Let's get back to quilting...

Okay, so this garment sewing thing has been fun. And, I certainly will make more garments in future, though probably not back-to-back like this. But, I have fulfilled my desire to make clothes for a while and am ready to get back to some good old quilting. We did our fashion show and here are our pics in our new clothes.

Sydney is modeling her apple green princess cut shirt. I shared the story of Sydney's muslin in this post. There is a little growing room in this for her. No need to make things skin tight. (One night, in her sleep, I'm going to slip in with my scissors and clear that crap off her wrists.) I noticed that her nails are painted just this shade of apple green. And, her toenails are painted gold. Hmmm. Now I see where all that time is going during the day.



Okay, this is my shirt. Gold Batik. I love it. And, the shorts are the ones I made a couple weeks ago. I thought the pic would be more shorts and less face, but that's what you get when a 13 year old says she takes the best photos in the house.

And, Rob's shirt. I think he thought he was going to get a second chance. But, no. This is the one we're posting for the world to see. Wanna know why? Look at that grin. You can see the placket down the center front of the shirt. But, can you tell it was a mistake? Another win with the Robster. He likes it. He really likes it.

Okay, so on to quilting. This is the traveling-perpetual-hexagon-medallion-quilt. Every time I finish what I had planned, I think of something else to stick on it. I'd guess I've been working on this off and on for about 5 years. It's not laid out exactly how it's going to be, but it's close enough for you to get the idea. I made some serious mistakes in putting that outer border together into small sections and thought I had run out of hexies and would need to make more before I could work on it more. I guess the last time I worked on this I was so excited about having the courage to sew on a plane and in an airport that I lost track of my pattern. Oh, well. This morning, I pulled the sections out and figured out what I had done wrong. About 3 hours of work had to be taken out, but it wasn't all a loss. This is another great travel project. It doesn't take up much room and goes pretty quick if the hexies are prepared in advance.

I'll have three portable travel projects on the drive. I lose interest easily and one is a new skill that I'll be learning. I decided that three was the magic number to make sure I don't lose interest or get bored.

So, the last thing is a reflection on Sydney and vacation. We're trying to work with her on picking clothes to take. I forget that she's 13 and doesn't know how to pack. Before she came to us, packing was throwing a few things in a grocery sack. She never learned how. She's big as me and very mature, so it's easy to have adult expectations of her. But, really, she's still got some of that vulnerable little girl in her, too. Last night, Rob spent a good bit of time with her, talking about what she'll want to take and what can be packed now and what needs to wait. (I was a bit put out about some undone chores, so it was a night for him to take the lead) I talked to her some more this morning about how I pick what I'm going to take. I remember when I learned to pack for a trip. I was a grown man. For Sydney, it's learning to take enough. For me, it was learning not to pack too much. I've gotten much better at deciding what I'll really need and packing just that. Now, I can pass that knowledge along to Sydney, before she has a suitcase explode in the middle of the Dallas/Ft Worth airport ticket area, showing everybody her tidy whities.

Yes, that did happen to me. The ticket agent had to tape it shut with strapping tape.

Everybody have a great Thursday. It's my last work day before vacation. This morning, I'm practicing focus...cuz it would be really easy to get distracted.

Lane