Fifties Dress No 10 and Pretty in Purple

The time slips away so quickly but at last Fifites Dress No 10 for "Dress Me Up" is done.  Two more to do.

And for a bit of variety I started one which had been torn out of a magazine and was labelled Chris Jurd's "Pretty in Purple"

And here is my unfinished version.  I still have to buy the fabric for the final border - possibly I'll use the same floral fabric as the large scallops - and make a pile of those little purple circles to  fit in between the triangles.    I had promised myself that I'd never again attempt to needle-turn stems and leaves but really, these circles come in the same frustrating category !  I'm all thunbs when it comes to  needle-turning.

Fifties Dress No 6 and some Little Baskets

At last I've reached the half way mark with Dress No 6 of the Fifties-style dresses for the Dress Me Up quilt.

Reaching a half way mark gives you the urge to start something new - it would be a terrible thing if my stack of UFOs got any smaller.   So with some charm squares from Moda's Buttercup I started on some wee baskets following Brandie's instructions.

Why do my photos never look as good as the real thing.  These should look  really soft and pretty.  The background is the cream from the same range with occasionally a lightly patterned background. I can't say that I'm a great fan of stitching the handles though. I haven't calculated yet how many more I have to do.  At the moment they are 3 1/2" square.

I've just realized that there are less than eight weeks until Christmas.  So it would seem that I'm now working on next year's UFOs.

Fifties Dresses No 4 and 5, and some of the real thing..

Dresses No 4 and 5 means I'm nearly half way through the 12 dresses for the Dress Me Up quilt.

No 4, in blue, must be going somewhere special as her beau has brought her a corsage to wear.

While No 5  is in green with some variegated hail spots.

It's been interesting to look through some old albums with black and white photos of family and friends in the 1950s  to see how fashionable they were when compared to these imaginary creations.

Fresh flower corsages were a regular feature of special occasions.

Spots of various sizes, sleeveless dresses, front button openings,

Waists alway belted - 

All of these dresses were home made.

Another special moment recently was when I opened a parcel from my fabric pen-pal to find this lovely zippered  carry-all.

Just perfect for holding the essential supplies which are common to all projects. I take my embroidery with me to so many places and invariably find I've left something behind.  This solves the problem!