2020 Sewing Recap

I didn't realize how many items I created this year until I made a list. I thought it would be fun to do a post with everything I sewed this year! 

Masks

Casey and I made about 350 masks in March and April. Shockingly, this didn't kill my sewjo, but I was so sick of making masks and happy to work on some fun projects instead!

Skirts

Paris Skirt 

My grandma gave me this fabric and it's so cute! I bought the gingham fabric for the waistband for a bit of contrast and love how it turned out. 

Pattern: McCalls 6706 (I added 4 inches of length and a pocket)

Fabric: I think the Paris fabric is from Walmart, but I'm not sure. Waistband fabric is from Hobby Lobby.

Map skirt 

I've always wanted a map skirt and decided to make my own! Unfortunately I made this one (and the Paris one) a size too small and haven't gotten much wear out of it because it's uncomfortably tight. 

Pattern: McCalls 6706 (I added 4 inches of length and a pocket) 

Fabric: Quilting Cotton from Hobby Lobby

Plane Skirt 

As it turns out, this isn't my style and I don't wear this skirt a whole lot. But it's still cute!

Pattern: Gathered skirt using Gertie's tutorial with an added pocket

Fabric: thrifted bedsheet

Floral skirt

I love how this skirt turned out! It's such a pretty fabric. This was also my first make to include a label! I found some vintage labels with my name (Joy) and have had fun including them in my projects.

Pattern: McCalls 6706 (I added 4 inches of length and a pocket)

Fabric: Hobby Lobby on clearance. I got it for $3 a yard!

Burnt orange skirt

I wanted a fall skirt and this fit the bill! I wore it a lot during fall.

Pattern: Gathered skirt using Gertie's tutorial with an added pocket

Fabric: Quilting cotton from Hobby Lobby

Yellow Buffalo Plaid skirt

This was my birthday skirt! I saw the fabric at Hobby Lobby and planned to go get it to make this skirt for my birthday... then we were exposed to Covid and had to quarantine, so I didn't get to make this until after my birthday. Oh well--I still got to enjoy it!

Pattern: Gathered skirt using Gertie's tutorial with an added pocket

Fabric: Quilting cotton from Hobby Lobby

Christmas Plaid Skirt 

This was my last make of the year! I finished it up between sewing Christmas presents and actually didn't finish hand sewing the waistband until Christmas Eve. We woke up to a White Christmas and it was so magical!

Pattern: McCalls 6706 (I added 4 inches of length and a pocket)

Fabric: Thrifted tablecloth

Dresses/Pinafores

Red Gingham Dress 

My bestie Julianne challenged me to make a dress. She came over and we started a sewalong at 9:00 at night and finished around 2:00 the next morning. I LOVE this dress and wear it all the time. It's so comfy. 

Pattern: Cora Half Sleeve Linen Dress (free pattern) with darts

Adjustments: After making the dress, I decided the bodice was longer than I like. So with much trial and error, I shortened it. I also used my own gathered skirt pattern and added pockets. Omitted keyhole and button on the back. I think I also shortened the sleeves.

Fabric: From Julianne

Blue Dress 

This is the only photo I have of this one because I just don't wear it much. There's something about the fit that I just don't like. I think it has to do with the sleeves? I need to take it out and try to make some changes to it so I will like it!

Pattern: Cora Half Sleeve Linen Dress (free pattern)

Adjustments: I made the bodice shorter and used the version without the darts. I also used my own gathered skirt pattern and added pockets. Omitted keyhole and button on the back. 

Fabric: From Julianne

Apple pinafore 

I kept seeing the Fleur pinafore on Instagram and had to get the pattern and try it myself! I had like 5 yards of this apple fabric and decided to give it a shot. It turned out so cute! I made a few mistakes (like stitching in the incorrect place for the button placket, see above), but nothing too noticeable. This was my first time doing buttons and buttonholes and there were EIGHT.

Pattern: Untitled Thoughts Fleur Pinafore

Adjustments: I added an inch to the bodice, and I'm not sure why. It wasn't necessary. I also added some length.

Fabric: Casey's grandmother gave this to me.

Buttons: Hobby Lobby

Burnt Orange pinafore 

The apple one was so cute that I had to make another one! This was probably my most-worn piece this fall. It's so cute and perfectly fall. After the apple one, I realized how confusing it was to have the same fabric for both the outer layer and the lining, so I used a fun rainbow stripe pattern to line the top. I also made the top in a smaller size (size 2) but kept the skirt the same size (size 6). The yellow buttons on the side are vintage! I also added pockets to this one. I wasn't sure if I'd like the look of them, but I do. Plus... pockets. 

Pattern: Untitled Thoughts Fleur Pinafore

Adjustments: Added length; Did crisscross straps for the back and omitted back panel. 

Buttons: Strap buttons from Hobby Lobby; side buttons are vintage

Other

Purses

I've made three Full Moon circle purses and of course have no photos of any of them. I've got two more in the works. These were Christmas presents for friends.

Bunny

I made this bunny for my niece's first birthday. It turned out very cute! The pattern was free from a book I borrowed from the library, and it wasn't a very well written pattern. There were a few times that the instructions were so unclear that I just had to figure it out as I went. Very disappointing. But ultimately it turned out adorable.

Pattern: From the Sunday Sews book; I had to do my own thing for the dress because I never figured out the instructions. 

Fabric: Gray linen from Hobby Lobby; dress fabric was thrifted; dress lining made out of her mom's pillow case from when she was a baby

Neckties

I discovered this necktie tutorial and have made like 8 ties! Most were for Casey, but some were for friends and family. This is a quick sew and comes together beautifully. It is a great beginner project. Casey loves having unique ties, so we always keep an eye out for cool fabric when we're shopping. (Btw, the filter I used on this photo makes the fabric look a little weird.)

Pattern: MADE Everyday Necktie. She goes through the entire process in this video and it's so easy to follow! She explains how to create your own pattern, but I decided to buy hers. Totally worth it! It comes with both the skinny and regular tie options. Casey prefers the skinny ties, but I have used the normal size pattern for gifts.

Fabric: Chateau Sew and Sew in New Orleans (They had such cute fabric!)

Princess Anna Costume

By far my favorite and most time consuming make of the year!! I've wanted a Princess Anna costume since Frozen came out, and now that I know how to sew, I had to make one myself! Eventually I want to thrift a light blue top and embellish it to be even more like her costume.

Vest: I thrifted a velvet jacket and turned it into a vest, then added gold bias tape and hand sewed the embellishment. 

Skirt: Made a gathered skirt (with an Olaf pocket!) and then added some darts to take away some bulk from the waistband. The motifs were made with heat and bond and it worked very well! (I tried fabric paint and it didn't look as nice)

Cape: This was the biggest experiment and I am THRILLED with the results. I got a lot of inspiration from this tutorial but did not use any patterns. I made some mock ups before cutting it out of my fabric. I made the cape really wide so I could actually wrap it around me to stay warm.

Fabric: Fabric for skirt and cape were from JoAnn's. Fabric for motifs and fold bias tape was from Hobby Lobby. Cape clasp was from Walmart.

I want this costume to be an ongoing project. As I progress with my sewing skills, I'd like to update pieces or recreate them completely. I really want to work on the motifs on the bodice (it's hard tell in the photos, but it's crooked) and add some more details to the cape. I'd also like to get more of the pink fabric to make her hat. I used almost every bit of the 5 yards I bought for the cape!

Current Projects

• Two Full Moon Bags | I still have two to make for Christmas presents. All the fabric is cut and prepped, so now I just have to sew them.
• Striped Corduroy Fleur Pinafore | I'm so excited about this one! All the pieces are cut and interfaced and I think I finished the top part of it. 
• Quilt top | I'm making a rainbow scrap quilt (because I love to not waste fabric) and I'm about halfway done with the quilt top. 

Whew! That's a lot! I really had no idea I made that many things this year.  I never planned to learn to sew, but it has been one of the most fun creative ventures I've done. It's so rewarding and I really enjoy it. Here's to another year! It will be so fun to look back in another year and see what all I've made!

2020 Goals Recap

It's been so long since I've written a new post that Blogger has changed on me! I spend a lot of my free time sewing (and thus not blogging) and I'm okay with that. That being said, I really enjoy going back and reading my end/beginning of the year posts so I wanted to pop in and do that today.

As it turns out, NO ONE had 2020 vision and this year turned out completely unexpected. But not all bad! I do still try to block out March and April where I spent six weeks making masks. Shockingly, I didn't lose my sewjo. I was just so. sick. of masks. But I've sewed some fun stuff since, and I'll try to do a recap on that. (We'll see. ha!)

I honestly didn't even remember the things I wrote down at the beginning of 2020. It's been a long year and I decided to give myself grace on all the things I didn't do. But let's see how I did. 

Marriage

• Make sure to have one six-second kiss every day | I feel terrible saying we don't do this every day! Guess that just means it needs to be on the 2021 goals list...
• Two planned date nights every month | After a few months, we decided to bump this up to a date night every week and I'm so glad we did! We have date night every Tuesday and always look forward to it. Sometimes we go to a local restaurant and sometimes we stay in and do a puzzle or something low-key, but I love having the time to connect with Casey. Sometimes we plan something together and sometimes one of us does the planning. It's always fun to come up with something new and fun, and Casey always plans fun dates!
• Express my expectations | Unfortunately there's no real way to measure this, but I have definitely been trying to communicate better and more, even about tiny things. Opening up a conversation is actually what led to us doing date night every week, so there are definitely benefits to expressing my expectations.

Going Green

• Continue using reusable shopping bags, coffee mugs, water bottle, real china and silverware, limiting paper towel use, and refusing plastic straws. | 2020 has made this one a little more difficult. At the beginning of Covid, we stopped using reusable shopping bags because we weren't sure if it was a good idea to continue using them. Reusable bags aren't the norm here--I've literally never seen a single other person in town use them--so our town doesn't have any rules about them, but we didn't want to make any grocery workers feel uncomfortable. We have since started using them again and haven't had a problem (other than grocery workers being confused, but that's normal). I HATE using grocery pick up (which was our only option when we had to quarantine a few times) because they put every single item in its own plastic bag. I could rant, but I'll refrain. We use these plastic bags as trash bags, so at least they've been getting used.

We're still rocking the real china and silverware, but I need to do better at speaking up against using a plastic straw. We limit the paper towel use to pet messes which has increased this year because we are now kitten foster parents! Though technically our paper towel usage has increased a little because of this, I still am proud of us for being mindful of when we use them.

• Figure out what to do about recycling. I didn't do this and I'm not sure if I just lost vision or if it was a 2020 thing that I didn't feel like bothering with. Either way, I've decided we'll just pay the fee to have recycling pick up this year. The only packaging I've truly tried to be mindful about is egg cartons, and I try to get ones made of paper that I can throw in the compost pile. However, I met a neighbor via Facebook who raises chickens, and she said she'd be happy to take empty egg cartons, so I'm going to try to remember to give them to her instead! 
• Shop the farmers market regularly. We've tried our best to support the farmers market this year, especially through Covid. Our favorite booth is a lady who bakes all kinds of delicious pastries. We get some almost every week! I was thrilled that there were extra booths before Christmas, so we did some of our Christmas shopping there. I love to support local entrepreneurs! 

Personal

• Be a better friend | That lunch date with myself in March never happened because I was too busy making masks to eat lunch. (Apparently I'm still not over the mask-making trauma, ha!) We did have a friend move in with us a few months ago and she will be here until she gets married in April. It's been so fun having her here. We've also been able to have some friends over for small dinner parties (which sounds far more fancy than it is--usually I make spaghetti or breakfast for dinner then we hang out).
• Read at least one non-fiction book a month | Oops. I just checked my Goodreads and I only read (listened to) two non-fic books this year. I prefer to listen instead of read non-fic, and I discovered podcasts this year, so I've listened to podcasts and forgone the books. That being said, I've been listening to my Bible. (See below)
• Create a cleaning schedule for my home | Oops again. Okay, to give myself some credit, during November I decided to create what I considered to be my ideal daily schedule. Part of this includes cleaning time throughout the day, like doing dishes after breakfast and lunch, and spending time in the afternoon picking up around the house. On the days I follow this schedule, I've rocked it!
• Complete at least one sewing project per month. I just now looked back and made a list of everything I made this year. I'm SHOCKED at how much I accomplished! In addition to about 350 masks (which took me six solid weeks of sewing while Casey did most of the cutting), I also made 6 skirts, 2 dresses, 2 pinafores, 3 purses, a stuffed bunny, 8 (I think) neckties, and a Princess Anna costume for myself! I'm currently working on 2 more purses, another pinafore, and a quilt top.

Spiritual

• Read a new Bible plan | I'm 21 days behind and have 4 days to catch up (I'm going to listen to it while I do some cleaning). I HATED the Bible reading program we chose and was already regretting it in March. I'm going back to my One Year Bible next year and really looking forward to it. I did like that Casey and I did it together though!
• Grand Finale | Our church couldn't have our annual kids camp this year, so we weren't able to do this. But we have some great ideas that maybe we can use next year!
• Play more worship music at home | We have ROCKED THIS. Every morning when I get up I tell Alexa to play worship music and we play it throughout the day. We even got another Echo Dot so I could have it playing in my office, too. 

This took far longer than I expected it to, but I'm glad I sat down to do this. It made me realize that, even during a global pandemic, I was able to move forward and make changes that help me become the person I want to become. I believe that every small step contributes to a bigger goal, and I'm glad I kept stepping. Now it's time to work on a list of goals for 2021! 

Summer Sweets

There's something so magical about summer treats--ice cream, shakes, popsicles, snowcones (called snowballs here in South Louisiana but I still haven't gotten used to that). Funnily enough, I hardly ever eat these sort of things, but I'm glad I married a guy who loves that kind of stuff so I don't miss out. Turns out, my favorite summer treat is a yummy scoop of ice cream in a waffle cone. I've been on a mint chocolate chip kick lately, which is the ultimate refreshing flavor, especially when it's super hot out. And it's Louisiana. It's always hot out.

Casey learned about a milkshake food truck coming to town so obviously we had to check it out. And check that OUT. It was soooo messy but still yummy. (Nothing, however can ever compare to The Yard. That place spoiled me.) It was nice to just sit on the back of the car in a Mexican restaurant parking lot while ice cream and chocolate dripped everywhere as we tried to eat it before it could melt. Even messy can be magical.

Dreaming of Fall... In July

It's July 2. America will celebrate its independence in just two days. Tomorrow I will make my annual "apple pie for the Fourth of July." On Saturday I will wear my patriotic skirt (navy with white stars, just like the American flag) with a red, white, and blue plaid button up and a pair of patriotic sunglasses that say, "Party like it's 1776."

And yet.

Yesterday, on July 1, I found myself ready for fall.

Maybe it's because it's been SOME KIND OF HUMID this week. (Today's humidity is 52% and it feels soooo much better outside than the sauna that became Louisiana this week.)

Maybe it's because it's been SOME KIND OF YEAR these last six months and I'm ready for my favorite season.

Maybe (probably) it's because I ran to Hobby Lobby yesterday and they had all their fall decor and fabric out. (And Christmas. I ALMOST bought some nutcracker fabric... I think I'm gonna have to go back and get it.)

I want to buy all the cute fall fabric and make a million pillow covers. I want to pull out my pumpkins from the storage room. I want to burn fall candles and diffuser blends. (Okay, fine, I'm diffusing a fave fall blend right now.)

And also, I want to wear fall clothes. I'm already wearing boots (because boots are my favorite and I wear combat boots all year round), but I'm already looking forward to pulling out my tights and scarves and sweaters for the two weeks of fall weather we get in December.

*an aside*
When I was a teenager, I LOVED teen fashion magazines (I had subscriptions to Seventeen--my fave--and Teen Vogue) and I was always so confused by the "first day of school" outfits. They were always SO CUTE (again, I'm a sucker for fall clothes) but I couldn't imagine wearing a sweater on the first day of school. It was much too hot for that. And those knee-high boots? Cute as they were, you'd feel sweat pouring down your calves before the first bell rang.

I guess at some point I finally realized that other places have actual fall weather when school starts and I'm still a little bit jealous of it. But I guess it's okay. We have mild winters, which, as someone who does NOT like super cold weather, I'm glad for. AND I'm glad that we don't have summer weather year-round like my beloved Singapore.
*aside complete*

I'm literally so tempted to start decorating for fall, but I'm trying to be practical and wait a little while. I mean, it's completely acceptable to pull out the fall decor in September, which means if I want to decorate early, I can bring out the pumpkins mid-August. (To distract myself in the meantime, I think I'm going to give our room a mini makeover.)

If we're going for a mid-August fall decor launch date, that means I have just six more weeks to wait. Which means that I need to go ahead and make those pumpkin pillow covers. Guess I can work on that while I eat my apple pie on the fourth of July.

At-Home Painting With A Twist Date Night

I mentioned in my last post that my husband and I had a "Painting With A Twist" inspired date night recently. I went to a Painting With A Twist a few years ago and really enjoyed it, but I didn't like the painting we did. (I went with a group of friends and just went along with the painting they chose.)

We pass our local Painting With A Twist often when we walk downtown, and, while the paintings are cute, I've never thought one was cute enough to hang in my house. PLUS I'd want to do it with my husband which means we'd have not one, but TWO paintings that we'd wonder what to do with. So, cheapskate me could never justify a date night there. But then I thought, why don't we just do one at home?

So I went to my fave store, Hobby Lobby (when you collect hobbies, you frequently find yourself here), and picked up supplies. All the painting supplies were half off, and, honestly, that's the only time you should ever buy anything at Hobby Lobby. Everything goes on sale every few weeks. I picked up:

• a set of 20 (I think) acrylic paints
• pack of paintbrushes
• plastic mixer things (didn't really need them, but I read a blog post that inspired me to get them, and they were only a few dollars)
• watercolor paper (instead of canvas. Plus, I was out of watercolor paper, so it did double duty. Yes, I do some watercolor too. *points at self* Hobby Collector.)

My total bill was around $30, but I also picked up some other things, so probably the paint stuff we needed was around $20. Which, I might add, is about half the price for ONE person to do Painting With A Twist. AND I have enough supplies that we can do it again. Or I can do it again. I was wanting to take up acrylics anyway, so this was a really good reason for me to get supplies. 

After acquiring my supplies, I found a beginner acrylics tutorial on YouTube for us to follow. We didn't have the exact same brushes, but used similar ones and it worked out just fine.

And then... we painted! And had fun! And made a mess! (Okay, I made a mess. I'm a messy painter.) And we made some really cute paintings that I need to hang up in the kitchen.

Life Currently | June 2020

It feels like it's been sooooo long since I've been on here and I've been itching to write. Life looks a whole lot different than it did three months ago. Some bad. Some good. Here's a few things going on in my life right now!

• I've taken up macrame. I joke that I collect hobbies... but it's hardly a joke. I've been making macrame plant hangers and it's a game changer because now I have a way to keep the plants away from the cats! Also I need more plants.

• I also bought a set of acrylics because I wanted to give it a try. Casey and I used this tutorial for a "Painting With a Twist" inspired at-home date and created these!

• We turned a corner of my craft room/library into an at-home office. Casey MADE me two tables and I painted and stained them. They're so cute! I just finished up a virtual conference my work hosted this week (like literally... 20 minutes ago) and it's so nice to not be working at the dining room table anymore. (FYI, I've been working from home for a year now... so it's nothing new... but I recently realized I need an actual work space.)
• House projects. Alongside the tables for my office, we used leftover wood to hang up a shelf, mounted the TV to the wall (it was previously sitting on a cheap shoe rack... now the living room looks so nice and homey and less like a dorm room), and are redoing a chair we found on the side of the road. I feel like we've done a lot of other things too, but some of it was just moving furniture around.

• OH! I painted three doors PINK. I'm thinking the kitchen door is next. Casey bought me a gallon of the pink paint so now I have to find more things to paint. Which is why I have like 5 pink plant pots. And the legs of my tables are pink. What else can I paint pink??

• Speaking of plants, I've acquired quite a few recently. I love them. And I need more, obviously.
• I've read like 6 books in the last two or three weeks. Sometimes I go through periods where I just read ALL THE BOOKS and then none of the books. I'm about halfway through my most recent read (a cheesy YA romance -- MY FAVE) and need to go finish it. It's a rainy day, so I'm gonna put on some PJs soon and read away.
• Accidentally figured out how to make my nails grow. I started a new skincare routine (I need to make an updated skin care post, but here's my old one) and part of it involves organic almond oil and pure frankincense (why is that such a hard word to spell) essential oil. Turns out my nails love it. I'll have to write a post about it. (I'm also quite upset that I broke a nail about 30 minutes ago when I was closing the window because rain.)
• I'm craving a strawberry limeade. Which is weird, because I don't exactly like lime. But I had a sip of my husband's strawberry limeade from our fave coffee + crepe shop in downtown and now... I need one. I'm hoping it will be nice and sunny on Saturday so we can walk downtown and get one!

Okay, well now I've updated this little bloggy. Who knows when I'll update it again? What can I say? It's just one of those hobbies I've collected.

Things I Love: Spring

It's been a while since I've done a Things I Love, so I thought I'd do another one! This is the spring edition.

Beautiful sunny days! Casey recently put screens on our windows so we can open them up without the cats escaping. Every morning, Tigger follows me to the living room and waits for me to open the window so he can hop on the windowsill. It's so nice to hear the birds and squirrels outside. I'm thinking I should get a wind chime to put outside!

Spring hand towels. It's truly the simple things sometimes, isn't it? I always keep a towel hanging by the sink and I picked up some cute spring ones right after Valentine's Day. They make me smile when I dry my hands.

Handkerchiefs. Okay, this is a weird one but hear me out. I have allergies and find myself blowing my nose a lot in springtime. I recently started carrying cute vintage handkerchiefs in my purse. My Gramma gave me some that belonged to her, her mother, and her grandmother. So special! I've also picked some up at antique shops. They are softer than tissues and too cute to boot! Why doesn't everyone carry handkerchiefs anymore? I don't know why, but my bestie Julianne and I are bringing them back. (Above picture is some things I thrifted last month.)

Picnics in the park. This goes along with beautiful sunny days. A few times a week we walk to downtown and pick up food at a local restaurant, then take it to the park and have a picnic. We have so many great local restaurants within walking distance of our house, and we love to support them! We're happy than many of them are remaining open right now thanks to pick up and to-go options.

Meeting neighbors. Because everyone is mostly staying home right now, so many people are enjoying the weather on walks, bike rides, gardening. We've had the pleasure of meeting some of our neighbors (while remaining distant) and it's been so nice!

Light in the Darkness

“Even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.” ‭‭Psalm‬ ‭139:12‬ ‭

Darkness can be scary. Unable to see where you’re going, worrying that you’ll bump into something or run into a wall. I’m not just talking about physical darkness, but also the situations we go through. Worrying about what is happening in the world around us, wondering what lies in our future.

Have you ever wished that God would hand you a pair of “night vision” goggles? Wouldn’t it be nice to assess what’s ahead and walk forward confidently, all-knowing? But, inevitably, if we could see what’s to come, we would make bad decisions. We would try to pick the shorter or easier route, the one with the least amount of obstacles, the route that God did not choose for us.

We can’t see in the dark, but God has night vision. Darkness does not exist for Him. (“Even the darkness is not dark to you.”) He sees everything; He knows all. He knows your future. He knows every single thing to come, both the good and the bad. He has already accounted for things you don’t even know about yet; those things will not surprise him.

Do you feel like you’re stumbling through the dark? Reach out to God. When you’re afraid to take a step because you can’t see the way, He will take your hand and be your guide. Though the darkness may blind you, “darkness is as light with him.” You can be confident in your Guide and walk in HIS light!

I started learning to embroider last year and this is a piece I recently made inspired by scriptures I'm memorizing.

A Zoo in the Sewing Room

As promised, here are photos of our pets hanging out in the sewing room over the last few weeks. The orange cat is Tigger, the gray cat is Sushi, and the dog is Oxford.

They all love to find a pile of fabric to sleep on. Oxford has his bed in there, but sometimes Sushi steals it. Tigger usually prefers to sleep on the sewing table, but can also be found in the corner on top of some papers I need to go through.

The cats often find fabric to play with (half the time it is attached to my current work in progress) and somewhere in there they have hidden a ball that makes bird noises. We hear it squeak on occasion.

The cats bring so much fun into the room! And Oxford mostly just enjoys napping. :) It's kind of a perfect life.

When Life Gives You Lemons

I know the correct ending to this phrase is... "make lemonade." But the thing is, I don't like lemonade. Or lemon flavored anything, other than sprite, which, to me, tastes like neither lemon nor lime. But I digress.

I think I prefer this quote: "When life hands you lemons, make something sweet." Oh why yes, I DID make this skirt! Isn't it the cutest? I love how summer-y it is, and of course I love the pink. This skirt makes me smile, which is why I've worn it like three times this week. I've needed a reason to smile this week. The world has lots of lemons in it right now, huh?

So let's take a moment to focus on the sweet instead of the lemons.

1. First off, this skirt, obviously. Which I wore today. And two days ago. And five days ago. (I'm a #ProudOutfitRepeater.)
2. We've had beautiful sunny days lately! Oh, I love the sun pouring through the windows.
3. I've been in the office/craft room/sewing room/library working for the last two weeks so I decided to let the cats come in. (They are usually banned from this room because it's where I hide the plants they try to eat.) Having the cats in there has been so fun! Tigger loves to sleep on the sewing table and jump into my lap on occasion. It's the cutest thing. I'm going to have a whole post soon devoted solely to photos of the animals in the sewing room.

4. Casey has recently gotten into cooking and baking and I am so for this. He made crawfish pasta and brownies topped with edible cookie dough this week!

I truly have a ton of things to be thankful for! So grateful to have lots of "sweet" in my life.

Flower Child

A few weeks ago Casey decided to go golfing and invited me along. Sometimes he enjoys being by himself when he golfs but a lot of times he invites me to go along. Usually I enjoy the sun while I ride in the golf cart and read a book. (And reapply sunscreen frequently because redhead.) But the other day we were the only ones out there which meant Casey wasn't being rushed to play and we could take our time.

The golf course was beautiful and there were lots of little flowers everywhere. I suppose most of them are actually considered weeds, but they're pretty, yeah? A girl I follow on Instagram who always makes flower crowns had shared a YouTube tutorial with me over a year ago and I decided it was finally time to give it a try. Any time I saw a patch of flowers, Casey would stop the golf cart and I would pick flowers to add to my flower crown. I spent a few hours, slowly picking flowers and weaving them intricately together. It was just as dreamy of an afternoon as it sounds.

Now that I know how to make them, I can actually make one pretty quickly! I made this one after we ate dinner in the park last week. There is truly something special about sitting on a picnic blanket weaving flowers together to make a crown.

Life is even better when you wear flowers in your hair!

2020 Valentine's Day Cookies

My husband and I have a little side business making decorated cookies. Here are some of the Valentine's Day cookies we made this year!