Summing Up

I notice other bloggers having been reviewing and totally their production for the year. That struck me as a fun thing so I have done it too. I had thought before reviewing that I hadn't really made very much this year since I have been away from home so much. It amazed me to find I had made 59 things. A few are not much.... scarf, baby blanket.. but most are the usual project ranging from simple knit tops to jackets. I didn't do any really time consuming projects this year except for a quilt to hang in my grandson's room. No major lined jackets, fitted dresses, etc. I see a shortage of dresses and pants which I'm feeling in my wardrobe. Here's my breakdown:

Knit tops                   16

Woven tops                 8

Knit skirts                   4

Woven skirts                3

Knit pants                   1

Woven pants                2

Lounging gowns           2

Jackets, Coat, Cape     11

Knit dresses                 2

Costumes                     3

Baby                            3

Men's shirt                   1

Quilt                            1

Scarf                            1


Addendum: Silly me. I forgot the 3 most recent items as they haven't been photographed yet. I guess they are not real until they have a picture taken. 1 woven dress, 2 knit tops.

Simplicity 4434 Baby clothes

I wanted to make a gift for my expectant DIL using a fun fabric. I had made a great blanket for my other DIL using a flannel monkey print and minkie. They are still using that blanket after almost 3 years. I found this wonderful animal print at Fabric.com in Minkie and looked for a flannel to harmonize. I even ordered one with this one but the colors were horrible together. I had also ordered the polka dot Minkie in the same colorway to use for another project. So when these arrived and I had to discard my original plan with the flannel I looked to the dotted fabric to be the reverse. The fabric was thinner than I had expected but that worked to my advantage in this case because using the two together was not too heavy. By careful cutting I was able to make the blanket and have enought left to make this cute little cape. Miraculously I also found a could squeeze out the matching pants. These baby clothes don't take much yardage!

Pattern Sizing: I cut size 6 months. I don't know about how it will fit as the baby (known to be a girl this time) is not yet born.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Very easy. Nice instructions for making the tassels and pompons, something I hadn't done before.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? Cute style, maybe not the most useful for a baby but easy to put on.

Fabric Used: Animal print and dotted Minkie fleece.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: No changes to the cape and pants. The blanket was my own invention. I was going to make the shaped bunting on the pattern but the bias binding I had looked terrible with my fabric. So I changed plans mid stream and cut one square for the blanket smaller than the other, laid the smaller inside the other, mitered the corners and brought the edges over to look like binding.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? Yes. Now that I see how easy it is to make baby pull on pants I will certainly not hesitate to make more. Really only about 20 minutes.

Conclusion: Cute little set. I'm eager for the my new GD to arrive to see it on her. Really, I'm just eager to have a granddaughter. I have 2 boys, my sister has 2 boys, my brother has 3 boys and 1 girl, my son has 2 boys. You see there is an extreme shortage of girls for me to dress.

Kwik Sew 2935 Aloha Shirt

Wow! It has been a long time since I blogged. As usual life has been hectic. A trip to St. Augustine and Savannah from Thanksgiving to the first weekend in December threw me off my usual Christmas prep. We had never been to that area and loved it of course. Lots of wonderful history, architecture, and even Christmas events to attend.

Once home I plunged into the frantic Christmas activity deciding wisely to not decorate as much as usual since, not only was time short, we aren't going to be home from the 22nd to the 28th. Just as I thought I was getting it under control my son called with a plea for a Christmas themed Hawaiian shirt. He needed this for a gig coming up soon where he is playing next to Santa at a shopping mall. The hiring agent really wanted him to wear a whimsical themed shirt. He always performs in Hawaiian or Caribbean style shirts as he plays the steel drum so he has a vast collection of such shirts. He has several that I thought would be good for such an event with red flowers and green background. But no, not good enough. So I ran off to Joann's where, although the Christmas fabric was picked over, thankfully it was 60% off. I managed to find one that didn't look too tacky and raced home with it.

Of course it took me longer than I expected but it was fun making this. The most amusing part was watching my son, via web cam, try to measure one of his shirts with a 12 inch ruler. Eventually he got the required measurements for me to proceed. I mailed the shirt to him and he got it in time for his gig tomorrow. He reported via email that I am the Christmas shirt genius. He said it fits perfectly and the agent will love it. I am a happy mom.