My parents' July visit

Yup, I'm behind. But I'm trying to catch up. :) We had a wonderful visit with my parents a couple of weeks ago. For the most part, we spent the mornings with the guys outside doing projects -- spiffing up the landscaping, doing yardwork, working on the car, spraying the obnoxious and resilient poison ivy, etc -- and the girls were inside, where my mom and I did quick chores and then sat down to our sewing machines. As you'll see in the pictures, the cats -- especially Nyki -- were always at hand to help, too! Some of the highlights...

I took this garage-sale-find skirt...

...and turned it into two pillows and a skirt and shawl for Abigail's doll.

We got my current quilt "sandwiched" (i.e. all the layers put together and ready to quilt). The cats were especially helpful as we laid out all of the fabrics and thoroughly de-wrinkled them by smoothing out each layer with our hands. Sorry for the (over?!)abundance of cat pictures on this one, but they're just so cute!Our magnum opus for the week, though, was a remake of my full-length red wool swing coat. More than once now I have tried to part with it because it's just taking up space...and more than once I have been unable to execute my typical unfeeling clutter-purge with this one. It has sentimental significance for me because my dad bought it for me "just because" back when I was single career woman, 13 or so years ago now. I admired it, and he surprised me with it. I wore it in NY as a single woman; I wore it in Chicago as a newlywed; however, I haven't worn it at all since moving to Georgia. It just isn't appropriate for southern winters...think "overkill"! The idea of remaking it into a less dramatic and more practical pea-coat struck me earlier this year...I floated the idea to my mom (without whom I would never tackle a big project like that!), who was game for it...and now we've conquered it! It was a BIG project. I'm so glad we did it...and it's not something I'm hoping to do again anytime soon! I still have to pick buttons for it and decide whether to add belt loops, but those are minor details. :)

Before(Nyki only grudgingly shared the ironing board with us...she was convinced it was there as a fish-watching perch for her!)I hesitate to use the "after" picture (below), because it does not do justice to the lovely lines and shape of the coat...but you get the general idea of the difference, at least...and I will share one of me wearing it sometime this winter! Our week flew by wayyyyy too fast, but at least we have stuff to show for it!