Darlene's Sweatshirt Vest

This week I have been busy making a sweatshirt vest for my friend/co-worker Darlene. She loved the jackets I made for mom and I, so she wanted one of her own, but a vest instead. She leaves on vacation to Michigan next week, so I wanted to get it done before she left. I quilted the fabric to the sweatshirt on Tuesday night. It actually went pretty quickly, since I was only using one fabric. Then I serged it up at home. Last night during our group sewing night, I had her try it on and I made a few adjustments to the sleeve area and put in two darts. Then I made 214" of bias binding to go around all the holes and the front/bottom/ neckline of the jacket. I put the binding on the front, then pulled it around to the back and stitched in the ditch. It turned out super cute and I'm happy with how fast it went together.

Here she is proudly displaying her new vest!

I love making things for friends when I know they are so appreciated! She loved the vest!

Sweatshirt Jackets

This week I made sweatshirt jackets for mom and I. We had bought the fabric back in Nov. but I just wasn't sure how it was going to work out to quilt it on my frame. I ended up spray basting all the pieces and attaching the fabric and it worked out really well. There was probably more waste, but not as much as I expected. I serged them together and made the binding on Wed. After the rodeo Thurs. night I sewed the binding on to the jackets. Friday morning I got up extra early and sewed the binding down. I threw them in the wash before I went to work and Paul dried them for me. Mom and I wore them on Sat. when we went shop hopping in the southern hills.

The fabric is quilting related. I need to make us bags to match now, but they turned out great and kept us warm all day. I'm glad that I used our shop hop as incentive to get them done.

Fast & Furious Week!

This has been a fast and furious week! The Central States Fair is this week in town and mom, two co-workers, and I got fair passes for the entire week. Monday night was Dustin Evans and Rodney Atkins. Dustin was great as usual and I added all his CD's to my MP3 player this week. Rodney was incredible! I was rather shocked at how many of his songs I knew. Tuesday night was Doo Waa Riders which were an old band. Paul and his mom met me under the tent for a funnel cake, where we saw Ed and his friends. Blake Shelton was the second concert and he was awesome. I've seen him in concert before, but he was even better this time. Wed. night I stayed home as I don't enjoy rock concerts. I serged together both of the sweatshirt jackets that I am making for mom and I. I also made 511" of bias binding! It was a 35" square I had to use to make that much binding, but it went together fast.
Last night we went to the rodeo. JJ & Ryan were both riding and several of my former students were also participating. I still enjoy cheering for all of them and hope they do well. The rodeo got over early, so I put the binding on the jackets. By 11 I had it all on, but needed to sew it down. I got up an hour early this morning and sewed all the binding down and threw the jackets in the washer. I put them in the dryer while I got ready. I'll have to take pictures tomorrow when we wear them. I also finished the binding and hanger on the Halloween wall hanging I made for myself. That's three finishes for me this week! It may be all I finish this month, but I'm so happy to have these projects completed.