Happy New Year!

Wow. Can you believe it? A new year. Last year was a full one for us and very blessed. Kurt took the CA bar, got a job, we bought a house, moved across country, and we are having another baby. Plus, all the sewing adventures of this year. My little shop has been a fun little adventure. I tackled my first quilt. I got a serger and wrote an article about it for Sew Mama Sew. I learned how to use a walking foot, ruffler foot, and darning foot (for free motion quilting). Sometimes all you need to do is reflect on the past year to realize just how much has happened. Today is also our anniversary. We have been married five years, and I can't imagine a better person to start each of my new years with than my husband. I truly am blessed.

Here are my two big Christmas projects that I tackled.


Christmas Eve before the Vigil Mass

I made the Village Frock by Sugar City for the girls' Christmas dresses. I used a red suiting material. I liked how it flowed, but I admit it made binding it tricky at parts and hard to press. The pattern is well put together and not too difficult. The neck is probably the hardest part. It just takes time with all the gathering. This is a pretty short dress. It was long enough for Juliana but the size two for Felicity barely covers her little bum. I had a feeling it was short, but I was in a rush. Never a good idea to put off a project until the day it needs to be done. :0) I want to try the shirt version next.

Christmas Day- Opening Presents!

I also made some pettiskirts as one of the girls' presents. They both loved them, especially Felicity. She says all her dress up clothes make her look like "Cindewewwa" (aka Cinderella). This is her "Cindewewwa" skirt. I admit...this was a bit of a daunting task. All the cutting and the sewing of yards and yards of chiffon. The first one took me five hours of just sewing. However, the second went much, much faster. I used this pattern from my shop. She has some great directions for making use of your ruffler foot, and I have to say I don't know if I would make one of these without one or at least a gathering foot. It really eliminates a lot of steps. I can't imagine trying to gather all those yards of ruffles by hand.