Lemon Tree Tales

Miss L's Halloween dress

Miss L's halloween dress went over splendidly with her classmates. They crowned her the Halloween princess and bade her lead her 5th grade cohorts in the school parade. I think she did a lovely job with sewing such difficult synthetic fabrics. I helped her with the zipper and the hem but she did the lion's share of the work. Her favorite part is still to use the sewing machine and least favorite parts are pinning and cutting. We made the dress a bit large so that she can wear it for another year or two... nothing that a belt wouldn't fix this year. Next time I'd like to go back to cottons for a project... much simpler for a 10 year old to sew.

Halloween Costume Sewing School

A few weeks ago I received a text message from Miss L (well actually she was just using her mom's cell phone) asking if I'd help her sew her Halloween costume this year. How could I resist? We all went to JoAnn Fabric store to shop for a pattern and fabrics. Miss L wants to be a vampire and chose this really cool princess seamed dress with long dramatic sleeves. Of course all the fabrics are a bit hard to sew since they're that inexpensive satin but it'll be worth it in the end. This is only the third project that Miss L and I have worked on together. The first was a pillowcase (perfect first time sewing project with only straight seams!) and the second was a little half-square triangle patchwork pillow (which I've never taken a picture of and need to do that one of these days).

So far Miss L has rough cut out the tissue pattern, pinned it to the fabric while learning about the straight grain, then cutting it out and pinning it (both parts that she didn't especially like). Finally she got to the good part - using the sewing machine (which is her favorite step!) I'm determined that she'll do the lion share of the project but we're running against the clock at this point. She's going to use this to earn her sewing badge so I'd like her to learn how to sew a zipper. I'm wondering if I should go ahead and do that on the dress and have Miss L sew a smaller zipper on a pouch for the experience. I don't want her to be frustrated. So far she likes to sew and I'd like it to stay that way. Do you think that'd be a good idea?

Saturday Sewing

I seem to have regained my sewing mojo and have quite a few projects either completed or in the works this Saturday. Today I mailed off a needlebook that I made for the Sewn Spaces Swap on flickr. My partner requested the color "rainbow". Fortunately I had some triangles that were from a baby quilt years ago. Yes, I saved them! I just needed to cut a few more fabrics to add some more color and then pieced them last night. I prefer sewing half-square triangles but these didn't stretch along the bias too much. I did trim them after sewing and that helped a lot. It's all surrounded by white fairy frost - love that fabric! I used Sew She Sews Quilted Needlebook Tutorial.

Once that was sent off in the care of our neighborhood post office, it was time to get cracking on the DQS11 cathedral windows. Over the last few days I cut, sewed, and folded the brown blocks. Then it was time to begin the hand sewing. So far I'm only half way done with the center of my design. After that I'll still need to make the border blocks and special end blocks. It's a good project to work on while watching TV with Steve. This morning we watched the F1 qualifying. (Yes, we're big F1 fans here.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First windows sewn:

In the middle of all of this action I've done a load of laundry, filled the dishwasher, and set the sewing machine to embroider the 1st of the last two fascinator hats for two of my blog buddies. Wow! I feel like I've accomplished a lot today. Oops, now it's time to take Fearghus for a walk around the block. (He's sitting outside my studio at the baby gate giving me 'that look' and whining.)

Miss L's Apron Set

I finished Miss L's apron this past weekend. I even had some time to make a matching chef's hat (free pattern by Joanna Armour of stardustshoes.blogspot.com) and I decorated a cotton hand towel to match. I just fused on of the design motifs on the towel over a bit of the scrap binding that I had made for the bows. A quick zig-zag makes sure that it won't peel off in the wash and a green floral button on the apron finished the look. The apron pattern is Sunday Dinner Apron by Vanilla House Designs that I found at one of our LQS. The two fabrics are by Michael Miller and I'm not sure who designed the green leaf print.

We gave it to her on Sunday and she loved it! Yay!!! She promptly put it on when it came time to help her dad with the grilling. Now the only setback is that yes, 75% was a tad on the small size. Next time I think that I'd stick with reducing it only by 90% and letting her grow into it. The best compliment is that Miss L thinks that it would be great as a dress. 

Apron Progress

I'm very late with this project - Miss L's birthday party was this past Saturday and we weren't in town to attend. Finally I was able to spend some time today on it. It's not quite finished yet - there's still some trim detail to add and a couple accessories. But so far I'm liking how it's turned out. I used Vanilla House's Sunday Dinner Apron pattern but sized it down 75% so that it'd be better for a little girl. Hopefully it's not too small. Since it's completely lined it could be reversible if you don't mind the pockets being hidden.

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And for everyone who wants to see updated pictures of Fearghus, here he is:

When we come back from a walk he's a bit tired and hot. He recently discovered that if he sprawls on the vent he'll get cooling air on him if the A/C's turned on. Smart puppy!

This is how he waits patiently in the 'Down' position to get a treat. He's really good at this one. Tonight is our fourth puppy class. We'll see how well he learns 'Stay' ... he's not so keen on walking with the leash. There's just too many distractions out there. I'll have to bring better treats than his kibble when we're outside. Ah, but he just loves to meet new people and get attention from them. He's not shy at all, no siree!

 

Fearghus update and a little sewing

Okay so I have to admit that our new puppy Fearghus is the primary focus of my days right now. We're having a blast with training and going to puppy classes and puppy socials. And I can't believe how much he's growing - wow! On July 2nd was his first vet appointment and he weighed 5 lb 2 oz. A week later when we went to check up on a rash he was 5 lb 10 oz!!! Last week we had to adjust his collar because I realized that it was getting harder for me to put my fingers through it. He's a little bundle of energy except when he's napping. And the rash ... turns out the poor little guy has allergies/hay fever. I have to give him children's Benadryl to help with the skin irritations. Of course that doesn't stop him from wanting to roll around in the grass.  :-)

It's so very hard to take pictures of him because he's always moving - or he wants to eat the camera. Here's two snaps from July 8th when he met the lovely girls Miss L and Miss J. They brought him toys!

Ah, and Steve got him a very cool toy ... the Jolly Ball. When it arrived I thought that it was too big and we'd have to reorder the smaller size. That was before we let Fearghus try it out ... turns out that he loves this thing and is a very tough little guy. Here's a quick video of it:

Don't worry, it won't be puppy fever here all the time. I have some projects brewing but the first one that really needs some attention is a gift for Miss L's upcoming birthday. She loves helping in the kitchen so I'm making her an apron. Here's the fabrics that I picked up for it - I didn't want it super girly because I'm adding a little flower trim and didn't want to go overboard. Of course there's plenty of fabric here to make a couple accessories to go with it.

 

Square bag for a little girl

On Saturday I went to Miss J's 6th birthday party. Yikes, it's amazing how quickly time goes by. I could have sworn that she was just a little baby a minute ago. I wasn't sure what we should get for her present. Luckily Steve came to the rescue and said that I should make a pretty purse with a strap - all girls like purses with a strap. I quickly chose some fabrics from the stash (gotta love having a fabric stash!) and decided to make "the box bag" designed by Square Rose. (It was a pattern that I bought two years ago at the PIQF in Santa Clara.) It was a quick and easy bag to make. Oh, and the reaction that the birthday girl had was priceless - she smiled and then ran over and gave me a hug when she learned that I had made it just for her! Yep, Steve's idea was spot on - smart man!

Flower Felt Barrette

I made this little flower felt barrette (with beads and chain-stitch embroidery) as part of My Life Under the Bus felt smack down challenge. We were supposed to make something inspired by Salley Mavor's Felt Wee Folk book of the most adorable felt creations. In the future I may make some of the fairies, or even bring the supplies with me to make with Miss L and Miss J some future weekend. In the meantime I thought that barrettes are a simple accessory that all little girls would appreciate. Each of the little petals is individually cut and then sewn to the green base felt. It needed some glitz, thus the shiny seed beads for the final accent.

 

Tiny World Creamer Pincushion

I finally saw my friend Daisy last night to give her the last Tiny World Pincushion that I made - hers is the creamer. So now all my mini doll group friends have Tiny Worlds of their own - creamer, sugar bowl and teacup with saucer. These are so addictive to make! If you want to make one too, you can buy the pattern from their designer Mimi Kirchner at Mimi's Etsy Shop.

Now as to the fun I had yesterday -an all-day doll class followed by last night's doll club meeting- that will have to wait until Monday when I can take some good pictures of my doll project. It's been raining all this week in northern California. We've been in a drought for quite a few years so I'm sure the water is much appreciated. I'm just wondering if perhaps it couldn't have been spread out over a month rather than one short week.

Sewn Goodies for Miss L and Miss J

Hand sewn goodies are always on my list to make for the too-quickly-growing young ladies, Miss L and Miss J. A conversation that I had with them a month or two ago triggered an idea. The little Miss J was talking about our hobbies - she likes to color, Miss L and I like to sew, Steve likes racing, their dad likes hockey, and their mom likes to make cards. Hmm, why not make them something for their hobbies?

For Miss J, a quilted cover for a blank sketchbook. I used her lovely drawing as the centerpiece. It was scanned and printed on silk. The first one was too washed out so I had to use Adobe Photoshop to saturate the colors to a crazy intensity. I then picked fabrics that would coordinate with the sketch. Oddly enough quite a few of them were the same purples that I've been using for the last baby quilt and the Miss Molly doll. Hmm, does that ever happen to you? The same fabrics popping up for a spell?

The front cover:

The back cover:

And the inside: 

Basically it was constructed as a quilted table runner, minus the binding and the lining was sewn after I quilted the top layer to flannel. It was top-stitched, then the flaps were folded back and top-stitched again. That ended up being too loose so I did an additional top-stitch 3/8" from the edge. The sketch book is spiral bound so that it'll lay flat when Miss J is drawing and coloring. Plus she can rip out the pages if she wants.

Now for Miss L I decided to make her a sewing kit for the next time that we get together for another sewing lesson. Back in 2006 I made a similar kit as part of my Back-Tack 3 gift. Of course when I went to the original online tutorial for making the box bag I discovered that it was gone! Fortunately I still had my pattern pieces so I didn't have to draft one.

A close-up of the covered tape measure (tutorial here at Whipup.net) and the scissors case (made from a microsuede):
Yes, I ended up using the leftovers of that gorgeous backing fabric from the latest baby quilt. I just can't get enough of this fabric - the colors are so beautiful! In case you're wondering, it's #PJ 27 Summer Tree by Phillip Jacobs for Rowan.

And of course now there's the aftermath:

Lots of cleaning up to do today!