Flannel pj pants

I pressed and laid out four layers of fabric to cut two pairs at once.  After cutting I mark the back pieces with a safety pin well below the sewing lines.

The sewing instructions have been lost for many years, this is what I do.  Serge the leg bottoms and the top waist band before sewing.  Sew the front and back side seams together, then serge the seam.  Next sew the the inseams and serge. 

Turn one leg right side out and insert into the other leg to sew and serge the centre seam front to back.  Next turn over one and one quarter inches on the waistband to make the casing.  Insert a tag of grosgrain ribbon to permanently mark the back.  Sew around bottom edge of the casing leaving a two inch opening.  After threading the elastic and sewing the ends together,  sew the casing closed.  Move the flannel around the waist band to make the gathers even.  Then while holding the fabric with the elastic stretched to completely smooth out the waist band,  top stitch from the top edge and in the middle to keep the elastic in place.

This is a very simple, quick item to sew.

Exactly three hours and thirty-nine minutes from start to finish for two pairs.
Now for the big question, what should I make for a Halloween costume party on October 26th? 

October FMQ Challenge - stitch your name

Well this month's quilting expert is Teri Lucas.  She provided a very interesting challenge, stitch your own name in the block then fill the block in using a variety of fillers and threads.  Teri suggested satin fabric.  However, my free motion sample quilt is all cotton so that is what I used.  I practiced on paper first, those nautilus shells were difficult to master.  I also made a practice sandwich using my daughter's name.

 My block ready for quilting.

I marked my name with a Sewline ceramic pencil.

Schmetz 90/14 embroidery needle.

100% polyester thread.

Every time I change threads, I sew a few stitches on a scrap to ensure the machine is sewing properly.  With this challenge I changed threads many times.

The pink lightning bolt is 100% polyester triolobal embroidery thread.

The variegated thread is 100% polyester serger thread.

The green grid board is 100% polyester serger thread.

The light green leaves are 100% cotton Guitermann quilting thread.

The nautilus shells are 100% cotton denim thread.

The pink pebbles are 100% polyester embroidery thread by Marathon threads in Winnipeg.

At first I found these shells quite unruly to stitch out, after practicing a few times they went from unruly to fun.

 

 

  Yippee!  My block is finished!  ~dancing around the room with glee~

Back side view.  Thread colour selection was limited because vivid yellows, oranges and reds would clash with the pink fabric.

 

As the back is unbleached cotton any thread colour looks great, except beige which is hard to see.

 

 

I went to a huge craft sale on October 20th and bought a new tea pot for the sewing room.  What do you think of it?

Combining and fall leaves

There is an abundance of activity on the prairies of Manitoba this time of year.

I shot this short video with my Iphone 4s on August 11, 2012 while walking my dog on 34th street south.  This harvest is on the field across the street and four blocks south of where I live.

The humming bird photos were taken on September 1, 2012 while enjoying a lovely summer evening with my husband and dog.

This feeder is hanging right beside my dining room windows.  I shot these photos and video from our deck with my  Ipone 4s.

 These wonderful fall leaves were taken on October 1, 2012.

These photos were taken with my Canon Rebel XT SLR camera using a Hoya cir-polarizing filter.

 

 

 

 

 

 My neighbour's tree across the street from our house.

 Looking up at the tree in our front yard.

 

 Ornamental gourds.

 The photos below were taken with my Iphone 4s on my dog walk this afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weather forecast is for snow on Wednesday October 3rd, so we need to enjoy this lovely fall season while we can.