joanna's journeys

T-Shirt hat

2012-01-26T12:35:00.000-08:00

Here is my little ball cap made from an old t-shirt. This is where I got the instructions.

In todays world, they call it "up-cycling." I call it recycling repurposing, re-using, being thrifty, etc.

I changed it a bit. I put elastic in the back to help it stay on better.

Pretty easy for anybody. The hardest part was the flower. You should try one and share it with me.

Several "Do Day" Projects to share

2012-01-26T12:22:00.000-08:00

See this fabulous trestle table? Well it was one of our projects a while back. To refinish it ,we sanded it down for Nancy. Then later she stained it and put a nice finish on it. I wish I had a picture of the before. But trust me, it looks a lot nicer.

Then yesterday it was Nancy again. She has this darling bench that was completely unfinished.

There is also a great place in her backyard to refinish furniture. (...like my red paint gloves?)

We used Valspar black flat paint.

Here it is ready for the second coat.

And after the second coat. You can't tell in the picture, but it looks great.

Now she has to make the cushion. It goes in the blue room. She has a wonderful little piece of fabric that will make it look great! Hopefully I can get a picture of it and show the finished product.

The Aprons

2012-01-24T07:34:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, I made aprons for all my sisters. I chose this wonderful blue and white decorator fabric for two reasons.

#1 because they all like blue and white. And #2 is because I had it in my stash.

Two really great reasons wouldn't you say?

I couldn't resist putting this saying on it. I made an iron on transfer and just printed it out. Then sewed it on the pocket.

I put some elastic in the neck strap to help it stay in place better. (Thanks to my friend Jackie who did it on her aprons, and I copied!)

There are lots of pockets for our "Do Day" tools... for scissors, pliers, tape, etc.

When we sewed aprons for Christmas earlier, we didn't make any for ourselves.

So now we all have one.

And a ruffle on the bottom, just for fun.

So now we can all get to work!

news from out here

2012-01-10T16:18:00.000-08:00

I'm out here in North Carolina now. I've been here since Jan. first. My daughter and husband have taken their baby up to Pittsburgh to some vein specialists to see if they can do something for him. If they can, it will be another open heart surgery. I'm playing grandma (taxi, cook, nurse, etc. etc., etc.,) to the other kids until the baby comes home... could be awhile. I have pictures of Chandler but haven't downloaded them yet... but he's a cutie!

The Quiet Books

2011-12-29T09:26:00.000-08:00

As you can see I was extremely busy before Christmas. I wanted to make some of the grandchildren quiet books. Here are some of the pages. Of course all the books were individualized so they were not all the same.

Here are the cover pages. Tara came over one day (actually two days) and decorated them while I continued to make the other pages... except for Chandler's cover. I did that one.

Thank You Tara!

This book (above) is Chandler's.

Natelle's book

Sabrina

Sophie

Lucy

Inside the front cover, there is a little laminated photo album of each girl. I didn't think of this soon enough to make one for Chandler. His had to be sent out first.

Button and tie pages.

Tie the shoe and counting pages.

Shapes and the clock pages.

Tic tack toe pages.

Safari pages.

Abacus page, Jonah and the whale page.

The back page with pocket from thrift store jeans.

Another shapes page and a telephone page.

Learn to braid and a snaps page.

Alphabet books

The littlest ones got an alphabet book. I thought all the little pieces would be unsafe.

Of course I didn't show all the pages on this post, but you get to see a lot of them.

Recent activities

2011-12-10T08:50:00.000-08:00

Our family Christmas dinner was held at OlaMae's. After dinner Eddie and Jim accompanied on guitars while we all sang Christmas carols.

Tara signed up to a couple of boutiques. I helped. We had a great time.

One was held at this gorgeous old house in Mesa

Here she is holding her booth sign. Unfortunately it was very cold and we got rained out. But we needed the rain so that part was ok.

Here are some sister's "Do Day" projects.

Embellished hats...

Bracelets

Scarfs and jewelry...

And one day lunch was at Panda.

We've had many great times.

And as usual, I can't post the projects I've been doing. Some of my daughters very slyly keep saying "So, Mom, what are you making?" And my very delicate answer is "None of your business." (And I laugh at how tricky they think they are!)

OF COURSE I never really talk like that!

cool stuff

2011-12-01T08:20:00.000-08:00

My daughter is making these cool journals. She will sell them on her etsy shop and at a boutique.

Go here to see her shop.

To see more of what she does go to her web site

been working!

2011-11-17T09:59:00.000-08:00

We canned meats...

Ground beef and beef and pork.

We helped upholster the new head board OlaMae is putting in her guest room.

After cutting the ply wood, apply the batting.

Then came the fabric.

Paying close attention to the corners. Sorry this is blurry, but you get the picture... right?

Time for the trim on the front.

from left: Nancy, Lonnie, Me, and OlaMae

We did a lot of things for sisters day yesterday.

When the room is finished, I'm hoping to post pictures.

Other projects were working on were getting a quilt ready for tying for humanitarian services, Lonnie's project.

I worked on Christmas stuff in between. It was a lot of busywork! But I can't say what it was because, you know, it's for Christmas.
And we babysat for a while.

Child Patriot says the Pledge of Allegiance

2011-11-11T17:05:00.000-08:00

you'll love this little patriot too!

Happy Birthday Gemma

2011-10-31T15:40:00.000-07:00

So today Gemma turned one. I made her a sock doll.

I made her out of a large man's tube sock.

Button eyes.

pink ribbons for her ties

I used lots of yarn for the hair.

Her dress and petticote.

Love you Gemma.

aqua needle book

2011-10-31T15:28:00.000-07:00

My latest needle book. This one's for Katy.

These are Katy's calling cards.

You can go here and here to see the ones from last year.

Finished!

2011-10-27T13:06:00.000-07:00

I have had this quilt pieced for many years as you can see by the colors. In fact one of my daughters kept telling me I needed to get rid of it since I wasn't getting it quilted. I had put too much work into it to do that. And it was too large for my quilt frames. So my sweet niece quilted it for me on her quilting machine.

Seminole border

After she quilted it, I edged it by the sewing machine.

Now don't be jealous that I have such a niece!

Thank you so much Katy!

Halloween Treats for Visiting Teaching

2011-10-19T19:53:00.000-07:00

I made this fun treat for my visiting teaching ladies. I found something similar to this online, but can't find the blog anymore so I can't give credit to the original post. Actually I changed it anyway.

I went to the dollar store to get the jars...

Found the pumpkin sticky tablet and made a card...

Added a black ribbon...

And filled the jars with the halloween treat mix.

Here is what I put in...

Honey Nut Cereal

Caramel popcorn

Cheese crackers

Salted Peanuts

Square pretzels

M&Ms

Candy corns and pumpkins

The original recipe called for Cocoa Puffs and Reeses Bits instead of M&Ms. Everything was added in equal portions, except I added two portions of the Honey Nut cereal since I didn't have the Cocoa Puffs.

Of course you could alter this to your own taste!

Andrea Bocelli and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir

2011-10-16T21:14:00.000-07:00

Sit back and relax and listen to simply magnificent music. I love this song.

Update on Leo

2011-10-11T12:24:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd post Leo's last update on my blog for those of you who don't have access to his carepages account.

"There have been some good days and some bad days. I am still doing OK on the medicine. I did have a run of bad headaches and arthritis type pain a week or so ago, but they have subsided. Now I have a cold. In fact the whole family (except for Tyler) just came down with either a cold or some kind of pink eye. But we are on the mend and hopefully will be back into action soon.

I got a new prescription which may work better on the arthritis pains. So far I think it is working better. Once I get over the cold I will be able to be a better judge.

A positive thought from a fellow patient: "Dr. Akerley says that so much research work is going on into new drugs for melanoma and there is so much excitement in the medical community that he thinks our Zelboraf drug will not even be around in 5 years. It will be replaced with better drugs. They are understanding more about the pathways of this disease and that suggests new ways to combat it, to cut it off and kill it."

I have had similar thoughts but was putting the time frame around 10 years. I like the 5 year outlook better.

There was a little bump under the skin in my leg. I had the doctors check it and they are quite confident it is not a tumor because it is softer and different than a tumor. I agree now they they explain it, but it had me worried enough to ask them. The next CT scan will be in about 6 weeks, and that will bring more confidence.

There are no other signs of recurrence, so that is good.

My eye is still bothersome, but not too painful. I think I might have pink eye (like most others in the house), but it is still pink from the surgery, so it is hard to tell from looking. I am doing the drops as well just in case and will see Dr. Carver on Wednesday. My sight doesn't seem to be getting better and the cornea is still cloudy."

gazpacho and snickers popcorn

2011-09-28T18:36:00.000-07:00

Such an unlikely match, but today for our "Do Day"we made gazpacho soup and snickers popcorn. So first the gazpacho.

The ingredients are ...

6 cups tomato juice or 1 46 oz can. tomato juice

1 Tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 clove garlic, crushed

3 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 cucumber peeled, seeded, and shredded
1 cup shredded carrots
2 large tomatoes chopped
1 small white onion chopped (1/2 cup) We used green onions today.

Combine tomato juice, sugar, salt, garlic, lemon juice, olive, and worcestershire sauce. Blend by hand or by hand mixer on slowest setting for about a minute. Stir in the shredded cucumber, bell pepper, carrots,chopped tomatoes and chopped onion. Cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight.
We chilled for a few hours and it was still great!

Here is a picture of all the food on the table today.

Now the Snickers Popcorn ... Yum!

We thought the snickers popcorn would be fun for family gatherings, such as conference.

Recipe: Snickers Popcorn

you can find the original here...

Ingredients

8 quarts air popped corn (about 2 cups of kernels)

1 cup salted butter

2 cups light brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup salted peanuts

30 “Fun Size” Snickers bars coarsely chopped

3 oz melted semi sweet chocolate (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 200°

Over medium heat boil butter, brown sugar, salt and corn syrup for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in your baking soda.

Pour over your popcorn and stir to coat evenly.

Transfer to waxed paper lined counter and sprinkle peanuts on top. Stir until all is coated evenly.

Transfer popcorn into a large roasting pan and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and stir in your coarsely chopped Snickers. Return to oven for 3 more minutes so the Snickers begin to melt slightly into the popcorn.

Remove from pan and transfer popcorn back to wax paper to cool.

Drizzle melted chocolate on top of popcorn if desired.

Let set and store in an airtight container.

Quick notes

adapted from Paula Deen’s Caramel Corn

Preparation time: 10 minute(s)

Cooking time: 1 hour(s) 30 minute(s)

A Charlie Story

2011-09-25T22:01:00.000-07:00

I want to tell you a story.

I must give a little background first. Randolph is a small town that has a facility that houses people who are severely handicapped or in one way or another cannot function in society. If I understand it correctly, they are all wards of the state, which owns and runs the facility. All are over 40 years old, yet all are child-like.

My husband and I go out to Randolph on Sunday mornings as service missionaries to help the residents go to Primary. So on Sundays, they get to gather in the auditorium for singing, which is what we call Primary. It's not your usual Primary. It's very noisy, as you can imagine.

Also on Sunday mornings youth groups from different wards and stakes come out to help us with Primary. Well, this morning when we got there some of the youth and their leaders were already there and getting out of their cars and starting to gather in the parking lot.

Charlie is a resident there and is probably the age of a two or three year old mentally, but in a middle-aged man's body.

As my husband and I got out of our car we heard some honking. Looking around, we saw Charlie standing by a golf cart type vehicle, honking the horn. This one was towing three other carts probably with food in them. We could hear someone yelling something and Charlie yelling back, "NO." Then I looked again and the train of carts was moving and Charlie was sitting in the front seat. Then we heard the driver of the cart yell something to Charlie again and Charlie yelling back from the front seat, "I don't know how!" It wasn't long and the rightful driver was replacing Charlie in the driver's seat. And Charlie got off the cart. Big relief...

Then Charlie saw all the people in the parking lot and started yelling to them "Hi, Hi!" He grabbed the waistband of his pants (they were too big) and started running as fast as he could towards them. (I wish I could help you visualize this!) It's a good thing we were pretty close as my husband is assigned to Charlie's cottage, and is used to handling him. So Eddie said "Come on Charlie, why don't we take you back." Charlie yelled, "NO!" And no way could he be talked into going back to his cottage. Then Eddie suggested to all the people gathering there to go on into the building where they were supposed to meet. Well that worked and as they started walking, so did Charlie. About this time, his caregiver came out of the cottage and called him. For some reason Charlie co-operated and went back into his cottage.

I have to admit, this was pretty funny to those of us who saw it all! Just imagine your 3 year old driving a 'golf-cart' train, with the real driver running after him to catch him before something really exciting happened...

No pictures are allowed out at Randolph because of privacy rights.

somebody got a hair cut!

2011-09-19T19:33:00.000-07:00

My cutie pie little granddaughter wanted a haircut.

Her longer hair was bothering her.

So I cut it for her today. Here is the front picture.

And now the back... She has really nice hair that doesn't need curling.

And of course, she wanted to know if she could make a "funny" face for the camera.

Yes of course, I'm good with that!

Today turned out to be bread day

2011-09-14T00:16:00.000-07:00

It wasn't quite as hot today so I thought it might be a good idea to bake bread. The basic recipe I used was from Chef Brad. However I did change it just a little. I will give you his honest and true recipe and then tell you what I did differently today.

This is what they looked like just out of the oven.

And of course every good cook (termed used loosely in my case) has to taste her product. So I did.

Warm and buttered!

Here's his recipe:

100% Whole Wheat Bread

from Chef Brad Petersen

5-6 cups hot tap water

2/3 cup oil

2/3 cup honey

2 Tbs. dough enhancer

2 Tbs. yeast

2 Tbs. salt

2 Tbs. vital wheat gluten

12-16 cups freshly ground whole wheat flour

Pour warm water into Bosch mixing bowl. Add approximately 6 cups flour on top of liquid. Then add dough enhancer, oil, honey, yeast, and gluten. Mix well using the (M) momentary switch. Add approximately 5 cups additional flour and salt. Turn to speed 2. Continue adding flour 1/4 cup at a time until the dough pulls away cleanly from the sides of the bowl. Continue kneading on speed 2 for another 5 minutes. Oil or grease counter. Divide dough into equal portions and shape into loaves. Put into well-greased pans. Let rise till double in size. Bake at 350º for 25-30 minutes. Or until golden brown on top. (I let them cool 10 minutes in the hot pans) Remove from pans and finish cooling on wire racks. Top of loaves can be rubbed with butter if desired. (I always desire!)

Turned out to be very moist, YUM!

So here are the little extras I did today.

I used half white flour and half wheat.

Added about 2/3 cup blended oats.

Added some ground flax seed.

Happy bread making...

pulitzer prize

2011-09-11T23:56:00.000-07:00

On our weekly "Do Day" this last wednesday, we helped Lonnie get ready for her report at Samata.

For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a club for women. Lonnie's report was on the Pulitzer Prize categories. Nancy said she would do the handouts (bookmarks this time). Sorry I didn't get a picture of the bookmarks.

And I helped Lonnie with her poster. This picture above is where we were just starting to pull things together. Lonnie used her cricut to cut out the letters.

I used a ruler to keep them straight while I was gluing.

The finished poster.

The ladies at Samata liked it and wanted her to bring it to each monthly meeting on the Pulitzer Prizes this year.

A must see

2011-09-09T23:49:00.000-07:00

Watch all the way through.

Umbrella Redo ... Wahoo!

2011-08-22T00:45:00.000-07:00

I have had an umbrella in my back yard long enough now that it started shredding. Embarrassing, I know. It was time to get a new one. However, I wanted something special and I didn't necessarily love what was being offered in the store. So I decided to sew my own custom umbrella.

Here are the guys sitting under my new one.

This is a picture looking down on it from the balcony.

So here is my umbrella tutorial.

This is what I did. I took the old one down and cut it into a pattern.

This is the little pocket that holds the umbrella onto the arms.

Then I laid it out on the twill fabric I bought. (I would have bought canvas, but I wanted this color.) You can buy outdoor fabrics too if you like them. (but not cheap!)

I cut out 8 umbrella panels and 8 pockets.

I also cut out the little circles for the top.

This is the pattern I drew up for the design. I wanted something kind of big.

On our "Do Day," I had my sisters help me trace and draw the pattern onto the panels.

Then we painted the the designs onto the umbrella panels with outdoor paint. This picture shows the first coat. It did actually take two coats.

When they were completely dry, I sewed them together...

starting with two panels, then four.(This was the first half.)

I then sewed the other four panels the same way. And finally, I put the two halves together.

The next step was to hem the umbrella. I serged the edge before pinning under 1/2 inch.

After pressing the hem in, I topstitched it.

I did the same for the top circles. Sew the two halves together, pin, press the hem, and topstitch.

The next step was to serge and hem the little pockets.

Each of the eight pockets was pinned over a seam on the wrong side of the umbrella.

Then sewn in place.

I attached a grommet to the small circle and hemmed it. Then it was attached to the larger circle by topstitching the two together near the outer edge of the small circle in four places. (Just fold it in quarters to mark your four places.)

You have to do the same with the larger circle, except it needs to be attached in eight places. So you attach it to the umbrella by topstitching it to every seam.

This stitching only needs to be about an inch and a half long so that air can flow through the top circle. As you can see in the picture, it is NOT attached in one long seam.

And it's finished!

There you have it... instructions for my new umbrella.

Tadah!

Impromptu Reunion

2011-08-05T21:40:00.001-07:00

Here are some photos of our latest trip, which turned out to almost be a family reunion!

Seems our trips all converged at the same city at the same time. (not planned!) It was fun!

Beautiful Jessica, our oldest granddaughter.

I think I'll let you make up your own captions for the next few pictures.

The fearless leader of the family! (above)

If you think there are a lot of red-heads in the family there are! (Love it!)

ribboned flip flops

2011-07-22T23:37:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd share these little flip flops on which I added ribbons. Pretty easy. Great for summer.

Cut a few ribbons and tie them onto the straps.

Add a few embellishments.

I also used some tulle.

You need to put some glue on the knots to make sure they last.

solar cooking

2011-07-09T16:19:00.000-07:00

See this box of Chocolaty yum? Well I decided to cook some brownies today, mainly because they were quick. I originally wanted to bake bread, but didn't quite have the time today. And I wanted to try out our new solar oven.

Here are the brownies mixed and ready to cook. You need black pans for solar cooking.Also, it's extremely hot here and I didn't really want to heat up the kitchen, which makes me want to use the solar oven my husband made even more. (And he just finished it today!) So we tried it out. The maiden voyage, the first time, lift off!

Baking in the sun.

On the porch after the brownies were done cooking.

Here's a peek inside the oven. It is very hot to the touch, so you have to use hot pads to get the pan out. See how pretty the brownies look? Well it turns out they were "almost" done. The brownies were cooking about 4 1/2 hours outside. Since there are clouds starting to roll in and looks like a dust storm might be starting up, I'll finish them up in the house. Then we'll see how our little experiment went with green cooking. There are plenty of plans on the internet for solar cookers you can make yourself. We used these plans and changed them up just a teeny bit. But there is no need to do that.

Tutorial for Chair Cushions

2011-06-23T13:38:00.000-07:00

Time to update that chair or sofa cushion? Well here's what I did for my daughter's couch cushions...and what you may want to try.

Measure your cushions to see how much fabric you will need. You can cut apart your old cushion or simply measure the top (times 2) and sides. Be sure to add generous seam allowances.

These instructions are for a rectangle cushion:

For the top cut your length plus 1" and width plus 1". Now do the same for the bottom. This will give you 1/2" seam allowances.

For the sides you will cut two pieces. One strip will cover the length of three sides minus 4" (two long and one short side). Add an inch to width.

For the second strip, measure the short end and add 6" to the length and add 3" to the width.

Cut piece 2 in half lengthwise.

Pin the right sides together. Baste a one inch wide seam the entire length.

Open basting seam out flat. To put in your zipper, lay the zipper face down on the wrong side of the basting seam and pin centering the zipper over the seam.

(You will want to re-pin on the top side then remove the pins on the under side to save your needle.) Turn right side up and top stitch all the way down. Re-enforce the stop end of the zipper. Be sure to remove zipper basting.

Now pin the short end of Piece 1 to the short end of Piece 2. Sew right sides together. Pin and sew the other short end of Piece 1 to the other short end of Piece 2 to make one continuous band.

With right sides together pin the top piece to the side band. Start from the centers first, then work to the corners.

Put it on the cushion to check for fit. Adjust if necessary making sure it is snug. Then sew.

With the wrong side out, pin and fit the bottom piece to the side band with the cushion inside. Make sure the zipper is open while pinning! This could be tricky for fitting, but is necessary to get the cushion out.

Remove the cushion and sew.

It will look like a box.

Turn right side out, put the cushion back in and you are done!

Whew!

New Pillow Cases

2011-06-23T13:24:00.000-07:00

Making new pillow cases can be inexpensive and fun! Try it!

Here is a set I made for a niece.

Go to the Idea Bottle over here to see my very simple tutorial.

Frozen Strawberry Crumble

2011-06-14T18:04:00.001-07:00

I found this wonderful recipe online. This is mine as it was ready to go into the freezer.

And here's a piece ready to be served.

Go here to find the recipe. This blog is full of wonderful recipes, and the pictures are magazine quality. You can't forget the name of this food blog... "Get Off Your Butt and Bake"

Enjoy!

Lounge Chair Cover Tutorial

2011-05-28T16:17:00.000-07:00

I needed to do something about the lounge chairs in the back yard. It was either get new ones or make slip covers for them. I decided to slip cover them when I saw some in the Tuesday Morning flyer a while back. I was going to go buy them but they were only available on-line. And by the time I got around to it they weren't available anymore. So I got a good look at them in the flyer and did what any other "sew-a-holic" would do. I made my own version.

So here's what I did...

1. Found some outdoor fabric and bought enough for the length of my cushions and at least a yard extra for hems and pockets.

2.Measure the length. I made sure I had enough for hems and end pockets. Then I cut the fabric.

3. I serged all the way around each piece. (If you don't have a serger, just double fold your hem.)

4. Fold down and press the top end of your fabric to make a small one inch hem. Stitch.

5. Now fold, pin and press the long sides for the side hems. But before you sew, cut 4 pieces of gross-grain ribbon for ties... about 24" long each, or long enough to tie around the legs of your chairs. Fold the ribbons in half and pin into the seam. (I put a ribbon tie at each leg.) Then sew the side hems.

6. Fold top end down into a pocket. This is to slip over the top end of your cushion. Mine was about 8 inches. You can do it what ever length works for your chairs.

7. Measure how much you want to fold under for a pocket at the foot end. Pin, press and sew your one inch hem. Then fold the pocket in place, being sure to pin the ribbons onto each side of the pocket seam. Sew.

(Note: mine has no ribbons at the top pocket.)

8. Now put it on your lounge chair and enjoy a refreshing new look!

I feel like I have new patio chairs!

Leo Teemant Update

2011-05-24T12:21:00.000-07:00

News about my nephew, Leo Teemant. You can go here to get into the carepages

http://www.carepages.com/carepages/lt_times/updates/3026004?client_code=huntsmancancer&ipc=mur

But this is the latest from him. I copied it straight from carepages...

He could use all of our prayers and support.

May 20, 2011 - One report is in

Posted May 21, 2011 1:21am

We got the final report from one of the pathologists today. It isn't good. "The overall findings support a diagnosis of metastatic melanoma." It is not 100% accurate, but it is 99.9% accurate. The stains show that the large and quickly reproducing cells are from melanocytes (cells in the skin and eyes that produce and contain the pigment called melanin). It seems that melanocytes are where melanoma cells originate.

Needless to say, we are quite disappointed with the news. Of course, it was fairly expected since people don't normally have big things growing out of their eyes and eyelids. On the bright side, having this information is better than just having the disease without knowing about it (I think).

I will have an MRI this Tuesday to see if there are any other growths that we haven't removed. Hopefully that will be all clear. I have an appointment with the cancer doctors on the 31st. Currently I have no idea what the next step will be.

New Pillows Tutorial

2011-05-10T10:03:00.000-07:00

A while back I bought these teal napkins. My intention was to make them into pillows.
So these are the steps I took to do that.

1. Measure the pillow form and the napkins.

2. Cut off the excess fabric from the napkins.

I left enough to have a 1 1/4" band around the outside edge.

It all depends on how you want it to look.

3. With right sides together, sew around the outside edge of napkins, like a pillow case... leaving one end open to put the pillow in.

Turn right side out and press. Put the pillow form inside.

4. Once the pillow is inside pin close to the pillow form so you can make a seam surrounding the pillow. Sew all the way around the pillow making sure you sew close to the pillow but not catching it in the sewing.

Hint... if you have a zipper foot, use it! That would make it a lot easier.

5. Then pin the open end closed and blind stitch by hand.

6. Use the pieces you cut off to make a flower. And attach it to your pillow.
7. Stand back and admire you handiwork.

Chandler

2011-04-26T16:47:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of Chandler. Tiffany was able to talk the doctors into letting him come home even though he wasn't off the oxygen yet.

Here he is being propped up in his little exercise toy (chair)

His mommy is introducing him to the spoon again. He is still being fed through a tube in his stomach. But he's gotta learn about real food sometime ... yum!

We had just given him a bath. Kind of tricky with so many tubes.

Remember Celine Dion's song "Beautiful Beautiful Boy?" Well here is one.

Angel baby.

Black and White Surprise!

2011-04-20T19:10:00.000-07:00

When I got back home, there were two packages here from Judy.

This beautiful black and white quilt was in one of them.

When Judy was here she stayed in my black and white guest room.

Can you see the cutie black print on the back.

So lucky me... I get this beautiful black and white quilt.

Thank you Judy! (She's pretty fast, I'd say!)

bean bag bears

2011-04-19T20:07:00.000-07:00

While I was gone ...

Summer needed a craft for sunbeams and wondered what we could do with some old tired towels. So we made bean bag bears.

They were pretty easy. First tear or cut the towels into squares.

Then just think about it for a minute. (Just kidding!)

Sew around the edges leaving one side open for filling with beans.
I rounded the top two corners so the ears would look better.
Then fill them no more than half way (or less) with beans. Just use your best judgement.
Sew across the bottom.

Next tie the corners to look like bear ears.
And add googly eyes and a pom pom for a nose. (Repeat about ten times for the whole sunbeam class)
This was for the Noah's Ark lesson. The kids got to "name" their own bean bag bear.

They were a hit.

Empty Nesters

2011-03-14T21:48:00.000-07:00

We had an Empty Nesters gathering tonight. Everyone came.

So we got pictures of the siblings. Eddie led the discussion on obedience. Turned out to be a great evening of renewing and visiting. (If Judi lived here she and her husband could join us monthly.)The quote of the night...

"When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, then God will endow us with power from on high."

Ezra Taft Benson - Ensign, May 1998, p.81

Judy's first "Do Day"

2011-03-10T22:29:00.000-08:00

We met to do scrap-booking and cards.

And got a little done.

Our sister Judy came into town to play.

Lonnie at lunch.

OlaMae waiting for her meal.

Nancy is waiting too.

Since I didn't take a picture of myself, I'll show you my lunch.

Group pose...my sisters

I highly recommend sister's "Do Days."

Child Safety

2011-03-07T22:19:00.000-08:00

In today's world it's so important to be aware of the dangers for children out there. If you're a parent or grandparent, you know you are constantly concerned for the safety and welfare of the children. One of my daughters has a website that addresses this huge safety issue. This is a great site for parents who want updates on how to protect their kids from predators ...So go here to check it out. She's also on Facebook. Go here to see the discussion

When you get lemons...

2011-02-28T20:55:00.000-08:00

Make lemonade. Look at these perfect lemons!

A couple of my daughters gave me fresh lemons. So we needed to juice them.

Eddie was helping because of my shoulder.

Actually, he would help me anyway.

Could these lemons look any more perfect?

This is a nice little juicer.

We got about 10 cups of juice (in the freezer).

They just don't get much fresher and prettier than this.

Thanks to those two daughters.

Canning Day

2011-02-23T18:16:00.000-08:00

Well today was canning day. However Lonnie brought "stuff" and we found ourselves cutting out baby bibs. Not only that, but OlaMae got a few things cut out too, like part of her pioneer costume. So we've been busy!

But we didn't let all of that extra curricular stuff keep us from the main objective. Canning! So, we had to watch the pressure on the canner! (Keep it at 10.)

These are my jars. They helped me as my shoulder wasn't completely healed.

These are Lonnie's all stacked pretty. Nancy had already taken hers to the car.

Of course Lonnie thought of buying pretty little labels.

Girls weekend

2011-02-15T19:55:00.000-08:00

Tiff was able to fly out here for a few days. So we took advantage of it and celebrated her birthday and took a mini girl's trip too. I knew she was coming so I "baked a cake."

After her birthday party at my house, we went over to Tara's for a slumber party.

Jannie made her a wonderful altered book for her birthday.

At Tara's.

Sundee's holding the camera. (Miss long arms herself!)

The next morning we got up and went to Prescott.

It's "colder" in Prescott. Tiff is taking the picture.

We did some fun shopping and browsing and had a great little lunch.

We all bought a ring as a souvenir. Tara's the photographer at the moment.

Wish the other two had been here!!!!!

New pin cushion

2011-02-03T16:05:00.000-08:00

Here is my latest pincushion.

It's made of brown and green chenille.

(Here is a mini tutorial on how to make the flower.)

The flower is made of brown satin ribbon. First, I cut the satin into petal shapes and singed the edges with a candle. Then I sewed them together with a basting stitch, gathered, and formed the flower. And last I hot glued the beads to the center of the flower.

This is for my daughter's birthday.

She's flying in tonight. Can't wait to see her.

painting the dresser

2011-02-03T15:54:00.000-08:00

One of the projects we did this week was to paint this darling dresser for our great niece. It wasn't quite finished when we left. (It needed to dry before it was antiqued.)The paint is a soft lavender gray. So pretty for her bedroom.

OlaMae working on the dresser. We sanded and painted.

And now it needs a little antiquing.

Humanitarian baby blankets (quilts)

2011-01-26T14:45:00.000-08:00

It was kind of a busy day today. First I started some bread.

Then Lonnie and Nancy came over and we worked on humanitarian stuff.

I had this sweet rose colored fabric mostly ready to tie.

And this little boy blue one was ready to put on the quilt frames.

We just tied both of them.

This is one that Lonnie had been given at church to work on.

So after assembling the squares, we tied it too.

Lonnie also brought these funny little animals to stuff and put eyes on.

We aren't sure what they are. (maybe a puppy???)

But whatever they are, they are now done.

It was a great day of getting things done.

Changing Pad

2011-01-18T13:37:00.000-08:00

So the plan is to start using up some of my stash of fabric. Right? I'm sure I'm not the only one in that mode of thinking. So I found this great tutorial on line and decided to use it. This is the one she made.

And here is the one I made out of my "stash!" So pleased that I didn't have to go buy anything. I used the left over chenille from the baby quilt I made for Gemma.

And a little bit of baby blue bunnies fabric.

Now and then I had to get creative to have enough fabric to make it.

If I make it again, I will tweek it a little bit.

These pockets are for wipes and a diaper.

Nice little handle to carry it.

And here is the completed changing pad.

Birthday cards

2011-01-16T15:49:00.000-08:00

It was our sisters "do day" where we get together and do something.

As you can see, we made a big mess, but we had a great time.

Here's a few of the cards we made.

And a few more.

Nancy, OlaMae, Lonnie and me.

You can totally tell I'm holding the camera,right?

the 5 Browns

2011-01-13T06:46:00.000-08:00

(credit Andrew Southham)

I was talking to Sundee yesterday and she reminded me of the Brown siblings who play classical music together. Then when I saw them highlighted on the LDS web site, I had to listen to them. Wow! Amazing and impressive. But, don't take my word for it, check them out for yourself. (Do I sound like a paid advertisement?) Well I'm not. Just thought you might also like to listen. I would post their video, but wasn't sure about legalities. They play on 5 Steinway grand pianos. They all studied at New York's Julliard School of Music.

(Hats off to their parents!)

You can hear them here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yudATA1XsyE

The dinosaur

2011-01-03T07:34:00.001-08:00

This is the softest dinosaur! I made it of washed soft fleece and stuffed it with fiberfill.

It belongs to my littlest grandson, Chandler. Sewn especially for Chandler.

Gemma got one too made out of pink print fabric. Hers is a little bigger.

The pink one in this herd is Gemma's.

needle book pages

2011-01-02T21:06:00.000-08:00

Here are some samples of the different pages from the needle books I made this Christmas.

This is a scissors page and the beading page.

embroidery and darning pages.

Another darning page and the etc. pocket ...

this last page is where I put the calling cards for each girl.

Pins etc...

Sharps and crewel pages.

Quilting and another darning needle page.

Scissors and beading.

Each page had needles.

Gemma's Blessing Blanket

2010-12-28T16:42:00.000-08:00

Well here is the project I worked on today.

I didn't have time before Christmas, so I made it today.

I used beautiful white chenille and white crepe backed satin.

Completely washable.

She will need it by Sunday. So just in time for her blessing.

Needle Books

2010-12-27T14:34:00.000-08:00

So this year I made needle books. Here's a sample of the covers. Each one is different.

This one is Charity's.

I tried to keep them sort of victorian looking. Tiffany has this one.

Above is Summer's.

For each page I used a piece of decorator fabric...

You know the free samples they have at the fabric store.

The one below is Tara's.

Jannie got this one.

And this is Sundee's.

The metal centerpieces are jewelry pendants. I think I have to say that each one is my favorite.

The Christmas Party

2010-12-13T21:50:00.000-08:00

We had our family Christmas Party. We made gingerbread houses and had the talent show. It was a packed night! (and house!)

Here Georgia had decided that she needed me to take 4 pictures. This is the first one and her fancy pose. I have to giggle every-time I look at it.

Sidney's project.

Brice making his project with Nutella ... an Italian delight.

For their talent, Sidney and Tara did the first Christmas. Here Sidney has the angel telling the shepherds about the birth of Jesus. (Notice the headlight... for the star in the heavens.)

Eddie and I had to improvise at the last minute, since what we were going to do was already done by someone else. So... Jingle Bells with water bottles. The only trouble is, I couldn't get any sound to come out. But Eddie did great! (Next time pop bottles!)

Jannie read a story and Natelle was supposed to say the last word of the line... but wouldn't. She kept saying the same word ("bum"!) and got such a laugh, that's all she would say. And she wouldn't stand there unless Grandpa was with her.

Drex learned the Charlie Brown Christmas song.

Jessica's Gingerbread house.

Aaron with his ready smile.

Matthew... I was lucky to get this smile!!!

Natallie with her creation.

Chance working with Sidney. (The little red-head is Matthew again.)

The Lisonbee's gingerbread castle.

The Neff's Christmas tree.

Adom played "Praised to the Man." He learned it on a small keyboard.

This is by no means all the pictures I have. But this is long enough to give you an idea. Wish the rest of you (my family) could have been here!

Guessing game

2010-12-08T20:42:00.000-08:00

Can't show exactly what we were working on today, but here's a teaser...Ok... now you can guess.

"You are my sunshine"

2010-11-28T22:08:00.000-08:00

Cool Sign!

I know it's been a while since I posted the "stuff " I'm doing. But if I show what I'm doing, then it won't be a surprise for Christmas! Maybe I'll show and tell after Christmas. In the mean time I fell in love with these signs (wall art) when I was in Oregon with my daughter awhile back. And since it's kind of cold in most places, I thought this sign would be fun to share. I'm sorry I don't know who made them so I can give credit where credit is due. I especially love the "you are my sunshine" one. That's a favorite song in my musical family. The kids used to sing it to their grandparents all the time while they were still here. In fact, it's one of the songs the girls put on their cd. Love it!

I think it's such a cool sign!

Ruffling

2010-11-16T21:04:00.000-08:00

I have been working on several projects which need ruffling. I found info on the internet on how to do this on your sewing machine. You just set your stitch length to the longest it will go. Then you adjust the tension so that one thread pulls tighter than the other. This creates a ruffle on the fabric. (I set the tension on my machine to 10.)

This is how much it ruffled with the adjustments I mentioned.

It makes your ruffling go much faster if you don't have a ruffler foot. Enjoy!

Do Day Black and White Tablecloths

2010-11-11T21:14:00.000-08:00

My niece has a daughter getting married. So for our sister's day we worked on tablecloths for the wedding. Look at this fabric! Just breathtaking, isn't it?

Here I am adding a black satin border to the black and white taffeta.

My sister, OlaMae is doing the same thing.

Nancy is pressing the borders, getting them ready to sew.

Then we had lunch.

Lonnie eating her avacado tostada at lunch. (Yep, we went to Matta's) Are you jealous?

It's Lonnie's granddaughter that is getting married.

PAPER MASKS

2010-11-04T22:14:00.000-07:00

My granddaughter is quite a talented artist.

The other day when I happened to be at her home, she asked me to give some things to her cousins. This is what she had made for them. Masks.

Look at the attention to detail...

This feathery one was for Sabrina.

And this one was for Georgia.

I love how bright they are. It's amazing to me that she understands color so well.

This one was for Mallorie.

And this one is hers.

I'm proud of her creativity!

She's Here!

2010-11-03T22:02:00.000-07:00

Let me introduce to you Gemma Rae, our newest granddaughter.

You can tell she's one of us. She's "singing" already.

Sweet new baby.

Peacefully asleep.

This is where I've been this week.

Pumpkin Carving Party

2010-10-29T20:00:00.000-07:00

Our annual pumpkin party.

Georgia with her Daddy, Brice.

Natelle

Sidney and her little dog, Jack

Matthew

Adom

Jessica (with Natelle)

Natalie carving

Georgia, Sabrina, and Natelle all get a ride in the wagon from Jill

Group picture

Sundee at work!

Tara and Sidney

Mallorie

Sabrina and Jack

Aaron, the host

Eddie and I

Good Things to Come

2010-10-24T18:53:00.000-07:00

Leo Teemant

2010-10-23T08:07:00.000-07:00

I have a nephew, Leo Teemant who has been diagnosed with cancer for the second time. This time it is stage four. He and Amy, his wife, have a beautiful little family. In August they welcomed their third baby. They live in Provo. There are several ways to help. One can donate directly to The Teemant Family Cancer Fund at any Wells Fargo Bank. Or make a pledge at pledgie.com. Also, on November 13th 2010 there is a benefit race at Kiwanis Park (in Arizona) at 9:30 am.

You can read more

here: NieNie go to #3

here: http://www.fivetofightcancer.com/

Or make a pledge here: http://pledgie.com/campaigns/13638

The Lime Green Pin Cushion

2010-10-20T22:03:00.000-07:00

It was our sisters "Do Day" today where we get together and do something fun. Mostly we made cards. But also, I had finished this pin cushion and needed to decorate some hat pins to go with it. So I brought it with me today. Mostly we made a mess! But it was a fun mess.

Here is the pincushion where the colors are showing up more true.

These are the decorated hatpins.

I love this really cute piece of chocolate fabric with lime green polka dots on it. To see other pincushions on this blog, go here.

Chicken for dinner

2010-10-19T23:54:00.000-07:00

We had some friends over for a little pot luck. And since one of them asked for the recipe I thought I'd share it with you. Soooo easy. (My kind of dish!)

Pepperidge Farm Chicken Bake

5 chicken breast (boneless and skinless)

1 can cream of chicken soup

5 slices Swiss cheese or 1 cup parmesan cheese

1 cube butter 4 cups of Pepperidge Farm Stuffing (corn bread)

Place chicken breast in 9x13 pan. Put cheese on top of each piece of chicken. Spread soup over chicken and cheese.

Cover with stuffing and pour melted butter over top.

Bake @ 350º for one hour.(covered for 45 minutes and uncovered for the last 15 minutes).

Hawaii

2010-10-12T11:58:00.000-07:00

When I got back from North Carolina, Eddie and I went to Hawaii. Here are a few pictures.

The beach.

The zip line.

Beautiful gardens.

The Grand Canyon of the Pacific.

More of the same...

Waterfalls.

Fields from a lookout.

The sunset from a restaurant "The Beach House"...

Was a great experience!

Aloha!!!

Play Table

2010-09-29T07:53:00.000-07:00

While out in North Carolina, we worked on a little play table for Tess' room. We just covered it with beautiful scrapbook paper that went well with her new rug.

Working on the legs.

Covering the top.

We made large petals out of contrasting pink.

Here it is before the top was covered.

The finished project.

(Should have used Mod Podge.)

baby boy

2010-09-20T13:29:00.000-07:00

I'm in North Carolina again because of this guy. Here he has just arrived (no tubes).

You're going to fall in love...

The only time they got to hold him for three days.

Another sweet picture.

As the days go by, there's more and more wires for monitoring.

We sure love this little guy!

Bread experiment

2010-09-03T11:13:00.000-07:00

This morning I cooked some hot cereal for Eddie and me. It was 9 grain with oatmeal and flax seed added to it. Well we didn't eat it all. I wanted to do something with the cooked cereal that was still in the pan. So I made bread. Half wheat and half white AND the left over cereal.

It was pretty sticky and seemed to take a little longer to cook.

(I used the juice and vegetable cans for pans for some of it.)

But it still tasted good. Good thing!

Lavender Lace

2010-09-02T20:59:00.000-07:00

I had some lavender lace. And now Lucy has a new outfit for her birthday.

This is the dress.

And the bloomers.

The ruffle skirt.

And together there are lots of ruffles.

Go here to see the leg warmers she also received, which she won't need till cold weather.

I like making baby clothes.

Some things we saw on the Oregon coast

2010-08-31T11:09:00.001-07:00

The coast has a lot to offer. I'll just show you some of the things we saw.

Sunset on the beach.

The hole in this rock. It was interesting to watch the ocean go in and out of it.

Beautiful succulents growing on this huge rock on the edge of the shoreline.

This wasn't whale season, but we saw this guy romping around the coastline. Look in the lower left corner to see the water spout and a tiny bit of his back. He put on quite a show for us.

Summer got better pictures, even some video.

Little hermit crab walking on the sand.

Now walking under water.

Not sure what this is, but it was lying on the beach.

Maybe someone who knows can tell me.

If you look closely you can see the little star fish hiding in the water (on the rock).

Better picture.

We also went down to see the redwoods. All I can say is WOW!

Maybe I'll post pictures another time on that.

The Big 40!

2010-08-16T23:18:00.000-07:00

Jayson turned old! So we had a big "Over the Hill" party for him.

Everybody came.

And Jannie made him an "Over the Hill" cake.

Thanks Jannie.

We had lots of games. Thanks Sundee.

And the winner is...
Reed!

And lots of laughs. Thanks Chance!

And a good time was had by all.

Birthday surprise

2010-08-10T22:53:00.000-07:00

See these toes? They are mine. I haven't had a pedicure for a very long time.

See these toes? They are Sundee's. She asked me to run errands with her. Instead of going to a store, we went straight to a nail salon and we each got a pedicure. These are Sundee's feet.

And mine again. Notice we each got flowers.

Thanks for the birthday surprise!

Pink Fluffy Headband

2010-08-08T17:55:00.001-07:00

Mallorie came out and wanted to do a project. So...

She wanted to make a pink fluffy headband. I just happened to have some pink fluffy fake fur in my stash, so we tried it. First I measured her head and cut the body of the headband about 3" shorter.

Then I cut some ruffle strips for each side.

And gathered them.

Nest, the pinning. Because of the fur, you need to do a good job pinning.

Then sew it on both sides.

When both sides have the ruffles sewn on, hand sew them together to make the next step easier.

Hand sew a satin ribbon onto the back side for ease in wearing.

Next, attach approximately 3" of elastic to each end of the headband.

Now sew a piece of ribbon around each end with elastic to hide the elastic seam. I did this by hand. (A little more handwork on this project than usual. My personal rules state "Do very little hand-sewing!")

So there you have it. Our first pink fluffy headband! And a tutorial. TaDah!

Mallorie took a picture of moi. So I put it in. Obviously, I should have touched it up!

Sunday Night

2010-08-01T23:27:00.001-07:00

Some of the kids came over tonight.

They came bearing stuff!

Sundee made cupcakes with carmel surprises in them and funnel cakes.

Jannie brought sugar cookies.

I know you are all jealous. We wish you could have been here too! We even played 9 card.

They really went the extra mile. Yumm!!! Yea for us!

Here is a funnel cake recipe I found here on the internet.

(Not the one Sundee used.)

If you haven't tried it, maybe you should. J

Funnel Cake

 Ingredients:

1 egg 

2/3 cup milk 

2 tbsp. sugar 

1 1/4 cup flour 

1/4 tsp. salt 

1 tsp. baking powder

Directions:

1. In a deep skillet, heat about two cups of oil over medium-high heat until hot. Test the temperature by dropping a pinch of flour into the hot oil. If it sizzles right away without smoking, it's perfect.

2. Beat egg and milk. Mix all other ingredients in a separate bowl and slowly add to the egg mixture, beating until smooth.

3. Using a funnel, drop into hot oil working from center outwards in a web pattern. (You can use a gallon sized freezer bag instead of a funnel by pouring the batter into the bag, snipping off a small corner of it, and squeezing the batter into the oil.)

4. Cook for about 2-3 minutes, remove from the oil when golden brown and crispy.

We finally got rain!

2010-07-29T21:47:00.000-07:00

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...

It's about learning to dance in the rain."

(anonymous)

Baby Leggings Tutorial

2010-07-26T13:14:00.000-07:00

I bought some really loud knee sox for a project and used something else. SO... Here is what I did with one pair...

Baby leggings. Just cut off the foot of the sock at the heel.

Then, cut the heel itself completely off. If you're using striped socks you may want to use scissors instead of your rotary cutter.

Next, with scissors, cut off the toe. That way you can work around the shape better.

Take the piece you have left (that was between the toe and the heel) and fold in half, right sides out. Pin.

Tuck the long part of the sock into this (right side out) and pin.

Sew together with a stretch stitch, or a zigzag (or you can even do it by hand if your good!).

It should look something like this. Trim

I also serged mine.

And there you have the finished set of leg warmers.

"BEE" obedient headbands

2010-07-24T22:07:00.000-07:00

Tomorrows lesson is on obedience. I thought I'd make headbands. I got the cute little bee pattern online here . I didn't want to print them off in color so I traced them instead and then copied them in black and white on yellow card-stock. The headband itself is construction paper. Then I typed the words printed, cut and glued them.
Pretty simple. We are going to have the kids wear them to do the obedient activities.

The Quilter Came

2010-07-22T22:47:00.000-07:00

My sister Judi and her husband came to visit over the weekend on their way to Utah to their family reunion. She made some beautiful quilts. Makes me want to find time to quilt again.Her daughter has a quilting machine that they both used to quilt these quilts.
The back of one.
The front.
Hope they have a great time at their reunion. We enjoyed having them here and teaching them "9 card".

Painting the Cubbies

2010-07-15T08:02:00.001-07:00

We have three of these big shelf units. One black, one brown, and one white. We wanted to use them all in the same room in our new place. So I had Eddie help me take the brown one outside. (Which he reluctantly did, understandably.) It is pretty heavy. Thinking I could just spray paint it, I taped newspaper to the back.

I sprayed the little divider fronts... didn't work too well.

Then I tried spraying the insides of the cubbies... worked even less!

So then I got a gallon of black paint and finally got the job done. (wasted a lot of time and spray paint!)

It took a while, but I'm so happy I did it. The family room is much more cohesive. We have arranged them black, white, black, which looks much better.

Eddie put a whole bunch of stuff on them while I was gone.

The Garden

2010-07-01T09:35:00.000-07:00

I'm back home now. So yesterday I went with my sisters for our weekly "Do Day." After a little shopping at Dillard's outlet and lunch, we went over to my brother Jim's house. He's been gardening. As you can see he and Jolene have quite the green thumbs.

This sunflower just seemed to say, "I'm just perfect. Why don't you take a picture of me?"

This is Jolene's little hospital for struggling plants where she nurtures them back to good health. Cute little spot.

This is just a picture I shot through the window of some very tiny birds by the huge back porch. I first thought they were humming birds. But of course hummingbirds don't sit still. Sorry I don't know what kind they were. You can see four in this picture, but there were six. If you can tell what kind they are, let me know.

Some of the bounty from the day before.

These apricots were actually from their generous neighbor. They were yummy.

Yesterday's tomatoes. They got 150 lbs. of tomatoes last week.

The figs came off earlier. I love this tree!

The cantaloupe is starting to blossom.

Zucchini...yum!

Some of the cherry tomatoes.

Corn.

The watermelon is growing...

Butternut squash.

Scallop squash...Mother called it summer squash. I cooked it last night. Very good.

Ok, so here's how Andrew cooks his butternut squash... Slices it half and cleans it out. Then he puts a tablespoon of butter in the "dish" part, generously salts it, then adds a little pepper and sometimes some "savory" (salt?). Bakes it for about an hour at 350º. If you try this, let me know how it turns out.

We had a wonderful supper last night because Jim and Jolene shared! Lucky us!

2010-06-23T16:37:00.000-07:00

Tiff bought a dress that needed altering. Don't you just hate that? Knowing right when you buy it that it will have to be "fixed" before you can wear it? I've had to do it a lot myself. Anyway, because she is expecting and needs a few more items of clothing to get her through, and because it was so cheap, she got it. We didn't get a picture of it before I cut it up, so we tried to find one just like it on the internet. No luck. But these two black dresses are close. The braided straps crossed in the center and lined the lower part of the bodice. (And it is red.)

You get the picture.

So I cut off the bodice, and saved every little piece I could. (Wasn't much, I can tell you that.) I kept the hem as is and cut the armholes out of the upper part of the skirt. I also pieced together the sleeves from the top of the skirt also.
The two braids were a valuable commodity. One was used for the tie and the other was used to make the neck ruffle. When it was done, there was a little bit of ruffle left for a rosette, which you almost can't see. It's at the neck on her right.
So here's the finished product. And there are almost NO scraps left!