Fashion Friday

Sometime in the late 50's, our family and another young family  took the train to Chicago from Ft. Madison for a trip to one or more of the museums.  It has been so very long ago, I cannot remember for sure if we went to the Museum of Science and Industry or Field's Museum.  Anytime we took the train, we used our passes and it was no cost to us which was a nice little perk that came with Ray's being a railroader.  Regardless, it was a very nice time and we all enjoyed it.  For our little outing, Bill was wearing shorts, a teeshirt and nice sweater with an argyle plaid.  Ray wore dark trousers, a plaid shirt and lightweight jacket.   Sherry and I were attired in  dresses topped with a sweater.  That was before the days when everyone was wearing jeans everywhere.  People still dressed up a little bit when they were traveling.  Goodness, those were good days!  Nice thinking about them again.  (Click to enlarge)

A Potpourri

It just  came to my mind that this post is about things that start with the letter "p".  First of all and so wonderful is that there was an e-mail from our dear little  Peace Corps volunteer Hannah this morning - she is safe and sound in Africa and full of enthusiasm and ready for her wonderful adventure.  Then late this afternoon, Sherry called me and she had just talked to Hannah on Skype - she was bubbling over and so happy to have talked with and seen her.  The wonders of technology!   Just wanted to share our joy!

Now I will switch to paper piecing!   Next week Linda in our guild will be teaching a class and we will be doing a design she has created on EQ 7.  She is a master at the art of paper piecing and it will be wonderful to spend the day in her class.  I have been picking out my fabric - went "shopping" in the basement and was able to come up with almost all of the 11 different fabrics needed.  I did have to buy the background fabric which is the black with the swirly design in dots.  I just don't have very many larger pieces of batiks.  Actually, I don't have large pieces of  many fabrics since I do such scrappy quilts.  I usually buy the bigger pieces as I need them.

The third "p" in this post is for the Polka Dot Girls that I started last fall.  They have been kind of hidden away in their box but I got them out the other day and now about have the fourth set out of eight finished.  This one is wrinkled and has not been washed or pressed yet.  I also see that I didn't embroider the rake!  Back in the hoop it will go.  (Click to enlarge)

It looks like autumn, it feels like autumn - and, of course, it is autumn.   The scarecrow and pumpkins above are on a sweatshirt that I made a few years ago.   The pattern is from one of the older books from Red Wagon, I think that is the name of the company.  Very cute and primitive patterns from a couple of ladies in the Kansas City area. 

Here are two little skirts that kind of look like autumn, too, but they will soon be on their way to Africa with Hannah - she will be leaving so very bright and early tomorrow morning.  I find it hard to find things to say, so will make this very short.  I will go over this evening for cheesie potato soup (her favorite) with Sher, Barc and the little Peace Corps volunteer.  I am so proud of her.  (Click to enlarge) 

Fashion Friday

Our model this morning is Sherry when she was probably 10 or 11 years old. I had made her a dress similar to the ones that I made for myself for square dancing. I pulled miles and miles of gathers and stitched on so much rickrack and trim back then. Sherry's dress is a light blue trimmed in white, pink and silver. She has a metal link belt around her waist. Pretty white shoes and socks complete her outfit. Little girls just absolutely love full, full skirts and she certainly looks cute in hers. (Click to enlarge)

Anothe Big UFO

Here are pictures of a big, unfinished quilt in an old chest. The body of the quilt is almost entirely hand quilted, but much quilting is still needed on the sashing and borders which are the plain green print. This is also machine satin stitch applique - long before the buttonhole stitch became popular. The secret to satin stitch being pretty was how the thread matched the fabric piece.

This quilt dates back sometime in the late 1980's and I simply can't remember why I stopped working on it......probably got immersed into the making of another one then just never came back to the job of finishing the quilting. In some of the pictures, you can see the thread dangling waiting to be picked up again after moving the quilt to another position in the hoop.

In my quilts, I notice that there are many of the applique blocks that I have used more than once. Some are just so pleasing that I have repeated them. I also like the fact in this piece that I have handquilted motifs in the center of some of the designs. Most of my handdone quilts have crosshatching as a background filler. That seems to be very, very common in the older pieces.

Quilting by hand allows you to put a lot of texture in the actual individual flowers, leaves and other motifs in the block. In the above picture, you can see that the sashing is just three lines of stitching - plus, there is stitching in the ditches, also.

In this block, I do like the little bunches of grapes I quilted in between the buds that jut out from the flowers.

Nice little spiderweb, also. I should put this quilt back in the hoop and finish it - but I'll bet I could not make the nice little even stitches now that I did back then. I even have the fabric still tucked away for the binding. There is one more big UFO hidden away in the chest from the 90's that I will take out one day and photograph. That one is hand appliqued and hand quilted and not nearly so far along as this one. Do I get the prize for the biggest UFOs? (Click to enlarge)

Hannah Will Be Leaving for Africa Soon

Ready or not, the time for Hannah to leave for her 27 month stint in the Peace Corps is almost here. This extraordinary young woman will be going to Mozambique in Africa very, very early in the morning a week from tomorrow. What a mix of emotions fill the minds of all of us who love her so much - happy that she will be going on such an awesome adventure that she has talked of and worked for for such a long time - and a sadness thinking that she will be gone for so very long and be so far, far away. Even though time seems to fly by so quickly, right now 27 months seems like an eternity. Each and every one of her family is behind her and supporting her and loving her with all that is in them. She's such a little thing - small, but mighty.

She needed some skirts - and I am making her skirts. Three of them - two in batiks. The pattern is in the picture above along with two of the skirts. There is a definite dress code there - no shorts or spaghetti straps. She will be teaching science - in Portuguese - which she has been working on. There will be ten weeks of schooling for her after they get to Africa and she will actually start teaching around December. Already, Hannah has set up a blog and I will have a link here on mine - you might enjoy reading it. She hasn't started posting yet, but I think she will this week. That is one thing about this day and age - the communication is wonderful, albeit the actual mail is slow!

Today was an open house held at Sherry and Barc's good friends home. It was a pretty day and many of Hannah's friends came to wish her Adeus and good wishes. She has been very active in church and everyone loves her. You just can't help doing that. Norah and Chad will come next weekend before Hannah leaves. Molly is coming the following weekend to go to a wedding of a very good girlfriend of hers since way back in grade school. It will be so good for Sherry and Barc (and me, too) to have her here at that time . There will be some "teary" days for a spell. May God keep a special eye on our Hannah as she embarks on this new adventure.

(Click to enlarge)

Fashion Friday

It's high time I featured this cute little girl on Fashion Friday! This is my second daughter, Ann, who is married to Bill and has been for coming up on 30 years next Valentine's Day. This is the only picture that I have of her during her childhood, but plan to remedy that with a call to her mom, Ruby. Ann is the second of four cute girls and I am sure their household was a ton of fun over the years. When I think four girls, I think Little Women, but since you would not know that in the beginning, you probably would not start naming them Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. I read that book so many times when I was young! So the Little Women at Ann's home in Chillicothe, Mo, were Jane, Ann, Martha and Marilyn. Back to Fashion Friday, Ann Elaine is wearing a pretty cotton dress with buttons on the bodice and a little white collar. It appears that there is a plaid scarf over her shoulder. Ann's glasses are very stylish and her hair is done with a cute little flip and flirty bangs. (I am wondering if Ruby cut the girls' bangs like I did Sherry's - poor Sherry!) I don't know whether I have ever mentioned on my blog that Ann's parents, Bob and Ruby, and Ray and I share the same wedding anniversary which was the 4th of this month. We were all married in 1949 - Ray and I in Illinois and Bob and Ruby in Missouri, but Ray and I were married four hours before they were that Sunday. And they lived all those years in Chillicothe, Mo, while our hometown was Chillicothe, Ill. How's that for a coincidence? (Click to enlarge)