Easter and excitement.

This past weekend was BUSY!!!! I worked at Thread all weekend, and we were hopping pretty much all weekend. Which is FANTASTIC, but means that I didn't get to finish my Easter dress. No big deal though...I had a backup! And then Saturday and Sunday were full of Jesus, family and fun!! Here's a few instagram pics from the weekend:









and a few pics Cynthia took with her camera:

chirrens huntin' "aeggs":



me, my sis Emily and our mommy:



me, Emily and Cynthia:


me and Matt, Cynthia's fiance: (we love him!! she picked good!!)


this week i am ALL about trying to get sneak peeks from my two favorite designer's new fabric lines, Tula Pink and Anna Maria Horner. they both have new lines debuting next month and i am beyond excited about getting it into my grubby little paws.

Tula (who is always by far my #1 fav) has released pics of all of hers and i am dying over it!!!!!! It's called Prince Charming and she is having VOILEs for the first time!!!!!!!!! There are 4 colorways but i my fav two to show you: (borrowed from Tula's blog at www.tulapink.com)

Coral



Indigo



and the VOILE!!!!!!



AMH's new line is called Loulouthi and it looks GORGEOUS!! Lots of sumptous, rich, bright summer colors and it looks like it's going to be very Greek-infulenced which I LOVE. I plan on doing a designer spotlight on her once her new line debuts! Here's a *tiny* sneak peek, also taken from her blog, www.annamariahorner.blogspot.com):



I can't WAIT to get to sewing up some lovely things with new stuff from these two talented ladies' collections!!

short little skirt post.

just a quick little post to show the skirt i made this past weekend! i started it at work at Thread on friday since it was SO stormy and very slow.

it was pretty quick and simple to sew up!!




i used this pattern from butterfly kisses:



and these tula pink fabrics! (both of which are from the parisville collection, which we have at Thead!!)

french lace in dusk:



and eye drops in mist:



and that's all for now!! :)
next i'll be working on my Easter dress...

i heart reading.

i can vividly remember BEGGING people to read to me when i was 3 or 4. i usually didn't have to beg that much. i remember being in kindergarten and sitting on the kitchen floor on the phone with my dad while he was on night shift reading to him over the phone because i was so excited about my new words i had learned to read. or sitting on the couch with him or my mom taking turns reading pages out of Ida Early or Babysitters Club. i stayed with my grandmother, who was a teacher, during the summers and we always took a weekly trip to the library...more than once if i was lucky and bugged her enough. i loved checking out as many books as i possibly could...ameila bedila, berenstein bears and dr. seuss were all-time favorites. ever since then, i've loved books and reading.

i mainly read for fun and entertainment. i've never really been one to get all into deep, thought provoking reading. i like mind fluff. and i AM a smart girl. and before you judge me, haha, let me just tell you that my cousin's wife, who is a computer engineering GENIUS reads exactly the same books as me. we swap books a lot. so there.

so i thought i would start a new series (maybe once a month) called i heart reading, where i talk about what i'm reading or what i've recently read.

i just finished reading Swept Off Her Feet by Hester Browne, one of my favorite authors.



this book was just as cute, darling and funny as all her other books. i highly recommend her if you've never read anything by her. you should totally start with this:



right now i am reading the secret lives of dresses by erin mckean. never read anything by her, but i am enjoying it so far!! it's about a 20-something girl who has to take over her grandmother's vintage shop, where she begins to learn the secret stories behind the dresses in the shop.



also i am reading ms. understood by jen hatmaker, christan author and speaker. this is a great read so far, informative and hilarious, as it follows 5 women throughout the bible and discusses becoming the woman God wants you to be!



another book i am using right now (see, i told you i loved books) is sewing bits and pieces by sandi henderson, who is a pattern and fabric designer. this book has lots of great little projects in it for using up your fabric scraps and lots of easy things to make for a beginner sewer like me!! i plan on using it this weekend!



i guess that's enough for now!! i'm already looking forward to next month's i heart reading post!!

weekend update.

This weekend was, sadly, NOT a long weekend. But I did get a good bit accomplished!! I made my first dress!!!! EEEEEKK!!

My grandparents stayed the night at our house Thursday night and so I enlisted my Grandmother's help in cutting out my dress pattern. She's totally a pro. I kept her up til 11:30 and she wound up sleeping in til 9:30 the next day!!! Party animal.

I used some gorgeous jade solid-colored fabric, which I got on the cheap at Thread...can't really beat $5.50 a yd for that kind of quality. I sewed on it most of the day on Friday and most of Saturday evening. I had to have my mother's help with some of it, but I finished and was able to wear it to church on Sunday!!

I wore it with my fav leopard print cardi and even made some earrings and a ring to match it out of my left over fabric.

So without further ado, here's my dress!!





front up close:




back up close:




This weekend I also finished embroidering a shirt for my sis, Emily. She chose a lovely pinup girl from Sew Lovely that turned out just beautiful. I love, love, LOVE their patterns!!



In related crafty news, on Thursday, I received this yummy goodness in the mail, Tula Pink Plume fabrics:



This weekend I hope to be working on some stuff for the next First Friday (May 6!) and possibly a skirt!!

13.5 before 28.

so i've noticed a lot of people posting lists of things they want to do before their next birthday. so, even though i know my birthday is only 4 months away, i thought i could post my [easy and abbreviated] list of things to do before i turn 28. i can post a more extensive one for when i turn 29. *shudder* but until then, here's my [easy] 13.5 before 28:

1. start a blog. and actually use it. {done!}

2. finish my tattoo on my back. it's a girl holding a stack of books, with glasses and a quirky little grin. in other words, its me. i have the outline finished, i just need to have her colored in.

3. start a new tattoo. i've been wanting somthing crafty-themed to go with my buttons and thread on my right forearm. i also want a tula pink tattoo of this lovely lady:



4. learn to sew. scratch that. become most excellent at sewing.

5. make a dress. hopefully i'll be starting on that one this weekend with this pattern and some fabric i picked up while at work yesterday:



6. open up an etsy shop. this is well in the works already actually. my cousin, cynthia (who is a graphic design major) is designing me some stuff for the blog AND my etsy shop!! excited!! you can see her blog here: www.cynthithelamb.blogspot.com


7. make a bunting for my birthday. a nice one. maybe more than one.













8. i really hate losing weight goals, but i'm already started on this one. 30+ pounds and counting. i hope to lose about 20-30 more by my birthday.

9. see at least 2 more live shows. in the past six months i've seen:

Needtobreathe

The Civil Wars

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights

i would like to see:

Matthew Mayfield

Brooke Fraser

Kindlewood

Adele

Needtobreathe again (after their new album comes out)

Feist (but i don't believe she's touring. sad.)

10. obtain as much of this tula pink full moon forest fabric that i possibly can: (which is tricky, b/c it's been out of print for 4 years.)



11. let my hair grow long[er]. it's been short for way too long. i would eventually like it to look like this:




12. in related news, finish watching all the seasons of Pushing Daisies.

13. invest in a decent record player. and some amazingggg records.

13.5. maybe buy a kindle. or an ipod.

ahhhh. [long] weekend in review.

last week my mom and i both took a couple of days off work just to kinda relax and get ready for first friday, so our weekend really started on wednesday.

on wednesday i baked my fake-a-roons, which i previously posted about. The Whimsical World of C.e.: baking experiment: fake-a-roons. http://t.co/5AfBLqL

on thursday i took the tote bag class at Thread, taught by my darling [new!] friend Shelly!! it was a ton of fun and now i'm addicted to making tote bags. i really enjoyed the class because i'm just learning to sew, so it really helped me become more familiar with the ins and outs of a sewing machine. i'm a lot better now at winding a bobbin and threading a machine :) aaaaaand here's the bag i made!!




after the class, i stayed at Thread to hold down the fort so Alyson could go run errands and my friend Cheryl stopped by to visit. it was her birthday! so she hung around til i closed down the shop and we went for manicures and italian food. after i got home, i made her a tote bag and some earrings for her bday gift to give to her friday night at her alabama family dinner. (Cheryl hails from the great state of texas so we've become her alabama family!)

friday we had first friday in downtown florence, which is where vendor set up booths and sell handmade goodies. my mom and i have a booth where we sell our cute little wares. she makes aprons, cute little towels for your kitchen, wallets, checkbooks, pincushions and bookmarks!! i usually have a random assortment, this time i had lots of earrings and hairbows. the pincushions and earrings seemed to be the hot ticket items this month. you never can tell what people will want to buy!! here's a pic of a pincushion and a pair of my earrings.





my cousin cynthia and her fiance matt came up this weekend so they came to first friday along with her parents. we all went to rosie's mexican cantina after for Cheryl's bday dinner.

saturday i worked at thread and it was busy and wonderful. after work came the best part of my weekend: my grandmother's 80th birthday party. everyone came down to our house. around 5 pm we had a surprise visitor arrive!! my cousin wyman from Birmingham. excitement was abound!! :) then we had dinner and cupcakes from a cupcake cake that cynthia made. and then about 7 pm ANOTHER surprise....my cousin Phillip and his wife and baby pull in the driveway...all the way from HOUSTON, TEXAS!!!! everyone nearly passed out. tear and grins and laughter were in full force. it was such a wonderful day and my grandmother was loved on and enjoyed by everyone. she told me yesterday that it was her best birthday ever.

my grandparents with all us cousins (minus kaci, wyman's wife who had to stay at home):



i love these people to pieces. we all grew up loving each other like brothers and sisters and the spouses everyone have chosen have been the perfect additions to our ever-growing family.

here's a pic of my sis, cynthia and me. we're so excited for her wedding in june and can't wait to serve as her double maids of honor!!!



sunday was gorgeous as well and a fabulous day at church. my sister subbed in my sunday school class for my normal teaching partner and we had a dance party with my preschoolers :) after i got home from church, i began working on yet another tote bag!! it's almost finished and i'll post pics later!

i hope everyone had a weekend that was as half as happy as mine!! :)
and enjoy the rest of your monday!