"I Love Lucy" Dress

We have been seeing many full skirted dresses with fitted bodices this season, and I thought it would be a good school dress for the new teacher in my life.

So when I was in NYC in June, I took a little side trip to Mood fabrics and looked around with Kathryn, Austin, and the 2 cute little ones (not that the parents aren't cute, but ...)

We found a couple of fun light weight fabrics to use for dresses and skirts and this is one of them.

It is a light blue and white stripe and I lined it with plain old white cotton. 

 Pictures got lost from my beautiful camera that I just left under my airplane seat and walked away from, so my DD was kind enough to take a few and send them my way.

 It looks like it needs a belt. Maybe I'll make a belt out of the fabric.

Steph must've thought it needed a belt too. I think a skinny one would be good. Maybe I need to move the waistline up just a bit too. Oh, the joys of sewing long distance. I'll just make the waist seam bigger and adjust the zipper out of necessity while I'm at it. (Next time I'm in the same time zone with it.) But only if it is long enough to afford taking it up an inch and a half.

                              

I do like the tie at the neck. Finishes it off nicely.

Also notice the piping at the middle and princess seams. The stripes that are in a sort of herringbone pattern meeting at the middle and going up from there and then meeting at the princess seam and going down to the side seam then up, then down all the way around the bodice. The skirt has big pleats in the front and then they are smaller all the way around to the back. The fabric on the skirt is on grain and the stripes run up and down.

So this is my attempt at making a dress that I think Lucy Ricardo and my mother would have worn for everyday type clothes in the 1950's. 

Happy 100th (belated) birthday to Lucy.

Hungry Caterpillar II

Ellery was seen at her baby sisters birthday in this. But what did the birthday girl wear?

 How about a white pinafore over a bright green dress?

 I found a perfect hungry caterpillar to embroider with my new machine and it brought the color to the bodice of the pinafore.

Should I use white ties on the side of the apron?

 Or colored caterpillar bites for ties?
I choose colorful ones.

 A Peter Pan collar?

Or a pleated small collar to match big sis's blue pleats on her dress?
I choose pleats. I do love my pleater attachment.
If you want to see Cossette in the dress along with some cute shoes that her mommy found, go here and see the whole party.
Looks like fun, huh?

Guardsman Pass

I am home at last for at least a couple of weeks. I'll hopefully get some pictures of projects that I've been up to, but for now I'll show some pictures of a hike/drive that Jonathan, Stephanie and I went on yesterday.

 Here is our tour guide and oldest child. Seems that Jonathan knows more places to go in the Utah mountains than even Grandpa Kelly or Hodgman. The names of rock formations as well as the science of all of those rocks is always right on the tip of his tongue.

 The clouds this time of year are white and fluffy for miles up into the sky during the day, and then often turn grey and ominous in the evening. One of the nights I was there we experienced a loud thunderstorm and high winds. I had forgotten about these storms and was happy I was safe and sound inside Stephanie's cute little house.

 Stephanie was able to come with us between orientations of her new teaching position, and volleyball practice with the AF girls who are already in love with her.

I have NEVER seen the mountains of Utah with so much green, and the flowers were full and fabulous. I suppose it has something to do with the wet spring and summer that the western US has experienced.
It was gorgeous. Really.

You should click on this picture to better see the Indian Paintbrush, Lupine, & Skunk Cabbage

There were also at least 3 kinds of Daisy's, Bluebells, 4 kinds of berries (we weren't sure if we could eat one of them and Jonathan smeared some of one berry juice on him arm to see if he'd get an allergic reaction which he did not), wild Delphinium, and other flowers that I didn't recognize.

 This is approaching Mary Lake at Brighton (ski area) up Big Cottonwood Canyon east of Salt Lake City.

 Overlooking the Guardsman Pass road that we have just ascended.

Down on the other side of Guardsman, headed to Park City. Can you see what I see????

I wish I had a different lens. The Hubby let me use his camera which was brave of him after what I did last week.
There were 6 moose. SIX! At least 4 males and 1 female. We didn't see the head of the other one, but I suppose it is mating season and they herd a bit during the early fall when they are mating.
I was so excited that I spotted them far of and Stephanie u-turned her little Honda around so we could get a closer look.
Very pretty day and fun kids I have.

Embarassed and Upset

I have trotted across the western United States once again to Grand Junction, Colorado. My mother had surgery and I came to see if I could help out a bit and throw some TLC toward my parents for the week.
I have gone on a hike with sister and family, swam at brothers house, revisited 1st ward, eaten some great meals, etc and all without my handy dandy camera which I LEFT ON THE PLANE or in the airport.
I am sick about it and can't quite believe how I could do such a thing. It's not a little itty bitty camera. It is a nice big camera and I am praying that when the lost and found(s) open at the airlines and in the airports at 9 am tomorrow morning I will somehow be able to recover my lost, unmarked D-200 Nikon.
Please pray with me for the honest people out there.

Hungry Caterpillar

DD decided to have a Hungry Caterpillar birthday party for her most darling one year old baby girl.
I was enlisted to help decorate the children for the event.

 Katz helped me choose the border fabric at least a year ago, and this b-day made me act on the promise to sew it up.

The older sister received a cute little sleeveless summer dress made from some material that goes with the borders of food that the caterpillar is ravaging. The different colored dots are representative of his bites of yummy food.  I trimmed it with some cute blue pleated ruffles and of course ... a bow in back.

 Ellery looks very cute in it.

 Smiling for GPa who is following her around the wax museum with a camera.