HI everyone,
I wanted to let everyone know if you hadn’t seen it in the comments, Karen named her baby girl, Lilly Carmelita…and I think that is so sweet! The name just flows off your tongue and sounds so feminine.. I used to have a blonde American Girl doll named Lily and loved her. I bet it’s busy at your household… and your hubby and the girls sound like they are a big help!
Joy, I think I’ll have to leave the chest where it is… it’s really not crowded like it looks… I think it’s just because I’m so close to the chest taking the picture. There is a window directly across from the chest and I think it would fade my fabric too much to be in the light… The chest is easy to get into and so far I’m loving it!
Now, Charlotte and Linda were very observant and thought the top left hand drawer on the new chest looked like it might catch on the bottom of the props cabinet… and you know what? They were right… it did! The bottom of the props cabinet was just about 1/8″ too low and the drawer wouldn’t open all the way… but I thought it would just be a drawer that I put something in that didn’t need to be gotten out very often…
I finished putting things in the drawers and a few hours later my hubby came in and said, “Wow, can you believe that drawer opens by just a hair?” I said, “It doesn’t open all the way, just part of the way.” He said, “No, it doesn’t, it opens all the way.” I said, “No, it doesn’t open… I just took a picture a little while ago and sent it to Cindy.” Then my hubby went to the drawer and this happened…
He’s convinced all the weight in the chest and what’s on top has weighted it down and that’s why it doesn’t catch anymore. Worst case scenario… he said, it might be falling into the basement. Oh, please no!!!
Okay, next up… my Wedding dress story…
There is a young girl at church who fell in love with a dress from the Thrift Shop. I happened to be in the Thrift shop when they were there and they asked me if anything could be done because it didn’t fit in the back… (it wouldn’t zip!) At first I said, no, it was way too small, but she was in love with this dress and wanted it so much! It was a vintage Renaissance-looking dress and had been hand made. Very nicely hand made, I must add.
Well, I debated and debated and went back to the dressing room where she was getting dressed and said, “put it on again, let me look again…” Well, long story short, you know what I did… I caved and told her I’d do my best to come up with something. She was over the moon and I was already wondering what was I thinking…
Well, today was the first day I went over to her house to take a look and see what I thought I might be able to do… I made a sketch of what I thought might be able to be done… but if you look at my measurements on this piece of paper, at the widest part in the back, the zipper is 7 1/2″ apart… YIKES! I’m going to try and make a lace up back on the dress… we’ll see if this is doable!
I didn’t take it out of the box this evening, because I had the Food Pantry this afternoon and by the time I got home and got some dinner ready it was too late to take a look at taking it apart… I’ll keep you posted.
Now, for that email I received… I read this a few times and was so blessed and touched by it… and it made me even more grateful and thankful for my sewing room than I thought I was! I wrote Katie back and told her she needed to get involved with the comments…that I had LOTS of wonderful ladies who would love to chat with her. I hope she will… and I also asked her for some pictures of what she makes, or what she has made in the past…
Dear Jeanne,
I absolutely love your postings and pictures. I envy you with your large sewing room. My husband and I moved to a retirement home 4 years ago. I am 87 and Fred is 91. We have been married 67 years.
We have always had large houses and I’ve always had a craft room, but space is limited now. I embroider greeting cards as well as pictures and the usual pillow cases and dish towels. I also work with felt.
Tonight I did a picture of Cinderella and used buttons for her dress.
Violette is beautiful with brunette or blonde hair, and I love her beret with matching outfit. And your new chest of drawers was a rare find! Are you on Pinterest and/or Etsy?
I will be looking forward to your next post.
Hugs,
Katie
Wasn’t that just the perfect thing to start your Saturday on?
I hope yours is a good one!
Don’t forget… Violette’s outfit she’s been modeling ends Sunday evening on Ebay.
See you Monday,
Blessings, Jeanne
I had gone back (as I always do) to read the rest of the comments on yesterday’s blog, and saw that Karen and Joseph had chosen “Lilly” for baby’s first name. (Our granddaughter is Lillian, and she is usually called Lilly….) You put so much thought into the names of your children; thank you for sharing that, Karen!
I’ve always liked unusual names, but what did our son end up with? “Daniel Benjamin”! Good Bible names, but not very unusual! I had wanted his middle name to be Corey, in honor of my best friend’s family, but Ron really liked Benjamin (which means “son of the right hand”) so….and it turned out that, many years later, when we got to see his Uncle Ben (who we didn’t even know was still alive until 2003!), and Ron told him what Daniel’s middle name was, Uncle Ben was just so touched that we used a family name (his! his dad’s, too), I was really glad we had. Uncle Ben and his wife only had one baby, who lived a very short time, so I guess that made it especially meaningful to him.
Wow! That was a close fit, if that drawer does opens with such a small clearance! I was worried that something might get shoved to the back, and you’d never get it out!!
As to the wedding gown….Is there extra fabric in the skirt or train that you can take from to make some gussets or something? A laced-up back would help, too–but it’s possible the bodice side seams are somewhat skewed because of the difference of sizes. Is she full-busted, or perhaps has a wide back? Where the extra fullness is could help you figure out where to add any fabric that’s needed. Whatever the case, I’m sure you’ll figure it out!
What a lovely email from Katie! (Congrats on 67 years!!) Yes, I for one would love to see pictures of what she makes! Glad to see she’s still involved in needlework!
Thank you, Charlotte!
I am glad you like the name, Jeanne. :
That was supposed to be a smiley face ^ 🙂
Jeanne, are you sure that drawer isn’t going to get scuffed up eventually? Seems like the top of the drawer would scrape on the shelf. Yes, it’s a good idea that you put things you don’t need very much in that top drawer!
What a unque wedding dress that will be once you get it figured out! I have no help for you on that, but just wish the best for you to figure it out! Some friend I am, huh? 🙂
Lily is such a cute name,Karen, and the meaning is lovely! I remember naming my two, a girl and a boy, and trying to figure out what “went” with our Irish last name, and getting the first and middle names to go together. Brian Patrick just came easily as Jennifer Katherine came way too slowly! When I was pregnant, you never knew if you were having a boy or girl, you had to have two names ready to go. Since Jennifer was first, it took awhile, and then when Brian came along not two years later, his was already picked out. I imagine that Karen had a time getting all those girls names figured out! Did you have a boy name picked out, Karen?
Congratulations, Katie on your 67 years of wedded bliss! You sound like someone we would love to get to know, and I hope we do!
Thank you, Linda! My grandmother on my mother’s side was named Patricia because she was born on St. Patrick’s day. She used to wonder what she would have been called if she had been born on a different day. I think if we ever had a boy, he would be Raphael Elias. I like the story of St. Raphael in Tobias. This website is interesting and talks about Elias and Mount Carmel: https://www.americaneedsfatima.org/articles/the-origins-of-devotion-to-our-lady-of-mount-carmel
Jeanne, I am coming out of my hiding place to speak, LOL. Several years ago I went to my niece’s wedding and was hit with fixing her dress. She had gained weight since it was purchased and it wouldn’t zip up the back, even when she put on her spanx. The gap was about 5 inches. She had some satin covered cord that I sewed in loops on each side and then could weave another cord through it and tie at the top. It worked perfectly. The next day her husband commented that I should have told him to take scissors to the hotel with them, he had such a hard time getting her out of that dress, LOL!
I LOVE your chest of drawers, wish I had one like it!
I have another huge commission from Maru doll company, so will have my nose to the grind stone again. I prefer sewing my own ideas, but we need the cash with our costs going up and the savings going down. I am finishing up a couple of fun
outfits on commission from MDCC and will send photos later.
Thank you for your daily blog, I continue to follow and I love it.
hugs,
Sissy
Sissy, I would love to see pictures of the things you are doing. Sounds like fun.
Wow, a big congrats on the Maru order. Loved seeing the MDCC pics. 🙂
I’m still of the school that the lovely chest of drawers with the wonderful dove-tailed drawers (as seen in today’s photo) should be in a location where it can be admired. 🙂 That way, you wouldn’t have to worry about trying to open a drawer with out damaging it, or have it head through the floor to the basement (horrors) and the whole thing would be accessible. You have blinds on that window to the porch anyway, so I don’t think the fabric would receive much daylight. If you ever decide to move the fabric, I’m sure that a lot could be donated and in doing so, more space would be available for current fabric. 🙂 To give the new piece a nice show in front of the door, maybe one of those two painted white pieces on the window wall could be relocated to a bedroom for extra storage there? 🙂 Just throwing out ideas here. 🙂
It almost seems like the person choosing a dress might be better off finding one that is her size. Enlarging it is going to be an amazing feat that I know Jeanne can tackle with her creativity. 🙂
Anxiously awaiting some Ruby Red’s that have been on preorder. Maybe they will show next week? I can hope.
So very sad seeing all of the Florida damage and hearing of the number of lives lost. Returning to normal is going to be monstrous.
I noticed I never got a comment posted yesterday. I started in that direction but kept getting interrupted with administrative tasks and didn’t notice until late last evening that I never got back to it.
I wish I had a Violette. I didn’t even know about her. I do miss out on a lot of the dolls even though I get an e-mail on others. I love Violette’s puffy hair but she also looks adorable in the blonde wig. I think she would look good in any hairdo. She has such a lovely face.
I don’t envy you the wedding dress project. It reminds me of the time my oldest stepdaughter brought me a prom dress from the resale shop. She wanted me to turn it into a Scarlett O’Hara type dress. The two side panels had perspiration stains big time. Fortunately it was a fabric and color that never seems to go out of style so I could buy fabric to replace the panels. Then I bought a matching lace fabric and added that. The dress ended up looking very nice, but would I want to take on that task again. No! When we told her we’d buy her prom dress I thought she would head to the local formal dress shop, but she thought she was saving us money. I’ll find the picture and send it sometime.
Katie, we sofa sisters would love to have another member. We have a very large sofa. And I know we’d love to see pictures of the things you do and have you chime in on our conversations. 67 years married. How wonderful and it sounds like you are both doing well.
I’m headed to our church Fall Festival today. Sean, Dionne and grandkids will be there but I just found out five minutes ago I’d be going alone. Grrr!!! David is hoping for the final inspection on the addition this coming week and he has some logistics to figure out, but I’m not fond of altered plans and I’m sure Sean will miss having him there to chat with. Oh well, c’est la vie! Gotta go.
I would love to see a pic of that prom dress redo. I’m sure it turned out lovely. 🙂
What a busy weekend you will have☺️I think the lacing up the back of the dress is the perfect answer. You may have to do some other adjusting but it is right in style and no one will know. Anything to help with wedding costs….they are so sky high.Both my daughters dresses had pearls and rhinestones and clear crystals all over them…lots of hours but so much fun….it was the “thing” then…and over the years the silver on some of the stones tarnished and turned black….so sad.
Since your new storage piece is for your sewing room wherever you need it to be is good. That is amazing that with it loaded full it now it opens. Who would have thought. (Have you had to play find the right drawer yet?)
Enjoy the weekend Sisters😍
Dear Karen, That was fascinating to read your name choices and why you chose them. Thank you so much for sharing that. Amazing you have seven girls, five here and two in heaven. So sorry for your two losses. My grandmother was one of six, five girls and a boy.
That is neat that Avila’s middle name is Esperanza. I know it means hope and that happens to be one of the middle names I gave my Josefina doll who I renamed Milagros which means miracle. My doll has a whopper full of names so I could use all my Spanish favorites. Hence, Milagros Consuelo Esperanza Alegria Flores. I’m not Catholic, rather Lutheran-Missouri Synod, but I did go to Catholic grade school as our church did not have a school and my parents didn’t want a public school so I do have a large familiarity with things and one of my dear friends is Catholic as well.:-) So nice to hear you are being spoiled, you deserve it. Do you have the dol Josefina?
Hi Katie, A huge congratulations on 67 years of marriage! Yes, please do come join us on the sofa. The sofa is magical and expands to make a seat for whoever wants to come and visit *passes tea and petit fours* I’d love to see some of your handwork.
Lacing up the back of the wedding dress seems like the perfect save, Jeanne, but a lot of work.
Prayers for the poor people of Florida. We vacationed at Fort Myers Beach and went to Sanibel Island years ago. I’m sure the condo time-share where we stayed is gone.
Hi Laura, Thank you for asking about their names! That was fun to think about. I love that your Milagros has so many names! I tried pushing for Milagros and Consuelo for this baby, but Joseph wouldn’t have it. Yes, my sister gave me Josefina. She has given me a lot of happiness. I keep her on my dresser in our bedroom. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Hi Karen, I so happy that you have Josefina. You know you could also still give Lilly a second middle name. My daughter has two. One of my friends is grade school was named Consuelo and I also thought it and it’s meaning “consolation” was so pretty.
So Katie, it was great to hear from you. Age has no bounds here. Sounds like you are very creative. Do you also sew? Have any dollies? Not that they are required. 🙂
Sounds like you are enjoying your downsizing. Much less to clean for sure. My aunt just turned 91 and is full of life. She drives early when we don’t have traffic and does so very well. Lives in her home with her Siamese cat, Jasmine. 🙂
Hope to hear more from you soon. Would love to see pics of your embroidered pieces. I’m sure they are lovely. 🙂 Just send the pics to Jeanne.