1 year Blog-a-versary!

I thought we could celebrate all celebrate with some cake! I found some pics of pretty cakes and wanted to share. These cakes are too pretty to eat. I really admire those who can decorate these beautiful cakes seen here. I can bake, but I can't do what these people have done. I'm a different kind of artist. If it deals with fabric or floss or lace, I'm your girl.

And here's more cake. Hope I "made" enough. Isn't this just too sweet?!

And even more cake! I almost couln't believe this was a cake and I'm totally amazed at the realism of it all. This cake really blows my mind.

I went back and counted up all the projects I've done over the last year and there are 25 and maybe 5 involved no smocking whatsoever. That's more than 2 a month and I work full-time. I've also taught 3 smocking classes and done smock-a-longs. I'd have to say I've accomplished quite a bit. I think I will give myself a pat on the back. Thanks for everyone's comments over the past year. I so appreciate your interest in what I'm up to. So here's to another fun filled year of smocking! Happy stitching everyone.

One Down, One to Go

"Daisy" from AS&E issue 89

The first pic was a little blurry, so I'm glad I took two. I had a nice day of sewing. I still need to do buttonholes. But I think I will do them at work tomorrow on my lunch break. In the magazine it shows the dress with a collar, but when I finished mine and held it up next to the dress, all I could think was that look terrible with the dress. So no collar. It's great when you sew, you can change your mind on a whim and go in a different direction if you want.
Next Tuesday I have the day off at work, so I will be sewing up another dress. We will be having our district manager, Lisa, visiting us. I love it when she visits. Everyone is so much more energetic. I think she infuses some life back into us.
Til next time, happy smocking everyone!

Teller at the Bank

Dress front size 4, sleeve with crocheted edging. Notice my pink pin cushion and my pretty rotary cutter.

Close up of smocking and ribbon daisies. Silk ribbon is from a shop here in Boise, Idaho called Fuzz. It's the only place here in town I can get silk ribbon or silk floss. I need to be able to match my colors. I just can't seem to do that over the internet.

This is the sleeve edging I crocheted, very sweet I think.

Here is a dress front using batiste and lovely beads. As you can see I haven't removed the pleater threads yet. I still need to back-smock on just below the top holding row. Maybe I will do that this weekend.

I've become friends with a lady at a banch here in Boise. She's my favorite teller and I've told her so. It doesn't mean I don't like the other teller, she's just my favorite. I think partly because her name is Janice and I'm a Jan. Similar names do make an instant bond I suppose. Anyway, I asked her about 6 wks ago if she had any granddaughters and yes she has two, 4 yrs and 1 yr. Well, when I heard that I said I thought I needed to make some dresses for them. And btw, the favorite color is pink. But I'm sure you knew I was going to say that. Tomorrow is a day off from my job at Hancock's, so I will spend some much needed time with the sewing machine stitching up the daisy dress.
Yesterday our air conditioner broke down. When the repair guy checked it out he found it was the heater that was broken. So we now have a new heater that's 93% effecient and a new coil in the air conditioner. My parents and I (we live in the same house.) now have a $1700 bill. But we will see a big drop in our electric bill. Hopefully it won't take long to pay it off. This weekend it is supposed to be 100* weather. Definitely not a good time for the air to be broke down. The fixit man said the other system was -85% effecient. But the electric bill should be much, much smaller. That's a really good thing.

A Baby Gown for the Fair

"Eternal Treasure" AS&E issue 57

I used white poly cotton batiste from Hancock Fabrics, DMC floss and beads from Craft Warehouse. Lace from Martha Pullen company.





Sorry I have not done my final pressing yet. That I will do just before taking it down to the Fair. Since my machine doesn't do double needle pintucks very nice, I have forgone the pinktucking and done a bunch of feather stitching, which  I don't have a problem with at all.



I don't have the button holes done yet, I'll probably finish those on my vacation in a couple of weeks. And I think I'm going to do some embroidered rosebuds in the ribbon beading to keep the ribbon from shifting around, that part is driving me batty! Can't have that, I need my sanity. I need to do a couple more things for the Fair. I'm thinking of an ensemble grouping. Kind of leaning towards a jacket/bonnet/dress/bloomer combo or maybe a dress/pinafore/bloomer combo. Maybe I will enter something in the embroidery category since they have chose to have less categories, but bigger payouts. We'll just have to see what my brain comes up with are what catches my fancy. Until next time, happy stitching eveyone!