A couple of weeks ago, when the temperature an unseasonal 80 degrees, I had the urgent desire to sew clothes. Right then. I listened to my inner voice and did it. This blouse is the result.

The pattern is the Painted Portrait Dress and Blouse by Anna Maria Horner. I have used this pattern before when I was at Weekend Sewing with Heather Ross last October. Anna had just released it at the time and I decided to make the dress version with sleeves. The entire thing got sewn that weekend, but I haven't blogged about it because I am *still* embellishing the yoke with embroidery. (And also, as I look at that photo, I think I'm going to have to change the pockets, too.) I LOVED sewing that dress - it didn't hurt that Anna was there to help me fit it properly. Sewing this blouse was just as fun, but faster - no sleeves, no pockets, shorter length. I cut it out one afternoon and sewed it up the next day.

The Little Folks dobby dots came from my stash. (LOVE using my stash!) It is a great choice for this because it is light-weight and drapes beautifully. Voile would be great (that's what I made the dress out of) as would a cotton lawn. Quilting cotton would be crisper, but I think would still work. Anyhow, I did some fussy cutting for the front and back yokes. I especially like how the back one looks and Fatty gets credit for suggesting that the square be split with the borders in the middle. Smart man.

In New York, I was able to try on a sample in size medium. It fit me pretty well in the torso, but was a smidge small in the bust. To compensate, I made the size large and took it in on the back princess seams. That's what Anna suggested and that is what I did on the dress. For this blouse, I took the dress and copied the sewing lines of my back seams onto the blouse and sewed accordingly. It worked pretty well.

It's a well-written pattern and a fairly fast sew, especially the second time around. I especially love how the armholes and hem are done with bias tape. That is not to say that I didn't make any mistakes. Boy, did I ever. A little mishap with the serger at the very end (can you say a HOLE in the blouse?!?) left me scrambling to cover my tracks. I was able to fix it well enough that I think I'm the only one who can see it, but the fit is a little off. No big loss, but I definitely won't be serging the seams after they are sewn the next time around.

I'm plotting the next version. I think it'll be a sleeveless dress for summer, probably with a patchwork yoke. I'll keep you posted.

Have a great weekend!

I'm not talking cows here. Although I do like cows. No, I'm talking MOO, the online printing business. A few weeks ago, they asked me if I'd be interested in taking a look at some of their products. I said yes. (And as a matter of full disclosure, the products were given to me for free, but the opinion of them is entirely my own.)

I knew that I wanted to try out MOO's stickers. I had seen the little bitty ones on someone's flickr stream awhile back and thought they looked fun. While I was at it, I decided to see what the big stickers were like as well as the business cards.

It was super easy to design my MOO products. Because they have a partnership with flickr, I was able to put my flickr photos on the stickers and cards. The best part is that you can choose 1 photo or many different ones. In the case of the StickerBook, there are 90 stickers and each can have a different photo on it if you wish. Cool, huh? The same goes with the rectangular stickers and the business cards - you have the option of one style or many. I love that! Of course, if you don't use flickr, you can still upload your own photos for MOO products.

The little stickers are little, but they pack a punch! The girls really like them. The book of 90 would be a great present for a kid or you could use a sheet or two per guest for a birthday party favor.

For the rectangular stickers, I chose to go with one photo for all 50. I thought that these would be cute on birthday cards or to attach a gift card to a handwritten note. The size is nice and the print quality is great, too.

My favorite product are the business cards. This surprised me. I was totally expecting to be wowed by the cuteness of the stickers, but these cards are awesome! They are great quality, heavy card stock. I set up my information in Illustrator, but you could just as easily fill out the pre-set forms on MOO. I chose a variety of different photos of my patchwork camera straps for the other side. I'm excited to stick these in the packages of the next batch of straps.

Overall, I was very impressed with MOO's products and their service. The turn around time was fast. They estimated it would take about 10 business days, but I ended up getting my order in about a week's time. Love that! I also love that they gave me a promo code to pass along. If you are interested in ordering from MOO, click on this link for 10% off your order. How's that for nice?

More information on MOO can be found here.

This is my friend Jodi's 40th birthday present. She got it just about 2.5 years late. Thank goodness she is a patient person!

(I'm sorry the photos are crap - I wrapped it up and mailed it off before I really looked at them so there's no going back.)

I made this quilt over 8 months. I pieced a couple of the squares last summer and wasn't feeling it so I set them aside. When I pulled them back out this winter, I knew exactly what I needed to do. Funny how taking time away from something makes it all clear, isn't it?

The blocks are log cabin-ish. I snuck little bits of some of my favorite fabrics in them. I loved having the limited palette of green and brown - it made me really think about the values of the colors and the patterns. The blocks are all different sizes - I just used the Kona snow to fill out the column width and then added more to each side to get the whole top. I didn't measure it, but it's pretty generous - maybe 65 x 80" or so? The back is two solids from my stash - one green and one brown - separated by a strip of a print with a little patchwork for flavor. I quilted it myself with the figure 8-ish loops in white thread and then hand bound it with a lime green solid. And although it is not perfect, I'm so happy with how it came out. The birthday girl likes it, too!

With this quilt complete, I have knocked all 2012 sewing goals off of my list. That feels pretty darn good. Anything from this point on will be like icing on the cake.

I'm completely flattered and honored that Shari asked me to share my spring manifesto on her blog, The Art of Seeing Things. Hop on over to see what I plan on doing this spring. I'm so excited to read what her upcoming guests have in store for the season, too. I just love this time of year.

I'll be back here tomorrow. See you then.

Early spring.

Crisp Tiffany blue, shades of sky, petal pale pink with a pop of bright.

Green beads and patent shoes.

Warm, very warm, weather.

Loads of sunshine.

Mexican dinners eaten outside.

Open windows for a cross breeze and cool sleeping.

Books before bed and Vosges Goji bars.

This morning, after the kids were at school and I had walked the dog, I started bread dough.

There was a time not so long ago, but also not in the recent past, when Fatty declared that I needed to bake more bread. Mind you, this was not a declaration of his love of freshly baked bread, although I think he does enjoy it. Nor was it a testament to my baking skills - he doesn't like a lot of sweets.  He said that I am happier when I am baking bread.

Truth be told, I was taken aback. It's not that I don't like to bake - I do find it very enjoyable, although my waistline does not. I just didn't see it. I didn't see the happier when baking scenario. But his words weighed on my mind, and still sometimes do. Bread? Really? After awhile of pondering how baking bread could possibly be making me happier, I had the revelation. The bread baking was just another way of making. It was the making that was producing happiness.

I need to make.

So today because I had things that I had to do while the kids were at school and I knew that after they were home, I would not have time, I did my making early. I mixed the water with the yeast and the salt and slowly stirred in the flour. I let rise on the counter for 3 hours before baking a loaf for dinner. We ate it with soup and it was delicious.

The making does not happen everyday. I don't want you to think that my life is perfect and each day goes swimmingly. This is not the case. Life happens here, too. But when those little pockets of time appear, I grab them. I might sew, I might crochet, I might simply make dinner. My making doesn't need to be a huge project, although sometimes that is really nice. A few stitches in fabric does wonders for my outlook and puts a smile on my face. What I require is some ingredients or materials, a little time and my hands. With just those things, I can make.

And it's knowing that I need the making that is making all the difference.

We're back in the laundry room, folks.

My final household sewing project that was on my goals list for 2012 is finished. It is so boring, but, hey, it really needed tackling. So without further ado, here is my new ironing board cover.

See? I told you - BORING.

BUT practical and pretty, too.

This is super easy to make. I used this tutorial as a basic guide. Lay down your fabric, trace around your ironing board, giving yourself about 4 inches all the way around. Make a casing for elastic around the perimeter (I serged my edges and folded them down once) and stitch it in place leaving a 2-inch opening. Use a safety pin to thread the elastic through the casing, try it on your ironing board to make sure it's nice and tight. Sew the ends of the elastic together and close up the casing. Done. In an hour or less.

So that's it. I just have the one quilt of 2012 to finish and I've hit all of my sewing goals for the year. And it's only March - that leaves me 9 months of solid sewing play. I love that.