A Way to Remember

Our family gathered earlier this month to have the final good-bye for Wes's mom, Muriel.  It was a beautiful grave site service on a perfect summer day.  My way of remembering this beloved Mom, Mother-in-law, Grandmother and Great-Grandmother on this day was taking one of her summer shirts

and sewing it into little dresses for Ellie and Maja.

This print was a little out-of-character for Muirel with its tropical print and bold colors!

 

I knew I needed to s-t-r-e-t-c-h the fabric to make dresses for both girls, so I simply added bottom skirts to pre-purchased t shirts.  I had other plans on how to use the remaining scraps.

Here's Miss E's dress with the skirt having shirt "tails" from the bottom of Muriel's shirt.  (I stitched the button placket sides together, but left the buttons sewn on.)

This is a bit of a funny angle on the picture...the dress isn't quite as long as it appears.

Here is Maja in her dress.  Her sunhat is made from shirt pieces as well.

Miss M likes to suck her fingers like this. Perhaps she will be a bowler one day.

I admit these are dresses one would never select from the racks, but I like to think this was a way their beloved "GGMa" could be present in tangible form.

Once the dresses were made, I knew how to use some of the odder-shaped scraps for my little crafter along with the addition of other fabric remnants.

Yes, I made a Craft Tote!

Tote front: The shirt pocket was removed from the shirt and became a pocket for Lilly and her purple plastic purse.

 

 

 

Tote back:  a double pocket for tucking markers inside or whatever.

 

Here's a look inside:

Crayons, markers, glue stick, scissors, tape...all in there!

 

   I had one last trick up my sleeve - a Search 'n Find game to tuck in the biggest pocket.

I collected fun buttons, took a photo of them, tucked the buttons inside a vinyl-windowed bag stuffed loosely with little plastic pellets and sewed the bag shut.

To play:  shuffle the bag contents around and try to find all 16 objects.  Place a coin or button on the photo card until all objects have been located.  (That is a baby picture of Miss E, by the way.)

Miss E seems to like having her very own Craft Tote...yay!

Now, what to do with the rest of the scraps?  Flowers, pins, rings, hair doodads and bookmarks for the rest of the crew to be given as we gather this Christmas. (Acting surprised is optional.)

Peace - and piece - to the memory of Muriel.

Crown Maker, Crown Wearer

 

How can it be that our Little Miss is three years old?

And with a celebration such as this, a birthday crown needed to be created for the birthday girl.

 

Not just a "regular" crown, but a MeMo-made, pull-out-the-purple-and-pink-and-rainbows-with-

sparkle-and-jewels kind of crown.

 

The crown was made from a lavender felted sweater with pink felt backing.  The rainbow ribbon was from my stash, once intended to be a "groovy" belt for my low-waisted bell bottoms worn while still in high school.  With the embroidered (lazy-daisies) t shirt top I was well dressed as a child of the

peace-and-love generation. 

 Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd newer end-

We'd sing and dance forever and a day.

We'd live the life we'd choose,

We'd fight and never lose,

Those were the days, oh yes, those were the days!

 

Pardon me for my brief reminiscence.  Back to the crown.

  

 

 

The E-l-l-i-e was reverse-appliqued so the pink felt backing peeks out from behind.

 

 

The pattern for the crown was made easy peasy by folding a piece of paper about 14 inches long in half and free-handing the peaks of the crown points from front to sides.

To make the crown fit her head comfortably the rainbow ribbon strip was backed by felt in the back with a piece of elastic running through the center.

 

Her Baby Sister tried the crown on for size, too!

 

 

 

Not such a good fit.  But, your turn will come, Little One!

 

H  A  P  P  Y         B  I  R T  H  D  A  Y 

 

to our happenin' groovy rainbows 'n sunshine M I S S   E!

The 2013 Word

Nope, no resolutions for me as a new year starts. 

 Instead, I choose one word and try to cajole myself into living a better, kinder, gentler, more "aware" life based upon the definition of that particular word.

In year's past my words have been a bit on the eclectic side: zip, turnover, mindful, savor. 

To me they have special meanings and have inspired my journey along the course of 365 days.

(Mindful was my biggest failure as I still couldn't seem to remember

on day #364 where I placed my glasses or keys.)

 

For the past month, I have been tossing around several words in my mind for THE word

of 2013.  The last week of thought has cemented my word as something to reach for as the days unfold in this new year.  Before the word is revealed, I present to you a pictorial challenge

to see if you can guess my four letter 2013 word:

  

 

 

Hint:  Starts with a "t" and ends with an "m."

 

And it also has something to do with one of my favorite sayings:

 

 

 

Give up?

The word is t--r--i--m. Trim.

 

It's about using trim (notions) in my sewing room stash.

It's about sprucing up around the house - painting trim if necessary.

It's about making sensible choices to stay fit -- and trim.

 

And, noting that I like to "collect," it's about trimming down the possessions to a lighter load.

 

 

 

 

 

This is tricky because I really do use a lot of the things stored on shelves and in closets.

And I am sentimental.  But do I really need so much stuff?  NO!

 

 You really can't take it with you and there are others who would welcome

clothing, books, furniture and such.  I'm all for donating instead of trashing.

 

Now please excuse me...a box is waiting to be filled.  A project for Miss E's birthday is

calling my name that has do do with trims.

  And a nice salad beckons me.  Well, maybe not so nice, but oh well.