This coming Sunday, SERIES finale for the original CSI (Las Vegas, Who are you? Who, who, who, who? . . .Cause I really wanna know. Who are you? Who, who, who, who?) Former cast members returning for this very last show.

Soft and comfy dot fabric and (darned) rectangular towels that feel great

If you remember, I have made lots of flannel swaddling blankets. We use them as baby shower gifts. And sometimes new baby gifts, if there wasn't a shower. We give them in sets of four with an instruction sheet for swaddling a baby. I started out with a mountain of them. And they are dwindling.

I was ready to do something different, to replenish my baby shower stock. But I have sort of dug myself a hole. I need help figuring out what to do.


http://www.joann.com/soft-n-comfy-dot-fabric/prd33722.html#prefn1=type&prefv1=Soft+N+Comfy&start=1

That is the link to JoAnn's Soft and Comfy Dot Fabric. I have large pieces, smaller pieces. I have been picking it up on sale.

I was looking for Chenile (type) fabric to put on the back to make very tactile baby blankets. What put this in my head was a sensory blanket our little seven year old had as a baby. But, no Chenile (type) fabric anywhere that I can find. I looked for anything else, tactile, but all I could find was variations of fleece, all the same general feel. I thought about cutting up Chenile bedspreads, but the problem is the patterns. Cut up, it is just a weird fragment of pattern.

So then I found bath towels at JCPenney's that I liked.

http://t.jcpenney.com/tablet/jsp/browse/pp/product.jsp?Ntt=&ppId=ens6003920003&categoryId=cat100250084&deptId=dept20000012&subcatId=&grMode=&regId=&colorizedImg=DP0331201500202979M.tif&cmcatId=&currentDim=&dimCombo=&currentDimVal=&dimComboVal=

I bought them in (2) aqua, (1) light blue and (1) green. They were on sale for around $7. They are still on sale, I could get more. I picked the hems out, serged the edges to prevent fraying, and washed them. They washed beautifully.

So now I am sitting here looking at my pieces, trying to decide what (in the heck) to make.

The bath towels are of course very rectangular. That is (totally) throwing me.

The simplest thing would be to take a large piece of the comfy dot fabric, put it right side together with a towel, sew and turn right side out. But I am trying to figure out if/how that would be used with a baby. It would be very tactile. It would be weighted. But it would be very rectangular (30" x 56"). If I wrapped it as a gift, what would I say it was?

I have considered sewing two bath towels together. It would be almost a square. And it would have substance. It could be used for putting a baby on the floor. (I gave middle's former boy's mother a large square much like that, but made out of two layers of sweatshirt fabric, for her first grandchild, for visiting her house last year. I bought it at a craft show and was really pleased.) It would be a great pad for the floor. The towels would sew together easily, because I have the picked out hem edges (which are not tufted). And I could sew squares of the soft dot fabric in different colors (for the other side) to make it look quiltish.

I guess as I write, that is what I am going to do unless someone can suggest a purpose for the 30" x 56" size. Because, as I said, if I can think of a good (genuine) purpose, that would be easier to mass produce. But I am not making them unless they are very practical.

Halloween Costumes

I think I mentioned I have started collecting children's Halloween Costumes, when I see them at sales. I have these stored in two different places in the house. One of the things on my To Do list was to compile a list. I did that yesterday.



Halloween costumes -
Alien bug thing 0-6 mos (not my favorite)
Dinosaur 6-9 mos
Dinosaur 12 mos
Leopard 12 mos
Dinosaur 18 mos
Monkey age 1-2
Frog 24 mos
Lady bug 2-3 T
Dinosaur Child Large
Lion Child Large
Bear Child Large
Tiger Child Large
(Note - our little girl wore one of the "child large" costume in 2014 when she was a 5-6, maybe with jacket under it)


I think on a subconscious level I was aware, but seeing it in print, I know.

I only collect animal or nature type things. No Power Rangers, no Disney, nothing commercial so far.

I have always been that way. I cringe at Disney T-shirts for example. Ditto with minions. I like a clever T-shirt, but not one with a trendy, commercial thing on it.

I can think of commercial things I would buy. Winnie the Pooh, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, a really good princess, would be yes!, if I saw them.

But those last two are female. And if you notice everything I have now, except the Ladybug, is gender neutral.

My girls wore a lot of gender neutral things when they were little. Girl things too. But a lot of neutral. And they always have had major hand-me-downs from the oldest. Hoodies, T-shirts for around the house, basketball shorts, flannel pj bottoms. These are all coveted things they lounge around wearing. 

I do not mind that I have several dinosaurs. If we end up with a grandkid who is really into dinosaurs, we will be glad for extra sizes. If we end up with more than one attached to dinosaurs, we will be really glad for multiples in general. And that often happens with boys and dinosaurs. I am not sure I have seen a girl really attached to dinosaurs, just boys (so far). Have you?

Thinking caps please, calling all TV comedy fans

Does anyone happen to know about pinking shears?

I wonder if someone will read that and not know what the words "pinking shears" mean - ?

They are the scissors that cut fabric in a zigzag.

The purpose of the zigzag is so the fabric edge "holds" and does not unravel.

My pair is very old. Maybe older than I am. They might well have belonged to my mother or one of my grandmothers.

I actually use them all the time, very regularly.

They are now hurting my hand, they just simply do not want to cut. And they feel and sound as if they need oiled, rather badly.

My husband and I both feel that if we attempt to oil them, they might cause oil spots on fabric, like forever.

There is no longer a sharpening store in town. Not one.

Because, yes, I think they would know.

And every time I try one of the guys who sharpens out of his house, I have been disappointed.

I do not discard things easily.

If there is fix left in something, I fix it.

But I do not know about the expected life of pinking shears. At all.

Does anyone else know?

With all our talk about family jewelry, I thought of "Grandma's Broken Engagement Ring". I had to hunt to find it; here it is -

Grandma's Broken Engagement Ring

Jewelry Store