Lately...

June was a whirlwind! Greg and I both have our birthdays in June, so we had a big party one weekend. And then we went to Colorado to see one of his college friends get married. It was quite the month!

We started with Greg's birthday, for which we went camping at Shenandoah National Park. Shenandoah is one of the few national parks that allows dogs, so Lyra got to go, too. She went in the water for the first time since we got her (we hiked down to a river) and we discovered that she must have an ancestor that's a river otter.

Which one is my dog and which is an otter?

Am I right?

We also had a nice party for our friends and families. I couldn't resist making one of these signs out of a shoebox lid. Greg and I are big Lord of the Rings fans. I outlined the letters in pencil and then filled them in with my fountain pen. Not as awesome as some of these signs I've seen, but people seemed to like it.

For my actual birthday, we were in Boulder, Colo., attending the wedding of one of Greg's college friends. It is so beautiful there! I wore both my Lonsdale and my Cambie wearable muslin and they were much admired by all.

Greg's friend's mom is a textile artist and the maid of honor was a tailor, so I had lots of garmenty chats over the weekend. Not going to lie, I don't think I would have worn my Cambie muslin had I know people would be looking so closely! I broke the first zipper I put in that dress (after trimming the seams and finishing the lining) and fixing it turned the bodice into QUITE the squeeze. It's certainly wearable, but not the most comfortable thing ever. And I'm not sure if I want to let the seams out now that I've already bound all the seams and everything...

I'll do a whole review of both of these, but here's a little taste in the meantime:

But speaking of Greg's friend's mom, (that's a mouthful, isn't it?) she directed me to the CUTEST little fabric store right by our hotel. I stopped by the day we left and fell in love. The ladies in Elfriede's were amazing! When I walked in, they asked if they could help, and I told them I was just visiting from out of town, so they gave me a tour of the store, asked about the clothes I was wearing, invited me to "play" with whatever I wanted and generally were the sweetest and most hospitable people.

I love fabric souvenirs better than any other kind, so I bought a few things:

The heart print is a knit that I thought would be a cute t-shirt. The hearts are very slightly raised and kind of velvety. I couldn't remember the yardage for the pattern I wanted, and was about to guess, when the lady (owner maybe?) whipped out a measuring tape, measured the t-shirt I had on and proclaimed that a yard would do. The pink is a sweet printed cotton -- sundress maybe?

I also got some white cotton summer lining, some fold-over elastic to try out those hair ties everyone is loving (how do they sell them in the drug store for so much money when the elastic is so cheap?) and some silk threads. I was really jealous recently of Ami's hand-done buttonholes and they had the Gutterman twist silk thread she recommended, which I've never seen before, so I bought a roll to try.  They also sold Liberty prints, but I didn't buy any. They really are gorgeous though -- I'd never seen any in person.

Seriously, if you're ever in Boulder, you must stop by Elfriede's.

I finished my Bombshell swimsuit last night, so expect a post soon -- I'm hoping it's sunny tomorrow so I can get some pictures accomplished. I absolutely love the way the swimsuit came out and I'm just itching to make a second one (I made a couple mistakes on the first), but, as Greg says, how many swimsuits do I need in one summer?

Two, right?