Rain Rain Sew Sew

Its been a rainy 2 days

I don't know what got into me ...

But, since its been rainy for two days...
I've been SO restless.

And everyone in the family knows
that I have a strange sort of "lack-of-sun-disease"
in spring and summer

If the sun is gone for more than ...
oh say...

24 hours...

I start to get a little neurotic

Anyway, I have soooo many things that need "doing" out in the garden. Way too many to be waiting for the rain to stop!

For one thing - hubby had to leave on a business trip this week ... before getting the ramp done for the chickens to get in and out of their new coop. I have to leave them this week to go for the birth of our second grandchild ... and I immediately realized that this leaves an extra job for me to do ... before I leave too.

I've done plenty of fix-it jobs around the house, and I'm not afraid of most machinery (in general) ... but running a chop saw is just one of the things I don't feel super confident about... but something about that large loud saw makes me a bit nervous.

I'm pondering the issue.
Maybe a handsaw...

So it was raining raining...

and I have lots to do...

but still,
as I'm putting some things away in the closet,
I got the wild hair-brained desire to sew!

and voila!
...there on the shelf
sits all my unfinished sewing projects...

The one that caught my eye was

all cut out and waiting to be sewn up

It had been cut out for...

...hold onto your chair now...

8 years!

Does it get any worse than that?
(and that's not the longest waiting project I have...
but we won't go there)!

So there it sits... a garden dress!
Its a pattern that I drew up for myself years ago...
(because nothing I bought was just right for working in the garden)

...back then I had pulled out my garden journal,
and put my creativity cap on


...and doodled
until I drew out something I thought would work better in the garden.

You know...
something with BIG pockets
(to hold all sorts of doo-dads I need while working)


...something sleeveless
so I could wear my choice of long-sleeved,
short-sleeved,
or even tank-top blouse underneath,
(depending on the weather)

...something plain-ish
because I get dirty in the garden,
(and don't want to worry about messing it up)

...but kinda cute-ish too

...something that looks great
in either plain or patterned fabric.

I used butcher paper to draw out the pattern.
I fudged a little by using a McCalls pattern for the full skirt part.
(to make sure I got the measurements right)
but the rest was a free-for-all, and then

Ta Da!
A garden dress pattern was born!

I sewed one up with muslin,
just to get all the kinks out of the pattern,
and finally came up with a dress I loved.

Over the years I've sewn up numerous dresses
that I've worked in,
used up,
and tossed into the rag pile.

But I needed a new one for this year...

so there it sat...
...waiting for ME!

and besides that...
a few weeks ago I had found
a lovely little embroidered table runner
at the flea market.

I thought of it immediately...
and realized that the colors go well together
(I'll show you in a minute, but first I sewed up the dress)

It took all of about an hour


But now I have a dilemma
and a few questions...

to throw out there into the wild open spaces of blogland.

The ends of this table runner have lovely
hand embroidered hearts, butterflies and ribbons

...which would go great on the big wide pockets of the dress!

~BUT~

Would it be practical?

AND/OR

Would it be TOO CUTESY
for (shall we say) an "older" woman?

I mean,
it would look great on Dottie Angel
or
the cute Miss Merrick over at Apple A Day

...but
...you know what I mean?


The completed dress

The dress with the table running hanging above

and with the table runner hanging from a pocket


So tell me what you think?
Be honest...

and thanks for stopping by!

(: