A little help with the shopping

A while back I made bags from some mesh that my daughter brought home from her work. I was planning to sell them, but they were not a hit. To plain I guess.

In April I moved into a Senior Park and noticed that many of the older seniors do not drive. They do stay active and walk to the store. Last Thursday (our coffee day at the rec center) I brought 4 bags to the rec center. I embellished them a bit and they were a hit with the seniors. They loved them.

Mini Dress Form / $0 dollars

Last night I found a tutorial for Dress forms. This was my first try and if you can follow instruction and sew just a little you can make this form. I found the tutorial here:
thediydish.com/2011/10/season-4-how-to-make-a-dress-form-mannequin-pin-cushion/

Watch the video and just under the video is the pattern download. It was pretty easy and I used materials that I had at home. Her neck is an empty spool of thread.
















The base was a wooden candle stick that I had laying around for about a year. You need very little material and a hot glue gun. The girls from the DIY dish tell you what materials you need and just remember to stuff your girl tight with filling and she will come out looking great.



I did add some trim to the bottom and hand stitched it to the finished Dress Form. It took less than an hour to cut, sew, stuff and glue.










I'm looking forward to making more of these girls.

The Kitchen Help

There is this ball at The Polka Dot Closet and I just had to be there. Even if I am just the kitchen help. Someone has to do the cooking for all those guests.

I hardly ever post on my blog and haven't decided if I want to keep it up. I do read a lot of blogs and never find the time to post on my blog or keep up with what is new.

I Bought my dress form about a year ago off Craig's list and would love to have another one. My girl came with a stand but it was a small plastic stand and kept falling off every time I wanted to move her. Three days ago they were throwing away a chair at the office (you know the kind with wheels). I had the carpenters take the chair off the stand and took the wheel part home and my girl fit the stand just perfectly. She is now mobile and that makes me happy.

On the Street where I live

In April of 2011 I moved into a Senior Mobile Home Park. My mother is 86 and we thought it would be better for her to spend her winters in California. I have met most of the neighbors on my street and it is so quite in this neighborhood that if a pin were dropped at the rec center we would hear it all the way down our street. Yesterday I went to the rec center with my neighbor, Pam, to swim in the pool. We had it all to ourselves for the hour we were there. Loved It!!!! I tried to find a picture that I had taken of my street, but it will have to wait till tomorrow. I just can't find where I stored it and I have accounting to do. I hope to be blogging more these days. I spent a lot of time reading post, but I think I might like to be the blog that people read instead of the reader of the blog.

Combs Plus

I had a batch of plain hair combs that I purchased from the store about a year ago. I also had a bunch of broken necklaces that I always meant to re-string. But since I don't wear much jewelry anymore I decided to try something new.

I've always seen these combs in stores, but there are two pricey for me, so I decided to make a few.

I used the wire that I pulled out of an old ribbon ( there is a tutorial somewhere for making flowers with the ribbon). I pulled out the top wire and instead of discarding it I used it to hold my beads onto the comb.

The buttons are my favorite and I just used embroidery thread, sewed them onto a ribbon and sewed the ribbon onto the comb.

This is the complete batch. The pearls and the shells look great in my hair.

These are the buttons in my hair. I love the buttons. In the picture my hair looks dirty. It is not dirty, just wet. I just got out of the shower and wanted to get a picture of the comb in my hair while the light was good through the window.

This is an apron I made from my 90 year old aunts home made pattern. I made it last year and sent it to one of her sisters.

These are some bags I made from a roll of mess that my daughter brought home from where she works. They cut this mesh to fit their machine and throw away the rest. I now have her bring home the roll and I make bags. They make great grocery bags, or beach bags. I carry my work stuff (calculator, date planner, misc stuff. I will sell them two for $5.00 if anybodies interested.

This is the same apron pattern as above just different fabric. I sold it on e-bay last year.

This is a vintage apron of my 90 year old aunts that she made back in the 40's. It's my all time favorite.

This was another one of her vintage aprons. Don't know if you can tell from the pictures, but these babies got a lot of wear. They were perfectly pressed and folded when she sent them to me. I have one other that is still in the plastic and still in the box. I will have to get it out and take a picture of it for my blog.

Finally finished

I started this apron so long ago I can't remember the date. First it took hours to un-pick this pair of Levis ( I did it at night while watching TV). The first time I put about a 8" trim around the bottom of the skirt. I didn't like it but could not decide, because it made the skirt to long. But I un-picked the trim cut it into strips and made cross straps for the back instead of a around the neck.

This is the back shot and will fit a 38" waist.