Sunday, April 12, 2009

Easter update

Hard to believe I haven't blogged since Monday but I'm back!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter, celebrating the resurrection of our savior. We attended a cantata at a friend's church on Friday night and on Saturday, we went to hear Earl narrate the program at his church. Both programs were beautiful as well as powerful. They helped us focus our attention once again on the sacrifice Christ made for us and we are thankful we were able to see them.



Here are the girls in their Easter dresses. Julianne's dress was a deal we picked up a couple months ago on a clearance rack. The colors are so "her" and she loves paisley as well. I was thrilled to get it for about $6.

Allison's dress, on the other hand, while also not terribly expensive monetarily, cost me many hours this week and is partly to blame for my blogging absence.

Since we didn't happen across any dresses she just loved, we picked up a pattern and fabric. The pattern looked simple, especially compared to last year's dress. We found fabric she liked on clearance for $3/yard, so the price didn't dissuade me.

I learned some things in making this dress:

1. Read the envelope carefully. This simple dress has a fully lined bodice-not something I had ever done before. It was not wonderful to realize this when I was ready to get started but didn't have lining fabric.

2. I have now mastered the blind hem stitch on my sewing machine-another first for me, and a skill I'm thrilled to have acquired.

3. The inside of this dress is more impressive than the outside. It so does not look like the amount of time I spent on it. (I do a lot of ripping out when I sew.)




A close up of Julianne's purse. We found it at a second hand store somewhere a couple years ago, I think.

After church, we were invited for dinner at Earl and Kathy's.



I made rolls for lunch but snuck in a couple loaves of French Sweet Bread, too, as requested by niece Lauren. Oddly enough, the sweet bread stayed in front of her as everything else was passed around the table. Finally, someone noticed and she had to give it up.

We had a great time together, as always. Dinner was delicious and we got to try Earl's newest cheesecake recipe, a white chocolate-raspberry one. Yes, it is just as yummy as it sounds.

Hopefully, this week will be a bit less busy and I'll post something before the whole week gets away from me again.
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5 comments:

  1. The dress turned out great! Congrats for the new skills learned.

    I made homemade sticky buns for our breakfast at church yesterday...well, I actually made them until about 12am Sat night/Sun morning. They were awesome! Especially fresh from the oven at that hour. (If I do say so)

    That Sweet French Bread is going to be the latest rage....I think the Rabes are hooked on it too.

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  2. Kathy,

    You did a great job on that dress. I sew (although I haven't ever done a blind hem stitch yet!) and I know how much work goes into it! I have lined bodices before - they are not difficult to do, as long as you know you have to do them! Yikes! I can say I have scrambled around to find lining material out of my fabric stash a few times!

    The girls look lovely and I love the colors in Julianne's dress, oh and my daughter will be having purse envy when she sees her handbag!

    I have yet to make the Sweet French bread or any homemade bread yet, although I did make homemade pizza crust and it was great! I just need to set aside time to do the bread...soon, very soon. I am in love with the French Sweet Bread...ahhh.

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  3. The girls look beautiful!! WOW that purse matches perfectly and it a treasure! Sounds like a great day! We had friends invite us over also!!

    I am doing the Amish Friendship bread starter right now. I just divided it today and will bake some bread!!

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  4. ooh thank you so much for bringing the french bread! it was SOOO delicious!! MMMM. Love you!

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  5. Your girls look beautiful!!!
    The bread looks good too :) Mmmm.
    Blessings,
    Pam

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Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with me!