She is thriving and growing! This beautiful cherub and her equally beautiful mama are snug at home with baby’s undoubtedly proud and doting daddy. They are all easing their way into a new family routine.
Just look at those sweet pink toes!
The daygown, made from Lezette Thomason’s Angel Gown pattern (all proceeds go to charity) for tiny, tiny babies, was shown and detailed in a previous post.
We’re loving it. For the past 4 days we have had various combinations of grandchildren 24/7 and it has been so much fun. But with homeschool, 6 year-old Robert, 7 year-old Laurel and now 3 year-old Alastair getting all my attention, there has been no time for blog posting.
Please don’t give up on Janice Ferguson Sews. I have some posts ready in my head—
I will be back, because I really enjoy writing this blog and hearing from you. But right now, while I have the opportunity, I’d rather read books in the tree house with Alastair, start a new quilt with Laurel and hunt the newly hatched grasshopper pests infesting our yard with Robert. Continue reading
Posted in Nana fun, uncategorized
Odyssey of the Mind Team SLC, wearing embroidered shirts
Grandchildren Robert, 6, and Laurel, 7, have learned so much and had such fun as members of their Odyssey of the Mind team. Coached by their mother and the two other team moms, the homeschooled children recently were entered in the regional competition. Their category was Weird Science.
Left to right, 5 year-old alien scientist “Boss” in her chemical stained lab coat, three other alien scientists, and a 5 year-old Arctic raccoon. Laurel, the alien rock star, was not in this scene. Doesn’t this sound like a made-for-Broadway story line?
There are two parts of the competition, one of which is an 8 minute skit which reflects their “solution” to a fictional problem. This problem is selected from one of 5 categories, including their choice Weird Science. The children must come up with the concept, write the script, build the sets, create the costumes and generally do it all, with parental supervision, of course.
Laurel knitted a square that represented a hunk of Arctic racoon fur. The judges were impressed with that, as well as all the things the children had made. Their creativity really shined. Continue reading
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In 6 year-old Robert’s world, what happened to his beloved teddy bear was catastrophic.  His nearly constant companion and sleepmate had been blinded by the family’s 90 lb. German shepherd puppy. Apollo had abducted Teddy and eaten his eyes out.
Apollo’s attack on Teddy was not malicious. To him, that bear was just another thing to chew. But to my grandson, this was very upsetting.
Academically, Robert seems older than 6. He reads at 4th grade level, knows the multiplication tables, studies Latin and can do short division in his head. But emotionally he is just a thumb sucking 6 year-old who loves his scruffy bear.
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Of all my textile treasures, these lace portraits are among my very favorites. To be perfectly honest, I know absolutely nothing about how they were created. Do you know? I would really appreciate any information you could share.
The background/field surrounding the busts appears to be a sort of tatting or crochet.  The fill pattern in parts of each figure remind me of Battenburg techniques. But for all I know, there may be an obscure, obsolete needleart for creating such stitched images. I can say with certainty that they were made by hand.
The placement of the intricate stitch patterns create a portrait so clear that you might recognize this regal personage or his ancestors if you had bumped into them at the latest royal wedding. Continue reading
my new baby!
NEW MACHINE!!! If you have heard happy shouts and contented purrs coming from central Florida, it’s just me. I am beside myself with delight over my new Brother Quattro! After my disappointment over the misplaced design on a collar for my granddaughter, I knew that wouldn’t have happened if I had been sewing on the Brother Quattro. So now, this big Brother lives in my sewing room! Hurrah!
When I stitched that design on my Brother Duetta, I had hooped heavy water soluble stabilizer, applied spray adhesive and placed the “V” shaped collar in place. In fact, I had centered the design properly, with the needle penetrating the absolute center of the design. But the linen collar was not absolutely straight, north and south, east and west. This caused the “V” design to lean to the east.
The Brother Duetta stitched it perfectly, but my operator error caused the misplacement.
This slight misalignment would not have been so noticeable had the collar been round or square or if it had been stitched on a yoke. But with the echoed “V” so near, it was very obvious.
The Quattro has a built in camera. With this incredible feature, the camera locates the cross hairs of the “snowman” sticker that is placed at the very center of my design area. The camera perceives even slight placement inaccuracies and makes the correction by rotating the design however many degrees are necessary. Is that not wonderful and amazing?
We are in the “getting to know you” mode right now and the more I read, the more awestruck I am. Edge sewing, print and stitch, huge embroideries…… The list goes on and on. I can’t wait for Quattro and me to become BFF’s!
NEW TECHNIQUE!!! My granddaughter’s Easter dress seemed to be an appropriate first project to help us get acquainted. Pictures of “shadow smocking,” posted on Pinterest caught my eye. Note: If you don’t know about Pinterest, check it out here. Continue reading
Posted in heirloom sewing, smocking, techniques, uncategorized
Tagged heirloom sewing, hemstitch, pin stitch, pinstitch, shadow smocking
Anne’s Glory Box books by “Glorious” Gloria McKinnon, out of print. These are all new, $7 each.
Glory Box #4 by Gloria McKinnon $7 new
Glory Box #4 Table of Contents $7 new
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Shop Goodwill!!!  And here’s why…
A few days ago, I dropped into Goodwill in search of knitting needles. Michaels, Joann’s and even WalMart were all out of size 6! pssst….Is there some to-die-for new knitting project that requires #6 needles? Is that what is causing a run on this size? If so, please share!
Walking past the children’s clothing I spotted this white broadcloth smocked dress. It’s a perfect Christmas frock, loaded with bullion roses, priced at $1.49!
Just behind that was a 24 months pink smocked bubble, also marked $1.49!
The white insert on the pink seersucker romper is smocked with the most detailed little girlie pigs. The bullion ring snouts just make me smile, as do the French knot necklaces. Continue reading
fil tire’ crescent from Combinations collection
The three Fil Tire’ and Fancywork machine embroidery collections created by Suzanne Sawko and me have been mentioned in several posts. A few of the free designs offered on this site have been from one of the three sets.
I’ve meant to post purchase information for some time, but generally I am more wrapped up in sewing than selling. After receiving several inquiries, I have halted my sewing prattle and will now share them with you.
Fil Tire’ and Fancywork Elements includes a block of fil tire’ that can be used for applique’, many individual “elements” such as flowers, dots, leaves and tendrils. These can be combined into countless designs. The cost is $25 sent electronically, or $30 + postage if you would like the designs mailed to you on cd.
4 x 4 fil tire’ block made with wing needle. Used for applique’, it adds interesting texture to baskets, leaves, and any other applique’ design.
1″ circle nice for monogram
Sweet on baby blanket, especially combined with some of the floral designs.
shapes for fil tire’ applique’
Each of these designs is a single file, to be used between buttonholes or on collars and cuffs. They can also be used as elements of a more elaborate combined design.
Several designs have been combined on this souvenir pincushion, a class project I taught at Martha Pullen’s school.
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Fil tire’ and Fancywork Frames and Phrases
The third set, Fil Tire’ Frames and Phrases, is mostly made up of text and frames, which can be used as single frames with your own text or as shown with the frame around the text.
Other phrases with frames include
The cost for Frames and Phrases is $20 as a download and $25 + postage for a cd.
Posted in uncategorized
pink Swiss batiste, heirloom beading, heirloom gooseneck edging, Swiss embroidered floral vine
It’s time to start planning Easter dresses, so I began plundering through my stash of heirloom goods. I’ve been busy wrapping my fabrics onto the comic book boards Terri Click talked about in one of her blog posts about organization. That was a great recommendation.
With a greater awareness of what I have, I’ve come to realize that I could dress 8-10 granddaughters in heirloom sewn dresses 7 days a week. In fact, I have only one precious granddaughter and distant hope of a second. So it’s time to find a new home for these beauties.
I thought I would try Farmhouse Fabrics technique of grouping complimentary goods. So tonight I am posting two heirloom “families,” pink and blue.
PINK
The pink batiste is gossamer sheer, called fairy fabric by some. Note the printed paper that was slipped beneath the fabric. This gives you an idea of its delicacy. This 42″ fabric nearly floats off the cutting table.
I also have some pink Nelona for $16 per yard but I haven’t measured it yet. If that interests you, let me know and I’ll get right on it.
BLUE  My daughter has sky blue eyes, so I bought a lot of this color for heirloom dresses. I sewed up a lot of it for her, but, obviously, not all!
There is much more to post, including a lot of Swiss batiste and trims. Also, I have more Liberty of London tanna lawn to move out. So please check back if any of this interests you. Easter comes up faster than we ever expect.
I have to tell you how thrilled I am with the comic book boards. It’s so nice to have a neat way to store the fabric.
The top shelf is Liberty. Below on the left is linen and polka dot pique. On the right is Swiss batiste.
The stacks need to be straightened up, but I am still loading bolts in place.
Imperial batiste and broadcloth, together at last!
I hope to organize them by color but that will have to wait until I get it all wrapped. They work very well, neatening my stacks of fabrics.
If you’d like to purchase any of the fabric or trims, you can e-mail your order to me at NCcabin@aol.com  Whether or not you buy any of this stuff, I’d love to hear about what you are planning for Easter outfits.
Posted in uncategorized
