It was a little cold this morning so I wore one of my Pendleton 49er jackets and jeans. This top is one of my absolute favorites that I can't get enough of. I sewed it myself with Simplicity's Jiffy blouse #1364. I want to sew a dozen more in various colors, especially greens.

For several seasons we had a vine by our kitchen porch that grew these seed pods that were full of fluff once they turned brown. The kids loved to play with them. I can't resist pulling the silky puffs out and making a wish while I blow them away.

This park has several picnic tables and I can't believe we've never had a picnic here with how close it is to home. I think we will have to do that as soon as the weather warms up enough.

Sometimes I go thrift shopping with no real plan of what I'm looking for. I just wander around and see what I find. The day I found this skirt was one of those days. I had already been to a few shops and didn't really  have any luck so I was feeling kind of "meh" about shopping by that point.




While walking down a long, tightly crammed skirt rack I saw the sequins and pink of this skirt pop right out at me. I pulled it out for a closer view and fell in love with it. I thought it might be original vintage at first because of the beautiful scenic print but its a modern skirt. I think it was originally from JC Penny or Kohls or something like that. It is covered in black sequins but the camera sadly couldn't capture the sparkle.

My wrap top is actually one of those modern trendy cardigans that are lightweight tee shirt material and kind of boxy but I think I'm going to sew it into a wrap top permanently. For now its tucked into my skirt to hold it in place.


There's a very pretty little park close to home that we walked to on this morning. It has a small pond surrounded by a little field of wildflowers. There's a gazebo that people rent for weddings and photos in the spring and summer.






 There's a little border where the landscaping ends and the wild native plants take over and the city cuts a small path through it so you can explore closer to the pond's edge. I come here often in the spring and summer on our way to the playground with the kids but we don't often get to explore its beauty in the winter so I'm glad we did on this day.

Since the winter temperatures don't show any sign of lifting, I thought you may enjoy this free pattern for a 1947 cozy muff and matching hat. Many vintage muffs are made of fur but this is a beautiful fur-free alternative in crochet. The muff is in puff stitch with metallic threads throughout and the hat has a small brim.  This muff pattern calls for a Dritz muff bed, which I assume is a black muff that you can decorate. Since such a thing isn't readily available anymore I've included a few links for a DIY muff. I made two using the Handmade Charlotte tutorial with thrift store sweaters and fiber fill and they turned out beautifully!

upcycled sweater muff from Handmade Charlotte

How to make a hand muff from Craft Gossip

How to make a muff tutorial from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom






If you enjoyed this pattern, check out my Free Patterns page and follow along on Instagram for updates on new monthly free patterns.

I also wore my Santa Rosa Roundup tee from Atomic Swag. They have so many cute tees, I need to pick up some more this spring. I love to wear them with jeans or skirts for a quick and easy retro outfit.