Catching up

It seems like a lot of us in blog land getting caught up in summer. Posts are fewer and far between when there is so much else going on out there, in the real world. I was about to admit that I am enjoying the lazy days of summer, but realized there has been nothing lazy about my days. Whoever came up with that false statement anyways?



One of my reasons for being absent from this blog is wedding planning. It kicked into high gear at the four month mark, and now we are past the three month mark. It's been fun planning, but not until I bought a dress did it become that way. Before that, I devoted every spare moment to making a muslin of a dress and watched summer slip away and my stress level skyrocket. Then, I found a dream of a dress and now I have my life back and can devote my spare time to sewing other things, like these blocks for the Pieced Together Quilting Bee from May! How did I let things get so behind?



There have been other events too: family visits; appendectomies (he is ok now); new babies to visit; friends to be with; Sopranos, Seasons 1, 2, and 3; and the usual life activities. I miss my sewing machine though and I look through my flickr favorites daily, planning my next projects. I hope to be present on this blog more often for the rest of the summer. You may have to put up with some wedding related posts from me, but not even I can talk and think wedding all the time (smile) and so I will have a few non-wedding related projects in the works to share soon.

Summer Dress Week - More from you!

Are you feeling inspired yet? After viewing the pictures from this post, I can't see how you won't be. When I first announced a dress sewalong, I thought only a handful of people would actually play along. To my surprise though, a lot of people joined in. Today I want to feature a few more creations made by you. Click on links below the picture for more information on these beautiful dresses!


1. Peach Dress, 2. my first dress, 3. Vogue 8571, 4. Trapeze sundress, 5. McCalls 5799, 6. McCall 5618, 7. Anna Maria Horner Socialite dress, 8. Juliana, 9. YIP 365.36 :: Spring dress

More to come...stay tuned!

Summer Dress Week - Day 1 - Made by You!

I don't know about you, but when it's hot out, as it has been for the past few weeks, I love to wear a simple summer dress. Comfort and cuteness combined in one garment, how can a girl go wrong? If you're like me and are looking for some summer dress inspiration, you've come to the right place. For day 1 of summer dress week, I'm featuring a few dresses (in no particular order) from the Summer Dress Sewalong flickr pool.



Left: Shear Delight used the Smocked Sun Dress pattern from Heather Ross to make this perfect-for-hot-summer-days-dress. So cute!
Middle: I can't believe the detail and work that Lucky Knitter put into this dress. She knit the top, then dyed it to make a perfect summer dress.
Right: Wowza! Stitch in Dye used some navy linen and Simplicity 2584 to make this gorgeous dress for just $12. Her inspiration dress cost $350!



Left: Costume Divas Dirty Laundry used McCalls 5658 to make this stunner. I love the flower detail on the shoulder.
Middle: Isn't this dress gorgeous! The Real Astrogirl used Butterick 5209 and some batik fabric to make this dress. She even installed the zipper by hand!
Right: What a lucky lady! Her mom, Meg, made this cheery yellow dress for her using the Oliver + S birthday party dress pattern.

More summer dress inspiration tomorrow!

Summer dress week - next week!

This is just a reminder that summer dress week is next week! If you haven't already, please place any pictures of summer dresses you've made in the Summer Dress Sewalong flickr pool. Remember also that you can put pictures of summer dresses in the pool at anytime after next week. I hope it will serve as a great, one-stop source for summer dress inspiration. It has already inspired me! More about that later...

Fabric Scrap Giveaway - Winner!

Wow, where did the past week go? I think I realized at the beginning of the week that my wedding is only a few months away and it's just been wedding, wedding, wedding around here. It's been fun stuff though but I have neglected this space as a result.

First off, I can't believe how many people want scraps! I am going to have to do more scrap giveaways in the future, now that I know they have happy homes to go to. Thank you to everyone who entered. You all had great suggestions! Read through the comments from the last post if you ever need any ideas on what do with those ol' scraps.

Without further ado, the winner of the fabric scrap giveaway is Artsy Momma who said "I am making linen bags for my daughters toys. I would use the scraps for the appliques." Congratulations Artsy Momma!

Fabric Scrap Giveaway!

Someone once told me that they wished they could crawl up and live in my scrap bin. Well, now's your chance (er, sort of)! My scraps are starting to explode out of the large bin I hold them in and it's time to make room for new scraps. Please leave a comment for your chance to win a priority mail flat rate box stuffed to the seams with both large and small fabric scraps (and some fat quarters too!), including but not limited to these wonderful designers:

Anna Maria Horner, Tula Pink, Amy Butler, Heather Bailey, Momo, Sandi Henderson, and more!

Leave a comment by May 31st telling me what you would like to make with these scraps: doll quilt? patchwork belt? applique? The possibilities are endless! I'll draw one random winner on June 1st and will ship the scraps off on June 3rd. I will ship internationally.

Be sure to check out the other great giveaways going on right now over at the Sew Mama Sew blog. Good luck!

Scenes from a Tuesday

It's Tuesday already and it's only Tuesday, know what I mean? I hope you enjoyed your weekend, and if you're reading this in the States, your long weekend (for most of us anyways). Living in DC, Memorial Day weekend means a lot of bikers. I wonder if bikers look forward to this weekend every year - riding along side a half million other bikers all at once. I imagine they must. I attended one bbq on Monday and did finish my dress in time. But wouldn't you know, I didn't get any pictures. The dress is Simplicity 3503. I'll write up a full review when I get a picture, but for now let's say I felt very tres chic and plan to make another dress from this pattern.



After the bbq I began preparations for my friend's baby shower this weekend. I decided to make some fabric bunting in hopes that my friend will be able to use the flags later in the nursery (the nursery colors are green and yellow) or for birthdays or other baby events. What a fun project it was to make! Tonight I plan to cut out my fabric for Simplicity 2584 and hope that I'll be able to finish it in time to wear to the shower on Saturday.


One last note before I go, be sure to stop by tomorrow as I'll be participating in Sew Mama Sew's big May giveaway with something fun for you to win.