Happy Friday to everyone!  The calendar says spring has arrived even if the weather is not acting accordingly.

My husband and I strolled though the Chicago Botanic Gardens this past week.  There’s not too much growing, but a lot of work was being done on the gardens.  The snowdrops are blooming on many hillsides, and I saw some tiny purple scilla here and there.

All around was peace and promises of what is to come.  These botanic gardens have always fed my soul, and even at this time of year was no exception.

Two weekends ago we attended the orchid show at the gardens.  The greenhouses were adorned with orchids!  There was beauty everywhere, however, when I saw these giant parasols hanging from the ceiling my heart skipped a beat.  The colors of these giant beauties against the blue sky… simply amazing.

I completed three more dresses for my Operation Christmas Child 2018 shoeboxes this week.  I now have a total of eight!  I made these three dresses in tandem, so the steps were batched.  I think they got more quickly, but it seemed like more “work” as I tended to get tired of doing one thing three times, or six times as in the case of armholes or straps.

The middle dress is made with blue oxford cloth and a yellow gingham pocket.  The dress on the right has teeny tiny salmon colored stars printed on ivory with the bottom fabric in reverse.

Alice, my beautiful Little Darling painted by Nelly Valentino, keeps me company while I sew in my studio.

I hope you have a lovely weekend, and maybe some springlike weather where you live.  Thanks for visiting with me, my friends.

❤ ❤ ❤