with needle and thREAD

Elizabeth Foss is having a weekly blog get-together about things we’re sewing and reading, and since I’ve been doing a lot of both lately, I’ve been hoping to join her.  This is the first week I’ve had time, pictures, and a chance on the computer during the appropriate time. 

My sewing efforts right now are for Michael’s sister’s wedding.  We have a ring bearer and two flower girls for this wedding, and they’re all EXCITED!!!  The ring bearer’s vest and tie have been sewn by Grandma Ellie (see photo at the bottom).  The dresses and tulle overskirts (which will have rose petals in them) are being sewn by me.  I have about 10 days left to finish, and the girls are convinced that it’s not going to get done.  It will get done, I tell them.  It’s part of their daily prayers, though, and I’m not discouraging them from praying for it.  :)

Petals, waiting for a skirt to decorate.

Tulle is ridiculous to work with.  Line it up?  Align the center creases?  Iron it?  It doesn’t stay where it should, slipping everywhere.  I don’t have a future in making veils for brides, that’s for sure.  I have 8 1/2 yards for one skirt and 11 1/2 for the other.

It’s going to work, and it’s going to be really, really sweet, but it takes lots of space, time, and concentration.  That combination can be hard to come by in our house.

The dresses only have the hem and the shortening of the straps to do.  They were pretty straightforward, especially since I’d made a dress with this pattern before.

Both the dress and skirt patterns are from this book, which I think I heard about on Elizabeth’s blog first, too.

I have a pile of books I’m reading (as usual), but I’m really enjoying this one:

Potatoes, Not Prozac, by Kathleen DesMaisons.  I’m learning a lot about brain chemistry and sugar sensitivity, and how nutrition fits in to the picture.  Toward the beginning of the book, she has this simple assessment to see if the reader is sugar sensitive:

“Imagine you come home and go into the kitchen.  A plate of warm chocolate chip cookies just out of the oven sits on the counter.  Their smell hits you as you walk in.  You do not feel hungry.  No one else is around.  What would you do?”

Ha!  Apparently there are some people who DON’T answer, “Eat at least 4 of the cookies,” or even, “Wish that I wasn’t on a diet/avoiding wheat/avoiding eggs so that I could eat at least 4 of the cookies.”  They say they’d go see if there were phone messages, or go change their clothes.  Hmm.  Really?

Something that I like about this book is that she has a multi-step program that one can follow to deal with sugar sensitivity.  She doesn’t tell the reader to immediately drop everything and get rid of every bit of sugar in the cupboard.  I think hers is a realistic method for approaching diet change.

Here’s the ring bearer, trying on his vest and tie, made by Grandma Ellie:

For the wedding, I think we’ll go with something other than pajamas underneath…

To see more of what people are sewing and reading, visit Elizabeth’s post!