Mainly Sewing

I can't even remember what I've been doing since I last posted here.  Lots of sewing and some cleaning of the sewing areas.

I finished the 2 adult-sized Viking hats and got them in the mail and was rewarded with pictures this week.  Emily shamelessly wore hers all day the day it came.

She put another picture on Facebook, and it seems there is quite a demand from people not afraid to look ridiculous.

I was worrying about Graysen being scared, but I think she's decided it's the norm.

Ryan got a good stare and then a laugh.

Then Victoria and Sami came over to visit, and they got in on the headgear.

 What a sweet picture of Sami and Graysen getting to know each other.

I've decided to put up my crochet hook for a bit and concentrate on finishing the Emma dress.  This pattern was wonderful to make.  I started it a year ago and put it aside until we found out Graysen was going to be a girl and got so busy making other things.  I ate the dessert first though, getting the fun part (the smocking) done first.

 

The embroidery was not hard but just tiny and time-consuming on a yoke only about 7 inches long. 

 

Once that was done, I then had to face piping the yoke to the smocking, sewing entredeux to the neck and sewing lace to the entredeux.

Then came pleating and smocking the little sleeves.  They are my favorite things.

 

Sorry for so many pictures, but if I ever do anything that turns out nearly perfect, I like to celebrate (and boast about it). 

 

The back has cute little tucks in it and will look better once I tackle those buttonholes.  I'm a little scared but am going to plunge right in later today.

 

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Love the pleats under the arms to add fullness.

 

 

This is a 6-month size, so we feel like Graysen can wear it by the end of the summer.

 

  Sweet baby had her 1-month birthday and is now 5-1/2 weeks old.  I should be able to find some pictures in my picture file if I look hard enough.  I still don't have the official "birthday" pictures, but these are some during her second month.

The Easter box arrived.

Wondering why grownups think posing babies in silly hats is funny.

 

 What does it all mean?

 

 

Posing in bunny ears is boring.

 

And I'm officially done.

 

Grayson is not a fan of clothes modeling and prefers to be snuggled down in a fleecy blanket with pjs.

 

But sometimes a girl has to try on her finery.

 

 

Really!  Doesn't matter if it is Aunt Lisey's bonnet.

Looking good - but Dad hates the church-lady pantsuit.

 Dancing a little in the fancy dress.

 

 

 Mimi's choice.

 Well, not this this Easter.  This year?  Bubble to dress maybe?

And we haven't even seen her in Aunt Debby's bunny outfit.  It's worth waiting for.  She's going to love it.  This is the basket she sent with some little Mimi gifts to be torn into.  Fopa claims none of the silliness.

 

So working and sewing have been all I've done this week - and loved it.  The sewing part anyway.  We got to enjoy some nice thunder and heavy rain yesterday and last night.  Cool enough for a fire and very enjoyable just to relax and do what you want to.  Mike cooked some and worked in the yard some but nothing he hated.  I'm ready for some spring flowers.  I'm just too lazy to go get them and plant them. 

 

We're going to Skype this afternoon with Graysen and possibly her parents when she wakes up.  Can't wait to see what she's doing now.

Projects and Picture Fail

For a change, I have made a lot of progress on my to-do list and then forgot to take pictures of the finished things.

I finished 2 adult-size viking hats, like this one.

 

Hope her parents like theirs more than Graysen liked her.  This is a yawn, but she was already beginning to get unhappy with the whole modeling thing at 1 day old.

 

I packed G's Easter box and neglected to take pictures of that too.  The only sewing I did there was to replace some grayish-looking buttons with some white ones on a new jumper and onesie. 

 

I love this little outfit for Graysen's first Easter.  It's so soft and not overwhelmed with "stuff," including bunnies.   Perfect for a new baby.  She'll have ruffles and smocking and lace (in moderation) when she's older.  I thought these buttons stood out too much so changed them.

 

 

She can't keep socks or shoes on, but I found some yesterday that I think will be small enough to stay on. 

These are 2 patterns I would like to finish/try next.  I sent Emily some pictures from my visit to The Shoppes at My Kid's Attic, and she did like this...

 

Except witout the bows and possibly without the smocking.  Just a seersucker tiered sundress with maybe some machine embroidery designs on the top.  So I found a pattern yesterday that is similar and will try to do something like that.  This is the bubble that goes with it, also possible with certain changes.

I think I've mentioned the Emma dress before that has been started well over a year ago.  I did the smocking, which was fun, and then didn't enjoy the embroidery so much, so I put it away. Now I'm going to try to do a non-lace version of this Old-Fashioned Baby dress.  Maybe a little lace around the neck and sleeves but only some embroidery around the hem.  Goal is to finish it before she outgrows it, but I think she has a year anyway.

Here are the patterns.  On the sunshiny kitchen table.  I like the overalls too.

The smocking on this dress went so well, and I love the simplicity.  I do need to finish it, even with no embroidery.

Another project that I'm determined to finish before Monday.  I worked on this on our Thanksgiving trip and have it all ready except for sewing the pieces together.  I had to look up some instructions and watch a few YouTubes and waste a lot of time getting distracted before I was ready to start.

Back in the middle, 2 sleeves, and the front and back.  It's big enough for a 3-year-old so no hurry on finishing it.  I just want to get it out of my to-do pile.

So what else has been going on besides sewing and knitting?  Not one thing for me.  Mammogram on Monday, a little shopping/wandering Tuesday, and a trip to the fabric shop for buttons yesterday.  Mike cooks and I sew/knit/crochet.  Pretty good deal.  Keeps us both from having to do anything useful.

Debby has had some bad (roof falling in) and good (new kitchen cabinets) things to happen lately, and she's going to send me some before and after pictures of her kitchen later.  But a really good thing for her lately is a new grandbaby, Myles.  He is so cute.  I love his smile and chubby hands. 

 

Not rushing Graysen, but it will be so neat when she starts smiling and laughing.  These are some pictures I got this week.  She is reading already - all about butterflies - so smiling can come later.

 

Her greatest talent right now is sleeping - in all kinds of positions and at any time, for which her parents are grateful!

 

 

She is now one month old, nearly 5 weeks.  It hasn't taken long to become the center of our lives.  Even all the way across the country, I'm still thinking of her and praying for her health and happiness all the time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Skyping

I'm not sure that's how it's spelled, and I'm pretty sure that's not what we actually did, but we used some form of technology to sit face to face with Emily, Ryan, and Graysen and have some valuable grandparent time today.  It was so much fun.  She was awake and in a good mood, and we got our fill of watching her sweet face and seeing how much she's grown and hearing her little noises and chirps.

 

This is an awful picture, but there's Graysen in all her squirmy sweetness and her adoring grandparents in the screen at the bottom.  One day we can talk to each other, but it was enough today to just look.

While we were on, the package we sent arrived, and Emily was able to get the daygown on her that my grandmother had made - Graysen's great-great-grandmother.  It was a snug fit - oops - but oh so sweet.  This is just the instagram I got afterwards, but I hope they're going to take some better pictures later.

She doesn't look overjoyed at having on a dress - with tucks and rosebuds and puffed sleeves.  Kind of like her mother used to be.

I got two projects completed yesterday.  The all-day rain was perfect for doing nothing except doing a little laundry, drinking coffee, and sewing.

I'll have to do a little housecleaning to find my camera to show pictures of the completed items, but they were the Easter bib, the birth announcement, and some Auburn door silencers for two little friends - Tyler and Bronner - plus one for Graysen.

Found the camera, so here's what I've been doing the past 3 or 4 days.

I started the this birth announcement as soon as we knew there would be a baby.  Sherry and I were at the Quilt Symposium in Birmingham, and we knew that we were going to be grandmothers and had the ultrasounds to prove it, but that's about it.  At that point, we thought they would both be boys, and we would walk through the children's sewing booths drooling over the cute clothes.  Such a fun time.  I'll treasure those memories.

I've been working on it off and on since then.  If I've spelled something wrong or messed up somewhere - I don't want to know about it.  It's still wet here and being blocked.

 

Here's Sherry's Emma when she was about Graysen's age.  I have an album of more recent pictures, but they won't go on here for some reason.  She is beautiful and pefect and such a happy baby.  I hope our girls can meet one day.

 

 

With her sweet Daddy, also Ryan.

 

 

This is one of the door silencers - happy little Auburn tigers.

 

This is one of the more useless things I've ever made.  I've had this little bib in my "in case I need a quick gift" drawer, and when I saw it a few months ago I had the bright idea of making an Easter bib for Graysen.  The pattern I picked out didn't look too difficult.

 

And it wasn't.  But it took a long time to get all those stitches done.  And just to be worn (if at all) for one day.  I still love it and am glad I did it.  It's all for me anyway.

I'm a good grandmother and included some bunny ears, 2 sets, pink ones and white ones.

I even sewed some new ribbon on Aunt Lisey's bonnet (Emily was born too big for this, I think or either refused to wear it).  It whitened very nicely with the Biz and Dawn solution.

That's all the damage I've done to the poor child for her first Easter - except for what is going in the box to be mailed next week.  Only some bunny socks and a book and a chickie sippy cut (you never know) and I might finish the blue smocked dress I also started at the quilt symposium last year.  Might.  I need another rainy day or two.

One last picture of Graysen.  I realized last night about midnight that I didn't have a picture, and I wanted to have at least 1 for every day of her life for the first month at least.  There were still 2 hours to go in Washington, so I got this one.  Oblivious.

 

Her South Dakota grandparents are visiting this week, and she's had to do a lot of entertaining for them and getting kissed on more than usual.