Last Minute Flights and Late Night Projects

UPDATE: Alastair was precious in his Christmas suit and loved the design! None my fears were realized.   I shouldn’t have worried about him not liking it.

burgundy velveteen shorts, ivory linen shirt

I knew I was cutting it very close this year.  One thing and another kept coming up, thwarting my plans to finish up Christmas gifts.  Yesterday, I had the entire day free to finish up.  But then…

My pilot son invited us to join him on a shake down flight on his new jet.  Well, it’s not his to own, but his as the captain to fly and schedule. So we were off to Ft. Lauderdale for lunch, except that there were some technical glitches and we had a late supper there.  It really was delightful, but the whole day was used up.

my handsome pilot son and his family

Robert and Laurel get around on planes like this and were quite surprised at the inconvenience and accommodations of commercial flight when they went to Dallas last month.  I can tell you for sure, flying on a private jet beats Delta!  There is even a built in personal i-pad for each passenger.  Still, these kids prefer something they can hold in their hands, like Granddad’s  i-phone.

But back to Christmas sewing.  I am generally pleased with Alastair’s outfit.  There were a lot of design constraints, particularly the requirement that he be able to use the bathroom without assistance.  Short of my favorite button-on pants or a romper, this works well.

The shorts and shirt are from Martha Pullen’s book, Heirloom Sewing for Jack and Jill.  The embroidery design is from Nancy Halvorsen’s  I Believe in Santa collection.

Nearly 3 years old now, Alastair is into Christmas this year.  Rebecca told me that he looks for Santa images everywhere and would enjoy such a design on his outfit.

I told Judy Day that I was afraid Alastair wouldn’t like this old fashioned Santa, which is not at all like anything he has come across commercially.  Her reply is classic Judy.

FYI, Judy is bi-lingual, having studied the linguistics of back woods Tennessee as a second language.  Occasionally, she uses this second tongue for emphasis.

And that’s what she did when she replied, “He don’t (sic) HAF TA  like it!  He just has to let his mama put it on him and have his picture made!”  I’ll share that picture when I get it.

The last minute towels were a pleasure to stitch.  Applique’ on the embroidery machine is one of my favorite techniques.  I was so happy to have on hand the dishtowels from All About Blanks.  I use them  for seasonal    pillows  as well as for their intended use in the kitchen.  The designs are from Applique Corner, which has so many delightful designs.

There is no time to go into any greater detail now, but I might come back to these projects later.

I hope you have all your gifts wrapped and are ready for a joyful holiday celebration.  Merry Christmas to you all.