with needle & thREAD

Hello, sewing friends!

I welcome you to needle and thREAD. What have you been sewing lately? Or are you embroidering? Pulling a needle with thread through lovely fabric to make life more beautiful somehow? Would you share with us just a single photo (or more) and a brief description of what you're up to? Will you tell us about what you're reading, also? Would you talk sewing and books with us? I'd love that so much.

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I've been reading some Urban Farming-type books this week. I'm reading as fast as I can because my husband--who does not have "the Farmer" as his screen name--is out of town and I want to have lots to make a case for turning our yard into a mini farm share with him when he gets back. But I'm going to save those until next week. Because I got a surprise in the mail yesterday and, well, it just looks so pretty with my sewing;-).

I pre-ordered Joanna Figuera's With Fabric & Thread several months ago and it arrived yesterday. I haven't read the whole book, but I do admit to sitting on the front steps and immediately inhaling the fourth chapter. That's where color theory all finally made sense to me. It was all I could do not to phone a friend who plays with paint chips as much as I do and read the whole chapter to her right then and there. 

There are some really lovely projects in this book and I know I will sew many of them. I've already got my eye on a darling apron to keep up my St. Martha's day tradition. It's a flirty retro style that will still cover my mama figure. And there's a pattern for little girls, too, so we'll be all set.

In sewing news, I thought I'd have so much to show, but I don't. I have traced the pattern for Anna Maria Horner's Painted Portrait Blouse. That whole tracing thing is so tedious and bothersome, isn't it? And I've started laying it out and cutting it. The fabric you see there (which is a Fresh Vintage palette--I learned that in Chapter 4), is some Heather Bailey that I've had since I tried to sew when Karoline was a baby. The blouse will have that fabric for the yoke and some coordinating solid green for the rest. I think. What do you think? I thought the print all over might be a bit much on me. I'm barely 5'2" and don't want to look like a stuffed chair. That striped fabric? It's my tablecloth, an Anna Maria Horner Loulouthi, but I'm not sure it's staying. It's not Fresh Vintage. And I most definitely am.

Speaking of which, I did get some needlework done this week. Mike's been gone. Karoline has been staying up way past her bedtime and stitching with me. This quilt square is part of my big anniversary quilt project. The fabric? California Girl by Joanna Figuera:-). I already have fabric to match my new book, fancy that. All most definitely Fresh Vintage.

Finally, my happiest needle news ever? This is Karoline's needlework. She's five! And she embroiders! And she loves it. It's so fun to sit and stitch with her. Aren't these the loveliest butterflies ever? She chose her current favorite books for the picture. 

What are you needling and reading this week?