I have made a little progress with my handwork projects this week.
On Friday Night With Friends (thanks Cheryll!!) I put the finishing touches on another block for my Wings and Pretty Things quilt.
I love this block (well, I love them all!) but I did have misgivings about the green I had used for the leaves - was it too bright? However I didn't really want to unpick it and now that I've completed the block I am happy with the green. The red is also quite dark but I will pop it into some other blocks and it will even out.
I'd like to start joining these blocks but there are borders between the centre block and the smaller blocks which I haven't yet made a decision on. Perhaps in some spare time I will lay them out and get thinking!
After finishing that block, I decided on a wee change from needleturn and I pulled out my Memory Lane project. This has been sitting neglected for a few months or more. (This is a BOM being run by The Country Yard incorporating some favourite stitchery designs they have used over the years.)
I did a little more on Saturday evening and got this far —
We're using a combination of Aurifil and Cottage Garden Threads for these stitcheries, and they will be put together with Tilda fabrics.
On Saturday, after cooking up a spectacular amount of tomatoes for pasta sauce for the freezer, I ended up going down a bit of a rabbit hole......
Two x 3 year olds have produced mind boggling lists of the clothes their Barbie dolls need so I started doing a bit of an online search for patterns. I don't mind paying for patterns but with the number of clothes requested I need to be careful or I'll end up spending a fortune. I'd really like one or two or three patterns that I can just adapt (eg trousers that will become shorts, trousers, pyjama pants etc). All four dolls (2x Barbie and 2x Ken) are slightly different shapes which further complicates the matter!
So I started looking at the free ones that are available. Printer/paper size differences and no measurement tool on the patterns guide made for a drawn out session!
Finally I bit the bullet and made a pair of shorts - these, I think, will fit only the muscular Ken - they seem pretty huge. Today I will hopefully get a chance to do a fitting and see where to go from there!
(And you can see how one Barbie is definitely bustier than the other!)
This coming week our youngest grandie turns TWO. Where have the years gone?! A simple family BBQ lunch is planned for today so I had better get a move on.
Thank you again to Cheryll for hosting Friday Night With Friends. You can visit her blog *here*.
'til next time,
happy stitches,
Your needleturn is gorgeous... as is the embroidery. Lots of time in the kitchen AND craft room this week. Thanks for joining in FNwf...xox
ReplyDeleteI just love your applique. Great job with the doll clothes, and good luck. I am thankful my kids never asked for those, and I have mostly grandsons now. Their biggest want, grandma can you fix this.
ReplyDeleteYour applique is lovely. I'll enjoy watching your progress.
ReplyDeleteI see I am not the only one that makes pasta sauce from tomatoes grown in the garden. I do love it - I still have some in the freezer to use up before summer comes and time to make more! Love all your applique blocks
ReplyDeleteLots of things to keep you busy.
ReplyDeleteI wish our tomatoes would do something, they just seem to be ticking over, just enough to eat, no glut to use up yet.
So lovely to see Wings back out... the bit of bright green is perfect. Good luck on the little dolls clothes... when I was make for a grandiegirl they were for the 18" American Doll which is a lot easier!
ReplyDeleteHugz
Beautiful needle turn Raewyn and the stitcheries are so cute! Those doll clothes are a challenge aren't they! Well done with the tomatoes, ours are not producing much, I guess the up and down weather has not helped. Home grown do taste good though!
ReplyDeleteWings is coming along beautifully and I do like the green. Very cute stitcheries. I haven't had to make any dolls clothes. Boy thats a wonderful bounty of Pasta sauce. Boy the kiddos grow up quickly xx
ReplyDeleteMmm, Barbie Doll clothes, my young daughter was quite clever to whip some of these up herself, mind you, she was several years older than three! That's a marvelous lot of pasta sauce you made, there must have been a ton of tomatoes.
ReplyDeleteI love your wings blocks, and the green is just right... oh, Barbie clothes brings back memories! First sewing them for my own dolls, then my daughter's....I wonder if I ever have grandkids if they will want me to sew some too! You did a great job on the dresses by the way! xx
ReplyDeleteI am caught up on your posts now and enjoyed this Sunday morning reading for me. I too spend time with my 8 year old grandson and it is busy but enjoyable. Love that quote. You sure keep busy with your lovely sewing. Tilda fabrics are so beautiful and your applique is immaculate. How productive you are!
ReplyDeleteWow - you have been so busy and so productive. I bet it feels great!
ReplyDeleteI wish I had room for pasta sauce in my freezer. Instead I can, and finding lids has become impossible.
Your appliqué is beautiful. I think the colors are great. Wish you lived closer as I have so many Barbie patterns. Yes, the years go too quickly.
ReplyDeleteYour applique' is gorgeous! I think the green looks great in the block.
ReplyDeleteYour wings blocks are lovely - mine has yet to see the light of day! xx
ReplyDeleteThe leaves on your Wings projects look lovely.
ReplyDeleteThe little embroidered blocks will look nice with Tilda fabrics.
What a great bounty of Pasta sauce to pop in the freezer..
I did make me smile about the requirements list for the Barbies.
Ken's shorts look good..
Good on you - sewing Barbie sized clothes is next level fiddliness.
ReplyDeleteIt's a long time since I have made barbie clothes, and they are so fiddly, so well done to you.
ReplyDeleteI think you're very brave to make Barbie clothes! Ha! I love your applique blocks and the green leaves look very nice with the flowers and all your other blocks as well.
ReplyDeleteOh my you have been busy. Your applique blocks are gorgeous. My mother made period costumes for all our Barbie dolls so I know how labor intensive it can be. You are indeed brave and a wonderful grandmother!
ReplyDeleteLove your appliqué blocks--very nice!
ReplyDeleteAnd sweet stitchery.
Wow--lots of pasta and sauce in your future. :)
You are an awfully good grandma. On top of everything else you do, you are now a doll clothes designer!
Your projects are all progressing beautifully. You will have a nice supply of pasta sauce. Our tomatoes are just starting to come on, so freezing and relish are now on the agenda. I just hope I will have enough freezer room. Your Barbie doll dressing will earn you some brownie points. I’ve never made Barbie clothes, but one of my cousins made beautiful ones when she was a teenager, all by hand, and she gave me a few. I treasured them. Mum was a beautiful seamstress, but she didn’t venture into sewing doll clothes.
ReplyDeleteYour blocks are great and the embroidery is lovely.
ReplyDeleteSummer takes us outside a lot more into the garden and also with family, so our sewing and blog reading/commenting takes second place.
Good luck with the Barbie patterns. Sometimes the big stores have great specials on commercial patterns with lots of variations. It just depend on ou being close to one and being able to get there. Good luck.
PS The tomatoes look delicious!
You have been busy. I admire you for attempting Barbie clothes! I don't think my fingers would handle threading elastic in a waist that small.
ReplyDeleteRaewyn - lovely work. I adore the two Barbies - I seem to recall that over the years, the "physiology" of the Barbie doll has changed!
ReplyDelete