Wow - where did February go???? I've been very neglectful of my blog :( Work has been just crazy the past few weeks, it probaby won't let up but at least the stress should reduce considerably now that my code has been fully integrated and I'm on to just bug fixes.

For the non-geeks out there - how about some sewing news.. I can't believe I have not taken pictures - I promise to post pictures soon but I must share anyway.

Last weekend (friday night and saturday morning specifically) I finished the first flower girl dress! I even did a temporary hem so I could try it on my cousin and it looks beautiful! I really do promise pictures soon. I ABSOLUTELY love how it came out and I can't wait to make the second one!

I also fitted the mockup dress on my other cousins and determined which sizes to make them (I have sizes all set for 4 out of 5 flower girls!). Of course I need to adjust patterns because 2 of them are between sizes on me - that will be an adventure!

I also stitched some more on Deb's RR - getting close to finished on the actual house, then just all the rest to do - one month to go before I need to mail it so I need to get on it.

Oh and I designed my invitations for the wedding which I am officially making now. My close friend and sister helped and I have lots of offers of help but first I need to wait for an order of paper to come in for the perfect color. I'll show some pictures when I do invites too... so much fun stuff to do!

and since it's Feb 29th - Happy Leap Year! I might as well do my goal wrap up for the month:
Sewing:
1) Finish one flower girl dress YES
2) Start second flower girl dress Not quite - did another mockup dress!

Stitching:
1) Start Deb's NRR YES
2) Finish 1/2 of the outside of my needlecase piece Not quite but I do have the silks for this now!

Knitting:
1) Start the knitted lamb for coworker YES
2) Finish green scarf for me YES
3) Start green hat for me Nope - i started it but then decided on a different pattern so i need to restart. Other priorities go in the way!

A sewing weekend!

I finally started the real flower girl dresses in the real fabric and I love the fabrics! First I washed all the fabrics (these are for children), then cut out the fabric for a size 10. Next I started practicing with some scrap pieces because this is my first time using Eyelet fabric.

Well after some practicing I was not happy, everything shows through Eyelet so I looked through my Complete Book of Sewing Book and decided to line the Eyelet with the green lining fabric beforehand by basting the lining to the Eyelet, then sew the pieces to the inner lining as directed.

Here is the progress I made, this is just the top of the dress, the red thread is the basting that is still in and will be removed.
And the rest of the fabric for the skirt part of the dress happily sitting and waiting to be basted together as the skirt. I've decided to just do a single lining for the skirt part and not the inner lining.
I've still got more work to do on the top, I brought it in to talk with a sewing friend at work and she suggested stitching the seam allowances to the inner lining around the neck and armholes, so after I clip the seams I will do that. Then I have to add the ribbon to the top before completing it, this was not done because I need to go to Joanns and buy some satin for the ribbon as my original plan of using the lining fabric for the ribbon will not work (too flimsy).

Before I started on the real flower girl dress I needed to make a mockup of the younger girl's dresses, so I made this up in a size 5 to fit on my cousin hopefully next weekend.
This time I practiced the zipper and everything, it's really cute (the style dress not the fabric) :) I don't like the way the top is pieced so I'm going to try modifying that with a new mockup in size 3 or 4 to try on my other cousin (no practice goes unused!).

Besides sewing this weekend I didn't do much, watched a lot of Numb3rs Season 1 while sewing though which is tough because I'm a math person so whenever they start talking about math concepts I stop and watch.. :)

Hopefully the sewing will continue this week, I want to have more of the size 10 dress done by this weekend to try on my eldest cousins.

I started working on Deb's RR this weekend!

I've never done a Workbasket design and I'm really enjoying the bright colors. She has such a neat idea going with the graveyard at the end which I will of course stitch last so more pictures will come as this progresses.

We had a good weekend, saturday I pretty much did nothing (stitched above) and then sunday I went to my friend's stamp party and decided I am going to attempt to make all my own wedding invitations - even if that's crazy but I've got a design in mind and I ordered the supplies. If all fails I can always just buy invitations :)

Snowing.

It's been a week of rainy, cloudy days and today while brighter because the sky is white not grey is still not sunny and I miss the sun! I do prefer snow to rain however.

I finished knitting my green scarf last night at my uncle's. I didn't have a new skein of yarn to start the hat so that will have to wait and I really should start knitting the lamb for a coworker anyway.

And tonight I have my crypto class so it will be a late night but I do enjoy the class so it's worth it :)

Pictures and Stitching!!!

Here is the needle case thingy I've been working on since Celebrations 2007. The two on the right are the inner pockets, the round piece is the pincushion and then the long piece on the left is the outside and the stitching I've done is for the front. Last night I actually finished the spiderweb stitch that finishes the center and I just have 4 flowers to stitch in the corners and then the back and binding to do. The problem is I don't have colors I like for the flowers so I need to order some - it's all in silks and I thought I had some purple silks but I don't (I don't want to use the pinks it calls for).
And then Saturday I made a mockup of the older girls flower girl dresses in some scrap fabric, this is a size 8 which is what they both currently wear. Unfortunately the size 8 was too small for both of them, significantly too small for the younger one (who is a little wider in the chest area). So next up is to make a size 10 for the oldest and then try that on the younger to determine if I need to go with a 10 or 12 for her.
And pictures of fabric! The 3 youngest flower girls will have summer dresses made in the following colors:
And the two older ones will have this white eyelet fabric with purple and green linings and ribbons to match. The oldest will be in green and the younger in purple. The purple is the exact color of the ribbon on my wedding dress and the style ribbon I do on both will match. I think this will be so cute!
That was the majority of my weekend, mostly relaxing, doing some stitching, some sewing and then spending sunday with my cousins, trying the dress on them and measuring them. I probably won't have too much time to sew next weekend, maybe get some size 10 patterns traced and cut out but the weekend after I plan on sewing up the size 10 maybe??

February Goals:

Sewing:
1) Finish one flower girl dress
2) Start second flower girl dress

Stitching:
1) Start Deb's NRR
2) Finish 1/2 of the outside of my needlecase piece

Knitting:
1) Start the knitted lamb for coworker
2) Finish green scarf for me
3) Start green hat for me