Linen Tunic

I thought I would share a very easy sewing project.

Linen tunic inspired by Italian Ren camicie and little girls' pillowcase dresses. To take on vacation and wear over bathing suit, tank top & leggings, or as a nightie. Raw edges are intentional.
Start with two rectangles the width of your fabric by 24-30" depending on whether you want a shorter top or a longer tunic. The "hardest" part is pleating the center of one long edge front and back. I left approximately 8" at each end unpleated. This could simply be gathered.

Pin front and back together at the top corners and sew about two inches at each end to create shoulder seams. Pull thread to gather down to about an inch. Then pin short selvage edges together. Leave approx. 10" open at the top to form arm holes. Sew down the side, leaving edge exposed on the outside of the tunic, to hip length leaving the bottom few inches unsewn. (The length of the unsewn vent will depend on the overall length.) Have fun belting and embellishing as you please. You could tie ribbons or lace around the shoulders, too. :)



I think I have some black crinkle cotton in my stash to make another tunic. :D

A new girl

The dolly family grew again. :D
A Blythe Simply Guava doll arrived today and I spent the afternoon customizing her.

ADAD Week One

As you may or may not know I have become obsessed with doll collecting. It started out innocently enough with the purchase of a Blythe "mini-me" On the day Keira was born and has snowballed into a collection of around 40 dolls since then including many more Neo-Blythes, a vintage 1972 Blythe, some asian ball-jointed dolls, various vintage dolls from the 60's and 70's, plus some newer dolls just for fun.
I signed up for a challenge group on Flikr to take and post one photo of a doll every day for a year. These are the photos from week one.

December 2010

Most years December is a busy stressful month but this year it actually felt calm after all of the events of the previous few months! LOL
The first weekend of the month we traveled as a family to Frankenmuth to visit Bronner's and get the girls' photos with Santa. (Stephanie's mother and sister came with us but her dad and Lou both had to work so couldn't come along.)After Bronner's we had a late lunch at Tony's I-75 dinner which is know for it's BLT's made with a POUND of bacon! then the little girls and the guys hung out at the hotel while the big girls had a bit of "retail therapy" at the shops downtown. While at the hotel the babies had their first swim in a pool.







We had our Lyon Family Holiday Gathering on the 5th. Karen and Kathy threw themselves into planning a good time for all (and distracted themselves from their holidays as widows in the process). It was wonderful seeing all of the "kids" (adult nieces and nephews) that we rarely see and having so many new babies there.



I really enjoyed Christmas this year. The kids and grandkids were all here Christmas morning and I just relaxed and enjoyed their company and watching the babies open and play with their toys. We did a brunch this year instead of the big dinner so that Kim and Jason and their families could enjoy the afternoon with in-laws without as much rushing around. We gathered together again in the evening for movies and games. :)







We ended the year on New Year's Eve with a quiet evening at home with tv, snacks, champagne, and family.

November 2010

My mother-in-law, Marie Bernadine Duffy Lyon, was laid to rest on November 2nd. She lives on in the hearts of her many children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and friends.
All the chaos of the previous two weeks took it's toll on Kacie and she was hospitalized on the 4th after suffering six grand mal seizures. No definite cause was found, it was assumed that the disruption of her normal sleeping and eating routine threw her system out of whack. She was released on Sunday after her daily seizure preventative meds were increased and her blood work was back to normal.


On Nov. 13th I attended a doll show and sale in Holland where I met up with some other members of the Den of Angels doll forum. After the show we went to a late lunch where we admired each other's dolls.




Thanksgiving was celebrated with Kim preparing her first big holiday meal in her own home. She had some help from our friend Bree who made a spur-of-the-moment trip from Atlanta to spend a few days with us. After the holiday weekend Kim, Lou, and Julia moved into our home since they plan to buy a house in the spring and weren't able to find a suitable rental that didn't require signing a one year lease.

October 2010

October was a month of roller coaster emotions. Early in the month my mother-in-law was hospitalized for a tear in her esophagus. When it was determined that she was too weak to withstand surgery she was moved to a nursing home to receive hospice care. The end of the month was totally crazy including the scramble to complete plans for Jason & Stephanie's wedding. Then the unexpected passing of my brother-in-law Dick on the 24th (he hadn't been in the best of health but we were expecting him to recover, visitation, and the funeral & burial services on the 28th. The next day, Oct. 29th., my MIL passed away. The bright spot was Jason & Stephanie's wedding and Halloween themed reception on the 30th. Though we were sad that his grandmother and uncle were not there to celebrate with us, everyone seemed to enjoy the much needed break from grieving.

September 2010

September was a very busy month around here!
Kim and Lou were married in a beautiful ceremony at the John Ball Park Zoo followed by a reception in the ballroom above the zoo offices.




Keira's first birthday was September 17th. We celebrated at Chuck E.Cheese.






Later in the month Kim and I traveled by train with Julia to Chicago to meet with our friends Bree, there on business from Atlanta, and Laura, who lives in the area. We decided to go shopping in Chinatown.
(I have to track down those photos!)

August 2010

Tom and I celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary on August 1st. The weekend of the 28th found us at the Michigan Renaissance Festival cheering on Ivor in the Highland games and wishing him a safe return from his deployment. The time in between was filled with preparations for Kim and Lou's wedding.

Sneaky Peek!

Head on over to Jessica*Bree's Blog for a sneak peek at her February project- a "Life Memorabilia" mini album! If you are like me and always saving interesting bits and pieces that don't make it on to your scrapbook pages here is a way to turn them into their own little album.

July 2010

July had me attending baby showers for my niece, Kelly, and my cousin's daughter, Lisa, as well as celebrating Kacie's and Tom's birthdays.


Kacie's birthday gift was the fairy tattoo she had been wanting for a couple of years. Since we were there I got a tattoo too!



On the last Sunday in July Kim and Kacie went to a Blythe doll meet with me at Angela's home near Kalamazoo.