Thursday, May 19, 2016

Sewing 2016

I got myself a new Brother© Sewing Machine!


Now I can finish my Duvet Cover and make some skirts for the summer.
I also am making sport pants for my Grandson who is short statured. His inseam is only 20 inches and he is 15 years old. He was born a Dwarf with Rothmund Thompson Syndrome.
Burgundy Velvet Swirl Material that is Upholstery material backed in white muslin.
I made drapes out of the Burgundy material for my daughter. The lace is rayon lace from China. 

I made drapes out of the same material in Purple for my Bay windows. 

                             Finished drapes!
Here are the Velvet Purple drapes in my bay windows.  Hard to see the black lace at the bottom.  My sewing machine on the left and my computer desk area on the right. I use the manual wheel chair as it is the only chair I have right now. 



Skirts I made for church
This is a pretty Baroque Paisley type synthetic material.  I had enough material for the skirt and two scarves, one for my Granddaughter who loved the material!
This leopard type animal print is very sheer voile material. I had enough for the skirt and a scarf as well. I like to have matching scarves for my skirts. 



The two skirts on my Daughters new couch. 


The Duvet Cover

When you cut all the strips and line them up to cut the small squares it makes a great pattern.
So when I actually bought the material back in 2003, I cut the first strip in 4 inches. I did not have the full instructions. It was 4 inches for the Baby quilt and I needed a Full or Queen size.  So instead of throwing out the squares, I just made this piece to use as a cover for my sewing machine.  
Strips below before cutting into the 4 1/2 inch pieces. Then you sew those stirps together to make the pattern as shown in the finished quit. 
So I recut the strips to make them 4 and 1/2 inches. It will yield a 4 inch square. 
Here is a photo of a finished twin size.  The center of my quilt will be the same. Then I will have boarders to make it larger.  
The Twin Quilt made by the church ladies for the lady on the right of the photo.
The back of my Duvet cover will be this kittens material!

The Granny Square Crocheted Vest 

I wanted to make a vest type open shawl type sweater with the Granny Square crochet pattern.  I wanted it open like a shawl. I saw a few ideas on Pinterest and made this shawl/vest out of the Granny Squares.  I got the varigated black/grey/white in cotton from my youngest daughter. There was not much of it so I could only make about 10 squares with that. So I used the grey I had as well as a lot of white and black to make this shawl/vest.
The back is the first photo.

The front is two pieces are connected by one black granny square at the top on either side. I realized afterwards I need to reverse the two sides as I need the top grey to be on the inside where it comes together in the front. I will easily take those two and reverse them. 
Close up of the shawl/vest. 

Our Flower garden - mostly in pots


Flowers 2016




My daughter gets all the credit for this garden. I only purchsed the bulbs.   Above is one of the purple pansies she got for herself for Mother's day.
We got four large yellow daffodils and here are two of them.
Of the Tulip bulbs we had many colors. 
Grape Hyacinth. 
One of the Tulips.
Another Tulip
A very light Purple Tulip
Blush color Tulip
Close up of the Daffodil
My indoor garden three kinds of Succulents


The Yellow Hibiscus we got last October has been blooming again and my daughter added the larger plant to a nice planter. She puts it outside so it gets sun and brings it inside at night. 
Our first flowers were these Purple, Yellow and White Crocus
Some of the Purple Iris bloomed in May
A close up of the blooming White Kalanchoe Succulent. It was 1/3 this size and blooming when I got it last October. 


Close up of the flowers
Close up of the succulent leaves

Here is the White Kalanchoe from last October
McKenna flower in the front yard.
My burgundy Pansy
I forget the name of this one!
The Crocus top view
We used the same large pot for the Crocus and the Tulips



Lavender

Here is my daughter Suzanne who was saying: "Hurry and take the photo! This potted Lavender is very heavy!"


Another type of Lavender

Pink Paint plant

Johnny Jump Ups or small Pansies



                                     *&*&*&*&*&*&

             Vegetables and Herbs


 Various starts in the peat pots
Beginnings of the chilis.


Peat pots to start our plants and flowers.


The Herbs today

Tomatoes when we got them and below how they look today!


Blueberry bush when we got it and below how it looks today.

The lettuce May 19, 2016

Spinach

Mint


Trees

Trees bloomed very quickly from the front the Pink and the side of the house was the White blooms.




The Pink blooms are gone and the leaves are a dark purple the rest of the year. This is non fruit bearing tree. 
The White blooms from the side of the house tree. We are not sure yet if this one is fruit bearing. We think that there was no fruit on either tree as we were here in July last year and we did not see any fruit. 

We are very happy with all the growing things in our house and property!  We did put some of the plants in the front yard.  They let us do that to their rental.  The owners were very happy that my daughter and son in law are good gardeners and approve of the things they have planted.  Most of the plants and veggies are in pots.  We already have been using the Herbs and the Lettuces.