Been Dreaming of Sewing

and not doing any actual sewing. I can literally see myself wearing the jean skirt with the cute border of embroidery. The embroidery has a scalloped edge and the plan is to fray check it and then trim the fabric away. No need to hem and a cute finish to boot! I also want a white skirt. I have the fabric and pattern. Everything is assembled, just need to get to it. One good thing to come from the curtain making is that the top of my cutting table is visible again. This week I have been knitting in the evenings. One of my friends is renting a table at a Dog Fundraiser this summer and asked if a couple of us would knit sweaters for her to sell. All proceeds to be donated to the local shelter. This is a cause that is dear to my heart. So, handknit dog sweaters it has been. I have 2 complete and the 3rd is close. I also made two cotton warshrags with an 'embossed' paw print. Tomorrow, I am meeting my virtual friend Jessica and her 2 dogs. I am so excited. We will be meeting up at the dog park so the 4-legged kids can run. Everyone please pray that Beau behaves himself. Please. Last night I took Lucy in the convertible and we went to get more dog food. She did well, but she really can't get comfortable in the car. At one point, we were stopped for a light and she put her pouty face right down on the edge of the door. It was priceless. I would have given just about anything to be in the next car over and take a picture. So, there has been some discussion around my blog world about teaching kids to sew. The Musical One wanted to learn to quilt when she was in 8th grade. She was in a geometry class and was looking for an interesting extra credit project. They needed something that was flat, but looked 3-dimensional. So, tumbling blocks it was. She chose the fabrics, did all the cutting and sewing and made a piece of fabric too small for a lap quilt, but large enough to cut 4 placemats from. She hasn't touched fabric since then, except to say that's cute or if you made a skirt/top/whatever from it, I'd wear it. The Princess loves textiles. She loves the picking out, touching, planning, matching stages, but she hates cutting and finds it much easier to do all the early work and let mom do the actual construction. She is exploring a career in Interior Design and has asked for her own sewing machine. Following are photos of the knitting bag that I made as a birthday gift for Jessica, my virtual WW dog walking friend, the one I'm meeting tomorrow. The photo on the left is the inside of the bag, showing all the pockets I added. I used the alphabet function on my machine to label to contents. On the right is the bag. It is currently filled with stuff for knitting, including the needle roll. The fabric is quilting cotton from the local big box fabric hell store. Has a lavender background with various singing dogs and says "American Fido" all over it. The hot pink handles and lining match the pink in the print. This is a picture of the rolled needle roll. I used the instructions in the holiday issue of Sew News and the truth is, I'm not happy with it. I think it's too big. Jessica will be receiving both of these items when she comes for dinner tomorrow night. I hope she likes them. More tomorrow and maybe even photos of crazy dog play. Can you imagine - 2 bloodhounds, 2 basset hounds, and 2 vizslas all running full tilt? It will be side splittingly funny.