Lack of sewing progress and Spring patterns

Last Wednesday I was able to finish school with my boys early, and when they went outside to play I sat down at my sewing machine. It is a rare thing these days for me to get any sewing time during the day, and I was excited to get something accomplished. My machine had other ideas. It would not sew a stitch, and I spent the next hour and a half troubleshooting to find the problem. The thread kept getting all wound up in the bobbin housing. I took the metal plate off and blew out all the fuzz balls. I changed the needle. I re-threaded the machine multiple times. I turned it off and back on. Finally I threw up my hands and decided to have it looked at. After all, it's been 2 years since I bought it and could probably use a tune-up and oiling anyway. So, it is out of commission until Monday or Tuesday and I am left to twiddle my fingers.

Actually, I've been busying myself with cutting things out. I'm trying to finish up winter sewing, and have for some reason saved all my skirts for last. And they are mostly all plaid. There is a reason I cut things out one at a time and sew them one at a time. It's tedious to cut patterns out! Especially if you have to pay such careful attention to matching plaids.

As I have nothing new to show you, I thought it would be fun to blog about the new patterns I purchased last week. I'm not sure when Simplicity put these new Spring ones up. This may be old news to some of you.

I'm sure this first one is going to be popular. It is the cutest sundress I've seen in quite awhile, and people seam to gravitate towards the designer patterns as well. I already have the fabric picked out - an awesome border print cotton I've been saving for the perfect project. I am salivating to make this up, but will wait until the weather gets a bit warmer.

I saw this next dress and knew I had to make it. These diagonal seamed dresses have been in the department stores for awhile, and I've always loved the look, but this is the first pattern I've seen that copies it. Justin wants to attend the Celtic Women concert at the Majestic Theater in May, and I'm going to need a fancy-pants dress to wear. I'll probably make the shorter version, only maybe a few inches longer.

Y'all know my affinity for jacket patterns, right? I like empire seaming and double lapels on the top right view.

I need a tan skirt in my wardrobe, so am planning to copy view C of this next pattern, only with dark brown leather trim instead of black.

I get cold in summer a lot, and am always toting some type of cover-up around with me to restaurants and such. The cardigan with cuffed sleeves looks like a simple and easy piece to serve as a cold buffer, and would be light enough to throw in my bag as I'm running out the door.

We are off to spend the afternoon bowling. Fun, fun! I love to bowl. Have a great week, and I hope to have something new to reveal soon.