I’m almost embarrassed to admit this here…on my sewing blog, but last year I bought my daughter’s Easter dress at Costco. I can make a lot of excuses as to why I didn’t make one but really I was just lazy and the rack at Costco had some cute dresses for way cheap. But this year I decided I would make something and I knew that I wanted a Sis Boom pattern because they are really just the cutest.

I decided to make the Marissa Dress which is a PDF pattern. This dress took only an afternoon to make and if you’ve made any clothing before, it is pretty easy. The directions were fabulous – I actually did the zipper with no trouble! (Sign of a good pattern to me.) Here is the bodice work in progress – I just love the random pleats and gathers.

I am sure a few of you are wondering what the heck is this fabric. It looks like Flea Market Fancy, right? Well, it is similar. Here is a comparison.

I bought this fabric off eBay last October. It is a vintage, seersucker-y print. The floral bouquet design is an old design, so obviously Denyse Schmidt isn’t the only one who was inspired by it.

The dress is a hit. My daughter wanted to sleep in it after I finished it. Each time I make clothing I wonder why I don’t do more fashion sewing. It is quick (well, quicker than a quilt) and there is a lot of satisfaction knowing I or someone in my family is wearing something I made. Who knows, maybe I will make myself a dress next!

I just wrapped up my first gift swap and I can now say, it wasn’t nearly as scary or stressful as I thought it would be. I’ve always been pretty intimidated by all the online swaps, scared that my partner wouldn’t like what I sent. But Amy talked me into her Twitter Secret Santa Swap, basically because it was a $15 limit and everyone wasn’t required to include a handmade item.

I received Cajame Creations for my partner. It was fun because we don’t have the exact same style, so I was pushed to do a bit of research (ahem – blog stalking) to see what she would like.

Since our price limit was low and I wanted to get a lot of bang for my buck, I headed to Etsy to find a fabric scrap pack. I knew she liked shabby chic and bright colors, and I found a great set of Jennifer Paganelli and Paula Prass fabric. I also included a few colors of baker’s twine, because, well come on, you can’t have enough baker’s twine!

She also had recently posted about her “bucket list” and one of the items was buying a camper and traveling across Europe. So, I decided to make her a little mini quilt to (one day) decorate the dream camper.

This embroidery pattern is from Sublime Stitching. I used some of the fabric scraps I bought her for the mini as well.

The secret partner who had me was Amber! You can probably imagine my joy at seeing a package at my door from Hawaii and knowing it must be from Amber.

She really did a perfect job on my gift. She sent me fabric and the new Doll Quilts book – both of which I didn’t have! She sent a Hawaiian Christmas book for my kids (they LOVE it), a calendar so I don’t forget the million things I have planned, some Hawaiian themed mints…but most beautifully she made me a wonderful necklace which my daughter promptly stole from me! I love it all Amber, thank you so much.

I really enjoyed the swap, I definitely think I will be doing one again. I think the best part was knowing that the recipient would be someone who would appreciate a handmade gift.

I have had this stack of fabric sitting in my sewing room for quite some time. Months ago I swapped Alison for two of the fabrics – one from Jennifer Paganelli’s Poodle line and one from Dena Design’s Leanika line. I wasn’t planning on using them together when I swapped for them, but once they arrived I loved how they coordinated.

I paired them up with a couple different Kona pinks and browns, Sandi Henderson’s Henna Garden in Spring and Pink and another Poodle print from Etsy. I just love the combination.

For the back I simply did wider strips of the same fabrics. It makes it reversible which is always nice. I quilted it with straight lines, 1/4″ on the top and bottom of the seams of the strips on the front. The binding is the lighter Kona pink from the front. It measures 57″ x 40″. This quilt was donated to the 100 Quilts for Kids program.

I also wanted to give you a garden (ahem…farm) update. I am 2 months in and so far it has been pretty successful. The weeds think so anyway!

I have had pretty good success with all the seeds. What you are looking at here is sunflowers, cosmos, corn, pumpkin, watermelon and cantaloupe (still too small to see in this photo), carrots, scallions, cucumber, lettuce, peppers, beans and tomatoes (which are almost all out of the photo). Everything was started from a seed except the peppers and tomatoes. I have spent a LOT of time weeding. I noticed everyone around me has mini tillers that they use to keep the dirt tilled up and the weeds from taking over. Maybe I will consider that next year if I do this again. 600 square feet is a lot to maintain. But it has been fun and I look forward to harvesting more vegetables soon. The lettuce is already ready and tasty!

There is nothing like coming home from a weekend away to this goodness. I finally bit the bullet and bought more Echino. I already have the scooters, and used that great Birdsong panel last week. That fabric is addicting.

I stocked up on some basics I’ve been wanting or had used up.

And hopefully I find time to use it all. Because I just scored this bench at the curb for *free* and am hoping to figure out how to refinish it for our front porch!