New Year's Aspirations for 2015

"The Principal Business of Life is to Enjoy It."

Samuel Butler

I find, as I get older, that I have spent so much time being mature, responsible, grown-up, and adult that I sometimes forget to just have fun!  Yes, life is serious, but joyous, too, and  we are meant to savor it.  Just gaze at the look of euphoria on little Chloe's face last Easter when she was finding eggs on our front lawn.  We should find little things everyday that make us feel like that!

I prefer to set forth my Aspirations rather than the formal Resolutions typical of this time of year.  They are the steps to take for the dreams, hopes, desires, and wishes I hold for 2015.

My daughter, Victoria-Rose, and I had a fun but rather hot time in Downtown Disney this past July.

Aspirations for 2015

(Not in any special order.)

1. Write in my Gratitude Journal more often.  (I wish I could say 'daily but I know that I would be setting myself up for failure!)   
2. Daily Devotions/Reading in the morning to begin the day.
3. Make time for physical pampering weekly.  
4. Go to sleep (or at least be in bed) before midnight...every night (or at least most nights).
5. Remember to find the five best parts of my day and give thanks as I go to sleep.
6. Become ESOL certified.  (I need 60 more continuing education hours in this area before June!)
7. Write one 'snail mail' letter a month.
8. Make time and PLAN for fun!  (Weekly dates with Tim and/or the children?)  
9. Walk more!  Move more!  Dance?!
10. Make a photo book on a site like Shutterfly.
11. Blog more than last year.  (This should be easy.  I only blogged eleven times last year!)   Maybe once a week (or more).
12. Complete three or more UFO's in the sewing room.
13. Complete holiday/birthday or 'deadline' sewing at least a week in advance.  (This would relieve stress!)
14. Use at least two of the vintage patterns in my collection in 2015.
15. Use at least two of the Oliver + S patterns in my collection.

Planned Fun:  Lukas Nursery in Sanford, Florida

We spent a lovely but very hot day at Lukas Nursery in Seminole County last July.  What an amazing place!  A huge selection of gorgeous plants and a Butterfly Encounter with 'flying flowers', quail, and finches.  The encounter is one of the 25 largest tourist attractions in Central Florida and admission is only $6!

Sweet husband Tim and me each with a butterfly feeding on nectar on our fingers.

"Remember that some of the secret joys of living are not found by rushing from point A to point B, but by inventing some imaginary letters along the way."  Douglas Pagels

Happy New Year!

Blessings!  Peace and Joy to All!

                                          "I heard the bells on Christmas Day
                                           Their old, familiar carols play,
                                           And wild and sweet
                                           The words repeat
                                           Of peace on earth, good will to men!"
                                                                         Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
                                                                                                            "Christmas Bells"

The Santa in the center was on my Mother-in-law's tree the year she was born over 90 years ago!  The Mrs. Claus over his head to the left was made by my godmother for me back in 1976.  The crocheted snowflake in the upper right is part of a set made as a wedding gift by my husband's aunt.

It has been much too long since I last posted.  I  could give lots of reasons for the absence but the biggest is... once you stop, it is hard to make the time to start again.  We have been richly blessed and we are all doing well.  In fact, 2014 has been the first calendar year that my husband didn't spend time in the hospital in a long time!  Thank you, Holy Spirit!

We did lots of renovations to our home that has kept us topsy-turvy.  We now have no carpet at all in our home, only tile and hardwood floors.  All the rooms have been repainted and I have new window treatments in my bedroom!  Yay!  The fence has been replaced in the backyard and new sod laid there.

Both my children are doing well in college (full-time students) and both work.  Victoria-Rose teaches piano and voice and Logan works with a contracting friend of ours remodeling, painting, etc.  I have loved having more time with them over the past couple of weeks.  We will be back to school on Monday.  I am in my 27th year of teaching kindergarten at the same school I helped open in 1988. (I have been teaching a lot longer than that, though!) 

I have been busy sewing, cooking, and creating and have lots of projects to share.  Some I will wait to share at the appropriate times of the year.  Here is a little taste of things to come:

As Sarah Ban Breathnach says at the beginning of her book Simple Abundance,  "January, the month of new beginnings and cherished memories, beckons....    This is the month to dream, to look forward to the year ahead and the journey within."  I look forward to dreaming, creating, and sharing with you!  Come back this week for a peek at what I put in my niece, Kelly's, 'hope chest' shower gifts and for my 2015 New Year's Aspirations!

"S" is for Soft & Pretty Slips, School & Showers

I confess that I have neglected this blog to immerse myself in other things... lots of happy, lovely things.  I am having the most wonderful time with my kindergarten class.  It is so much fun to watch them grow academically, socially, and behaviorally.  It is a joy to go to work everyday!  I am so blessed!

My big news is that my sweet niece Kelly got engaged to a lovely young man on Valentine's Day and will be married this August.  I have the delightful privilege of hosting her Florida bridal shower in the first week of July!  It will be a Tea Party Shower and I am having such fun planning the menu, gifts, etc.

I believe Kelly met Josh at their church and they are just perfect for each other!  He is doing graduate work on his Master's in Divinity while managing a restaurant.  Kelly will finish her Master's in Counseling this May.  She has spent the years between her BA in psychology and her current studies in counseling in the mission field, most notably with extended stays in different parts of Africa.  She is petite, caring, kind, compassionate, loving, gracious, and beautiful both inside and out.  I am beyond happy for her!

Well, I've discussed School and the Shower, now for Slips!

Dresses and skirts always hang better over an appropriate slip, whether you are 2 or 92!  I have made so many slips that I couldn't even begin to tell you how many.  The first one pictured is one of my favorites to make:  Martha Pullen's Fancy Slip and Pant*ies.  It is easy to make and comfortable to wear and the embellishments make the slip special.  My Victoria-Rose had many of these slips. One favorite one was in soft pink Imperial batiste to match a pink French sewn Easter dress.   I have seen small size versions of this slip used as a little sundress over fancy pant*ies.  This one was made a couple of years ago for the little girl of a young woman I had taught to smock.

This half slip is very quick and easy to sew.  The fullness is perfect for under the full gathered skirt of a basic yoke dress.

Here is another half full slip.  This one was made for Cassidy several years ago to wear under the lavender floral dress I smocked for her.  She loved it so much and her mommy thought it was so fancy that she wore it as a skirt!!  She rarely wore the slip under the dress as intended.

 Here is Cassidy in the lavender smocked dress.

A blessing for you:

May your life be like a 

wildflower,

growing freely in the 

beauty

and joy of each day.

Native American Proverb

"S" is for Sugar & Spice: Chloe and her Valentines Day Outfit

Katy from No Big Dill is sewing through the alphabet.  She has kindly invited us to link our blogs that coordinate with the letters for each week.  (Thank you, Katy!) I'll be linking this post HERE for "S".

This sweet and spicy outfit was made for my favorite three year old:  Chloe.  She is truly 'sugar and spice and everything nice!"  All the fabrics and ribbon were from stash.  Yay!  The black and white is a piece of treasured Mary Englebreit fabric and the multi-hued pink is a piece of unknown batik.  I used the PDF pattern "The Fairy Tale Dress" from Tie Dye Diva for the dress and adapted the blouse from  McCalls #6062.  I made size 2's for 3.5 year old Chloe.

The back is taken in with the ties inserted into buttonholes in the back:  no elastic!

Here is Chloe wearing the outfit on Valentines Day in her mother's kindergarten classroom.  She is sporting a pretty new haircut...to repair the one she gave herself earlier in the week!  (Sweet as sugar, spicy, and spunky, too!)  We all loved the way the handkerchief hem looks on this sweet little dress!

  (Guess why this shot is cropped!  LOL!) 

The outfit fit her beautifully!  Love that bow in the back!

Here you get an idea of just how tiny Chloe is in relation to her mom's classroom.  She is standing on a stool that lifts her up at least a foot off the ground.  The tables are set at their lowest height for the smallest chairs in the school.  The dress display dummy is a 9-12 month infant size and is perfect for the width of the clothing I make her.  Chloe is standing on the stool so that I would be able to get relatively still photos.  I did say "Spicy", didn't I?

She sure is a charmer!

She calls me "Mouse" and has me wrapped around her little finger!

Love this shot.  

This is a good shot of the front of the dress.

This is the shot before I cropped it!

Isn't she just beautiful?

Sweet as sugar!

"S" is for Sweetheart: A Valentine Pinafore for Emma

 Last week I had the pleasure of making two little girl's their Valentine's Day outfits!  This first one is for a little sweetheart who just turned six and is in my kindergarten class.  I've known her mommy since she was a little girl!  Her grandmother is my friend, Karen.  This little pinafore was made for sweet Emma to wear over a dress I made her last month.  I adapted the pinafore pattern from Love and Stitches #149 "Toddler Pinafores and Pantalettes" and used polycotton eyelet flouncing purchased at Jo-Ann's.  The ruffled butterfly sleeves are from a lovely Swiss edging I had in my stash.  I made the waist piece longer (Emma is very slender but tall.) and added the sashes.  Pink buttons close the back.

 This is the dress Emma wore the pinafore over.  Karen and I have a bartering arrangement.  She takes care of my puppy-girls (shih tzu sisters) when our family goes away on vacation and I make Emma pretties to wear.  I definitely get the best part of the deal!  My little girlies get the best care possible and I get to make a lovely little girl fancy clothes.

This is the dress I made for the pinafore to top.  It was part of the Winter Wonderland Outfit for the sew-along for Season 8 of Project Run and Play.  (See post HERE.)

 I appliqued a heart on the bodice and surrounded it with some tatting.  The little heart charm is pewter.

 More charms were attached to ribbons at the waist seam.  These go over very well with the little girls!

 Here is Emma at our afternoon Valentines Party in my classroom.  It was really cold for our part of Florida so she wore leggings and fancy socks.

 

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentines Day!  Our family's was full of events.  Our niece, Kelly, had a very romantic dinner and a proposal! We are so happy for her!   My husband's brother had emergency surgery to put stints in his heart valves.  (If you pray, please add Jim to your prayer lists. He is doing okay but will need more heart surgery because one of the blockages couldn't be repaired with a stint.)  And... Our daughter had a car accident on her way home that has rendered her car inoperable!  Victoria-Rose and the driver of the car she hit were unhurt as she was going less than 15 miles an hour but the ball hitch that was on the bumper of the other car really caused some serious damage.  However, we are very grateful here!  What a blessing that no one was hurt!  Needless to say, we didn't go out to dinner as planned!

 I will be linking this post up to Katy's No Big Dill blog for "S" week for her Sew All 26.  She has made the most creative things for her family to wear!  Check her out here.   I'll connect the link when Katy puts up her linking party.

I have also linked up to Sew Many Ways Sew Darn Crafty  February Theme Month linky party HERE.  Go on over and check out all the great things shared by other crafters!

"R" is for Ruffles and Rhymes

Katy at No Big Dill is hosting a Sew All 26 series.  She has sewn so many beautiful things for her children using the alphabet as inspiration and has invited others to sew along and link their posts to her blog.  (She has two guest posts up right now with lovely creations for the letter "R".  Check them out!)   I wish I could say that I have made something for each letter but I cannot.  Someday I will!  However, I remembered this dress and jacket that I made several years ago (and never posted here) that would fit this week's letter:  R.  

The dress was made for Abby, a friend's daughter, as a gift for her birthday.  I used a simple sundress pattern from one of the Big Three companies and a jacket from another pattern.  I would have to go through all the patterns in those boxes to get the numbers but there are many similar patterns in the pattern books today.  I used special fabric from Mary Engelbreit that matched the drawings in the book below.  The illustrations in this book are really adorable.  The fabric is copied from the end papers in the book.  I love this book!  I gave a copy of the book to Abby when I gave her the dress and I also have a copy in my kindergarten class.  My class loves the illustrations more than any other nursery rhyme book I have.  There is a copy in my grandmother's hope chest along with a piece of the fabric in my Grandmother's Stash, too!  

I wonder how many of you have Grandmother's Hope Chests/Closets/Drawers with things saved for hoped for precious little ones.  Are any of you saving fabric, toys, books, etc. for future little charmers?

I will be linking up to Katy's blog when she has the link up.  In the meantime you could always look at all the other Sew All 26 outfits posted on her blog.

Have a wonderful day!

Smocked Layette for Project Run & Play Season 8: My Signature Style

Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

 My signature style is full of old-fashioned details:  smocking, embroidery, French lace, heirloom sewing techniques, silk ribbon, traditional/classic baby patterns.  This set was made for my godmother/aunt to give as a shower gift to a great niece.  It is made of a lovely shade of blue Imperial batiste, silk ribbon and French lace.

Using the Imperial batiste (fine polycotton) makes this little ensemble very easy to launder.  It can go right in the washer and dryer (inside out) on the delicate cycle with other delicate things.  Remove promptly and only the ribbon ties may need a quick pressing.

 The pattern for the tiny (newborn to size 3 months) diaper shirt and diaper cover is from Australian Smocking & Embroidery #61.  The magazine design didn't incorporate lace and was all in white but otherwise I made the outfit as illustrated there.  I used white floche (type of embroidery thread) for the smocking and two shades of pink floche for the roses.  Floche is a lovely fiber for delicate smocking and embroidery.  It is not separated by strands and is about the thickness of two strands of DMC cotton six strand embroidery floss. The bonnet was made using an old Grace Knott pattern.

I used the smocking design that the designer (Margaret Wight of South Austrailia) created for the ensemble in the magazine.

 The back of the dress has four lovely buttons that I embroidered with pink rose buds.

You can see just how tiny this little top was in the next picture.  The armholes are uniform...I just had the outfit sitting crooked on the hanger.  

 

The bloomers were made with a folded over ruffle on the tushie.  I added the gathered French lace and the silk bow to tie it in more with the top and the bonnet.  I embroidered another rose on the ribbon, of course.

 I smocked a simple design adapted from the smocking plate in the pattern on the bonnet.

 The silk ribbon ties were attached with more of the hand embroidered roses.

I loved making this ensemble!  I adore making baby clothes.  They are my absolute favorite things to make, especially if they are smocked and embroidered and dripping with fine materials.

I hope you liked this little outfit!  The outfit was a big hit with the baby's family and created quite a stir at the shower.  My daughter loved this whole ensemble so I know that I'll be making another one for my grandmother's hope chest someday.   I'm wondering... given the soft easy care material used in this outfit, would the young mothers you know put this on their babies?