I read a quote once that applies to me (although I don’t know who said it first) “If it weren’t for the last minute I wouldn’t get anything done.” How true that is for my sewing projects! Besides, no dance or event would feel complete without the last minute rush to sew something pretty. On Saturday, March 22, 2014 I attended the Heather and Thistle Ball near Denver. Going to the dance gave me a good reason to finish a project that I have been working on for awhile. I started sewing this dress as a learning project, to practice different machine sewing skills. Also the fabric was a glittery purple chiffon, and I couldn’t resist making something with it! Actually I sewed most of this dress in just a few days…a few years ago, but I set it aside before hemming it! So, there it sat, unfinished in my craft room until I needed a new dress for the ball. I made a few modifications to the pattern like a gathered hemline and sashes that cross in the front and tie in the back. I used Butterick B5181 as the base pattern for the dress, and added crossover ties with long strips of the purple chiffon that was leftover. Here is a picture of the finished dress:

And the back of the dress, the chiffon goes over the shoulders, is sewn down at the base of the shoulder straps and ties in the back. The ties cover the zipper!

The Heather and Thistle Ball is an annual Scottish Country Dance event. Here is a link to a video on youtube that shows one of the dances at the ball:

Youtube Scottish Country Dance \”Kabin Fever\” Heather and Thistle Ball 2014

Well, time got away from me and it has been a long time since I made a new post. The last year has been very busy, so I had plenty to blog about, I just had no time to write!

Anyway, I thought I would start back with my most recent bucket list accomplishment: hiking the Manitou Springs Incline on St. Patrick’s Day 2014! I suppose that hiking the incline would probably not make it onto most people’s “bucket lists” but my bucket list does have a lot of silly little goals on it. Makes life fun! I spent the last year checking items off my list: I learned to swim, I stood in the Gulf of Mexico, I went on the first airplane flight that I can remember and I hiked two 14ers. Lot’s more too but for now back to the incline…

Around 1 mile and maybe 2000 feet of elevation gain. I made it up in 1 hour and 9 minutes. Pretty slow, but I am just glad I finished! Here I am at the top:

I made it safely to the top, and then jogged down Barr trail. It was so much fun! Then I slipped…tore the skin off my right palm and scraped my knee! So I had to finish the last part of the trail with blood dripping off my hand. The good news? My favorite hiking pants were undamaged in the fall! Here I am at the end, with my battle scarred hand:

Of course all this happened on St. Patrick’s Day, so I had to wear green.