A Sewing Party/Sleepover

Is a girl ever too old to have a sleepover? I think not!  This past weekend, a snowstorm was forecasted for the weekend, my husband was out of town, and I had a large sewing project that I wanted to work on.  I talked to my dear friend T, and together she and I came up with a great plan.. let's get together for a weekend of sewing, and have her spend the night.  Her husband obliged to have her come stay with me, and the fun began!

Since we were so excited about our time together, we started out with just wanting to make a top for each of us, however, I told her I think we should also make a top for her daughter, and then she said she wanted my daughter to have one too.  So then we ended up going by the fabric store and buying more fabric, and cutting out and starting to sew on four tops! Whew!

We got started on the first top, which was mine.  I already had the fabric washed and ironed and ready to start.  The rest of the fabrics we went together to purchase at our local Ben Franklin's, and while they were washing and drying, I made some crunchy kale chips for us to snack on.

My friend T is a very talented and skilled seamstress, and I learned a lot from her this weekend.  I have been sewing a long time, but this was the first time I learned how to make a different sized pattern from the  pattern.  Because we wanted all four tops to come from the same pattern, and not have to buy the pattern in the different sizes, T showed me how to create a different pattern for each size.

Once the fabrics were dried and ironed, we started cutting out the rest of the tops.

The pattern directions called for over 2 yards of fabric.  T said she could do it with 1-1/2 yards - and she did!  I was amazed!

While our sewing party was going on, some of my children's friends came over too.  The more the merrier is the way I like it {smiles}... and one of them brought their blue heeler puppy... and she and Riley had a great time playing together, they were the perfect size to romp and roll around!

T had a great idea to try out with the sleeves.  She created her own pattern to add a ruffle to the sleeves. How she did all this with 1-1/2 yards of fabric was pretty amazing!

The last top to get cut out and marked, now ready to start sewing.  We did not finish the tops this weekend.  Time simply ran away from us, lol!  We hope to finish them up this week, and have a fun reveal this weekend with all four of us wearing our tops together :)

You will have to stay tuned for the final result of our sewing efforts this weekend... I did finish my top, but T told me today that she is not feeling well (she has been struggling with some tummy issues lately, and doctors cannot seem to pinpoint what is wrong), so hopefully she will feel well enough to continue making the tops, but I told her not to worry if she can't!

It was such a fun weekend, that we hope to do this again if we can, before spring gets here, before we both get so busy with our gardens and outdoor chores and activities (she has chickens, a huge fruit orchard and a large garden to care for too)... so we are hoping that we will have another weekend soon of fun sewing together before spring.  I wonder if we hope spring won't come so fast, more than likely, that it will... lol!

At any rate, the next time we get together, T has promised to show me how to measure myself AND make my own pattern from my measurements!  I can't wait to learn how to do that... it will be exciting to learn how to create my own patterns.  T went to school for several years to learn how to do this, and I am benefiting from all her training, and we are having fun together too!  So I hope to have a post with all four of our tops finished, possibly sometime next week. (Prayers for T appreciated!)

After I dropped T off at home, and I was driving home, the views before me were incredible.  The snow storm had abated, and the world was quiet and still.  The sun was a hazy ball in the sky with very diffuse light.  I love how the dapper light just hovered over this old barn.

Pine trees standing silent as the hazy light of the sun brushed their tops, wishing them a good night.

We are blessed in this beautiful country we live in to have an abundance of lakes, streams and rivers.  The sun was setting over the river here, and I was not the only one who stopped before the bridge to get out and take some pictures.  It was a stunning scene!

It might appear this picture to be upside down, but it really is not... just the reflection of the sun in the water.

Well, I took far too many pictures of this scene.  It was  just too beautiful for words to see.

As I continued my drive home, the sun's brilliance lit up the mountains in the distance as if they were on fire.

No, indeed... I never, ever tire of the glorious views that abound around us here.  :)