In the past there have been numerous projects that I’ve waited to post about until they were completed. Well, I seem to have so many different projects going right now that if I don’t post them little-by-little it will take forever to post about them.

Tonight is a sewing night. I’ve had a few grumpy days so I decided to spend time in my happy place: my sewing room.

I have Dresses for Missions dress #40 in progress:

This was another cut of fabric that I bought at Hobby Lobby for $2 per yard. You can see that I also have the light pink for another ruffle. I’m going to use the mauve-ish purple binding for the straps, plain white lace around the ruffle, and the orange ribbon between the dress body and ruffle. I wanted to use a blue lace for the ruffle, but I only have baby blue lace which is a bit too dark and I think would look goofy with the colors. I really wish that I had orange or dark purple lace, but I don’t. So I’m using what I have on hand.

The next step is to sew the lace on the ruffle. Then the gathering process begins. I do it all by hand so that is an entire night’s worth of sewing by itself. Hopefully I can get back to it this weekend.

I was reading our church’s newsletter when I read a blurb that said Dresses for Missions will be sending a bunch of dresses down to our sister parish in Mexico. I don’t get a chance to meet with the other ladies in the ministry because they meet either during the day or at times when I have other obligations (like choir), so this was the first that I’d heard about it. Armed with that knowledge I think that I’m finally going to bust out this pattern:

I want to make sure that the teenagers and possibly some of the women will be able to receive a dress, too. It will require some different fabric (I don’t think many women would want to wear the really girly patterns that I have in my stash), but I want to trace the different sizes off and make S – M – L- XL versions. I will make the longer version since that should fit women of varying heights the best. Also, I would think that they would be more conservative since they are Catholics. So we’ll have to see how that goes when I can get to it.

In the meantime, those aren’t the only projects that I have going. At some point I want to show the the steps that I am going through to make Jay a new lunch box. I keep buying him the same type of lunch box, but they fall apart so easily.

This past fall I purchased some waterproof canvas to make a new box. I’m hoping to be able to salvage the majority of the zippers on this box since they are all in good shape. I also hope to reuse the shoulder strap. We shall see how far I get with that one!

About a month ago I ran to Goodwill and looked to see what they had for flannel sheets. I thought that if I could find a reasonably priced set then I could make some more receiving blankets for the Dresses for Missions baby boxes. I found this:

Size: Queen (full and fitted sheets plus pillow cases)

Price – $4.99!!!

You guys, this isn’t a cheap set of sheets, either.

I would be surprised if these had been used even once. They still look brand new! If they had been King size I would have used them for our bed instead of cutting them up. They are a nice thick flannel that will work nicely for blankets. Again, they are so nice that I haven’t been able to bring myself to cut into them yet. I’ll get there… just give me time.

I think that I mentioned in my post about replacing the zipper in my winter coat that I have to replace the zipper in my windbreaker, too.

This jacket is a great jacket. It’s high quality and despite the fact that it’s 19 years old it’s still in great shape. Would you like to read a funny story about this jacket?

When I was in college I worked as a secretary for the buildings & grounds department of a gated educational community in the area where I grew up. As part of my daily duty I would walk the 1/4 mile (maybe?) down to the main administration building to pick up the mail and any work orders that we had waiting for us. I would then walk the 1/4 mile back up the hill towards the maintenance buildings located across the road from the main campus. I was allowed to take a golf cart, but in the summer it was a beautiful walk and I enjoyed the time in the fresh air. One day, though, it was a bit cloudy and was threatening rain. I took my umbrella and tried to hurry back before the rain started. However, as I picked up our mail I was told that I had to take a rather large box back with me. They didn’t tell me what was in it, but I placed the mail on top, hung the umbrella off of my wrist, and carried this box (which I could barely get my arms completely around) back up the hill towards my office. Guess what? It started to rain when I was halfway back. By the time I got into the office I was quite wet, but the box had survived the trip. I took it into the supervisor’s office and went to dry off. As I was wringing the water from my hair he walked through my doorway carrying this bright blue windbreaker. Yes, I had managed to get drenched carrying a box of rain jackets/windbreakers that arrived completely dry.

Finally, with everything else that I’ve managed to put on my To Do list I also added this:

This had been highly touted by a woman that I watched on YouTube, so I ordered it. It really is great! It has so much information in it from the tools to yarn to a bazillion different stitches and even how to read a pattern (both written and diagram). This is my bedtime reading. So far I haven’t had dreams about crocheting, but I figure it’s just a matter of time.