Easter and Turtleneck to T-shirt

Wow!  What a week we've had!  Easter was not the perfect Easter for us this year.  I woke up at 2am on Sunday morning and was not able to get back to sleep due to my stomach hurting and chest pains.  Not good.  After dealing with this all day, we finally decided that I needed to go to the ER.  My friend Kristin came over to watch Elizabeth while we went. 

We got there and found out that my heart was in perfect working condition.  The EKG was clear.  The doctor's guess was a gall stone.  They did a ultrasound on my gall bladder and found a large stone lodged in the neck of my gall bladder, so surgery was necessary.  I was admitted and surgery was performed Monday morning.  Was discharged Tuesday afternoon and was able to finally shower today!  That is the longest I've gone with no shower in YEARS!  My husband will assure you that a day is not started until I have my shower.

The doctor has limited my activities for a week.  No lifting (even my daughter).  No driving until after my follow up appointment.  No strenuous activity.  I am so blessed to have wonderful friends who immediately stepped up to help.  Daniel has to return to work tomorrow and someone will be here while he is at work to make sure Elizabeth is well taken care of.  I am so thankful for the friends that God has blessed me with.

I was not feeling well enough to attend church on Sunday, but I was tired of laying in bed.  I got up and finished a project that I started a few weeks ago.  This was the easiest thing!  And SO cute!

Turtleneck to T-shirt

1.  Start by cutting off the turtleneck with a seam ripper. 

2.  Next cut the sleeves to the length that you would like them.
3.  With the scraps from the neck and sleeves cut into strips and lay them on the shirt where you would like them to go.  I chose to make ruffled pleats to the neck and sleeves. 
4.  No need to pin or gather.  Just line up the shirt and scrap where you would like it to go and begin folding to make pleats as you sew.  If your scrap is not long enough, just grab another one and continue sewing. 
5.  Voila!  You're done. 

This project took me all of about 20 minutes.  It looks SO much cuter now.  Once again, I was able to extend the life of another piece of Elizabeth's wardrobe.  I have another one that I will work on later this week.

I also love this project because there are so many options you can do with the same technique.  Think flowers, tuxedo style lines, mix n match scraps.  The possibilities are endless.