What I Have Been Up To

Snow.

Yeah, I know. I am really tired of it.

Sure it is beautiful.

But we have already had WAY(!!!!) too much snow this year

and have I said yet that I am tired of it?

We live up in the Sierra Foothills, about an hour from Tahoe.

Snow is to be expected here.

But I am such a weeny when it comes to driving in the stuff

so I am ready for Spring.

NOW!!!

Oh yeah, this picture was taken from INSIDE the house,

hence the window mullions in the picture.

One of my very best, and most patient, friends in the world,

Melissa,  asked me months ago to make her a slipcover for the sofa in her craft room. We picked out the fabrics LAST YEAR!

The weather has been so yucky here that I needed some kind

of fun change, and working with anything in the color yellow

is always a tonic for me in the dreary month of January.

This was the "before" pic of her sofa.

Melissa has been taking pics because she is a world class, super amazing

and awe inspiring scrapbooker (scrapper? scrappist?)

I have been taking my Janome up the hill to her house

for the last few days and setting up camp there.

She is documenting the process and will probably create

some gorgeous scrapbook pages of our slipcovering adventure that will

win major prizes at the fair.

I am sewing miles of plaid piping in this pic.

Since I only have the time that Ahnalin is at kindergarten

to do this, I have not gotten much done each day.

The first day, all I got done was the plaid piping and cutting and

sewing the outside pieces of the back. I have the side

pinned on to the outside arm of the sofa to see i it is straight.

You can see where her kitty clawed up the arm of the original

upholstery because of the stuffing sticking out from the side.

That will all be covered up!

This is how far I got today!

Last week, we had several days of snow storms so yucky that I

could not drive in it. Well, I DID drive in it, but I get

really nervous driving the steep hills around here.

And Melissa lives on a mountain.

So.....this is taking a while to get done.

I am very, very picky about matching prints

even though this is the inside back and deck that will be covered

with back and seat cushions.

This is the same arm as I showed a few photos above.

The arm is now sewn together, and covers that nasty

cat-clawed area.

This is looking down from above where the arm meets up with the

inside back. It makes me crazy that I could not match up the pattern at

that seam. But because of how the inside arm had to be cut, I could

not match the pattern. This is a fitted slipcover, and I have not pressed

the seams of where the outside and inside is sewn to the welting.

So it looks a little wonky along the top back of the sofa.

Oh, at the bottom of the pic, you can also see a tiny bit of the pleat

at the back corner. I chose to do this and will attach contrast ties,

instead of zippers or buttons for fitting the slipcover.

Yeah, I know I have not hemmed it yet, but we were still deciding

what to do. I think I will do a contrast band hem with the plaid.

I am hoping my zippers arrive tomorrow so I can work on

the cushions. There are 8 of them to sew.

I am planning on working on this again on Wednesday afternoon,

so there will be more pictures coming.

Just a cute pic of my HRH and his girls.

We have had several power outages in the last week due to trees

falling down in the storms. No power means no TV.

That means MUCH more snuggling time!

Daddy LOVES snuggling his girls.

My MIL brought this outfit home from

her trip to Texas to visit my SIL Dianna.

Dianna bought the pink boots for my girl!

I should probably mention that Ahnalin has had

pink cowgirl boots ever since she was a toddler.

This is her 3rd pair! She REFUSES to wear

tennies but thinks that pink cowgirl boots

are a wardrobe staple.

Gotta love the tude!

On Saturday, I took a class at my favorite local independent fabric shop,

Fabrics on Mill Street.

The class was "Minor Sergery".

You see, I have owned 2 different sergers for the last 18 years,

and I have been terrified of both of them.

I would sew a french seam in a heart beat, and often have

in an effort to avoid serging. The problem with that, is that

it is time consuming, and not always appropriate for every garment.

You see, I don't like any seam to show, ever. I am a seam snob.

I do not like raw edges! And serged seams are just too "ready to wear" for me.

But, time is money, and I do not have a lot of either.

So my sweet hubby told me to quit whining and make nice with my sergers.

Basically he wanted me to get over my fear of the things and start enjoying

these lovely tools.

So....I learned a lot. And I think I may have made friends with my sergers.

I just may use them more now...

maybe.

India update:

The Metronic pump trainer came today and India is back on the insulin pump.

She is very happy about it. Her last pump died while she was on her Ireland

trip last April and then due to a rash of major health and insurance upheavals,

we decided to hold off on getting her back on the pump. But

due to all the health crises of the last several months, her numbers have been

pretty poor and we felt it was time to go back on.

In the next several weeks, we have many appts with different types of

doctors, trainers, nutritionists, etc, in hopes of getting our girl back

on the right path to health. We appreciate any prayers

you all can send our way.

Also, India has sent in her application to be a counselor at the DYF camp

Bearskin Meadows for kids with Type 1 Diabetes. This

would be a great solution as she would be working with kids, in a beautiful setting,

away from home all summer, but with her doctors and nurses right there!

Please pray she is accepted as a counselor.

In other news, I am continuing to work on the apron pattern, in between

doctor visits, working with Ahnalin's class at school, battling

insurance, and other client sewing. I promise. You will see it soon!!

Thank you for all the prayer for my family.