DeJo does...reality checks!

Nothing crafty or creative today.

This one is for all you mothers out there! Thank you!

My husband and I were at dinner last evening with several other coworkers of my husbands, celebrating a retirement. There were four children in our party of about 15, ranging from age of three months to pre-teen. The restaurant was quite crowded and noisy, the children were pretty well behaved by most peoples standards. Directly behind me sat two women about 30ish. While holding my 18 month old son, whom my husband and I anguished to have long before he arrived, I overheard their conversation which went something like this..."Every time I think I want to have a baby I just invite my nieces and nephews over and that immediately changes my mind! Sometimes I do think I would like to shop for and dress a baby or even decorate a nursery, but I don't think I really want the hassle."

OK Here it is...

Reality check ladies!

You don't go through nine months of pregnancy and hours and hours of labor so you can go shopping for something cute!

You have children because you want to grow these cute little things to be responsible caring adults. You become parents because, as my husband would say, to be "nurturing engineers." Parenthood is not about you! It is a hassle. There are may days that I would give anything for five minutes alone in the bathroom. So to those two lovely women in the restaurant last evening... YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE CHILDREN! Leave it to those of us that really want it, and really enjoy it!

DeJo does....Heirloom sewing.

I had been keeping this project in the back of my mind for quite a while. I had seen this gorgeous Christening gown in an issue of "Sew Beautiful" magazine. I figured the right recipient would come along sooner or later so I stashed the issue away for future reference.

Finished at last!

My good friend Melissa became pregnant with a daughter this past year and I offered to sew her Christening gown. When she told me that her daughter would be Christened in the winter months I promptly dug out the issue and began my search for fabric. I didn't use the suggested fabrics that would have been ordered from the web. I instead found alternatives that would be easier care and a bit less expensive locally.

 The original pattern had the coat sewn onto the dress, making it all one piece. I decided it would be nice to be able to take the coat off in case it is warm. I made the dress sleeves the same as the coat and embroidered on each of them.

I added embroidery to the bodice and made the dress separate from the coat. The sleeves also have embroidery on them.

I used a different embroidery pattern. I wanted something with roses.

 I think it turned out quite lovely! It went together very easily. The details were simple to apply, just a bit time consuming. I hadn't attempted a project from "Sew Beautiful" before, but the instructions were clear and easy to follow.

Issue 127, I think you can still order back issues from the "Sew Beautiful" website.

http://www.sewbeautifulmag.com/currentissue.html