A Very Good Week Indeed!

I eased into 53 in fine style, (And oh gosh, was elected for another Stylish Award). Tuesday ended up being sunny and warm and it was a joy to walk the main street of Ashland. The Shakespeare Festival is open again and the selection of plays is fantastic this year. The city is coming to life after it's long January-February quiet time. Many shops close after the first of the year for all or part of January.

As a local, it is frankly my favorite time. No crowds, easy parking, good sales and it gets me down to the green belt from the snow belt. What's not to love! Come May, and weekends especially, it will be packed. Plates from all over the country will be spied along the local highways and byways. I always honk and wave when I see New England state plates. I'm sure they think I'm nuts. Once in a while I actually run into folks from

that region and we chat about this and that.

But as usual I've wandered.... The stores were full of fresh spring wares, all of them. More time was spent window shopping than anything. As predicted I did get whooshed into two of my favorites. It wouldn't be a proper birthday without that. And released again with bags in hand. When I saw this big heady "skein" in Web-sters of 12 hand dyed yarns, all different and in my very favorite colors I was in fiber heaven.

It's got beads and loops and all sorts of fun different textures going on. The perfect compliment is Dream in Color Smooshy sock yarn. It would seen the Choo-choo really jumped the tracks on working with all whites and naturals! I also picked up a lovely little something for my Mom on Mother's Day, which I can't show just in case.

Fabric of Vision was the the next heady stop. Mostly basics in plain colors but then there was this.

An Italian woven silk and cotton double weave voile, for lack of a better or more knowledgeable description. I had been eyeing this fabric (along with the plaid I bought for a practical spring coat). It was bite your knuckles expensive but I found a pattern after months of searching that would be just perfect for the 2.5 yards I treated myself too. That's all I'm saying, but this is going to be cut into and soon.

The rest of the booty is all nice shirting materials, cotton sateen in a deep olive green, lovely white tightly woven Pima cotton (which is harder to find than you might think) and a beautiful black/grey shirt weight linen. Lastly, a new Colette pattern for a man's shirt which I'm hoping to do some drafting magic and get a tailored ladies shirt out of it too. We'll see on that one.

Gene fed both the dogs AND the horses, which is a really nice gift. I was able to come home and flop in the comfy chair and just relax. Dinner was take out and easy and good, although we both just wanted to get to the cake and ice cream!

In the last two days, I threw this together and I have to say, these Petite Plus patterns are so well drafted and fun to make. This shirt has absolutely no modifications and fits like a glove. I love the French Cuffs.

I didn't have any buttons to finish it yesterday but I'll remedy that today for sure.

DH thought it quite 70's mod in the fabric choice. It wasn't my favorite when I bought it on line, but it was the best of the stretch cotton I could find and inexpensive too boot. I love it now though and am glad I went for it. Groovy!!!

Parting shot: Jack, who has a work around (or over) for everything!

The door was used to begin with, but he has helped some with paint removal.