When I was pregnant I bought a bunch of patterns and books to make stuff for Zadie. Because our lives were such a mess, however, I didn't get much done. Finally I got the chance to use
Baby Couture, something I picked up at Amazon for a couple bucks plus shipping.
The title is certainly deceiving as a pillowcase dress is hardly couture; the book also features pretty much the same couple of patterns but in different fabrics (weird, I know). In all, it was worth the $2.23 I paid for it (it's even less now). There is a cute jumper that I plan to make and an easy pants pattern.
For this jacket I used
Alexander Henry's Starlings for one side and an organic cotton fleece that I bought for making cloth diapers (see "didn't get much done" above for why I still have yards of it) for the inside. It's technically reversible but I don't think we'll bother. For the cuffs I picked up that cute little Spring green woven from the quilting section of JoAnn's. And instead of adding buttons, I used some grosgrain ribbon to make a tie.
The pattern looked really boxy from the start so I went ahead and added about an inch to the sleeve length and lengthened the jacket over 2 inches because Z has a long torso like her Auntie. I tried the jacket on her before I hemmed it to make sure that worked. If I use the pattern again, I would probably add a bit more to the cuff so it would fold up higher. The fleece took up a bit more space than I realized. I also used a 3/8" seam allowance for the fleece layer and a 1/2" s.a. for the cotton so it would snuggle together better (note to self: learn sewing terms).
For more on Project: Project, read this post.
Last week was Spring Break. I had planned on posting just a couple of times but ended up just taking the whole week off from the blog. The weather was gorgeous and I had a ton of work to do. However, I did finish up a few projects and got started on a few more. The teal shirt is done (woo hoo!), Zadie's got a cute dotted swiss robot dress in progress (must finish taxes before getting back to that one), and I found some buttonhole elastic and got started on those sailor pants.
The pollen in the air (and my eyes and throat) has really gotten me all excited about our garden. We used to have an amazing garden. Then we had an amazing kid (who somehow enabled us to kill our garden through sheer neglect -- of the garden not the child). We have big plans for this year. I know there are some people who manage to have children, perfect houses, massive gardens, and beautiful flowers and stuff. Not so with us. And our local farmer's market was one heck of an enabler with all that delicious produce. But now that Zadie is older, she will be put to work like it's the early 1800s. The Easter Bunny brought her a wheelbarrow to haul weeds to the composter, a watering can, and some gardening tools. 
The photos show the first blooms on our forsythia, new buds on the lilac (fingers crossed there will be no freeze before it's time), and the current state of our garden. Mr. Lemon covered the whole thing with black plastic last Fall thinking it would kill all the weeds but there is something growing under it. Oh well. Soon 
