With all the wet weather we've been having, I've had a bit more time for sewing.  Just slogging through the mud to get to the mailbox is enough to cause me and the dogs to stay warm and cozy inside. Even Roger, who loves nothing better in life than to patrol our yard, has been just lying around inside with no desire to go outside.  Those muddy paw clean-ups are no fun for any of us, and we will all be glad when the mud has dried up!

So while "springter" is here with all its drizzly rain and gray skies, I remembered I had a darling pattern for a little elephant that had been saved in my to-do file for several years, and now it was time to put it to good use!


Lucky the Elephant is a darling pattern created by Virginia Lindsey Design.  The website where you can find (and buy) this pattern is here: Lucky The Elephant.


Lindsay's pattern calls for the eyes to be buttons, but because I was giving these elephants to small children, I decided to embroider the eye on instead of using a button.  Also, the original pattern that I had did not show the option for a tail, but I did add the tail.  Upon visiting her website to share the link here, I saw that she had updated her pattern to include a tail.



The pattern prints on two sheets of paper and then you tape it together.  It is a really easy pattern, comes with a great PDF and excellent instructions, and can be made in about 2 hours from start to finish. This is a wonderful project to make and give away.


I also found another pattern while searching through my pattern file, and decided I had the perfect fabric to make this apron.  I had been looking for a pattern for an apron but had never decided upon one. How glad I was to find this simple pattern (actually it was a free handout I picked up years ago from Hobby Lobby) and the directions again were very simple, easy to follow, and this apron was easily made in about two hours.


I used Pellon fusible fleece to first adhere the applique, and then stitched around the edges as well.


You may remember this fabric was a gift that I received from dear Cheryl at Homespun Devotions, and shared about in this post.  Oh how I appreciated her generous gift of fabric to me, and so this little apron made its way to Cheryl's home along as a thank you for her sending such a lovely assortment of fabric to me.

I've also had other projects that I've been working on... I was asked to make a birthday banner for the little girl who received the pink Lucky Elephant from me.


I was happy to make this for her, as I have a pennant die for my Big Shot die cut machine which makes cutting out dies for banners easy and fun.  I used some large die cut letters I had as well, and added some cute flowers and ribbons, and the cute birthday banner was done, easy and fun to do!


While at a thrift store recently, I found a ziplock bag full of fabric for $2.00, of which I couldn't pass up.  When I got home and opened the bag, I found this unfinished piece inside that had been sewn by hand.


You can see the hand sewn stitches.


The square was quite a bit off center, and perhaps that is why it was a leftover in the bag, but I thought it would make a unique little potholder, and so I finished the little lopsided square into a potholder that I will keep for my own use, and will always wonder about the story behind the little lopsided square each time I use it {smiles}. After all, it is better being put to some good use, rather than hiding in a lonely bag of fabrics... :)


I mentioned in my last post that our area has been inundated with heavy rain recently, and our county has been placed under emergency declaration because of the rain, flooding, and mudslides. We were on our way back home from town this past weekend when traffic came to a standstill, and we saw this scene in the distance.  Apparently several trees had fallen over the road just a few cars in front of us.


It wasn't too long and someone with a chainsaw began to cut the trees back off the road.  You can see off to the side that there were a lot of helpers!  Quite a few people, many of them children, helped carry the brush and limbs off the road. It took about 30 minutes of waiting for the road to be cleared, but we were very thankful that no one was hurt.

Another mudslide happened early Sunday morning on a main road in our area, that has only one way in and out, thus cutting off many people from being able to travel to their Sunday morning worship.  The road opened late Sunday morning, but you can see the devastation this slide caused.


An entire hillside gave way and rolled down the hill and onto the road.  It took crews many hours to completely clear away the debris.


Again, thankfully no one was hurt!


We saw this cute face peeking out at us in the woods one afternoon.  She wasn't sure whether to run or wait and watch us.  Eventually she wandered off, not too worried about us after all.


The sunsets haven't been as brilliant as they were during the dark winter days, but still, the soft pale colors were beautiful to behold.

You can see that our snow is quickly melting away, and it really is beginning to feel like spring is here.  Today we took our family vehicle to get the studded snow tires off and our regular summer tires put back on.  The roads now are clear of snow, and the grader came this week and graded off all the potholes, which makes it much easier to drive down our gravel road.  My husband and I worked today to clean out the chicken coop, and put the lovely composted manure in my garden.

So, things are looking up around here for spring, and while I know that the bright blooms of spring are still a month or so away, it is exciting to be putting away winter wraps, and exchanging them for lighter spring jackets, and looking forward to the promise of the beauty of late spring, when the mud has dried up, and the tulips, daffodils and crocuses are in bloom :)

Thanks to each one of you who prayed for me and left such sweet and encouraging comments after my puppy kiss gone wrong last week! I am happy to report that the touch of the Lord on my eyes was nothing short of amazing!  My vision is completely normal!  For that I am so very thankful!  You don't realize all that you use and need your eyes for, until they are not working.

In the 48 hours after my injury, I found that because of the dilating drops in my eyes (these are the kind of drops in your eye where you have to wear the dark glasses after you leave the doctor's office), that I was able to see fine, but my eyes were quite sensitive to light, so I just wore my sunglasses about the house.  I also found that looking at the computer screen was quite bright, and I had to limit my time looking at the screen.  One thing I did notice was that I could do anything that didn't involve using a screen or bright light.

Thankfully after 48 hours once the dilating drops wore off, my left eye was clear and there was no pain.  I continue to give the Lord thanks for the quick healing!

I didn't think I would be able to do any sewing because of my injured eye, but found that sewing didn't bother my eyes at all, and so I actually was able to finish up a couple of my sewing projects earlier than I thought.

One of the sewing projects was to finish the tops I had started with my friend T.  The day before my eye incident, I had gone over to T's house and we worked on our tops at her house.

I had the privilege of sewing on a $2000.00 sewing machine!  For the clothing designer school program she was enrolled in, one of the requirements was to use a Juki sewing machine.  I had never heard of them before, but I was thrilled to try it out!  It sewed beautifully - as it well should, costing that much, lol!


The pattern we chose to use for our tops was this one from Simplicity/New Look.  I liked the simple style that is both modest and flattering. T wanted to make the more detailed style B in this pattern, which was adding the grommets and ties to the top.  Had it been me sewing it alone, I probably would have went with style A which was simple! Yet, all in all, this was a really simple pattern to make... even though the grommets did prove to be a little contrary, even in T's talented hands.



http://www.simplicity.com/new-look-pattern-6472-misses-boho-blouses/N6472.html 



I opted to use ribbon for my tie, and because the blue grommets weren't working very well, we added a little twist to my top with the addition of four gold grommets.



For my daughter's top, T wanted to do something a little different. She made her own ties!  It was very, very tedious to do that.


And for her daughter's top she did the same as well.


Her daughter loves fish, and so T made her a little seahorse ornament to add further jazz to this really amazing top.

Note the ribbon detail here in this close-up picture:


T took plain, flat blue ribbon, and pinned by hand each one of those pleats!  Just looking at the detail, and time involved in doing that made me feel tired!


When T and her daughter came over and we revealed the finished tops, my daughter was still working, and not able to be there, so the reveal was broken up into two different times.


It was a complete surprise for my daughter that we had made this top made for her.  We kept it top secret, even though we worked on it while she was there last weekend, lol.  We told her it was for a "friend".  {smiles}


She was thrilled!  She loves the color turquoise, and it fit her perfectly.  It was fun to see how one pattern could look so differently with three different fabrics, and styles changing out on the sleeves, and length of the "flounce".

T has yet to have time to finish her top.  I can't wait to see it.  She used some really nice fabrics, and I think she has another trick or two up her sleeve with it, that I can't wait to see.


This sewing project together was so much fun that we have already planned another fun day of sewing together soon.  T is going to show me how to create my own pattern from my measurements, which will probably take some time to do.  She went to school for years to learn this, and I highly doubt I'll learn it in an afternoon together {smiles}.

While making these tops, we have been hoping, and dreaming for spring...


... but winter surely seems to still be hanging around, showing off its best... and I just can't seem to get too upset with winter when scenes like this abound!


Snow's gentle but icy grip...


Miss Annie loves the snow.  She reigns during winter as the Snow Queen!


And this one isn't too far behind her!


Romping and rolling in the snow just gets more and more fun for her...


 Oh, but she is growing so!  I can hardly stand to see it... it seems as if she grows before our very eyes!


Time for Miss Riley to learn how to walk with a leash.  She was soo sad!  She couldn't understand why she had to be on the leash, and kept biting at it.  Finally she just walked with the leash in her mouth, as if to convince herself that she was walking herself, and not being walked, lol!


But every so often we would stop and she would just sit and look at me, asking "why"... Roaming is so much more fun!


Oh, the snow that we still have!  It is nearing the middle of March... and still the banks of snow sit, defiant to the sun that tries to melt them.


Oh those mountains... !


Back home... the blue skies were hard to leave and go back inside.  I love seeing the bright blue skies of winter contrasted with the dazzling white of the snow.  It was a lovely walk we had, and as I let Miss Riley off the leash to scamper towards the house, and I sauntered up the driveway, I was thankful for the snow covering the layer of ice, making it much easier to walk and enjoy the day.

I continue to give the Lord thanks for my eye that healed so quickly, with no remaining issues.  As I thought of the beauty around me that I am able to enjoy because of my vision, I stopped outside, and just looked up into the blue, blue skies and praised the Lord for allowing me to see clearly, and oh how very thankful I am for His healing touch!

Psalms 40:3 

Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works 

which thou hast done, 

and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: 

they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: 

if I would declare and speak of them, 

they are more than can be numbered.

This has been the week for wild and wet weather!  We got over a foot of snow over the past weekend, followed by rain, then more snow, then more rain, and more snow... and today we got a slosh of freezing rain after an inch or two of snow fell last night, making the whole world around very, very sloppy and drippy!  This is not walking weather at all, but rather the perfect kind of day to cozy up inside with a good hot cup of tea, with the whirr of the sewing machine accompanied by occasional thumps from outside with the ice and snow melting.



You may remember the lovely Barbara who blogs at Small Moments held a fabric giveaway earlier this year, and I was the lucky recipient of her giveaway!


Well, this past week, I was able to find the time - thanks to the lovely cozy weather we are having - to get busy on a little project I had in mind with the fabric she sent me.


It was a gorgeous selection of fabrics, with each piece probably about the size of a fat quarter, except for one larger piece (which I did not use this time).


In a previous post here, I shared how I used a die-cut machine to cut fabric to make a flower.


In this project, instead of using the circle scallop die, I used the square die to cut out four scalloped squares from each piece of the coordinating fabric Barbara sent me. I layered quilt batting between the squares, and sewed an "X" on each square to tack down the batting.


After placing all the pieces together in a pleasing manner to my eye, I sewed them together to make a large square.


My plan was to make a pillow out of these pieces. My next step was to cut out the backing for the pillow and sew it all together.


Now, it was time to wash and dry the pillow to "fluff" up the cut edges, and create a homespun fluffy look to the pillow.


While the pillow was washing, I started on the next project, but there was a bit of interruption.


Mr. Simba did NOT like the spinning spool of thread, and thought the world would be a better place without it!


I coaxed him into my lap and soothed his little heart with cuddles and soon he forgot about the evil sewing machine and its whirring thread monster. Perhaps that's what all the commotion was about any way... he was just jealous of my attention given to the machine, and not to him!


With a few of the remaining squares I had left, I sewed up this quick little potholder, using basically the same technique as I used with the pillow.


And here is the "mystery" picture that I mentioned in this post.  This was all that was left out of the collection of fabrics Barbara sent me (except for one larger piece of pink flowered fabric).  These were the scraps left from the scalloped squares that I cut out.  I hated to just throw these beautiful pieces into my leftover fabric scrap pile, and so I let them sit out a while for me to ponder them.  What to do with them? They were so pretty!



Finally I settled on making a little stuffed pincushion for my needles. (Some of you were very close with your guesses!)


With a shabby fabric rose sewed into the center, this was the perfect little pincushion that I have been needing for a long time.


These shabby roses add the sweetest touch to just about every sewing project I do!


A perfect way to use up the little scraps that were left over!


The finished pillow....



It adds the perfect springy touch in my living room with my neural colored couches, and brown and turquoise pillows.



The finished potholder...


I'd been wanting to try this little pattern for fabric bookmarks after seeing the tutorial on Kelly-Anne's blog, Diary of a Country Girl.  Excellent instructions for making your own bookmarks that won't get torn and are simply a beautiful way to enjoy a good book and never lose your spot.


So there you have it... my little collection of projects from the last day or so when I've been cozied up in my sewing room.  I've a few more projects I've been working on, but I'll save those for another day.

I'm sure your wondering what our little cutie has been up to... or maybe you want to see some snow.  Well, I aim to please... lol!  For those of you who don't have snow to enjoy, I hope you enjoy this little taste of winter, along with a peek into the cozy days we are having.


Mr. Simba has definitely has got a chip on his shoulder lately, with the arrival of little Riley, and the ironing board has been his favorite sleeping place... high enough to keep away from the loving attempts of Riley to make friends.  Mr. Simba will have none of it!


Roger loves wrestling with Riley, and it is a hoot to watch the two of them roll around together.



Two very silly dogs!


We took a quick walk one afternoon before the snow came back in again.


I took this picture of Annie guarding the feed block from the turkeys.  She certainly isn't making any friends in the world of turkeys!


A perfect vantage point for Riley to keep an eye on all the action outside.


Uh.oh.  Yes.  Sad news.  The tractor is stuck!  I called in a professional plowman to come and get it unstuck, and plow our driveway.  He almost got stuck with his chained up bobcat, and gave up... of course I still owed him the $50.00 for trying!  Sigh.  Things like this always happen when my dear husband is out of town.  He will be home tomorrow... and boy I can't wait! I know he has a few tricks up his sleeve and I'm sure we will get it unstuck.  Until then, there she sits.


Not sure what Roger is looking at here, but he was quite intent on whatever it was!


The snow is piling up around us!


Our son's car, parked for the winter... can you even see the car? LOL!


Just an idea of the collection of the snow we've had all winter.


The chickens haven't been impressed at all with the additional snow, and mostly just stay inside the coop, rarely coming out into the run.


Lots of poor man's fertilizer in here!


My poor little greenhouse.... all bundled up in the deep white snow. I have to keep the roof shoveled, because it is made of plastic.


Has winter caused any excitement for you this year?  I have certainly enjoyed the cozy snowy days we've had, but I'll admit, along with my furry and feathered friends, that we are beginning to look forward to spring :)