Bits of Bullion Bubble Finished!

I almost finished the Bits of Bullions Bubble, from a class I took in late April from Kari Mecca. Kari has a way with bullions, making them into all sorts of different shapes. What an imagination she has!

As usual for me, the most challenging aspect was making the buttonholes. Even though I have a pretty nice machine, a Husqvarna Viking Designer I, I always cringe when it's time to make these darn things. They never seem to come out on the garment as nicely as they do on the sample piece. These aren't too bad for once.

The only thing left to do is to add some baby rick rack to the seam joining the bodice to the bottom. It's all done by hand, so I can sit on the patio and watch the birds fight around the feeder while I do this. My great niece won't be big enough for another couple of months so I have plenty of time (famous last words, right?).

This fabric is mint green baby lined pique, and it irons beautifully. I had thought my niece (baby's mother) wasn't much for ironing, but when she gave me back some infant clothes they were washed and beautifully ironed.

Some of my favorite bullions: the strawberries in the upper left are pretty hard to get shaped just right, but I love the color combination of dark pink and light green. The worm and candy are made using two colors of floss in the needle. I would never have thought of that! It is pretty difficult to keep the strands side by side while wrapping around the needle, and I wasn't very good at it, but the striped effect came out pretty well. See the cute spider?

I love the mouse and the snail, two pretty disgusting creatures in real life. I have predator snails in my front yard, they eat the large garden snails and consequently, are my buddies.

My all time favorite, the firefly, which we don't have here in California. It doesn't look much like a real one, but the color combination is very pretty.

And finally, here is the whole garment. There is only one thing I didn't care for in the pattern, the crotch seam is sewn in with no snaps to make diaper changing easy. I didn't realize that until I had sewn it in. But then the way my great niece goes through clothes it probably won't last through more than one diaper change anyway. If you would like to follow the entire project, just click here. Kari teaches classes all around the US, so check out her class schedule on her website! She's a great teacher!

Many of you who live outside the US wrote to ask me what in the world is popcorn on the ceilings!  It's an acoustic treatment applied to ceilings from the 50's through late 70's and is now thought to be extremely ugly and a major detraction from selling a house. Some of the treatments applied prior to 1977 even have asbestos, making it a hazard to remove. My house was built in 1978, thank goodness!

Usually it's removed by spraying with water then scraping it off, leaving a huge mess of gloppy plaster all over the plastic on the floor. My contractor is dry scraping, which has left a fine dust all over the house. This photo shows the popcorn partially removed. After it's all removed, then the gouges in the drywall need to be repaired, a new, more subtle treatment applied, then painted. So everything is going to be a mess for quite some time. I've carefully packed all my silk fabrics and threads away, and only left out cotton and linen projects which are easily washed.  Yesterday I vacuumed four bedrooms and the hallway, and had to empty the cleaner three times. I keep telling myself how nice it will be when finally finished.

Happy Stitching! None for me today, I'm working a bit in the morning then taking a few hours to take my mother to lunch, today being her 82nd birthday. Then it's back home to dust and to call in to a late meeting at work. Then, more dusting.