Sewing... me?

This weekend beautiful in every way, it rained Friday and Saturday. I actually LOVE rain! As much as that may sound weird, it makes you stay inside and enjoy one another while God waters the earth! I love everything about it the sound, the smell, the color... there's so much that rain does for us that is beneficial. Side note: I would love to have a cover porch with a swing just so I could sit out while it's raining to watch it and feel fully surrounded by it). This weekend, with my in-laws being in town it made for the house to be much warmer than usual. Two extra bodies in the house, our heat didn't kick in at all, the temp. inside was around 71-74 degrees at any given time... good for the check book! ha! The kids did a lot of vegging, reading, games, which was a good thing... Eli has a touch of Pneumonia, Zach started to come down with something, and Lilly, well she wasn't fully herself either. While the boys handled the kids, my mother-in-law taught me how to sew! Whooo-hooo! I have wanted to do this for a while... and I tried a very small amount a couple months ago when she came to town. This time I was determined, there is a blog I follow and this woman, Tracy, makes these pillow case dresses. For some time now I have been waiting for her to post a tutorial on how to make these dresses... finally she did... just in time for me to make one for Lilly to wear to the dedication service on Sunday! I was overjoyed! Well, I did pretty much every thing... my mother-in-law is an amazing teacher!My eyes were about worn out and I did get very frustrated with doing the arm holes... but my mother-in-law figured out a way to make it a little bit easier.. and then the last one I did on my own... I put a little more thought into how to make it even easier and it worked! At least it worked for me! She walked me through every step and just sat by watching me do it (which she said was hard to do because she loves to sew so much). I am grateful that she let me do it because now I am going to make dresses for my nieces Lauren and Abby! I already have the fabric picked out for them... and I am ready! Back to the weekend, we spent all day Saturday and into the night making the dresses. I made 3 for Lilly... the Last one I did totally on my own, and I am so proud of it! Me sewing? That is a miracle, I never thought I would see the day I could put a dress together... Thanks Mom for helping me! You are a great sewing teacher, and in many other ways as well! So Tracy, what do you think? Mom, don't you love the ribbon I found for the last dress?

don't look too closely... I am getting really old looking! Look at all those wrinkles on my forehead! ha! Oh and no makeup... so don't bother me about it! As I said, rainy Saturday! :)

Oh yeah, I am ironing... something I never do in this house! I am surprised I remembered how to do it! OH, and I even used spray starch!

Final product! This was dress #1... the most invasive, the one my mother-in-law helped me with the most!

There it is on my doll!

#2. I love the brown accented with the polka dots... too sweet... I can't wait to see Lilly in that one... brown looks so nice against her skin tone.

#3. I didn't add the border to this dress because I thought it had enough pattern going on... but my mother-in-law suggested putting ribbon towards the bottom of the dress to give it a little extra.. and I love it!

Sa and Jen, yours is on the way to being made...I already went out and bought the fabric, although I have one kink to work out before I get started. Love you guys... xoxoxo miss you!