Rainy Days & Mondays

Rainy Days and Mondays.......
  mean it's time to stay home and smock!

100% chance of rain. Perhaps there will be thunderstorms. The weather predictions were enough to keep most of us home today. And inside.....unlike this smocked cutie. This is the work of Claire Meldrum. Claire isn't a member of MOS, but her darling dress brightened this deary day, so it was definitely worth sharing. She used Janet Gilbert's plate Rainy Days and a vintage pattern from the 1950's. Check out the details at www.clairemeldrum.ca/flowers-showers-and-smocking/.

On this rainy day here across Houston, Texas, several MOS members are working on Trisha Smith's Peg Pocket Dress. Trisha taught a class to our group in late January using this pattern. She is a gracious, fun, and informative teacher. We had a blast (but we always have fun together, no matter what we're doing!) and learned so many construction techniques. Most of us have been sewing and smocking a very long time, so learning new techniques and tips was a wonderful bonus. We'll be bringing our finished dresses to our monthly meeting in April to see who's finished. How fun it will be to have a room full of these dresses in all different colors and prints!

Here's one of them in progress:

Yep, not any further along in the process than when the class ended last month. Hopefully, something will get accomplished on this lazy, rainy day. Won't this be precious when it's finished? It speaks of Spring and warmer, clearer days when little girls will once again be running around, twirling their dresses. For now, it brings focus to a day that could drag by without much accomplished. So for now, it's back to the sewing machine.

Keep smocking and creating, but most of all, keep smiling! Life's too short to spend it with a frown (even on a rainy, dreary day)!!