Apron № 112: Groovy Garden

The earth laughs in flowers. –Ralph Waldo Emerson

After finishing the Honey Bees II apron, I decided I'd better put together an apron I had all cut out and waiting to make for a former co-worker's wedding a couple of years ago. Her husband still works where I do, but he's moving to a new job soon, at a different company. While I still had the serger out, I put together this apron.

She got a yellow KitchenAid stand mixer and those are her kitchen colors {or at least they were when she got married. Does anyone stick with the kitchen colors they picked before they actually set up house?}. I'm not sure why I never got it finished. Ok, well I do. I'm always distracted by something new and shiny and I'd already made about a hundred of these aprons by the time I cut hers out. So it sat until I got my apron making mojo back. I'm not saying that I'm ready to make another hundred aprons. But it was fun to make a couple more.

Today's post brought to you by:

Apron № 111: Honey Bees II

Behold in spring see everything
Alive and cloth'd with beauty
Shall I alone an idle drone
Be slothful in my duty?
To gather honey see the bee fly
Around from flower to flower
A good example there for me
To well improve each hour.
-Shaker Hymn, derived from a poem by Isaac Watts

A few weeks ago I was contacted by a lady who had seen my Honey Bees Apron and wanted to know if I could make one for her daughter, who is a bee keeper with her grandpa on his farm and whose birthday was coming up.

I wasn't able to find the exact same fabrics, but what I did find was even cuter, I think, than the first apron. Her birthday is today, and I think she looks absolutely adorable in her new apron!

I'd like so send a shout-out to my dad {who is already in bed, I'm sure}. It's his birthday too, today! I love you, dad. I hope you had a great day!

Today's post brought to you by:

Brag Sheet: 2013

I tried carrying the weight of the world
But I only have two hands.
Hope I get the chance to travel the world,-
But I don't have any plans.
–Wake Me Up, written by Tim Bergling, Aloe Blacc and Mike Einziger, performed by Avicci

I wasn't going to do a post about all of my 2013 projects because it didn't really seem like there were many. But I've enjoyed the other 2013 posts, so I looked over my index page and was surprised that even though it seemed like slow going, I got a nice bit of sewing done this year.

First are the projects I put together using Pat Bravo's Indie fabric line. I made two Stitchy Kits, designed by Lori Holt {pattern here}. I gave one away and kept one for myself. And I made a folded fabric star and put it on a tote bag. Somehow, Pat sussed me out and invited me to enter her Instagram contest, which I won. I received a half-yard bundle of Carnaby Street as my prize {by the way, I still need a sewcation} and Pat used the photo of my folded fabric star as the header on her Flickr page. The post of the finished fold star tote bag is my most popular post of all time, with 9,822 9,823 9,826 visits to date.

I put together a few other non-quilty things this year: two Christmas ornaments in January, stragglers from Christmas 2012; a Christmas table runner for a lady I know whose birthday is on December 24^th; a new reversible ironing board cover; a Magicka Wizard's robe for Grasshopper's Halloween costume; and two little booklet holders.

Although this has nothing to do with sewing, I was inspired by Shay, who included her travels in her 2013 wrap-up post, and thought I'd throw in our family vacation with a few days at Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, a few days at Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming and a quick drive-by of Grand Tetons, Wyoming. Fun stuff! More family travel is definitely in our future.

And finally, even though it didn't feel like it, I got a few quilts done; a Drunkard's Path, Ripples, for a friend for her birthday; a 4" square mini for LadyBug's report on Pennsylvania {which is where the Amish live and the Amish are famous for quilting} and which ended up as a quilt for her Guard Lizard, Gilbert; a scrappy baby quilt, Little Boy Blue, for a friend's new baby; a framed Double Wedding Ring, Echoes of Eternity, for a wedding gift in the bride's colors; a zig-zag quilt, Miss Butterfly's Flower Garden, for my niece, Miss Butterfly, to use on her bed; a batik quilt, Sea Glass, for a friend for her birthday; and even though I didn't make the quilt top, I'm counting the quilting I did for P. on her String Ring Dresden as a finish for me as well. At 75" x 95", it is the biggest quilt I've done.

I'm excited for 2014. My goal for this year is not to over commit. I have loads of Ph.D quilts that I want to work on and I've made out a mental list of things I want to work on, but I'm leaving it open to see what inspires me.

Today's post brought to you by:

Wizards, Demi-Gods and the Half-Dead

Shadows of a thousand years rise again unseen,
Voices whisper in the trees, "Tonight is Halloween!"
–Dexter Kozen

Costumes have been donned. Faces have been painted. Chili has been eaten. Thinly veiled threats have been made in order to garner candy. It is Halloween!

I love Halloween. It runs in the family. Seriously. Check out my sister's totally awesome Star Trek costumes. Anyway, sometimes I tend to go a little overboard in the planning of the costumes. And the execution and completion of said plans often takes longer than expected. Nevertheless, this year the challenge has been successfully met. And I didn't even have to stay up all night to do it. Almost. But not quite.

LadyBug has been planning her costume since last year. She is Annabeth Chase from the Percy Jackson series of books. We bought and dyed the t-shirt the perfect Camp Half-Blood orange and then I appliquéd the logo on it. We bought the cap {which allows Annabeth to turn invisible} and we made the necklace together.

LadyBug is all about the details, so we couldn't have an Annabeth costume without the necklace. We made beads from cornstarch dough, painted them and strung them together to look like the beads the demi-god kids at Camp Half-Blood get at the end of each summer. The beads have something on them that represents the most significant event that happened in the past year. After we dried the beads for a few hours in the oven, we let them sit overnight. LadyBug put the first coat of paint on and then I put a second one on. She either painted or drew with a metallic paint marker the designs on all the beads except for the green one with the winged sneaker on it, which she asked me to do. Annabeth's beads, from left to right: Thalia's Tree, A Centaur in a prom dress, Greek Trireme, Winged Sneaker, Arrow from the Hunters of Artemis, Trident, Golden Fleece, Daedalus' Maze, Empire State Building.

Cornstarch Clay
1 cup salt
⅓ cup water
½ cup cornstarch
¼ cup cold water

• In a small saucepan, heat the salt and ⅓ cup water over medium-high heat for about 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Remove from heat, stir in the cornstarch and add ¼ cup cold water. The mixture should now look like thick mashed potatoes; stir until it thickens.
• Let cool for a few minutes before kneading or shaping.

Notes
• If the clay is too sticky, knead in a little bit of cornstarch as needed.
• If the clay is too crumbly, place a little bit of water on your fingertips as you work with the clay to moisten.
• Air dry 1 to 4 days. For faster drying, place items on a cookie sheet and place in a 225˚ oven for 4 to 6 hours.
• Food coloring can be kneaded into the clay as desired.
• Store clay in a zippered baggie with a bit of wet sponge or a wet paper towel for up to 2 weeks.

Grasshopper asked me to make his costume in the middle of August, so I couldn't let him down. He found a set of instructions on-line for a Magicka Wizard Robe. Putting the pattern together was a bit laborious and I've almost forgotten how to sew a seam allowance bigger than ¼" or how to use pins. Once I got going, though, it was just like riding a bike and it came together pretty well.

Pretty snazzy mystical, huh? All the tweaking to the pattern paid off. The robe fits Grasshopper so well it's almost like it was custom made for him. Oh. Wait. It was.

This year, I wanted to do something besides my usual Professor McGonagall or Little Red Riding Hood. Pinspired, I decided to go with a little face paint.

Between you and me, I'm exhausted. I was up until 1:00 am finishing up and midnight the night before. I'm going to wash my face, turn off the porch light and go to bed early. Hopefully we won't get egged because we stopped giving out candy before 10:00 pm. And tomorrow I am going to do all the things I've been ignoring in order to pull off Halloween.

Today's post brought to you by:

Goofin' Off An Awful Lot

I'm taking care of my procrastination issues; just you wait and see! –As seen on Pinterest while procrastinating

By my reckoning, in the time that has elapsed since I finished the Sea Glass quilt, I should have had Grasshopper's Halloween costume finished and most of the rest of Paulette's Dresden quilted. But instead of the happy hum of the sewing machine, there's been an awful lot of procrastination going on around here.

My story goes something like this . . . after the big finish weekend before last I decided that I needed something a little mindless to work on, so I pulled out a really old Ph.D and fiddled around with that for a couple of days. When I could no longer reasonably claim that my brain needed rest, I decided to buck up and work on Grasshopper's costume. The problem with this is that I needed to make the pattern based on a set of instructions written using the metric system. {Sidebar: despite what they've been telling us since the 70's, I don't think it is likely that we're going to be switching anytime soon.} I ran all the numbers through a conversion chart, but pattern making/alterations is not one of my favorite things to do. I'm really not good at it. I can see what the lines should look like in my head, but I have a hard time making my pencil put those lines down on paper.

To make the process a little . . . easier {for lack of a better word} I thought I'd use the reference drawings in the instructions as a base and adjust them in my antiquated photo editing software {Microsoft Paint}. I sat down at my computer, full of pluck, and started looking at Halloween face paint. I wasted pretty much the whole afternoon filling up a pin board mostly with different sugar skulls {but in the non-Dia de los Muertos category, isn't this the coolest thing you've ever seen?}. I also found a really cute idea for nails and which resulted in a Halloween-y manicure.

And then I went back to puttering around with my Ph.D for a few more days. On Monday, with only 10 days until Halloween and an all-nighter lurking in my future, I buckled down and started work on the digital patterns, after I first made sure it wasn't going to cost and arm and a leg to print them out on oversize paper. It was a long and laborious process involving all kinds of funky math to convert between pixels and inches and centimeters, and reducing and enlarging by percentages as I adjusted and sized and re-sized the graphics. I worked on it from the time I got home from work until the time I went to bed on Monday night and then all afternoon yesterday. As a final test, I reduced the pattern pieces to the same scale so that they would fit on regular paper and made sure that everything fit together as it should. When they did {miracle of miracles!} I uploaded them to a copy shop and discovered that in my investigation into pricing I must have had the very smallest of the oversize papers selected because it was not the $1.79 per sheet that I'd thought, but a whopping $6.59 per sheet. At five sheets I about died when I saw the total. Trick or treat, indeed.

Mr. Bug commiserated with me and helped with alternate options; an opaque projector, transparencies, a digital projector, pencil and paper. All the time I'd already spent tweaking the patterns to perfection not withstanding, I was most concerned with distortion in the projections and absolutely dreading drawing out the patterns by hand. And that's where I left it when I went to bed last night.

This morning I still felt the same sense of dread {appropriate for Halloween, don't you think?}; none of the options was going to be pleasant. It came down to spending time or money to make this work out. I went with money since I'd already spent plenty of time. I stopped at the copy shop on the way in to work {hoping that the price for an in-person order might be slightly lower than an on-line order. It wasn't.} and left with a roll of patterns and a considerably lighter wallet.

When I got home from work, I was feeling less than excited about the prospect of cutting out the freshly minted patterns and wrangling 5 metres {5.46807 yards} of Princess Neon Blue Crushed Panne Velvet. Instead, I popped in at Pinterest, just to see if anything tickled my fancy. And it did. Pretty much all afternoon. What a waste.

On the upside, I've found my next manicure.

Out With the Old: 2012 Finishes in Review

That's the motivation of an artist — to seek attention of some kind. –James Taylor

1. Phoenix Song Charity Quilt 2. Forever Sudoku Quilt 3. Seeing Spots Lap Quilt 4. Hexie Notebooks 5. More Hexie Notebooks 6. Felted Wool Christmas Ornaments 7. Blouse 8. Rooster Potholders 9. Holly Jolly Christmas 12" Table Topper 10. Poultry in Motion Table Runner 11. Pinkalicious Baby Quilt 12. In the Pink: A Study In Pinwheels Sampler Quilt

I kind of felt like I was moving in slow motion this year. I'm always looking for the balance between satisfying the everyday have-to's and still finding time for the the really, really want-to's. Looking back, I finished more than I thought. It is kind of nice to see a whole year's worth of work all in one spot.

Today's post brought to you by:

Winter Wedding: The Last Few Finishes of 2012

All marriages are made in heaven. But then, so are thunder and lightning. –Craig Clyde

My youngest brother got married a couple of weeks ago to a very lovely girl. I used my new iPhone to snap a few photos after the ceremony. Don't they make a beautiful couple?

As a side note, doesn't my new sister-in-law have the most beautifully perfect hourglass figure? I mean seriously. And that dress? Amazing.

When they got engaged, I started thinking of ideas for quilts. I wanted to use some Asian fabrics from my stash, but it just wasn't working, so I decided to make something using Ellen's favorite colors, pink and green. I wanted to have at least the quilt top finished for her first shower and then get it quilted for her second shower, which was a week later. We kind of got snowed in and I didn't make it to the first shower {never mind that the top wasn't finished} and I was out-of-town for the second shower {top still not finished}. Then my plan was to finish it in time for the wedding. That didn't happen either.

You see, my brother and his then fiancée wanted all of their family members to dress in their wedding colors, honeydew melon green, robin's egg blue and grey. I knew I would never be able to find such springy colors in the dead of winter without much difficulty. The easiest course, or so I thought, was to make skirts and blouses for LadyBug and me. As the wedding got closer, I realized that I wasn't going to have time to finish everything while still maintaining my sanity. I re-evaluated what I could do and I decided that I'd finish the quilt and just make blouses for LadyBug and me. We could wear black skirts we already had. They were close enough. And then, with only three days until the wedding, the borders to finish quilting, the binding to put on, and not even a start on the blouses, I decided that LadyBug could wear a dress that she already had {which she was totally OK with; she's not that into new clothes and especially not anything that is girly or fancy}, the quilt could wait and I was going to make a blouse for myself to wear to the wedding.

It was probably a little bit of a selfish decision to make myself a blouse and not finish the quilt for the bride and groom, but when my youngest sister got married, I made vests for all the little boys and dresses for my sister and sister-in-law, but not for myself because I ran out of time. I felt out of place and kind of bad that I wasn't wearing something fun and new in the right colors and I didn't want to feel that way again.

If the blouse {and my hair} looks like I had a nap in it, it was because I did. I was up until 3:30 am the night/morning before the wedding, and up by 5:00 am to make it there on time. Apparently, people took bets on whether I'd be late. In spite of the snow, I made it with plenty of time to spare and even a few minutes before one of my sisters. Between the wedding luncheon and call time for photos before the reception, I had a nap {and a migraine } on my mom's couch.

I used a blouse that I've had for several years as a pattern. I've always loved the fit of it, but not particularly the print, so when it frayed at a couple of the seams I decided I could live with cutting it up to make a pattern from it. I love how it turned out {I didn't even make a muslin; as a matter of fact, I'd never heard of making a muslin until I started blogging. I always just measure the person really carefully and then alter the pattern to fit the measurements} and plan on making at least one more top using this pattern.

More fun with the iPhone camera. I love those shoes I'm wearing. If you've ever read The Wizard of Oz, you'll know that Dorothy's shoes are silver {and not ruby}, and my silver shoes feel a little bit magical.

I finally finished the quilt for my brother and his wife last night. I love how it turned out. Please ignore the man behind the quilt. The snow was over a foot deep and I didn't really feel like trudging through it to get to my favorite fence for quilt photographing.

Here's a close-up of the quilting I did in the nine-patches. I used a design from the book 501 Quilting Motifs, which Mr. Bug got me for Christmas and which might have fallen open accidentally after it arrived in the mail and before it made it to the secret present stash.

I think my favorite part is the cat's eye pattern in the sashing. It came out rather nicely, if I do say so myself.

As usual, I did an embroidered tag, half of which I have to blank out so as not to give away too much information and get my identity stolen.

I'll drop this in the mail as soon as the post office opens on Wednesday. I'm so glad to have it finished and on its way.

Today's post brought to you by:

Various and Sundry Monday: Vol. 25

If a small thing has the power to make you angry, does that not indicate something about your size? –Sydney J. Harris

Apron № 110: Retro Pears

For my Leap Day Giveaway, I offered an apron, made-to-order in the winner's choice of size. Nancy was the winner and this is her apron. Nancy, watch your mail box .

Here's a close-up of the pocket, because it is just so darn cute.

Dad Was Here
Saturday morning, my parents came down to bring LadyBug her birthday presents and take us to breakfast. My dad hijacked my camera.

Showing off his super clean, super shiny Chevrolet Impala Super Sport.

An interesting shot of the mountains out our front door.

Bushel and A Peck
Last month, my mom made a costume for the Jr. High School play for her neighbor. It was a really last-minute deal and she put the costume together in just a couple of days. She took a quick photo of the costume with her phone, texted it to me, and dropped the costume off on her way to work so her neighbor could have it for dress rehearsals. At the time she, didn't even know what play it was .

I posted the costume for her because she doesn't blog so she could link up to the February Finishes linky party. Since then, we have a few more details. The play was Guys and Dolls {one of my all-time favorite musicals}, which my parents went to see. My mom's neighbor was one of Miss Adelaide's Hot Box Dancers and here she is in her costume.

On a slightly related note, when I was in High School, the play my senior year was Guys and Dolls. Our sewing class was assigned to make the costumes for Miss Adelaide's Hot Box Dancers.

A Finish by My Mom

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me.' –Erma Bombeck

My mom texted me this morning with a photo of this costume for a Junior High School play. She said she wanted to join the February Finishes Linky party. I was really excited for her. I told her if she couldn't get it to work, I would post it for her. I talked with her really quickly and she told me a few things about her finish.

The next-door neighbor came over to her house on Sunday night wondering about borrowing a sewing machine. Since her machine is kind of expensive, she doesn't lend it {who can blame her, right?}. So she offered to put the costume together. The girl said she needed it by Monday for dress-rehearsal, but there was no way to finish the costume in that amount of time, even though it was already cut out. The top is a v-neck peasant blouse. The skirt has 16 panels and about 8 yards of ruffle. She said it took forever to hem and because of the bulk in the ruffle, she zig-zagged over a piece of dental floss to create the gathers, because the thread broke pulling in basting stitches. She finished the costume last night and dropped it off at 5:30 am, on her way to work this morning.

Because this is my blog, I'm going to editorialize. My mom is a wonderful seamstress. She does absolutely beautiful work and does not have an "I do not upick" policy. She taught me to sew, supported my habit, did my zippers, taught me how to do my own zippers and encouraged me to do something I love. Thanks, Mom. I love you. You did a beautiful job with the costume and I'm glad you could link up with us this month.

Here's a photo of her neighbor after the performance. She was one of Miss Adelaide's Hot Box Dancers in Guys and Dolls.

Today's post brought to you by:

Leap Day Giveaway: Retro Inspired Apron

You've got a lot of choices. If getting out of bed in the morning is a chore and you're not smiling on a regular basis, try another choice. –Steven D. Woodhull

Hooray! Today is Leap Day! I'm really excited to offer a cute little retro inspired apron to one lucky winner, made-to-order in the size of your choice. The little apron on the right is an example of the apron and the fabric and rick-rack on the right are what your apron will be made of.

Fabrics are pre-washed 100% cotton and each apron is professionally finished to stand up to a long life of washing and wearing. The winner's apron will be made to order in the size of their choice.

Children's Sizes:
Extra Small (3-4)
Small (5-6)
Medium (7-8)
Large (9-10)
Extra Large (11-12)

Adult Sizes:
Extra Small (2-4)
Small (6-8)
Medium (10-12)
Large (14-16)
Extra Large (18-22)

• To enter, simply leave a comment on this post.
• Non-blogging/non-Google users and international entrants are welcome.
• If you do not have a Google account, use the name/url {url optional} commenting option and make sure you leave your e-mail in your comment in the following format: address (at) domain name (dot) com.
• Comments with no contact information will be deleted.
• Google account users: not sure if your contact information will be attached to your comment? Click here:


• Duplicate comments will be deleted. Comment moderation is on, so don't panic when your comment doesn't show up. I'm notified of new comments and will approve them periodically throughout the day, after which they'll show up on the post.
• The giveaway will close at 10:00 pm {MST} on Wednesday, February 29^th. Winner will be chosen by random drawing and notified by e-mail and announced here by noon March 2^nd.

Don't forget to check out all of the other great Leap Day Giveaways!

Leap Day Giveaway Guidelines:
• Choose something to give away on Leap Day. Keep it simple. You can make something, give away a bit of your stash, offer a service, buy your favorite gadget to give away or offer something completely non-crafty. Your blog, you choose.
• To participate in the blog hop, your giveaway must start and end on Leap Day {February 29, 2012} in your time zone. You can open it at 10:00 am and close it at 10:00 pm, or go midnight to midnight, or anything in between. Your blog, your rules.
• Your giveaway winner does not have to be announced on Leap Day, but should be notified within a reasonable amount of time.
• Post your giveaway and then link up here. Please remember to link to your specific post {instructions here}. Please also include the Leap Day Giveaway button {code found below} somewhere in your giveaway post.
<center><a href="http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2012/02/leap-day-giveaway-blog-hop.html" target="_blank" title="Leap Day Giveaway"><img alt="Leap Day Giveaway" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOFbtJxAIkXuZie71jMfiSTD0ssQJZNNVoLssdw3RBhlQrbME6ZVOe3M2Xyusa6zubxGOUChWcZhrFua7NMDBD5mlUSIBiQYDjkoIk5LHALJin911TTLDON0U46S0Ed7qtlWvTtylvqMk/s250/Leap%2520Day%2520Giveaway%2520Buttom%2520%2520Medium.jpg" /></a></center>
• The linky will open at noon MST on February 28^th and close at 10:00 am MST on March 1^st, to allow for people in different time zones to participate.
• If you want to include the linky tool on your giveaway post then others can link up from your blog and it will automatically update in every location the linky is posted. The code is available here or under the linky below. If you choose to add the linky to your post, you MUST include the above rules so that it is fair play for all.
• Consider changing your comment settings to the pop-up window option for faster and easier commenting for all the visitors who'll be stopping by your blog. Instructions can be found here.

Wardrobe Wednesday: Beauty Is More Than Skin Deep

In media, male sex appeal is represented as being influenced by a huge variety of factors, such as humor, intelligence, charisma, athleticism, income, courage, etc., along with appearance. Female sex appeal is consistently and exclusively defined by appearance alone. That sucks. –Beauty REDEFINED, Sex Appeal and Thin Ideals, February 6, 2012

It is a difficult conundrum. A book shouldn't be judged by its cover, nor should a person be judged by their appearance. All too often they are. Like it or not, what you wear sends a message. But how you look shouldn't define you.

One of the things that I've noticed in every single episode of What Not To Wear is that the hosts tell each participant that she is beautiful. Their goal is to help each woman to find beauty in herself, to flatter the figure that she has and to reflect her personality in what she wears. Over the past three or four years, I've been following their suggestions when I buy clothes. It is a little scary putting myself out there like this, but I find their “rules” really work. This is week three of sharing my little What-Not-to-Wear-distance-learning-on-a-shoe-string-budget experiment.

Making your clothes work for you involves optical illusions. This pretty pink top, which cost all of $4.20 brand new, has an elastic band that sits just below the bust, which brings attention to the narrowest part of the body and helps to create an hour-glass shape. This also makes your legs look longer, and therefore makes you look taller and thinner, because it appears that your waist starts higher on your body,. Straight-leg dark-wash jeans hide a lot. The hem should fall about ½” above the ground. And pointy-toed shoes help to elongate your legs.

Pink Print Blouse: Macy's
Retail: $24.00
Out-the-door: $4.20

Levi's 512 Dark Wash Bootcut Jeans, Macy's
Retail: $54.00
Out-the-door: $36.32
Yes, these are the same jeans I've shown you the last two weeks.

Grey Cardigan, Chadwick's of Boston
I've had this for four or five years, so I can't remember how much I paid for it.

Pointy-Toed Faux-Reptile Stilettos
I got these 3+ years ago at one of those traveling shoe parties in a trailer. I'm sure they were under $20.00

I made a few, simple alterations to the top. I almost always have to do some minor alterations {so not my favorite thing } in order to make a piece of clothing work. I raised the neckline a bit by taking it up at the shoulder seams. I added darts at the bust and took it in on the sides in the ribcage area. I also hemmed it a couple of inches.

I mixed and matched the top with a few other pieces I had in my closet. I pretty much stayed with the same color palette; theme and variation, I suppose.

On the left:
Chelsea & Theodore belted jacket, Ross
Retail: $108.00
Out-the-Door: $19.99

Oatmeal Skirt by Jones Wear
I got this second-hand, but practically brand new, for free. I raised the hemline { scandalous, I know} by several inches and love how classic this A-Line skirt is.

Royal Blue Suede Platform Heels, Payless Shoes
Retail: $27.99
Out-the-door: $17.99

On the Right:
Navy Shawl Collar Cardigan, Kohl's
Christmas Gift from my mom. She did good.

Faded Glory Jeans, Wal-Mart
Retail: $15.88
Out-the-door: $15.88

No Boundaries “Delancey” Flat, Wal-Mart
Retail: $13.87
Out-the-door: $13.87
Because if the shoe fits, you better buy it because it won't be there when you come back.

My quote for today came from an article by Beauty REDEFINED, which my sweet friend, Jenna, shared on her blog last week. I really thought it was a good article and pulled out about 50% of it to quote here. In the end, I decided to let you click on over and decide what you like in the article. I hope you'll take a look.

A Stitch In Time: 2011 Wrap-Up

Seventy percent of success in life is showing up. –Woody Allen

For the past two years, I've been keeping an index of all the projects I finish during each year. It has been fun to look back to see how much I've accomplished in one year. I humbly submit my 2011 finishes.

One Hired Machine Quilting & Binding Job

One Halloween Costume, Two Pieces {skirt & cloak}

Two Fleece Baby Blankets

Three Abbey Bags

Four Church Bags

Four Table Runners

Five Adult Bibs

Six Aprons {one reversible}

Eight Quilts

Twelve Quilted Notebook Covers

Fifteen Fabric Postcards

Eighteen Fancy Pillowcases

In case you lost count, that is 80 finishes, and I enjoyed every one of them. I hope that 2012 is as productive!