Lately I have not felt as productive as I like. It is not that I haven't been able to get in my fiber and sewing time, in fact, I knit like crazy to keep me from going crazy during home school. I just haven't finished anything in awhile and I like the sense of satisfaction that comes from a completed project. I was tired of looking at the same old works in progress here week after week. So I decided to strike and post nothing until I finished something. Well, I finished COTR #2! YAY!!!



It didn't photograph too well on my heavily patterned bedspread, but I HAD to post pictures of something COMPLETED.



The color of this shawl reminds me of whole wheat cranberry bread. The picture does not show the rosy tint of the shawl. It is pretty and much lighter in weight than my last one. I think my grandmother will like it. This one is as big as my first though and I used a size 5 addi turbo circular needle instead of the size 7.

Lately, the evenings have been chilly. Of course I am measuring by my Florida standards and mean 70 degrees or a little less. My daughter and I have been stealing away into the back yard before bedtime to spend time in the swing cuddling and star gazing. My first COTR shawl is large enough to wrap us both up and we love it! I plan to continue to knit lace and can see having a whole wardrobe of lace shawls. They are completely practical for Florida panhandle life.

I refuse to post more pictures of the same old stuff this week. However, I did finally get pictures from last December (2002) developed. These pictures included the first and only wedding dress I have ever made so I will post these instead.



The bride's family and ours have been friends since we moved here five years ago. When she couldn't find anyone to make her renaissance wedding dress (combining two patterns), I got talked into it. (Had it not been for this dress, I would not have been "burned out" on sewing for awhile and would not have discovered spinning and knitting. I would say this is thus a good thing, but whether my husband would agree is a different matter.)



All of the trim had to be sewed on by hand. The bride is not a sewer and she bought and delivered the material and trims. Some of it was nice, some of it required creative sewing.



Fortunately, the bride was very happy with her dress. . . And I was very happy when I finished! I started this dress right before I had to pull Gregory out of school and homeschool him. Thus I took on two very stressful tasks at the same time.



I added some embroidary and beading to the sleeve on my own. I constructed the sleeve from two different patterns. I truly felt like I was making it up as I went. Not a good feeling when you are a perfectionist and are working on someone else's wedding dress!



We don't celebrate Halloween here, but my kids like to dress up. Thus, the last few years I picked up sewing patterns for various costumes and turned them into pajamas for the kids. Gregory is wearing the body of his dog pajamas. Made from faux fur, they are warm and cozy for winter. He also has a hood with ears that match. We started this tradition with teletubbies. The kids also have Cheetas. October is almost here and I need to decide whether I'm going to continue the tradition. I probably won't. Despite being only 6 years old, Gregory is almost a size 10 now and it is tough to find patterns that big.