Author Archives: Janice

Bee Happy

Posted on March 7, 2010 | 7 comments

 

I saw a bee today. After what must be one of central Florida’s coldest winters ever, it’s finally warming up. I doubt this is the end of the nasty low temps, but at least now that I’ve seen a bee, I can believe that spring WILL come. I’m buzzily planning Easter outfits for my grandchildren and wish I could buzz as fast as the bees.

A moment of contemplation…..

Today’s honeymaker sighting reminded me of this little Bee Happy outfit I made for my granddaughter, Laurel. The bright colors, breezy style, bee theme and sun hat reminded me of fun, easy summer sewing and I am surely looking forward to some of that.

A moment later….

The sunsuit is made of cool, cotton pique’, trimmed with black baby rick rack. The yellow gingham used for the Madeira applique’  hemline (not in the pattern) was repeated in the hat and bubble pants.

The pattern is Ducky Daisy Sunsuit from Wendy Schoen’s book, Creating Heirlooms for Baby. The pattern centerfold includes the sunsuit top, bubble pants and sun hat. It’s one of those fabulous basic patterns that can be embellished countless ways. Can you tell that I love it?

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Posted in girls, infant clothing, machine embroidery, Madeira applique

LaceTape Quilted pillow

Posted on March 1, 2010 | Leave a comment

A pillow is a great project for learning new techniques.  The use and actual quilting of heirloom lace combine two of my favorite sewing genres.   Adding free motion quilting and the use of lace tape to the project makes it an instructive and pretty little ornament.

Beginning with rice Imperial batiste, two rectangles were cut 14″  x 18″, two inches  larger than the intended finished pillow size of 12″ x 16″.  A piece of lightweight batting was cut to the same measurement.  The bow was traced onto one of the batiste rectangles using a fine tipped blue water soluble marker.  The quilt “sandwich” was hand basted together, with the traced bow on  top, then batting and finally the second batiste rectangle.

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Posted in antique textiles, heirloom sewing, lace tape, quilts, techniques

Welcoming Guest Towel

Posted on February 25, 2010 | Leave a comment
  “We dare not trust our wit for making our house pleasant to our friend, so we buy ice cream. ” Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Blue paper has been placed behind the towel so the fil tire' would show up in the scan. The towel is white.

Or make pretty guest towels, like this one.  Ralph is so on target as he observed  that we all want to go the extra mile to make our house pleasant for guests.  To that end, most readers and the writer of this blog  usually go the shorter and more pleasant mile to our sewing machines rather than driving to the grocery store to please our  guests.

The linen towel in the photo was lovely even before the addition of machine embroidery.  Threaded with silk ribbon, two rows of hemstitching border a row of classic padded satin stitch dots.   It was pristine.

Further embellished with Suzanne Sawko’s design, it is lovelier still.  The  hand-look fil tire’ oval is stitched  with a wing needle and 80 wt. Madeira Cotona thread.  The oval is surrounded by greenery and pinwheel roses hovering over an entredeux vine with more  flowers.  Strands of the same green thread are woven through the entredeux stitches afterlazy daisy flowerettes have sprung from the vine.

These two designs, the fil tire’ wreath and the entredeux vine, are part of the Fil Tire’ and Fancywork Combinations embroidery design collection done by Suzanne Sawko and me.

I have taught this project in Huntsville, AL, at Martha Pullen’s School of Art Fashion as well as in Myrtle Beach, SC, San Juan, Puerto Rico and various other locations.  Without exception, as students examine the sample before class, their first comment is an incredulous query about the apparent bullion rose at the center of the vine.  Was this done on the embroidery machine?   The answer is both yes and no. Continue reading →

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Posted in embroidery blanks, hand embroidery, home dec, linen blanks, machine embroidery, techniques

Rebecca’s Watercolor Quilt

Posted on February 24, 2010 | 2 comments

Blessed are the children of the piecemakers,  for they shall inherit the quilts. 

 

The quilt is actually flat. But in order to get good lighting, the photo was taken outside with the quilt draped over the Confederate jasmine that covers the front porch rail.

 

But my daughter, a quilter in her own right, couldn’t wait that long.  She absconded with this one when she went away to college and it wasn’t missed until I spotted it hanging in her dorm room. She explained that she knew I wanted her to have it, and of course, she was right.

Later, it was displayed in her sorority house room, then in her first apartment and next in the first home she bought as a career girl.  Only now, as “Sadie, Sadie, Married Lady” (remember Barbra Streisand singing this in Funny Girl?), having moved into Harvey’s house,  has Rebecca relegated this little quilt to her cedar chest for lack of a properly barren wall.

I love to quilt.  When watercolor quilting hit the piecemakers’ world,  I was singing, “Getting to Know You,” (The King and I) eager to learn all about.  My dear friend Suzanne and I signed up for a workshop in North Carolina and waited in eager anticipation.  Well, actually, Suzanne waited.  I cut 2″ squares.  Thousands of them.  When we finally headed north, I had cutter’s cramp. Continue reading →

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Posted in home dec, quilts

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Friendship Offerings

Posted on February 23, 2010 | 1 comment

“All who would win joy, must share it; happiness was born a twin.”  Lord Byron

This quotes really speaks to  the history of my 20 year friendship with Suzanne. She has always shared her joys and mine with equal enthusiasm .  Of  course, there were the occasional shared sorrows, but our charmed lives have seen precious little of that.  So when her son’s first child was on his way, we shared her joy.

For someone who sews, happiness is often expressed in a needlework project. With a daughter-in-law who loves all things heirloom, Suzanne knew this baby’s mother would appreciate a monogrammed smocked outfit. I got started right away.

Again, I used one of the ready-to-smock bubbles and smocked it with Ellen McCarn’s monogram leaflet. One of the best features of this design is that the height of the letters can be adjusted to almost any size. The 3-month bubbles have only 6 pleating threads, so that requires a short design. Continue reading →

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Posted in heirloom sewing, infant clothing, machine embroidery, ready-to-smock finished projects, techniques

“Sewing Nana” Challenges

Posted on February 22, 2010 | 4 comments

In the eyes of the world, and especially those of your children, if you can sew, you can sew ANYTHING! So asking for a set of baby earmuffs to muffle the sound in a small airplane is pretty much the same as asking for an embroidered tee shirt. I guess that’s how my darling son thought of it.

He and his wife were flying to their North Carolina log cabin in his Piper Comanche twin engine plane. Headsets are worn by the pilot and the passengers to drown out the very loud engine sounds as well as to allow conversation between passengers and pilot. Laurel was just 3 months old so the adult headsets would fit her about as well as Abraham Lincoln’s stovepipe hat. And yet, it seemed  she should have something to muffle the noise.

No problem! Her Nana can sew! Knowing that I would want to protect Laurel’s hearing and keep her as comfortable as possible, my son asked me to whip up some soundproofing earmuffs for her. Continue reading →

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Posted in baby accessories, embroidery blanks, girls, infant clothing, machine embroidery

Grandbaby Projects from Tea Napkins

Posted on February 17, 2010 | Leave a comment

Once again I am offering a re-run, an article written for Creative Needle magazine some time ago.  As I was thumbing through my old issues, this jumped out at me as I thought about modern projects for old fashioned Nanas.  This is quick and easy handwork at its best.

The 2 year series was entitled Antique Textiles: Loving, Collecting and Using.  I certainly love antique textiles and collected enough for several sewing lifetimes.  I’m still working on using. Continue reading →

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Posted in antique textiles, baby accessories, hand embroidery, heirloom sewing, infant clothing

Antique Lace Crazy Patch Pillow

Posted on February 16, 2010 | Leave a comment

In the crazy quilt of life, I’m glad you’re in my block of friends.  ~Author Unknown

I love crazy patch.  It’s been a while since I’ve done any, since there’s not much call for crazy patch clothing for grandchildren.  But I came across this pillow while plundering through Rebecca’s cedar chest and recalled fondly the fun I had stitching it.

Many years ago, my dear friend  Suzanne Sawko and I sat down one day with bags and bags of scraps, two women on a mission to learn crazy patch.  We sewed for almost 7 hours and each finished a piece about 8″ square.  But we loved it.  Later, Suzanne made hers into a checkbook cover for my birthday.  I treasure and use it still.

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Posted in antique textiles, home dec, quilts

Valentine Variety

Posted on February 13, 2010 | Leave a comment

Valentine L

 

My daughter-in-law, Shelly, is such a wonderful mother.  This week she hosted a little Valentine party for the neighborhood children.  They exchanged homemade cards, decorated heart cookies, dipped strawberries in chocolate, chased balloons and had a big time.  It was pouring down rain, so the other mothers were happy to have a fun indoor activity for the children.  These Florida kids are usually outside playing, so one rainy day gives them cabin fever.

 

elephants

 

There has been a lot of Valentine activity in my sewing room this past week.Laurel and I worked together to embroider a red tee shirt knit dress, a blank from my stash,  for her to wear to the party.  This is just one of the delightful designs from the Zundt Design Valentine collection.  We also stitched a few others on dishtowels because Laurel couldn’t choose just one.

 

Valentine Fabric

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Posted in embroidery blanks, girls, Holiday Projects, home dec, machine embroidery, Nana fun, turn tube hem

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New Daddy Shirt

Posted on February 12, 2010 | 1 comment

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When a new grandchild is on the way, a lot of sewing goes on for the baby, the nursery and often the mother-to-be. But rarely are we  moved or inspired to make anything for the new father.

When my son was to become a father for the first time, I found inspiration in the waiting room on the hospital maternity floor. Laurel was not born until our third visit there,  so I had plenty of  time to make observations. Continue reading →

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Posted in machine embroidery, men