Goodbyes and Hellos

Life is...

Well, we didn't get a bowl of cherries, but we did get more than this. These, however, lasted long enough to get their photos taken together on a piece of fabric I had on the ironing board. After that they promptly followed their comrades into the afterlife. Actually, I did get one other photo of the cherries, because Jolena, in her innocence, thought they were little apples.

Mandy has been out of her box almost exactly a year longer than Jolena, so she was able to explain how we planted the trees when we moved into this home 15 years ago, and every year, there have only been a few cherries, but that those cherries were eaten before they were ripe by the local birds. Either the trees decided to produce more (and they did) because it was our last summer here or the birdies decided to leave us some for the same reason or because there were finally enough for everyone.

Lots of things were going on this week. Monday we met with our former veterinarian and his wife for lunch, which lasted three hours, a long goodbye. I wish we were taking these people with us, because we never run out of things to talk about.

Then on Tuesday, the local pet psychic came to communicate with our dogs. We found out a lot of interesting things. For one thing, we learned that Dusty is our late Sunny in a new body. I'm not sure how that works, but we had suspected for a long time that Sunny was influencing Dusty somehow. Dusty has so many quirks and personality traits that Sunny had, and many of them are unusual for dogs. I could write pages about the things we learned, but I have other things to write about this week. 

We had our house inspection on Wednesday. We're still waiting to hear the report. Thursday, we had a visit with the moving company to talk about our move. We will finish the packing ourselves, and they will come and take everything and put it into storage until we have a house.

Thursday was also my BIL's birthday. He turned 80. He is DH's brother. It was a sad birthday, because he lost his companion dog, Onslow, who was 15 and had been failing for some time. Onslow was a red heeler/Jack Russel mix. Here's Onslow in a photo taken in 2010 during a camping trip to the Uinta Mountains. 

That's Rocky and Sunny, sharing a stick, as they came out of the water. Rocky will be 14 the end of August. I dread losing him, but that's how life is.

 Friday the latest story in The Doll's Storybook came out. It's called Insomnia. It's about a doll who can't sleep because her eyes don't close. I'm starting to get new readers, some of them children, based on people who have reported back to be through Facebook, Ravelry or by sending me an email or leaving a message on the blog. I was delighted that three different readers, all in the UK, have asked to give to a different charity for childhood cancer. Of course that's OK! It's the only way I know that anyone is giving, as it's totally voluntary and anonymous. I do hope people donate, though, because I like to think of my little hobby as volunteering.

Speaking of the girls...a delivery from Lovvbugg brought Lotte a violin. There's a future story where Lotte and her violin will be required. (She also has a case for it.)

The same delivery brought Jolena some ballet slippers. They are very tight, but I can get them onto her bare feet. If they stretch, she will be able to wear them with tights.

I made the leotard out of a sock. It was much harder than the bathing suits. I think I'll have to scrap my original plan of using a sock and make the next one out of regular knit fabric. I was hoping to avoid the underarm seams, but sewing the fold-over-elastic into the tiny armholes was a chore, and then I didn't get the fit right and had to cut the shoulders off and put in a new shoulder seam. I'm still learning to work with stretchy fabrics, and there are so many different kinds, all slightly different.

For instance, I made Mandy some lace leggings to go with her new checkered shirt. Stretched lace was a new experience. I have published the free pattern for the shirt in a blog post here.  I cut of a piece of a bandana and hemmed the cut edge. This is so much better than the full-size version she wore when she hiked in the woods.

The skirt pattern is Liberty Jane's Denim Mini Skirt pattern, but with simplified topstitching and made from the same fabric (oxford cloth, I think) I used for Jolena's shorts. I added a doubled over strip of the gingham cut on the bias, just as easy as making a hem, and Mandy has long legs. I added a little detail that doesn't show in the photo above, but will show up if Mandy wears a crop top blouse. On her left side, there's a button with a little faux drawstring bow.

I've been working on a dress for Jolena to wear. The Götz Doll Lovers' group on Ravelry is have a "Sweetgrass Style" JAL (join along, so not just knitting, but also crochet, weaving, sewing, etc.) with the inspiration being "a ‘little bit country’, a ‘little bit vintage’ and a lot of sweet cuteness." Suggestions to include were any of these: gingham, linen, denim, lace, embroidery, patchwork, braids, frills, flowers and bows. I find these activities help get my mind going for "The Doll's Storybook." The outfits I work on for this JAL will show up in future stories.

You can see that I made a lot of buttonholes over the last two weeks. I'm finding them easy to do with my Sparrow 15 machine. The button fits into the buttonhole foot, so it can gauge how big to make the buttonhole. Isn't that clever?

The feet on this machine are very easy to take off and on. It's like magic. There's a lever behind the shank you push, and the presser foot falls off. Like this:

Well, that's good design and gravity, but not magic. The magic comes when you put on the buttonhole (or any other) foot. You put the attachment into position, lower the shank the way you do when you're lowering the presser foot, and when you raise it again, the foot is attached.

Buttonholes are easy after you get to this point, assuming you've marked where you want them to go. You put your project in position, keeping in mind that the machine will start the buttonhole with the end that's closest to you and work away from you before returning to where it started. After you lower the buttonhole foot, you locate the lever you can see in this photo. It has an icon that looks like a buttonhole on it. It also has a down arrow and the command "push." You do them in that order: pull down on it, then push away from you. 

I've found that you need to push it away after each buttonhole, because it goes back into place when you raise the shank with buttonhole attachment to reposition your project. If you forget, it will just sew all in one place, and you will have to get out your seam ripper. (Voice of experience.) 

Sewing buttons on is easy, too. There's another special foot for that, but first you put down the darning plate, which goes on quickly if you have it facing the right direction. First you thread the bobbin thread up through the hole in the darning plate. Then you just put it in place. It has two little prongs that hold it in position. No screwdriver is needed.

This is the button foot:

It goes on the same way as the other feet. The blue rubber (I think) prongs hold the button in place. In the back is sort of a foot that holds the button foot up, making vertical space for the button. (Again, I think that's what's happening.) Here's the button foot attached:

Again, you mark where you want your button to be attached, put your project in position with the button in that position, lower the button foot so that the needle will go through one of the eyes with the stitch width set to "0". You make a few stitches to lock the stitches, then raise the needle, reset the stitch width to what you think you might need and adjust the position of the button so the needle will go into one hole and then the other without hitting the button when you turn the handwheel. Then you can let her rip! When you've had enough fun sewing the button on, you end the way you started, raising the needle, adjusting the stitch width to "0" and, making sure the needle goes through the second hole, make a few stitches to lock the stitches. 

My only complaint is the handwheel is a bit hard to turn with my lovely rebuilt thumbs, but not impossible. I think if I were even less able, I would keep a piece of rubberized shelf liner handy to grab it with. (I have to do this for unscrewing my interchangeable knitting needles, too.) I haven't had a new machine in many years, so I'm not sure if this is something all newer machines have. The plastic seems more difficult to grip than the metal handwheel.

I have to say, I am very happy I received that copy of Connecting Threads catalog with the Eversewn Sparrow on the back cover. 

What's on my needles: Still the Kisu Cardigan for Jolena. At the BO for the neck. Also the Coastal Skies shawl for me, no progress on either.

What's on my Sparrow 15: More doll clothes. Buttonholes are a snap. Ha-ha!

What's in my hoop: Still the Spring Flowers quilt, no progress this week.

What's on my wheel: Stanzi is set up but waiting patiently. 

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to The Secret Book & Scone Society by Ellery Adams. Very little time to listen for a bit this week.

What's in my wine glass: Corbett Canyon Merlot. I don't know the vintage. I couldn't find it on the bottle. (Maybe I should look for it before I finish my second glass of wine!) It's very nice.

What's my tip of the week: Coffee filters (new, not used) make great foundation paper or stabilizer for sewing and machine embroidery. You can also use them for that little fabric scrap you start and end your seams with when you aren't chain-piecing. If you're giving up coffee, don't throw out your old filters!

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Progress!

Our house is under contract, and I made buttonholes with my Sparrow 15. I call that progress!

But I digress. When you left me last week, I had just finished a bathrobe for Jolena using a faux fur knit fabric and was wondering what to do for a belt. I finally decided to use the same fabric and the belt pattern that is part of the design and edge it all with fold-over elastic (FOE).

It really wasn't that hard, after all those bathing suits, as it turned out. I'm getting the hang out of knitting with stretch fabrics, including FOE. I managed to cut the belt out without making my sewing room look as if I plucked a chicken in there.

Daphne was very happy with the bathing suit Mandy had to give up for Bella as a reward for Daphne's learning to swim. I received a nice thank-you and this photo:

I think Bella looks ready to dive into the pool. (I'm so glad Bella is having a good life. She spent nearly a year lying in her box waiting for Daphne's birthday, and who knows how much time she spent in that box before she came to me?)

After working with knits, I decided to move on to buttonholes, so I made this shirt for Jolena, using mostly pattern pieces I had altered to fit from designs for American Girl dolls. I called the new pattern the "Frankenstein Shirt," because I used bits and pieces from four patterns, and then altered them to fit the Gotz Happy Kidz. My first attempt was too tight across the upper chest.

As you know, a tightness in the chest could be a sign of a heart attack, and I didn't want Jolena to think there was something wrong with her.

I did get to make buttonholes successfully, however, using my Sparrow 15, thanks to this YouTube video I found, actually for a higher-end, computerized Sparrow, but I already understood the part that was different on my machine (turning knobs to the right settings instead of pushing buttons), so it was helpful. I tried the buttonhole attachment out on some scrap fabric and then on the shirt. I didn't have any stabilizer, which they recommend, but it went OK. I got this:

I was pretty happy with the buttonholes, even though I wasn't entirely satisfied with the shirt. Jolena thinks it looks good open in front, so the buttons and buttonholes are just decorative. And she knows she isn't having a heart attack.

I made another shirt on Saturday. That's the one at the top of the page, shown with the sleeves pushed up for a different look. With a bigger chest I  was able to add a pocket. I think I put the buttons a little too high on this new one, so I'll place them lower next time. However, I have to say that making buttonholes and sewing buttons on is very quick and easy with my new machine. I've had no more desire to call my friends at Eversewn for anything more than to say how much I love my new machine, but it's nice to know they're there if I run into trouble.

The blind-hem foot and the overcast foot have arrived, so I want to give them a try, and I would like to try one of the decorative stitches at least. I think I will need to make a dress for that. Maybe this week.

On Wednesday, our agent sent us a text that we had an offer on our house. Here's what it looks like. Not very photogenic from the front because it's mostly garage, but the trees are pretty.

It wasn't a big surprise, as the people had come to look a few days before, showed up too early for their appointment, went away and then came back, still too early, and spent a long time in the house. We know this because after we walked the dogs, they were still there. We sat up the hill where we could see when they left. The next day, they came back for another look, while we took off in the car to brave the heat on another one of the hiking trails. We gave them more than an hour, but when we got back, we had to drive around and then park up the hill again, because they were still there.

The offer was a bit low and they wanted us to give them more time for what's called "due diligence," which would take the house off the market while they decided whether they really wanted to buy it. (It's a Utah thing.) We countered, coming down on price and moving the deadline for due diligence to a normal time frame. They countered that offer by coming up a bit on price and  moving the deadline back to where it was, so it seemed that the deadline was important to them. We came down $1K from our previous offer and accepted their deadline. They accepted that offer. We should know by August 10th if we have actually sold our house, but I think it looks good. The people are from New England, and the setting and our finishes reminded them of home. They have a 4-yr-old daughter who was enthralled with my dollies, and the husband is handy with woodworking, so he should be able to fix the decks, about the only thing we haven't already repaired or remodeled. They seem like the perfect addition to our neighborhood, being similar to the families on each side of us and across the street. Fingers crossed, not just for us but for them.

While all this was going on, Common Threads met. Margareth was working on this wool flannel appliqué quilt. I've forgotten the name of the pattern (my mind has been on other things), but she didn't like how the windows were arranged on the houses, so she changed them. There's a house in each corner of the quilt. If anyone really wants to know the pattern, I'll ask her again.

We had a nice get-together. I'll really miss these great friends and fiber buddies when we move.

We said goodbye to our large rubber plant, which came with us when we moved to Utah from Texas. It had spent the last 15 years on a stool in our bedroom, because I had read that it's one of the best plants for changing carbon dioxide into oxygen, a good thing to have when you're sleeping. I took it to my church, and someone repotted it. It looks very happy in front of the big window in the fellowship area. It makes me happy to know that it will be well cared for and will provide pleasure (and oxygen) to my church family when I'm gone.

My children's blog, The Doll's Storybook, has gained readers. I'm so glad, because, although it's a lot of fun to write the stories and stage the illustrations, it means so much more to me when I know others are enjoying them, especially children. One reader said she hoped the stories would be available when her granddaughter was old enough to enjoy them. Until Blogspot goes away, the stories will be there, I told her. The most recent story is about a picnic. You can read it here.

Speaking of stories, I sent Soren and Johan each a copy of Veronika's Birthday. Both of them have birthdays in July, so when I realized I wouldn't make it to Oregon in July, I mailed them. Here's Daddy reading the story to the boys.

I may use Veronika's birthday as one of the stories in The Doll's Storybook, but the story is set in February, and the "children" are too warmly dressed for this time of year.

What's on my needles: Still the Kisu Cardigan for Jolena. At the BO for the neck. Also the Coastal Skies shawl for me, a few rows done.

What's on my Sparrow 15: More doll clothes. Managed buttonholes easily. Next: blind-hem and overcast attachments.

What's in my hoop: Still the Spring Flowers quilt, no progress this week.

What's on my wheel: Stanzi is still set up and at work, but no progress this week. 

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to The Secret Book & Scone Society by Ellery Adams. I had time to listen for a bit this week while I was sewing, because most of the time I didn't have to refer to the manual for the machine.

What's in my wine glass: Twisted Old Vine Zinfandel 2013, an excellent wine, IMHO.

What's my tip of the week: Those of us old enough to have used cloth diapers using diaper pins instead of some kind of holder will remember this little trick for when the pin won’t go through the fabric: You comb through your hair with the pin. This also works if you're sewing and your pin or needle won’t go through your fabric. I want to be sure this tip isn’t lost in the mists of time as we older folks die off. (Just be careful not to poke your scalp with the pin.)

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.