pleasant success all around

being that we don't have day jobs to go to, most of the time we choose to do any kind of shopping that we do in the middle of the week

but yesterday the DH wanted to get out and finish his Christmas shopping, so we went off to the shopping center and split up

mission accomplished -- he found what he was looking for -- and I took care of odds and ends of things
for one thing, I had begun to have serious doubts that I could pull off getting this item finished

so I actually purchased a sleeper for Mr Cute that is a Christmas themed print

but then, emboldened by having one I know will fit so close at hand, I took the plunge and made this pair too

ta da!!

these are just a tiny bit longer than the store bought ones in the body while the arms and legs are just about the same -- that should work!

and as I was putting the ribbing pieces on the sleeves and around the neck I had some time recalling pleasant memories when a great seamstress, Cleone Parker taught me how to apply this pesky rolling ribbed knit stuff to things -- and sending up a little "thank you" that I still remembered how











and since the sewing machine was out, I got that center seam with all the spikes stitched -- in fact, I double stitched it just to be sure everything is going to stay right where I want it to be

then it was back to the hand work, and by the end of the evening I had Steggy all finished -- the pattern is not very clear on the instructions of how to attach the legs, so that took some fiddling -- in the end I put the legs on so it looks like he's walking -- front and back foot far apart on one side and close together on the other

the pattern also talks about using pompoms and buttons for the eyes, but I'm making something here for a child that still puts things right in his mouth, so that was not happening -- I used little circles of the blue fabric instead -- done yo yo style and stitched down in the right places

cool!

and now that he's done, I'm even more sure I did the right thing by reducing the pattern by half

since I had the table cleaned off and the cutting mat out to cut out the sleeper, I just went ahead and cut the stripping so I can get back to working on the Four Seasons piece

then there is the current project on the sticks -- I do love the colors this yarn lays down as you work through the variations

and now that I've done this pattern for a while, it just speeds right along

looking really good

I'm pretty sure I'll have no problem creating 2 or 3 of these by Christmas


so today I hope to get my Christmas cards ready to go into the mail -- we'll see