Holly was given some great pink tights all the way from the UK. Oddly enough, she didn't have anything pink to go with them. Luckily, I had some fabric kicking around that matched well enough so I made Holly a skirt and a dress. I'm rather happy with the outcomes!

A side not about the dress: The size that fit Holly properly in the chest was too short. So once I was finished sewing the dress, I had to add a 4th layer. It's still cute, but if I were to make it again, I think I might lengthen each layer by 1.5" to 2".

(In my defense, this bra was purchased in grade 8 and Holly found it in a "to-donate" box.)

Tonight we ate French Onion Soup and freshly baked French Bread toasted with melted gruyere cheese. It was delicious and just the thing for our first cool day (65F or 18C). Heavenly. I may or may not have taken advantage of the classic "eating for two," especially when it came to the bread. Man oh man. Conor asked me if I could make the bread everyday. It's dangerously tasteful! 

I'm holding out for these cute oven-safe soup bowls and the matching pot to go on sale. I totally need them!

I'm referring to myself. I've been a sewing machine. Today, I sewed up a doll-sized quilt top for Holly's Christmas gift. The girl is so baby obsessed, it's dangerous! She loves babies more than what I think is within normality for her age. Good thing we've got one on the way! 

I used the new Oliver+S City Weekend fabric (I had a 40 - 2.5"x2.5" sample pack) and the border is leftovers from a dress I made for Holly last week. It's from Amy Butler's Lotus collection.

I'm curious, what Christmas gifts are you making this year?

I can't take full credit for this. I saw my sister-in-law Elizabeth do this a couple years ago and I tucked it away in my mind. This project will take between 30 to 60 minutes, depending on your skill level and the amount of embellishing you do. This is a good project for a beginner. 

Supplies:

• t-shirt
• coordinating knit fabric (I used another shirt that I was okay with cutting up)
• thread
• needle
• scissors
• pins
• sewing machine

Cut circles from your embellishing fabric. For my t-shirt, the largest ones I used were 3+ inches in diameter. For Greta's, they were about 1 inch and Holly's were a little bigger than that. I like to have varying sizes to work with. 

Fold each circle into quarters and, with a hand needle, stitch a small square at the end, using coordinating thread (I used dark thread so it would photograph). You don't want your stitch to be too big. Mine were about 1/8th to 1/4 of an inch. Remember to start and finish with a knot.

Open your "rosettes" up and arrange them on your shirt. I choose to do a bib style for my shirt. And I like to layer the rosettes.

Pin like crazy. Make sure your pins are perpendicular to the direction you'd like to sew.

Sew the rosettes on using a sewing machine. I pivoted at the edges, so my stitching was continuous. Remove pins as you go.

Take a look and add in any more stitching as necessary (to flopping edges, etc). Admire your handiwork and wear!

Side note: Embellishing is a great way to resurrect a shirt. I had a shirt, which I loved, but it had some small bleach stains on it, so it was hanging in my closet without being worn. I covered those bleach stains up using this method and it's now a favourite again!