Well I have been off of here for about 4 years and I am not sure I will be getting back to blogging. Anyone who has come here looking for Sweet Sue Sews can now go check out my new shop for 18 inch doll clothes. Please stop by if you would like. https://www.facebook.com/sweetsuesews

Where have I been?

Haven't been on here in soooo long, can't call myself a blogger anymore but I would like to get back to it a bit, maybe not on a day to day basis but lots more than once in awhile. Since May 2010 life has been full, 4 new grandchildren were born, 3 baby boys in 2010 and a new baby girl born in May 2011. My blog was about sewing something I really love and named it Sweet Sue Sews not because I am sweet but because that is what my Dad called me when I was a little girl. I started out by following some blogs and then decided to start one myself. Well it isn't fair to acquire some followers and then just disappear like I did although I really do miss all the sweet, creative people who I came upon so . . . I am going to try to get back to it, no promises, life is full, just like the blog I need to get back to unfinished quilt tops and get some a smocked dress made for baby Helen age 3 months and a Halloween costume made for Andrew age 1. Can't be a slacker on those commitments and don't want to be a slacker here. Thank you for reading! See you soon!

May . . . . well I think it is, but it is cold!

I have neglected my blog for so long that I apologize to any of you who take the time to read it. There hasn't been a specific reason, I guess I was just doing other things and got busy with those things. I have taken the time to read blogs I enjoy myself, but not to write on here.

Back in March we celebrated our oldest granddaughter's 5th birthday. We got Joy an American girl doll for her birthday so I got to sew clothes for her doll. That was a lot of fun!
I told Joy that 5 years old was old enough to take good care of her new dolly and she thought so too. She named her Farrah. As you can see Joy had long brown hair and bangs just like Farrah.

A flannel nightgown

Some blue jeans, these photographed kinda funny but they are made from denim leftover from some old jeans.

A birthday dress, I made one similar for Joy, the birthday girl.

And a little sundress, it was fun to pull out lots of tiny trims and fabric pieces to make these. Many thanks to my sister Anne who picks up trims, laces, buttons, and rick rack from thrift shops for me. I have quite a collection now.

One other thing I got to sew was a costume for a production of Alice and Wonderland that was put on by a local middle school. I was assigned the Queen of Hearts. The costume came out okay but I really didn't like the fabric I worked with to make it, it of course was not the nice cottons I am used to but some polyester fabrics that were appropriate for the queen.
The women in charge of costumes decorated it with hearts and made it ready for the play.

Recently I finished this skirt for my granddaughter Trinity. It is a Pink Fig pattern and great way to use leftover quilt scraps to make something pretty.

Now with summer on its' way I turn my time to flowers and veggies and trying to do my best at that. The weather here in upstate NY has been beautiful this spring until last week and this week where we have been set back to cold temperatures and non-stop wind. Our beautiful lake which usually looks like a mirror is covered with white caps because the wind is blowing so hard. So I need to be patient and wait to plant some things I'd like to plant in the garden. I guess I can always sew!!!


I also have two pregnant daughters and my daughter-in-law who are pregnant. That is always on my mind as I love to sew for new babies and I to be there to help the new Moms with meals or by being there physically to help. Courtney is due very soon and Megan mid summer and Katie in the early fall so the summer will be busy with preparations I am sure.
These beautiful young women left to right are Kate & Lacey(my daughter Courtney's sister-in-laws on her husbands side), my daughter Courtney due on May 26th, Katie (my daughter-in-law) due September 23rd and Megan my daughter due on July 19th. This picture was snapped at a Sprinkle for Courtney which I guess is the newest word for a little shower that was given to Courtney back in April, so funny that they are all pregnant at the same time!


We just finished celebrating our grandson Jason's 3rd birthday and our granddaughter Grace's first birthday. They were both as sweet as could be and we had fun together as a family.














































I made this shirt for Jason from a wonderful pattern that I recently bought. It is from the Scientific Seamstress . You can make this shirt for boys or girls and there are many ways to change it up depending on which way you run the panels and the fabrics that you choose. I found this great fabric with the airplanes in a Almost One of a Kind Quilt Shop in Ballston Spa, NY last fall I believe, I have been holding onto it for something special. If you are looking for different fabrics they had lots of those.

For Grace I made a little peasant dress from the Miss Madeline pattern. Once again this is a very versatile pattern that can be made many ways. I sewed her a little scarf to go with it.

Mother's Day was a lovely day spent going to church with our son Patrick, Katie and their sweet Leanora and then out to breakfast. Mother's Day is such an emotional day for me each year as I miss my own mother so much and wish she was still here. There are so many things that I would love to share with her. Of course she is safe in the hands of God so there is much to be thankful for! Now that I have two daughters who are Moms and two daughter-in-laws who are Moms I cannot but love watching them raise and care for their children. That is the a great gift to a Mom when you get to see that.

Well today is Monday, a beginning to this week at home and as always I have lots of sewing projects I would like to get to but there are always household things I would like to take care of, life is so full, how can anyone ever be bored. I hope to get back to keeping up with this blog better so once again I am sorry for being gone so long.

Rosemarie is safe we believe . . .

Compassion International has posted on their blog a list of the centers that were affected by earthquake. There have been 100 deaths among these centers and many, many injuries. Rosemarie's center was not listed so I am assuming she is safe, but of course we are praying still for all of the people of Haiti. Compassion said they would contact each sponsor so I will wait sorrowing for those that have lost their sponsored child. I want to continue to be mindful of all that my family and I have and look to help more with Haiti in the future.

No news on our Compassion child . . .

My husband and I have supported a little girl named Rosemarie for about 5 years now, she just had her 10th birthday this month. Compassion is doing the best they can to try and let us know what is going on in Haiti as far as everyone's sponsored children. There are 65,000 children in Haiti who are sponsored through Compassion, and when I read that so many of the staff there have been affected by the earthquake and have lost family members themselves it is a heart wrenching situation. Rosemarie did not live in Port-au-Prince but we have no information as of this time as to her safety. I have read that even those that live away from where the earthquake occurred are not okay because the transport of food to them will be impossible. Please pray for Rosemarie and I will post news as I receive it. Thank you very much.

Winter is here and all the fun that comes with it . . . .

I guess it is official, yesterday was the first official day of winter. We love winter here in Northville, we love the snow, we are so happy when the ground is covered and the lake is frozen. The lake we live on is quite large, 29 miles long and 5 miles wide at the widest point so that is a lot of water to freeze solid enough so that it is safe enough to walk on and snowmobile on. My husband and I have not taken up snowmobiling yet or sledding as those that really do it call it but we do enjoy watching them buzzing by on the lake, just not yet, pretty soon the lake will be safe. We have been having weather in the single digits for the last week, really cold and down below zero at night so it will be frozen soon.

The picture above was taken by my brother-in-law Carl during the first real snow that we had and the first weekend of December. We invited my sister Anne and her husband Carl, my brother Barry and his wife Colleen and my sister-in-law Linda and her husband David to spend the weekend up here in the frozen north. I was so surprised when they all responded quickly that they would like to come. I thought everyone would be too busy getting ready for Christmas. What a fun weekend we had of resting, eating, laughing, talking and more talking truly catching up on each other's families. It had been so long since we had been together mostly due to the busyness of life. They came on Friday and stayed until late afternoon on Sunday and truthfully I hated to see them go. Carl took lots of pictures for us to enjoy.

The road leading up to our house, we live down a dirt road.

We girls having a giggle and me making a really strange face, sorry about that!

The guys posing outdoors for us.

Carl was walking around the hot tub taking pictures, I figure this one was safe to post. We all have suits on but not something we love to be photographed in.

Katie,Patrick and Courtney came by to share their kids with their aunts and uncles, they see so little of them that it was special. Anne and Carl brought gingerbread house kits for each of my children to build with their children. Thank you, that was so thoughtful!

Patrick read to the girls Lea Jeanne and Annabelle, they love the books!

Our tree is a little too big this year, I don't do well at estimating size when the tree is outdoors.

The Hop, Skip and a Jump Maternity Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

The Hop, Skip and a Jump Maternity Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

Thank You . . . .

It's been an emotional week looking at the lives of the people at Fort Hood and at all that our soldiers go through. One was even pregrant with her first child. Another said they love being a soldier so much that he didn't even need the paycheck. The stories of how some of those that died had just put in for another 6 years of duty even though they had wives and children at home, it is easy to see they believe the cause for which they are working even though each day they are in harms' way. I just want to say thank you, which sure doesn't seem like enough. My God bless those who serve and protect them and bring them home again.

Two and half months behind . . .

I've never been good at keeping up my blog but this is really the longest I have gone without a post. My husband and I moved this summer and I think trying to get things organized and getting rid of a lot of things has kept us busy. Our family has grown so quickly in the past four and a half years since Joy Courtney our first granddaughter was born, now there are seven grandchildren. We are a close family and celebrating all those birthdays, holidays and special occasions keeps us busy and on the road a lot. I still sew as much as I can but not as much as I would like, which would be about 8 hours a day, 5 days a week if I could! So I will try to review back over the last couple months and share a couple of things I've made.
This is the first onesie dress I have made. Looked it up on lots of blogs and kinda combined their construction ideas. Got this idea of strips of different fabrics from here. Lila has wonderful directions on her blog. I love how it turned out and I think she looked so cute in it. It's fun because you can embellish it, I added a yo yo at the waist, and I added eyelet lace to the bottom (thanks Anne!!). My sister has been picking up so many yards of lace, rick rack, buttons, etc. etc. etc. at Thrift shoppes for me. It is so hard to find quality notions like this nowadays, so few stores have them anymore. Since my husband and I have permanently moved to a rural area this is such a great help to me.


We spent Halloween weekend out in Massachusetts with my son and daughter-in-law and grandkids Jason and Grace. Everyone is growing so fast and Jason is almost 2 1/2 now and Grace is almost 6 months!! Snapped the picture above on Sunday while she was waiting patiently in her crib. I think she looks so cute in her onesie dress.
Here she is with Mommy, she is always full of smiles.
Grace Elizabeth was sporting her Yankee outfit for the World Series when we got there, getting to know her Papa here. She thought he kinda looked like her Daddy.
Our Halloween was lots of fun, we attended a party in the morning and did some Trick or Treating in the evening and ended the day with a delicious dinner that Holly made and a visit with some friends of theirs.
Jason was a Boston Bruins Hockey player, splint on his finger, black eye and all.
Grace was a little skeleton, so cute.
Dad was a Blue Man, which brought him a best costume prize for a dinner date with Holly his Hippie Chick.
Walt and I dragged out the old cap and gowns to get in the spirit although after this pic we took them off, they were hot! Oh and both were Walt's from two different Master Degrees, I don't want to take claim for that!

Our granddaughter Leanora Jeanne will be turning one on Saturday so I decided I would sew her a little patchwork skirt. I went together quickly but was a lot of stitching. I still enjoyed making it and decided to embellish it with more yo yos. For the pattern click here. It is Pink Fig pattern.


I'll have to try and get a picture of her in it and post it later.

Well I am not really caught up on all we have done this summer and fall but it has been a lot of family time and not so much sewing. I will be back to the sewing soon, just getting ready to start sandwiching a quilt I started last summer and my mind is swimming with all the things I'd like to sew.

Just want to give credit for the great pic above to Cathy Tarantelli!