My recent experience making the crib quilt forced me to dust off my sewing machine and I enjoyed sewing so much that I decided to try my hand at making something I would actually wear!

I had been collecting some skirt patterns since arriving in Mississippi after Katrina. (In a wild moment in packing to leave California I threw all my sewing patterns away-not a good move).

What made me gasp was taking my measurements and then comparing them with the size/measurements on the back of the pattern envelope. Deep breath, and remember, it is only a number!

There are fabric stores in Slidell, Louisiana, and Gulport, MS, both about 1/2 hour away, then there is the local WalMart. For whatever reason, the powers that be decided to leave intact the fabric section of the Bay St. Louis/Waveland store, although they have closed them in the other stores in the area. That is where I found these fabrics. The first photo shows a Simplicity pattern, #4137, one of their 'it's so easy it's simplicity' patterns. And it was easy. The only change I made was to line the yoke.

This skirt was easier yet, and is an Anna Maria Horner freebie pattern, downloadable in pdf format, and super simple to follow, super directions. The changes I made were simply to add the self-lined patch pockets, in order to be able to use some antique pearl buttons from my mom's/grandmother's button collection. Check out Anna Maria's blog, always tons of good information and inspiration.

Then I thought I might try a dress...another 'it's so easy it's Simplicity' # 2199. I like it a lot because besides being all cotton and wonderfully comfortable to wear, it is long enough for me, not easy to find in ready to wear.

So that's what I've been up to; time to get back to knitting, but also want to make another skirt, this time the Bo-Peep skirt from Anna Maria Horner's 'Seams to Me' book, and this one for a 3 year old. Photo promised.

Recent visitors to our garden

This sweet redbellied woodpecker has been visiting us a lot recently. He seems fairly small, so I assume him to be young. I love to hear his cat like mewlings in the trees; I run to see if I can catch a glimpse of him and was rewarded with these pics.

Here he visits the feeding station. I think he may eat a seed or two or three and then grabs some more and flies up to the trees, to hoard?

I was so pleased to see the grobecks back this year, sorry for the fuzzy shot, just love him peeking out from behind the 'pagoda'.

Could he get any fatter? I know he must have just fluffed up his feathers and settled down to his meal but from this angle he doesn't seem to need any more!

A bird of a different feather also enjoys feeding. This morning I watched him take a nice bath in the fresh water I had just replaced; now you know my pleasant routine: after filling the feeders and giving fresh water, I sit back on the screened porch and enjoy my breakfast whilst being entertained by what my husband calls the live 'Disney channel'.

Sorry, no pics to prove it, but I did enjoy watching a little wren bringing nesting materials to this potted plant. She would approach cautiously, landing on the ground to scope things out, with what appeared as a bristly white mustache, then she would fly up to the plant and hop in and the plant would go swinging lightly and moving up and down for awhile, then she would fly off to collect some more materials off in the distance. This morning I peeked and she has a beautiful nest prepared. No eggs yet, and I'm hoping that it is high enough not to get wet when the plant is watered. I will try to water carefully!