Jewelry

 I attended a workshop with Nicky Ruxton and she used junk to make her jewelry. These are some of the examples of her necklaces and bracelets.

This is my version. I used a piece of upholstery fabric, hand stitched and beaded. A couple of old buttons and some founded metal.

Vogue 8975

 This is one of Marcy's patterns. I really like it. I took it in a little at the waist to give it more shape. I used rayon/lycra. I love this fabric. It took a little to get used to working with it, but it is so soft. I did learn that it does't dry well in the drier. It comes out all wrinkled and it takes for ever to dry. Just hanging out to dry works well. The pattern is tricky, but now that I have it I want to make another one.

 This isn't the best picture of me, but at least you can get a idea how the dress looks. If you look on Marcy's blog you will see all kinds of suggestions of how to combine fabrics to make the dress. Mine was suppose to have some of the stripes across the back, but I had to recut some pieces for my mistakes.

New Sunporch

 We are quite excited in being able to replace our old sunporch. The sunporch that was on the house when we bought it, we learned was 35 years old. It was leaking and we weren't able to use it for much any more. Here is the cement truck arriving for the new foundation.

 Totally gone and only the old tiled floor and new foundation.

Today the framing is being done. We were able to make the room a little longer and wider, so it will be 382 square feet.

Back from Washinton DC

 Was able to visit my brother who lives in Washington DC this last weekend. This cherry tree even had a bloom on the bark of the tree.

 Everything was in bloom there. There were bulbs coming up out of the ground everywhere and trees were beginning to be in bloom. Hotels had pots of yellow and purple pansies ready for the cherry blossom festival this coming weekend. Some of us went early.

 Visited the bonsai display and this tree was from the 1600's. Very unbelievable.

 Then there was the orchid display at the National Botanical Gardens.

Truly enjoyed visiting the Smithsonian Institute. The prize picture that my brother got was a picture of me in front of the White House. It was the same spot that my father took of me when I was 6 years old when he took me to Washington DC. I found that picture in his billfold when he died. He had carried it for 65 years.

Undershirts

I dyed a couple of silk shirts from Dharma. I like to wear these shirts under my clothes when it gets cold. Having them in different colors makes it fun when they show above my outer clothes. I have several dyed to the colors that I usually wear.

Natural Dyeing

This is my first natural dyeing after attending a workshop in natural dyeing. I am using silk pieces from linings of kimonos. The one to the left is black beans with baking soda added and then put in iron for a mordant. The one on the right is Mexican beans and pods and using iron as a mordant. I like the dark grey, but the taupe I will probably dye again in something.

Vogue 8793

 This is a great pattern. I really like how the neck trim goes together. Katherine is so clever to think this up. I bought the fabric from Marcy and I love the quality. It was fun thinking up the coordinations of the different fabrics. Even though the fabrics are different weights it still works well.

I brought the shoulders in 1/2 inch. I took out 1and 1/2 inches at the waist. I took out two inches in the sleeves. I brought up the neck 1 inch. I was able to get a really good fit from the tips the Tilton's gave on their craftsy workshop. This is a fun one. Give it a try.