All Thanks to Elizabeth! :)

So, I don't know how many of you have a "bucket list" (you know, a list of things you want to do before you kick the bucket), but I have a few things on my list. Some of the things I have done are to learn how to decorate cakes, how to arrange flowers, and to preserve our memories in scrapbooks. One of the other things that has been on my list for a long time is learning how to sew. Over the years I have looked into lessons, but I never had my own machine. I was going to learn from a friend or family member, but they didn't have the time or I didn't have the money!

Now, in Utah, I mentioned this to Elizabeth and she said she would teach me! Luckily, she had an extra machine she had bought for her granddaughter, and her granddaughter couldn't care less about sewing, so she brought it over for me to learn on. Well, this all happened right before Hannah was born! Since (if you have read this blog long you know) Hannah was induced three weeks early and then we moved before she was even three months old, the lessons never got started. However, Elizabeth was extremely generous and gave me that machine! It has sat in my craft closet for a year taunting me to learn how to use it.

So, about a month ago I called around to ask if anyone did lessons and found the nicest lady about 10 minutes away willing to teach me for two hours for $10/week. I was so excited and showed up my first night thinking I would just get a refresher on how to thread the machine and go in straight lines on the fabric scraps that Elizabeth had also give me. I took in all the stuff I had forgetting that I had bought some burp cloths to add ribbon to. I left after my first lesson with two completed burp cloths that we had stitched the sides together and added ribbon! So my homework that week was to make some more burp cloths to practice straight lines and to make a baby blanket (also, only straight lines). So here is my first weeks work:
The second week, we decided to tackle a simple pattern of a little dress for Hannah. So I learned how to read the pattern and we decided to trace it instead of cutting the original so I would still have all sizes. So that week we cut everything out and ironed in interfacing. My homework that week was to cut out all the pieces to make another outfit from that same pattern. We decided to do a pantsuit so I could learn how to do pants since the top was the exact same, only shorter. So I thought we would put them together on my third lesson! Just goes to show how truly amateur I really am! We got alot done, but nowhere near finished! So last night at my fourth lesson, we finished both outfits and I learned how to put elastic in the waistband and how to make button holes! SO, all of that to say, I made Hannah two outfits in a month! :)

Now, I decided to get pics of my model in her new outfits, but she just doesn't sit still anymore! I am sure you noticed that most of the last set of JC Penney pics were action shots, and so are all of mine from this morning! So here is the dress, it is a little big, but I wanted her to grow into it rather than make it too small for her to wear more than once:
A pic where you can see the purple buttons:Then here is the pantsuit! I added some cute little ric rac to it just to make it more fun and to learn how to add some embellishments: So, this post was probably way more info than anyone cares to know, but I just wanted Elizabeth to see what her generosity had accomplished! Love you Elizabeth and THANK YOU so much!