Well, it's quilting time.

It's been a long drought of new posts and such. That's completely my fault. I was in a very long and dusty creative block. Then, my sister had her baby. And it was QUILTIN' TIME! Thank you dear sweet Sullivan, you helped me out of my slump.

Here's some of the work I did that helped me back into the sewing creative groove.

These were leftover fabrics from another project I had done years earlier.

Another zig zag pattern? Yes I think so.

I made this design wall out of a 8'x4' piece of wall insulation foam board.
Wrapped in a piece of batting and then flannel, I never have to get on the floor to lay
out a quilt again!! Genius. It just lays agains the all, and is super lightweight.

Final idea approved my myself and my sister, and my mom.

I pieced it together, and then just did a basic stitch in the ditch to quilt it on my machine. 

Note my children's artwork and notes adorn my design wall.
I can use straight pins in it as a bulletin board as well.
I always have those around.

The backing had a little piece work in it. I rarely have enough fabric for the backing, and I love pieced backs. It's like two quilts in one!

 My dear little niece, Sullivan.

Thanks to Tery Wiemers for the
embroidery machine help.

My sister Sully is a teacher at a local high school and she helped me to get this embroidered with her name and date of birth. Big Thanks to Terry Wiemers the fashion design and sewing teacher who let me use the embroidery machine and worked it for us.

Actually I must thank Sully, without her I wouldn't have done this at all. Like I said, I was in a creative slump. Sort of. My sister was having a baby in May and was planning on name her Sullivan. So my older sister the original Sullivan, Sully to all of us, insisted we do a project together for our new baby Sully.

Sully: "Ruthie, we need to do a project for baby Sully. And by us I mean, that we brainstorm a project, and that you do it for me."

Ruth: "That definitely sounds like one of our projects."

Now Sully, is and was an artist and art teacher, and Home Ec teacher. And this was apparent even when we were children. She taught me art, and how to make taffy, and how to make candles, how to silk paint, and read me stories, and created treasure hunts and musicals that are lovingly recorded on video for all of our combined amusement and horror. For birthday presents, she would give me "gifts" that were more like projects. Like blank paper and water colors, or gave me an assignment that I would sometimes finish. Once I became a full fledged member of the BFA club, (bachelor of fine arts) we would work on projects together. And by together I mean, she would start one and I would finish it. She has been one of the most ardent supporters of EVERYTHING I do. Well, especially quilts. So after much brainstorming of ideas for little Sully, we decided to do a quilt. Mostly I decided because Sully and I couldn't agree. Maybe this was her plan all along. Hmnn, she's a mastermind older sister right?

So thanks big Sully, and little Sully, and Gracie for conspiring to help me get some fun work done.

Thanks and thanks again.

Ruthie

Nightgowns for little girls

My little goose is a wiggler. She can somehow manage to thwart Sarge's and my attempts to dress her, diaper her, keep her in one place for more than a second.

Most days and nights she's in nothing but a diaper and a t-shirt because she kicks and squirms and pajamas with legs are too demanding to put on her. She can take off leggings or pants like some sort of un-dressing Houdini.

I had tried putting her in dresses but she got her knees caught up in them when she tried to crawl. Well, guess what she's doing now....walking. Which means a whole new world of clothing and pajamas are opening up to us....or so I thought.

Almost everything for little 11 month old girls is two piece outfits, usually a tunic with leggings, or a shirt with leggings. The pajamas all have zip up or snap up legs, and again the 2 piece pajamas are all legging based. It requires two people to put her in pants or leggings. And most of the time after the diaper changing acrobatics, we just want the crying and squirming to stop.

I have pictures of myself younger than her wearing nightgowns. I guess that went out of fashion for babies. Maybe because they weren't fire retardant, or because kids are walking later. Who knows.

Me in an adorable nightgown with my baby doll.

 I found a bunch of flannel, and disney themed tricot nightgowns, but they all start at 24months or 2 T. And I tried to find 2T in an actual store, but they were just not there. I found them online but I cant try them on her that way now can I?

It's colder now, so I want to dress her in something, diapers only wont cut it, and she pulls off blankets when she sleeps.

What to do?

Sew something, obviously.

I went to Target, Belk, and Walmart. No baby nightgowns. So I found a cute long sleeve shirts at Kohls, and then went to Hobby Lobby to find some knit fabric. They had about 6 bolts of knits. Which is a shamefully paltry selection. They have 65 bolts of fleece though, so go figure. I'm guessing very few home sewers sew on knits. I couldn't find any colors that I really liked so I had some prints, and a pink knit. (which I'm not fond of)

Here's how I went about this little sewing adventure.

Buy a shirt. I went a little bit bigger than her size (12M ) and got a 18 M.
It's a waffle knit from Jumping Bean brand, in Kohls. It's a baby doll fit
which I thought would suit the idea.

Try it on your baby and measure where  the hem falls
and where you want it to be. I wanted an extra 4 inches.
(give baby something to play with or else
well, she's so wiggly)

Cut some knit fabric in double the measurement
that you needed to extend the shirt

I needed it to fall 4" lower than the hem, so I cut 9 inches
8 inches is doubled, and I added 1/2" seam allowances

Fold it over, (the folded edge will be your new hem.)

At this point I gathered my fabric at the cut edge. 

Measure agains the hem of your shirt, cut to fit the hem
measurement, and sew the sides. Pin the panel on the hem making
sure there are no gaps.

Sew with a serger, or with a zig zag or another stitch
which suits knits,
*take the pins out of your fabric BEFORE
it goes thru the serger*

When I finished the first gown I didn't like the look of it, so I took the extension off, and cut more knit, and gathered it at the unfinished ends. I like that better and then sewed the ruffled knit panel onto the hem. 

* depending on your gathers you may need double the length you had before* 

I used a zig zag the second time to attach it to the hem.

I did a few more. The last two I added ruffled woven fabrics, since
I couldn't find colors I  liked in knits to match them.

Dress your adorable baby in her nightgown/dress

Totally works as a dress too!!

So here you are, a tutorial on how to make a cute dress/nightgown from a shirt.

(All credit for the design goes to my Mom, Patti, who did this same style for me in the '80's. I have pictures of me and my 6 sisters in dresses she made from t-shirts that she added skirt onto.)

,Ruth

11 months and look who is walking

11 months

She took two steps in September. But this week, or rather the day she turned eleven months old, she started walking in earnest. She's still crawling, but it wont be long until she's running.

She pretty much already "run's the show" if you know what I mean. She likes kissing, and biting. Usually at  the same time and it's a bit painful. She has less issues with solid food (the puking thing) so that's a big plus. 

Oh my goodness she's found some attitude as well. If you don't do what she wants, screaming will ensue.

But overall, she's just so wonderfully happy. She smiles, she grins, she squeals with delight and makes everyone fall in love with her. She's just charming and lovely, just like her older brother at that age. 

Smiles, smiles and more smiles.....that's my little girl. 

Her big brother is 4 years old and is as imaginative  and affectionate as ever.

He likes helping me, when I'd rather not have help. And will refuse to help me when I truly want him too. 

Oh kids.  

He's trying so hard to keep her still....but she's just too
wiggly.

Great kids, great times.

Rudy