I love being part of pattern tours, I really do. I have a lot of fun sewing from my Japanese pattern books, but I feel like I get an extra dose of inspiration from sewing up the many fantastic indie patterns I've been lucky enough to try. Heidi of Elegance and Elephants is one of my favorite designers. I know that I'm in good hands when I follow her steps, and I'm always delighted by the clever little details she includes. And the end result is professional and beautiful. And she's so ... Read more
Me-Made-May 2014
I started sewing clothes for myself on a fairly regular basis last May. It's been almost a full year, and I've made loads of clothes. Back then, I held a secret aspiration to participate in Me-Made-May in a year's time, and now that event is starting tomorrow! I think I'm ready, and I just signed up. So excited. I've been wanting to participate for years. I've noticed that on many sewing blogs, folks often talk about how they constantly make these beautiful clothes that just never get worn ... Read more
10 Minute Jam
No joke, this jam took less than 10 minutes to make. I do have to mention that a microwave played a major role, and I'm usually not one to rally behind nuked foods. But when a recipe claims to take a mere ten minutes, well, I'm a sucker for that kind of thing. When it first came out of the microwave, the mixture had ballooned considerably and then slowly deflated, leaving a soupy mixture. As it cooled, the jam thickened, and I have to say, it's scrumptious. K, of course, thought it was a ... Read more
Sewing for Me: Moss Green Linen Jacket
Good morning! I'm starting the week off a little differently with something sewn for me. As I mentioned last week, Tuttle Publishing sent me some books to review and this one is another goodie which I'm excited to talk about. This is the popular Happy Homemade Sew Chic book in English. I don't have the Japanese version of this book, so it was a fresh experience to sew from this collection of lovely patterns. As you can see, there are 20 patterns and if you click on the link ... Read more
Happy Friday + Randomness
One of my big goals for the past couple of years has been to practice photography and get to a point where I could blow up at least one of my images to hang on our walls. My skills haven't improved much, but I'm understanding my camera better and better every day. I started a "To Print" folder on my desktop for the images that might have potential. These are a few of the ones I've been gathering, and I thought I'd share. Due to my privacy policy, I had to cut off this photo above, but it's the ... Read more