It was another beautiful low humidity day with a nice breeze so I mowed the lawn. It had been 12 days since I last mowed because we haven't had rain. The only sewing room activity was cutting the preemie gowns for Monday's sewing circle at church. I cut three sizes and still need to cut all of the receiving blankets to go with them. There is a link to the pattern in my Label list, right sidebar.
The last batches of perennials that I planted are doing well. I didn't expect the Delphinium to bloom again since it had been cut back and was half price. I hope it makes it through the winter.
The orange Coneflower with the shaggy center had a lot of little buds so I hoped they would bloom. This one is just opening and another down below is just starting to open too. Next to it is the Zebrina. Behind it, the spotted leaves is the Lungwort/Pulmonaria.
The little Carnations are starting to re-bloom too. This is the prettiest of the 3 so far.
This is the first time our church sewing circle has met in 3 months. The weather was lousy every time it was our meeting day. Today it will be in the 40s and no snow, no rain, no ice. I cut the preemie outfits last night and sewed 6 sets. We will run ribbons through the neckbands and package them with the hand knit hats and afghans. Pattern is HERE for new readers of my blog who wonder about the pattern. Photos enlarge if you click on them.
Tomorrow is moving day for two tables and my Accuquilt Studio die cutter. I have two of the younger generation coming to move things for me. Now I will have light over my die cutter.
While I had the plaids out and pressed to cut triangles I decided to cut 7" Drunkard's Path pieces too. These are loose pieces on the design wall. I won't sew any of them until I have a better selection cut. Then I'm sending the leftovers and scraps of the plaids to a friend. You might remember my other plaid quilt top made in 2014. I will keep a few pieces in case I want to add the plaids to another quilt.
I need my basting tables cleaned off so I finished cutting preemie gowns and put away all of the leftover flannel. Now I can baste a quilt to quilt on the straight stitch machine with the new lights (see yesterday's post).
I finished sewing the size small and large preemie gowns and blankets. I have to leave a little after noon for sewing circle so I'll try to get some of the mediums sewn this morning. The extra small ones are the least fun to put that ribbing neckband on so I'm leaving them for last. By then I will have a lot of practice on the larger ones.
I cut more plaid triangles, the pile on the right. I chose another group to cut later today.
My church sewing circle is going to be working on the preemie layettes for a local hospital on Monday. I do the cutting and sewing at home and on Monday the other ladies will run the ribbons through the neckbands and fold the blankets. Then a few of us pack the four sizes with a knitted blanket and hat in individual bags. I got the large ones sewn last night after cutting for a few hours during the day. (There is a link for the preemie gown pattern on my Label list on the right sidebar.)
My Amaryllis is in bloom. I had forgotten that I had one with double petals. I looked back in my blog and found that I had purchased that one in late fall 2013 and it bloomed Jan. 2014. It had a bud last year but never bloomed.
My sister in law gave me several tiny starts for Bleeding Heart last year. The squirrels immediately dug up some of them and they died. There are 2 that survived and probably won't have flowers this year. I'm just happy to see them.
A friend gave me some ferns a couple years ago and they are doing great. I need to do a little weed control around them. I was out pulling weeds yesterday afternoon in my back garden. I do a little every day now in nice weather while we have low humidity and no mosquitoes.
Today is the first time I have been able to go to my church sewing circle this year. We cancelled most of the sessions because of bad weather but some of the ladies met at least once in March. My church is 23 miles from my house and I am a fair weather driver. I worked on this group of preemie gowns and blankets for about 3 weeks, a little bit here and there. There are 34 sets in a total of 4 sizes.
I have shown the pattern before but I decided I needed to repeat it and put a label of "preemie pattern" on this post so it is easy to find.
I made 4 little quilts, 3 pictured here. They are just one pieced flannel layer and a backing of flannel, quilted and with edges finished on my serger. This keeps them soft and flexible just like a receiving blanket. Batting would make them too bulky in this small size. The largest one is about 18" x 22", the smallest about 15" x 18".
I made a little progress on the left side of this project. For more info on this quilt go to this post.
I brought home some of our partially finished layette pieces two weeks ago. The seven gowns needed neckbands and the 3 receiving blankets needed the serger edging. When I take them tomorrow to sewing circle, the ribbon will be run through the neckband and tied in a bow. I'm including the pattern in this post for the people who have slow internet service. I included the link yesterday but it takes too long for the link to open with slow service.
I don't measure the ribbing. I just stretch it slightly as I sew it on and cut it off when I get to the end. We used to turn in the edges of the ribbing at the front but after all kinds of problems sewing it that way we decided to just use the raw edge. It won't ravel and these gowns are used for such a short time since babies grow fast. Click on the photos to enlarge them.
