A few more projects

Well, spring has arrived in Alberta.  Yesterday it was warm enough to do some yard work, so I started in on some of the garden cleanup/preparation tasks.  I planted some pansies in the old metal washtub that's in front of my shop.  I know I am pushing the season by a month, but I am feeling starved for color, and I couldn't look at the tub of last year's plant corpses any longer. So much nicer to sit at my desk and see a tub of purple, yellow and cream blossoms!

 

The wind has picked up, so the flowers are a little blurry, but you get the idea.

What have I been sewing lately?  I'm so glad you asked :-) 
The baby boom in our church continues, with the arrival of two more wee girls this week. Not twins, two different families.  One of the little ones will be receiving this outfit:

I scrunch-dyed the onesie, and added hand-dyed lace at the neckline and burgundy trim at the wrists.  I had made the flower a few weeks ago, but then it was too pale, so out came the Distress Dye....and now it's perfect.  And the cupcake skirt is very simple, but that fabric puts it on cuteness overload.

The other little girl is premature, and might be in hospital a little longer, so I think I'll have a bit more time before I need her shower gift to be done.  I'm looking at patterns today, and I'm thinking of making a summer dress or a bubble romper. 

The next project is a necklace.  My friend Jessica W, from my Olds College sewing program, gave me an extra flower she made for her Couture dress project.  Electric blue organza, with coral seed beads in the center - very pretty!  And since I wanted a necklace to go with some of my blue outfits, I pulled out my blue beads and got stringing.  Here is the result - a long necklace to make two or more loops, depending on the look I want.  I love how the flower looks among the various shades of seed beads.

 

 

The last item to show you today is another "jeans into skirt" project.  This time I made the triangle insert by stitching neckties onto a foundation fabric (a piece of an old fitted sheet).  I got smart and used small pieces of fusible web to tack the ties in place, because I have learned how slippery those fabrics are.  I used machine embroidery to straddle the edges of the ties. 

 

 

 

After trimming off the narrow ends of the ties, I came up with this idea, for a baby boy outfit. 

I'll be making a pair of cotton pants to go with this, because our church has yet more babies on the way!