What I loved about February...

1.  Liz magically showing up at my house at the beginning of February!!  It was the most amazing 24 hours of the month.

She is like a great big dose of motivation.  Everyone should have a Liz!  She helped me FINALLY finish Wally's "Inside Out" quilt.

Eleanor's had been done, but never photographed:

2.  My heart tree.  It's March, and I can't bring myself to put it away yet.

3.  My little girls (who hardly seem very little anymore) turned 8!  For some reason, we were rather stumped as to what to give them.  When suddenly it struck us that what they would love more than any "toy" would be a dedicated space all of their own.  A special little "reading nook".  It was the funnest birthday present I've given in a long time.  We took a picture late, late at night before my husband and I crawled into bed having finished making birthday magic:

They were thrilled.

4. I sewed dresses!  It feels like it's been forever since I've made any dresses.  I needed a break from quilts.  

Jane's dress is a Project Runway #2320 (for Simplicity) pattern I picked up at Joann's a few weeks ago.

I love the finished product.  The Anna Maria Horner Field Study fabric may also contribute to my feelings about the dress, but the pattern gets some credit too.  I was very excited about the contrasting yoke detail.  The pattern comes with several different sleeve options.  I let Jane choose the option she wanted.  Including my girls in the design process is pretty essential at this point for them to feel invested in the final product.  She loved those sleeves.  I would never have guessed that!

She's already worn it to school and to church, so that means it's a success.  With so many pattern variations, I think I could make it a few more times before I get tired of it.  Good pattern find!!

5.  An Olive&S Sew-Along that Liz and I had, after I dared her to sew four dresses in ten days!

On February 27th, Liz texted me a picture of the four dresses she wanted to make, and had already laid out and selected all of her fabrics!  I was sew impressed.  I asked her when she thought she'd be done with them.  She texted back, "in a year".  I texted back, "I dare you to make four dresses in ten days".  And that's pretty much all you need to say to a Markos (Liz's maiden name!).  I think before that day was over, her first dress was cut out.  I think she's on day 7 or 6 (counting backwards), and she has already completed two dresses!  She's totally going to make four dresses in ten days.

But for fun, I joined her on Friday night for a O&S dress sew-along.  We each worked until midnight local times, and had a dress by the end of it.

I used an all time favorite AMH LouLouThi fabric, paired with an orangy/red shot cotton.  I made the dress in a size 10.  Just as a reference.  Ruby has requested three new spring dresses (luckily this one counts as #1).  We have the fabric and the requested pattern for the next one.  But we'll see when we find the time.  I am not Liz, working on a dare.  I'm just a new mom of six, lucky to get a shower every other day :)  

Stay tuned for Liz's epic dress post.  You've got this Liz!

This concludes what I loved most about February.