Sewers Unplugged

I know it's been forever since I blogged, but I finally have a chance (and power and internet :) to catch up. Due to the constant outages here in UB, my dear Randy gifted me with this marvelous Russian sewing machine for our recent 30th anniversary. This is what my students all use (note in pics) and it's amazingly precise never mind the hand wheel; and the stitch is perfect and even! It's strictly Sew and Don't Sew (a Myer-ism). Speaking of my students, check out what they've been up to! They just finished the sashing & borders on our Old Testament Bible blocks and yesterday we did kimono blocks from this book.
We all had a total blast with this one!

Last but not least...I just boxed up a sack o' doll clothes for Julia who will turn 2 on May 24th. Each granddaughter gets a Bitty Baby by American Dolls for her 1st b-day and then granny-made clothes for her 2nd. Yep, all 5 of them (and counting as we don't know what Jana's next one will be yet :) Tomorrow at midnight they will be winging their way to the US with a friend. Plugged or unplugged, sewing is such a gift, eh?

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Bloggers' Quilt Festival!

I'm so tickled to be a part of this year's Bloggers' Quilt Festival ! My entry was done in Outer Mongolia (literally! --read on). This quilt is one of my favorite recent projects that I named "Renegade Geisha's" --renegade because two of the geisha's don't conform to the rest (mainly because I ran out of coordinating fabrics!). Can you find the two renegades? ;) The quilt incorporates fabric origami and the quilt itself is from Fantastic Fabric Folding --many projects from this book were a big hit with the Mongolian class pictured below. Due to my husband's work, we live in Mongolia; and I was privileged to teach classes at a local quilting studio. I've included a picture of the class where we were working on the geisha blocks. The students spoke almost no English and I speak what I call Monglish--a lot of English sprinkled with Mongolian. Regardless, we all had a blast! ...and, I'm very pleased with this quilt of mine!

Much Needed New Winter Robe - Vogue 9232

Last spring I chucked my 20-year-old bathrobe, giving me no choice but to replace it come winter. Granted, I never took it to Mongolia, so it only got worn when I was home in the US. But still. For summer I made several light weight robes, but I knew I liked the style of my old RTW one. When I saw reviews for Vogue 9232--on PR (all 3 of them), I knew I'd found my pattern. Interestingly enough, the pattern is actually for a caftan-type dress; but all 3 reviews were done up as a robe. Sham's review in particular had great tips. On a trip to Colorado Fabrics in early summer I spotted a beeeuuutiful pink sweatshirt type fabric. The outside is more like a thick knit and inside is dreamy soft. And it's baby pink! Which is hard to tell in the pics as we in Colorado have had lots of rain and no sunshine. And OK, I'm no photographer. But seriously, this is like stepping into a pink cloud. I made a small through the neck, shoulders and sleeves

A Stitch Sisters Kimono for Dubai

My husband had meetings come up quick in Dubai and of course I tagged along! We were going to be there a week and I wanted a lightweight kimono-type pullover for the pool and getting out of the shower. I had snagged a gorgeous white linen/cotton (guessing on this) here in UB that was perfect. My inspiration came from Lisa's over at Lisa's Carolina | Handmade . I'm not good at pattern drafting and this was a quick FREE measure and cut tutorial of Stitch Sisters--find their Patternless Pattern Link here . I'm so happy with this! It basically took me an afternoon. The directions are great--and they include 5/8" seam allowances--yay!--as I wanted to turn under and top stitch them since I don't have a serger here. I left off the ties. Shapeless worked for this. I also raised the neckline by about 1.5" The neckline was a little trickier as I didn't have any bias on hand and there is no "running out" anywhere here. So, I used

Scenic Route

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