40 Years and Counting

When I was first married and living in New Jersey, there was an infamous highway right near me - Route 22. It was known far and wide to be a crazy road to drive on, wild traffic, people cutting you off, lots of businesses with cars entering the highway from every which way; you felt like you were entering the Twilight Zone of crazy driving when driving on Route 22. There were few things to entice me onto this highway, but the one I distinctly remember was....Drumroll please.....FABRIC LAND in Plainfield, N.J. It was around a 5 mile drive down this crazy highway but a great fabric store for its time and one I was willing to risk life and limb for. I was a teacher at the time, made a lot of my own clothes and was always in the market for dress goods. I've always loved woolens and find them harder and harder to find and also find I wear them less and less.

 But for some ridiculous reason, I've held onto this piece of wool I purchased at Fabric Land some 40+ years ago - really, no moth holes, no fade marks, as good as new and I've always wanted to do something with it if for no other reason - for old times sake, so I finally did.

 I do wear skirts occasionally with leggings so here is my 40+ year old fabric finally put to good use.

and some left over. Now I hope it's not another 40 years before I use the leftovers.  ( - :
Til next time

Good Morning

Well, it's been a while since I've posted, been doing grandma duty for the last week+.  My husband and I went to Atlanta to deliver a bookcase he made for Audrey's room and then we headed back to Asheville on Sunday morning along with Jill and Audrey.  I was in the "Girls Only" car to watch the baby while John took our car.  Jill and Audrey were coming for a week - perfect timing with Jill's hubby being out of town.  So this cute little lady below, now 7 weeks old, has taken over our household and every spare moment of our time. I've never seen so many things for one little baby including the huge bouncy ball (used in yoga) to lull them to sleep. The car was jam packed.

Back in my studio,  I did manage to pull out a panel I bought many years ago at a quilt show. They had it made into a quilt. All the squares were separated with some cute little block work going on in between. I wish I could remember some of the cute things they did, but thought this would be a darling baby quilt, so I'm off and running with a new project.

 At the time, I also bought some coordinating fabric and will go through some of my hand dyes to pull in.

I did manage to give Audrey a tour of my studio and showed her all the fabrics on the design wall. She's getting so alert and loves the color so we're hoping early exposure will ignite a spark for quilting.  They say things skip a generation, in that case she will be a quilter!
A grandma can hope
Til next time....

Sewing Projects

I have a few sewing projects for the winter. I used to make clothes all the time but have turned to quilts - no bodies to fit. The things make for myself now are fast and easy, notice the patterns - Fast and Easy!
Very Easy Vogue, Another Fast and Easy.

There was a sale going on at a local sewing store; all patterns were $1 and Vogues were $4 so I stocked up.

This pattern is for jammie bottoms. I have a problem with jammie bottoms. I'm average height so nothing is ever too short to begin with but when I buy jammie bottoms, they shrink to a ridiculous length - first washing! I feel like a little kid who's just gone through a growth spurt with ankles showing. I'm not that particular about what they look like but my ankles get cold. So to that end, I started making my own - super easy, elastic waist, no pockets and made them super long to allow for shrinking.

I've had this silk charmeuse for a very long time. I used to be a silk-aholic - bought lots when I lived in Atlanta from a wonderful store and great prices. My stash of silk has accumulated over the years so it's time to use it. I love this piece - obviously there was a plan in mind that never came to be so now they will be jammie bottoms, and I will probably enjoy them more than the original intent.

This piece of light weight drapery fabric will be a simple jacket and maybe some thread embellishment following the lines of the pattern.

And my favorite plaid - a piece of Black Watch wool plaid. There's a lot of yardage here so haven't decided yet but I'll get more than one thing out of it.

So the one pair of jammie bottoms is done and they do feel so nice to wear. I feel very luxurious!