[Pulls out a bullhorn] Calm down, everyone.  This is not a drill.  Please sit your crazy tails down and breathe.

Luckily, I found a free pattern to make your own cloche. I was able to make this hat with leftover fabric from my dress and then I jazzed it up a bit more.

So the pattern I found for the cloche was from Elsewhen and is the Rosabelle pattern.

I found the pattern through another blog I follow, Sew Momma Sew, and her review of the pattern was spectacular.

The actual pattern is also super easy to follow, with well written directions, and pictures.

I used the satin from the contrast of my dress as a nice compliment to the outfit. I reinforced the satin with cotton muslin as recommended by Elsewhen. I then used the leftover lining fabric I had from the dress to line this hat. You can't get much more coordinated than that.

"It smells like old woman."

~A silly friend of mine

But it is the scent of reassurance to me.  But did you know you can drink it too?  Whaaaat?!  Crazy talk.  It's true, and it's delightful.  In Heather's continuing coffee series, I give you lavender lattes.

I tried my first lavender latte over a year ago, and I was dubious at the time too.  Would lavender taste any good?  Yes, because if you do it right, you're getting more of the scent, a whisper, of the lavender rather than the taste of it.  That being the case, you don't want to be heavy handed any time you use it in cooking.  Too much and it'll feel like you're drinking laundry detergent.

I have been looking forward to this race since it was announced earlier this year. I knew it was going to be awesome. How could it not when it's path goes through the paved roads of the battlefield? Ok, so before I get ahead of myself, a little background - this is the inaugural year for the Prince William Half, and I really hope that it comes back next year. It was very well run, and just a terrific race. Some first year races, have hitches and glitches, and if there were any for this race, then I was not aware. The starting time did get pushed back by 15 minutes, but that ended up being beneficial to me. I think it was pushed back though, because so many racers were still arriving, but honestly there wasn't a traffic jam that I could see or heard about. So let's get onto the meat of the review.

So if you've been reading this blog lately, then you know that I've been trying to use up my stash of fabric. Apparently, I'm also going through old patterns and finally making them. Nothing like wanting new clothes and not having to go out and find something. It's almost like free clothing. I mean I know I paid for all the stuff at one time, but that time is not right now, so it does feel like I'm able to update my wardrobe for free.

We have a wedding to go to soon, and this is as good a reason as any to whip up a cute new shirt. This shirt is going to be perfect for when I feel like a busted can of biscuits. Ladies, you know those days, and you know which ones I'm talking about. I really do like how feminine this shirt is, and I really like how the model on the pattern is wearing it with a pencil skirt. I have a pencil skirt that I think will work so off to work I go. 

The first problem, came when I didn't have enough of my sheer fabric. Luckily, I did have some leftover lining fabric that matched my main fabric, so rather than self lining this top, I lined it with my new fabric and went along my merry way. I opted to make view "D". I'm over the handkerchief hem. View "D" also allowed me to hide the lining fabric to a degree, because the bottom isn't graduated like it is in some of the other views. Win, win!

The pattern is not simple, and I'd really only recommend it to confident, intermediate skilled sewers. Some of the directions are wonky and take experience to know how to accomplish what they want you to do. The elastic below the shoulders is one such example. How they tell you do the elastic, and the way you end up having to do it are two different things.

I maybe should've lengthened the top, but I didn't think about it and I don't think it's too short looking on me. I paired it with my skinny jeans for the photo, because the skirt I was going to pair it with - well I didn't like how it looked with the top, so I've already gotten another pattern in the works. A simple pencil skirt from a pattern that I may have bought in 2002......

Until next time, cheers!

This is another stash busting project, but I do remember purchasing this fabric at Walmart. It was on clearance, and a great chambray. I paired it with a fun cotton geometric print, and had plans to make the hubs a new shirt. The hubs will not get his shirt though. When I told him of my plans, after finding the fabric again, he told me that he didn't really want another bowling shirt. That's fine with me, just means I get another new shirt. Who doesn't need another button down?

So I've totally had this post written for over a month, and forgot to publish it. Whoops! Well here is the next installment of the stash-busting clothing sewing.

Here's the third top I knocked out last week. The top is basically a version of a pillowcase dress. I opted for the variation with ruffles, because ruffles. I had this gauze lying around for ages. I got it several years ago from mom, and it's just been sitting. So as a part of the great fabric purge I decided that the gauze would be perfect for this pretty, feminine shift.

I did cheat a bit. I didn't feel like hemming the ruffle so I just ran the edge through the serger with a slightly darker shade of olive green thread. 

The biggest conundrum with this fairly straightforward pattern was when it came  to stitching down the back to the sash. It doesn't tell you exactly where to stitch so you kind of have to play around with the fit and drape of the top on the sash to get it right. The sash also seems especially bulky, but it does flatten out a bit. I may have stabbed myself several times while trying to get the tie just right. I call it sewing acupuncture. 

The top is very comfortable and sews up very quickly. The ruffle version is a bit more difficult than the other variations of the top, but it's not overly difficult. The simpler version of this top would absolutely be a great top to start your sewing skills, but the ruffled variation should be done by someone who's maybe still beginning, but has gained some confidence.

Cheers! 

So let's go back a few weeks. Three weeks to be exact. 

It also doesn't help that my sinuses have gone haywire. Fall is coming y'all. The nose knows, and I'm so over it. I'm so over the pressure and the general feeling of lethargy. 

It's also been a bit hot. I imagine that the surface of the sun is cooler. The heat wouldn't be so bad if it weren't as humid as it is, but hey, let's hang out at 90% humidity, that's cool. Not. 

I'm super awesome at excuses. Maybe if I were a bit more dedicated then I would've gotten in more than one long run, or written more than one blog post in 3 weeks, but I'm not. It's just on of those moments in time where eating breakfast is an accomplishment, because I'm so tired of being a snotty mess that it's drained everything from me. 

Enough of my whining and bitching and moaning. Let's discuss what did get done.

I'm back with another stash-busting project. I had no idea I had any of this blue knit left over after I made myself a night shirt. I'm glad that I found it though, because seem to be in dire need of new shirts. Apparently my tastes are turning away from your basic t-shirts and tanks. Go figure.

So this is a pattern that I've made before, but I didn't use a stable enough knit and I don't like how it fits. I also didn't realize just how short the body of the pattern was. That was a rookie mistake on my part, I should've read the back of the pattern envelope and seen that it was short.

So this time around, I lengthened the shirt by 3" and used a more stable knit and love this shirt now! The construction of this shirt is pretty straightforward. This shirt was another shirt that was able to whip up during nap time.

So while moving small mountains of fabric up to my new (old?) sewing room, I realized that I really don't need to buy anymore fabric. I have a stockpile of fabric that I've bought for specific patterns and projects, and then never got to. I, of course, don't remember all of the projects that I had intended the fabric to be used for, but that doesn't negate the fact that I have it, and now need to use it up. This project was solely because I need to reduce the amount of fabric I'm hoarding. 

Tuesday - Spin was awesome! I had goals, and I beat them to death with my awesome determination. Beast mode came out, because I was going to beat last week's distance, and then opportunity knocked by way of maintaining 90 rpm for 3 minutes, to get a good watt average, I decided that gear 18 was my bitch. I may have actually growled and and kicked it up. I didn't dip below 85 and even then it wasn't for long and not until the last 40 seconds. So that put my average watts at 148, so I doubled that per the exercise on the next round, then I wanted to see if I could do more. I hit 400+ again. There was a bit of growling, but man did it feel invigorating. I ended the class with 23.5 miles. A tenth of a mile further than last week. BAM!

Wednesday - I got out somewhat early and beat the heat, but the humidity is not relenting. The sun also feels like it was a hitching a ride on my shoulders. In the shade, the breeze was magnificent even if I was running into it. I walked when I needed water, but mainly because I'm not coordinated. I did feel better during this run than I have. My pace was still slow, but I was intentionally keeping it slow. Trying to rebuild my fitness is proving a bit more difficult and slow-going than I anticipated, but it's my own fault. 3.5 miles with an average pace of 12:35. Not too shabby. 

Friday - So hot. I picked the shadiest  route I could think of and it didn't make a lick of difference. It was 3.5 miles of slow and not so steady running. My pace varied a lot, but it got done. It wasn't pretty.

The heat also contributed to me not running on Sunday, as I mentioned above, but I did entertain the idea of an evening run. In the end, I walked around with my boy while he caught pokemon. It was a lovely bit of time with him before he left for a week with his pack. I'm not sorry for it.

 Have I mentioned how much I miss winter? I really miss winter. I'm trying to think cool thoughts, but it doesn't seem to be helping.

Next week is a new week! Let's hope I'm more motivated! 

Week 3 of training is in the books, and I may have taken my break from fitness a bit too seriously. I ache. It's also been stupid hot out. I am not a good runner in oppressive heat, but I try. I really need to start following my training plan. I haven't done a lick of the T25 part of my plan, but I've been good with the running. I have been walking more, so there's that, and when we're at the pool I do try to do some arm work. Mostly arm work = catching Baby Girl and then sending her back to the ladder so she can jump in again. It might not be much of a workout, but after 30 minutes of that my arms are feeling tired. So without further ado here's the recap.

I've known that I need to add to my wardrobe for a while, because my pieces are starting to wear, and they need to be replaced. I had bought a new sports bra from Target the other week, but I didn't like how it fit once I got home, so it went back. They're having a sale right now, so I will try out a couple other bras, because that is definitely the most important clothing item I need to replace right now. 

I finally took the plunge and signed up for a VIP membership with Fabletics over Memorial Day. They had some really awesome sales, and I really couldn't pass it up. An entire workout outfit for $15-$17.49 was just too good to pass up. I opted for a 3-piece outfit, which included a bra, top and capris. 

I expected to receive my order on Tuesday, about 10 days after I ordered the outfit,  but I got it on Monday! I wasn't surprised by the shipping time, because I ordered it Memorial Day weekend, and 6 business days is not terrible. 5 business days was a nice surprise.

Cheers!

Hey everyone! I know it's late, but I do have a super short and sweet report for you.


 I really threw in the towel last week. I got two workouts in, but finished a lot of projects.

Not that any of those projects have posts written, but they got done.  So here's my super quick and dirty recap! 

Tuesday was spin, of course, and I pushed it because I knew what kind of week it was going to be. I was trying for a distance PR, but missed it by a smudge. Oh well. I know the effort I put in, so that's all there really is to it. 

Thursday brought the kids and I to the pool, where I managed to get in maybe 7 minutes of laps during break time, but the rest of the hour we were at the pool was spent catching Baby Girl, and then pushing her back towards the wall/stair/brother. I forgot what a workout just doing laps was. I concentrated on using my arms and shoulders during the laps, they needed some focus time. I am also super proud of my Big Guy. He passed the swimming test so he can now swim in the deep end with his friends. I just need to get Small Fry squared away with swimming lessons and hopefully I'll stop hearing the litany of complaints from him about how it's not fair that he can't be in the deep end. 

I couldn't put any weight on my left hand, because then the stitches would be pulled on, not mention that it hurt. 

So I didn't do a lick of PiYo last week.