How I added Piping to my Sophie Swimsuit

When I made my Sophie Swimsuit I had so much fun picking out fabrics. There are endless options for mixing patterns and/or solids to come up with your own custom suit. I opted to add piping to the bottoms and thought I would show you how I did it. My piping is pretty subtle but you could really make it a stand out with a color that contrasts your main fabrics.

My piping was made from a 1" wide strip of swim fabric. I folded it with wrong sides together and basted close to the raw edge. This part will be trimmed off later.  

I sandwiched the piping between my center and side panels (both front and back) and used a lot of pins to keep each seam lined up.


This pattern uses a 3/8" wide seam allowance. You will have to experiment with your zig zag width but the goal is to leave a tiny bit of the piping peaking out of the seam. On my machine I used a 3 width and 1.5 length for my zig zag on the seam. After sewing up each seam I trimmed the piping and side panels closer to the seam to reduce bulk.


I finished each of these seams by turning the seam allowance towards the side seams and topstitching with another zig zag. The seams came out a bit wavy but that is not a problem when the suit is being worn.


If you haven't tried this pattern yet I highly recommend it. It was intimidating at first, but if you take your time and follow the instructions carefully the suit comes together perfectly. I found it to be a challenging project that left me with a great sense of accomplishment.

My garden has been happy this Summer! Can you believe I grew that Dahlia?! 

Cactus Margaritas

My parent's property is studded with Prickly Pear and they are currently covered in fruit. The fruits are called Tuna or Tunita in Spanish and are often sold in Latin Grocery stores. I had never tried one before. Mom got the idea to make a syrup from the fruit and use it in Margaritas. It was a lot of work for a little bit of syrup but the end result was beautiful and delicious!



I can't find the directions that we used but here is one way to make the syrup.  The Margarita was like nothing I've ever tasted before, we really couldn't compare the flavor to anything.  There are thousands more Tunitas waiting to be made into syrup on my parent's property!

Mornings in the Garden

My mornings always, always start with coffee. Lately I have been taking my coffee outside to check on my veggies and flowers. The weather has been cool in the mornings and hot in the afternoons, so I get out in the backyard as much as I can in the mornings.

Poppy colored toes make me happy.

My days off almost always consist of meal planning and grocery shopping. Last week I took my Bon Appetits outside as well. I started using little sticky tags to mark recipes that I want to try in my multitude of food magazines.

Many of my early Spring flowers are blooming like Clematis, Nasturtuim, Poppies and Larkspur. I have been making loose little garden arrangements to bring some of the color of Spring indoors. The only downside to mornings in the garden has been later jogs and it is getting too hot for that. I will have to compromise on some days so that I can get out on my runs before the temperature creeps up.

Lovely days

It has been a busy few weeks around here. My days off have been taken up by visits with friends and family, both in and out of town, hosting our nieces for a sleepover and getting ready to leave town. We went to Austin last weekend to celebrate my dad's birthday and see my parent's new house, which is lovely. We had a wonderful time and didn't want to come home. Then my parents came up this week and brought Karlie for a quick visit. I have spent most of my free time in the back yard, pruning, watering, pulling weeds. It is looking pretty good. Here are some of my favorite plants right now.

The poppies are blooming, as of today.



I acquired a few new succulents in Austin and I'm loving them. My collection is growing.

Frank turns Forty next week and we have no plans. He doesn't want a party, which I have honored. I am thinking apple pie and salted caramel ice cream, but he may have other ideas. Yesterday we played pool, rode bikes and grilled dinner on the patio. It was nice to just hang out with him all day and I'm hoping for more of that next weekend.

R for Robin

Goodness, going through my photos and organizing them makes me realize I haven't been a very good or consistent blogger lately. I have so much to share, but work and everything else tend to get in the way. I'll start with the most recent thing that I want to share with you.

Our good friend Robin had a birthday last week and we came up with such a personal and lovely gift. We know her pretty well and knew she would love this, and she does. I saw this idea on Pinterest, so I can't take full credit. Robin told me that she wanted a cool succulent planter like we gave her last year. When we got to Lowes they had a ton of varieties of succulents and I was literally jumping up and down with excitement!
 

We found the perfect hollow metal R at Hobby Lobby.
 

See, I still do metal work. We had to get the top off so that we could plant the succulents in the R.

It took a little while but we got it done and spray painted the R orange.

Here it is all planted up with the succulents. Isn't that clever?! I want an A for my backyard.

We had so much fun with this project, Frank and I really enjoyed the process and it came out great. I love it when things work out.

Plant Life

Part of my Year of the Home New Years declaration has been sprucing up the house by bringing in more house plants. They really make me happy and give a more finished look to a room. Instant upgrade! I'm not usually good with houseplants, but do much better with my gardens. I'm trying to become a better caretaker to my indoor plants since they bring so much joy to my life.


I have been reminding myself of my PawPaw with my plants. He never met a plant that he didn't try to divide and multiply. I only do that with the easy ones, like succulents. I have my little pot full of succulent rootings by the window and check on their progress regularly. I love to see them grow!

Most Beautiful of Days

Today was the most beautiful of days. The best of Texas weather. Cool, clear and sunny with a nice breeze. I love it. I went for a jog this morning and it was so nice to be outside.

The garden is loving this weather too!

I'm working on this right now. A Milk Chocolate Malt Ball Cake. The cake is Vanilla Malt with Milk Chocolate Frosting. I think it is going to be really good! It is for my little brother's birthday.

Embracing Change

Tomorrow is the first day of Fall. In Texas that doesn't necessarily mean much. Days go back and forth between perfectly cool and hot and humid. We take what we can get when it comes to those perfect Fall days. We have already had a few, which is unusual this early for us. My workouts have been harder the past few days, I'm not sure why. I took it a little easier yesterday and just walked.

 I love Fall, it is my favorite season and it doesn't hurt that my birthday is in the Fall.

The garden is always happier when Fall arrives too.

Roberta watching over me in the garden.

My zinnias are no show flowers, they flop over and are kind of scraggly but I still love them!

This canna is in a pot that I inherited from my mom when they moved. I've never had this one and I think it is so pretty.
 

This picture cracks me up. Lucy and Berta just staring at me in the morning.
 Probably wanting my breakfast.
 

Welcoming Fall and cooler weather is an easy change. I won't miss too much about Summer, though I did embrace it this year more than ever before. The harder changes that we are making have to do with our diet and lifestyle. I am on the right track with exercise and it is making me feel better overall. Frank has had a cold and hasn't been able to join me yet. I always struggle with meal planning, shopping and finding time to get dinner on the table. I love to cook, but working at a grocery store with odd and ever changing hours has messed it all up for me.

Frank was diagnosed with high blood pressure this week, so now I'm on a mission to change our diets. I have gotten some really great resources from my facebook friends and just started delving into them. I will put together a list and add them to my blog links as well. Last night we made broiled Salmon and carrots with Kale salad. All easy, delicious and heart healthy. I need more meals like that in my repertoire!

If you have any suggestions for lowering blood pressure naturally or websites that you visit for healthy eating and living please do share.
Happy Fall!
xoxo
Ashley