Traveled to Minneapolis and then drove to Denver to visit family and friends. Lots of good one-on-one with the grand babies. They travel wonderfully! They were real troopers on the way here. I bet they are just as good on the way home. 14 hours in the car gets rather monotonous! No worries, lots of great music and conversations! More soon about the crafty pursuits!

Getting close to Christmas. The Craft Fair is just a week and a half away! I made some really cute snowmen out of wood and painted them white, then made hats, noses, eyes and corncob pipes (thank you children for making the pipes for me!) out of Fimo, last to go on then are the scarf  and pipe cleaner arms. They are cute. See pictures when I post them. I also made aprons to sell. 2 different types of boy aprons. A couple aprons in a green John Deer fabric  a couple in a brown Deer fabric. They are cute! Look for pictures in a later post. I also have a brown camouflage print for the men out there that need an apron. women's and girls will be in Christmas materials. My significant other has made several teddy beat rocking chairs. Oh so cute! I hope folks just snap them up! Look for pictures in a new post.

Are you ready for the holidays? I have not even started thinking of Christmas Shopping!

Happy Today! It is Wednesday August 7, 2013

Weather is chilling down. What happened to summer? Fall starting in August?

Spent the weekend entertaining one of my nieces, who is up visiting her Mom. Picked her up Friday afternoon and dropped her off Sunday afternoon. We went to the thrift store to find dress up dresses. Ended up with one gown and a skirt. She also picked out a piece of  fabric for an apron. Saturday we had sewing lessons. She was so into sewing, she stayed at the machine for hours! She made barbie clothes and doll aprons. Her mom has a machine, but I don't think she has access to one at her fathers house. I can see her as a really great sewist later in life!

Finished several flannel baby blankets. Need to mail them off,. all started sewing some checkered fabric strips together. not sure what I'll make. Will likely cut them down and in some way reassemble, I'm sure I will have more later. ;-)

Making plans to be in Saint Paul for the Making Strides event in October. Someone very close to me is organizing it and it should be an amazing day! I am very proud of that someone!

Grand Baby #2 is due first week in October. Getting really excited! Can't wait!

How you have a wonderful Saint Powered week!

Another week has begun. Why does time go by so quickly?!

I have plans to start making aprons for the Christmas craft sale this year. I am looking at more "male" type fabrics. John Deer is one among several that I will make the aprons. I hope they sell this year. In the past couple years we haven't sold much of anything, but that went for my fellow crafters too.

I plan to make BBQ aprons for the men in my life. My own patterns, tie neck and wrap around ties at the waist. I will post a tutorial or something when I start making them.

I am making the grand daughter a princess outfit. I found some pretty, shiny, pink fabric. Also a baby blue of the same type and I found a 10 yard bit of the same type of fabric at a thrift store. I hope is looks good for her. she loves to play dress ups!

I also have a dress up dress cut out for her. It is from a yard of red sequence fabric. I will line it so she doesn't get itchy from the main fabric. I'll post pictures when complete.

I also have curtains for our daughters bedroom in the queue. They should be a quick project, I just need to get started on them!

The garden is producing tons of peppers. I haven't gotten a tomato out of the garden yet. The plants are huge and look healthy, just no blossoms. My plants on the deck (in pots) have produced a couple tomatoes, but for the number of plants I planted, I should be wallowing in ripe tomatoes! I want fresh salsa!

Not much more is happening out this way. I'm going to enjoy the summer weather this week, maybe walk to the museums at lunch. Its a shame working so close and not getting a chance to enjoy. I need to make more of an effort! Oh the Botanical Gardens has the titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) in bloom. It is referred to as the corpse flower because of its vile smell. It is supposed to be one of the larges flowers. I might walk over to see it, but I certainly do not want to smell it!

Have yourselves a Saint Powered week.

Hello!

Not much blogging time lately.  Been busy with creating stuff!

The garden is producing peppers like crazy now – yippee!  I am drying the peppers several times a week now.  I have had a couple tomatoes ripen on the vine from the plants on my deck.  It is nice to go out and pick one right before cutting it to go into a salad or other part of dinner.  Can anyone else taste the sun in a tomato grown outside?  I can!  Yummy!

I have watermelon growing all over the floor of my garden.  Some of the vines have little watermelons!  I hope the rabbits, deer, and turtles only eat their fair share, that way I will get some too.  I plant plenty for all of us!

The blueberry bushes and the thorn-less blackberries did not produce much this year.  We moved them to my garden area and planted them along the fence.  The other fruit trees (cherry, nectarine, plum, and apple) bloomed wonderfully this year, but something(s) stole the fruit before it got very big.  L The grape plants and the crab apple trees are full of fruit.  I am looking forward to grape jelly, crabapple jelly, and hot pepper crab apple and hot pepper grape jellies.  Yummy.  I discovered last year that if you use splenda, or another alternative sweetener, the jelly does not clarify!  Much to my shock – I had Ugly Jelly!  Well that did not stop folks from buying it at the craft fairs.  I labeled it “Ugly Jelly” and folks bought it.  I guess it helped that we had samples (and they were yummy!)

My goof-ball saint loves the shaved down hair on his feathers and underside.  He also stays so neat and clean.  He is quite the personality now that everyone is home.  He always wants to go with me when I leave.  Unfortunately, I cannot take him to work with me.  I wish I had a job like that, where he could join me occasionally.

The Grand baby is growing up too quickly!  Birthday # 3 is at the end of the summer.  We are expecting Grand baby #2 shortly after the big birthday of #1!  Oh, we are so excited!  I have been sewing blankets and stuff for the new baby.  I am also sewing similar size stuff for #1 to play with while Mommy is changing baby #2.  Also doing the same for the mommy’s sister in-laws that are also expecting around the same time.  The cousins will get similar things that #1 gets.  Should make everyone happy and useful!

I have at least four men’s aprons I need to make in the next couple of weeks.  And maybe I’ll fit in time for a few more for the in-laws too.  As usual, no patterns here, just a general idea of what I want them to look like and away I go!

That is all from now.  I hope you have a Saint Powered Day!

I've been out of the blogging mood for a while now and decided to kick myself into gear! Spring is AWESOME! So far the magnolia, the jonquils, lilac, crab apple, peach, cherry and apple trees have bloomed. The irises are up with buds and the blueberries are in bloom. I planned the veggie garden last weekend (oh so late!) and it rained a gentle rain for 2 days after.  I still have a few seeds to plant and should finish up this weekend.

On the creative side, I made a couple of receiving blankets and a matching changing pad for one of our kids friends baby shower. They were tickled with them!

Last Saturday a friend and I spent the afternoon at our corporate offices creating quilts for project Kid Comfort coordinated by the YMCA for the children of deployed service members. They were very organized. They had all of the blocks and such pre-cut, and family photos and the child's name all printed on photo material. Those became blocks in the quilts. They backed the quilts with fleece instead of using batting. It really worked out well. The only decisions we had to make were to pick out the quilt fabric (all pieces in a Ziploc for boy or girl) and the backing fleece. It was fun! I hope the two little brothers enjoy the quilts and think of their sailor daddy.

Our big Saint has continued to enjoy my telework days! He is such a velcro-saint, has to be with me all of the time, touching, leaning, goobering, LOL! Did you know Saints were the first version of Velcro?  gotta love the big goober!

Exciting news! We are having another grandchild!!!! yipppeee! We are thrilled for the kids and our grand daughter. We wish they lived closer but golly they have a beautiful home and such nice family close by them. This winter was really rough for them, they had FEET of snow on the ground all the way through the end of April. My girl is like me and must have sunshine!

Wow!  The days and weeks have flown by since the holidays!  Work is great and keeps me busy.

What I have been doing:
For Christmas, I gave all of my co-workers aprons.  For the 2 guys I made BBQ aprons with pockets.  (Pattern to follow) and for the ladies, I made cute aprons.  (Patterns to follow)  A cool dozen aprons, all my own patterns.

I made a pillowcase for our Grand Daughter.  She latched onto a piece of fabric, so I made her the pillowcase!

My youngest son's "23" quilt is cut out.  I made the half-square triangles using the X and + method - they were sooo easy!

I cut out a dozen flannel baby blankets.  I am going to use the remaining fabric for a flanel quilt or two. 

I have organized my fabric and notions, and gave my sister (in-law) a bunch of fabric, patterns, thread, and notions.  My mom's stash of fabric, patterns, thread, and notions is slightly less now, I would have sent more, but I was afraid I would scare her if I send too much!

I spent the Valentine’s Day weekend with hubby.  It was lots of fun!  We toured the Iowa with my brother's family and my cousin and her infant son.  On Sunday, we had lunch with our nephew and his new girl friend.  The best time was just spending a couple of days with hubby!

Things starting soon...
The 23 quilt piecing.
Another quilt for the grand baby.  Something pink with princesses.  And coordinating sheets and pillowcases.
A skirt for me.
Baby blankets - does it seem like everyone is having babies?  Maybe I will do some burp clothes and coordinating changing pads.
Aprons for my guys.  I will perfect the pattern, post pictures, and maybe do a tutorial.
I bought a couple of 100% wool sweaters at the local thrift store and felted them.  I think I will make a purse and a couple zipper bags out of them.
I am thinking hard about the garden lay out for this year.  I thought I would start stuff indoors, but maybe not.  I know that snow peas will go in the garden soon.  The compost is ready to roto-till.
I need to order a coupe yards of mulch.  All of the flowerbeds are in dire need of refreshing.
Dig up and replant my mutant irises.  I started out with irises of varying colors, which are all now white.  I did not think they would change color from the color they were breed to be, but there must be something about the soil that turned them all white.  Oh well, I had mutant irises in Colorado too, they would bloom in late summer.  I read somewhere in the past year or so that you can buy certain strains that will bloom later in the season.  The Colorado ones were not hybrids - they were some from my mom's garden that bloomed in late spring, hers still did, but mine bloomed much later.

That is all for now.

The holidays are just around the corner! Are you ready? I wish I was! oh well, I can only do what I can do.

Busy Sewing weekend.

 

I was busy this weekend! I made 10 aprons, 9 for the craft show and one is a gift.  A couple are very simple. Some have pockets.  The 2 frilly black and teal are more show than functionality.

The two with the sunflowers are basically the same, except one has 2 pockets and the other 3 pockets. All are my own designs. If you want the pattern, send me an email!

I also made a dozen or so Fleece scarves in pink. This weekend, fleece scarves in green and a few in orange minky dots.  All for the Craft Fair. Its getting cold out there!

BTW, If you are on the east coast, Patuxent River Naval Air Station’s annual craft fair is the first Saturday in December. It is one of the largest crafter events in the National Capital Region.

 This shows the 3 pockets accross the front...

Quick Look At the Wedding Veil

Here is the veil I made from the pattern I posted this summer. Thought maybe you’d like to see it used. Doesn’t this picture remind you of Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music? Love it!

Hurricane Sandy

The weather is starting to get bad.  Hurricane Sandy is due to strike almost head on here.  It is raining now with a heavy breeze.  After midnight, the fun is supposed to start and they say it will stop sometime Tuesday.  Bathtubs are full of water.  Jugs of liquids ready for drinking.  Doggie has food and water.  Let us hope the winds stay out of the north.  If they start, blowing from the south crosses your fingers – we have HUGE trees out back.  I hope they remain standing.

If the power decides to go out, I have knitting to do and a bunch of patterns to cut out.  If the power stays on, I am working from home.  Then I will play.

I am cooking up a batch of crabapple hot pepper jelly.  I used sugar for this batch because when I made the grape jelly I used Stevia and it never cleared up.  Tastes great but looks ugly.

I think I will make pizza for dinner.  A good comfort food.

Autumn 2012

Can you believe that October is almost over?  It is supposed to get up to 80 degrees later this week.  Where is the fall weather?  I guess the weather will go from summer to winter in a matter of days.

The leaves are beautiful here on the east coast.  If I were to design fabric, I would have all of the colors of the trees in it.  Actually, I would have four separate distinct fabrics.  One of the fall colors.  One of the spring colors - all of different shades of the new leaves.  One of the spring flowers in all of the different vibrant shades of the first blooms.  And one with all of the different shades of mature leaves.  Have you every just sat and looked at the different colors?  Amazing!

I have started to knit!  It really came back quickly.  I can now knit on the bus, even in the darkness of the morning!

December first is the largest local craft fair.  It is down at the Navy base.  I have participated for 3 years now.  The first year I sold a lot, so last year I expanded my inventory (and worked pretty darned hard too).  I sold nothing last year, which was very disappointing.  This year, I have everything from last year and more that I have been working on though out the year.  I hope sales improve this year, although the economy has not improved any.

Knitting?

September just flew by, here it is October! I had my first knitting lesson yesterday. How fun! Things came back to me rather quickly. My Grandmother was a knitter extraordinaire. She knitted clothing for herself, clothing for her kids and grand kids. She knitted little animals and nursery rhyme figures. Every Christmas was very special because Grandma would knit everyone something. We would often get sweaters made from variegated yarns, and they really stood out. Not really what a kid wanted, but still they were very well made and we knew they were made with love.

Grandma taught the "girls" to knit. 2 of my sisters and I would knit at night after lights out and compare out work the next morning. I don't think we every made anything but it was fun.

The knitting lesson yesterday was with a wonderful woman I met at my favorite thrift store. She is retired with children my age. We struck up a conversation one day and one thing lead to another and I have had my first knitting lesson is 40 years. I hope to join Sally's group that knits hats for the needy children in the county.

I am adding a new skill as another creative outlet. I did a little web cruising last night and found lots of free knitting patterns. I might just stick to hats and scarves for now. Once I get a few more stitch types down, I may try my hand at designing something else. I know with the grandbaby being in Minnesota now, she will need warm hats, scarves, and mittens.

More later this month!

What Have I Been Up To?

The granddaughter turns two soon. Look at what I created for her!

We purchased Mega Blocks kitchen set for our granddaughters 2^nd birthday.  So she is stylish while playing in her new kitchen, I created a couple aprons for her.
The first is a Peanuts Halloween themed apron…

The next is a girly girl apron…

Front...

Back...

The fabric and trims are from Grammie’s sewing stash that I inherited.

The wedding was beautiful! What a joyful occasion – The bride was beautiful; the groom handsome, the wedding party was amazing. The event went off without a hitch! Wish I could claim responsibility for the event (LOL). 

My Daughter managed everything so well; we only had to write the checks. Now she does do event organization for a non-profit, but this was done remotely 1300 miles away, and did I mention she was working and taking care of the baby and dogs? I am impressed! 

She decorated the wine glasses she gave to her bridesmaids. They looked great, even though the glue I brought was 2 – part and I only brought one part L . I took the crystals off and wiped them down, but they need more work. My Daughter was able to clean them up, re-fix the jewels and they looked spectacular.

The creative side for me has been back burner. I designed a couple of quilt blocks and laid out some apron patterns in my journal when I was not busy visiting with everyone. 

I plan to take three sewing machines in for service sometime in the next couple of weeks – my mom’s 2 and my first machine. I hope that they comeback good as new! 

I hope to have more time for crafting/sewing as the summer winds down. The garden has not produced as much as it normally does. We've been in semi-drought. I hope I yields enough hot peppers that I can dry for my special spice creation. And tomatoes for the salsa!

Living a Saint Powered Life

The wedding is a week away! I cannot believe it is here already.  We will be traveling about 1600 miles, towing a trailer filled with furniture and boxes. We want to travel straight through, but we will see how the first 12-18 hours of the drive are. There is a shower on Sunday morning that I would like to go to, but safety first on the drive.

I have plans for doing some hand sewing on the drive (no, not while I am driving, silly!). I need to string beads for the bottom of the blusher veil. (got asked if I could add them). I have other little things to do – making yoyos for future projects, reading, getting some work in, and maybe some crocheting or drawing if the roads are smooth enough.

My current Saint is not joining us on the drive. I think it would be hard for him to travel that far in the back of the Jeep. He has gone with me to Greensboro a few times, which is about 5 hours away. I would stop every few hours to let him walk around and do his business. Towards the end of the drive, he would refuse to jump up into the Jeep. He weighs too much for me to lift him, so it just became a matter of wills. He is so stubborn!  He would finally learn that I am more stubborn than he is (LOL!)

Do not know if I will have the time to blog again before the wedding. I am going to take pictures of the beautiful bride, the new house,  and all of the wonderful guests.  I am also going to see firsthand how the portfolios are working and how well the quilt is holding up. Most of all we get to see the grand daughter, family, and friends.

Regards until the next time!

Living a Saint Powered Life

Weeded the garden on Sunday. The weeds were thicker than the grass outside the gate! Peppers are coming in well. Tomatoes are slow this year and something is attacking them. I guess I need to spray. L

Designed another couple of quilts in Visio. I love being able to use it for designing.  Fun fun fun! Okay, geeky fun! Attached are pictures.

The Saint is a Velcro Saint. He sticks to me! The heat doesn’t bother him too much but he is constantly shedding! I brush and brush… I swear he shouldn’t have any fur left by the looks of the piles I brush out!

Here is my latest design. My youngest said he wanted an orange and blue quilt. His favorite colors. Can you tell we are from Denver? (Denver Bronco's colors!)  I used VISIO instead of a quilt pattern or quilting software. I think it turned out alright as a drawing, lets hope it looks good as a quilt! The number 23 has special meaning to him. His birthday, and it was his number for all sports, all the way through college. So, what do you think?  Orange on blue or blue on orange? Brighter blue?

Coloring Portfolios

Hi!  I finished the coloring portfolios!  Yippee!  Last Friday night I was using my Singer Geni to finish up on the portfolios.  Ugh!  The poor machine needs a good cleaning and tune up.  After hours spent rethreading after thread breaking every couple of inches.  I tried different thread, a new needle, and adjusting the tension over and over again, I just gave up and brought out the Brother.  So now, I have three sewing machines that need to go to the shop.  While I am at it, I think the sergers need help too.  Back to the portfolios...  I think they turned out ok, considering the horrendous mess the sewing machines caused.  Still stuck with the fisher price primary colors.  Next one will be done a little different. I found some better stabilizer.  Moreover, I hope the machines cooperate!  I have attached photos of the outsides and insides of both portfolios.

Awesome Podcasts I listen to - try them out!

Thought maybe I would share some of the podcasters that I listen to. Some are wonderful, others are struggling. I subscribe to podcasts on my ZUNE, so I don't get quite the variety of iTunes. I don't know, I just can not get going with ipods. When I bought my Zune, it just stomped on anything anyone else had to offer... 120GB of storage was the biggest thing that sold me on my Zune. I have movies (30 or so), thousands of songs, and 35 audio podcasts I listen to and 4 vodcasts (video). I can also put thousands of picture on the Zune.

These are the Sewing, Crafty, Quilty podcasts I listen to:

Crafty Pod 2.0 by Sister Diane - Wonderfully done.
GreenStitch by Anne Kenlon - green green green crafting, sewing, etc.
iMake  - coming from the island of Guernsey.
Katie' Quilting Corner - young newby quilter adventures
Quilted Cupcake - Not only quilting, but all sorts of crafting too
Quilting For The Rest of  Us by Sandy Hasenauer - well done, informative and fun.
Sew Forth Now by Lori V. - very good podcast, but she is a very busy mom so her shows don't come out often enough for me!

There was a podcast called Sew Stich Create by BryLynn. She started SeamedUp and I think is podcasting with some of the other founders - Please make your podcasts available outside of iTunes! Thanks!

Have you checked out podio books - way cool serialized books.

Have feedback? Feel free to contact me - SaintPoweredLife@gmail.com

Been a busy week, even with the Fourth of July off! I created and finished the fisher price primary color themed lined toy tote. Look for pattern at the end of this post. I cut and laid out the coloring / drawing portfolios for granddaughter and daughter. The portfolios are using the same fisher price primary color theme. The portfolios on the left hand side will have elastic for holding individual crayons, pencils, markers, or pens. I will sew strips of elastic at 1-inch intervals. The right side will have a piece of elastic to hold drawing paper or pads. I also have some clear plastic sheet that I might use on the back or in place of the paper holder. I will make it into a clear pocket for holding sharpeners, rulers, erasers, and what not. I will finish them off with a Velcro or snap closure. I am going to put a couple of scruffy yoyo flowers on the front – in primary colors. Should look cute! The fabric for both projects is a heavy canvas / duck cloth that I‘ve had in my stash for a long time. Actually, everything came from my stash - Elastic, clear plastic sheet, interfacing, thread… Wow!

Fisher Price Themed Toy Tote
July 2,2012 By Saint Powered Life Contact me at SaintPoweredLife@gmail.com

I made this tote over the weekend. I used red for the body of the tote, blue for the handles and green for the binding. I planned to embroider my granddaughter’s name on yellow, but my machine was on strike.
2 Yards heavy canvas or duck cloth, smaller amounts for handles and if you want pockets, (contrasting colors)
2 yards of appropriate material for liner
Fusible interface or stabilizer (heavy weight – 2 yards)
Coordinating thread
1 inch quilt binding – coordinating or contrasting color - 1 pack (3 yards)

Directions: Determine the dimensions of the tote. Mine was about 40”by 15”. The bottom was square so all sides were the same measurements. You can make the tote larger, smaller, and/or rectangular. My bottom piece was 15 by 15, yours will be whatever width you choose, or the two widths if you are rectangular. The handles I made were of contrasting color and measured about 4” by 10”. Mark the fabric with the dimensions, making sure to add seam allowances. Mark contrasting fabric for handles. Cut. Mark fusible stabilizer with the same measurements a as fabric. Cut Mark lining fabric the same way. Do not use stabilizer on the lining. Cut. Iron the stabilizer to the main fabric pieces. Sew lining side’s together right sides facing each other. Press seams open. Sew lining sides to  bottom lining piece. Press seams open. Sew main fabric right sides together. Press seams open. Sew sides to bottom. Press seams open. Hem handle ends at about an inch. Trim close to the stitching. Sew handles, right sides together. Iron seams open and trim to stitching to remove bulk. Turn handles right side out. Iron flat. I added extra stitching down each side to ensure strength after I turned the handles. . At this point, you have the basic tote, two handles, and the liner. You can add pockets wherever you choose. Add them before working the lining in. Also. Attach the handles before the lining. so they do not show. I attached the handles to the exterior of the tote so one side had one handle attached and the opposite side had a handle. Make sure that you sew the handles about 1.5 inches from the top of the tote – reserve this space for the binding. Now you have the handles and possibly pockets attached. Feel free to add other embellishments or embroidery. Make sure lining is wrong side out. Drop lining into tote. It should fit nicely inside. Pin lining and binding to the tote making a sandwich. (One side of binding, tote, lining,  binding). Sew about a quarter inch from the outer edge of the binding making sure that you catch all of the layers. After you have attached the binding – you are done! Use it for toys, laundry, or any other idea you might have.

Here are pictures of my toy tote and lining. Please let me know how your's turns out and what type of modifications you made.

While the yard baked this past couple of days, I have been cool inside sewing away.  I made five baby flannel blankets for a soon to be new baby in the family.  Mailed them off - Mark it DONE!  Finished grandbaby’s quilt.  Mailed it off today - Mark it DONE!  Finished hubby's couch quilt.  Mailed it off today - Mark it DONE!



I was using my Mom's Singer Genie machine for the construction of the quilt tops.  Switched to her Singer 2010 to quilt them because the walking foot fit the 2010.  The machine has some issues.  I remember Mom telling me several years ago that the 2010 would continue sewing and you had to unplug it to stop.  The first couple of times I started and stopped sewing, it worked fine.  Then I stopped at a crucial point and it did not.  That is when I remembered that it continues to sew.  LOL!  I just said "Thanks Mom!" and got good at pulling the plug.  After I finished the second quilt, I noticed that the 2010 machine was also skipping stitches.  Back to the Genie to fix what I could.  Boy did I learn a lot on these two quilts.



I go back to the real work life next week.  I think I will try to find a 40’s or 50’s dress pattern I have stashed away and try to sew it up this weekend.  I know I have plenty of fabric to choose from – from my stash or from the five or six huge boxes of my mom’s stash my siblings sent me in the past couple of months.  If only I could use it all.  My Sister said I should have started on it 10 years ago – LOL!



More later…

Finished 2 quilt tops over the weekend. Will quilt purple first. They look pretty cool for not knowing anything about quilting. LOL!

Quilts and Thread Drawing

Finished piecing Hubby's quilt top. Gotta find a nice lemony yellow for the border. Started on the Grand Baby's Purple quilt. I have no formal training so I'm just stumbling along doing squares. They seem to go together alright and look fine.  I took some advice from the podcasters I listen to and also did some cutting up of fabric that I had laying around waiting to become something. Now it is neatly cut into strips and squares. I am sure they will tell me what they want to become. LOL!

Next adventure is going to be doing some thread drawing and painting.  I draw and I want to transfer some of my drawings to fabric. I have some that I think might look cool if I can do what I have in mind. I think some of the shows I enter might find my thread drawings a unique way of expression. Who knows, maybe a blue ribbon is hiding in some fabric over there?!

Bridal Veil Pattern and Instructions!

I just finished the Bridal veil for the most beautiful Bride - my daughter! It wasn't hard to make the veil and it looks like it cost a good chunk of change. Here are the pattern and construction instructions:

Bridal Veil

Supply list:

6 yards of tulle in 108 inch width

60 inches of ribbon

A tiara or comb to attach veil to

Beads, ribbon, pearls, etc. to attach to curved edge of veil

Dental Floss

Erasable Marking Pencil

Needle

Scissors

Sewing machine

Straight Pins (T-Pins work best)

Super Glue

1. Buy tulle in 108 inch widths.  I bought 6 yards for 2 tiers in the back and the blusher. If the bride wants more tiers, increase the yardage. Consult with the bride as to how much weight she wants to carry on her head (some brides are unaware that the veil can be heavy when embellished). You will need to know how tall the bride is and long the dress train is. This will be the length of the longest tier.  Very rough estimate!  The next tier will be about a foot, maybe 18 inches less than the long tier.
2. To round the bottom of the tiers: Lay out tulle on floor (carpet works best).  Find the middle fold and then the 2 edges.  You will want to keep the tulle folded in half giving you the width of 54 inches.  Make sure the edges are even. Add straight pins down the sides of the tulle squaring up the fabric as you go down the edges and fold side. I pushed the pins through the carpet and pad to the floor. I also counted the pins as I put them in so I could be sure to locate all of the pins when I was finished.
3. Make this tool to create simple rounded edges for the bottom of each tier:

1. Cut a length of ribbon about 60 inches in length
2. Tie ribbon onto the marking pen
3. measure the width of the fabric with the ribbon/pen. and place a knot at the point the ribbon hits the edge of the fabric. Put a straight pin into the knot.

4. Now you have the tulle laid out so it is straight and square and you have the tool to make the rounded edge.
5. Use the tool you created to measure from the bottom edge of the fabric up to the ribbon knot on the folded edge of the tulle. (approximately 54 inches up). Press the pin/knot into the edge of the tulle at this point.

a.     If you measure on the two free edges of the tulle, your veil will not have the correct curve on the bottom.

b.    What you want is to have the arc create a rounded edge that looks like this when you unfold the width of the fabric

6. Okay, Now to mark the arc:

a.     Carefully mark the arc with the erasable fabric pencil keeping the ribbon taunt.  It should mark the fabric cutting line. It will look something like this

7. Detach the ribbon pin and pencil.
8. Cut along the arc you just made, being careful to not cut the carpet
9. Measure on the fold edge from the arc edge up to the length you determined correct in step 1.
10. Repeat steps 3 – 9 for the shorter veil – cut 12 – 18 inches shorter than first viel.
11. Repeat steps 3 – 9 for blusher. Blusher length will measure from wherever the tiara or comb is attached, over the head, to about 2 inches below elbow.
12. Now to gather the top of each veil:
1. Use dental floss as thread and sew along the top (un-curved) portion of each veil.  I use about 6-10 stitches to the inch.
2. Collect gathers to the width of the comb or tiara. Tie off thread, Machine sew over gathers with a close zigzag stitch.
3. Repeat for next tier.
4. Repeat for the blusher
5. Machine sew the all three tiers together.
13. Make sure to have the bride present for the fitting and have her fix her hair similar to what she plans for her wedding day. Properly place the comb or tiara on head so you can see what direction to attach the fabric. It will be different for different hair styles and the brides comfort.
14. Attach the veils to comb or tiara. Use dental floss and / or super glue.
15. Have bride verify that the veil appears correct to her.
16. Attach trim to the bottom of each veil. Sometimes the trim looks good on all layers, sometimes just on the rear layers, sometimes you will not want the veil to have any trim because the dress is elaborately trimmed with pearls or sequence.

Have fun!

A Saint Powered Life

Spring!

The garden is planted. The lawn is cut. Need to wash the critter... tomorrow! Time to kick back and enjoy some downtime - Sorting through Mom's sewing stash. It arrived in 17 (SEVENTEEN) boxes. (thank you sister for packing it all up for me).  Working through each box. Sad, I miss my mom! But also am seeing a side of her I knew was there, somewhere. She was so busy taking care of Dad that she had no time for her.

How it came to be a Saint Powered Life

It started with our first Saints in the early 80's as puppies.  The Saints lived their lives, playing and guarding the three kids as they grew, going on all sorts of adventures.  The male saint was quite large, weighing in at about 225lbs. The female about 100 lbs. lighter.  Our house was tiny (750 sq. feet), but we always had room for more friends and family.

The Rocky Mountains were a special adventure for Saints and kids.  Georgetown was our destination when on most adventures.  Grammie and Pumpa's house in Georgetown was very old and very special.  Not all Saints and kids were allowed to spend the night at the Grammie’s Georgetown house.

When the Saints were 2.5 and 3, they had a family of 13 puppies.  We had puppies all over the place!  15 Saints (oh my!).  We managed to place all the wonderful puppies in great homes where they would have happy families.

When the first Saint reached 5 years old, he died from a nasty mean devil-neighbor's poison.  We were all devastated.  His wife was very sad.  She did not know where he went.  The mommy of all of those puppies lived with us to the ripe old age of 12 (for a giant breed, that is OLD!).

It was lonely without our Saints.  We moved to a bigger house, added a couple of "rescued" kids to the mix and started wondering if there was another puppy out there needing a home.  In the mid-nineties a Saint puppy chose us to be her new housemates, Oh it was a joy to have a puppy again!  She was so much fun!

The kids were much older now and really loved having a puppy to care for.

After a while, jobs took us to the east coast.  Our Saint made the drive cross-country while the kids flew.  When our Saint was about five, the kids found her in her safe place, where she had died peacefully in her sleep.  Sadness.

We debated for a long while about bringing a new puppy into our home.  The kids were all in school, doing a million other sports and activities.  It seems unfair to a puppy to have all their humans gone for most of the day.

I finally found a wonderful organization called Saint Rescue.  We adopted a female who they thought was about three.  She was a wonderful Saint, but had issues from her former life (why else would she have gone into rescue?)  We worked hard to overcome all problems and in no time, she was comfortable with visitors.  She loved her new human forever home.

When she was about eight, Rescue needed foster homes.  We brought our Saint to meet two other Saints who lived in a kennel on the eastern Chesapeake shore.  They were nice doggies that came into Rescue because their owners could not care for them.  I did not know it, but this pair was very sick when I took them in.  They had all sorts of worms and bacterial infections.  (They pooped and puked all over).  I spent over a thousand dollars on vet bills for the three dogs to get healthy.  (Although the specific branch of Saint Rescue said that all vet bills would be reimbursed - they never reimbursed any expenses!)  This pair of Saints only stayed a few weeks before they went to their new forever home.

We waited a few more months and were asked to foster another Saint.  Silly me for saying yes!  We went back to the eastern shore with our current Saint and tried to pick up the latest rescue.  The dog nipped at my now adult son.  We did not take that dog home!  They brought out another Saint that needed a foster home.  OMG!  He was gorgeous!  He had nothing but love for us!  So back home we went.  Our old lady Saint and this new male rescue who was about 2.

Our female was starting to show her age.  She slipped a disk in her back somewhere along the line.  Steroids were the only remedy.  She would go on a treatment, do wonderfully, then degrade, and need more steroids.  We kept this up until the steroids did not work.

Now we only have our male rescue.  He is HUGE.  He weighs in at about 185lbs and is strong as an ox. He loves when our daughter brings her boxer dogs up for a visit.  He also loves that the grand daughter is up off the floor and will play with him.  Okay, he likes it when she washes his food in his water bowl and gives him hugs and kisses!

Amid all of this Saintly love, I feel the urge to be creative. So I sew, draw, paint, crochet, and other crafty things. Oh and I also grow a salsa garden every year, grapes and raspberries too. I am an avid in composter and recycler too.

That's all for now. I have a lawn to cut and weeds to whack down!