A wee summertime project

Popping in to show a little embroidery project I did in the past month.  I don't sew very much for myself any more (all my slopers are wrong since the weight loss and I haven't had the motivation to redo them when thrifting is pretty good and fabric stores in short supply).  I thrifted this linen shirt in the spring and wore it a couple of times but found it dull.  It is not quite white so I thought it might be fun to embroider it to liven it up.  I did a bunch of embroidery like this a few years back, so I had a notion of what I was in for.

I used the Sulky Stick and Stitch stabilizer because it can be printed on regular printer.  The designs came from an etsy seller that I adapted into the larger motif.  There were three designs total.  I drew out the lines of the neck and shoulders and then started placing the motifs until I had something I liked and then photocopied that onto the stabilizer.  Worked pretty well!  

The size of the piece meant I had to baste the edges of the stabilizer to keep it from moving around too much, but otherwise, fairly straightforward and enjoyable project.  It was a great traveling project.  

I'm plotting to fancy up a linen top I made a few years ago, as I like the linen but don't wear it very much now.  Maybe embroidery will make me want to wear it.  My go-to clothes this summer have been boxy linen tops just like that one, although mostly thrifted, and linen/rayon palazzo pants.  (These pants fit me like ankle pants, which was what I was going for).  I also found possibly the most perfect warm weather pants evah in the most glorious shade of yellow.  Pants are usually my nemesis, so it is nice to have a few pairs that fit well.  It isn't my usual lewk, and is perhaps not the most flattering thing, but I'm finding in this season, I don't really care: 

I know, I know, I was the skirts and dresses girl.  I still wear them pretty regularly in the colder months, and I do have a nice rotation of summer skirts and dresses, but most days lately, its the palazzos and the boxy tops.  (To be fair, the palazzos almost look like a skirt, there is so much fabric in the legs).  I will say, the biggest factor in the pants is that I don't have to shave my legs!  It is a chore that is never finished in the hot months because it is humid here and my legs still swell a bit in the heat.  And it has been HOT here this summer.    

And, finally, drum roll please...I have a (terrible) first draft of the novel I started writing last summer!  I'm right in the middle of the word count range for this genre, and while the editing road ahead is long, it is nice to finally have a big lump of dough to shape in my hands.  How's that for a mixed metaphor?!?