I remember your hunt for this fabric! I love you have more, now!!
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You guys! This wasn’t even a personal swap, @Magpie just made and sent me the linen smock-frock of my dreams, out of nowhere!
Mother-of-pearl buttons. {Swoon}
I didn’t know anything about this until she sent me a message this morning saying it was scheduled for delivery today! It is so well made and full of loving care. And with Spring coming on strong this week, it’s perfect timing (though really, there is no season when I wouldn’t wear this. In fact I expect to wear it more days than not). 
Huge thanks and hugs, you rock my world! 
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wow…and pockets! It looks wonderful on you and yes, it was made with love!
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OMG. All the feels. It looks fantastic on you. What a thoughtful and generous gift.
Yay for spring!
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Ha ha, I started this for the Secret Santa swap, you listed the Verity Hope Smock as your “favorite article of clothing on the planet” and who could resist that? I just happened to have purchased the linen for another project I decided against, it was hot laundered and just sitting there waiting for your project. and I actually finished sewing it together at the end of November but got stymied by the hand bound button holes, they were really intimidating! I think it took more than a month before I could even bring myself to cut the slit for them, then another age before I got the nerve to hand bind. Thank you EVER so much to @thanate for encouraging me behind the scenes, she really bolstered my confidence and nerve chatting with me about the foibles of patterns and general stitchery.
Those buttons, how I love them. I have a jar of vintage shell buttons in all shapes and sizes. I’ve been making an effort to Use The Good Stuff so even the small pocket buttons are shell :).
I’m excited to see the fit on you, it looks GREAT! I didn’t know how it was going to hang as it’s so loose and you asked for “large” but I made the small! I tried the pattern out with a different fabric first and wasn’t in love with how it fit on my body or my Judy so there is some ease taken at the side seams where the binding is. I hand stitched the reverse so it would be a nice tight little roll and not splay out like can sometimes happen with binding on underarm seams. You look so wonderful it in, totally worth every stitch.
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It blows me away that YOU (queen of all-craft) were fretting, unbeknownst to me, over something for me. The whole universe conspires on our behalf, it seems!
It totally would have been fine to go buttonless, and I never would have known–But being you, you knew there was something magic about pairing these gorgeous buttons with a rustic style. I wish you hadn’t stressed, but your vision paid off!
It was no exaggeration, this really is my favorite garment on the planet (at least, of the garments I can get away with wearing in normal life), and it was the missing piece for my wardrobe! I have such a sense of aesthetic completeness wearing this right now, even though I’m just wearing it on top of the same old pajamas/loungewear in which I’ve spent the whole pandemic. 
I feel heartened to start my gardening projects!
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That’s so cute!!! Looks good on you @calluna 
What an awesome surprise from @Magpie!
Now you have me wondering if I could pull off the smock look 
I’ve given up all things skirty and dressy but the smock is so cute and I love that it is worn with pants! lol You’ve both given me something to think about now 
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Wow…I’d say it looks like it was made for you, but it literally WAS!
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Love the story of the smock…will you be doing a separate post on it? You were so secretive with the buttonholes…lol…and yes, made with love, but also this: ha ha ha
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This is spot on. I like to say that every needle felting project has a little part of me because I inevitably stab myself and bleed from those ultra sharp needles.
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@Magpie it turned out great! You put so much work into it. It’s just fab. And I’m so glad you’re still using the good stuff 
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Yas! The Good Stuff!
And also love, cursing, and wine, ha.
I only took one progress pic so not going to make a post about it but I will say the pattern is just OK as it, I recommend making a muslin and tweaking before cutting into nicer fabric. And do use linen for the final project, nothing hangs or wears quite like it.
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Oh, yay, glad to see this made it through construction and all the way to @calluna! That’s such a lovely shade of blue, too. 
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I received a packet of stamps and other papercrafty goodness from @Magpie today! It’s not technically a personal swap – I took her up on her offer to destash some of her stamps – but if she thinks she’s not getting some ATCs or something out of this, she’s got another thing coming 
.
I didn’t get a picture yet because for some reason I decided to stash them in the darkest room of the house on the cloudiest day we’ve had this week, but I’ll try to grab one on a brighter day. Thanks, @magpie!
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Oh, you are so welcome! I’d love an ATC, or even better make that ATC a little bigger & turn it into a card! I keep all the ones with personal notes inside so I can read them over again 
The card with the heart & the personal notes were meant to be Happy Mail since you’re in that swap too 
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Not sure you remember, but you made me the most gorgeous red jacket in a swap years ago…I got the best compliments wearing it and people were so shocked that a “stranger” would make me something so beautiful and functional…do you remember? I still have it…it is a bit, er, tight now that I put on a few COVID pounds, but I hope to wear it this fall again! lol
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I do remember! That’s so awesome that you still have it 
I have a skirt I made from the same material, but it’s sitting in the wardrobe waiting for me to make some post-COVID-baking modifications to myself … lol. If we ever get to travel again, one day we could visit and be colour co-ordinated!
I still have and use several things you made me from that swap, including a wonderful project bag with patchwork from gorgeous Kaffe Fassett fabrics 
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