You CAN Go Home Again

And I know, because that's where I spent my weekend. Back home.

Today marked the 150th anniversary of a little country church that my ancestors helped establish several generations ago. So this year the church Homecoming drew a huge crowd with lots of praise, singing, and of course, good old Southern cooking with plenty of sweet tea.

About 30 years ago I became interested in genealogy and spent lots of time with older relatives--talking with them, getting their stories, and hanging out in cemeteries. One day my daddy and his first cousin took me out into the cemetery at the church and after two hours they pointed out to me that I was related, by blood or marriage, to everyone buried there, with the exception of three people. A lot has changed since then, but I'd venture to guess that I am now related to all but thirty people in that cemetery. The blood runs long and strong back home.

We had a great time at my sister's house. Tons of food, college football, and family always make a nice combination. And this year we had a special treat--The Last Man Standing.

My uncle, 90 years old, came this year. He is the last surviving member of my daddy's family. He represents the last of a generation that was raised on a hard scrabble farm and went off to the war. There were ten of them, 9 boys and 1 girl. When we first started gathering at my sister's house 27 years ago the family arrived from several states, near and far. Some of them would fly in for the occasion, and one year we had about 70 family members there. The years have passed and so has a lot of the family, but the bonds we share are strong. We were delighted to see the uncle, still walking around under his own power, eating with his own teeth, telling jokes, and with a very sharp mind. He is the last real link we have to our own grandparents. Most of us, their grandchildren, are now grandparents ourselves. A few of us are great-grandparents. The circle of life continues forever, doesn't it?

Any road trip in the south offers opportunity not only to see the countryside and admire the farm crops, but to also receive religious and moral instruction. So I'm going to share with you some Sights From The South, because not everyone was blessed with being born and raised here.

Here's the first one:




And another:



Good advice, here:



I love this one:



This one is very original:




And this one leaves me wondering Just What In The World is going on in this congregation:



I'll be back to sewing soon. I plan to cut something out tonight.

I hope your weekend was as nice as mine.

I'm a Mermaid!!

You Are a Mermaid

You are a total daydreamer, and people tend to think you're flakier than you actually are.While your head is often in the clouds, you'll always come back to earth to help someone in need.Beyond being a caring person, you are also very intelligent and rational.You understand the connections of the universe better than almost anyone else.

What Mythological Creature Are You?

A Lovely Little Thing

Here is one of the patterns I found for The Twins on Saturday:








I think the smocking in the center front is a very sweet look. And on the back, there is a large deep pleat on either side of the back opening. The drawing doesn't depict that pleat so I was very surprised to see it on the pattern.



Other things I like about this pattern (most of which you really won't know about until you open the pattern and read the instructions: four different sleeves, collar variations, hem treatments on the sleeves, and the full A-line shape. Since this is a single size pattern, it was also nice to find that it is printed on regular pattern tissue, like the Big 4, so no time will be lost tracing the pattern. That's a very big plus in my book. Very professional pattern pieces with clear markings, seam lines, etc. Excellent directions, too.

Things I wish were different: There is no separate instruction sheet. The directions are printed on the pattern tissue itself, and will be somewhat dismembered once the pattern pieces are cut off. Tissue is fragile, and keeping up with separate bits of instruction tissue will be a challenge. Yall know what I'm talking about--you have seen pictures of my sewing room!

I will also change the shape of the hemline when I make this one. More on that later.

And the final thing I will change is the back facing. Although I know it is standard practice in heirloom sewing to place the opening edges on the selvedge, thus eliminating the need to finish the raw edge, I just don't like that. It's personal, I guess, because I prefer a finished edge there. So I will make an adjustment for that when I cut out the pattern.

After thinking about this for three weeks, I think I will make the first one in white, with white smocking. But lace? no lace? what to do, what to do....

A Beautiful Weekend

I accomplished quite a lot this weekend, and not one bit of it involved housework. It was perfect back porch weather. Heck, we turned off the A/C, opened the doors and windows, and enjoyed the breezes. Here's the completed left front of the Minimalist Cardigan:




And since I love this coloration so much, yet another closeup:



I have one of the sleeves half finished, too. I would say that I would finish knitting this up by next weekend, but other More Important Things have come to light. Namely, The Princess is growing.

Yep. She has moved quickly into the role of Big Sister and gone up a size in clothing. So the Most Important Thing right now is what on earth will she wear for all her fall social activites. After consulting with her Fashion Advisor (that's me), a shopping trip was in order. To save a fight with myself, I finally caved in and headed out on Saturday morning to here. I came home with four big bags. Two for The Princess, and two for The Twins.

Here's a pile of fabric that will become, one at a time, dresses for fall:



Here's a closeup teaser of a few of them:



Luscious, luscious, finely woven 100% cottons with a yummy smooth finish. Tomorrow I hope to thread the pleater and get started!

A Truly Murderous Affair

Number One son recently had a birthday and was feted with food, drink, and murder at the hands of his friends and family. Yep, that's right, a murder was committed, and the Birthday Boy himself was the victim. How's that for a happy birthday?

Here's what we saw when we arrived at the scene of the crime:




The Pregnant One set up and planned the entire thing. It was a murder party kit, complete with characters, plots, clues, and costume suggestions. We had a blast. Here we all are:




One of those people is a murderer!

There's the Actress, the Class Flirt, the Valedictorian, the Head Cheerleader, the Tech Guy, the Class President, the Newspaper Editor, the Jock, the Big Man On Campus, the Hall Monitor, the Drum Major, the Pom Pom Captain, the Yearbook Editor, the Bad Boy, and the Math Whiz.....

And me? I won the Dressed To Kill award, in my role of Cindy Crawfish, the Class Flirt, of course!



Check out those fishnet hose, won't you?

It's A Good Thing...

....that I have a new window in the sewing room tonight.....




since something EXTREMELY rare is happening outside right now......it is pouring down rain!

This rain is a wondrous thing, since it makes only the 5th time it has rained here since March 1. That's almost six months. Fortunately for us the few times we've had rain it has been a substantial amount. It's been raining here this evening for several hours already. Since my yard was demolished by the tornado and construction work I haven't been concerned about gardening at all this year. But I have missed the smell of rain. My husband and I have been sitting on the back porch, smelling the smell......

As for the piles of stuff on the tables under the window, all I can say is that our contractor is a very kind person. He actually straightened up all that stuff after he put in the window. I'll let you imagine what it looked like before he took out the original window.

Due to the smell of rain, no knitting or sewing has been committed today. But I have this for you!

McCalls 5108



This one has a copyright date of 1959 and the envelope is in extremely poor shape. It has been used, and from the looks of the pattern, it was probably a favorite pattern. Once you get past the fancy overskirt you can see that this would be a good basic dress pattern for early fall or spring/summer. Here's the back:





Raglan styled bodice, basic straight skirt with walking pleat or full gathered skirt. I like the necklines, V in the back and scooped in the front. The front scoop is a cross between a scoop and a bateau neckline. I'd love to have one of these overskirts just for fun, for that rare occasion when I venture near the stove...if I'm going to impress these men I live with, I might as well be wearing a black lace apron when I do it. And the dress would need to be lipstick red.

These gals in the photo definitely need to get out of the kitchen and into the gym for a little weight lifting to square up those shoulders, don't they? And I am loving the needle-point high heels!

Coming To You Live From The Hottest Place On Earth

Hot. Really, really hot. That's how I spent the afternoon, hot and sweaty, fighting off the gnats, selling tickets at a ballgame.

I had tons of customers, but once the games were underway the crowd slacked off. So I got in the car, turned on the air conditioner, and knitted on The White Thing. And I finished this piece, which bears a surprising resemblance to a back, doesn't it?




That double row of eyelets at the top of the back yoke looks as if it needs some satin ribbon running through it, doesn't it?

Continental Knitting, Continued...

On the subject of continental knitting, I forgot to mention yesterday that this style of knitting gives me the even stitches. Since the thread winds among the fingers and palm of the left hand, my purl rows are identical to my knit rows. The path of the yarn provides the tension. I have a hard time achieving that with the throwing method of knitting, but the throwing method does come in handy when doing two-color work. But I cannot imagine doing the throwing method all the time. I'd just quit entirely.

Maybe I can cast on more White Stuff tomorrow.

Baby Daygowns

And I'm still shopping for baby daygown patterns. Have any of you used any of the Nancy Coburn patterns? If so, please leave a comment. I'd love some input.