I'm Back... with bonus Plus Size Pattern Pyramid Giveaway Winner!

Hey ladies (and gentlemen?), I'm back! I had a lovely time (wearing my me made shorts) on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River for a week in Idaho. Then I experienced some post-vacation fatigue.. you know, when you are wishing you were still on vacation while scrambling to catch up on all the stuff you got behind on while on vacation. Add getting my new house organized to that, and here we are at the end of July with little sewing or blogging to show! Hopefully you'll forgive me if I share a few vacation photos and announce the Plus Size Pattern Pyramid Giveaway Winner.

We started at Boundary Creek near (and by near I mean 2 hours on a dirt road) Stanley, Idaho. The views were amazing and the river was full of boats waiting to launch the next day for 100 miles of rapids and wilderness on the River of No Return. And yes, you do have to lower your fully loaded boat down that crazy wooden ramp with ropes. It was crazy.

I didn't get a lot of pictures the first few days because things mostly looked like this. Plus, the first day was full of big rapids and its hard to take photos while you are rowing a raft. Good thing my dad brought a water proof camera!

 

We camped in some awesome locations every night- though half of them were spent huddled under the tarps because of the rain!

Finally, things cleared up and it was beautiful and sunny! Then came the big rapids...

I didn't get a lot of good photos since I was busy rowing, but let me just say it was an exciting ride! HERE is a link to a video if you don't believe me. I'm not tech savvy enough to figure out how to upload it to ye olde blog. 

Bonus! Hot springs! As I think you can tell, hot springs make me ridiculously happy. So basically, best trip ever. Especially because I got a lot of use out of my me-made shorts and rafting skort (more on that later).

With that said, its time to announce the winner of the...

 I only had one eligible entry (since a requirement was having an active blog), so the (un)lucky winner is Susan of Moonthirty! She said she didn't need any more patterns, but she is about to have a few coming her way. Susan, this is the perfect opportunity to de-stash, just add them to the pile and send them on along to the next person! If you will email me your address, I'll get them in the mail to you ASAP. And by ASAP I obviously mean as soon as I am motivated enough to make it to the post office :)




P.S. How are your blog reader transitions going? I'm using bloglovin... but I'm not convinced. Especially because I first posted this yesterday and it took an entire day to come through in my bloglovin reader. Ugh. I've updated the photos in this post because they weren't showing up for everyone, so I'll go ahead and include the bloglovin link so that maybe I won't get the second class blog treatment anymore! I wonder what other blogs aren't getting posted in a timely fashion? I hope I'm not missing any of your lovely stuff, dear readers.

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Plus Sized Pattern Pyramid Giveaway

Guys... I am so bad. I've had this giveaway on my to-do list for SO long now. Can ya'll forgive me?? I won the plus size pattern pyramid on Dixie's blog (check her out!) way back on April 10th. Now, two months later, I'm finally getting around to posting the giveaway here! No excuses here, that's just embarrassing!

In case you didn't already know, the Plus Sized Pattern Pyramid was started by the awesome BeaJay of On the Road to Sew Wear. Pop over to her blog and meet her if you haven't already, her dedication to getting things just right is totally inspiring, not to mention the fact that she is so friendly and always leaves the nicest comments. So, without further ado, here are the rules:

THE RULES (as stated by BeaJay)

• Anyone, anywhere can enter the giveaway by posting a comment below by midnight June 30th, 2013 (in your time zone). BUT you must have an active blog. (Reasons to become obvious.)
• I will randomly select 1 winner.
• I will post a selection of approximately 5 - 6 patterns to the winner.The winner will pick one pattern to keep for themselves, then host their own giveaway. They will randomly select a winner, post the remaining patterns to that Person C. Person C will pick a pattern for themselves, host their own giveaway and post the remaining patterns to the winner, Person D. Person D will…
• All patterns are in the plus size category - ie - if the pattern comes in 2 sizing groups, then it will be the larger category. Patterns to go up to at least go up to a size 20 (most go higher). Patterns listed as "all sizes" will include plus sizes.
• If you wish to take more than one pattern you can replenish the stock with a pattern you no longer want - but please make sure it is in plus size range

You get the idea!

THE SMALL PRINT

• We are taking it on trust that all pattern pieces are there
• Your selection of patterns will be picked at random - please don’t contact me asking for specific patterns.
• If you’re a winner, I would love it if you could make a small contribution to The Brooke. This is a charity close to the heart of Catherine, who so generously provided the original patterns. These plus sized patterns have been contributed by me in the spirit of the generosity of the sewing community
• Please engage in a timely fashion, launching your own giveaways soon after receiving a parcel
• You must be be happy to post patterns worldwide.

Here is what I received in the mail, I haven't decided which pattern to keep yet! What do you guys think? I'm also eying my pattern stash with a critical eye to see if there is something I can bring myself to part with.

Alright, ladies. Jump in here and spread the word! Receiving free patterns is awesome, but I think the really hidden bonus to this giveaway is discovering a bunch of awesome and inspiring new blogs!

 

Me-Made-May Outfits 14 and 15- THE END!

Sorry to go all MIA there at the end of MMM, things have gotten a bit insane. I think you will see why shortly...

Dress: Washi Dress V2

Day 14 was just a regular old day at the office, nothing special. I'm fairly certain I could wear a Washi dress every day. In fact, I'm considering making quite a few more!

Dress: Washi Dress V1

Oh, and here I am wearing my Washi Dress while buying a house. NBD. Ahhh!! Prepare yourself for an onslaught of DIY related posts. This place has a long way to go.

In other news, I spend the entirety of last weekend doing this... by myself!

before...

not quite after...

Man, this homeowner stuff is turning out to be a lot of manual labor work. Up next... the big move in! 

Also, we've had a bit of this going on. 

 

Fire season :(

 

So yeah, its been busy! But I did manage to make my Jalie 2796 Skort for my upcoming river trip. Stay tuned!

Me-Made-May Outfit 13

Shorts: newly made New Look 6710

Here are the new shorts for rafting! I wore them on Saturday and they were awesome! I have several pairs of ready to wear shorts that I've worn for rafting in the past but none of them are quite right. Too short, too long, not enough room through the thighs for sitting around on the raft, etc, etc, etc. These, however, were just right! Plus, the more ridiculous you look while on the river, the better, at least in my opinion. 

Sometimes I forget how lucky I am to live in northern New Mexico! Not everyone can leave their house at 9 in the morning, spend most of the day in a place like this, and then be back home in time for dinner.

Also, these makes one of the two promised sewn items during MMM that can be used for outdoor hobbies. Yay!

 

Me-Made-May Outfit 12... and, oh yeah, that other MMM pledge I made...

Shirt: Grainline Studio Tiny Pocket Tank V1

Hey oh! Happy Friday! And, for us in the US, happy long weekend Friday! Yay! I wore this yesterday to the office... boring. I think Me-Made-May has forced me to be little more creative with my outfits, which is great. For a while there I was just wearing me made stuff because I was so excited about it, but now I'm trying to integrate it more with store bought clothes, which means that 75% of my wardrobe is no longer going to waste. After all, the most ethical clothes that you have are the ones that are already in your closet, right? I love my me-mades, but I need to either start wearing the rest of my stuff or just get rid of it!

In other news, did ya'll forget about that other half of my me-made pledge? 

I also resolve to make two items that will accommodate my dress code at work and outdoor hobbies (hiking/ rafting) so that I will be able to wear more than two items a week by the end of the month.

  

Oh yeah, that one. I actually hadn't forgotten, i had just been insanely busy and had set aside about half of last weekend to work on my awesome gear making plans. But then there was THE EBAY SAGA. In which I had ordered and received the Jalie 2796 Skort pattern (and even the associated sports bra pattern), consulted with the amazing Kathy of Kathhhhhy Sews about her experience with the pattern, and ordered some awesomely printed supplex from Ebay. Which was clearly my first mistake. Because when the fabric got here, it was SO NOT SUPPLEX. After about 24 hours of panic (during which I revenge sewed B4790) because MUST HAVE SKORT FOR RIVER TRIP IN A MONTH, I took Kathy's advice and ordered some supplex from fabricmart, like I should have done in the first place. Plus, it was 30% off, so that was a nice bonus. Note to self: don't be taken in my awesome looking printed supplex on Ebay, its not the real thing!! 

And then I decided that when life hands you lemons non-stretch nylon, you make lemonade a pair of shorts that will also be completely awesome for the river trip from that pattern you picked up a thrift store a few months ago. 

And guess what, guys? They are totally awesome (if not a little eye-bleed inducing)! Pictures forthcoming, hopefully live action shots from when I get the raft out this weekend. Speaking of, what exciting plans do ya'll have?

 

Me-Made-May Outfit 9, 10, and 11

Are you guys breathing a sigh of relief that I combined these outfit photos?? Its seems that single outfit post are not quite in vogue for MMM. Whatever!

 Shirt: Grainline Studio Scout Tee V2

Jeans: Marginally me made- from my closet, skinnified by me but still don't fit very well. 

I wore this to work last Friday- its not very exciting nor is the photo very flattering! Sorry! I wore my new Colette Hazel V1 (not yet blogged, but worn twice in May) out to dinner that evening in Santa Fe, but neglected to take a photo. 

Shirt: Alabama Chanin Fitted Tank V3

Jeans: Same as above

Worn for a casual Saturday of sewing (see tomorrow's outfit!), house cleaning, and hanging out with some friends. It fit the bill! I look strangely cranky here- chalk that one up to my growing impatience with taking self timer iphone photos.

Dress: Newly made Butterick 4790

Umm... yes I do wear my flip flops everyday, thankyouverymuch. In other news, NEW DRESS!!!! Yep, whipped this one up over the weekend. After my trip to Florida and then accommodating house guests all last week, I was having major withdrawal from my precious sewing machines. My preciouses!! I was so sad. So I got to work mid-afternoon on Saturday and had this just barely completed for a baby shower on Sunday afternoon. Like I was hand sewing the hem in the car on the way. Anyways, I think I love it. But note to self- do not wear double wrapped circle skirt in New Mexico in the spring. I might have flashed a lot of people the (me-made) shorts I was wearing underneath. I look cranky here too- but I promise that I was just drunk :) Yes, it was that kind of (co-ed) "baby shower".

Umm. P.S. I hate it when they update flickr. I think this new layout looks awful and I can't figure out where anything is. Ughh!

 

 

Me-Made-May Outfit 8

Dress: Washi Dress V1

Here's what I wore to work today, and to do other mundane things like cook dinner, clean up a little, and give the poor dog a bath (see below). I'm not going to lie, I'm not running out of motivation to wear me-made items (I've worn them for at least two days that haven't been photographed), but I am TOTALLY running out of motivation to photograph them. Or maybe its just been a long week and half of moving-out-of-town festivities for some close friends while also entertaining house guests and enduring a strange personal drama. While work is crazy. And trying to finalize a house purchase. Whew, just typing that is wearing me out! Its all good stuff, its just overwhelming! Time for bed. 

 

Me-Made-May Outfit 7

Shirt: Staple Dress T-shirt, just finished and unblogged

Skirt: Self Drafted Short Skirt V2

As soon as I got back from vacation, I had a joyful reunion with my sewing machine and cranked this top out after work on Wednesday and Thursday. It was kind of a botched job, the fabric piece wasn't nearly large enough and was printed all of grain and wasn't square at all. I think it turned out OK, considering, but I thats probably just because I really love the color of the stripes! 

So, the theme for MMM on Friday was sharing photos of where you sew. So here it is, my sewing house spaces. 

Welcome to my sewing house!

Here is where I cut my fabric on my sewing coffee table.

Here is where I store (about a third) of my sewing supplies.

And here is my sewing dining room. Have I mentioned that my house is about 900 square feet?

This is my guest room turned pattern storage area. What you can't see is the desk :)

My photo studio/ place where a hot tub should be but sadly isn't. 

And finally, my ironing board kitchen counter!

As I think you can tell, my house has become one big sewing space. I have house guests coming into town tonight and I have been cleaning like a crazy person. There isn't room in this house for three people and all my sewing crap! Otherwise, my weekend has been absolutely lovely and full of very unexpected surprises, and I hope yours was too!

Me-Made-May Outfit 7

 Dress: Dixie DIY Ballet Dress V3

Leggings: Self drafted from Etsy tutorial, unblogged

Well, its back to the grind around here, my glamorous life of sipping champagne wearing a raincoat on the beach is over. On the 7th and 8th I was doing field work and wearing boring clothes, but on the 9th I had a little break and got to work in the office. Yay for wearing fun clothes! Except, the thing is, I think I kind of hate this dress. Or, at the least, I like it less and less each time I wear it. Its too short and it is SO not flattering. It might be time to let it go- or at least turn it into a skirt. What do ya'll think? In other news, my garden is growing VERY slowly. (Fingers crossed) I'm buying a house at the end of the month (holy shit, ya'll), so I'm trying to keep most things in pots until then.

 

Me-Made-May Outfit 6

Dress: Newly made by me, McCalls 6700

Here I am at the Albuquerque airport again, during my three hour layover waiting for my 20 minute flight that saved me a two hour drive. Poor planning!! Oh well, at least I was wearing my new maxi dress and got to spend a little time at the park dog peeing and airport employee smoking area. Plus, I enjoyed this fantastic view on the short flight home. Guys, I was seriously the only person on the plane other than the pilot. As in, there was no co-pilot. Terrifying!! But at least it was scenic!

 

Me-Made-May Outfit 5

Dress: Washi Dress V2

Leggings: newly made by me, unblogged

On Sunday, the final day of my Florida trip, the sun finally came out (though it did certainly remain windy)! We took full advantage, visiting a historic lighthouse, the original spanish fort in the area, and finishing up with a bike ride on the beach. It was a busy day, good thing I had my Washi to see me through!

I'm back home now, and back to a busy work schedule. Boo. Hopefully I can catch up with Me-Made-May posts before this coming weekend, when I hope to wear some me-made stuff again! So far, I've worn me-made stuff 6 out of 7 days in May, so I think I'm doing well on my pledge. 

Sorry to be MIA from commenting on your lovely blogs over the last week, I haven't mastered discus or wordpress or the captcha thing on the iphone yet. I'm playing catch up right now, because I've seen so many lovely new spring items and me-made outfits on your blogs!