I am so thankful

For family, friends, love, silly pets, the readers of this blog who are so motivating and encouraging, inspiring crafters/sewers/makers of things, curiosity, celebrating good times, getting through bad times, the power to be happy, a great year. I am so thankful.

Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Raesha sent me this beautiful doll quilt way back in the summer. I keep it above my sewing machine.

Well it's about time!

I have a finished object too show you, finally! This is New Look 6729 in a knit I bought from Fashion Mart last year. I bought a little over two yards intending to make it into a dress. I decided it would be better as a shirt afterall.

It's a good thing I had over two yards because the long sleeve version of this top really requires it! As you can see, I sewed the ties as the pattern calls for by just hemming the strips. Several sewing.patternreview.com reviewers recommended cutting two extra ties and just sewing them together so the wrong side doesn't show. Unfortunately I didn't have enough fabric so I made do with what I had. I actually don't mind the wrong side showing on this knit since it's not too much of a contrast with the right side. The front middle, right below my bust line, is sagging a bit too much. I'm not sure if this is a pattern flaw or if I sewed something incorrectly. It's nothing that a little hand sewing can't fix.

Overall I am very pleased with this pattern. I might just wear it to my high school reunion this weekend...

Event planning

I'm trying to come up with a reason (excuse) why I've been so absent from this blog recently. First it was Bali, then it was the move, and well, now it's this:


Who knew how much time it would take to plan a wedding? Not I! Though I'm sure many of you are nodding your head in the affirmative. I've been very busy trying to find a place for our outdoor ceremony and reception that has everything we want within our budget. We looked at a place that looks promising and I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will all work out. Then I can start with the fun stuff: dresses, decorations, favors, oh my! I'm not a very good planner, so the thought of planning a wedding was a little overwhelming at first. Fortunately, this is all turning out to be so much more fun than I thought (though still a little overwhelming I must admit). The downside is that I feel like one of those people who always talks about weddings now.

If you know of any diy wedding sites, please pass them along. In the meantime, I promise that my next couple of posts will be crafting related (this is a sewing/craft blog afterall) which will help me take my mind away from wedding stuff, for a little while at least.

Top inspiration

A little bit of inspiration from Anthropologie goes a long way. All I want to do this weekend is sew, sew , sew!

The short list

I'm trying to get my sewing mojo back. I finally had some time to myself after several weeks devoted to unpacking and settling into the new place and what did I do? I stared at my fabric and blanked. I'm just not that excited about sewing winter clothes. So I closed the door and came back after a few hours. Instead of looking at my fabric the next time I entered my sewing room, I pulled out all my patterns for a little sewing inspiration. I then pulled up sewing reviews on Pattern Review and created a short list based on interest, need, and fabric on hand. Here's what made the short list:

Simplicity 4076 in a black, yellow and white knit,

New Look 6729 in a pink multi-stripe knit,

New Look 6807 in a black and grey knit,

and finally Vogue 8420 in a purple cotton knit.

Can you tell I need tops? And that I have a lot of knits in my stash? I'm looking forward to my new winter top wardrobe. I just hope I finish them before winter is over!