Ant Apron

How cute is this apron?! A year or two ago, I received a surprise package in the mail from Allison. She is so thoughtful and has sent me some of the cutest presents! When I opened this package, it turned out Allison's MOM had purchased an apron kit for me - she's a fellow sewer. So sweet!!!! I put it in my fabric closet and recently came across it as I organized the closet. I thought it would be a fun middle-of-the-summer project! It came with muslin to line it but I subbed a blue cotton that I had in my stash. I can't wait to wear it this weekend when I'm grilling. Thanks again, Mom!

NL6829

Here's another top I recently finished. It's New Look 6829 done in a lightweight woven cotton blend , originally purchased from JoAnn's. The skirt is cut on the bias and I added a tiny snap to keep the neckline from gapping too much. It was an easy sew. More details at Pattern Review, if interested.

M6028

7/27/2010 - Edited to add additional photo of dress. (hair flipping is due to scurrying to beat the camera timer!)

Ok, first of all, I turned on comment moderation due to the number of random Asian comments I was getting. For some reason, I thought I would get an email when I received comments but I was wrong. So for those of you who commented on my last post, Thanks you so much! And I'm sorry it took me so long to "approve" the comments.

My blogging will continue to be intermittent. I love having a blog as it connects me with so many nice people and keeps a great record of my projects but my schedule has been too full to keep up with it as much as I like. I have lots of projects to blog about but it will take me some time to get to them all.

I'll start with a dress I finished a couple weeks ago. I needed a dress to wear to a funeral. My dear friend Jen had gifted me some lovely black linen a year or two ago and I thought it would be perfect for a summer dress. I used a silk lining purchased a few years ago from Fabric Mart when they had some Anna Sui silks for only $4.99 a yard (see the black stripe with fuchsia flowers in lower right corner.) I chose McCalls 6028 and decided to embellish it with some purchased trim. I considered black on black but decided it was TOO understated and went with an ivory trim. It gave me the look I wanted - sedate enough for a funeral but not so somber that I can't also wear it to work or for other occasions. On the hangar, it doesn't appear to have much shape but it really does accentuate the waistline. I thought it might be inappropriate to ask someone at the funeral to take a photo of me so the hangar photo will have to do!

A local yarn store, Lambikins, branched out into fabrics a year or so ago but unfortunately, due to unforeseen personal circumstances, the owner has decided to discontinue the fabrics and return to a yarn only store. I was lucky enough to purchase some gorgeous batiks at 40% off. I plan to use them to make a dress or two, some jammie pants and maybe a top depending on how much I can squeeze out of it.

Pattern Giveaway

I ended up with two copies of the same pattern - McCalls 5931. If anyone is interested in this pattern, I'm happy to send it to the first commenter (no charge - but within continental US only). It's the smaller size combination - 4-6-8-10-12

Edited: Judi, please email me your contact information. bonnie_crocker [at] yahoo [dot] com