Hi everyone,
With all the talk from Charlotte about her UFO’s, (Un-Finished Objects… the sewing kind, not the extraterrestrial kind), and finishing them, I decided to work on this outfit that I had made for Violette and it didn’t sell. I have SEVERAL UFO’s of my own and Charlotte has inspired me to finish a few things before starting something new.
This is the outfit I’m talking about…
I decided it must be the shorts that are wrong for this set… I could be wrong though.
I wanted to make a pair of fitted and girlie shorts for Violette. This is a pair I had made her a years ago, but they didn’t have the pockets as they were my first shorts from a pattern I had drafted.
I found the same fabric in my stash and cut out the shorts and began sewing them together… and realized why I don’t sew linen very much! It ravels too much for me… but I continued…
From a distance I thought they were looking fine…
But when I got this close…I could see the pockets through the fabric like I’ve seen some people wearing.
Then when I got this close, I stopped sewing and said, “Okay, this is a question for the ladies on my blog!”
Actually, I don’t even HAVE to ask you… I’m not finishing them… it looks like her underwear is showing…
It’s not even showing it as well in my pictures as it is in person… and when I serged the edges of the inside pockets, the linen sort of made a large ridge and I didn’t like it.
I’m going to see if I have any white denim in my stash and try again… Sorry, but this was as much as I got done and now I have nothing to show you…
However, I did sell both of my things on “Selling My Sewing Stuff” (a forum on facebook) AND the lady I was telling you about who claimed them, turned out to be the nicest lady I could ever have hoped for. She told me I should use Pirate Ship to mail my things… (it is sent from the USPS, but the rates are cheaper and you can get insurance for your item for ONE DOLLAR!) She walked me through the whole setup and I did it!!! She was thrilled and SO WAS I!
Then in the middle of mailing her fabrics, I sold the Bicentennial Cloth Hallmark dolls on Ebay! SO, I sold the 3 items I had listed and hoped to sell. That’s a little bit of space made on the bed, plus last week I sold the big bag of Our Generation shoes and accessories and outfits AND the American Girl Doll Carrier and Travel Seat. I’m hoping to get a few more things listed, but tomorrow is Food Pantry day so probably nothing will happen with that.
My hubby wasn’t feeling particularly well today… just kind of out of it… and his throat is still very sore and red. I was taking care of him so he didn’t have to get up and get what he needed or wanted.
Since my “sewing room is RIGHT off the Living Room” (thank you very much for all your comments, and Rosemary for asking) I piddled in my sewing room to be near him if he needed me.
Well, I hope you have a nice weekend! It’s supposed to be a little warmer tomorrow for us, but it’s okay. I love the sunshine.
See you Monday,
Blessings, Jeanne
Hello Dear Jeanne and all of my wonderful Sofa Sisters!
Thanks for your concern, and good wishes, and prayers.
I am sorry I have been missing for a while. I am trying to finish a writing project that I began a decade ago. I set it aside a while back but I picked it up a few weeks ago and now I am determined to finish it by Fall.
I promise to share more about it later.
I didn’t want to leave you without a May poem so I will be sharing one after I finish this comment. I hope you like it.
Jeanne, I love your Violette. She has such a pretty face. I enjoy seeing the clothes you make for her.
So my Sisters, please forgive my absence for a little longer. And please continue to save my seat on the Sofa. Know that I think of you all and wish you well.
It’s so good to see you back on the sofa, Dorothy, even though it’s just a brief visit this time. For sure we’ll continue to save you a seat for when your writing project, etc., is finished.
Oh Dorothy, ….. oh you writers!! 😖😫🥰
You had all of us worried out of our minds. 😱
Okay, creative souls are like you. …. I think we understand. I am so happy to hear you are focused deeply on your writing project. Yes we do.
Please check in now and then, just to say “howdy” so we do not think you have been
captured or… raptured or imprisoned or gosh, all of us have been very imaginative.
“May is the month of expectation, the month of wishes, the month of hope.” Emily Bronte
Thinking of you and wishing you well.
That is a good one, Debbie
Ah… Ships that pass in the night. Well it’s sure better than nothing and I’m so glad you are well and doing something you love – while finishing another kind of UFO. I really want to hear more about your writing. I love to write and love to hear about others who love to write. I have two UFO books I really need to finish. I started them back when my kids were still in school and they got sidelined for my kids’ theater endeavors. One I have managed to find saved to my documents but the other I printed out and put in a box but can’t remember what I did with the box. I really need to make finding that a priority.
Wonderful to hear from you and can’t wait to hear more about your writing project. Sounds exciting. Take care.
HALF MAY
by Dorothy in PA and the World @ 2026
Does it feel to you
that May has rushed ahead
beaconing us to follow?
This seems a different May
a bit chilly and rainy
but, yet, it is May.
She still smiles and winks at us with sunshine eyes
and nudges grass to grow weedy tall with rapid speed
and bids the birds to send melodic tunes along dawn breezes
May stands between the stark, frigid, isolation/insulation of Winter
and the flower-riot, heat-infused, vacation rush of Summer
May stands tall when she comes
somehow anchoring us in childhood thoughts
of Maypoles and popsicles
of last days of school, and first days of sleeping past 9 am
of front porch sitting in the coolness of evening
and dreams of a grown up life
We stand now at half May
15 days gone and a precious 16 days to come
May must know that we cherish her
for she never fails to come bringing her warmth and cheer
and even though initially she rushed ahead this month
now, she has slowed her pace so that we could reach her
and travel the rest of our May journey together
I love it, Dorothy! And our May in the Seattle area has certainly been iffy, weather-wise. Monday and Tuesday it was in the low 80s, then Wed. it was only 54! Today we might have been a degree or two warmer, but very very breezy!
And, yes, my grass is “growing weedy tall with rapid speed”!
Same here in Northern Virginia. A few days in the low 60’s, a few days in the 80’s back and forth. For the east coast, we have to appreciate the wind. We will be deprived of any breezes by July.
wonderful Dorothy. April and May can be testy and short tempered months, This year they have been in obvious competition with each other!!! Yes, we know who wins.
This poem is beautiful
Love the poem. Even here in Texas I’ve always loved May. It’s usually the month before we have to turn on the A/C. However, our winter this year was so warm the A/C has been on most of the time with a few brief days of needing the heater. But now that the middle of May has arrived it is starting to heat up and the humidity is rising. Maybe here in Texas late May just prepares us for the horrible heat and humidity of summer while still providing a few days of relief now and then. I’ll take what I can get and enjoy the respite when it come knowing full well what lies ahead during the six months that follow May.
A beautiful poem! Your words take me back to my childhood in Pennsylvania.
A++ Thanks so much for sharing. 🙂
Jeanne, I do like the look of that checked top with white shorts, but I sure do know what you mean about linen being ravelly and sometimes see-thru! Yikes! I guess save the linen for a skirt that has a little fullness to it, and look for some other white fabric for shorts. A lightweight denim would definitely work, or maybe some fine pique’, or even plain white seersucker, if you can find it.
I have started on a second t-shirt for Nolan. I don’t think I’m going to try to salvage the other t-shirt; the sleeves are just too weird!! We shall see!
Dear Jeanne, the shorts are cute. You could just make another feature on the front, like tiny pleats, or fake pockets? I hope you find some white denim in your digging. I have a lot of fabric, and I think I have a few pieces of white denim. hmmmm may.be. hmmm
Dear ones: you know I encouraged hubbs to take to the new house any and all things he wanted to save or think about. This house is pretty stuffed but we will go through a lot of it eventually. Now, I have a confession. I moved a lot of fabric, almost all of what I had. I moved them…. in boxes and clear storage bags. Where have I filed all of this fabric? In the upstairs (third) bathtub. It is not just laying in the tub scrambled up, all of it is “contained? but it is 4 feet high 😂
Jeanne, I am sorry you “wasted a whole day”. sometimes it is a day of going down a muddy path, and there was some learning though that “time” and of course in this instance, yes your glorious main floor level sewing office. I miss mine terribly, but it is okay, George was properly monitored and cared for.
I hope today is a better day. Monitor is temperature. Is he running a fever? Be sure he is drinking and peeing. (I love taking care of my hubby. Most of the time he is grateful that he married a nurse)
I do love the outfit on Violette. She is a beautiful girl! The fabric is lovely. Is this where a ball point needle would be helpful? or not? I wish you lived next door Jeanne, you could “rifle” through my bath tub haha
It is Friday already. I hope George has a day of improvement.
I hope you have sunshine.
I wish all of you a delight filled Friday, and a sweet week-end.
I think Hubbs and I are going to the old house to dismantle the left over furniture the charity would not take. Just a fun job. I put happy music on my cell phone.
I might run to Walmart in an hour if I can make myself presentable for public appearances (comb hair)
and pile up on some provisions.
Charlotte, good luck with the second shirt.
sometimes I start too many projects and then I turn into a scatter brain.
I need to focus on tidying up UPSTAIRS. Soon enough, though, I will be sewing mostly down stairs because the a/c in insufficient upstairs, so I will make a small set up down here with my Featherweight.
Love, Rosemary
Thanks, Rosemary. I have a number of UFOs, too, most notably those quilted ones, but I am making headway there! I know there’s a square dance outfit I started many years ago, which I think I will just salvage what fabric I can because (a) I am no longer that size 😐 and (b) I haven’t been able to square dance in about 20 years. I tend to be a messy sewer, so I have stuff all over my sewing room!! Sometimes I tackle an area, sorting and putting away, and then I come across something really cool and get distracted, and am off on another project again!!
I have a few too many UFO’s flying around here, none of them related to sewing which I gave up when my daughter did not need homemade costumes anymore.
Some of my UFO’s are related to refining my doll collection. I started on that task then I started seeing other collections that needed “refining” – the film cameras from the 90’s, the antique postcards, the silk scarves from the 90’s, the Christmas ornaments. Well you get the picture. We moved to North Carolina to be closer to the children and bought a house large enough for them to stay as we are about an hour away. That was four years ago and they have not spent one night in this house. I resent the time I spend in keeping it clean but it did afford ample space for all of my treasures.
In answer to Jeanne’s question, “When do you read the blog?”, usually in the morning while drinking my coffee. I read all of the comments by those of you that are early risers. Later in the day I check in with all of you west of the Mississippi. I love hearing about family, projects, gardening, and sewing; such a safe place to spend some time.
Well on to those UFO”s…
Wishing everyone a happy weekend and recovery for George.
Sorry to hear that George still has that sore throat. What did the hospital say about after care for that problem?? Curious, as my dentist had me do the salt water rinse/gargle one time, and it helped so much. Hope he is feeling better today. Will there be any raised bed planted tomatoes this year? Because other person is working on some new tomato cages for here. I don’t think that they are tall enough though. And the old screws are not working so we have to go pick up some new ones today at Home Depot. So, we’ll see how they end up. I well remember those tomatoes in the huge wire cages that George had a few years ago. So impressive.
I loved Violette’s outfit. No idea why it didn’t sell. And the new white shorts are impressive too. Maybe she needs white undies to prevent the see through look? Anyway, I would like to see her hair down as she wore it in the white shorts photo. She has such beautiful hair. 🙂
And a big congrats to Jeanne, on her recent sales. That is great and inspiring. So much that should go around here.
Hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend. Going to be a hot one here.
Everyone is getting so much done I feel like a sluggish sloth by comparison. But I’m working on resetting a brick pathway and it is time consuming. Jeanne so nice that you were able to be productive piddling and close to hubbs in case he needed anything. (They hate when we hover.) My daughter jokes that she gets exhausted hearing what i got done when I’m “puttering” around the house. Puttering usually leads to a project, like resetting the pathway.
I still very much like the outfit for Violette especially the blue you used for the buttons and how they color tied to the shorts. I’m thinking a simpler or more feminine waistband for this look or a simple skirt or skort. No waistband at all like a fitted snap closed back and a BIG floppy hat for summer.
Have a great day all.
I would love to see a pic of the brick pathway. I also need to do that. Some years back, I redid our back path, but has to be done again if we get to the retaining wall. Do you brush sand/cement down the cracks for filler? Unfortunately, I have blackberry that likes to live in the cracks. Ugh
I have no idea why Violette’s outfit didn’t sell. I didn’t realize it hadn’t. Must have really missed something because I would have gone for it. As for the white shorts, I love white shorts but I like the pockets you sew on the top of the fabric. I can’t think what they are called but I have a pattern for the RRFF dolls that has them. It’s from Kathy Anne Designs. I’ve made several pair and they always look nice. All Kathy calls them is side pockets but they are my favorite kind. I have a lot of drawstring pants of all colors and they have these pockets. I like them because they always lie flat.
Sorry about George’s throat. Maybe he should have it checked to make sure he hasn’t developed an infection. Joy mentioned salt water gargle. That’s what we always used when I was growing up and I still do use it because it works better than anything else I’ve tried. If that doesn’t work it’s a sure bet I have Strep so it’s off to the doctor. I don’t like having a sore throat.
I’m going to have to take a look at the Jeanne Marie swim shop. Alex is bugging me to get him some board shorts and flip flops. He said it’s getting hot out and it’s time to bring out the pool. I really think he just wants to see all the pretty girls since he is, at the moment, the only boy in the neighborhood.
Lucky Alex! Can’t wait to see some more pool pics. I love your pool. 🙂
Dorothy it was so good to hear from you, I was so pleased that you were OK. Your poem is lovely and reminds me of May in UK. Of course it doesn’t work for here, May presages winter, cold nights and (if we are lucky) cold but sunny days. June and July are our coldest months, especially July.
It is our Alice’s Wonderland class this morning. All my blocks are finished except for 7 Applique blocks but they are prepped ready, and I have made or prepped all the 100 Diamond in a Square blocks for the border. When I finish my Arkansas Crossroads quilt I will start quilting this one. I don’t think I want it on my bed I might make it a wall hanging for the hallway, there is no sun there (no windows) so nothing to make it fade. Being mostly white it will brighten up the hallway as well.
Luna had her blood test but I haven’t had the results yet.
Hope that you hear back today about Luna’s test. I would probably give them a call and see when you can expect to hear back. Can’t hurt. And I would love to see your latest quilt when you have it hung. Have a wonderful weekend.
Sorry I am so late, but just can’t write today. Too many thoughts last night and not enough sleep. Hope to be a better Sofa Sister next week.
Oh, hope that you can get soe rest tonight. Take care.
Love you Sissy. 🥰🎈guard your heart dearie. Love you