Fabrics chosen by the girls - their buy-in is absolutely necessary if I'm going to do this. Also, my list is a little long and maybe a wee bit ambitious (they are both in a women's xs now), but I'm in. How about you?

Things making me happy this morning:

The sound of legos and playmobil coming from the other room. And knowing which child is playing although I haven't set eyes on her yet this morning.

Sleeping in my own bed last night (just home from spring break).

The anticipation of three full, unplanned days before we return to a normal routine.

Crisp morning temperatures and a garden that grew a bunch over the last six days.

Being home in time to bring the lilacs in, even if they may be past their prime.

Thinking about binding a quilt. And starting another one.

Having the good sense to have grocery shopped last night as soon as we got home.

Checking the hourly weather and planning a run.

What's putting a smile on your face this morning?

Thank you all so very much for the nice comments on my blouse. It is wonderful to sew something for myself that fits and that I will wear. It makes me want to sew clothes more and more!

I have been plowing away at my Liberty quilt. I finished quilting it the other night so it's ready for binding. It took me hours and hours to free-motion quilt it. I won't tell you how many episodes of Felicity on Netflix  - I'll just say I'm well into the second season. I'm trying to decide what I want to do about the binding. I have a particular Liberty fabric in mind, but I don't think I have enough. Of course, it would help if I could find said fabric in the mess that was formerly known as my studio. It's time for a big clean-up and then time to pull out the calculator and do some serious figuring. Fingers crossed that I don't have to order anything! In the meantime, my girls are in desparate need of spring p.j.'s. While I search the studio for Liberty, I bet I'll find something they'll like. Right?

A couple of weeks ago, when the temperature an unseasonal 80 degrees, I had the urgent desire to sew clothes. Right then. I listened to my inner voice and did it. This blouse is the result.

The pattern is the Painted Portrait Dress and Blouse by Anna Maria Horner. I have used this pattern before when I was at Weekend Sewing with Heather Ross last October. Anna had just released it at the time and I decided to make the dress version with sleeves. The entire thing got sewn that weekend, but I haven't blogged about it because I am *still* embellishing the yoke with embroidery. (And also, as I look at that photo, I think I'm going to have to change the pockets, too.) I LOVED sewing that dress - it didn't hurt that Anna was there to help me fit it properly. Sewing this blouse was just as fun, but faster - no sleeves, no pockets, shorter length. I cut it out one afternoon and sewed it up the next day.

The Little Folks dobby dots came from my stash. (LOVE using my stash!) It is a great choice for this because it is light-weight and drapes beautifully. Voile would be great (that's what I made the dress out of) as would a cotton lawn. Quilting cotton would be crisper, but I think would still work. Anyhow, I did some fussy cutting for the front and back yokes. I especially like how the back one looks and Fatty gets credit for suggesting that the square be split with the borders in the middle. Smart man.

In New York, I was able to try on a sample in size medium. It fit me pretty well in the torso, but was a smidge small in the bust. To compensate, I made the size large and took it in on the back princess seams. That's what Anna suggested and that is what I did on the dress. For this blouse, I took the dress and copied the sewing lines of my back seams onto the blouse and sewed accordingly. It worked pretty well.

It's a well-written pattern and a fairly fast sew, especially the second time around. I especially love how the armholes and hem are done with bias tape. That is not to say that I didn't make any mistakes. Boy, did I ever. A little mishap with the serger at the very end (can you say a HOLE in the blouse?!?) left me scrambling to cover my tracks. I was able to fix it well enough that I think I'm the only one who can see it, but the fit is a little off. No big loss, but I definitely won't be serging the seams after they are sewn the next time around.

I'm plotting the next version. I think it'll be a sleeveless dress for summer, probably with a patchwork yoke. I'll keep you posted.

Have a great weekend!

I'm not talking cows here. Although I do like cows. No, I'm talking MOO, the online printing business. A few weeks ago, they asked me if I'd be interested in taking a look at some of their products. I said yes. (And as a matter of full disclosure, the products were given to me for free, but the opinion of them is entirely my own.)

I knew that I wanted to try out MOO's stickers. I had seen the little bitty ones on someone's flickr stream awhile back and thought they looked fun. While I was at it, I decided to see what the big stickers were like as well as the business cards.

It was super easy to design my MOO products. Because they have a partnership with flickr, I was able to put my flickr photos on the stickers and cards. The best part is that you can choose 1 photo or many different ones. In the case of the StickerBook, there are 90 stickers and each can have a different photo on it if you wish. Cool, huh? The same goes with the rectangular stickers and the business cards - you have the option of one style or many. I love that! Of course, if you don't use flickr, you can still upload your own photos for MOO products.

The little stickers are little, but they pack a punch! The girls really like them. The book of 90 would be a great present for a kid or you could use a sheet or two per guest for a birthday party favor.

For the rectangular stickers, I chose to go with one photo for all 50. I thought that these would be cute on birthday cards or to attach a gift card to a handwritten note. The size is nice and the print quality is great, too.

My favorite product are the business cards. This surprised me. I was totally expecting to be wowed by the cuteness of the stickers, but these cards are awesome! They are great quality, heavy card stock. I set up my information in Illustrator, but you could just as easily fill out the pre-set forms on MOO. I chose a variety of different photos of my patchwork camera straps for the other side. I'm excited to stick these in the packages of the next batch of straps.

Overall, I was very impressed with MOO's products and their service. The turn around time was fast. They estimated it would take about 10 business days, but I ended up getting my order in about a week's time. Love that! I also love that they gave me a promo code to pass along. If you are interested in ordering from MOO, click on this link for 10% off your order. How's that for nice?

More information on MOO can be found here.

This is my friend Jodi's 40th birthday present. She got it just about 2.5 years late. Thank goodness she is a patient person!

(I'm sorry the photos are crap - I wrapped it up and mailed it off before I really looked at them so there's no going back.)

I made this quilt over 8 months. I pieced a couple of the squares last summer and wasn't feeling it so I set them aside. When I pulled them back out this winter, I knew exactly what I needed to do. Funny how taking time away from something makes it all clear, isn't it?

The blocks are log cabin-ish. I snuck little bits of some of my favorite fabrics in them. I loved having the limited palette of green and brown - it made me really think about the values of the colors and the patterns. The blocks are all different sizes - I just used the Kona snow to fill out the column width and then added more to each side to get the whole top. I didn't measure it, but it's pretty generous - maybe 65 x 80" or so? The back is two solids from my stash - one green and one brown - separated by a strip of a print with a little patchwork for flavor. I quilted it myself with the figure 8-ish loops in white thread and then hand bound it with a lime green solid. And although it is not perfect, I'm so happy with how it came out. The birthday girl likes it, too!

With this quilt complete, I have knocked all 2012 sewing goals off of my list. That feels pretty darn good. Anything from this point on will be like icing on the cake.

I'm completely flattered and honored that Shari asked me to share my spring manifesto on her blog, The Art of Seeing Things. Hop on over to see what I plan on doing this spring. I'm so excited to read what her upcoming guests have in store for the season, too. I just love this time of year.

I'll be back here tomorrow. See you then.

Early spring.

Crisp Tiffany blue, shades of sky, petal pale pink with a pop of bright.

Green beads and patent shoes.

Warm, very warm, weather.

Loads of sunshine.

Mexican dinners eaten outside.

Open windows for a cross breeze and cool sleeping.

Books before bed and Vosges Goji bars.