Snickerdoodle is turning 3!

One of life's great joys is being a grandmother. For me it is bittersweet since my granchildren live so far away. I am sad that I won't be able to see her twirl in her dress for the first time but with her Boppa will. He arrives late in the evening on her 3rd birthday. I will make sure the camera batteries are charged and ready so he can snap the moment for me! I mentioned this little sweetie in an earlier post. This dress completely fits her personality.

I used Summer Blooms from Australian Smocking & Embroidery issue #87 as my basis. The sleeves on the original dress did not fit my vision so I just added a puff sleeve. I also made the cuff about 1/2 the size of the original. This lovely cotton print is as light as a spring breeze. All smocking was done using DMC stranded cotton and the bullion petals on the flowers as well.

 Recently, I acquired this vintage rick rack and the color was perfect!. Happy birthday little one.....Noni loves you!

An Adoption Story

No pictures with this one, as of yet, but I wanted to share a blog with you. My dear friend Brenda is becoming a grandmother again thanks to the generosity of an Ethiopian mother. Brenda's daughter Anna, whom I have known all her life and I smocked something for her as a baby, is in Ethiopia right now meeting her new daughter. Anna & Kelly already have a charming 4 year old boy who is at home, anxiously awaiting his new baby sister. I invite you to read their sweet story and to follow as it unfolds- and, as you read, to be praying for this family. Thanks- blessings- Karen
http://larsonadoption.blogspot.com/

Finally...twins

Thought I would get to this post quicker than I have. Life was extra busy for a couple of weeks. My daughter came home and we had a wonderful couple of days just hanging out. We made cookies for the twins shower. We stripped wallpaper and painted our kitchen. We hung out with dad. It was wonderful.

For the twins I made my favorite design for 1 year olds. I love the way a diapered bottom makes a bishop dress pouf...chubby little legs extended. The girls are fraternal twins so I made each size 1 shoulder button bishop using the same smocking design but smocking one in pink and one in white. Alternately, they had white and pink flowers. The sweet and very simple smocking design was Isabella from Robin Piccone (see previous post for close up) in an older Creative Needle magazine. I have been wanting to use it and I was very pleased with the results. Looks like I needed to hit them a little better with the iron!

Up next......Snickerdoodle turns 3!  My second granddaughter is sugar and spice and everything nice with a hint of snips and snails and puppy dog tails. She loves her pretty dresses, and she loves to play and explore in them. She looks so charming riding her bike or tromping through the bushes in her smocked dresses with her wellies on. What a cutie! I am grateful thier mother allows the girls to wear their dresses from Noni for everyday play, childhood passes all too quickly and I want them to use what I make. So, smocking is done and hopefully a good deal of the construction will be completed today. My little Snickerdoodle will be visiting next week, I'll snap a photo for you!

Did I mention Twins?

I have had to rethink my idea of introducing the garments for the twin girls. The shower is weeks away and momma may look on here. I'd like for her to be surprised. Still...I wanted to give you a "sneak peak".

These twins are a complete surprise as twins do not run in the family. Momma has been my daughters friend since they were born.  She was born on my 4th anniversary and I distinctly remember holding my 2 month old girl while I talked on the phone with the new mom (soon to be grandma). Can it really be that 26 years have passed already? I'll post a photo of the completed garments after the shower.

Here is a fun project......for almost 2 years I have been priveleged to have a "Young Homemakers" sewing group with young women from my church. We meet at a wonderful home that has donated a space for us to work and store materials. Last week I was not sure how many were coming so I moved our time to my house as we were going to be focusing on a project that was mostly handwork. It is a pair of fleece fingerless gloves. Only 2 seams and you are done! My idea was that we would draw the shape onto the fleece and hand decorate them before sewing so I told the girls to leave sewing machines at home. The little gal above was a guest of one of my regulars and she had never sat at a sewing machine before. It was so fun to see her delight with her finished gloves! The rest of my girls sat around my dining room table drinking tea, talking and stitching. Much like the quilting bees of the past these girls share parenting tips, recipes and love. I know they pray for one another and share life in so many ways. I am blessed to be among them.

That's Princess #3's momma

Home deco gimp made an elegant trim

Red dingle ball trim with feather stitched rick rack on black!

And this is one of mine. I hand stitched on wool felt polka dots and then centered on top of them some vintage sequins in hot colors....from my grandmothers collection.

We meet once a month....join us!

Princess #3

Princess #3 is how my friend describes the little girl she is expecting in just a few weeks. Welcoming a 3rd girl seems only natural for this family. The first 2 princesses are adorable, sweet, feminine little things and so adding another just goes along with what they have already started. In anticipation of this little one I have been sewing. I may have mentioned before that my town has a lovely little fabric shop and that is where I found this sweet Alexander Henry print. The pink is soft enough for a toddlers coloring.

I made my Renaissance using the same trim as on my original pink dress (http://www.robynseggblue.com/). As with all my garments it is exquisitely crafted with french seams, 4" deep handworked hem and button back closure. I altered the handsmocking from the original to include a variety of colors for the flowers. I was pleased with the affect. In addition I have long been on a quest for an old fashioned, European style sleeve...one where it pulls up slightly..and I think it has been acheived with the sleeve variation.

I can hardly wait to see the Princess in her gown, though it will be a while since I made it in size 2! My challenge to mom....let her wear her dress to do ordinary things like grocery shopping or play dates. Is there anything sweeter than a well dressed child at play? Congratulations-
Next post...Twins!

Christmas....already???

How is it possible that Christmas Eve is only hours away? I last posted on Dec.1 and in the weeks since my life has been a flurry of activity. It will be a quiet Christmas for us with only 1 of our 3 children home. Even my mom has left the state. While we have been busy working there have been a few moments of quiet reflection. On the evening we put our tree up it was snowing outside the window. It was a beautiful, late fall storm that dumped over a foot of snow on us. Just the presence of snow made everyone around here full of holiday spirit. I love to put my tree up. It is like visiting dear, old friends once a year. My Big Ben is new, bought in 2008  to commemorate our trip to England & Scotland in April of that year. Just above it is a hand crafted heart. The message was embroidered over 30 years ago when we celebrated our first Valentine's Day together. I was unhappy with the size of my work since I had already purchased a small, metal heart shaped frame so I embroidered another one to place in the frame and made this into an ornament. I find handwork is a gift that can be appreciated on so many levels. My boyfriend at the time (now my husband) showed genuine appreciation for his gift.
As far as handcrafting gifts this Christmas they were few and far between. The days have flown by with not much to show for the hours. I made a few items but have tried more than anything to spend time in worship. Worship for the newborn King Who is my salvation and the reason why I celebrate the season. There have been moments of sweet remembrance as I attended a women's holiday dessert with my friends at their church and hosted a table for my church's Christmas Tea. It all...the gifts, the tree, the events, the family members coming home....all of it is what makes the season a JOY to celebrate. I am grateful that His birth allows me these days to reflect and worship.
Merry Christmas to all-

A Week of Giving Thanks

Like families all over we celebrated Thanksgiving with great joy...together. Since 2 of our 3 children have gotten married we have made a point of spending 1 of the 2 fall/winter major holidays a year together. This year was our Thanksgiving year. We rented a home in central Oregon and spent 7 glorious days under the same roof- 4 generations!  Since we do not live near our 3 grandchildren we relish every moment in their presence. Our precious littlest was just mastering his first steps, our lovely girls are both on a "Princess" high. We feel blessed that the kids all like each other and enjoy being together. We were happy my mom could join us and like most everyone else....we ate tooooo much!

Since we weren't going to see them on Christmas I needed to get the girls dresses done early. I had a sweet peachy-pink Eiffel Tower print that I made basic yoke dresses out of. Due to the season I made long sleeves to keep them warm. The smocking is a very simple pattern I designed. They seem to like matching dresses. I'm sure you will agree that they (the girls) are adorable .... says the doting Noni (grandmother).
I trust your holiday was a blessing as well and as we enter this season of Christmas, celebrating the birth of a King, I wish you great Joy-
Karen