Messenger/tote bag for sale

So, I'm really, really excited about something....I made this tote bag the other day.  Without a pattern.  And it turned out exactly like I wanted it too, maybe even better! It is made of bright blue canvas with contrasting royal blue stitching.  

Contrasting scalloped stitching on the shoulder strap.

Button closure on the envelope flap.

Bag is 14 inches square, 2 inches deep, and the shoulder strap is 32 inches long.  Inside seams are all finished with a zigzag stitch.  

I would like to sell this for $15 + $3 for shipping and handling.  If you are interested, please contact me via email or by commenting on here!

P.S.  I hope to make a few more of these in the near future!  :)

Baby blanket quilt

I finally made my first quilt!  I have a friend who is expecting a baby very soon, and I wanted to make a baby blanket for her.  Since I had a bunch of fabric scraps, I was able to piece a simple patchwork quilt.  I think it turned out pretty well!

The finished quilt.  It is approximately 30" x 30".

Lace overlay on one of the denim pieces.

Ribbon sewn down with fancy scallop stitch.

My favorite piece - satin ribbon lattice overlay.  :)

I backed the quilt with soft grey fleece, which was left over from the lining on my cape.

My little sister Regina holding the quilt for me.  Yes, she is barefoot, and it the 1st of March.  It's 65 degrees out!  It's just weird.

She's such a cute little helper!  :)

Now that I've found quilting to be not as hard as I thought it was, I'm hoping to make more quilts.  Mom thinks that I should try to sell baby blanket quilts on Etsy....but I'm not sure if they would sell.  What do y'all think?

18th Century Ballgown

Well, my dear readers, I've promised again and again to get photos of my finished ballgown.  It's been two months since I wore the dress to the Vintage Ball, and I've finally gotten some pictures.  What better day to do a photoshoot than when it's nearly 50 degrees out but there's 5 inches of snow on the ground?!

Yes, that's right I'm playing in the snow.

Little church in Eagle Rock.

The church we attend.

My mom cracks me up.

Random blurry photo that I thought looked really cool.

Credit goes to my wonderful mom for taking the pictures, tramping through the snowy woods and getting her shoes wet, and driving me to the churches!

Giveaways....

Okay, so y'all know just how much I LOVE  English Country Dancing (duh, I was sooo excited about the Vintage Ball!).  Well, dear Lucia over at lucia, etc. is giving away a tutorial DVD called English Country Dancing, Vol. 1.  So head on over, enter the giveaway at  http://one-beloved.blogspot.com/2012/02/english-country-dance-dvd-giveaway.html, and start learning how to REALLY dance.  (Warning, no teenyboppers allowed.  Young ladies only.  LOL)

Also Savories of Life is having a giveaway as well!  With earrings, lip balm, a greeting card, and tote and shopping bags, there's sure to be something to interest you.  Go check it out!

On a completely different note....some exciting news is that there is the newly founded Regency Society of Virginia.  Any readers here in VA that like Jane Austen (uhhhh, am I talking about myself?) should probably enjoy them!  I'm just hoping that maybe there will be some dances....even though I think Regency fashions look absolutely horrendous on me.  :-/

Silly photos

Hello my dear readers!  I'm so sorry that I haven't posted anything as of late.  Time and again, I've tried to get photos of my ball gown and stays, but it's either been too cold out or my brother has taken the camera!  Anyways, it was a beautiful day a few days ago, so Grace and I took a walk in the woods and got some pictures of me being goofy.  Enjoy!

Hello down there!

"I will worship while I'm waiting..."

...and how am I supposed to get down from here?

What next?

Agghhh!  It's a leaf!!!  LOL

I'll load up more when I'm at school on Wednesday because they have wayyyy faster internet than here at the house!

One Thing in Common

“ 'What do I, a seamstress, have in common with a writer?  What can I say to people who might have completely different interests than I do?'  Then I realized that even though we might have different interests and talents, we all have one thing in common, and that is that we can, and should, use our different gifts to the glory of God....."


See the rest of my guest post over at Struggles of a (Maybe) Teen Author, a blog by Miss Emily Rachelle!  :)

1780's dress (and the Vintage Ball)

After two weeks of sewing like crazy, Sarah and I finally got my dress done!  I absolutely LOVE it!  It's a robe a la polonaise in chocolate satin with a cream brocade, and it's lovely.  On Friday, my sister Grace and I went over to Sarah's house to get ready for the Vintage Ball.  We had the best time getting ready.  We then took some photos with Sarah's brother Josh, and headed to the Ball!  I don't have any pictures from the Ball, so y'all are going to have to be content with these.

Curling Sarah's hair....and you can kinda see how I did Grace's hair...

 

Josh, Sarah, me, and Grace. 

 The back of Sarah's dress....it's sooo lovely!

Grace and I - isn't Grace turning into quite a lovely young lady?

 Ta-da!  Finished dress!  

And the back!

I don't have much to say about the Ball.  I did have fun dancing with Josh and his friend Micah because they're like my younger brothers, and we made funny faces at each other throughout the dances!  And I was very glad to catch up with a dear friend that I hadn't seen since soccer season in the spring!  But I was disappointed because no one asked me to dance....well, at least without being told to.  I was bad enough to ask Micah to ask me, and told Josh to!  But, overall, it was a good time.  

I had to steal these photos from Sarah's mom's facebook, since I don't have a camera of my own anymore and my brother wouldn't let me take his.  :(  I'm going to take better pictures soon, I promise, and post in more detail about the petticoat and stays and gown.