Allergy shots

I am so grateful for allergy shots.  So grateful.  Growing up, I was always sick.  I constantly had sinus infections and respiratory issues.  This carried into my being an adult.  Since I have started getting allergy shots that has all changed.  I get the maximum amount of shots and the doctor said that it was very rare to have as many allergies as I do without having food allergies, so I am also super thankful for not having any food allergies.

About 3 years ago, I was encouraged to take the Bear Cub for allergy tests by the school nurse.  I figured as long as I was taking her, I would have them test me and take care of the severe reactions I had to Christmas trees and some cats.  The Bear Cub turned out to be allergy free and my whole back puffed up and turned red.  The only trees that I am not allergic to are mountain cedar and live oak, which are the two most common trees here in San Antonio, so I am thankful for that.

I am allergic to both types of dust mites and also dogs.  I have large allergenic dogs that I sleep with and I had so many allergies inside and out that having them in my house did not make a noticeable change in my reactions.  I also carried books everywhere since I started school and so I was basically carrying my dust mite allergies around with me everywhere.  So a 4th thing I am super thankful for is the Kindle.

My two newest family allergens:

Lightning

And Thunder.

Thankful

It's November 1st and I did not realize how long it has been since I posted.  I may have mentioned before that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  For me there is nothing better than celebrating being grateful with friends and family and food.

Today I am especially grateful for heating, especially in the car.  We're having unseasonable cold here in San Antonio and I am not prepared.  I have my grandbabies living with me and I don't have enough warm clothes for me or for the baby handy.  I've made a number of pairs of pants for her but no warm tops yet so I'm so thankful that while dropping all the girls off at school that we can be nice and comfy in the car.

As an added bonus a pic from last night of our household, minus myself and all our animals.

The Grandbaby's quilt

I've always really liked the rail fence quilt pattern for baby and children's quilts.  I made them for my girls and one of my nieces and since I was given free reign over design choice for the grandbaby, I made the rail fence for her, too.

It's high quality quilt fabric and this quilt has already been washed a great number of times and it's holding up well.  You might not be able to tell, but I also embroidered her name in rose gold in one of the corners. 

Previous Make of McCalls 6500

I made this dress for the bear cub July 2013 and it was worn by all three of my girls.  It's one of the few clothing pieces that I made for the girls that I still have.  I am now passing it on to my younger granddaughter. 

Here is the nerdlet at 5 1/2.

And my adopted granddaughter at almost 1 year.

It has lost a little vibrancy from being washed ~12 billion times, but it is still pretty bright and colorful.

She loves the 'Where's Grandma?" game and I was wondering how to capture that smile with the camera.  Apparently, the camera is big enough to play where's grandma.  I didn't get the full on belly giggles, but I still got smiles and chuckles.

Tunic for the Bear Cub

I need to make some long sleeve tunics for the bear cub.  People with Down syndrome in general tend to have long torsos, shorter arms, and shorter legs for their heights compared to duosomy people of the same height.  The bear cub still loves dresses but it makes it more difficult to use the restroom by herself.  Also, it's getting colder and so long sleeves are a better idea right now. Unlike the nerdlet, the bear cub prefers her outfits to coordinate and be as feminine as possible.

I started with a t-shirt that I thought would fit her.  This is a modified Ottobre 4/2018-9, a basic long sleeve t-shirt pattern.  I shortened the sleeves by two inches, added 2 inches to the bottom length and width, and curved the back lower in the back.  This was basically a muslin to see the fit so the inside isn't finished with the serger and I hemmed it with a zigzag.  It's been so long since I did a finish like this that I had forgotten that you can still get a fairly nice piece without the fancy equipment.

You can also see how my nerdlet has decided to wear one of the pairs of pants I showed in my last post.  They are watching Supergirl before they go to school.  Darth Monkey is obsessed with that show.


The fabric was given to me by my cousin and I used it before right after she sent it to me in 2011 to make a shirt.  I don't have any idea what happened to this shirt, but I do believe that I need to pull up Simplicity 4076 to make me some more of them as I remember really liking that design.

I also had forgotten how this knit has such a cool, subtle, silver sparkle. I couldn't quite capture it on camera, but you can see it a bit in this picture.  I have a tiny piece left and I may just have to make my grandbaby a t-shirt or something.

More pants

The first pic is after the nerdlet was wearing them all day.  They have been slightly deformed by her usage.  They were made out of a stretchy denim.   I tried to get some pics of her as she wore them because I thought she looked sort of fantastic and showed off how unique this child is, but she wasn't at her most cooperative.

Anyway here are the other pants.

These last two are pinwale corduroy.

Accuquilt

I've been eyeing the Accuquilt for a while, but I wasn't sure I would use it enough to make it worth it and it was so expensive, especially for the Go!Big which I would really need because of a few diagnoses that I have.  I have the impression that they are on sale only on Black Friday every year and my MIL had expressed interest in using it, too, and so I decided to finally get one and keep it at her house so that she could use it and I wouldn't have to worry about storage.  Win-win.

She received it on Friday and so I gathered some of my batiks together and dragged the family to the in-laws on Saturday so we could play.  Over the course of the day, we cut out six blocks.  It was slow because we didn't have any of it planned out in advance, but I brought home all the pieces we cut.  Today I sewed and pressed the blocks.   I sort of wish I had bought a bigger cube because it is going take a LOT of 6 inch blocks to make a decent size top.

Anyway, here are the blocks lying on the fabric I intend to use for sashing. 

On the sewing front, I've finished another pair of the nerdlet's pants, and I plan on getting a pic to post when she wears them.