Much Better

I'm glad I tried a practice pillowcase dress first, because there were some things that I wanted to change. The ribbon shoulder straps needed to be wider. The main fabric needed to be longer and I needed to do something about the arm holes.

My next "try" turned out much better.

The armhole solution was to create bias tape out of the sashing fabric. Much cuter and much "cleaner."

I love this version of the dress with one long ribbon creating the shoulder straps.

Our little gummy bear

Here is the first picture of our baby. I love it. It cracks me up. Looks like a gummy bear to me.

I can't even tell you the relief we both felt when we saw the baby moving in this ultrasound. But there s/he was just a twitching away. So all is good.

Baby L. at 9 weeks.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Oh my gosh. I loved this book. I'm kind've embarrassed that I had not read it up to this point, but I never had to read it in school and what kid reads classics in their free time? Anyway, it was fabulous.

I loved the lessons to be learned throughout. So many applicable life lessons for kids, for parents, for people in general. I love the title (it's a sin to to kill a bird whose only reason for being on the earth is too sing). I just loved it.

If you have never read this book- you should. There's a reason it's ranked so high on the BBC's list and made it to the Time's list.

New Ticker

Did you notice my new ticker? Umm yeah. Good news!

What now? A Pillowcase Dress of course . . .

So, I'm conversing with a sewing friend one day asking her about her serger and all. I had been thinking about getting one, but I was unsure about spending the money. Well, another lady had overheard our conversation and a few weeks later, out of the blue, e-mailed me and asked if I wanted her old serger. I jumped at it (and offered to pay her some), but she insisted I take it for free. What a blessing! And it was all the inspiration I needed to create a pillowcase dress (or parachute dress) for some adorable nieces of mine.

I had promised my SIL I'd try to make some for her little girl, Addie. Then I was talking to my sister, who thought two matching dresses for her little girls would be fantastic. Well, I had a spare white pillowcase and decided to try to master this pillowcase dress before Christmas.

Well, I would say that my first attempt was pretty successful. I'd like to try to master the arm hole a bit more and, I think I will need to make it a little smaller for, well, smaller girls. But other than that, I was very happy with the finished product. Thought I would throw in a appliqued flower to finish it off. I'm thinking of adding ribbon to the section where the white meets the pattern material. Should have done it earlier, but chickened out (the ribbon was slippery).

Oh, serger, you are my new friend. You are complicated and tricky, but you create a lovely seam. One which my sewing machine will never be able to rival.

Craft Fair

Have I got any readers left???

If so, I have a great excuse for being absent for so long. I had been furiously stamping away creating greeting cards, notebooks, calendars and quilts for a craft fair. Oh my, the craft room was outta control these past few weeks. But I was able to pull together quite a stash of cards.

It was a ladies' retreat as well as a craft fair, so I got to hear some neat speakers and sell my stuff. It was at my sister's church, so added bonus is that we got to spend Friday and Saturday together (a rare event with my working schedule and her 4 kids)!

Can I give a shout out to my sister who is the best salesperson in the world! She's not pushy but she tells you what you need to buy! I sat like a lump most of the time nodding and smiling. I can create it, but I can't sell worth a darn. It's the way God made me- so there. Thanks Rhea, I never would have sold anything without you!

Here are some pics of our booth:

The quilts. I didn't sell any, but got lots of compliments. Several people took my card, so maybe they'll remember me in the future!

Oh, the cards. The many, many cards.

Silas Marner by George Eliot

Oh my. I loved this book. I mistakenly picked it up thinking it was on the BBC's list, but it was not. I decided to read it anyway (since I had it) and it was a short read.

It is the sweetest book. It's about a weaver losing everything he had only to be transformed by the power of a little golden-haired orphan girl. It's a story about redemptive love and the just/unjust getting what they deserved. It was written in 1861, so at first I didn't have high hopes that I would enjoy it. But, wow, I couldn't put it down.

I definitely would recommend this to anyone. It's short (183 pages) and is pretty easy to follow.

Interesting note: George Eliot is the pen name for Mary Anne Evans (It makes sense that a woman would have written this story)!

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Well, it wasn't my favorite book. Her writing style takes a little getting used to. It took me awhile to be able to differentiate between the characters and to be able to remember their histories. So admittedly, I was lost during parts of the books.

However, it was nice to read a book with a good ending. Finally.

I look forward to reading some more of her work. Maybe, by then I'll be used to the writing style.

Light in August by William Faulkner

I was drawn to this novel because of its title. I am an August baby, so naturally, I assumed this book would be a good one! Well, it was good, but I have yet to figure out how the title fits the novel and even Wikipedia didn't have a great answer (his wife suggested the title).

Well, it's a book about racial tension/isolation in the South. It also has many blatant Christian themes throughout (which I did not pick up on while reading), the most obvious being Joe Christmas (J.C.) I'm not in school anymore, so I'm not going to beat myself over the head for missing important themes. I'm just reading for pleasure and then checking out Wikipedia for any details that I missed.

I like the novel's characters and how they are intertwined in each other's stories. I wish Faulkner would have given some more pages to the female character, Lena. She was the most interesting to me.

Overall, it was a good book and pretty easy to read. It's a long one though at 500+ pages.