Grady Gowns

On Saturday, four members of the local smocking guild (Columbia Cablers) met to cut, assemble and pleat Grady gowns which we then donate to the NICU at Kadlec Hospital. These small gowns are full and open at the arms making it easy for the nurses to care for all the tubes and such that are needed in the care of a premature infant, but they are also hand-smocked and pretty helping the parents and staff to see the baby as a little person. This project is on-going with the guild and has been for many years. Several of our members have been through the premature baby wringer and know how a pretty gown on your baby can bring comfort to a very difficult situation. Although there were only four of us, we were able to construct about 24 gowns with a good measure of efficiency! One of our goals is to increase the number of gowns we donate, as in the last few years our membership has dwindled and the new members have been very new to smocking so that the learning curve has affected production. We had a nice day together in Laura's lovely sewing room, enjoying a potluck lunch, and finishing by mid-afternoon. We each took a couple of gowns home to smock and return to our next meeting.

On my return home I found a new pile of sheep doo! You can read DH's account in his Dogberry Patch blog and see pics of the process. Monday afternoon I was able to almost finish filling in the garden with the help of Melanie's friend, Daniel. Perhaps I'll be able to actually finish later this afternoon. We're enjoying some especially fine autumn weather!

On the stitching front, I finally correctly completed the scotch stitch on Autumn Banner, and have begun the process of picking out the little pink flowers which now seem totally out of place. The yellow-gold floss I had nearby is very bold, so I think I need to find a toned-down version and it will be perfect.