liberty & flannel popover poncho

check me out, delivering on my promise to keep sewing…very excited to share the latest pattern from womenswear mastermind, april rhodes!  you may know april from her outrageously popular staple dress pattern, and you have seen her work before on this blog both here and here (and my visit to her mom’s adorable shop here), with many undocumented but well-loved projects also hanging in my closet.  april has a wonderful niche in the women’s sewing pattern community, wherein she designs highly flattering, wearable, customizable patterns that are also very beginner friendly.  hers were some of my first patterns used when i began sewing for myself, and it was so rewarding and empowering to produce cute garments efficiently and without confusion or rage.  even now as a more confident seamstress, i return to her patterns again and again because they produce high quality, on trend products without any hassle.  her latest pattern, the popover poncho, is no exception!  seamstresses can expect the same clear, simple, thorough instructions (with diagrams and photographs) full of tips and tricks to quickly turn out something they will love to wear.

Advertisement

the shawl that stopped a truck

hello!  i am back (finally) to write about this epic, epic shawl.  i had many exciting ideas about how to spend a month without children, which included visions of yoga, rock climbing, travel, and of course, sewing.  lots of sewing.  the travel part has been going well as we march through our pre-planned trips, but the rest, all the rest, is a distant fantasy now, replaced with backbreaking, heartbreaking work, endless hours of it, with emotional and physical demands so great i struggle just to feed myself and sleep well in between shifts.  it would appear my endless quest for balance needs yet more tweaking.  serious tweaking.  but for now, this shawl.

isn’t she a beauty?  i know i rarely blog about knitting projects, but this one is deserving both in stature and because it has an equally epic backstory.  

spring cleaning

well, it’s officially spring.  here, that means 80 degree temps, flowering trees giving way to lush greenery, and great produce.  i heard recently on the news that for the northern part of this country, it means yet more freezing temps and blizzard conditions.  i will remind people of this winter when they ask me if i miss the midwest.  nope.