The quarterly break

Back when I took the blogging break in April, I realized I needed some blog-free time on a sorta regular basis...just to keep things caught up. So, I grabbed the calendar and marked off one week every three months to call the 'At Home week'...my week to work at home, stay off the 'net and hopefully catch up what's behind. I picked the third week of the month for that...and my first regularly scheduled blogging break will be next week. So I'm planning to be Off the 'Net Mon- Saturday of next week; Lord knows I need some focus on stuff time...things got way behind when I was sewing the pirate stuff and only worse when we went home. So I've got to work on my home stuff.

Hopefully, if I do this once a quarter, I won't have to shut down for a whole month again.

But it's good; things have gotten to the point that I really don't even want to sew due to the pressure of all the 'undone' of everything else. Can't have that!!!

So, worry not that I'm not around next week. I'll be busy. ;)

Happy Birthday!

After yesterday's foot-in-mouth post (mouse-in-mouth?) I thought I'd post something SAFE today...

DD # 2 is 12 today...somehow, that makes me feel older than my birthday did.

And, yikes, I just realized that means my baby will become a teenager less than a week after my 50th birthday! That's a one-two punch...

Anyway, Happy Birthday kiddo!

Mysteries of Church Work

So, I'm cleaning away in the costume storage area this week, cataloging and matching and seeing what needs mending and making notes of what is missing...

And what has just 'shown up'. Like this:

That green thing is a poncho, with a stole cope, as Nanflan explained in the comments. (Baptists and Pentecostals don't do liturgy/clerical wear...I honestly thought it was a fancy poncho. My apologies to the people who observe the liturgical calendar with appropriate dress and banners and such!)

I've no idea where it came from; it was just hanging amongst the 'to be washed/mended' costumes.

Actually, this is one of the least shudder-inducing things to turn up in the costume area in a while. On the empty racks, I found a couple of pieces that defy explanation...an amethyst purple floral jacquard double knit women's Bible costume that has small disintegrated places in it, and a striped poly interlock vest, with a tie, on which the shoulder seams have been zig-zagged down, open (at the outer edges of the 5/8" seams), with contrasting thread. I thought maybe it was supposed to go with the jacquard garment, but it's about 3" longer, so that's not it. And there has been even uglier stuff than that... (would you believe I found a mermaid tail? For about a size 5 little girl?) and that doesn't consider all the out-of date clothes than just get dropped off in the costume area. Did they mean for it to be costumes, or was it supposed to go to the homeless ministry (which is in another building)?

What am I supposed to do with this stuff? I don't know if it really belongs to the church, or to one of the other ministries in the church, or if someone was just cleaning out their attic at home and thought we'd *love* to have it.

I guess I've just got some questions to ask.

(and I really only meant to edit my errors out, but I thought of more and better examples of what I really meant. The attic is constantly a mess; either stuff that is needed is disappearing, or stuff we can't possibly use and don't have room to store is being left for us...)

I said 'No'

Twice, in the same day.

This week is 'Camp Crazy' week at church...sort of our updated version of VBS. The kids are there from 9 - 3, and they do an activity (like roller skating or swimming), have lunch, have Bible lessons and team competitions...anyway, the kids love it.

It runs from Mon - Thurs, and it has become my annual 'Go to church and clean out the costume storage area' time. Only yesterday I had some other tasks to do there regarding records for my Wednesday night jr high girls, so I'll hit the cleanup today.

But, while I was in the classroom, one of the Children's pastors came by with a request. Kids' Camp is next week, and he had some costuming/set design things he needed sewn. He thought it would only take a couple of hours (after hearing him out, I'd guess it would be more like 4-6 hours, but I may have a fancier notion of what he wanted than is actually the case). It just so happened that when he stuck his head in the door to ask, I was looking at a wedding dress a friend had brought by to see if I could alter it for her. 'It just needs the straps taken up,' she said, 'And there's this thing in it with a bunch of zippers that we could probably cut out.'

But I'll be working at church until 3 every day; there's something happening every night this week...I wouldn't even be able to look at the stuff he was asking about until Friday. And Kids Camp starts Monday morning...or maybe even Sunday afternoon... Anyway, they'd need it IMMEDIATELY for stage set up.

So I said no. I felt bad to not help...just a little...but I just didn't think I could squeeze it in. Not and have clean clothes and such next week, anyway....

Then it was back to the wedding dress. Turns out it was a store sample, with a strange inner zipper thing that apparently allowed ladies in sizes 4 - 22 to try on the dress and get the back somewhat cinched so they could see what it would look like in their size. And it didn't have straps...just very narrow shoulders on a sleeveless v-neck style. With appliqued lace and bead sewn over the shoulders. My friend needed a petite adjustment to the armsceye, and the only place to do it was the shoulder seams.

I just didn't feel like I could risk doing that well. The appliques and beading would have to be removed, the shoulder seam unpicked and adjusted, and the trim re-applied.

I did think the inner zipper thing could be salvaged as a sort of inner corsolette, if the extra zippers were unpicked and the excess over/underlap removed.

But I referred her to an alterations shop to get it done. Again, I hated to say no, but I didn't have enough confidence in my ability to sew such a high visibility alteration perfectly.

Not to mention I wasn't sure the crinolined skirt would even fit inside my sewing room...

So, I'm still on my original plan for the week...clean/organize/make notes on needed repairs on the costumes and see how much brown/purple I can get sewn while the laundry is running when I'm home... ;)

The Textile Acquisiton

I spent a bit longer at the outlet than I intended; it was about 4ish when we rolled into Textile Fabrics instead of 3 as I'd planned. And I saw some beyootiful stuff (Italian milled super 120 wool/lycra...would've been $50/yard...but did it feel wonderful!!!!), but I managed to exercise great restraint and only got a couple of pieces of fabric besides the lining I really stopped for. Two of the three things I bought really aren't worth trying to photograph... the purple Ambiance lining and some chocolate brown rayon/lycra jersey just won't show up in a photo. But this white cotton shirting is sharp enough that it at least photographs. ;)

And the kids were not a problem...I let them take in a Gameboy and a book...they sat in a corner and kept themselves occupied. DS commented as we left, 'Having something to do really makes a stop at the fabric store painless!'

Hm. Noted for future reference.


But back to the fabric...that white jacquard will be a long sleeved blouse. I'm in SORE need of white shirts; now I've got fabric for three short sleeved white shirts and one long sleeved white shirt. I'm aiming for a White Shirt Week real soon... ;)

Choir Sundays 08 #20

This Month's colors: Blue jeans w/either chocolate brown, goldish-yellow or dark purple.

I didn't get to take a photo of the choir today; next week! And, really, all that's a deal on this anyway is the jacket...those are regular ol' straight-legged Lee jeans. But the jacket is Loes Hinse's Retro Jacket made in a boucley-type poly/rayon crepe. This stuff doesn't take a crease well, and the seams seem a little bubbly to me. I've still got a chunk left; I think I'll turn it into something that isn't the least bit tailored...something like the Sewing Workshop Plaza Jacket, maybe? It's drapey enough for that...

Road Trip

I finished the jacket to the buttons/buttonholes last night and I'm very pleased with it...it's coming out way cuter than I expected.

But, I don't know if I'll get to it today or not; I've got to run up to Madisonville, Kentucky and back to collect my two youngest offspring, who spent an extra week w/their grandparents (that's about the halfway point to Danville, IN). Fortunately, this means I'm driving right by Textile Fabrics, who are in the midst of their annual 50% off all fabric sale.

If all goes well, I (and two no doubt disgusted kiddos) will be hitting Textile about 3 pm.

I've *got* to pick up some Ambiance...depending upon how the day is going that may be all I manage. We'll see.

I'm wearing a rosy pink linen Athena blouse and khakis, just in case anyone in the Nashville area stops by at the same time...say hi... ;)