Material Girls, March Issue

Sunday was the monthly Material Girls meeting. Because our usual meeting place, Ann Silva's, is moving this weekend, we were invited to meet at Stitchology. You might recall my previous post on this shop when it opened last fall.

This month, I cut out some new tops. I'm still on a TSW tear--I cut out both shirts from the Now and Zen pattern.

I've made the Now (right) several times but the Zen (left) is a new one for me.

I used some of the cottons that I've been buying from local independents. The Zen's fabric came from Nob Hill Fabrics and is part of Terrie Mangat's Rio Grande series.

This one is called Rooted in Rock.

I cut the Now out of a Japanese print cotton that I bought on a previous visit to Stitchology. Even with additional yardage, it was a little touch and go. I barely eked out enough due to the combination of adding some length, large motifs and pattern matching. In the end, I was able to make it work but I was worried for a while there.

That should do me for a little while. There are plenty of other items I want to sew now that the weather's warming up and hopefully will make some progress on sewing some springtime items.

Northern New Mexico Retreat

The last few weeks have been a blur, so apologies for going a little AWOL yet again.

Let's see, still not sewing but there have been some sewing-like activities happening.

A couple of weekends ago was the annual Vestry Retreat at Ghost Ranch in Northern New Mexico. So of course, I had to make a stop in Santa Fe on the trip north. Santa Fe Fabrics has moved to a new and improved location since my last visit.

Same shopping center off St. Francis Drive and across from Trader Joe's, but the new store is bigger---and there's a yummy bakery next door. What a combination, sewing and treats!

I selected several new fabrics, most from the clearance section but they'd be great at full price too.

The blue floral is a linen/cotton blend, the fern print is organic cotton, the sewing print is another cotton, and the black is that ruffle fabric.

After fabric shopping, I headed next door to Dulce for a treat

I was delighted to find wonderful goodies, reasonably sized, and well priced. I got a red velvet cupcake, which was delicious.

 The real dish and fork were an extra treat. I don't know about you, but it was really nice to get a baked good that was normally sized instead of steroidal.

The retreat was in the same magical location again this year. Ghost Ranch is in a pretty isolated stretch of Northern New Mexico. But it's amazing to look out on a landscape that Georgia O'Keeffe was so inspired by.

The retreat was a team building experience for the vestry that was both spiritual and task oriented. Sunday was graced by a late winter dusting of snow that fascinated then quickly vanished.