Does this look familiar, Mom?

Every year for Brenda's birthday I make her a scarf. Well, I guess, I've bought a few, but you get the idea. Birthday in January=scarf as a gift. It works.

So this year I had some super awesome retro fabric that my mother passed on to me when she cleaned out her sewing room. I'm guessing the fabric is from the 70's. Mom, can you confirm or deny? Anyway, it made a super cute pleated scarf for my cold-climate-living sister. Bren, do you have a photo with wearing it? I don't think I took one.

Anyway, I loved the fabric and I think I intended to make a scarf for myself with it one day. But then I packed up my sewing room, moved all my junk to Texas, and there it all sat in a bin for 6 months.

Until...Thursday.

I was itching to do a project while Thomas was asleep. I pulled out the fabric and some flowers I had cut back in January to use on the scarf (didn't need them, the pleats were enough themselves). This photo was after I'd already bunched and sewn the flowers. They were just flat with some interfacing ironed to the back so they won't fray. And I didn't cut them by hand. I used a friend's "Big Shot" scrapbook cutting machine.

I also went and grabbed this shirt from my closet. I bought it a year or so ago after I had Thomas and didn't have any "normal" shirts to wear, nor was I going to slip on another maternity shirt. I thought the corsage look was cute...until I washed it and it completely disintegrated. So it has sat in my closet for a year, just waiting to be worn again.

I joined the two (flowers and shirt) and created this jewel for my shoulder:

And then I thought to myself, "Why not make a skirt to match? I have enough fabric. Do it!" so I whipped it out in about an hour. The general pattern is one I've used before, but I shortened the skirt and added the pleated ruffle at the bottom for a little something extra. Unfortunately, I was just speeding through the whole project and didn't stop to measure if, by chance, my size was the same as the last time I made it. Guess what? It's not! (I know, I broke a cardinal sewing rule: measure twice, sew once. Oh wait, I think that's a woodworking rule, right Dad?) So the skirt is just a smidgen too tight, but will look super cute on one of my sisters when I pass it along (with the matching shirt) next week at our first ever week-long "Sisters Smash" ( I just made that name up. What do you think, ladies? Suggestions?)

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And just because he is a goof, here's Joshy's unspoken quote for Friday: