brights & birds doll quilt

i let C dig into my stash & design a little dolly quilt & this is what she came up with ~i was pleasantly surprised with the maturity of her palette choice (tho i do admit, i weeded out a few without her knowing.)       

      it was a fun, quick little project. i used a new method i came across for patchwork (when i can find the link i'll post it) it really is quite clever --just fuse your squares to interfacing & zip right through them, sewing in long lines instead of individually ~& no nesting or matching up! it's perfect for a small project like pillows or placemats.  

  love this bird print ~really wish i had bought more of it.

sew excited!

i haven't bought myself anything in a long time ...but i've been swooning over this dress pattern for a while (it's even on my to-do list!) i'd also really like to take dottie angel's 'challenge of the utmost kind', wherein you commit to a whole year of only buying second-hand or hand-making items for yourself & your home. this should be easy for me because we haven't had money to buy things for so long anyway that handmaking things is becoming more of a delightful necessity. but, in order to take this challenge of not buying anything new, i first had to buy something new: this anna maria horner pattern. i think it's quite versatile; i can make long or short dresses with it & i'm also going to modify it into a top. anyway (yay!) it arrived yesterday,   along with some joel dewberry fabric that was very on sale -all from pink chalk. it is already washed & dried, so hopefully i can hack into it at naptime today!!      

critters in the garden

Look who I saw munching on my fennel today? Isn't he gorgeous? I forgot that I have read before that fennel is part of a butterfly garden to give the caterpillars something to eat. That's ok handsome, we only need the bulbs; just make sure you come back and show off your wings!       

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Also saw this shy little guy poking around. Isn't he adorable? I think he'll just have to have a whole family one of these days...  

i sewed something!

 I want to make many more dresses for my little girlie-girl, especially since she wants to wear them everyday. I just used up some fabric in my stash but i really love how it turned out so sweet & old fashioned, especially without the pants. I hate making buttonholes so I just made little ribbon loops instead (that gapping on the back view is just her moving, not my sewing.) ... I'm definitely no seamstress & there are a few puckerings on the bodice, but overall I'm happy with it.