No sewing to report...

I really wanted to get some things done last weekend, but I have to admit that I pretty much procrastinated the whole weekend. The extent of my usefulness was folding/putting away a bunch of laundry, pre-writing a ton of health certificates for the cattle sale I'm working on Saturday, and packing for an unexpected trip out of town. My grandfather appeared to be dying late last week, so the Things and I headed for that area Monday, and we're getting ready to head back tomorrow.

In good news, my grandfather has taken a definite turn for the better, and he came home from the hospital today. And in completely unrelated good news, the Percy shoes fit well, even over footed pajamas, and they seem to be warm enough with the fleece. Unfortunately, Thing 2 greatly prefers the bug shoes, which are undoubtedly not as warm. Oh, well...it's not like he's staying outside that long, anyway. And I'll make sure that the Percy shoes are the ones for the travel days.

Hopefully this weekend will see some Christmas sewing done - like a tree skirt, to go under the tree that we haven't put up yet!

A shoe compliment....

So I was talking to a friend yesterday, and she wanted to know if DS#2 had outgrown any shoes lately. "Of course!" I said. "That's why I sent you pictures of 2 new pair of shoes that I made him."

"So do the old ones have any wear left in them?" she asks. Ahhh....now I see the light. I had sent her a pair of old ones when I made the last two pair, so that she could try them on her son to check sizing. And apparently he loves them and uses them as his indoor slippers, but they are getting too small.

Unfortunately, the two pair that were just retired are rather holey. Still, if he only uses them in the house, I'll at least send them for size check, and then maybe make him a new pair for Christmas. It's nice to be appreciated!

...and pair #2!

Introducing the Percy shoes! Thing 2 was so distraught over the loss of his holey, too small Thomas shoes, that I decided to make the next pair with Thomas appliques again. However, just to be different, I used Percy this time instead. (Yes, Thing 2 does know the difference! I'm truly scared...) And so, of course, he decided this morning that he didn't want to wear the Percy shoes. Oh, well....he'll change his mind.

These are the MTY pattern again, toddler size 9W. I did go ahead and line them with fleece, using scraps from Thing 1's Thomas fleece hoodie. I think they'll fit better, but I'm a little annoyed that I made the toe guards so small. I think I need to just draft a template so that my toe and heel guards are more consistent.

New shoes - pair #1

Finally! I finished a new pair of shoes (Make Them Yourself pattern again), and, as usual, I'm kicking myself for procrastinating so much. I'm liking these new shoes a lot, except for the extremely minor detail that they're too big and look a bit like duck feet. :) But that's entirely my fault. I made a size 9W this time, because the size 7 is too small and I wanted these to last longer. I decided to try it in the wide size, because my little guy has some chubby little feet. Note to self: not quite chubby enough for the wide size. Oh, well....they're wearable.

I've got a second pair partly done - also a size 9W. (I cut them both out at once.) I'm going to line those with fleece, though. That should add some warmth as well as possibly take up a little space. We'll see what happens with those before I start talking about the next pair. Actually, I might try making the boots next time. After all, it should start getting even colder, and he might want to go out and play in the snow this winter. I have some denim bonded to sherpa or something fuzzy like that - I might use that next time for warmth. We'll see....

And the next three....

These are the two new blankets for the Things. Thing 1's is the top blanket, the pirate parrots on one side and pirate kids on the other, bound with black fleece. The lower blanket, tractors on one side, solid green on the other, bound with blue fleece, is for Thing 2.

This one is for Thing 1's kindergarten teacher, who just had a baby girl last week. Hopefully she'll like it. I pulled five or six prints out of my flannel stash and let Thing 1 pick which he preferred - he chose these bumblebees! So I backed it with a bright yellow flannel and bound it with a fuschia fleece. I hope that she likes it.

Right now, all three blankets are in the wash, getting the spray basting washed out before the first use. And can I just say how much I'm liking the Shout color catchers? I used two in one load last week, when I was prewashing some of these fabrics and wanted to be absolutely sure that they didn't bleed on each other. Today I just threw one in - no way do I want this blanket stained before it's given away! - and it came out stained bluish-green. I'm so happy to have excess dye on the sheet instead of on the new blanket!

The first completed blanket!

So the first blanket is complete - yay! The next three are ready for the binding, so maybe I'll get those done tonight....unless of course I work on the shoes first, which are more needed. For that matter, I'm also on call, so....we'll see. Let's just leave it at that.

I like to make my baby blankets big, so I buy 1.25 yards of flannel for each side, spray baste them together, and then use the ruler and rotary cutter to straighten the sides and curve the corners. I don't really try to make them square, usually, but they should be pretty close. In this case, there was only 2 yards left on the bolt, so I had to work with less than I wanted. And I didn't have a good matching solid in my stash, and I didn't want to buy any more fabric for this. So I made this one approximately 1 yard wide and 44-45 inches long. It'll work. I did like the yellow fleece I had to coordinate for binding. I think that really makes it pop. DH liked the combination, too!

I have a whole lot of flannel that I bought last year to make baby blankets, and most of it is still sitting here. If I want to have the fun of buying more flannel this year (and I do! - I've seen some really cute flannel at JAF lately), then I need to move some of this off the shelf in the next ten days. In the next couple of days, I should get the next three blankets done, and that will help - about twelve yards gone.

Nothing to report....yet...

So I've done very little sewing lately - too much going on, plus the slowly healing finger. I did finally finish two pairs of orange fleece slippers that have been patiently waiting for a cuff seam. And I'm probably a third of the way through the newest pair of shoes for Thing 2 - hopefully there will be a picture tonight. His current shoes are holey!

I also have flannel fabric prewashed for more quick blankets. Thing 1's kindergarten teacher is about to have her first baby, and one of my coworkers just took in her infant niece. So I shopped my stash from last year's Black Friday shopping and found girl flannels for both. And I have the flannel that I bought for the Things this summer - those will also be cut tonight. We'll see how far I get.