Another costume out the door...

 So, here were are at the end of March, and I have not made a single thing for my closet yet this year.  Oh, I've putzed around on the Velvet Hippie Earth Mother Skirt, but it is really kind of a tedious thing to do and my heart is not in making a velvet skirt whilst the azaleas are blooming and the birds are singing and spring is calling.  I want to sew nice linen things.

But, first, the Easter Production.  This costume isn't going in the costume wardrobe, it's for a friend who is on staff at church and is, by default, going to be in all the productions.  He's borrowed one of my personal extra costumes and he's borrowed my son's costume in the past, so I thought I'd just make him his own.

The fabric came from a sale at Fabric Mart...the under robe is made of a wool/ poly/ lycra blend and it's really nice.  I did not make NEARLY as many bone-headed mistakes this go round; I guess I just needed to clean the cobwebs out of the bible costume skills, lol.

I got it to him today; I hadn't told him I was doing it but he'd figured it out, lol.  ETA  a couple of days later:  He thought I was just making a costume for him to wear, LOL.  He didn't realize until we were talking about it at dress rehearsal that this costume is for him to OWN.  

I have a couple of small pieces to make for the new Pharisee costumes that another lady is making.  We had white and blue costumes from years ago, with tasseled shawls, but thanks to The Chosen (you are watching it, right?) we need to put our Pharisees in black costumes, lol.  At first, I was just going to sew black ribbon over the blue ribbon on our existing shawls but, after I thought about it I decided we migh want the blue ones so I found some cotton/ linen fabric on sale at Jo Ann's (the only game in town, now, although who knows how much longer that'll hold) to make new ones.  It's surprisingly nice; I think it will work well.  But I can't find any tassels.  So I got several skeins of embroidery floss and I'm just going to make 'em.  

Dress rehearsal is Thursday; I'm behind, lol.  I will probably go in to work late; I have several hours in over my allotment already this pay period so I can  afford to use a couple of hours to sew in the morning.

Maybe I can squeeze in a bit of me-sewing next week...lol...but it will be a squeeze.  The calendar really doesn't let up until  mid April...and that's only for a couple of weeks.  I don't get an extended period of 'nothing on the calendar' until June...but I'm going to get a new hip that first week, so it's a good thing I have some time with no out-of-the-ordinary demands...  hopefully I can get recuperated enough that when things start ramping up again in the fall I'll be back to normal.  And able to put on socks and tie my shoes, lol.  It's day surgery, believe it or not.  Out patient.  Medical technology is truly amazing.

Start With a Scarf 2022: The May Set

All I had to do to finish this set was make a decision, lol.  I had completely forgotten that it had a mint green sweater in it.  Which means I got it all ready to photograph and...oops, no green sweater.  I had it on my spread sheet... I just missed it.

So I dithered a bit.  And I'm not entirely sure I'm thrilled with what I came up with, as it bends the parameters a bit, but...I'm really behind, and I don't have time to sew up something because...Christmas costuming ...so  I'm punting, lol.

Anyway, have a look at what Janice posted for the May wardrobe selections over at The Vivienne Files, and then you can decide if I'm cheating a bit here or not.

t.

I am straying a bit from the shades of pink and green I've used so far.  That clear, cool pink is REALLY hard to find, as is that particular shade of mint green. So I'm allowing some variations, lol.  The greens in the dress were one thing, but when I picked the emerald green sweater from the closet I just went deep.  It's actually the same style as the white sweater shell in the April set...bought on a big Chico's sale; I just got the sweater in two colors. So it is my last second pinch runner, lol.  But...I think it works.  I put the scarf on it and it goes, so I'm calling it good.

You will recognize the dress as the one with the rather bungled pocket job but it IS fun to wear...and I have gotten compliments on it when I dared to wear it out of the house, so I'm guessing no one is looking at the wonky pockets, lol.  Life is short.  I'm wearing it.

The pants are the linen no-side-seam pants from the SWAP Wardrobe.  I've worn them several times over the summer and they are very comfy.  I really like linen pants; it's the rustic linen from Fabric-store.com and it made up beautifully.   The earrings are from Fierce Lynx; the bracelet is from Novica...both were purchased earlier in the year because I knew I would need some mint green pretties.  I got the Aravon sandals last fall on sale when I first started adding pink and green to the wardrobe. Again...kinda different, but they work really well with the dress.

So, here's all the clothes so far:

And all the accessories:

Sigh.  I was clearly never meant to be a graphic designer, lol.  I'll fix the oversized shoes for the next set.

And, just incidentally, 17 years ago today was the very first Sew Random post.  For talking about Christmas production costuming...time flies.  Much love to all you folks who have hung with my dithering over the years!
 

Something that has been brewing....

 Well, I need a picture for Facebook so...

 Here's one that has absolutely nothing to do with my topic, just so I don't have some random thing pop up  (Moonrise over the mountain last week)

Making the 'Random' in the title carry its weight today....

Today is International Women's Day....and March happens to be Endometriosis Awareness Month. So I'm departing from my normal sewing update and actually getting a bit bold because I honestly believe that the number one women's reproductive health issue is...endometriosis.

Now, I will say up front that this is not an issue I have experienced first hand, but someone close to me has been dealing with some of the symptoms so, to learn what I could to encourage her,  I joined a Facebook education group, Nancy's Nook,  and have been following the stories and learning a lot.

The information is incredible and the suffering of so many women is heart rending.

I know that over the years I had heard that endometriosis happens when menstrual tissue 'backflows' through the fallopian tubes and becomes trapped in the abdomen.   However, that has been shown to be false...endometrial tissue has been found to be present at birth in some females, lying dormant until puberty, when it begins to cause pain.  And, while this tissue is similar to that found in the uterus, it  has been proven to not be the same. 

“Endometriosis is a systemic, inflammatory disease characterized by the presence of endometrial-like tissue found in extrauterine sites.” (Kennedy S. et al., 2005; Klemm et al., 2018; Saunders et al., 2021)...“Endometriosis is a common, benign, inflammatory, generally gynecologic disease that includes the presence and growth of dysfunctional endometrial-like glands and stroma often with reactive fibrosis and muscular metaplasia outside the uterus." (Lagana et al. 2019) From Endo Girls Blog 

Did you know that it is estimated that approximately 10% of all women of childbearing age suffer from endometriosis?

Did you know that the AVERAGE time from when a woman first seeks medical help for her condition to a confirmed diagnosis is 7 - 10 YEARS??  And even once a diagnosis is confirmed, it can be even longer...as in years longer... before they finally can get treatment?

Did you know that endometriosis is a progressive disease that worsens over time?

Did you know that women are routinely told they are imagining the pain, or are just having bad cramps, or have a low pain tolerance, or have anxiety that is causing their debilitating pain?  I read story after story of women who were dismissed with a prescription for birth control pills, or told they needed an IUD or told to 'get pregnant' to reduce their symptoms (spoiler...birth control or other hormone treatments can suppress the symptoms but  do not stop the progression of the disease).

Did you know that there are three surgical options...ablation, excision, and hysterectomy...that are available (not to all women, I might add.  Many doctors only offer hysterectomy and possibly ablation) BUT only one -- excision -- actually removes the disease?  

Did you know that endometrial excision is a highly specialized skill and there are a very limited number of physicians who are actually competent to perform the surgery?  Often women wait MONTHS for consultations/ appointments/ surgeries, traveling hundreds of miles to the nearest trained physician.  Insurance coverage is a whole 'nuther deal...going outside of the coverage area for treatment often means denial of insurance benefits, putting an enormous financial strain on women and their families to obtain the only truly effective treatment.

Did you know that there is a whole class of drugs that chemically induce menopause that are used as treatment for endometriosis, despite being ineffective against the disease and often causing permanent damage?  I am not typing the names of the drugs here because I don't want to trigger search engines but you can click through to the articles and find them.

Did you know that hysterectomy is often advised for endometriosis, even though the uterus is only involved if there is adenomyosis (endometrial tissue in the muscle tissue of the uterus)?  Removing healthy reproductive organs will not treat endometriosis, which manufactures its own estrogen.

Did you know that endometriosis lesions can literally occur just about anywhere in the body?  It is rare outside the abdominal cavity, but it does happen.

There's more...lots more...information out there, with the result that most of the women who suffer and do the research know more about endo than their gynecologists do, but are marginally treated, offered only ineffective...but costly, both in dollars and physical toll...treatments.  Some are seen as pain-pill seekers and as such are not even given strong pain meds to counter the agony.  It's not uncommon for them to be sent home with the pronouncement 'call me when you're ready to do something' when they refuse the treatment they know to be worthless or even dangerous.

I  am telling you, the stories are heartbreaking.  If you have symptoms of endometriosis, please, please educate yourself on what your options are; don't settle for something that doesn't really help and may actually hurt you. If you love someone who has symptoms of endometriosis, BELIEVE HER.  Nancy's Nook facebook group is a great place to go for information, and they have a list of vetted doctors who specialize in excision.  Not in every state, alas, but at least there is a list.

And all of us need to advocate for research in search of real treatments, honesty from the drug industry, awareness in our physicians, and support from the insurance industry to alleviate the suffering of one in ten women globally.  It is completely unacceptable that here, in the 21st century, women are still being told they are mentally ill  because they try to get help for debilitating pain.

A Wild Start to 2022

 Just a little catch up...

We started the new year off with a bang.  January 1st tied the record high for the date at 79 degrees F, but before the day was over we were hunkered under the concrete porch with a radar-triggered tornado warning.

Not the ideal start to the new year, but, considering all things, the storm damage in the area was pretty minor; the rotation stayed in the clouds when it was in our area.  We just got a lot of rain.

But the next night, a low pressure system developed behind the cold front and we got snow.

Now, I grew up in Indiana, where snow is pretty and then it's a jolly nuisance.  But in Alabama...snow is magical.  It's been ten years since we had snow on the ground two nights in a row.  So I took all kinds of pictures.

It's gone now, by the way.  Doesn't hang around long enough to wear out its welcome, lol.

I stayed up till a ridiculous hour to get the night photos; I didn't think it would last long enough to get good pics in the daylight...

Being the 9th day of Christmas, we still had the lights in the bushes.  So cool.

The night setting on my phone is amazing; it almost looks like daylight.

This would have been better if I had walked all the way around the house, but I didn't have on appropriate footwear to walk in the snow...the driveway was still just wet.

But it stayed cold and I took a 3+ mile walk down to the greenway and back the next morning.  The pics look black and white...but I promise you, they are color.  It was just that stark in real life.

I am not going to do a review of my sewing in 2021; it was pretty pitiful in many ways.  I only had 22 posts all year.  But I have something brewing that might turn out to be a series...and I need to finish posting the goodies in the Hoover Trunk.  My upstairs sewing room is progressing; the next thing is to get the old Simplicity pattern cabinet moved up there.  

But here's to a more inspired year in 2022 for all of us!  Happy New Year!

I missed a noteable date....

On November 4, 2005, I posted my first-ever blog post.  I meant to write something commemorative and appreciative and all the stuff you do on the 4th but I was at church absolutely all day and came home dead beat about 9 PM.

I didn't even think about what day it was at all.

Just hit me today that I missed the sweet 16 birthday of the blog.

Wow.  Sixteen years.  I went back and read some of the old posts from back then...and was shocked to see actual comments.  They are rare these days....I think, partly, because everyone's too busy to click through from whatever reading service they use (guilty).  And, probably partly because my participation in online sewing communities has dwindled considerably...same thing, too much busy, not enough sewing.  And folks are moving to video platforms.

I was quite surprised to learn a few months ago that I have a you-tube channel.  I guess I made an account sometime who knows how long ago so I could comment on videos and didn't realize that came with my own channel.

Whatever shall I do with it, lol....

Anyway, even though I'm two days late...for those of you who've been hanging with me for sixteen years...or those of you who have been hanging around for any number of years...thanks for stopping by.  Church drama productions, school drama productions, SWAP wardrobes, the Vivienne Files challenge, the eternal attempt to actually sew up more fabric in a given year than I buy, the dreams of making fantastic garments that I'm too chicken to actually cut the fabric out for...sewing for my kids weddings...you all have been here. 

Here's to more sewing and talking about sewing and maybe throwing in something random every now and then...

...and a milestone that I *didn't* miss...a non-sewing post...

 On August 16, 1980, My Sweet Babboo and I pledged our lives and love to each other in front of a church full of friends and family.

It was a cold, rainy day in central Indiana, but it was the beginning of an adventure.

Back in January, we were looking at Adventures...did we want to do a train ride across Canada?  An Alaskan cruise?  What would be a big enough commemoration?

Then...pandemic.

About two weeks ago we looked at each other and said, 'We have to do SOMETHING.'

So we decided to go to our favorite getaway spot about an hour and a half away.  We were first there for our 30th anniversary, so it was a 10 year celebration for that, too.  It's a perfect place to just enjoy the quiet.  And it's remote enough that we weren't worried about...catching anything.  We probably saw about ten people all weekend.

 It's right on the edge of a bluff on Sand Mountain, overlooking the Tennessee River.   

 

 The weather was perfect; relatively low humidity, but still warm enough that we could enjoy the swimming pool, nearly exclusively, but there were enough clouds for a  pretty sunset.

We waited until about 9:30 Monday night and then went out to look at the night sky, well coated with bug repellent.  If I had had a tripod, the sky pictures would have been much better.  There were no moon and no clouds; the stars were breathtaking.  There aren't a lot of  places dark enough to see the Milky Way any more...but it was on full display for us.  But the best I could do w/ my camera was the Big Dipper...or Ursa Major, depending on your school of thought.  I was amazed that I got anything at all.  I don't know if it will show up on everyone's device, but I can see it...

 

 

 The Lodge where we stayed has a reputation for fine dining.  We had a 3 course dinner on Sunday, in honor of our anniversary.  It was fabulous...but my hubby's camera seems to have eaten our photos; he couldn't pull them off.  Fortunately, we took a selfie with mine after we ate.  Don't we look well fed? LOL.

 

It was just two days away, but it was enough to kinda relax a little bit.  We have plans for another getaway...a conference that was supposed to have happened the weekend after Easter and was rescheduled for Mid-September...but who knows if we will actually get to go.  Hoping...

Oh, I guess there is a little sewing news to report.  On the way back, I jokingly said something about dropping our luggage off, picking up my serger and driving it an hour and a half in the other direction for repair.  My Sweet Babboo was in the mood for a drive, so we did.  Now I'm waiting on the service department to give me a call with an estimate for repair.  I will be glad to get it back.  The new backup is...ok...but I miss my old friend.

He is Risen!

Normally, I would post my Easter thoughts/ greetings over on The Other Blog, as that's the one that I use for discussions of faith.  I posted thoughts on Ps. 113-118 this week over there, in honor of the conjunction of Easter and Passover this year, so it would be fitting to just go right into the celebration of the Resurrection.

But the community of sewing bloggers lost Faye this past week....and she would always post a pretty Easter greeting.

So, in honor of Faye, who is celebrating Resurrection in a way we can't being to imagine, thought I'd post a flashback...a song that takes me back to my youth, singing in a multi-church traveling youth choir.  This was one that we did, and it ALWAYS gave me chills when we sang the choir arrangement of it.

So...if you celebrate the Resurrection, enjoy the glimpse of it from the Apostle Peter's point of view.

And whether you celebrate the Resurrection or not, I pray you have a sweet and blessed day just the same.

(He's Alive -- Don Francisco)

A little charity sewing...

One of the featured elements of any gathering related to Alabama Royal Rangers (Boys ministry program similar to Boy Scouts, only more faith-based) is an auction to raise money for missions.  Items range from gear for the 18-century frontiersmen auxiliary group to Ranger collectibles (patches, etc) to home decor and jewelry (because we need something for the ladies, too) if it's a wives-included event.

The annual sectional Thanksgiving dinner is one such event, so I made a TSW Tamari Apron for my contribution:

It's terrible to photograph...you can't hang it up, because it's worn on the diagonal....head and right arm through the loop on the right side, and it ties to the other end in the back.

The fabric was leftover from my first attempt at a circle table cloth, so it's upholstery cotton canvas.  Which means it's Scotchgarded and stain resistant...perfect for an apron, yes?  I made the ties out of bias tape instead of the canvas, which I felt was too heavy to tie easily.

It got $25 at the auction (I did pull a friend up to model it, lol).  A fair price.

I'm off from work this week, but not much sewing is likely to get done. Too much pre-holiday housecleaning to do.

The Actor is coming home for Thanksgiving (maybe I should change his moniker since he's not that involved in theater...still, children's ministry IS largely performance art, so maybe it still works...) and the married kids will be with us this year.  We're totally traditional...the Macy's day parade, turkey dinner with all the trimmings.  No football here...we watch the old black and white Miracle on 34th street to usher in the holiday season.  I may even start pulling out Christmas decor this weekend, even though it's still November.  Next weekend is booked up, as is the weekend after, so, well, this may be the only chance before the middle of the month.

So...off to see how much cleaning I can get done in the next two days. 

Wishing all my US friends a blessed feast of Thanksgiving, however you celebrate!

30 Years...

The Artist turned 30 today.

Just doesn't seem possible.

But, you know...he's a pretty cool dude.  I'm kinda proud of him.

Late night thoughts...

Doing the mom thing and waiting up on a kid to get home...might as well dust off the 'new post' page, eh?

I actually finished a top over the weekend;  I wasn't in choir this week since I was home playing post-op nurse for My Sweet Babboo.   He had a cyst removed...the CT scan showed it on his bronchial tube, but the surgeon said it appeared to be more connected to the pericardium (sac around the heart).  It also was lymphatic in nature, but the pathology all came back benign.

He looks like he had a tussle with a shark.  Pain meds are keeping him tolerably comfortable, but come with their own set of ...issues...so we'll be glad when the soreness abates and he can back off of them.  But he's on the mend, and I really  have not noticed the persistent cough that started this whole line of investigation.  So hopefully that was the culprit and he can remember what  it's like to feel good.  Sometime around Christmas.

Anyway.  Sewing.

I had an olive green jersey knit in the stash waiting for that to roll around in choir; almost missed it this go round but I will be able to wear it this Sunday, if all goes well and I can leave MSB at home for a few hours unattended.  I used Vogue 9057, the asymmetric long sleeved view that I have loved so much in the dark brown version I made a couple of years ago.

I had a time.   The presser foot on my sewing machine doesn't allow variable pressure adjustment (which probably would have been a deal breaker had I thought to ask about it when I was test sewing); it ate the first mitered corner I tried and I had to fudge it a bit in the end to cover the resulting holes.

On top of that, my serger wasn't trimming the seams cleanly; it was just kinda chewing them. By the time I sewed my last seam on the serger I was so frustrated I was ready to throw it in the car and haul it to the dealer for some maintenance. The chewing was dragging on the seam and making it waver; I couldn't stitch straight.  I got through it and pressed it and thought, well, I'll keep moving.

Then I happened to think...it HAD been a while since I gave the serger a good cleaning.

Found the oil, found my lint brush and went at it.  And found a sizeable chunk of lint in the spring that holds the moveable blade, which was probably pushing it just a hair away from the fixed blade.

Once I got it cleaned out, I ran a test seam on some scraps.  No problems.

Which just goes to show...everything needs a little TLC* from time to time. :-)

I'm going to be cooking tomorrow; turkey and apple salad and pie, in preparation for the feast of Thanksgiving.  My favorite holiday; probably more of what Christmas was like before it became such a consumer-fest.  Family and food and thanksgiving.

If you celebrate Thanksgiving, I wish you joys as you reflect on your blessings; if you live elsewhere and it's business as usual on Thursday, I still wish you a day of joy and maybe a little TLC somewhere along the way.


*if you're not up on the acronym, that 's Tender Loving Care  :-)

It's been Twelve Years...

Hard to believe that twelve years ago today I launched Sew Random, to blog my way through costuming a production of 'The Gospel According to Scrooge'.

I looked, and, so far as I can tell, the first photos posted to the blog (it took me a bit to figure that out) were these, on 11/10/05:

The 'Google Archives' don't go back that far; I had to search through the early posts  to find the first photos  (and I had to upload them again).   Angel 1 and a Townsperson...work in progress.  The white lace on the pink dress came from the wedding dress sleeves...removed to be replaced with the green trim.  And it just fit; I think I had three little lace motifs left.

Since that time...Bible costumes galore, baptism robes, school productions, mother of the bride, SWAP collections, both finished and not finished...not to mention items made in the 'choir wardrobe colors' and the occasional pillow cover or table cloth.

Normally, I'd do some kind of giveaway to celebrate the blogiversary, but this year I'm bailing on that, mostly because the next 6 weeks are going to be absolutely crazy and I'm not going to commit to any more than is necessary for survival at this point (writes and deletes long detailed boring explanation.  Maybe later.).

But I didn't want to let the day get by without a mention; as always, I really appreciate everyone who stops by and takes time to follow along with my ramblings...especially when there's not much sewing happening.   Or blogging, either...I wrote more posts in 2005 (and that was just November and December) than I've done so far in all of 2017.  Sigh.


Thanks so much to all of you!!  Big hugs all around. :-)

Lawd have mercy, it's been a month....

This may be the longest I've ever gone without a post.

Holidays, a social media fast and a conference...just plain busyness...and, consequently, no sewing.

I need to do my '2016 round up', but, in all honesty, I have  a few days at least before I have to update 2017 stats so I'm not going to stress about it now.

We didn't have choir on the 1st (being a holiday) or the 15th (being the final Sunday of our leadership conference weekend and the platform was not reset), so I only have one 'Choir Wardrobe' photo for the year so far...which we took on the appropriate day but, being on the social media fast I didn't post it.  Just for i dotting and t crossing, here it is...about a week and a half after the fact...

January choir colors are my favorite royal blue, black and gray; wearing one of my favorite tops; Sewing Workshop's Chopin Blouse done up in striped silk duppioni from Textile Fabrics in Nashville and made, oh, eight years ago.  I finally lost a little bit of weight so I can wear it again; I *think* I'm wearing the Helix pants with it, but, well, it's been a week and a half and I'm not sure now.  But it looks like the Helix.

I did make one final fabric purchase at the end of the year; I caught Ann's moving sale and got a piece of yummy sweater knit for a duster coat.  And promptly went into the paralysis of analysis, trying to determine exactly what pattern would be PERFECT for said yummy fabric. 

It may just be a matter of picking the best of what I have...which is probably going to be a Kwik Sew sweater coat I've made a couple of times, modified slightly.  Stay tuned.

I'm still debating the SWAP this year.  I'm not sure my wardrobe needs fit quite into the specifics for this year, although I do need clothes.  It's that eight-pattern limit that 's killing me; I want about 3 jackets but they'd all be different patterns.  Plus at least two different pant styles and maybe a skirt.  That would only leave two patterns for tops.  More ruminating is due there, I think.

I have a couple of UFO blouses, cut out several months...maybe even over a year...ago that havejust been sitting in the bin.  Plus my sewing nook is so overdue for a cleanout it's not even funny...kinda scary...and it's putting a crimp in the sewing enthusiasm.

Anyway...Happy New Year! LOL.  I hope to get back in the groove before long. 

Choir Wardrobe 12.11.16

Choir wardrobe colors for December are black and kind of a foresty-green. 

It was a kinda last minute change; when word came I went to my closet and found exactly two items that would do;  the black-and-green scarf that I wore last week and this Neue Mode jacket made from upholstery fabric something like 9 years ago.  The scarf was dead on the right color; the jacket leans a little to gold but has some variance in it that makes it blend, so it works.

It's teamed up with a rayon/lycra turtleneck that I can't even remember the pattern from which it was made; I'm not sure it wasn't a frankenpattern of some sort.  It's old and,  I keep forgetting, has enough lycra in it that it's shiny when stretched and photographed w/ a flash.  I confess to doing a little judicious photo editing to eliminate some of the shine. ;-).

The pants are my often-worn RPL modified Loes Hinse Oxfords.

On another note, we have a fresh tree this year. Or semi-fresh; we got it from a pre-cut lot as the only ones we can find in the local tree farms are scotch pines, which really don't have much scent.  The fragrance is the only reason to put up with the mess of an actual wooden tree; so we got a fir of some sort.  My Sweet Babboo and the Flute Player picked it out; I was dealing with the recurring vertigo and sent them off to do it.  They got a nice one, but they did not find out exactly what type of  tree it is.  It smells lovely, though; I can smell it from the top of the stairs.

I pulled out the antique GE Lighted Ice bulbs and the bubble lights.  And the ornament spinners.  So it is a somewhat retro kinetic tree.

It's beginning to feel like Christmas...

Choir Wardrobe 11 27 16

Oy.  The Helix pants look even baggier in today's photo than they did in last week's...honest, it's not that bad in the mirror.  Maybe they needed a hitch up or something...

But, since today was the last day for mustard/garnet/black, I figured I'd go ahead and wear the mustard pants.  After all, I may not wear them again until mustard shows up on the the wardrobe list...lol.


But I opted to just go with black...every time I see the yellow and red together it makes me think of a circus.  So I pulled out a black rayon/lycra jersey Jalie 2566 t shirt and the black doubleknit McCall's 6844 cardi (still no review...) from this year's SWAP.

And a Talbot's scarf with a heart print that served for the 'garnet red'.  Sort of.

On a different thought...
Fall was late this year...it was hot and dry and most of the trees seemed to turn brown early.  But the trees in the yards around us...probably as a virtue of being watered a bit...did finally turn fallish and were probably peak color last week.  I was struck by how the color of the leaves looked so vibrant against the brilliant blue sky and just had to snap some photos after a walk yesterday morning...and I thought I'd just share a couple of the images with folks who might appreciate it.

SO hard to believe Thanksgiving is behind us and we're heading into the Advent season!  I hope all of my US friends had a wonderful commemoration of the feast of Thanksgiving!  I've got at least a couple more turkey meals on the menu next week...:-)

Choir Wardrobe 07-17-16

As it usually happens...the photo that shows the garments the best is the one in which I was talking to the photographer...

So, despite the deer-in-the-headlights expression on my face,  this is a 'By George, I think she's got it!' rendition of Vogue 9057, view A, modified slightly into what is now going to be my go-to relaxed fit T.

The fabric is a roll end from EmmaOneSock; I'd meant to make one of the funkier views of that pattern from it but forgot I only had 1 3/8 yards...so view A it was.  I cut the sleeves down (well, traced a cut-down version) a bit more into a cap shape and skinnied the neck band by 1/4".

Bingo.

July colors are black, gray and hot pink...the black/gray print top is teamed up with black Lee jeans and my ubiquitous  waistcoat from the 05/09 issue of Burda World of Fashion (now Burda Style).  The hot pink is once more relegated to accessories.

Just because I wanted to wear the new top.

There's a wild pink fabric on the cutting table...if I can get it cut out and sewn up this week, it'll be on next week's choir post.  But plans are still fluid for this week and I don't know that it will happen...we'll see.

IN other news....today happens to be the day that this sweet thing actually turns 20.

We are officially done parenting teenagers.

I'm not sure how I feel about that...

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday began at church, with three excellent services.  July choir colors are black, gray and hot pink, so I wore my new favorite top, Louise Cutting's My Heart's a-Flutter top made up in hot pink Brussels Washer Linen.,  the Gray knit Pamela's Patterns Drape Front Cardigan  from this year's SWAP collection and gray Lee jeans.


Now, if you're interested... the Birthday Breather...




After 3rd service, we ate a nice lunch, loaded the car and headed out of town for a quick 24 hour celebration.

We drove over the new bridge at Scottsboro for the first time;  it was completed and the old bridge knocked down within the last couple of months.

 Our destination was our favorite getaway,  the Lodge at Gorham's Bluff.  It was a lovely evening to sit on the balcony and listen to the tree frogs.  The thunderstorms didn't come through until later...

 


 The Lodge has great breakfast; kind of a limited menu, but those carrot mini-muffins...oh, my....

We decided to do a little adventuring and wandered through parts of Alabama we had not visited before, cutting over and among the hills from Scottsboro  to Fayetteville, Tennessee, the home of Sirs Fabrics.

No photos from Sirs; I got some buttons at a 50% discount and a couple of discontinued patterns and another piece of the brown tropical wool that I used last year for my steam-punkish  family-crusade costume.  I have a bit more costuming I want to do...kind of on a hunch, actually...and I think with an extra three or so yards added to the remnant I had left from the steampunk suit I'll have enough of it.  It was only $3.99/yd.

But my Sweet Babboo bought several pieces of cotton calico to make frontiersman shirts. How cool is it to be married to a guy who actually likes going to fabric stores...thanks to the frontiersman involvement...  :-D

Headed back to Huntsville, we passed the building that is being renovated for the Fayetteville campus of our church.  It's *scheduled* to open in about 6 weeks; those folks have been setting up in a local school for services and children's ministry and then clearing it out  every week for several years...I know they're going to be glad to get a permanent facility!

We finished the adventure with dinner in a local steakhouse, using a gift card we'd been hanging onto for 3 or 4 years.   We'll have the official 'let's get together and celebrate mom's birthday' dinner later this week, when everyone's in town.

(Yep, I wore the crazy bright Kim's club dress to dinner.  What's a splashy fun dress for if not to wear on a date?)


Back to work tomorrow....

Post number 1800 and the Postponed 10 year Blogiversary Celebration

Eighteen hundred blog posts.  Hard to believe.

That's, like, a book or something...

But it's been a fuzz over ten years.

I wanted to do a big 'reader appreciation' giveaway back in November, when the actual ten year blogiversary happened, but we were up to our endurance limit with a home remodel that had half the house barricaded and under construction, and the other half crammed jammed to the nearly non-navigable point with the contents of the rooms being rebuilt. I couldn't even begin to think about pulling stuff out of the stashes at that state...and  the celebration got postponed.  Somehow I thought it would be good to put it at the 1800 post mark.

I will admit, it took me longer to reach the 1800 posts than I thought it would, but that gave me time to pull some goodies to send  along.

I'm not going to detail them...but I'll say that each box has fabric w/ one of five different fibers (silk, linen, rayon, cotton and wool -- all wovens) a suitable pattern for the fabric and a book from the bookshelf.

Because I have more fabric and more patterns than I can expect to ever sew my way through,  and more books than I have time to appreciate, and something like 200 followers that I know of who have read the blog, commented on the blog, encouraged me, corrected me, and bailed me out over the past ten years.  Some of you I've met in real life; some are facebook friends, and some have enabled my fabric and stash accumulation.

So it's time for a little payback love for folks who have hung with me in the past few years.

Here's the deal: you have to be a follower of the blog.  Somewhere, somehow.

But I'm going to take your word for it...because I probably can't go check everywhere and make sure.

So...to enter the giveaway:

1) Leave a comment ON THIS POST.  In the past, I've pulled comments from all posts in the allotted time frame, but for this one, I'm just pulling off of this post.  Easier to keep track of. ;-)

2) In the comment,  leave your name,  how you follow the blog, how long you've been following the blog,  and whether you look best in blue, pink or olive green. :-)

3) If you feel motivated to comment on today's post but your fabric and pattern stashes are at the explosion point and you don't want to be included in the giveaway, just say so.  You don't have to enter to comment...but you have to comment to enter. :-)

4)  I'll do a random drawing in a week to pick the folks who will get the goodies.

And thanks to EVERYONE for your support of Sew Random through the years!

Choir Wardrobe: Easter Weekend

 Three days of services ...because there's just not room in our converted-retail-space facility to get everyone in at once.  So we have services on Friday and Saturday for the 'regular' folks, some of whom bring family from other churches, so as to leave room in the three services on Sunday for the folks who don't come so regularly.

And, as usual on days when it just seems silly to talk about what I wore, I'll refer newcomers to the 'What's the choir wardrobe?' post linked on the sidebar to explain why I wander into such shallow waters.

March choir colors are gray, black and mint green...and the greens look much closer in color in real life than they do in these photos!  One looks almost blue, one looks almost white...but, truly, they're all minty green...a little lighter or darker but still close enough.

Friday night kicked off with comfy stuff...the new modified, as-yet-unreviewed  Vogue 9057 green T that was almost a disaster...I'm thinking I might shorten it a bit; it's just a bit on the sloppy side of long, I think.  I think the print version that I made earlier this year is a wee bit long, too, so I think I'm just going to fold a tuck in the pattern to adjust future iterations.  I need to make the sleeve a pinch longer if I want to roll it up; not sure if I want to go that trendy.

I'm wearing it with a vest from the May, 2008 edition of Burda World of Fashion, made from a strange stretchy poly that was, according to the online vendor,  stretch charmeuse, but was a heavy matte-back gray satin that was horrible to sew.  I had one wadder from the fabric, but managed to get a vest that is somewhat useful.  The comfy comes from the dark gray double knit Sewing Workshop Helix Pants, which also have not been reviewed yet, and also which you could see better if the kitty wasn't being friendly.


Saturday, we started the process of adding another vehicle to the family by wandering around a car lot trying on various models to see which ones actually felt like I could see out of them (my number one criteria for a vehicle I drive.  Amazing how many different manufacturers are following the same style and making the rear window teeny...).

But, it took a lot longer than we'd planned and the afternoon went by way faster than I'd expected. So, even though it doesn't look like it, I felt really thrown together.  Went with black and mint;  cotton/lycra Daphne pants from Fred Bloebum,  poly herringbone Bistro Jacket from Loes Hinse,  ...and a RTW, mail-order experiment.  I'm sure you've all seen advertisements from an online vendor whose name starts with a 'Z' and ends with a flower...some very cool, funky, interesting pieces.  I'd read some rather favorable comments on their customer service, a couple of my friends had made purchases they were happy with, so I thought.weeeellll,  maybe I'll give them a try on something I can't find fabric for.

I was a little disgruntled to see that you have to create an account before you can even browse the site.   And I really didn't see anything like the tops that were in the facebook ads. But I did find a crochet vest and a lacy mint green top, so I decided to give it a go.

Well, I discovered another thing I didn't see in print anywhere when I ordered...these folks take orders for stuff for a specified amount of time; once the time has expired, THEN they place the order with their supplier.

So the stuff I ordered on March 2 actually arrived March 22...because I ordered early in the 'event'.  Now, that's their business model and that's how, they say, they keep the prices low.  They also don't allow returns, although they do work with folks if something is clearly defective or misrepresented or doesn't fit.  But...this ain't those instant-ship shoe folks. 

So...when the merchandise arrived, I was pleased to see that the size chart worked and the vest and the top both fit.  The vest...which I'll try to get photographed sometime soon...is a nice enough poly-cotton and is created by sewing various bits of crochet or crochet-like fabrics into the vest shape.  I'll wear it and enjoy it, I think.

The mint top...oy, it's not really what I expected.  I don't remember how they described it, but the fabric is created by wooly-nylon satin stitching somehow.  It's sort of like eyelet, only...snaggy wooly nylon thread.  I had to dab fray-check on several spots so I could trim dangly bits without  the overstitching unraveling.  And the lacy stuff is over a lining, which is exceedingly cheap tricot.  I had to wear a cami under it.  The back is split, which I knew, but it exposes that cheap lining.  It really looks pretty bad..  It will NEVER BE WORN without a top layer.

But...truth be told, it's stage wear.  And from 10 feet away, the ugly really isn't discernible.   So it will do when we wear mint green in choir.  And I was right...I was looking for garments in fabrics I couldn't buy and, well, that's exactly what this is...lol.

Will I buy more stuff from the Z people?  Um...maybe.  But I'm going to read all descriptions very carefully and not assume anything.

Easter Sunday had a rainy forecast...gray RTW jeans,  my light gray Jalie 2566 T, and the ALSO un-reviewed McCall's 6844 matelasse knit cardigan, that turned out to be borderline too warm for the building today. Dunno if the AC wasn't quite working what, but I kept pulling it off in the conference room, where I was working with some volunteers to get a jump on the data entry that always follows a major outreach like Easter weekend.  I actually attended the Friday night service, then spent the rest of the weekend services working on the data entry, when I wasn't singing in the choir. Bur I got warm, just sitting and working, so this jacket is probably not going to see much use between, say, March and October.  It's cozy.

So, to everyone who stops by Sew Random...I pray the blessings of the day would touch you! 

Well, that went by fast...

Not sure how I got from Thanksgiving to Epiphany quite so fast.... and how I stayed AWOL from the blog for so long!  I took choir photos...but just did not manage to get them posted.  I wasn't terribly excited about posting them, anyway, as it was all just old stuff that  you've seen a bazillion times before.

But it's time to clean the slate and start again.

Here's the stats from  2015:

Fabric In: 72.625 yds
Fabric Out: 49 yds
Last fabric added: 7/2/15
Garments made for me: 23
Accessories:5
Garments made for other family members: 0
Home Dec Items: 8
Wadders, er, Unintentional muslins: 0
"Donations" : - 0
Muslins:4


Misc. Church Sewing:5 pink georgette scarves, 5 tiny sheep tunics/ear sets

I was really, really disappointed that I didn't even get 50 yards of fabric sewn up...I have gaps in my wardrobe that really need to be filled...but the home renovation project just completely took over the last quarter of the year and the only sewing I managed to do was to get those little sheep onstage on Christmas Eve (they were really cute...).  The 'home dec' is kind of a fudge...we still have 3 chairs to redo, but the fabric is cut so I'm going to call it out of the stash.

 I'm still sticking to my 'nothing added to stash'  resolution...which has so far meant 'no fabric purchased', since I've done precious little sewing, and the result is this is the smallest amount of fabric I've purchased in a calendar year since I started keeping track of it back in 2002.  So the stash really only increased by about 23.5 yards.  Which is just a couple of month's worth of sewing...if I were focused on crankin' it out.    I do have patterns and fabric out on the cutting table, though;  once we get past the Really Big Conference we're having at church next weekend, I'm planning to spend at least a couple hours a week  sewing.  It won't go really fast, but at least I'll get something done.

I've got a SWAP plan in the back of my head;  I dunno if I'll make any more headway this year than I have the past few years.  But my black denim jacket is calling my name; if I can just make up my mind on a pattern and get going, I think the rest would fall into line. 

So...I've got another twoish weeks of crazy busy work stuff, and then...I should have some time to be creative again.

Although I have heard rumors of an Easter production at church this year...we'll see what surfaces once we're past the leadership conference. ;-)

Choir Wardrobe 12 13 15

December colors: Red, black and gray

Modified Jalie Pleated Cardigan in red rayon blend (same as last week, actually);   black and gray rayon/lycra jersey stripe Jalie 2566 cap sleeve T , gray Lee jeans and red Cobb Hill shoes. (Quickly becoming a fashion rule of thumb for me...if I can get away with red shoes, wear 'em!)

We put up and decorated a Virginia Pine Christmas tree that we cut fresh yesterday; we haven't had a fresh tree for several years.  It was something of an adventure, as the first tree farm we visited had  a selection of truly pitiful little trees.  I had a huge 'to do' list, but a series of light string failures (three in a row!) put us very late finishing.  So I'm going to do the blog posts and then just get up in the morning and finish the urgent part of the to-do list.  I've got some vacation hours to burn  anyway.


The tree is pure kitsch...mismatched lights,  random ornaments, not a shred of tulle or feathers or flowers or fruit anywhere to be seen.... ;-)

And yeah, the window's open.  El Nino year and all..it was 73 today.  Good thing the tree is up; I'd never get myself to believe it was December otherwise...