Choir Sunday 08 #30

This Month's Colors: Burnt Orange, Tan or Brown w/Blue jeans
(I stood on the back row, in front of the 'O')

I didn't know I'd be wearing my late-finished browns so soon!








Jacket: McCall's 5191, from the stretch denim eyelet I got from Muna Couture in Nashville in July of '07.

Top: Jalie 2682, from brown yummy rayon/lycra jersey purchased at Textile Fabric's 50% off sale this past July.

The jeans are Lees...'Medium' length, but I have to wear them with my 2 1/4" heeled boots.

I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to continue getting photos of the whole choir; we are going to three services (yes, three services: 8:00, 9:30 and 11:15) starting next week, and the choir will not be warming up/rehearsing on the stage. I'll be watching the rest of this month to see when it looks like will be the best opportunity...

Progress Report...queue busting...

I went to Hancock's yesterday and got buttons for the white shirt (and that's all I got! Really!), so I can proceed with the buttonholes when I'm ready to switch thread in the SM.

The Actor's drama class is supporting a local community theater group's production of 'Frog and Toad' this week; I found out at the last minute that there was a public performance last night (mostly, this has been performed during the school day for early elementary school groups). We had choir practice last night, too, on the same end of town as the school (they are using the auditorium there). So I bagged up my silk shirt and buttons and the notions necessary and planned to head over to the school and sit in the lobby for an hour or so after choir was over rather than drive home and back. Wouldn't you know the show ended at 8:45, and the tech kids were released shortly after so I didn't have as much time as I expected. But I did get 6 out of 14 buttons sewed on.

The blue jacket is ready for the sleeves to be installed. Then the last construction step is the very tedious application of very narrow bias trim around all the edges (Well, hammering on the snaps is a quick detail). Which means I'm about half done. I still need to cover a pair of shoulder pads for the jacket, too.

One of these days I'm going to have a bodacious amount of yardage to add to the 'out' total ;)

Up Next...

Since I couldn't make up my mind what to do, and I had one more royal blue project in the queue and blue thread still on the serger, I decided to work on my blue flannel Silhouette Patterns Robin's Jacket whilst I pondered my next move.

And The Flute Player came in yesterday lamenting that she seems to have misplaced some blue jeans; she had only one pair of long pants to wear to school this week.

Y'know, I have a fair stash of corduroy that came from my Grandmother; I think I should probably turn some of that into britches for her.

So I took some measurements; I'll be working on a pattern for her over the next week or so and hope to have some wearable pants for her soon.

If I time my multi-tasking right, they'll be ready to sew when I'm done with the blue thread. ;)

Nothin' in September

According to my sewing records, I didn't complete a single garment in the entire month of September.

I have to go all the way back to December of '04 to find a month in which I didn't complete any personal sewing...and we were frantically costuming our first presentation of The Gospel According to Scrooge, so I *was* sewing at a fast and furious pace.

No, I recollect that I *did* sew my own costume for that show during December of '04; it's just not recorded. So I have to go back farther...to September of '04, which was right after we moved into a temporary rental property and I didn't get any sewing space set up for a few weeks.

But this month I had no costume sewing or house moving to blame. Just my own disorganization. And that's, um, embarrassing. I did a little (very little) mending and altering, but that really doesn't account for the whole month.

If I had realized yesterday that I'd have a goose egg for yards out in September, I'd've ditched the budget work I did in the afternoon and sewn buttons on that silk shirt. ;)

I pledge to get back to my sewing self this month... ;)

ETA: On reviewing my September posts, I find I did do a bit of costume work ... how could I have forgotten the Amazing Technicolor Truly Awful Bog Coat of Many Colors?

But that just took a day. So no real excuse there.

Waiting on buttons...

Ha! I found my cuffs! Turns out all I had done to them was fuse on the interfacing; so when I found the little rectangles of fabric on the floor under a box of patterns waiting to be filed, my first thought was 'Hey...is this the same fabric? I wonder if I could make new cuffs from this...' Then I noticed the interfacing and did the happy dance. So the Kwik Sew blouse is done to buttons/buttonholes.

Only I don't have any buttons in the stash that work. It needs something a little bigger than a standard shirt button, which is what I'd planned to use. A trip to Hancock's is in order. Yikes.

And the silk blouse is also done to the buttons. I have the buttonholes in and slit, so all I have to do now is sew on, um, 14 buttons and it's done.

Whew.

So, now I'm trying to decided what's up next...

More queue sewing, long put off winter outerwear projects, much needed pants for The Flute Player, or a quick gratification project?

Decisions, decisions, decisions....

A Blog Award!

I know these awards have been making the rounds, but it still surprises me to be nominated by Ann of Gorgeous Things She is one of my sewing inspirations (not to mention suppliers, since she began her mail order fabric business, Gorgeous Fabrics) So I'm really honored that she'd pick my blog for this! Especially considering other fabulous folks she nominated (Me? In the same list with Paco?).

Anyway, like all blog awards, they have, um, rules.

The first ones are easy... post the award images and a link to the person who gave it to you.

Usually, the rules then skip to nominating others and notifying them, but there's a catch here; there's a request to list '6 of your most important values and 6 negative points you condemn.'. (Who writes these things, anyway?) It looks like there's a lot of leeway for interpretation here...is this six values I consider key to myself, or six values I consider important in others? Does it really matter which way I interpret it?

Well, I'm going to list six things about myself that I think are foundational to who I am, and six things I wish I could improve upon. I don't know if that meets the requirements or not, but it seems fair and in the spirit of the award, so that's my story and I'm sticking to it. NOTE: These are in No Particular Order.

1) I'm a tightwad. I really hate to spend money on frivolous things; I justify my fabric purchases by telling myself it really is cheaper in the long run. And, sometimes I'm right...like the time I had an urgent need for a denim jacket, and made one from denim (purchased on sale several years earlier) in the stash...the only new outlay of cash was about $5 for buttons.

2) I'm a Pentecostal-style evangelic Christian. That conjures up a lot of weird images for some folks, I know, but it's the truth. My life values all come from my faith...and I can't separate that out from who I am. It probably comes through on the blog, although I know there are many folks with different beliefs who stop by here and I try very hard not to offend anyone, I cannot go back on what I believe because someone else disagrees or does not understand. That's part of the reason I started the second blog...so I could discuss that side of my life without freaking the people who come by for sewing stories.

3)I try to be really honest at all times.

4) I love tradition...things all tied up around special events like weddings and holidays.

5) I am very loyal

6) I'm determined to make things work...why I have so few wadders... ;)


Now, 6 things about myself that I'd like to improve:

1) organization organization organization! I'd count that as three but that wouldn't be fair.

2) I have distinct packrat tenancies. I wish I could get rid of useless stuff easier than I do.

3) I hate confrontation. Some things need confronting.

4) I wish I could keep up with sending birthday cards and such in a timely fashion. Maybe that comes under #1, but I don't like it that folks may think I have forgotten them...that's not true.

5) I hate calling folks on the telephone. I'm not sure why, but I do. Again, people think I don't care, and that makes me sad.

6) I also have an unpleasant tendency to speak before I have completely considered how that might sound to the other person...let's just say I get misunderstood a lot and end up offending folks when I didn't mean to. It sounds reasonable in my head...but then, no one else is in my head and they didn't hear the background music, I guess.


Ok...now for my own nominations. These folks are supposed to do what I just did, but I'm not going to fuss if they don't. This is all about sharing the love, anyway, right?

The Rules say to nominate 6 - 10 people; I'm not sure how many I'll end up with.

I'm going to limit myself to blogs that I have recently discovered: if I just found them, it might be that some others might enjoy finding them, too!

Bubblegum for Breakfast. I've seen Birgitte's work on Pattern Review...she has an amazing eye for design and construction. Go be inspired!

From the Stash. Gry designs and sews wonderful things in Denmark.

The Princess Seam. Adriana posts as 'Eli' on Pattern review and does some truly amazing things. She calls herself an 'intermediate' level sewing enthusiast, but I think you'll agree that her garments are well above that level.

After the Dress. Gwen blogged her way through constructing a friends wedding dress, then started ATD to chronicle her sewing for herself. She has an interesting structure...on Fridays, she 'confesses' something, and then on the following Thursday does a little synopsis of the replies she received. Sort of an informal poll; it's kinda fun!

Amands's Adventures in Sewing. Amanda has been doing some pattern reviews of some really sharp things; have a look!

Ok, now I'm going to break with my sewing buds for my last one and nominate a blog that is not about sewing. It's about faith in the real world...

Bring the Rain. This is a real-life, real-time story of one mother's walk through extraordinarily difficult events. Angie is married to Todd Smith of the Christian band Selah, but that really isn't a major part of the story. How she and her family are walking out their circumstances is the story. Go to the first post and read the story from the bottom up. Have a box of kleenex handy.


Um, let's see...the last of The Rules says that I now have to leave a comment on the above blogs so they know they're nominated. So...I'm off!

Choir Sundays '08 #29

This Month's colors: Hot Pink, charcoal grey or black w/jeans

Top: Brown Paper Patterns Basic Shell, made from the remnants of the fabric left from the top I wore last week...printed cotton/lycra from Cutting Corners at a past Atlanta Expo. I think I decided this morning that I need to scoop out the front neckline of this pattern the next time I make it...it'll fit better and be more flattering, too.

Jacket: Same Ol' Vogue 8045 jacket, from fairly hefty denim.

The jeans are my long-legged Lees...again w/boots. I need some shoes w/heels that aren't sandals...

Literary Indulgence

No, I'm not writing today...I'm reading.

There is sometimes a downside to fostering avid reading amongst one's offspring.

Someone gave The Actor Eragon for Christmas several years ago; he read it and pronounced it marvelous...I read it and laughed all the way through at the blatant use of ideas, themes, even names from classic science fiction/fantasy. It became kind of a challenge to identify what elements were borrowed from Star Wars,The Lord of the Rings, The Dragonriders of Pern, The Earthsea Trilogy , etc. The Actor purchased the second book of the trilogy...excuse me, series...when it came out and read it in a hurry, then wanted me to read it. We've discussed various plot possibilities while he waited with baited breath for the third book (now NOT the last book), which was released over the weekend. He raced through it in a couple of days, crowed with glory that he had correctly predicted some plot developments, and urged me to read it because he wanted to discuss it. However, as these things go, I was too busy to do any reading yesterday. The Flute Player nabbed it the moment she came in from school, though, and began reading.

The Actor hopped in the car when I picked him up from his bus stop last night, the question coming before he had his seat belt fastened. "So, Mom, how much did you read?" and his face fell when I said I had not touched the book all day. Then he noticed his sister was reading it.

And, yes, I had to intervene on her behalf to get him to grudgingly agree to let her read it when I wasn't. We agreed that she can't take it to school, so I sat down and read today...instead of sewing, which was my intention. Hopefully I've gotten far enough that he can talk about some of the things that are stirring around in his thoughts.

The sacrifices parents make for their kids. (lol)

I think it would probably have been a fairly good book with some true editing. As it is, I'm finding myself fretting over the excesses and fighting the urge to just skim through it. Even The Actor commented on the true cheesieness of it in places. I don't often roll my eyes when reading fiction and that's happened several times here.

Maybe I'll get some sewing done when The Flute Player gets home and grabs the book.

Testing my Resolve

Got another sale email today...this one from Fashion Fabrics Club. There are a lot of folks who, um, don't care for FFC, but I have to confess that they're responsible for a LARGE percentage of my fabric stash. Occasionally I've gotten something that didn't live up to my expectations, but usually the fabric from them has been very nice. And cheap. Now they're doing a big sale, with lots of fabrics deeply discounted, and, um, I'm not buying, I'm not buying I'm not buying....

This isn't a 'no purchase 'till parity' deal (although I'm farther behind parity than I'd really like to be at this point) it's a 'I gotta conserve the cash' deal.

And I don't know when that particular qualifier will lift. Maybe by the end of the year...maybe not.

Sigh. I gotta go delete that email.

Note: if I don't get some sewing done soon, I'll find myself talking politics, which I refuse to do on my blogs. I've mentally declared my blogs to be 'politics free zones', and I'm not gonna go there.

So I really, really need to do some sewing.... :D

Not Fun Sewing

I hate it when sewing becomes a chore instead of a delight. It happens from time to time. Usually, it's stuff w/a deadline, so I can kind of grit my teeth and plow my way through it, but right now, the only deadline I have is 'when this is done I can start sewing from fresh inspiration again!'

Ya'll the only sewing I did yesterday was pull out the silk Chopin Blouse and set about figuring out how to cut a replacement lower back piece, seeing as how I apparently threw the original one out.

The remnant of fabric I've got is about 2 1/2" too short to cut one. So I'm going to have to make this fit, then retro-trim the front to match. The pattern piece is currently lying on the fabric remnant on the cutting table. That's as far as I got.

And the blouse has not been going together well from the git-go. I sewed the collar on the wrong side of the blouse. The shirred bias cuffs/collar refused to shirr in a straight line. I lost the back.

Sigh. Working on it is not fun anymore. But my conscious will not let me cut anything new until I finish it.

Not to mention the white Kwik-sew blouse, which is done to the (still AWOL) cuffs. I know I made them; there's a blog post to that effect to shore up my rather shaky memory of it. So those cuffs should be...somewhere.

And Fabric Mart has four ply black silk crepe on sale for $10/yard! I've been looking for affordable 4-ply silk crepe...in black...for years.

But, my budget is COMPLETELY depleted. I deleted the email real quick before my fiscal responsibility flew out the window. The budget tightening has got to start being Real Serious.

All of which contributes to a lack of sewing fun.

So...I need to pull myself together and Finish That Blouse, Find Those Cuffs, and get Inspired by the Stash.

Deep breath, now...it'll be ok... ;)

"Following'

Blogger's instituted what looks like a new feed collector...their 'following' options. Apparently, you can 'follow' a number of blogs...even put a widget on your blog so that folks can 'follow' along with the blogs you're 'following.'

I'm not sure I'm ready to dump Bloglines for it, though. It would be nice to have the widget there, but I've got something like 100 blogs I subscribe too...it would be a real mess on the sidebar. I even took the list off and put it in a post so that all that is in the sidebar now is a link to the post. Bloglines generates the list in the post from the blogs I've subscribed to; I don't have to think about it. It's accessible, but it's not cluttering up the sidebar (I may have to do something similar with the archive files one of these days).

Plus, if I want to display the 'following' widget, I'd have to convert to layouts. Now, I'm using the classic 'template' version. I tried the layout version w/my other blog when I first set it up, but I had all kinds of problems getting the layout to allow me to insert new links and I finally gave up and converted it over to classic like this one.

So, no widget for me.

But it is kind of neat to log on to the dashboard and see some smiling faces of folks who will see my posts. So I guess it's a good thing.

(Yes, I have no substantial sewing to report and I'm grasping at straws for content. But I thought I'd explain why the 'following' widget won't be showing up on my sidebar...).

Hopefully I can talk sewing tomorrow. ;)

Groovin' with the Ugly Bog COMC

For the curious (and determined), there is a video clip of the UBCOMC up on our church website. It's at the tail end of the 'weekly announcements' video, so you have to click on the 'video announcements' in the upper right hand corner and wait patiently through all the happenings of the week and upcoming events. But, if you're determined to see it, you will see the UBCOMC worn on our hip Joseph, dancing with a sheaf of wheat.

And you can't even tell that it's Truly Ugly... ;)

The whole series of little videos, which will be used as 'sermon spice,' should be a real hoot.

Choir Sundays '08 #28

This month's colors: Hot pink with black or charcoal grey and blue jeans

Shirt: Kwik Sew 3027, from a printed cotton/lycra shirting purchased from Louise Cutting at the '06 (I think) Atlanta Sewing Expo. (I've recently seen this same fabric at Textile Fabrics in Nashville...).

Lee straight legged jeans; wildly audacious (for me, anyway) belt from Target and, as the temps were not projected to go above 79 today, my boots.

Bring on fall... ;)

Publishing Changes

No, I'm not going to Wordpress or anything like that; I'm a girl of simple needs and the good ol' low tech Blogger and ubiquitous Scribe template work just fine for me.

I've just decided to take Saturdays off.

Part of the 'see what stress I can remove from life' program. I haven't talked a lot about it here, but it's been a major theme over at my other blog. Here, I'll just say life has been waaayyy too busy for the past ?? months and I'm trying to pare down and pull in just a bit for a while to avoid overdoing to the point of being overdone.

Besides, taking Saturdays off will give me more time to sew... ;)

Ahead of the Curve?

I've been seeing a lot of posts on the boards and such about sewing with lace; I thought for a moment about rummaging around for some lace to get on board with it (that sidetracked sanguine trying to assert itself over my recent determination to work on the queue) when I remembered something: I've already sewn some lace garments...

The first was the Fashion Sewing Group 1964 skirt; I made this in 2005...and worn it only once or twice.

The second was last year; the modified Loes Hinse City Dress Bodice, which I have yet to wear.

I love both pieces...they're unique and, apparently, to my surprise, very stylish right now.

But...a SAHM just doesn't have much opportunity for wearing dressy lace garments!

I gotta watch for a chance to put those on in the next couple of months....

News from the Dollar Table

I happened to catch the department manager working at my favorite Wal-Mart dollar table last week when I was looking for cheap multicolor fabric and we had a bit of a chat. I told her that I always come there for costuming and rarely leave without finding something that would work.

She responded that she has three different fabric sources that she works with, and she orders from them (I think) weekly, to keep her table stocked w/different styles of fabric.

Both of us lamented Wal-Mart's growing lack of support for home creativity; she said it has affect more than just the fabric department; said they also no longer carry DMC embroidery floss as an example of the whole cut back in that area. What was the notions wall a few years ago has been reduced to a cabinet. The zipper stock is about 1/3 of what it used to be; there is a corresponding limited thread selection. She said that their fabric department has so far missed the real cutbacks, but she is afraid that its coming.

I commented that she should open her own discount fabric shop if WM shuts theirs down. She looked at me and kind of grinned.

"You know, several people have said that. I just might."

Oh! Joy! Perhaps it *won't* go away!

I pointed out that she already had the contacts and sources...if Wal-Mart closes down, that will be a lot of folks in our area who will need a place to pick up what they'd been getting there.

"Well, we'll see," she commented. "I've got a few ideas...it might work."

There's hope....

Queue Busting

I've pulled out the pink jacket fabric, the lining, the pattern, the tracing paper...and I just don't have the oomph to make it. We have two Sundays left in September; I could push it through but my heart's not in it.

To my surprise, what I *want* to do more than anything else is sew the stuff in the queue. Most of those projects have been in the WIP pile for a year or better; it's getting depressing. I can't enjoy cutting new stuff until I clean that out.

So, even if I wear the same pink stuff I've already worn this month, I'm giving myself permission to go back and finish. I'm putting the pink jacket stuff away for now.

After I've cleaned the queue, I won't have that 'unfinished work!' song playing in my head and I can have some fun with something new!

So, back to the half done Kwik Sew white blouse which is still missing the (sewn) cuffs. They gotta be there someplace.

Picking Up My Teeth

(Note for folks not familiar w/American idioms: "I dropped my teeth" is an idiom meaning I was profoundly surprised).

There's been a little discussion over at PatternReview about designating some awards for contributors. Nominations have been accepted for the past month or so in several categories, and today the nominees were posted for voting (note: you may have to be a signed-in member of PR to view that page; I'm not sure).

I was flabbergasted to see my picture in the list.

I haven't been terribly active in PR this year and I really didn't expect to be nominated for anything. But, I suppose if I were going to be nominated for anything, 'thinking outside the box' makes sense.

It's a huge honor to be nominated; I'm...I'm...I'm typing and erasing a whole bunch of goofy sounding stuff here. The other nominees in the list are all fabulous at what they do; I'm pretty much speechless to be in that list with them.

And it's going to be really, really difficult to vote on one per category.

At least I've got all month to think about it.

Lost My Rhythm...

Conferences tend to do that...several days of intense, out-of-the-normal-schedule focus leaves it just a little difficult to pop right back into the routine.

It's especially difficult if 'routine' is not a strong suit...which it isn't for this little sewing blogger.

Mondays are a volunteer day, anyway, so I've been gone a bit. Did a bit of laundry. Strung a couple of necklaces that I could wear w/hot pink tops. Sewed a wee bit on the white shirt.

And I went to the stash bins and pulled the pink rayon/linen and the matching lining. I may just take the plunge and cut that jacket out this week.

If I can find the rhythm...

Choir Sundays '08 #27

This Month's Colors: Hot Pink or Black or Charcoal Grey w/jeans


Jacket: My old favorite Vogue 8045 denim jacket. My photographer failed to notice that the collar was slightly flipped...

Top: Printed silk charmeuse Modified Loes Hinse City Dress Shell. The flower is kind of a mix of red and hot pink...it was close enough.

Gloria Vanderbilt 'Mom' jeans this time. After a fabulous but exhausting conference, I wasn't up to wearing the heels required by my boot-cuts... ;)