Whats been keeping me away?????

Oh, how I love spring!!!!! But its been such a crazy busy time with The Bald Mans new business, cooking ALL the time, putting the embroidery machine to use, sewing, crocheting and more sewing
Now the BIG project I talked about before has been done for about 2 weeks... Its all started with
a Roberto Cavalli dress I saw in WWD last fall. Inspiration!!! YES!!!! I found a similar pattern V8636, then splurged on Pfaffs Magnificent Floral embroidery CD.

I made the dress (fitting nightmare in the bust!!!) then embroidered all the applique flower petals, leaves, vines and buds on organza....

Put them all together on the side skirt of the dress.... and then hand beaded the empire waistline... also later I went back and hand beaded the trim all the way around the very plunged neckline! The ends of the sash have hand beaded fringe with tiny crosses.

I also sparingly scattered swarovski 2mm amethyst crystals to the flower.
I just love it... its better than I had imagined in my head.... I've yet to wear it! But I can't wait!!!

It was a challenge... time consuming and worth it!

Here's the purse... To cute!! and all it can carry is a lipstick and a credit card!! lol!!

Here's one of the many tops I've made this spring... its my favorite though! Its a Anna Sui Vogue pattern. I made a full bust adjustment..

Used a chiffon fabric and instead of a pre made ribbon for the trim I made this trim out of some silk snow leopard print fabric.

I can't resist showing y'all my garden.... its out of control, I've run out of room and I've taken over the deck with my plants too!

Here's lettuce, peppers, basil, kale, french sorrel and citronella

More citronella, lemon verbena, bay plant and more seedlings coming!

My giant Zucchini plant!

My garden is growing SOOOOO well with all the rain God has sent us this spring...

I even pet sit for my sons friend one day last week... This is Max... isn't he ADORABLE!

Well... off to cook dinner!

Coming up projects.... more embroidery projects I've worked on, another draped dress and top, The Bald Mans new shirt and a new crochet top finished!

Marathon cooking Monday!

I am very much in to healthy whole food eating. But if I don't plan some meals.. Especially lunches I grab easy things like nuts or a green juice.. not enough to keep this body going! something I started a few weeks ago on Monday was what I call marathon cooking. I make up a couple of high protein desserts and snacks , a couple of easy things for a few lunches and dinner with enough leftovers for the next days dinner or more lunches. A couple hours in the kitchen and solid healthy food for days! While things are in baking/cooking mode I use that down time to organize patterns , work a simple project or promote/check social media. Don't let ok at it as, yuck 2 hours of cooking .. I look at it as 2 productive hours of multitasking. Today's marathon cooking consisted of,, simple egg salad that we like put on a low carb wrap with spinach. Huge Baked sweet potatoes which I'll cut in half and eat for lunch or a snack with butter and goat cheese mashed up! Super yum! A huge ...

Work in Progress Wednesday: Natural Dyeing, organization and new fleece!

Ok! Well I had so much fun posting yesterday's theme post I decided to do one today too! Organization is a big deal for me. I live in a small house but I have big crafty area needs! I need areas to dye , to store fiber, yarn , to blend fibers and card, to spin, to occasionally sew, to make and store soaps .. and on and on! Dyeing is done now on my back porch and green house. I have a stove, stainless steel work table , shelving and screens. Picking and drying fleece also takes place there. Solar dyeing saves time and energy too! Only certain plants will successfully dye this way though. This works well! Gets the dyeing components out of my house kitchen! And gives me a large area to spread out and do several things at once. Organizing work in progress projects has been a challenge until now! No fiber person I know only has one project going at a time. It can get messy and confusing! I try to limit myself to 4 crochet ( or knitting) projects at once. I come up with this...

Knocking it off dress

I feel in love with this Chanel look last spring.... so instead of making a Chanel jacket I decided to put that time toward knocking this off the best I could.... I am pleased with my results! Fabric from Miami's Rex Fabrics for the top..... and ofcourse fabric for the jacket and skirt... I found a close to perfect match at walmart! Of all places! Add so hip chain belts and here is my knock off! I made the skirt longer than the original.... and no collar on the little jacket... lower neckline on the top... and a bit longer on it too.... I have several other Chanel outfits I want to knock off too... soon as I can find similar fabrics for them! I had fun with this outfit and fun wearing it! Next V8489.... I bought this fabric on a trip to Panama City, Panama. This was an easy pattern and I will use it again in the future. I added a personal touch to the dress but it didn't photograph at all... asymmetrical from shoulder across the waist and to bottom I hand beaded swarvoski crys...

Handworks Crochet and then Some!

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