One down....4 to go.

We celebrated Olivia's graduation yesterday out at my parents and it was a beautiful day.  The temperature was over 105 this past week but it dropped to the high 80's with a nice breeze yesterday and we couldn't have been happier (since we were all outside the whole time).  I got the kids to hold still for a moment so I could get a picture (this doesn't happen often enough).  We had around 50 guests so the kids had a blast and we all slept well last night.

Here is Olivia in her finished dress.  I used the Monique pattern from Sew Serendipity and I can highly recommend this pattern now.  Aside from the part where the first zipper broke during the final fitting (did you hear me screaming?) this dress went together quickly and easily.  Once again Kay did a great job designing a pattern that is flattering, versatile, and uncomplicated. 

Now I always warn the kids "Knock it off with the faces!  This is going on my blog!"...but do they listen?  So here you go.  This should teach her.  Cute shoes though.

Sorry I am so off kilter with the "every Friday" give away, ha!  I don't know if life could get more complicated right now (yes, I know...there's always room for more chaos...).  We are leaving for a two week vacation in under 3 weeks and now that the grad party is over I'm into vacation stress mode.  Laundry and packing (we're driving to Portland!) for 7 people and I have to have the house clean enough for the house sitter.  I'm freaking out on the inside but smiling (in a fake, lunatic kind of way) on the outside.  And I have the nagging feeling I'm going to have to start replacing major appliances pretty soon (because they all break at once of course) so that's starting to gnaw at me, plus the half painted bedroom furniture, unprinted patterns, Quilt Market in October, paying for the kids new school year when the last year isn't even paid off.....*whimper*

Anyway, here's a distraction!  Free fabric to give!  It's a 23" x 44" panel from Kate Spain's 12 days of Christmas collection and it's really cute (better picture here).  I'm including the project sheet from Moda but if you don't want to make a quilt you could make a banner with all the squares (which I've been trying to find the time to do so I could show you how fun these panels are!).  Plus all of those cute candy canes and ornaments would look darling if you appliqued them on some Christmas outfits (you could make little skirts with the squares, the possibilities are nearly endless!).  Just leave a nice comment!

Back soon with a cute, new skirt tutorial to walk you through!  I'm going to do a few so I can post them while on vacation and then see what everyone did when I get back!