San Francisco

Getting ready for our upcoming trip, I was reflecting on our last out-of-town getaway to San Francisco. We went for my birthday in December of last year (wow - 9 months since a vacation...I NEED to get out of town!!) and had a wonderful time. Since I was looking through our photos, I thought I'd share a bit of our trip to SFO.

One of the most fun things we did was take the ferry over to Sausalito to see the town and drive to Muir woods. We started out at the Ferry Marketplace, a beautiful re-done bulding with many local merchants selling food. We were there so early no one was open yet!

Most of the ferry activity was boats bringing people TO San Francisco, so our trip only had maybe 10 people on it.

The ride over gave many photo opportunities of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Muir Woods was so quiet and peaceful, I could have sat there for hours!!

Since we rented a car in Sausalito for the day, we ventured around to a great lookout over the Pacific.

And took the obligatory picture in front of the bridge.

We bought a trolley pass, so spent plenty of time going up and down the hills of the city.

A guide book had mentioned some off the beaten path stops not everyone knows about. One such place was Macondray Lane. Walking up to it, Jeff swore I was lost, but when we turned the corner and saw this little magical enclave of houses, he knew I was right. What a beautiful place. Wonder what the houses cost there??

We also walked down Lombard Street (easier than walking up!!)

Upon a friend's recommendation, we visited the Japanese garden at Golden Gate Park.

What a great trip! It was fun reliving it here for you.

Busy Weekend

Or, 2 Shirts, 2 Skirts and a headband!

With vacation coming up, I thought I'd see if I could sew a few things for my trip. After many hours of work, I'm mostly pleased

This is a pattern I've had for a while but been hesitant to try because it uses knits. Knits don't like me. I do fine with the seams, it is the finishing (hems, neckline, etc) that gives me the most problem. I had this really soft knit I got for like 2 bucks at Hancock's from the remmnant table I thought I'd try. It went together really fast and was fairly easy, but the neckline hem is wavy, like most of the knit projects I try.


I saw this shirt popping up on so many blogs I had to try it. I read that it ran big, and I didn't want it to look like a tent on me (not very flattering) so I cut it a size smaller than my usual. It is plenty snug, so it was a good thing I used some leftover fabric I had. I'll try reworking again. I think it will be very cute when I get it right.


This project started out being inspired by the fabric. I thought it was very Lilly Pulitzer-like print that would make a good skirt. I used a pattern from the book Sew What Skirts and made a wrap skirt. Very happy with how this one turned out.



My second skirt was again inspired by fabric. I saw this madras plaid at the store and thought it looked like a JCrew skirt I had seen. I also used the Sew What Skirts book on this one.


Since I had fabric leftover, I thought a headband would complete my preppy look. Heather Bailey has a free pattern on her website that makes really cute, easy headbands. A few minutes after cutting, viola...a headband.



I also had a great helper during my sewing marathon. Why do cats like fabric so much?!?!?