Beautiful flowers sent by Jenni and Kurt

"Sewcialites" Block 11 in Cheer designed by Me and My Sister:

The pile of Hourglass a Day blocks is growing

and I had to sew a nine-patch together to see how it looked.

I think I'll be making 49 nine-patches.