SEWING AND PACKING

For the last couple of weeks we have been slowly packing boxes to move back to Los Angeles.  On the move to Germany we had a weight moving estimate/limit.  On the move back we have a volume limit of 6'x7'x5' instead.  So I am aiming to put as much stuff in each box as possible.  If we get to the point we exceed that, we might ship a box or two via DHL.  We plan on sending the bikes with DHL so we don't have to wait about 8 weeks to get them.  Before I packed up my sewing machine and gave the desk away, I wanted to make a small black lace jacket to go with my black dress.  I got it done and wore it on our wedding anniversary night.  I had made about 11 aprons last year so I figured out who I could give those to at church so they are all gone now.  I gave one previously to Sr. James and one as a wedding present to Anni & Marcus.

Gave these to friends at church yesterday

My little black dress needed a set of sleeves.

A friend gave me this black lace fabric, so I made a set of sleeves/short jacket.

SEWING AND MENDING
People are still showing up at my door almost everyday with something for me to mend or alter.  So I am very busy with mending and sewing.  I had this one challenge last week with a nice suit coat that had a hole torn in the back of it that a man in this building brought up.  I don't know how to darn, darn it.  But I took some matching thread and wove it back and forth up and down until I filled the hole.  Not the best but I hope it works for him.  Anyone of you ever have to do this kind of repair and have some good suggestions for for next time?

Hole in the fabric of suit coat.

my attempt at a repair job, not looking so good, but maybe it won't get bigger for him?

SEWING AND MENDING
It has been a few weeks since I have added anything to this blog.  A few weeks ago I completed some skirts and I did a lot of mending, on the average 3 things a day for awhile.  I took photos of the skirts but not the mending which consisted of altering dresses, repairing the seats of pants, and hemming dresses mainly.

Customer wanted a new skirt similar to one of her favorites.

This is a nice fabric that is a tight knit and is fully lined with a very lightweight lining.
This skirt turned out to be one of my favorite projects.  I think it is pretty and hangs nice.

 The customer wanted a reversible skirt from this unique and pretty fabric that she liked both sides of.  This was a nice project because it was challenging to make it with the amount of fabric and figure out how to make it reversible.  I made the pattern, a wrap around so I didn't have to worry about how to do a zipper and worry about how that would work for both sides.

Hand made belt loops (on each side)  made from braiding embroidery thread.

BUSY BOOK, SKIRTS AND PUZZLE
I made a soft busy book and 3 skirts from fabric scraps and did loads of mending or altering for customers in the last couple of weeks.
The book took awhile but it was fun and creative.  I gave it to Ivy for her 1 year old birthday.  The skirts I gave to the other Watson girls, one was for Macy's birthday.  I need to make the blue skirts a little longer tho and will get some more of the blue fabric this next weekend at the stoffmarkt to make one more row on the skirts.  The sunflower puzzle took a LONG time because so many of the colors where the same and all the pieces where the same shape.

hair things to match

front

 Inside pages are all about color and texture and trying things with snaps or buttons or zippers and so on.

This is suppose to be like our Vogelstang lakes.

flap with a button on supper fluffy soft fur

has heart buttons under it

3 kitties on pads with a snap on the back

a pocket that can hold things 

like photos

a zipper pocket holds a flower with a small bell

a button flap

Has a hand made bunny on a leash with velcro to hold it in place on the page 

beads and bells good for counting and moving along the ribbons

buttons

has some hearts under it when opened

3 pockets to hide things on the strings

A buckle

to practice opening

last page

hand embroidered signature and germany colors heart thing

CHURCH QUILT
I FINISHED THE QUILT I MADE TO GIVE TO THE CHURCH.

Front of quilt with photos of our church, the Frankfurt Temple, Salt Lake City Temple, and San Diego Temple.

Back of quilt with photo of Mannheim Water tower and the sign that is on our Ward building.

Signed it with gold embroidery thread.

We had a double rainbow!  Photo taken from our apartment window.

SEWING AND MENDING
Last week on Monday, our neighbor on this floor came over in a frantic and tried to tell me about a leak that we had under our apartment that has made damage to the apartment below us.  He only speaks German and I had a hard time understanding the whole issue.  So we went to a lady who I know speaks English and she translated for us.  The people below us are not living in the apartment and have been gone somewhere for awhile so I don't know how long this might have been happening with the leak.  There is someone else who occasionally comes over to check on the apartment and found the problem.  He took me to the apartment on the lower floor and there was damage clearly from our place.  Our apartment had no signs anywhere of a leak.  I contacted the landlord via email but with no response from her, our neighbor was nice enough to find some workmen who could diagnose and fix the problem on Wednesday.  It was the shower drain pipe, it had become separated from the drain and was cracked.  Now that is fixed and all is OK up here but I have no idea what will happen for the apartment below us and our landlord.  She did show up on Friday and was furious that I had allowed people into our apartment to repair the problem without her approval.  So with all that going on I only did a little sewing and mending.  I hemmed 4 pair of pants, repaired the seat of a pair of pants and just got in today a skirt to alter and two dresses to hem.  I have been learning quilting on-line and I'm planning a quilt to make now.  Tomorrow is the Stoffmarkt so I will go get some supplies.  I also made this pillow this week.