Testing Done - Whew!

Yesterday was hot and muggy. The high got to 33C with a humidex of nearly 40C. In mid afternoon, the sky darkened, thunder rumbled and it poured rain. The temperature dropped but it didn't cool off. All day it was like walking into a sauna when you stepped outdoors. 

Lifestyle

Daughter-in-law and grandson arrived after lunch and we walked the garden. The first carrot was pulled and eaten. So sweet. The grape tomatoes are growing quickly now and we are looking forward to the first picking in about 3 weeks.
The Spousal Unit reported that one tub of English long cucumber plants has 5 blooms on it. Time to start training them to grow up. 

Health

I hope I am improving as I have less stress on my plate today. I am not going to worry about things at the moment other than doing what I can/need to do.

Sewing

I finished up the test pattern and am thankful it is done. 

One of the stresses I have is flat cotton eyelet in a width suitable for dolls. I wasn't going to do any lace or trim on the dress but it was ugly without it. I found some trim in the stash and carefully zig-zagged it onto the neckline and sleeves before adding the elastic. Perfect. I had enough to add it to the hem. 
I had issues with the directions (as did others) and had to do some adaptions. The directions say to tie the 1/8" elastic to the 1/4" ribbon. Not in my sewing room. I stitched the ribbon on and figured out a better way for another time. 

My dress was suppose to be a maxi and I didn't have enough fabric to do the ruffle. So, I had to shorten it. The other issue was the bias binding at the neck. She called for 3 pieces, then 4 and I had to cut 5. It all worked out in the end.

The one neat trick was to add a button so you can button the dress together. It was ingenious. I may have to put mine down a bit further so the fronts are even. 
I now need to make a skirt that I cut out. I may clean up the sewing room before I sew it. I've got quite the mess down there. I can do some machine embroidery (eyelet) while I am cleaning. 

Knitting

I finished the sweater set I was testing for the lady here Nova Scotia. It needs buttons on it and then I can do pictures. It is cute. 
Next up is tidying up the knitting and starting the next test pattern. A really cute sweater. I'm doing it in off white so it can be worn with a lot of items. 

Today

This morning I am doing a bunch of cleaning upstairs and in the afternoon I will clean the sewing room while the embroidery machine stitches out some eyelet. Knitting will be set up for the next test pattern. 
Until the next time.......................