Wednesday, January 11, 2012

2012

As most people do, I've started out the year with a fresh mindset. I look back lovingly on the great memories created in 2011 and look forward to those of 2012. Last year was a great year for me and it will be hard to top. 2011 was spent planning our beautiful wedding, getting married, honeymooning, adopting a funny little bulldog, and many more cherished memories with friends and family.

As for my blog, it had it's ups and downs last year. With my mind filled with wedding plans I had so much to blog about, but not as much time to sew or cook sometimes going for a few weeks without posting. I even removed the blog for a few weeks until I started hearing from my readers. I truly appreciate my followers and can't tell you how much it means to hear that you made a recipe of mine or that you look forward to me posting! I have some goals set for the blog this year including posting more often, trying new recipes every week and challenging myself to sewing projects. I'll do my best to keep you entertained!

To wrap up 2011 I wanted to share with you my ups and downs with sewing. I can truly say that I feel like my sewing has improved so much over the last year. Around the holidays I was going through my dresses from last year and finding so many mistakes that I now know how to fix or do better. It feels good to improve! Last year I got a dress form, bought a Serger sewing machine, new sewing table, and bookshelves to better organize my things. I feel much more confident in my sewing skills and hope to continue improvement this year.

I don't often share with you projects that fail or are unfinished. But I think it's important for me to see how far I've come and what I have learned from mistakes.  I have a few that turned up while cleaning out my sewing closet. Honestly, I cannot say for each project why it was left unfinished or if I ever will finish it. But hey, practice makes perfect, right?


Sorry in advance for all the wrinkles, they were all shoved away in the closet. 

 Red skirt- not sure why I didn't finish this. Maybe no lining?

 Pink Dress- couldn't figure out how to sew on straps. 
 I was using 2 different patterns for the bodice. 

Navy puff sleeves- I wasn't sure how to finish sleeves. I made the sleeve ruffle without a pattern. 
I would like to finish this some day as I really like it!

 Black knit ruffle one strap-
Another attempt without using a pattern. Cute idea though.

 I love the idea for this dress. I made the pattern up for the bodice (as shown) but want to use 4 different patterns for the rest of the dress. I want to finish this dress this spring, but need some time and patience. I'll keep ya posted on it! 

 Great idea! I'll make a wool coat for the fall. Obviously, it never even got cut out! 
Honestly, the lady cutting the fabric scared me into thinking it will be too hard for me. She asked if I knew how to match the plaids up. Umm no....  Hopefully I will tackle this challenge for next fall! 

I started this dress with my mom quite awhile ago. It's the same as the pink dress above that I couldn't get the straps correct. Our plan was to attach a ruffle onto the straps. It ended up looking like Bozo's collar, and we therefore removed it.


So Happy New Year to you all! Thanks so much for following my blog! Feel free to leave comments of things you like and wish to see more of.

3 comments:

Abby Gustus said...

I loooooove your blog! Check it all the time and even try some of your recipes:)

Mommy, Esq. said...

Are there any Spring patterns you have your eye on?

Ashley said...

Thanks Abby! It means a lot that you follow my blog! Mommy, Esq. I just bought a few patterns yesterday on sale that I thought looked like fun for the spring. I'll post them later. But I never seem to find what I want and generally have to mix patterns and make up something on my own.