Two finished projects and some well-earned TLC for my Bernina

Watershed logo "Sunrise" and Watershed
logo with beads. And Prince.

My Bernina has needed a trip to the shop for a while now, but first I needed to finish these small wall-hangings for Jeanetta's 8th grade silent auction fundraiser this weekend. They are planning a trip this spring to Barrow which should be super fun and interesting. I'm hoping to go with them myself as the North Slope is one area of the state I've never been to.

Our favorite style.

I had hoped to get several of these finished, but other projects like last week's Troth quilt got in the way. I used Steam-a-seam 2 light to create the silhouettes and then satin stitched around them.  The original logo has black lines representing northern lights (I think) and I created them with hanging beads in the quilt on the right (in the picture with both quilts). Jeanetta and I prefer the quilt on the left which uses a stained-glass style and I would like to make more of that technique representing the seasons. I also have plans for a larger version. Someday. It is a very nice logo and lends itself well to the silhouette and stained-glass styles.

Now that these are finished I was able to drop the machine off at Material Girls for a tune-up. It shouldn't be gone long, but in the meantime I will be starting some knitting projects. 'Tis the season for making gifts and I have a very long list!

Halloween Horrors! Sewing with kids

Against my better judgement, I let my 13 year old daughter convince me to help her sew her costume (and shop for the fabric and notions at JoAnn's!) on a Friday night. The Friday night before the school's Halloween carnival. Jeanetta had seen the pattern over three weeks ago, but it wasn't available in town so we had to order it. Between the delay in getting the pattern, Jeanetta getting sick for over a week, and other time commitments, we hadn't been able to start. Now, it was the night before the carnival and she just had to get that costume done. I should have said no. I'm not a good garment maker and I've definitely left the days when I could pull an all-nighter and still function the next day far behind. But, I also really want my girls to know how to sew and I know that there is always going to be a reason not to start a project. Costume sewing is very forgiving, sew no time like the present (yes, I know that is a dreadful pun).


We arrived at JoAnn's at about 5:30 pm and got out about 6:45. Not bad considering the line at the cutting counter seemed to extend out the door. We started sewing around 8. Jeanetta did about half the work, letting me do the rotary cutting and some of the more precise sewing. I know, she should learn to cut out patterns by herself, but time, and the desire to maintain all of her fingers intact, was of the essence. Fueled (in my case) by Cabernet and chocolate, we finally finished up at 1:20 am. The carnival wasn't until noon, but we had to get up early for Jeanetta's orchestra practice. Then, a hasty change in the bathroom and off to the carnival. I can't quite decide what her character is. Wednesday? Morticia? Elvira? Still, definitely a great look :) The pattern, since you can't really tell in the photo, has long princess type sleeves (Jeanetta designed the bottom of the sleeve herself), an empire waist with ties that criss-cross down and tie in front, and a fancy dress skirt attached to the bodice. There is also a pattern for a skirt or pants to go under it, but the top is large enough on her that we didn't need them.

One issue I struggled with in deciding to go ahead with this project was fairness. There was no way I could also sew the costume Lynneva wanted, especially since I would need to create the pattern myself. We managed a good costume for her, though, by re-purposing the white dress I made for her old Princess Leah costume into a ghost costume. The last minute purchase of silver hair spray was an excellent touch and she was the best "exploding box" character in the haunted house (aka the fifth grade classroom). Lynneva had thought that a ghost costume would be boring, but not anymore. Of course, we'll reprise these characters on Monday for the real Halloween.

Do I get to count the zombie cupcakes?

Crows feast on maggoty zombie flesh.

The costume that started it all.

This weekend marked the beginning of our family's, no, my girls' and my Halloween obsession. No doubt my husband would be just as happy to never see another pumpkin. So, we spent quite a bit of time at Jo-Ann's and Michael's on Saturday. I ended up ordering a Halloween costume pattern online because we couldn't find what Jeanetta wanted here in town. I'll be mostly winging it on Lynneva's sea monster.  I'm going as a sea witch, or sea weed, whatever fits. We got into the habit of making costumes in 2007 when I went as Rita Skeeter. The girls got such a kick out of it that we have made something every year since.

The cousins and their zombie fare.

So far we have created a small graveyard (I spent two days trying to get Ziggy to pee on a gravestone for a picture, but no luck yet) and made our first round of zombie cupcakes from the book Zombie Cupcakes by Zilly Rosen. I had my niece and nephew over and thought they would make a nice activity for the kids while I sewed downstairs. Yeah, right. Zombie cupcakes require a great deal of adult supervision. If anyone is wondering, fondant and the fondant/gum paste mix required are easy and surprisingly tasty. Italian meringue buttercream is a pain in the ass to make and tastes like whipped sugar and fat. Yuck. We'll be making a traditional buttercream or cream cheese frosting next time. Our favorites so far are the eye poppers and crows.


I did manage to complete one UFO in all the chaos. This technique comes from "Transformations: From Crafty Silk Flower to Sheer Sensation" by Peggy Holt in the Quilting Arts Fall 2006 Issue. I completed it except for the binding a year or two ago in a Quilting Arts class with Corlis Taylor. I decided to use a satin stitch instead of binding to get a more organic wavy border. This piece is low contrast, but is actually more interesting than this photo shows. I plan on doing more with this technique next weekend. Wish me luck!