Mormon Prom

 This weekend was "Mormon Prom", more formally know as the Priest & Laurel Formal.  Rachael wasn't really sure she wanted to go, but all  of her friends really wanted her to, so she decided to go.  One reason she didn't want to go was because Andy is on his mission.  She didn't really want to go stag, so she asked one of the boys in our ward, Aaron Stoddard, to go with her.  She figured that was pretty safe since he is younger and she wants to wait for Andy anyway.  She didn't want a long, formal prom dress this year.  She did that last year.  She found this fabric at Joann's in the fall and fell in love with it, so she decided to make a wrap dress out of it and wear it to prom.  I think it turned out great.  There was a few frustrations with it, but she still did a great job with it.  I made Aaron a matching tie.  Now that prom is over, he gave the tie back and we are going to send it to Andy so he and Rachael can match when he gets back.  She had a good time at the prom.  She is kinda outgrowing youth dances though.  She usually comes home and says they were lame.  She has gone to a few young single adult dances and she likes them a lot better. The picture below is one of Rachael and her cousin Aashlie.  Aashlie designed her dress and drew it out and her mom made it.  She did a really good job on the dress too.

I wanted to share with everyone the bag that is a Poppy Mom Gifts original.  Rachael gets credit for the design.  She drew it out for me and then I had to figure out how to sew it.  Her original design had 4 sections in the front rather than the 5 I put in this bag.  It was easier to alternate fabrics with an odd number of wedge pieces.  I made this one for my niece, Jessica.  She picked out the main body fabric from my stash and I found a few others that went with them.  I actually used upholstery trim for the strap.  I made one using the same pattern for Rachael, but ended up having to alter the pattern a little bit.  I thought I had taken a picture, but I can't find it right now.  Rachael's used the Indian silky fabrics that are so beautiful and intricate.  The problem was that they are thick and didn't lay flat when I sewed the small strips together.  I had to make the wedge pieces bigger and use only 3 instead of 5.  The Indian fabric has a unique property that it was teal with a gold print on one side but gold with a teal print on the other.  Rachael's bag alternates the teal and the gold, then I used a gold drapery tie for the handle.  I have a pattern with instructions written out.  The next time I make  one, I'm going to take photos of each step so I can put a tutorial on my blog for this bag.  I didn't take a picture of the inside.  It's just lined with a black satiny type fabric.   This one has a pouch style pocket, but Rachael's has a zipper pocket.  I would have preferred to put a zipper in this one but I didn't have any black ones.  This is probably the nicest bag I've made, meaning that it isn't a casual type bag.  It's fancier and can be really fancy depending upon the fabric I use.  Rachael's is really fancy since we used fancy fabric. 

I really need to find the time to start working on more bags for my Etsy store.  I've been working on the quilts for the quilting club and a bag for the YW auction.  I'll put pictures of the bag and quilts on my blog and on my FB when I am done with them.  If anyone in the Austin area wants to come to the YW auction, it will be May 7th.  I know it will be at the Parker Lane chapel, but I don't know the time yet.  I'll post that when I find out.  Everyone have a great week.

Not much going on

There isn't really much going on right now, but I really want to try to post something once a week more so I get into the habit of posting.  If I don't get in the habit, then it will end up being months before I post again.

Life is just on auto pilot right now.  I started physical therapy about 6 weeks ago to see if I can get some strength back into my foot.  With the flare I had in December, I lost most of the movement in my right foot.  I can twitch it a little bit, but not much more than that.  I really want to be able to drive normally though.  Right now, my van is equipped with a left foot accelerator.  This means my van is the only thing I can drive. It is difficult when Stan has a scout camp out.  No one else has a large vehicle to take the boys anywhere except the Stoddard's and Stan always feels bad that they have to use their van each month.  He used to leave me with the Rio, but now I can drive it.  I will be suprised if I get all the movement back in my foot, but I would like to get enough to drive.  I have made some progress, but it is so slow.  Last week, every time I had PT, my foot would just lock up.  This week was better but I still have a long way to go.

The kids are also on auto pilot.  We still have cub scouts, boy scouts, mutual, dance, cooking class, OT, home schooling, chores, and play time.  Jeremy has been struggling to get his school work done lately so we started a reward system.  He wasn't getting done until 5 or 6 pm.  It was crazy.  Now, he gets a star if he gets done by 2:30.  After the first 5 stars, he got to go mini golfing.  We did that today at Peter Pan Golf.  It's the only mini golf place open in Austin.  There used to be a few really cool one on 290 when I was dating Stan, but it closed.  Peter Pan is just ok, but Jeremy loves it.  Now, he has to get 10 stars and I will take him to a movie of his choice.  Then, he has to get 15 and we will go roller skating.

I started working on 2 new quilts recently.  We started a quilt club at church called Sisters-in-Stitches.  Last month, I taught the nine patch to everyone.  I started a regular nine patch for the purpose of teaching the class.  I also wanted to show some variations, so I also started a disappearing nine patch.  I  finished the top of the disappearing nine patch, and I have it basted to the batting and the backing.  I need to quilt it now.  Rachael has been making her prom dress though, so I had to wait until she finished that.  She did so today, so I need to put the serger away so I have room to quilt.  I'll post some pictures on here once I'm done.  My regular nine patch squares are done, so I need to get the sashing fabric for the class in April.  I can't decide what color to do the sashing, so I need to just look around the fabric store.  That is a pretty dangerous thing for me though.  I've also started another bag.  This is going to be a huge bag with an oriental flare for the YW auction fund-raiser for girls camp. I didn't realize how big the bag was when I picked it out.  It is about 21 inches wide.  It will make a good mom bag though.  I love the combinations of fabrics I chose, so I'm excited to get it finished.  I have a list of projects I need to start and finish before the end of the year.  I"m excited about all of them and can't wait to try some of the new quilt patterns.  I'm especially excited about the new x-block I got at the Georgetown quilt show.  Hey, I just realized I should have posted about that.  I have lots of great  pics.  I'm sleep and ready for bed, so I'll post about that next time.

Have a great week.