Tim was out of town so I had a quiet evening with my parents and grandmother and it was very nice. So now that I had my birthday it was time to get cracking on my next list of goals for the year and review last years list.

25 Before 26

1. See Allison, my sister, get married! – Can’t wait for the end of June to head to northern California and be her Maid of Honor.
2. Visit a state I’ve never been to.
3. Participate in Me Made May 2013!
4. Sew a pair of well fitting pants
5. Stop biting my nails – been working on this for years
6. Decorate my new place – once we find it!
7. Complete Gertie’s Bombshell class and dress – I bought this an embarrassingly long time ago.
8. Spend a few days in Napa and the Bay area after Allison’s wedding – I lived there for a time in college and can’t wait to go back!
9. Eat breakfast more often – I think my coworkers will appreciate this one.
10. Read or listen to more books – I spend a lot of time driving from client to client for my work so audiobooks will most likely be the way to go.
11. Visit a new and possibly weird museum – I’m hoping for something super quirky or strange.
12. Go on longer bike rides
13. Try a new recipe every month
14. Sew more tops – every time I am struggling with picking something to wear its the top half with the issue.
15. Work on my debt snowball and stick to my strict budget.
16. Drink more water – I just got a great app, Plant Nanny, to help with this one.
17. Start a new tradition – maybe holiday or seasonal?
18. Take a spontaneous weekend trip.
19. Bake some bread
20. Learn to use my serger to its full capabilities
21. Sew some cute pajamas
22. Hike the Grand Canyon – gotta have a least one big and possibly unrealistic goal right?
23. Complete a month long photo challenge
24. Try making pasta from scratch
25. Have my favorite year yet!

Now we have to review last years list -

1. Draft a pattern from scratch – I did this one without really intending to. A friend of Tim’s wanted to remake a favorite dress and I ended up drafting out a pattern and sewing a relica for her. I someday will make myself one since the patterns already done and we’re the same size!
2. Visit NY – Tim and I visited New York in July and scoped it out for a possible future home base.
3. Visit my seester in her new home – Did this a couple of weeks ago posted here.
4. Go camping – Didn’t do this but hopefully can go this summer with our besties.
5. Get a new fancy bike and ride her all over – Still deciding on what bike is best for what I want to do with it but I believe it is narrowed down considerably. I hope to purchase something this month.
6. Get a tattoo, obviously sewing themed – honestly my social anxiety has prevented this from happening but maybe soon.
7. Create a pretty sewing studio – I did this but now have to pack it up and move in the next few weeks. I will try to snap some pics before she’s gone.
8. Host a holiday party – Well I didn’t do what I intended but I had a lovely childhood friend over and we did Christmas crafting so I’m gonna count it.
9. Go on a picnic – We did this a couple times. Wish the weather was nicer and we could do these all summer long.
10. Make a quilt maybe for said picnic – It’s cut out but I am so overwhelmed – should have picked a smaller size!
11. Sell all of my junk – this is in progress especially with the impending move!
12. Dress up and go out for a fancy night with friends – Tim and I attended a charity ball with my coworkers and danced the night away. I wore this dress I made.
13. Take a train ride – Again not how I intended but we took tons of trains in New York and Chicago so I’m crossing this off.
14. Read a book out loud with Tim – We read the Catcher in the Rye out loud on a recent trip to LA. It was fun revisiting something I read in high school but had little appreciation for at the time. I hope this can be a tradition for us.
15. Organize my sewing patterns – check it out here. 
16. Do some volunteering – Did a little here and there but would like to do more this year.
17. Visit San Francisco – This one will be completed at the end of June.
18. Take more pictures of everyday life – Completed but always room for more.
19. Go to more shows – music, art, and comedy – This was completed like 10 times over. We saw so many great concerts and attended tons of comedy shows this year. In case you live in the Phoenix area you should definitely check out the sketch comedy group my boyfriend is in Bully Mammoth. They perform at the Tempe Center for the Arts and I went to everyone of their shows this year.
20. Visit Chicago – Check out a few snapshots here
21. Sew more staple items especially for work – I sewed a few things that have made frequent rotations in my work wardrobe – still room for improvement but I’m gonna give me this one.
22. Take time with my grandma and review our family history – Timing for this one never worked out so its on the back burner.
23. Purge my closet and keep the one of a kind items
24. Make an Arizona bucket list and start working on it
25. Be more me!

18 out of 25 isn’t too shabby and a couple more should be added shortly!

Are you a list or goal maker? Any tips for sticking with it?

P.S. If you noticed #3 from this years list you saw that I will be participating in Me Made May 2013!

That was a lot more words than my posts usually include so as a treat here’s a Ryan Gosling meme that I really appreciate.

Since I rarely sew this much we are going to stretch these dresses into at least a couple of different posts but I thought I’d give a little snapshot of the ones I made this weekend.

I decided to keep my Laurels simple. I don’t think adding a bunch of crazy do-dads and embellishments is quite my style. I added small details to each of my dresses but am also excited to make a completely and simple version.

See all of the most gorgeous dresses from all the sewers on the Flickr group.

P.S. This is the Laurel dress pattern from Colette Patterns.

Tim has been out of town visiting our friends in New York so I pumped up the jams and snapped my pictures on my own. There may have been some very unflattering pictures which will not be appearing in this post.. eek!

I am so super duper pleased with how my dress turned out – the fabric was a dream, the pleats weren’t nearly as bad as I imagined they would be, and the fit was spot on on the first go!

Can’t wait to see the parade of everyone’s pieces!

My main assignments were of course sewing related!

1. A gathered skirt 
2. Bunting, bunting, and more bunting

My sister and mom were so helpful in tracing and cutting the bunting triangles and I did the sewing – they also made tons of beautiful candles in all these adorable teacups.

I am so excited for my sis and her main squeeze and can’t wait to be a part of their big day very soon!

I spent an embarrassing amount of time looking for the perfect inspiration dress to be inspired by. I almost went with a dress of Joan’s but then I ran across this beauty and was smitten.

Of course who could resist that print, that waist and those adorable pleats… resistance was futile. I needed that dress!

The dress comes from season 2 when Peggy gets a little kitchen makeover. I found the screencaps from Tom + Lorenzo.

Just yesterday some of my gorgeous fabric arrived and I may have wrapped myself up on the couch and basked it the super beautiful and soft amazingness that is this cotton double gauze from Tomotake.

This is the pattern I snapped up from Etsy. It was the best pattern I was able to find which had the pleated skirt along with a special detail at the waist which I adored from the original! I will make a few adjustments and remove the sleeves since its already heating up here in Arizona!

Who else is participating and how is it going so far?

Lucky for me I was inspired from the envelope mostly due to the fact I knew I had this fabric in my stash. It was a thrift store find years ago and I've pulled it out a few time with intentions to use it but it never fit what I was going for.

I think if I ever make the pattern again I will use a lighter color so I won't lose the details like what happened with the black print.

Now off to the next sew along – Mad Men!

This is the pattern I chose.

If you’ve been in a persistent vegetative state and havn’t heard about Sew For Victory definitely check out Lucky Lucille for more info.

I also have a project that was chosen of course out of my motivational Jars of Inspiration. I plucked Simplicity 2406 a dress pattern by Cynthia Rowley. I’ve got to finish the sash and the button and loop at the back collar and it’ll be done so soon! This dress really is not my usual style which is probably why after over a year I haven’t made time to finish it but thats changing!

And on top of all the other prjects there’s no way I can pass up on Colette Patterns new Laurel pattern and the wonderful sewing contest that will accompany it. How many shift dresses does one girl need and how many can I make in one month? Never enough time in the day for all the sewing I want to do!

Its super hard to pick one thing out of an anthill-esque mound so I’m letting the fate of the jars ‘o inspiration decide for me – more to come on that one.

The original top was a dollar day find that was baggy and weird shaped but I am a sucker for all things gingham! I’m working this year on making more versatile pieces and I think this falls right in – perfect paired with jeans and a belt or with a high waisted skirt!

The fix was pretty easy – just cut off the long sleeves, take in the sides, then make bias strips out of the sleeves, and bind the armholes! Easy, peasy, and done!

In order to pick my projects I wrote everything out on sticky notes and separated them into corresponding jars. So before any new projects can be started I have to complete a projects out of each of the jars.

We had boatloads of fun dancing the night away. At one point the singer of the night’s band had her phone out and was videoing Tim’s dancing! Thats not a first and certainly won’t be a last!

Anywho, I wore the dress to church last week and we snapped a couple pictures in the super bright afternoon.

The dress is the lovely Ava dress from Victory patterns. It has the nicest swishy full skirt and made for great dancing. I would love to make the top version!

Don’t worry I’m still sewing and doing other fun things! I’ve been working on a beautiful new dress and got to spend the holidays with my love and my family in Portland.

This past weekend we got to attend a wedding of a friend and they were sweet enough to ask Tim to be the officiant and he did a wonderful job!