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Wordless Wednesday 2019 Yearly Picture Review
Tag: Monthly Review
Monthly Review- Wordless Wednesday Style
Monthly Review
I’ve got something up my sleeve for Monday or Tuesday (heh, heh, sewing pun) but wanted to get back on track with my reviews. It helps me keep accountable and on track with my goals. February has been kind of a slower month. I have had a bit of trouble with some motivation and some of the ever present scheduling concerns. Also, sudden dental issues, which always complicate things. Fancy hasn’t been helping either. She’s been very snuggly.
Overall, I have been pretty good at trying to really think through my sewing projects. I have put a 6 month fabric buying ban on myself until June. Gifts obviously don’t count. 😉 The other caveat is that if I need a specific fabric to finish a specific project, I can buy the fabric for that project. Otherwise some things would just pile up more until June.
My organization adventures for the month have made me aware of just how much fabric I have. Most of it has a plan for it, but there is no reason I need that much! It was quite a sobering thing. I’ve been re-evaluating my wardrobe too and have decided to repurpose or remake some of the things that really don’t fit quite how I want them to. I have already taken apart a couple of skirts that don’t fit well and added the fabric back to my stash. I have also started a list of all the things in my project box, with notes about what is needed to finish them.
So far for sewing this month, I have mended a long sleeved sweater and added buttons to a bag and a 3/4 sleeved sweater. All of these have been in my UFO or mending box for quite some time. I also learned that my sewing machine will gather fabric for my if my bobbin and top thread are at different tensions. This made sewing some gathered doll clothes a bit easier.
There have been a lot of doll clothes made in the last two months, but as I have recently acquired two more dolls from a friend’s daughter, I will need to make some more.
Can’t have naked dolls sitting around my office! Speaking of my office, I switched offices with a colleague into a bit of a bigger office and it was amazing how much stuff I had ended up squeezing in my littler one. It took me about 4-5 hours to reorganize and I need a couple of small things, like a game storage unit and a little table for next to my chair. It will be fun to see the kid client reactions to it. The adults will take it in stride, I’m sure. So the next time I take a picture of doll wardrobe at work, it will be on a different chair. 🙂
I have made some more leggings for myself this month, because you can never have enough comfy pants! One of them, the polar bears didn’t quite work, due to the stretch, but I can fix the waistband and it should be fine.
I don’t remember if I mentioned this amazing cutting mat that the Husband got me for Christmas, but it’s making cutting things out so much easier when I’m upstairs. I love it!
I have also made a pair of black pants, but apparently this month, have a tendency to want to write about the pants I currently have on! These ones are soft, black, French Terry, and will pass for work pants, even though I feel like I’m wearing pjs. Instead, how about a picture of my bright pink joggers? I was wearing them the last time I wanted to write about them. They are quite obnoxious, but I love them. The Husband won’t give me his opinion, as he is a smart man.
They are made from my beloved Linen Lounger pattern for Patterns for Pirates and are cotton blend french terry from Girl Charlee. I’m not really enthused about trying new pants patterns, when I like the fit of this one so well. Since my blue jean leggings need to be mended though, I have plans to make a skinnier, actual pant pattern to replace them if needed. I also do need a couple of different pairs of nicer work type pants.
One other thing I needed was a couple of nicer sweaters to wear with my pants and pretty skirts. I went through my sweaters and gave a bunch away, but now needed replacements. I like to dress up a little for intakes and not wear the dino leggings until a couple sessions in. 🙂 Enter this pattern; the Fall In Love Sweater by Ellie and Mac.
I quite enjoy it and it makes me feel super pretty and polished. For future versions, I may size up about a half, as it occasionally feels a little tight. It doesn’t accentuate all my bumps and lumps too much though, so I may not if the fabric is stretchy.
I made this second version as a short sleeved version. It needs bands, as the fabric likes to misbehave and the bottom hem is a little short, but it looks lovely on me. At least I think it does. This pattern fits me better than my normal go to short sleeve pattern, so I will definitely be making more. It has set in sleeves, not raglan or baseball style, so it looks a little more professional.
I’ve also made a very long and cozy fleece sweater to work in the basement in, but it’s come in very handy for our recent cold snap. I think my sewing was more intentional this month. I tried to focus on the gaps in my wardrobe. My drawer is still very full, so I need to do another clear out soon. I have a horror of giving away the “perfect” shirt, but there are a bunch that I just don’t wear!
My Sewing goals for this month include a neutral grey Cocoon Cardigan to fill that gap and to try the fancier pants pattern. I also want to continue to organize and purge my stash, as well as work on some quilts and UFO’s. I have a pattern for a “Fairy Sweater” which is a cascade type sweater that I have a lighter watercolor print to try to use up, but that may wait until closer to summer.
Now to switch gears to food. We had a lot of new food this month, due to the party. I think that I missed a bunch of pictures of meals that were not party food. We did have a lot of Chinese food this month, so you may not see it for a little while. Not that we don’t like it, but there’s only so much stir fry type things I can eat. Here were some of our favorites:
Lion’s Head meatballs
West Lake Beef Soup
Chicken Marsala
Wonton Soup
Fried Dessert Wontons! They were from this website: https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/03/cinnamon-sugar-cream-cheese-wonton-nutella-dulce-de-leche.html
They were so good! I didn’t make a dipping sauce for them. We never have Nutella in the house and I have both spoons and no will power.
The Husband had the play auditions and production meetings this week, so we had leftovers from last week, including a new recipe from The Wooden Spoon cookbook. It was not our favorite. Basically hamburger, tomato sauce, and taco seasoning with shell noodles. The Husband added a lot of cheese, but I still think it was a little bland.
One thing we did like this week was Nancy Fuller’s Creamy Stovetop Mac and Cheese from this month’s Food Network. I was hungry after work on Thursday and ended up making it at 10 pm. It was good late night snacking food though. I used a little of the dragon pepper hot sauce in it. Mmmm!
Misses for the month were the fried pork ribs and the clementine cakes. The ribs were just super annoying to fry and frustrating as I couldn’t taste them to adjust any seasoning. The cakes were a little dense for me, even remembering they were supposed to be a pound cake recipe. I need to practice cupcakes more. I’m sure no one will object to trying them. 🙂
Food goals this month are to use my spiralizer attachment and the Instant Pot at least once. Also, be more creative with lunches and get the Husband more involved in planning. His choices were very good ones this month.
Mental health related, I also want to get back to reading before bed this month. I’m having a lot of trouble shutting my brain down to sleep and I know that will help. I went through a rough patch of not wanting to actually do anything and I am working on not getting to that point again.
Of course, taking Fancy to interesting places is another goal. We went to an informational meeting on therapy dog training today and the information is good, but she definitely needs more training first. I’m sure she won’t mind.
These goals should be pretty manageable, I think. Hopefully once the play starts getting going, we can get somewhat of a schedule going. Wish us luck!
Monthly Review
We have had a busy weekend, although it did involve sleeping in a lot. Apparently Fancy was very upset this morning when I was still sleeping and she couldn’t cuddle with me.
She probably hasn’t had as good of a weekend as we have. Her weekend involved lots of baths. This was her before one of these baths. She’s probably wondering why her treats were going into the bathroom.
She’s normally pretty good with baths. We have given her lots and lots of treats during them, but this is probably too much for her. Luckily, the smell is going down so we should be able to cut down on the baths for now. Hopefully she’s learned that the stripey kitties are no good!
The Husband and I had separate fun things to do on Saturday. He went to a friend’s house for video games and I had some ladies over for crafting fun. K brought her sewing machine and B brought scrapbooking. S helped me make Harry Potter wands for our party in October. They turned out so cool. It was definitely a group effort, as K brought the chopsticks we used, and B helped pick the end stones. Here’s some pictures!
The bottoms of the wands. It was fun to use up bits and bobs from my bead box.
A fancy styled shot. This banner turned out to be a very tiny banner, perfect for a little space, or a dollhouse. I got it online and it’s a reminder to check my sizes before I buy it. I was expecting it to be bigger. We made the wands with hot glue, paint, chopsticks, and beads.
I also made faux Mercury glass vases for a multi use decoration.
Sewing wise, I have also made a few things that haven’t been blogged about. I made a pair of white cotton lycra shorts to go under dresses. Specifically this dress:
The fabric is from Girl Charlee and I think is a rayon spandex. It’s very light and silky. I haven’t worn it yet because all my shorts are too dark to wear with it. I’m excited to finally be able to wear it. This was one of my floral fabrics that was on a massive sale a few months ago. It’s hard to resist fabric that is $3.00 a yard!
I made this floral dress too. This one is out of DBP- double brushed poly- from So Sew English. I quite enjoy this one too, although it can be a little hot sometimes.
I can’t stop making these shorts! I think I’m up to 10 pairs? I have a maroon pair. I don’t have good pictures of them though and they are currently wrinkly from being worn. My latest pair is made from lightweight denim, with both front and back pockets.
I got brave and tried a pair of pants from this pattern and I adore them. They look spiffy and are super comfy. They are a black rayon linen blend from Fabric.com.
I used a yoga waistband, because why would I use anything else? They are super comfy. I will probably get some other neutral colors of linen. I like these pants.
Speaking of pants, this fabric was running through all my sewing groups and I finally succumbed. Who doesn’t need Marauder’s Map leggings?
I enjoy wearing them and will have them for the Harry Potter Party. I have enough scrap fabric left to make a cute tank or shirt from them.
In non clothes items, I made a little progress sewing on the star quilt. Fancy likes to cuddle with me while I’m quilting, so I haven’t worked on it in a little bit.
I made some pattern weights, but seem to have lost the picture. I used a bunch of scraps and they have been very useful. Much better than using random things like cups, canned goods, and dog toys.
Foodwise, I thought it had been a bad month, since I had several weeks where I didn’t make anything new, but it turned out to be a pretty good month. The party and canning recipes helped.
My favorite recipes this month were the cardamom plum jam, chocolate bundt cake, Dilled green beans, margarita shrimp.
Misses were the Basil Pecan Pesto, which we had with a chicken leg over pasta. I don’t think I ever had a picture of it up, it was kind of a greyish looking paste. I used a recipe from Southern Living Small Jars, Big Flavors.
Everything else was pretty good. My numbers overall were 36 recipes with 23 new recipes. I have a lot of things canned for the winter, which is nice. Yesterday I canned a Chunky Tomato Salsa and a Roasted Garlic Pizza Sauce both from Better Homes and Gardens Canning.
I am running out of time before work, so will have to report my goals for the month later. I’m not sure what to do with my food side of things, especially if I am still in a food rut. Please bear with me as I experiement with different food ideas.
Have a great week!
Monthly Review
Hello again! This month has been a strange month with getting sick, a blown tire, and many, many social events. We sometimes look at each other and say “did we really plan this much?!” It’s nice to see friends and do fun things, but I am grateful for the chance to just relax tomorrow. I do have some sewing and maybe even some canning plans.
Fancy was with the dogsitter this weekend, as we went to the Toledo Zoo with some friends. We got periodic dog pictures and she looked very content. This was the look I got all week from Fancy when I tried to go sew in the basement.
I made sure to walk her a bunch this week and tried to get some longer walks in. We went for two walks a mile or more and this was her face then.
Then, of course, this was her when we got home.
Silly dog. 🙂
I wore new shorts to the Toledo Zoo this weekend and since we had gone with my sewing friend, she was wearing shorts, a tank top, and a hat she had made herself! The shorts and tank had jungle animals and the hat had sea creatures, so she matched the environment very well. Here is a picture of my shorts fabric. They are very wrinkled from wearing them and are in the wash, so I don’t have a better one yet. (This was taken before we dropped Fancy off on Friday, hence the tiny dog paw in the corner.)
They are Bermuda length and a very light cotton I got at the fabulous discount store. I have about a yard left and need to decide if I want a tank top out of it, or a little cotton skirt. They have a blue cotton lycra yoga style waistband and were extremely comfortable for walking around all day in the 80-90 degree heat.
Here are a couple of other pictures from the zoo. Notice that there don’t appear to be any penguins or flamingos missing… 😉
It was a very fun day and I’m glad we could go. I have never been to that zoo and the Husband had been when he was small, but not recently.
Now for the review part of the post.
I did finish two things from the UFO box; a bag for my friend and the blue floral shirt.
The owl cardigan is done too and I wear it a lot, but it’s hard to take a picture of it, since the owl is on the back. I didn’t finish the blue striped skirt and don’t quite have enough material for the star tank top, but am working on what to do. I think I’ll pair it with a plain black back and go with that.
When I pulled out the blue stripes, I wasn’t sure that I wanted it to be a skirt. I realized I didn’t have a lot of colors to pair with it and now am conflicted. The picture makes it look like a darker blue, but it’s actually very bright. It is also more see through than I realized, so I might have to line it.
I’m still thinking about what else I could make with it if it’s not going to be a skirt.
I did make 8 pairs of the Linen Loungers, plugging a huge hole in my wardrobe. I have consistently worn a pair of them at some point during the day every day this week. There were two that I didn’t blog about, both sleep shorts. One has sharks, made at the beginning of Shark Week, and the other pair has yoga frogs. 🙂
So overall from this one pattern, I made two pairs of shark shorts, the yoga frogs, the plaid Bermudas, purple linen shorts with fancy pockets, the grey/teal/purple with lace, Minion sleep shorts, and flamingos. Whew. That’s a lot of shorts! It’s been so hot lately though that if I’m at home, they are all I want to wear. I had no sleep shorts too, just had been wearing my normal bike shorts, which then caused problems when I had no clean shorts to wear under skirts or dresses. It’s nice to have fun sleep shorts! The Husband can shake his head all he wants, but he also likes his Minion shorts I made him last month, so he really doesn’t mind.
I made two other items specifically for Shark Week this year, a shirt and a pair of every day shorts. Here is my shark week wardrobe! I enjoyed wearing them all and surprisingly, no one really commented! My fashion sense must be either pretty cool, or pretty weird, so no one really wants to say anything. 🙂
I kept thinking I had made more things this month, but I think I was remembering mending some things and doing some organization. Only 11 things got made. My brain seems to want to make 20 every month, but I had to tell it to chill out. 11 is fine. 🙂
The garden is growing well, although I did have some blossom end rot again. We’re trying to be very consistent with watering and it’s been rainy the last little while, so I’m hoping that helps. Here’s some garden pictures. These tomatoes are still orange on the bottom.
There was a bee in the zucchini blossom.
The peppers look about the same still. I’m going to harvest some peppers to use for salsa for our Big Summer Blowout Party. Hopefully I’ll have a few tomatoes to throw in it too!
Foodwise, it was a very blah month. I didn’t make a lot of new recipes. I was better about getting pictures, even if I though it wasn’t a new or exciting recipe. We did eat a lot of garden lettuce and still have some to eat up this week. When I went through my blog posts, I think I must have missed a recipe post, because I didn’t have much going on. Both the Husband and I seem to be in a food funk. Normally it’s only one or the other, so it’s enough tougher when it’s both. We’ve also been out with friends for a lot of the weekends, which tends to be when I do a lot more new cooking.
I made 14 recipes total… That’s so low! Out of those recipes, 6 were new recipes. Luckily, all of the new ones were hits. I only had one miss, the manacotti which didn’t cook.
The Husband’s favorite was the Turkey Parm.
I did use a new recipe from Voracious by Cara Nicolleti- The Olive Oil and Yogurt Cake.
It was pretty good and I ate it for breakfast. It had less sugar and was almost on the edge of savory rather than sweet. It had citrus in it, but you could definitely taste the olive oil. The Husband didn’t eat any. The olive oil weirded him out. I ate it with cream when I wanted sweet and yogurt when I wanted breakfast. It was pretty dense, with a crispy outside and tender inside. The citrus didn’t come through very much.
This post is getting super long, so I won’t type out the whole recipe, but if you want it, I can do it at a later time, or you could visit your local library! 🙂
Overall, I think my sewing is growing by leaps and bounds, but my cooking has fallen by the wayside. I think I’m a little burned out and don’t really want to plan things. It’s very confusing. I think I might go through my cookbooks and see which ones I haven’t used yet and decide if they should really be on my shelf if I don’t get excited to use them. This coming week is fully booked and I think I have mostly late evenings, so I’m going to see when and what I can prep ahead.
Goals for the month:
Food:
- Go through cookbooks and weed them out.
- Meal Plan consistently.
- Try 1-2 new dishes (main, side, dessert). I keep getting stuck on just having dinner new and I can do other things to count towards this goal.
- Use garden produce and herbs.
Sewing:
- Work on October Bellydance costume.
- Sew/Finish one UFO.
- Catalog fabric.
- Go through craft books and weed them out.
Garden:
- Keep things alive.
- Use produce and herbs.
- Develop canning list and plan.
Wow! That post got a lot longer than I thought it would. Thanks for sticking with me! I hope you enjoyed the pictures from the zoo!
Monthly Review
Well, hello! It’s hard to believe that it’s time for a review again, but I guess it is. My garden has exploded in the past month with all sorts of new growth. I had a salad made with lettuce from the garden just yesterday!
I picked some of both, buttercrunch and romaine. It was delicious! I’ve been picking the basil for caprese salads a lot too. I can’t wait to have homegrown tomatoes and basil for it.
My zucchini plant has taken over part of the garden. (Pictures withheld as to not frighten my father…) I have five blossoms on it. I may be giving away zucchini shortly. 🙂 I think part of the plant ended up in every picture I took of the pepper box. Except the lettuce.
The tomatoes have absolutely taken over their box. I had to find some sticks to stake up the plants. The Early Girls are huge!
Mr. Stripey is holding his own in the corner.
I have some tomatoes started on the plants, but they are hard to get pictures of, as they are small and green. It’s exciting to see them growing though. So far, no sign of blossom end rot, which was the bane of my existence the last couple of years. I think the garden soil is keeping everything much more stable, moisture wise.
The peppers plants have a few flowers on them and seem to be holding up well, despite the encroaching zucchini. The herbs are also doing well. The strawberries never flowered, but that’s alright. I’ll keep them through the winter again and get some more plants for the berry boxes next spring. A friend has some raspberry plants that we can steal cuttings from too.
I’m pretty pleased with how it’s working out. I think we’ll get a lot of yield this year.
I’m also pretty pleased with my sewing this month. I have made lots of useful wardrobe items and am considering what of my ready to wear clothes I can replace or how to fix previously made items that don’t quite work.
My favorite things this month have been my harem pants, my Harry Potter table runner, the abstract floral dress, the blue lotus Agnes, and my Cocoon Cardigan.
I haven’t blogged about the cardi or the three pairs of shorts I have made in the last couple of days yet. 🙂
I finally found a pattern for pj shorts and pants that fits the Husband. He got his minion shorts a few days ago and I can catch up on Christmas pjs too. He has flannel pants with sweater bears on them that are not yet made. Here are the minions.
They were from the book Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. The failed slipper pattern was from this book, so I was glad to find a pattern that worked. 🙂
I realized that all of my recent patterns have been ones that I’ve traced! My friend slowly dragged me over to Team Trace when I wasn’t looking. She tempted me with PDF patterns that I couldn’t resist. I’m not very mad about it, for being firmly on Team Cut That Sh*t Out (terms coined by my favorite sewing group on Facebook- The Self Sewn Wardrobe by Mallory Donohue.) I will admit that it does make sense, but I still hate printing and taping PDF patterns.
I will admit, this Cocoon Cardigan by Patterns for Pirates, had a lot to do with it as well. It looked so snuggly and wonderful on everyone online who made it that I had to have it.
The shoulders look weird in this picture. I swear it doesn’t actually make me look like I’m a linebacker. 🙂 They are a dolman sleeve, so they start sloped and pick up the sleeve partway down your shoulder. It was a new technique for me and I was super nervous, but it came out so nice. I have plans to make a lighter weight black cardi with an owl appliqué on the back. It’s going to look so cool!
The stars are french terry, which is a new fabric for me too. Here’s a closeup of the stars. They are multi-colored.
There’s a grey colorway with pink stars on the website and I think I want it too. Next time I make this in a non-stretch fabric, I’ll add a tiny bit in width to the lower arms. They are a tiny bit tighter than I’d like. I wore it to work and received several compliments. A very stylish coworker said “I don’t even ask anymore, I figure if you’re wearing it and it’s cute, you probably made it.” 🙂 Also, it has pockets!!
The other PDF pattern I have tried and loved has been the Linen Loungers by Patterns For Pirates. I made two pairs for myself yesterday. I may have flamingo fabric ordered to make another pair…
They are both sleep shorts and have a yoga waistband. They are very comfy and didn’t make me feel fat and horrible, which most shorts do. I will be making more of these. The pattern comes with curved hem option, pants, and bermudas as well.
I’ve done a bunch of organizing in the basement, so I’d like to keep it that way.
Foodwise, we did pretty well. We mostly planned pur meals and we used the InstantPot. We had 24 recipes, with 9 being completely new.
Hits were Korean Beef,
Chophouse Cheesy Burgers, Cinnamon Coffee Cake, and the chewy chocolate chip cookies. The Husband also tried searing pork and did an excellent job!
We only had one miss, the blueberry muffins that were very dense. I managed to make dinners even though I was horribly sick. Overall, a pretty good month.
We’re looking forward to trying to have more new recipes this month and also grilling some more.
Goals for the month:
Food Goals:
– Try a new Instant Pot recipe
– Two canning recipes
– Battle Cheesecake
– Meal plan
– Pantry meals
Sewing/Craft goals:
– 1 or 2 new patterns
– 1 or 2 UFO projects
– Continue to organize
Garden Goals:
– Put together composter
– Keep everything alive
Well, I have to to get ready for a family wedding. I’m wearing a me made dress and my starry cardigan, so I will feel cute all day. 🙂 Plus, I get ice cream! Have a great weekend!
Monthly Review
This has been a very busy month! We have had meetings, outings, rain, wind, trips up north, new things with Fancy, and garden progress. Whew… No wonder I’m tired.
The featured picture is one of the new flamingos I bought. I think it looks so pretty outside. So far the neighbors have been polite, no one has even suggested I think about other yard decorations… 🙂
We’re plotting (ha! Gardening puns!) to get the garden finished over the weekend, so I can get the plants in on Sunday. It’ll be a rush, but I think we can do it. So far my list includes carrots, peppers- sweet and hot, tomatoes, herbs, cucumbers, and possibly lettuce or bok choy. Also, more berries, but they will be not in the ground. Wish us luck for getting it all done. Hopefully I can grow a lot of our produce this summer.
We had some good meals this month. 22 recipes were used, with 7 being new recipes.
Hits were Crockpot Beef Stroganoff, Shrimp Pasta, and Chicken Bao.
I made Rhubarb Streusel Muffins for our trip up north from the February 2018 Food Network Magazine.
They were pretty good. I think I was the only one who ate them though. We had grilled steaks and baked potatoes for dinner at the camp. I put together foil packets of asparagus and asiago mushrooms.
It was a very good dinner. I didn’t like the mushrooms very much, but everyone else did.
We only had one miss for the month; the Crockpot Scalloped Potatoes and Ham. It wasn’t very good, kind of bland and too soupy.
My goals for last month went pretty well. I did meal plan pretty consistently this month. I didn’t try any new equipment, but grilling mushrooms was a new technique. I also made some freezer meals. We’ve eaten one so far and it tasted good. I’m still relying on fruit as a side dish and haven’t really been making many. It’s hard to make them before work and I’m normally too rushed if I’m cooking after work.
It’s been a bit of a switch lately, as I have excelled in my sewing projects, but not done so well on food. Maybe I can only do one at a time?
This past month, I made 20 items of clothing! Part of my productivity was due to Me Made May. I did complete my goal of wearing me made items 3x per week. I was not as successful in picture documentation as I wanted to be, but I kind of expected it. I’m so critical of myself in pictures. I did succeed in getting over my fear of posting of myself though, especially wearing things I’m proud of.
I also made six dresses, only one was a solid color. The rest were not neutral colors, but most of them can be worn with multiple colors.
My favorites were the green striped dress and the blue Agnes. I have rediscovered how much I like dresses. They make picking clothes really easy. I did make one dress that was a terrible fit. It was a long version of the blue clock dress. It doesn’t suit me at all. Back to fit and flare styles, I think!
I’ve also made 9 pairs of leggings or shorts from the Peg Leg Leggings pattern. I only have pictures of 8 of them.
Two pairs of shorts, 4 pairs of full length leggings, and two pairs of capri length ones. I love them. My favorites are probably my sewing machines and the dog ones I made today. I played with the fabric and used different colors as a test for my SIL’s swearing panda ones.
I think I’ll use a straight cut for hers though. I forgot it would look funny since they legs fold. I used a red band for the waist.
Skirts were also made, including two pencil skirts and a gathered maxi skirt that turned out exactly how I pictured it!
The maxi skirt has a pocket! I wore it yesterday and swanned around all proud of myself! 🙂 The heart skirt is made from a new fabric, Liverpool knit, which is the same fabric for the expensive pencil skirts I love so much. The maxi on the end is rayon spandex, also a new fabric.
I did bring my serger up north, but it keeps unthreading itself. I have to get a professional to teach me to thread it. My MIL is right, knits will be much easier with a serger.
The one thing I didn’t do much with this month, was to finish things that were already started. 😳I got too excited by knits and new patterns…
While doing some organizing, I ended up making some decisions on fabrics and patterns to try next. Most are with fabrics I’ve had for a while. Here’s pictures of 2 of them that I’m going to try to get done this month.
This one is the dress from my Joann’s birthday run.
This one has the most beautiful color changing ability, greenish-blue. This pattern will most likely be the dragon dress too.
I’m excited to keep sewing new things, but also am going to go back to trying to finish one older thing per week too.
I also need to start and finish a bellydance costume made with this fabric.
It’s “Fancy Month” for one of the sewing groups I’m in and I posted asking if this was fancy enough to qualify and several people asked for progress pictures. Now I actually have to make it! 🙂 I’m going to see if I can find any more of this at Joann’s.
I’m planning on remaking a bra and then using this fabric for a vest and belt/bustle. In my head, it has deep teal poofy pantaloons too. 🙂 I will definitely be making a test version of the vest, possibly not of the bustle. I’ve used that pattern a few times before.
So those are my plans for the month. Not really set goals, just some ideas. I think between getting the garden going and trying to get these done, that should be enough to keep me busy.
Here’s a cute picture of Fancy to close out this long winded review!
Have a good night!
Monthly Review
We have been busy beavers lately. Last year at this time, I had three jobs and was rapidly losing my mind. This year, I can actually focus on the house and yard. I feel much more settled.
We finally put up the hanging pegs we decided we needed in the bedroom. I think we’re going to paint it blue maybe, to match the bottom walls, but for now it’s grey.
We have some spring bugs coming in again, so it really was time to get my purse and work bag off the floor. The Husband also hung new work lights downstairs over my sewing area and now I really need to clean it up. I can see everything! 😳 I knew I had to clean up anyway, in prep for moving back down there for the summer sewing season, but those lights make it hard to ignore things.
We also broke down yard projects by section last weekend and started on some of them this weekend. We chopped a bunch of the out of control front landscaping and I pulled everything from the side of the garage. This was about halfway through.
I ripped weeds! Pulled dead things! I tore out trees! With my bare hands! Well… with a huge trimmer, while wearing gloves. 🙂 Now it looks like this:
Doesn’t it look so much better already? I’m going to put my fairy garden here. It will mostly be in planters and will have butterfly and bee friendly flowers in it. If the ground cover gets too crazy, we may rip it all and put down mulch.
The Husband chopped up some tree limbs that had fallen on our windy day, mowed the grass, and wielded the leaf blower and hedge trimmer. I feel much better about the yard now knowing we can take it in small chunks and get things done.
We were going to get the garden started, but we couldn’t find the tiller at our inlaws. We did get it staked.
Hopefully next weekend, we can till that spot up and get started. So that’s some yard/ house projects from the month. Let’s move on to the food!
Food Review
I used 19 recipes this month. 10 were new recipes. Hits were the fried chicken, prosciutto wrapped chicken, the white pizza sauce, and the dulce de leche ice cream.
The pasta in this picture is homemade fettuccine! Pasta is definitely not as scary as I always thought it was.
Chicken seems to turn out well for me. It’s one of the meats I can regularly eat more than once without texture issues. I also made a different version of spaghetti with a can of sauce and 3 cans of tomatoes. It was much less liquid.
We did have some misses, including one that was so bad, I didn’t even blog about it! 😬 It was a crockpot version of Italian Wedding soup, but it got weird after the noodles were added and got all slimey and starchy. Blech. I don’t even want to talk about it, except to say, don’t cook noodles in the crockpot ever… The other miss was more of just an “eh..” moment. Beef stew in the crockpot. Wasn’t great, wasn’t horrible.
I honestly think that this blog has improved my cooking skills. I wasn’t as confident about trying new recipes, or trusting my instincts when it came to seasoning. We also haven’t had very many misses lately, so that has to count for something. I also used my spice grinder that I got for Christmas and will be definitely using it again. It made it very easy!
Speaking of skills that have improved, let’s move on to the sewing review.
Sewing Review
I have made 5 projects this month. I have made four more in the past three days, but those haven’t been blogged about yet. Stay tuned for Monday or Tuesday!
My favorite has been my polka dot maxi skirt.
It’s so comfy and lovely. Plus, I saved $36, plus shipping! 🙂
I actually loved everything that I’ve made and am proud that I’m using my stash. It’s so fun to walk in wearing something I made and get to tell people that.
Here’s my other polka-dotted item.
My secret pajama shirt with my very first knit neckband. It’s a proud moment for me. I blame my friend and Instagram for that. She and all these other people keep making all these cute knit things and I couldn’t be left behind!
So far, I’ve made 28 or 29 projects since January. If I keep this up, I might beat last year’s record!
So, for goals this month, I have mainly the same ones.
Food Goals
* Try a new technique, or equipment
* Meal plan consistently. I don’t know why this one is so hard for us, but it is. I end up panic cooking halfway through the year
* Pantry meals 1x per week, at least
* Make more side dishes
Craft/ Sewing Goals
* Complete decorating office clipboards
* Decide on summer decorations/ make summer decorations
* Complete Me Made May
* Go through clothes and get rid of unworn ones
* Make 2 solid color or neutral pattern dresses
* Use my serger!!
I think that’s it. I’ve got another shirt waiting on me to sew, and a sad puppy wanting pets.
Have a good night!
Monthly Review
I intended to write this earlier, but it’s raining, gross and cold, and then this happened.
How could I be expected to resist the sleeping puppy lure? Now she’s ready to play again and the Husband and I are sleepy and ready for longer naps. 🙂
We had luckily already taken her to the dog mall before it started raining, where she was petted by several strangers, including several teens. She also saw her favorite employee at the dog bakery and got a sample treat.
I had an exciting ravioli tutorial to share before I did the review. My friend gave me this ravioli maker which made my ravioli skills much nicer.
It is the coolest thing!
First, you put the pasta sheet down over the metal part and the gently put down the white part into it to make a depression. Then you fill the middles and put down the other sheet.
Roll over the ravioli and it seals and cuts it!
Then you have beautiful pasta, just waiting to be used for delicious dinners.
We’ve had them in a mushroom cream sauce twice.
We also used the last of the carne asada in mac and cheese.
It was pretty good, but could have been a little creamier.
So on to the review…
Sewing Review
I just finished this little purse yesterday to take when I didn’t want my big bag.
I did something silly though. I sewed two zippers, though I didn’t need the “extra” pocket piece, and now have two zippers for just the one pocket, instead of two pockets…. I wasn’t using a pattern, so got a little confused on what went where. I’m debating taking it apart to fix it, but it might not get done before the trip.
My other completed projects this month were the wedding quilt in the featured picture, the world computer bag, and the infinity dress.
I also bought new patterns. The one on the bottom right is a knit dress. I’m working on it tonight, I think, if Fancy will let me stop petting her long enough. 🙂
I have one of the other wedding quilts in progress and one pinned, so made some progress on that. Overall, I’m pretty pleased with the sewing I did this month. I finished a bunch of projects and it felt nice to check some big things off my list.
Goals for April
* Make a dress
* Make leggings
* Finish a quilt
Food Review
We used 17 recipes, 8 of which were new recipes. Hits were the cheese fondue, chicken and gnocchi soup, Irish Whiskey ice cream, rigatoni with sausage, chocolate oreo ice cream, and the chicken ravioli.
I don’t think we had too many misses. None horrible enough for me to remember at least. I suppose that good…
Food Goals
* Teach the Husband how to sear pork
* Put together freezer meals
* Meal plan
Overall, a pretty good month. I would like to do more with recipes, but my evening schedule is real weird right now. Well, I’m just gone a lot, so not really weird, just late.
Fancy-pants is staring sadly at me from the hallway. She feels her ratio of play to naps has been sorely neglected today. I’d better go fix that. I hope your weekend is off to a great start!
Monthly Review
I know February is a short month, but man, it seemed to be even shorter than usual. I swear, it was just the beginning of February a week ago. Regardless, it’s now time for a review again.
I made 14 new recipes, 4 from new cookbooks, and three me method recipes.
Hits were the buttermilk pancakes, Voracious cupcakes, chai pear scones, Asian burgers, the chicken and shrimp jaozi, spicy beef tortellini soup, and the bao.
We also enjoyed the creamy mushroom pasta.
Misses were the salted caramel frosting, creamy mushroom chicken, candied oranges from the cheesecake, and Instant Pot pot roast.
The goals that I completed were to use the Instant Pot, go through a cookbook inventory, and use new foods for the party. I didn’t complete a freezer inventory or actually give away the cookbooks I don’t want. I know which ones they are, they just haven’t left my house yet.
Things I’ve learned this month are to trust my instincts about seasoning. Also, I need more recipes for slow cookers. I may need to make some up, if I can’t find enough.
Fancy liked her biscuits a lot, so I may make that recipe again. There are a ton of them though, so I ended up freezing them. She doesn’t mind.
New Food Goals
– Actually get rid of the cookbooks I don’t want.
– Get the lighter fluid for my kitchen torch.
– Meal plan consistently.
– Cookbook inventory to find the ones I haven’t used yet.
Craft Review
When I first went through my posts, I didn’t think I had actually have that much done. I’ve been focused on finishing things. I finished the rainbow crazy quilt.
I also fixed my leggings, so now have fun flamingos to wear.
I made three new flowers.
Buttons were added to these tea wallets.
Here is my favorite combo.
Obviously a glittery butterfly button needed to be on this tea wallet.
I have two rainbow quilts in progress and will be working on them today before work. I made a table runner, but keep forgetting to take pictures.
Things I’ve learned:
I need to prune my stash. It’s time to be ruthless about giving things away. I get a lot of satisfaction from finishing things, so I want to focus on doing that.
New Crafting/Sewing Goals
– Make a dress for the wedding in April.
– Finish the two rainbow quilts.
– Finish OT quilts and mail them.
– Finish one of the completed quilt tops.
– Regular Etsy updates.
My work schedule seems to be getting a little more normal, so if I can continue to be productive, I should be able to get a bunch done. If the Fancy pup will let me that is. She’s currently dancing and whining for me to play with her or walk her. 
I’d better go get her taken care of. She’s licking my iPad case. Weird dog. Hope your day is less weird than she is!