Mary Jane Slippers, Skirts and Photos

I love slippers. Or socks. Anything that keeps your feet warm. Growing up in the midwest you always wear socks because most of the time it's chilly or snowy. But here in the desert I'm the only one who goes to bed with socks on. So the Mary Jane pattern for slippers seemed to be the best fit, with my feet being covered with holes open to breathe.

I made them last fall here, too. So these are for my sister on her mission. And there might be another pair in the works for my other sister although I won't comfirm it, Aly!

As you can see, the same foot model was back to model these :) They are so easy to put together, the instructions are clear and the stitching is basic.
(Although I confess, I did have to look up what one of them was but it was easy to master.)

They are a great Christmas gift for those of you already scheming ahead of schedule!
Pattern HERE!

Another project in the works is this skirt by Sewing in No Man's Land.

I just love it because it's a little high waisted but not so much that you have to be toothpick thin to make it look good. For those of us girls with hips you know what I mean.
Anyway, I wish I had her gorgeous yellow fabric but instead I have this white fabric with two shades of brown flowers printed on it that I think will look good. The only fabric that matched was a white cotton but it was too much white so I decided to dye it:

I love that you can see the steam from the water in this shot! I boiled 4 cups of water for every yard I had. When it comes to a boil, add 2 tea bags for every 8 ounces (or cup) of water and let it steep for about 5 minutes.

I let my fabric sit for an hour, stirring occasionally and the result was this light sand color

It's s semi-permanent dye but I put it through the drier and ironed it to lock in some of the color. If I'm honest, I don't launder my church clothes as often as everyday wear so it should last a while! Hopefully I'll finish the skirt today and show a pic of the finished product!

Last week our little family got the hiking bug and ended up hiking three different trails over two days. I filled up my camera's memory with photos and am sorting through them all to weed out the best ones. Here are a few of my favorites so far:

Ok well this isn't on of my favs but it's me up at the top of Cathedral Rock trail

And here's a little preview of the Renaissance Fair we went to on Sat which I'll post about, again, after I sort through my pictures. It was very interesting to say the least!