Changing Pad Cover

            Recently made a couple of changing pad covers for the new baby in the neighborhood.  I used the directions provided by A Small Snipet.

I wanted this cover to be soft for the newborn so I started with a receiving blanket.  To keep with the theme of the baby's room, an elephant was first machine embroidered on the corner of the blanket.
The applique was download FREE from bunnycup.com. It's called Little Elephant Applique.  Several file types are available in one zip loaded file.

 Then fabric from a fleece blanket was sewn on the edges of the receiving blanket to create the size needed for the dimensions as directed in the instructions.

Instead of elastic, I used a string to pull as tightly as needed. 

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"Drive Bye Shooting" Things You Don't See on I-75 in GA

Pecan Grove

     We spent our last night in Lake Park, GA on our May Florida trip. Lake Park practically sits on the GA line.  We got there via the northern non-interstate Florida highways the day before.  For the past week, we had not traveled the Interstates since we got off I-75 at Macon, GA the week before.  So this day was no exception.  From Lake Park we continued north traveling the state's highways. A lot of the highway was 4 lane or at least straight.  We loved the scenery and the things we got to see that aren't on I-75.  We would have liked to have made frequent stops, but we had a graduation in Kentucky to go to the next day.

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Now, just take a look and see how many of these things you would NOT see if you travel I-75.

Traveling through small towns reminded us of our Route 66 trip.  We were surprised to find gas cheaper in some of these small towns.

Olive Grove

            It was a beautiful, sunny cool 73°F morning with a sweet flower smell in the air.  We finally realized it was these wild, white flowers on the roadside.  Can a Georgia friend identify them?

              What some folks may call old buildings, we see as history.  Glad someone is taking care of them.  A great part of the site seeing experience.

         We didn't realize our paths would cross until we saw this statue.  This was the intersection we had crossed a week ago on the way to Jacksonville, Fl from Macon, GA.

I am a Civil War - Gone with the Wind nut.

So you know what these sights made me think.

As we got closer to the Smoky Mountains, we saw LOTS of apple businesses.

         It took us all day to go from the southern border to northern border of Georgia.  It got very cloudy and too dark to take "drive bye shots."  As I looked at the map, I realized there was a lot of the southwestern Smoky Mountain area we had not traveled.  So, I've added that to my bucket list.

               It was a VERY long day of driving.  Mr. G thought he was destined to spend the rest of his life in Georgia.  We got back on the Interstate in Cleveland, TN, which meant we had skirted the horrible Friday rush hour in both Atlanta and Chattanooga.   On the radio we kept hearing of accidents and backed up traffic on the roads we would have taken.  Not once were we in a back up, not even behind a farm tractor!  I'm so glad we didn't miss seeing these sights and glad I got to "shoot" them.

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Also:

http://dagmarbleasdale.com/

http://www.paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.com/  just birds.
http://royalegacy.blogspot.com/  
http://skyley.blogspot.com/  

 

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Ruffled Purse Skirt

       A friend gave me these strips of fabric some time ago and I immediately thought I'd put them in a pillow cover.  I really like the comforting colors.  However, I got this idea! Make a skirt for my 31 Skirt Purse. (I don't think they sell it anymore?)

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First, I surged both edges of each strip.

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 I grabbed an old rufflier which came from my Momma's machine accessory box, clean but rusted a bit, and put it on my big, modern sewing machine.  So glad things like this are interchangeable.

 Because of this rufflier, I was able to quickly and consistently gather each strip.

I did test settings on other fabrics to see how much to gather each strip to fit best on my pattern.

  Then, I cut a base fabric from my FREE PATTERN.

Sorry, I don't have a pattern for the newest skirt purse. I don't own that 31 purse.

 I decided how far apart I wanted to lay the strips and marked the base with an air marker which I use when I'm getting on with the project.

Like putting shingles on the roof of the house, start with the bottom strip first.

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       I first laid the strip upside down, right sides together, but realized that would not let the ruffle lay down well without an added row of top stitching stitching which would take extra time. 

So, DO NOT DO WHAT YOU SEE BELOW.

Instead, since the edges have been surged, lay flat like you see below.

I didn't trust my markings totally and always checked each side to make sure the strip ends were matching.

However, for the top row ruffle, you will want to lay upside.

 Then turn down and top stitch about 1/4 inch from the edge.

Now follow my tutorial HERE to finish putting the purse skirt together.

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I've really had fun making skirts for my 31 Skirt Purse.

I basically have a new purse for anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes of my time, depending on details, 

and always using scrap pieces of fabrics or unused, unneeded, unusable clothing

and other fabric finds from curtains, sheets and such.

Think totally out of the box to make your own unique purse skirt.

Again, you can find my free pattern HERE.

I hope you are or will too.

enJOY!

"Drive Bye Shootings" Anna Maria Island to Lake Park, GA

As we left our cozy motel room on Anna Maria Island, we stopped at the Public Park/Beach.  We decided this would be a great place to return sometime and spend maybe a couple of hours on this massive beach.

I-275 between Palmetto & St. Petersburg, FL

You might want to check out this link to a picture from the water found on Panoramio

Most bridges have the support on each side of the bridge.  

The support was in the middle of this bridge.

  Going from St. Petersburg to St. Pete Beach on HWY 679-682, you'll find the Don Cesar Resort hotel in the corner turn as you go on the island. I took a picture because it reminded me of a grand white hotel my family stayed in on my first trip ever to Florida when I was in high school.  However, in trying to find the history of this hotel, apparently as long as it's been a hotel, it's always been pink because that was Don Cesar's dream.

   Wikipedia tells an interesting history of this hotel which opened in 1928.  During WW2 it was a VA hospital.  In 1967 the VA moved out and had plans to raze the building, but locals came to the rescue.  Sounds like it would have been a waste to have torn down this building, because Mr. Cesar had a special contractor to pay attention to building this grand structure on sand. Contractor Carlton "Beard devised a floating concrete pad and pyramid footings. To this day there is no sign of evident settling of the hotel."

      While all beach strips seem to be one in the same, every once in a while you come upon something different.

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      Not a lot of shooting happened after we got off of St. Pete. On the west coast of FL no road travels close to the coast. We traveled Alt 19 and drove roads as close to the coast as possible, but still couldn't see the coast.  Had a nice lunch in a cove watching boats going in and out and birds begging for our food.  We stayed off of HWY 19 as much as possible to avoid all the stop lights.  It was quick traveling after we got past North Weeki Wachee.  At Chiefland we took highways headed straight North.

              I think it was north of I-10 close to the Georgia border, we started seeing yellow flowers EVERYWHERE!  I didn't get a close look, but they looked like Brown Eyed Susans which we won't see here for another 2 months. 

          The hotel was a much welcomed rest, so much in fact, you may have noticed I didn't take the time to blog.  We snacked on apples, & peanut butter sandwiches and hit the bed.  When I look back at the map and saw how far we traveled, I know why we were so tired.  Especially poor Mr. G who did all the driving.

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