Sewing Retreat

Sew if you have read Cousin Holly's blog lately you know we escaped last weekend to a sewing retreat and I agree with Holly that we need to find time to do these more often. We have enough people in our family & friends group to book all the open spaces with our own peeps.

I'm not attaching all the pics, but I have emailed out the kodak gallery link where they are posted and made it where you are not required to log in to view them. Here are a few, mostly mine because I want to log them on the blog, duh. I actually completed several projects because I brought my UFO's.


The "finished" board. Some things didn't make it up, but this is a good sampling of some things that where made and finished.

Embroidery and then pieced together hot pads for a McCord cousin wedding gift. The embroider patterns are free Internet patterns at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jacquedavis/sets/72157605615689465/ which Crafty Cherry turned me onto.

Go green bag (thanks Trish for the pattern, again!) for Holly's birthday.

Grandma's bible cover. Freehand pattern using notebook cover technique.

THE JACKET. UGGG. Long story but Grandma has FINALLY received her September birthday gift. THE JACKET.

Two doggies & a T-shirt

Here's a t-shirt I worked on recently. I have been trying to find additional ways to use embroidery because I really enjoy doing it , but how many tea towels can you have and give away? Sew I decided to go for it on a t-shirt I have seen plenty of people have done it, but was always a little timid because of how stretchy the material is. Well if you put some stability on the back of the t-shirt it's not bad at all. Sew.....I got a t-shirt and went to work. This pattern came from Sublime Stitching Hundreds of Hip Embroidery Patterns & How-To. (Love this book).

More to come on the embroidery. Got two projects going!

Sewing with the Girl's

Sew yesterday we had a sewing meeting at the house. Meg & Trish came over and we worked on notebook covers. They both completed theirs, and I have just a bit left to complete mine. I took a couple of pics. Like a duffus I forgot to take pics of their finished products. (Duh!)

P.S. Chubby, Emily, & Callie played lincoln logs for their entertainment.

T-shirt Dress (Sienna Dress Pattern)

Sew, I did get behind the machine yesterday to complete a dress for Miss Demi's b-day. I figured it was safe to post because I don't think she has the "blog bug" yet??? If so, Mom cover her eyes. This is the same dress pattern that cuz Holly posted a week or sew ago. Hoping it fits since the model is miles away.

I can't get over how easy the pattern is and how fast it makes up. I thought all the tips she gave really helped the process to go seamlessly versus figuring out these little helpers on my own. Pattern credit http://lilblueboo.blogspot.com/ (Sienna Dress).

Comfort in the Storm

While this post is not about crafting or sewing, I have a strong urge to post it.

This past Tuesday I joined a small group through our church. The leader emailed me the book we would be using and said if I could pick it up and read the 1st 2 chapters before our 1st meeting that would be ideal. The book is Believing God by Beth Moore. I was excited about the title and the author, I can hear her voice, conviction, and excitement when I read her books and can usually visualize myself with her style.

To my surprise late Thursday evening I was notified that my position was part of the most recent reduction in force. Another layoff and this time I didn't survive. I was offered some options most of which included relocating and all of which included a large pay cut. Through the 24 hours of discovering the news and securing a position in the end I felt blessed to obtain a position with out having to relocate.

Now that I survived securing a place of employment the fear of how to make ends meet and how to adjust to my new responsibilities, panic, anxiety and other emotions have reared their ugly head in my constant thoughts.

Today I started reading the book assigned to our small group instead of fast forwarding to the 1st chapter I decided to read every page including the copyright and Dewey decimal classification? Within the Introduction I found this from the author......
"I am convinced that Christ is always the initiator of matters concerning faith. (Heb. 12:2). So if I'm on target, you've neither stumbled onto this book nor accidentally found it in your hands. Christ is initiating a fresh anointing of faith in your life, Dear One." This of course brought me immediate comfort and positive emotions.

My course ahead will be bumpy I know. I know myself well enough that I will have the battle of battles in front of me to control my thoughts of fear. But I'm confident that the author was right "Christ is initiating a fresh anointing of faith in my life". May Lord give me strength to accept yet another precious gift from Him.

On the Wings of White Dove

Hello - I really liked the way this card turned out, I was struggling with completing it because you couldn't really see the dove cut out and then my friend Meg says well "how about putting some white card stock behind it?" Perfect. I'm working on the on the road so I wasn't able to travel with scissors to trim up the ribbons yet, so will do when I get home. Here's a quick look from my camera phone.

Hedge Hog Pin Cushion

Sew my friend Trish made mention early December she needed a good/cute pin cushion. My first plan after the Christmas rush to complete projects was to make Trish a pin cushion.

I had a different pattern in mind originally but after surfing http://craftcherry.blogspot.com/2009/12/cupcakes-for-lunch.html she references the Longthread which has a list for pin cushion patterns (the actual pattern came from http://urbandebris.typepad.com/urban_debris_journal/)

Once I saw this vintage hedge hog pin cushion I thought I must! Trish is an animal lover and I figured she has probably never had a hedge hog before, sew below was the end result, I must say it is much cuter in person but you get the idea and Trish loved it, which is what mattered most.