Category Archives: Work in Progress

What I’ve Been Up To This Past Week and Plans

Hello and happy Sunday to you! It’s been a full week for me. I’ve been learning more and more on how to shoot video, edit video, and turn said video footage into movies in iMovie.

It turns out there is also a lot to learn to simply upload the movie and get it onto You Tube. I spent the entire day yesterday trying to figure out why my upload kept stalling. Literally, it took all day. I wouldn’t find out it was stalling until hours of uploading had already gone by. My poor overworked laptop… I think I may have figured out how to avoid it next time, but who knows.

The video that I was working on uploading is called “Sew with Me – Dress Bodice for Little Darling Doll. In this video I take you with me through the entire process and show you how I make the bodice of a Little Darling dress. A lot of the ways I do things have evolved through trial and error over the years of making doll dresses. Maybe you’ll pick up a tip here and there? I hope so.

On Friday I did a voice over for the video mentioned above. I talked throughout the video as I made it, but it sounded like silliness to me. I was very nervous (first time) and had no script. I repeatedly couldn’t think of words like “that ‘thingy’ that makes a sewing machine go”! (Yes, I said that in the video!). I repeatedly said things over and over, and just felt like I wasn’t explaining things very well. So, when I got my wits back I recorded sound bits and added it to the video. I don’t like the feel of the movie as well as when it is live, but at least it makes sense now. lol

Here is the video. If you like it please click the thumbs up. Thank you!!!

I’ve also taken video footage while making the skirt and attaching it to the bodice. That’s next to be made into a video.

I am awaiting delivery of a device that will hold my phone/camera so that I can record my hands at work. This will come in handy for showing you hand sewing, embroidery, etc. I can’t wait to get that. For many months I’ve been looking at it and wondering if I had the courage to actually publish videos on You Tube. I really dislike hearing my voice, *ugh* but it’s out there now for you all to hear (and laugh at!), my midwest accent and all! My face is another matter–we’ll see about that. Baby steps… Anyway, I find it quite energizing and inspiring sharing with you.

Earlier in the week I published a short video showing how I do the finishing on a doll sweater: weaving in the ends, sewing up the sleeve seam, and closing up a raglan sweater gap under the arm. Here is that one is.

Other news– I’ve had requests for a knitted doll hat pattern from quite a few of you, so I plan to do that soon.

Fall bouquet

While at Whole Foods a week ago I got a huge bunch of mums for $13! I made four bouquets for around the house–so fall-like and colorful. Love them!

I hope you are having a good day today. Wishing you a wonderful week ahead! Thank you so much for visiting today. I appreciate you so much! ❤

News and WIP

Happy New Week to you! Do you remember that song “Rainy Days and Mondays” by the Carpenters? Yep, that’s us today here in northern Illinois. I am not expecting much sun and warmth this week…

Anyway… in progress over here is a second apple themed dress. I made the bodice last week and recorded the process. Does it sound interesting to come along with me as I make a bodice for a Little Darlings dress? If its something you’d like to see I will edit it into a viewable piece.

Below is a little video clip of the bodice all sewn and being pressed. Even though there will be audio in a full movie, it has been removed here. The regular steam on my iron stopped working, so all you’d hear are the burst of steam. I can make that quieter during editing.

Pressing the bodice’s side seams

This morning I wove in all the ends and sewed up the sleeves on the cardigan. I think Alice likes it so far.

I’ve been practicing again using the iMovie application. On the last day of summer I walked the path around the lake at one of our forest preserves. A couple of trees had started changing, the late summer wildflowers were in full bloom, and I even saw a family of swans. Please have a look and ‘like’ the video, if you do like it that is. It is my first public video on You Tube. If you subscribe to my You Tube channel it will be easier for you to see when I have new videos. I have tons to learn, but I am totally loving working with video and turning video into little movies.

Bye for now. ❤ Thanks so much for visiting!

The Past Couple of Weeks

Hello! How are you? I hope you are doing well. All is well here with the days flying by at the speed of light.

I have started a couple of new ensembles for the Little Darlings–apple themed. I only have a small stash of apple fabrics, so had to pick from what I have used before, which is fine. I don’t mind using up what I have.

Progress from two weeks ago.

I am making a red sweater coat for the blue fabric and a mohair cardigan in blue (to match those cute little flowers) for the pink. I finished the red first and am glad I tried it on before sewing up the underarm seams and weaving in the ends. Look at how big it is on Alice! Is she shrinking? lol

I’ve heard this happening to knitters–your gauge changes over time. I guess mine did just that. I thought I noticed in my last two cardigans that they seemed a little roomier, but they still fit nice, so I didn’t think twice about it. It really shows up in this style though, and with this type of yarn. I first thought I’d need to find a bigger doll to wear the sweater coat, but then I thought I could save it by ripping out rows. It seems like the biggest size problem is in the length and not so much in the width. I’d think it’d be both. Anyone know why that is?

I’ll be working on these two ensembles this week and hope to have more progress to show you soon.

Other news… I received a couple of embroidery books for my birthday in July. They are both beautiful additions to my library! I love looking at floral embroidery–such beautiful hand made gems that make my heart sing.

If you need bullion stitch inspiration then “A-Z of Embroidered Motifs” is for you. It’s chock full of motifs created with this stitch. This is the stitch I use to create the roses on my cardigans. I have an album created on Flickr that contains all of my floral embroidered pieces in case you’d like to see them.

by Country Bumpkin

There are 28 pages dedicated to bullion roses in this book! In addition to detailed visual instructions for creating bullion stitches there are instructions for other flowers, foods, nursery motifs, animals, and Christmas motifs.

My second book is a newer book titled “Embroidered Country Gardens” by Lorna Bateman.

This book is dedicated to flower gardens using a multitude of embroidery stitches. She also includes instructions for garden gates, archways, baskets, birds, bird feeders, a birdbath, insects, gardening tools, watering can, old-fashioned lady gardener. She has a dozen projects as well as showing you how to build your own embroidered garden. If you love gardens you will find this book inspiring.

We visited the Chicago Botanic Gardens last weekend. It’s so wonderful to be able to visit again. We went once in July and again in August (last weekend). I took a ton of video on this visit and made a little movie in iMovie showcasing the sounds of water there. It’s not complete as we didn’t get to every garden, but it shows some of the water gardens and the relaxing sound found there. If I can figure out how to get it on You Tube I can share it with you. I will let you know.

Did you have a nice weekend? I hope so! It’s hard to believe it’s September! Thank you for visiting.

WordPress has changed their editor, so I apologize in advance for any weird things going on in this post. I have just now learned the bare minimum to get this post made. It’s so hard learning new things…*sigh*