Happy 4th!

This is evidence that I have a lot of time on my hands. Here are two more projects I have finally completed. This time with a deadline....

Dress number one. A peasant dress in my own design in Liberty fabric (again).

Dress number two. A smocked American flag in my own design.

Happy 4th to you all! May you gorge on hotdogs and see fire in the skies...

Summer Projects

Since we have been cooped up in the house for several weeks because of the debilitating weather outside, I have kept my hands busy. The following are some projects I have recently completed. I know there have been other finished projects, I just haven't taken photos. Here is what I have so far:

For cute baby boy #1

For cute baby boy #2

Feather headband made for my sweet Dona. I must celebrate that she is finally growing hair somehow.

The easy peasy pillowcase dress:


The pillowcase dress in Liberty fabric (my new found love, more on this later)

Cute peasant top for Heavah (also in Liberty fabric). I finally figured out a great style using smocking for older girls. This is a breakthrough for me!

This is a sneak preview of what I have been working on. It is a quilt representing various dresses I have made for Heavah over the years. It is a small sample of some of my favorite dresses I have made for her since she was 2 years old. I have decided to hand quilt it piece by piece. I will save the details for when I blog about the finished project. The pressure is on.

More to come...

Smockies

Our ward in Doha is awesome. The RS has decided to utilize the talents of the LDS women by creating classes that help teach and enrich. I have learned how to cook, quilt and stay fit thanks to the programs that have been offered here.

For the past twelve weeks or so I have been teaching my friends how to smock. This has been my contribution to the group, and a way to compensate for all the free yoga classes I have attended. I was happy to show them that it is really easier than it looks (shhh....don't tell anyone. I love people thinking that I am ubertalented and highly capable. No one should know that it can be a simple and mindless activity).

Monique, Lindsay, Afton, Christine, me

The best part of smocking isn't really sitting and doing needlework. Instead, it is the lively conversations that inevitably occur. There is so much juiciness and laughter that it feeds the soul. Our 'smock talks' have really been my weekly delight.

If you'll notice in the picture above, a baby was recently born in our smocking group. Lindsay had her baby in Qatar--unexpectedly in her home--on her living room floor!!!! She was back in the smocking circle two weeks later with such an animated and interesting story I was left in shock and disbelief. It had to have been one of our best smocking sessions ever. She wins the birthing war story by a mile!

Afton was ambitious enough to create this beautiful Mary De dress for her daughter. Can you see the beam of pride on Charlotte's face? It just screams, 'My mom is awesome and she made this dress just for me! I am a princess!'

This week was Christine's last week with us. She is heading back to the US to start a whole new adventure in her life. Luckily, she is 90% done with her gorgeous newborn bishop dress and she may need it for her upcoming baby #5! She already has 4 adorable boys, and is less inclined to make a smocked outfit for them (I can't imagine why?). We are all hoping for a baby girl in her future. Otherwise, her 8 year old son will have to start sporting lederhosen with his smocked overalls, just to keep her fingers active.

We will begin picture smocking this week and soon my schedule will drastically change. I am staring at 2 job offers right now and no matter which one I chose, my days will be full. More on that to come...

The Easter Dress 2011

Since we traveled over the Easter weekend, I gave myself a little more time to finally complete Sedona's Easter dress. I feel like I am back in my groove.

Sedona is always pretty in pink

I am currently making a quilt for Heavah that represents a sample of the dresses I have made for her since she was 2. I then realized that I have not made nearly as many dresses for Sedona, and Sedona is a dress girl. I kicked it into high gear and started this Easter dress. It just might be one of my favorites.

I believe the sleeves are my favorite. It took more work, but so worth it.

For those of you who understand smock talk, I used the 'Double Delight' plate from Creative Needle's Nov/Dec 2003 issue. The pattern is Vogue 7435 , which is a Teresa Layman design.

The dress in progress is in honor of the Royal Wedding. Sedona's enchanted look during the ceremony put me back in the sewing room. I'll keep you posted.

My Message to the Weatherman

Here is my latest creation. I have been working on this smocking plate since I moved to Doha, which is truly sad since I can usually crank these out in a week. (That is, if I am focused and speedy--two attributes I don't seem to possess at the moment. The heat hurts my momentum.)

This was the first week Sedona wore the dress to church. The plate I used was 'Rain, Rain Go Away' and I used the 'Anne' pattern.

She is also sporting some serious black eyeliner and lipstick compliments of my maids in the morning.

Apparently, if you smock it, it will come. We had the best thunder/lightening storm we have ever experienced in Doha. The instant the kids heard thunder, they stripped into their skivvies and screamed at the top of their lungs. I am sure the neighbors appreciated the extra sound effects.

Since it is already started to hit well over 100 degrees here, maybe I need to smock a snowman.

Valentine's Day Dress

I finally got back into smocking. It seems that for every move, it takes me at least 5 months to get back in the groove. Axel started painting, so I started smocking.

For Valentine's Day I made my second to last smocked dress for Heavah. She's 7, I know. But I had to do one last labour of love for her while she still agrees to put it on. In fact, this is how wonderful my daughter is: In some round about ways she mentioned she has a slight opinion about what she wears. She has never even suggested this to me-ever. She has always been agreeable about what I put on her. I feel so lucky, there has never been a need for bribery for her to wear anything. I made this dress for her and she praised it up and down, but I knew deep down inside she thought, 'Will I ever wear skirts??"

I know my dresses are now getting to be young for her. I designed this particular dress to reflect a more mature child. I had no pattern, so I made it up. She always puts the dress on with a smile on her face and tells me how much she appreciates them. I love that about my daughter, and because she has done this for years, I placed a big order on Gap.com to suit her recent, more grown-up tastes. It is a sad day, but I am just happy she has obliged me to this point. Her final dress will be her baptism dress, which I am starting to do now.

In all this sadness that I feel because my oldest child is growing up, I am comforted by the fact that I have another daughter trailing 4 years behind. She, too, doesn't care what she wears and is always convinced that if it is a dress, she is a princess. The problem occurs when she finally outgrows these princess dresses and I have no one to sew for anymore.

It looks like my girlfriends will just have to keep having babies until my children give me grandchildren. Come on, ladies, who else can keep my hobby alive?

He may be small, but he'll sting ya

Asa has started to chase people around the house trying to tickle/fight them. He is a tough kid and the other children in the house are genuinely scared when he starts chasing. For a 16 month old baby he is tough. Just today Heavah and Sedona had a run in with Asa and he won. Don't let the angelic smile fool you.

Strawberry Fields & Bombs

Sedona's love of strawberries inspired me to make this dress. It was a fun one that I designed myself. Yeah, cause my girls need more dresses.

In other news: While we were at church today we were told that a bombing took place at the Catholic church in Kathmandu. Apparently some Hindu extremists placed a bomb inside the chapel area. Two people killed, a dozen injured. To be honest, I am in shock. I never felt that I, as a Christian, could be a target for violence in Nepal. This is a first. There are very few Christians in Nepal and we aren't sure why the Catholic church was specifically targeted.

So, if it isn't a King being murdered, a Prime Minister resigning, or a lack of water, electricity or petrol, it is a terrorist attack.

Never a dull moment.