Fall Floral Blouse

Fabric

     For a fall style challenge I did with GYPO a floral blouse was on the list.  I had bought this fabric at JoAnn Fabrics.  It is a light silky fabric with all my colors.  This would be my blouse for the challenge.

Pattern

     The pattern I chose was this McCall's pattern.  It is very similar in style to a couple of Coldwater Creek blouses that I have and love.

Fabric detail

     The fabric was a bit difficult to work with as it was quite slippery.  I got it all cut and then started putting it together.  I had a heck of a time doing the neck opening.  Not sure if it was the fabric or the directions.  I have been sewing for a long time and this had me stumped.  After several attempts I finally got it to look okay.

Poor directions with no steps for setting in the sleeve

     Things went better after that.  I prepared the sleeves as the directions stated and then moved on to the next steps.  As I was going to do the hem, I realized that at no point in the directions did it ever say to set in the sleeves.  Fortunately that is a rather straight forward process so it was just fine.  I wonder thought what a beginner might have done.

Finished blouse

     I did close up the neck opening some with some hand stitching otherwise I felt it would have shown too much.

Sleeve detail

     I found some buttons in my stash that worked great for the roll up button tab.

Neckline detail

     After putting it on, it felt longer than my other blouses and longer than it looked on the pattern envelope.  Also I feel like it is a little too roomy.  

     Not sure I would make this pattern again, between the poor directions and the not so flattering fit, it is not going on my must do it again list.

Thanksgiving Meal 2018

Cranberry Jalapeno Dip

     We hosted Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday.  There were 18 of us plus one infant.  I started with a veggie tray, some pretzels and this awesome Cranberry Jalapeño Dip.  My husband declared it one of the best appetizers I have made.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Soup

   

     The first course was Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Soup.  I finally bought myself an immersion blender.  Made making the soup so much easier.  I cheated and bought already cut-up squash.  It helped so much not having to peel and cut that up along with everything else.

Green Beans with Cranberries and Walnuts

     The meat this year was beef roast as I do not like turkey or ham.  The sides included Green Beans with Cranberries and Walnuts, Squash Casserole and Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Mash.  I like using Pinterest to find new recipes.

Squash Casserole

     Our daughter-in-law also made a cranberry relish using Jell-O.  It was really good.  I wasn't too fond of the green beans dish but the squash and sweet potatoes were really good.

Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Mash

     I did not have any topping on my sweet potatoes like the photo shows, the recipe didn't call for anything and several family members don't like or are allergic to nuts.  I made the green beans with one bowl only with nuts, the other had none.

Acorns for dessert

     For dessert we had Hershey Kiss Acorns that my daughter and her two kids made, Pumpkin Cheesecake Trifle that I made and sweet potato brownies that my older son made.  It was all yummy.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Trifle

Halloween T-shirts

Hooped through the arms

     My daughter asked if I could embroider a couple of t-shirts for the kids to wear on Halloween.  My grandson's costume, a traffic light, was not very conducive to wearing during the school day.  He wanted a skeleton on his.  I didn't have any I liked in my stash of designs, so off to Embroidery Library.  I found a cute one there.

Dancing skeleton

     To hoop his shirt, I put the arms of the embroidery hoop through the arms of the t-shirt and then made sure the bobbin arm went through the neck opening.  Some iron-on mesh stabilizer on the shirt and a piece of tear-away floated under the shirt provided all the support needed.

Hooped through the neck and bottom

     My granddaughter didn't want a costume, just a shirt with a Jack-o-lantern on it.  She had seen one that had eyelashes and a heart shaped nose.  Again nothing in my stash of designs.  I found this build a Jack-o-lantern at Embroidery Library.   I just used iron-on mesh stabilizer on her shirt because the fabric appliqué helped to support the stitches.

Ladylike Jack-o-lantern

    I built the Jack-o-lantern in my software, choosing the eyes with eyelashes and a pretty lips mouth. Because her design was taller, I hooped her shirt with the arms of the embroidery hoop through the neck and bottom of the shirt.  Then the bobbin arm went through a sleeve.

Two cuties on Halloween

     They both liked their shirts.  My grandson liked to pose like the dancing skeleton and my granddaughter really liked the fancy eyes and lips on her Jack-o-lantern.