Battenburg Lace

Yesterday I took a class at G Street Fabrics (Rockville, MD) about how to make Batternburg Lace.   It was fantastic!!  I managed to make two small pieces in the 2 hour class, but I learned so much, and I will be seriously thinking about doing this again.    Here's the picture of what I did:

I hope you are enjoying these pictures as much as I am.

Fashion Patterns by Connie

Connie Crawford makes the most wonderful patterns.  Here's her original website:  http://www.fashionpatterns.com/
She knows how to make patterns that actually fit extraordinary woman, like me.  A couple of years ago, Butterick finally got wise and started offering her patterns, so now whenever I see them on sale, I pick up a couple more.  There is a nice collection in my sewing room.   Here is one of those patterns, B5654, made in a rainbow t-shirt knit that I picked up a long while ago.  View B.  I'm not going to say which size, but I am in the 3X-6X range.   The neckline looks awfully wide, but I assure you, my bra straps were still covered, and actually, it looked pretty good on me!  I'm wearing this to church tomorrow, with a black skirt.
Someday I might get pictures of me actually wearing the clothes, but I have to teach my cat how to work a camera first.

The Story of the Bears

First of all, here are two more bears, made from the same fur as the last one.  These are for two more new little girls.

Now for the story:  A couple of years ago, I noticed that I had a whole tub full of fake fur pieces, leftover from making stuff for my nieces.  I was actively trying to reduce my fabric collection, so I wanted to get rid of a bunch, but I didn't want to throw it away (wasteful) or give it away.  So I bought a Carol's Zoo pattern, which was the simplest (yet cute) teddy bear pattern I'd ever sewn.  I chose the 9" bear, the smallest one.

Then I found safety eyes and noses on a couple of websites (Oddly enough, I couldn't find ANY locally!), and ordered a bunch.  Somehow something got crossed and I ended up buying HUNDREDS of these things, so now I have a gallon-size ziploc baggy full.  Oh well, I won't have to buy more eyes and noses for pretty much the rest of my life.

So, having everything assembled, I started making bears.  I never counted, and got very few pictures, but over time I must have made a hundred.  I gave a couple to friends, to friends of friends, but the bulk of them went to my sister, who was working as an ER nurse in the area.  She took them into the ER and gave them out to scared little children. She says that they were very much appreciated.

 The problem was solved.  I used up the fur, and helped a bunch of scared, unhappy children.  Win-win.  Every so often, when I catch fake fur on sale, I pick up another piece with that thought in mind. My sister no longer works in the area, but I'm sure any ER will still love them.