pleated ruffle and smocking

i've been doing some custom orders as of late.
those kind of stress me out.
see, it's easier to make something up, like it and then present it...
have others like and ta-da! all is good.
then it's another thing to have someone want something, give you material have an idea of what they want or even better say "i trust you" and then let you go to town.
in this picture i was responsible of making up 2 pillow shams (and bind the quilt, and make a decorative pillow that was gathered...not shown.)

what i came up with was the "pleated ruffle" small enough to give it some femininity but not over power it with too much ruffle.

when i saw the quilt i thought that if i did anything that would compete with it, it would turn out to be too much. i try to take into consideration the person i'm making things for. she's "ruffle-y" but not too much. :)

i wonder what i would be...in the ruffle dept?a few of you asked how i got katie's 4th of july dress done so fast...
as much as i would love to take credit for the smocking on katie's dress...i cannot.

but that's good news, cause that means that there is pre-smocked fabric out there (mine was from walmart...remember out in the middle of nowhere that's all i got)
and all i did was while in the store, wrap the fabric around katie and then told the attendant to cut it right where i needed it. came home sewed it up (not needing to measure or cut anything because i did it at the store already!) then i took left over ribbon and sewed them on for straps. super fast and seriously took about 4 minutes.
i'm keeping my eye out for more of that kind of fabric because seriously, sooo cheap and soo cute and sooo okay if it gets raggedly worn out. total for the dress was (including ribbon) $3

in other news...

the garden is a growing

we've had unseasonably cold weather out here

but...

we have little white flowers

and that means yummy pickings

soon.

not bad for two sea level city folk wetting their feet of the country life gardening above 7000 ft.