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!