Okay so I am still really behind on emails (and I discovered one in my inbox today that is from over a month ago!), but our living room is actually starting to look like a living room. Since the moving company came yesterday to pick up all the empty boxes we had stacked in our living room, I spent a lot of my day today cleaning & rearranging the living room. I think I will definitely share some photos of what it looks like when it is all done, but there is still a little ways to go. Since there is nothing else that exciting going on, I thought I would just share some recent photos that I took at the botanical gardens.

I experimented a little with that photo & added a texture to it… I think I like it, although it is a bit different.

(Click on any photo to see it slightly larger…)

And just because, a photo of Pounce…

And one of Axel (he loves this basket, although he is a bit big for it!)…

I finally finished a little something that has been sitting on my works in progress pile for oh about four months. My first quilt…

Even the cats are impressed that I actually got around to finishing it:)

I do have to admit that I sort of cheated on this, because it doesn’t have any binding around the edges. I really wanted to finish it though and I figured binding the quilt would probably take me another four months, so I just went ahead and top-stitched the edges. I am glad though that I waited those four months to finish it, since the quilting went so much smoother on my new machine than it would have on my old one! :)

The plan is to use this quilt in our living room and so I backed it in a nice soft flannel so it is extra nice for cuddling up on the couch to read a good book. Hopefully it won’t take me another four months to make some matching throw pillows & curtains for the living room ;) Although trying to figure out the math for making a log cabin pillow might take me that long! :) (Unless anyone knows of a really good tutorial for a 20×20 inch sized throw pillow in a log cabin pattern?)

Edited to include: I am really behind on emails right now, so if you have left a comment lately thank you! I am hoping to catch up soon :) 

:Enjoying:

:my new pair of summer shoes:

:my other new pair of summer shoes, because I couldn’t decide between the two:

:these lovely postcards from Kajsa’s etsy shop:

:the new mixtape & a couple of the older issues too:

:sewing + hanging out with one of my little “helpers”:

Be sure to stop by again tomorrow, since I am posting every day this week starting today :)

My poor blog has been kind of neglected lately! I just realized today after my own mother commented on my infrequent posting, that I have only been posting about once a week. So I am thinking I might try to blog every day next week starting on Monday. My blogging voice has gone missing a little bit I think and just jumping into blogging might help me find it :) Anyone want to join me?

I haven’t been spending nearly as much time sewing lately as I would like, although I did make another simplicity 3835 top. It was either that or do laundry & I decided it would be more fun to make a new top than to do the wash. :) (Of course I still had to do the wash anyways, I just got to procrastinate a little bit longer.)

I added an inch & a half to the bottom of the top this time and I love the extra length. I also took it in a little bit so that it isn’t quite as big around, but I think next time I will also try adding the darts to the back (as suggested by Lera) to make it a little more fitted since it is just big in the back now.

I love the fabric that I used for this one, it is just perfect for summer. This pattern is making me feel inspired to try & make some more summer clothes for myself. Of course having a new sewing machine might be helping that a bit too, since it is so much easier to sew on this one than my old one. (I think I would be screaming about the casing for the elastic if I had to use my old machine!)

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! I am off to try & get some stuff done (like more organizing our new place & maybe even a little bit of crafting). I’ll be back on Monday with a post a day for the week :)

Life has been a bit busy lately with just the ordinary stuff & trying to still get completely settled in (the reason for the lack of posting lately - hopefully that will change soon though), but I have managed to fit a little bit of sewing in. :)

I have had this pattern, Simplicity 3835, sitting in my pile of patterns for awhile now so I decided to finally follow the trend and try this pattern out for myself…

It is a tiny bit big around, but I still really like it! I followed Lera’s advice & made the back one piece, which I think looks a bit better than the 2 pieces that the pattern suggests (although it does take a bit more fabric that way). On the next version of it, I will definitely take it in a little bit & I think I might add some length to it since I am fairly tall.

There is of course going to be a next version (this pattern is addicting), since I have already bought enough fabric for 3 more tops…