Something for Choir

I had nothing, really.

I went into work late on Thursday...ate junk on Wednesday and paid for it on Thursday...did a bit of work from home before I went to the office and, just before I shut the computer down, I checked a few online fabric vendors.  Because, like, I need some mauve in my life.

Found a knit and some lace yardage; click click and they were ordered before I left.

The box arrived this afternoon.  The lace...well, I'll talk about the lace later.  But the knit is spot on perfect.  I threw it in the washer, worked on my homework, put it in the dryer,  ran a couple miles down the road to Chick fil A and back to pick up a quick supper for The Flute Player and myself and, as soon as the knit was dry, took it up to the cutting table.

6:43 PM.  It shrank a quarter yard in the wash; I'd ordered 1 1/2 yards and measured exactly that before I threw it in the washer.  Plus, it was cut a bit crooked.  So I went with the TNT relaxed fit Vogue 9057 T, with my modified cap sleeves. 

 It took 9 minutes to whack it out with the rotary cutter.

 I had to change out the thread on the machines; plus I ditched the needles that had sewn the metallic-printed poly scuba knit.  I could tell they were getting dull before I finished that  jacket and I wanted fresh needles for the rayon/lycra 4-way stretch jersey;  I kinda expected some trouble. But at 7:14 the machines were set.
Short break to get a photo of a lovely sunset and switch the laundry.

Hashtag no filter  ;-).  But I hung out on the porch a bit to get to the full color...
After I hung up the dry clothes and got a new load in both machines, I trimmed some scrap interfacing to reinforce the shoulders and fused them down at 7:59

 I ran the teeny neckband seam through the sewing machine, then pressed it open.  While I was at the ironing board, I went ahead and pressed up the hem on the sleeves at 7:59..

 Shoulder seams were quick; the neckband went on at 8:17.   Match the centers, then mark and match the quarters and serge it on.

 Gave it a bit of a press and at 8:24 we're ready for sleeves.

 The sleeves are on  and it's ready for sideseams to be sewn at 8:44.  Had some trouble with skipped stitches and had to reinforce a couple of spots with a bit of straight stitch.  Neeldle Lube helped a little, but jersey is tricky and I didn't have stretch needles for the serger.

Switched laundry again.

 At 9:17 I'd switched to the double needle w/ wooly nylon in the bobbin to do the hems.  And had more trouble with skipping stitches and shredding thread.  Had to unpick about 3 different spots...that took more time than actually sewing the hems.

At 9:56 I have a shirt that just needs some thread tails buried and a bit of a steam and...yay! I don't have to wear all black tomorrow! :-)

Choir Wardrobe 04.02.17

 I know, I know, I missed last week's post.  But cut me some slack; My Sweet Babboo and I actually went on a (gasp) VACATION.  To a place we'd never been before, where we had NO RELATIVES LIVING.

Those time share points we were awarded as a bonus for drinking the kool-aid, er, purchasing a time-share were about to expire, so we kinda backed ourselves into using them up.  And, as it was spring break season, most of the resorts within a day's drive were booked.

But we managed to get 5 nights at Myrtle Beach.  We left after church last Sunday and got back home around 7:30 last night.

So I didn't post a photo of last week's choir wardrobe...but it doesn't really matter, I didn't get any more sewing done so it was a repeat of something I'd worn earlier in the month.

But, being gone all week also meant I didn't get any sewing done for April's colors, either.

April colors are black and mauve.  We were asked to chose something within a 'range' of mauves...the samples posted on our facebook page range from what looks identical to the 'Lavender Herb' color we wore last year, through a kind of dusky lilac to a muted raspberry.  None of which would be a color I call 'mauve'.  So I went really safe today with a black-on-black-on-black, and a fringy polyester burnout scarf in what looked to be close to the lighter color samples on the FB page.

Black poly Loes Hinse Bistro Jacket, black knit  sleevless Jalie 2682 top and RTW black denims.

And, lo and behold, the bulk of the 'mauve' on stage was a dusty pink that, to my eye, looked nothing much like the colors on the FB page.

Maybe my monitor is out of adjustment?

But, that does mean that the dusty pink New Look top that's been a UFO for forEVER will do nicely, and a kind of dusty pink-retro 80's silk jacquard in the stash might work well also.

'Cause, you know, this is Easter month, which means extra services, and it also has 5 Sundays.  Imma gonna be wearing a lot of this.

But, I'm still working hard on the Master's class.  I took the textbook for class number eleven...the next-to-last one...with me and got it almost completely read.  I should finish the work on it this week.  Which will give me about 3 weeks to do the last class if I want to meet my self-imposed target of finishing by the end of April.

And, of course, I have something on the calendar Every. Single. Night. this week.  Nothing like hitting the ground running after vacation.  So I'm going to be doing really well to finish the last assignments for class number eleven.

IOW, I may wear all black with my kinda-sorta-right-scarf again next week, LOL.  We'll see.

But here's a photo of sunrise on the beach last Wednesday (we had not walked on a beach together since 1989...we were DUE), just to share a Happy Place:

Puttin' on the Glitz...

Well, for the second month in the last 8, we're wearing black and metallic gold for choir.

The first go round, I bought one RTW t-shirt, which was not entirely successful, and otherwise made do with a few oddball things I had about. But when it came 'round again, I thought, 'Ok, I guess I need to put some gold stuff in the closet'.  So I ordered a couple of pieces from fabricdotcom.

When the box arrived and I opened it, I had to grab the sunglasses.  There was some serious glitz there.

And, after as much dithering as I could allow myself, I made the serious glitz up into McCall's 6844, the short peplum view.  I've made that cardi 4 times now -- two with the peplum and two of the longer straight cut -- but still haven't reviewed it.

It's still serious glitz.

Worn with a RTW sweater shell and RPL ponte knit Loes Hinse Oxfords.

I think I need to tack down the reverse bits; the whole collar assembly wanted to flip to the outside, which exposes the seam.  Not a good look.

I didn't do a single-layer cutting layout;  the knit is not pricey and the jacket is basically stage wear and I didn't have much time.  So the zigs could've met up with the zags much better in a couple of places.  It's a foil printed scuba knit which was much more comfortable to wear than I had anticipated (I really expected it to be icky and clammy and plasticy, but it wasn't).  Still...this is not likely to be worn much outside of choir.  I'm not that blingy in real life. ;-)

I actually did something I HATE doing...I pulled the thread off the machines for the WIP white blouse and bagged it up before it was done.  So the white blouse is still going to be on the UFO list for a while longer.  I need to sew up some of the other pieces of fabric that have arrived already this year.  I'll get to the white blouse...eventually...

Choir Wardrobe 03.12.17

The blingy gold and black zig-zag scuba knit (see previous post) is still laid out on the cutting table; I was suddenly seized by an attack of indecision on which pattern to use.  I had in mind a peplum style, but then thought about those zig-zags and remembered a dress in which the changing grain on zig-zags just looked kind of...drunken.  Not the look I was going after.   I really just need to pull out something and go for it; I don't have enough time to be wishy-washy about it.

But in my wishy-washy trying to make up my mind, I am working on the white blouse, so at least something's getting done.  Slowly.

Meanwhile, I still had to come up with something black and metallic gold to wear today.  I do have a RTW Tee, purchased from jaydotcrew, hanging in the closet, mostly to remind me why I sew.  It was about $30,  it's cut off grain, the neckline's indecent and it's too short.  But it's shiny gold. So it gets worn...carefully.

In this case, I've got a black rayon/lycra jersey Jalie 965 Tank as a bottom layer, helping with the too-short-hem and the too-low-and-wide neck.  Good enough.  Black poly/rayon/lycra ponte knit Loes Hinse Oxfords, and a cashmere blend cardi from Lands' End and I'm all good with the black-and-gold for today. 

Hm.  Black and Gold.  Boiler Up.  LOL. 

Now to ponder some more on the gold zig-zag print. 

The Power of Positive Thinking

We had a big conference at church last week and the stage had not been reset for the choir, so there's  no choir wardrobe this week.  So I will share with you my ridiculousness.

 I still have not sewn more than a couple of seams in all of 2017...and I ordered more fabric.  Is that optimism, or what?

Because the choir colors for the next two months are pretty much conspicuously absent from my wardrobe.  So I ordered a bit...

We have metallic gold and black for March, and mauve/gray/black for April.  The sheerish knit on the left has metallic stripes in it and I intend to turn it into a little cardi that caught my fancy in an old Burda magazine.  The chevron gold stripe is printed on a scuba knit; I'm pretty sure I'm going to make that ubiquitous  McCall's jacket that I've made up a few times, because what else would you do with something so over the top as that?  The Dusty Purple on the end might work for the mauve...I haven't seen a sample yet to know if we're talking dark mauve or light mauve.  But it's a pretty bamboo that will make a nice top, even if I can't wear it next month.  And the black and white stripe because...well...it's classic.

The upside is that these will all be very quick things to sew up.  Once I manage to actually get to my sewing machine.

No more  fabric in until I've sewn up the 20 yards I bought (or an equivalent in already-stashed-goods, lol).  And I mean it.  Even if that means I wear the same outfit four Sundays in a row...

Choir Wardrobe 02.26.17

Y'all.  I have seriously got to make myself do some sewing, even if it's just in 15 minute chunks.  I have a nice white blouse about 1/4 completed and it would have been SO NICE to wear today.  But, instead, I wore a cheap white blouse that doesn't fit terribly well that I got at an outlet just so I could have a white shirt that wouldn't grieve me if it got a small stain or two on it to wear for our annual Thank-You banquet, in which the church staff becomes wait staff for children's social service workers in our area and must wear black pants and a white shirt.  But, well, it doesn't have gravy or coffee stains on it yet, so, might as well get some good out of it, right?

The oft-repeated black and white stripe RPL modified Loes Hinse Oxford Pants, my even MORE oft-repeated black twill Burda 05/09 waistcoat, and a hemmed rayon/silk chiffon burnout scarf.  First time to put these together in combo; I think I like it.  Will like it better with the blouse-in-progress instead of the cheap blouse with the floppy faux-french-cuffs....

The scarf is pretty and I don't wear it enough.  I bought two or three pieces of the burnout silk on sale a few years back; 2 yards at 45" wide.  Cut off the selvedges, squared the ends and then split it in half lengthwise.  Rolled all edges.  Kept one, gave one away....of this fabric, anyway.  The others were Christmas stocking stuffers.

Next month we're wearing black and metallic gold.  I actually have half a calfskin that is gold foil finished, obtained a couple of years ago specifically to make fronts for a vest.  Thought I'd use that Burda waistcoat, but then I got afeared the collar would be too bulky in leather.  Not sure it would be as appealing without the collar, so trying to pick another style.  Not placing any bets on whether or not it gets done by the last Sunday in March....and I might have a couple of pieces of gold-metallicy-knit coming in the mail this week.  I *might* actually get something made from the TNT knit patterns.  Which would be great; currently I only have ONE metallic-y garment and March has 5 Sundays...

A perfect surprise...

So, yeah, there was no choir post last weekend.

Instead, there was a conspiracy.

My Dear Daddy had a significant 'ends-in-a zero' birthday, so my sister, who moved from Northern Indiana to upstate New York just before Christmas, flew in.  All four of my kids  rode with me (My Sweet Babboo had a statewide campout that weekend that he was somewhat responsible for, and Prince Charming was returning from a business trip too late to hitch a ride with us) and we drove up.  We got to the home place about half an hour after the New York contingent.

Dad, of course, had no idea we were coming.  My two brothers had just told him they were taking him to dinner, and his sisters and their hubbies joined us.  We all had dinner at an eatery in Thorntown, IN, that has some of the best onion rings you'll find anywhere.

Dad's not a birthday cake enthusiast; in fact, on a Facebook meme a few months ago I answered the question 'It's your dad's birthday!  What kind of cake will you make  him?' with 'Pecan pie!' I baked 3 pies and took them up, only to find that my mother had also baked some fruit cobblers, because, you know, Dad wanted pie for his birthday and she kinda had to make some because she couldn't tell him I was bringing pie...we ate pie all weekend...

The  next day, my niece, her hubby and 15 month-old, the only great-grandchild, flew in from Pennsylvania.  And, of course, Dad didn't expect that, either, although enough of us slipped up that if he'd  been paying strict attention he'd have known.  But that didn't really matter.  The baby was the icing on the cake. I don't think Dad stopped grinning all weekend.

And me...well, it's always something of a respite to walk around on the farm just a bit.  I breathe a bit deeper there...

Choir Wardrobe 02.12.17

Happy Valentines' Day!

I am having trouble getting to the 'post' button lately (hence the delayed choir post); even more trouble getting into the sewing room.  Still no progress on the white shirt, so February's black-and-white wardrobe is still pulling from old stuff.

A black slinky Sewing Workshop Cityscapes dress (which is out of print but, I believe, re-released as a downloadable PDF) and Sandra Betzina's  Vogue 8043 jacket.  Mixing the 'little French jacket' with an Edwardian hobble skirt was kinda fun; I don't think I've put those two together before. In any case, it's a  notch or two up from my typical choir wardrobe.

But, in other news, the lack of sewing/blogging is directly due to other stuff going on; just finished class number eight of the online master's of ministry program I'm doing through West Coast Bible College and Seminary;  plowing straight on to class number nine (out of twelve).  My goal was to finish by the end of April but class eight was a toughie and took longer than I'd planned.  So now it's going to be a bit of a push.

It's messing with my sewing time but the goal is in sight... ;-)

Looking for a blog reader...

Unfortunately, I've run into a difference of opinion with bloglovin and I have closed my account there.  You can still follow my blog(s) there if you do already; but I want to find a new place to read.

I tried just using the follow function on Blogger, but I had to cut and paste each URL and that got old FAST.

So I made a quick account on Feedly and migrated over there as best I could.

It was still rather a pain as I could not find any way to just export the whole lot from bloglovin'.  So I did it one at a time, and was rather surprised to see how many blogs I'd subscribed to that hadn't been updated in a year...or two..or three....  But at least I could type the name into a search box and, generally, it found it without having to type in the whole http line.

But it has some limitations.

Feedly only allows 100 feeds on their free account, so I moved the active ones over there; was still a few over a hundred so I had to drop all of them that I can read via the author sharing their posts on Facebook; that put me under the limit.  I had to combine some of my categories, as they only allow three on the free account.  Nowhere could I find the button that says 'follow my blog on...'

So...anybody have a feed burner that they love?  Cause I'm not sure I'm going to be happy over on feedly, but I wanted to get off of bloglovin' NOW.

I am not one to hop up and down and insist folks agree with me on things, but there are lines I will not cross and BL crossed that line. 

So.  Back to the hunt for a (free) easy to use little feed burner...

Choir Wardrobe 02.05.17

The usual wardrobe colors for February are black and white and this year is no exception.

And, as I have not managed to get ANY thing into the 'finished' column yet this year, the garb of the day is, well, old.    And my photographer didn't alert me to the fact that the t shirt could've used just the slightest tug into position.

But, whatcha gonna do?

I actually had this t-shirt show up in my Facebook memories page; I posted it as complete  on Sew Random 5 years ago today.  Oy.  It's from the February 2010 Burda mag...can't remember if it was still BWOF then or if they'd made the switch to Burdastyle.

Which just goes to show that a C+ garment is still gonna get some wear.

Once more, that Burda Vest from 2009, which is even older.

And baggy black Lee jeans.

All in all, adequate, but just.

I have a white shirt in pieces on the ironing board; mayhap I can finish it in the next 3 weeks and at least have ONE new thing to show for the year so far?


In other news, I ordered a couple of patterns from PR; with Hancock's gone my access to patterns has dropped somewhat.  There is a Jo Ann's on the other side of town, but I don't get over that way very often and they've dropped me from the mailing list, so I don't know when the sales are any more.

So my pattern acquisition has slowed considerably.

As in, the last time I bought patterns, it was from a clearance bin at Sir's Fabric on July 11 of last year.

But there were two recent Vogue releases that I just Had. To. Have.

Even if they are only for the collection and not for sewing...lol.

I will make the Betzina vest.  I will I will I will.   I will probably make Paco's blouse...I'd LOVE to make the coat but not sure I'm brave enough.  Maybe.

A little delayed...

So tomorrow's the last day of January.

Guess I need to clear the annual stats, especially as I have had some fabric arrive today so I need to get the 2017 Counts going.

Last year's statistics:

Fabric In: 82.875 yds
Fabric Out: 71.375yds
Last fabric added:12/28/16
Garments made for me: 31
Home Dec Items: 2
Misc. Church Sewing: 7 accent pillows covered

So close to parity...that's the best I've done in a long, long time, and if I hadn't bought fabric for costumes that didn't happen, I'd've been there.

But the costumes will happen, if not this year then certainly next year, so I'm not going to sweat it too much.

And I didn't carry any 2016 projects over into 2017.  One of the 2015 projects is currently going through the machines...slowly...so maybe I'll actually get some work done on the UFO pile.

But, since I haven't posted a picture of Fabric In in forEVER...new fabric...

Going from right to left....
black Telio rayon/nylon/lycra ponte, teal green organic cotton jersey, navy blue Telio rayon/nylon/lycra ponte, gray bamboo/lycra jersey and, although I usually NEVER buy polyester knits, an ITY jersey that I think I got just because I could not resist the colors.  I'll blame it on short gloomy January days.

I will say that that ponte knit is amazing.  I ordered 4 yards of the black and got 4  1/4;  I may venture to make a Little Black Dress as well as a pair of Helix pants and I'll still have a chunk left.

But...no more purchases until this has been sewn.  Or at least mostly sewn; I may put the remnant of black away for another day.

But at the rate I'm sewing, that means I may not get to buy anything else until the summer sales hit in July.

Choir Wardrobe 01.29/17

January colors:  black, gray and royal blue.  Black Jalie 2682, from the 2016 SWAP, black wool gabardine Loes Hinse Oxford Pants and a wool flannel Silhouette Patterns Robin's Jacket.  February will be black and white..and maybe a splash of red sometime around the 14th...

I really have been struggling to get into the sewing room.  I've got a white shirt that's been cut out for over a year, that I really need, and I'm working on it in about 20 minute increments...when I get a chance at all.

And, with  no sales or nothin', I ordered some more of that fabulous Telio doubleknit that I used to make the mustard yellow Helix pants last fall.  In  more wardrobe-friendly colors of black and navy.

I may or may not have ordered a little more fabric to make the journey with them.  Tracking says it will arrive tomorrow.

It may figure into the SWAP...if I can manage to do a SWAP, lol.

We'll see if I can do better at 'sew everything I buy' this year than I did last year...

Choir Wardrobe 1.22.17

Tryin' to stay current for a change...  January choir wardrobe colors are black, gray and royal blue.  A RTW blue sweater shell and pants and jacket (modified Loes Hinse Oxfords and Pamelas' Patterns Draped Front Cool Cardigan)  from the 2016 SWAP collection were quite suitable for a rainy Sunday. (most of the rain splatters had evaporated from the lower legs by the time we took the picture...)

This is the prime reason for doing the  SWAP last year...to have clothes to wear with the various choir wardrobe colors.  If I can manage it, one more SWAP of such basics and I should be good to go for a while!

If I can manage it...lol...

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...um, Not Choir...Wardrobe 12.18.16

Friday morning, I got a text message, wanting to know if My Sweet Babboo and I would be willing to join another couple in donning Dickens costumes and singing Christmas Carols before each service today.

Are Christmas Cookies yummy?

You can't see it, but we have a horse and sleigh just to our left; it was a kinda serendipitous acquisition and was used for photo ops all morning.

We barely had time to pull the costumes...they have been moved since we last used them...and practice a half dozen or so carols in a key such that we could all sing melody.  Just not enough time for us contemporary worship folks to learn traditional four part harmony.

(photo credit Diane O.)

Of course, that meant we had to miss participating in the choir; we sang for latecomers through the first song of the worship set.

The Flute Player joined us; she's in the middle, in a skirt I made for her when she was in the 8th grade for a school production of A Christmas Carol.  We were both surprised that it wasn't too short for her; she must've worn some heels on her boots in 8th grade!  My gray cape is 30 years old...I bought it when I was in my last trimester with our firstborn.  It's been worn several times now as a pseudo-dickens cloak.

The funny thing is that I actually bought fabric to make Dickens costumes for myself and My Sweet Babboo, back in, like, June, thinking we were going to do a production this year.  HOWever, we were presented instead with the opportunity to purchase a retired high school to renovate into a facility that will alleviate our uber-crowdedness so any possibility of doing a major production this year totally evaporated and I didn't bother to make the costumes.

Friday afternoon, I was *really* wishing I'd just gone ahead and sewn them up.  But we managed to find enough costumes in church storage to outfit our crew.

The high school has a 750-seat professional-grade theater, with 12 drops in the flies, which was new in, like, 2002.  It's not even going to need much more than a spruce up with paint and it's ready for action.  I'm thinking I need to get on those costumes soon after the new year...because this is definitely the shadow of Christmas Yet To Come...

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 12/4/16

We had a last minute change in wardrobe colors for December;  we went from black and red to black and a sort of foresty-green.  No time to hit the sewing machine (and I don't think I even have any green that color in the stash) and shopping is just not gonna happen, so I'm limited to what's already in the wardrobe.

So I'm basically wearing black...black 'denim' Helix pants, a black Jalie 2566 t and a black ponte McCall's 6844 (the pants and Jacket are from this years SWAP wardrobe)...with a black-and-green poly/acrylic scarf that I *think* I got at Hancock's about 5 years ago. 

I'll be honest...I have no idea what's up with the photography and the Helix pants.  I put them on, look in my mirror and think, 'Oh, those look great!'...then I look at the photos and think 'Gah! What is going on with all that baggy stuff????'

Maybe it's just  my posture for photos...who knows...

I'm late with the post; a bit of sheepish explanation.  I've got a bunch of fluid in my ears and it appears to be causing some pretty extreme ver ti go (don't want to trip a search...).  I'll be going fine when I get up in the morning and then a couple of hours later...bam! I'm knocked flat for a bit.  I've had trouble working whole days...it's been kind of a pain in the patootie.  I've been on an antibiotic, which seemed to make me feel even worse,  done the little position maneuvers that are supposed to help, with no real benefit...my GP is going to refer me to an ENT.  Hopefully that will happen sooner rather than later.

I had a rough four or so hours this afternoon, but it seems to have subsided a bit for now.  So I've kinda got a 'let's see how much I can get done while my head is on right' challenge at the moment.

Check 'write Sunday's blog post' off that list...;-)

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 11 20 16

November's colors are black, garnet red and spicy mustard.

Spicy mustard being a color that should really never, ever be anywhere near my face, I tried to find a pair of mustard denim jeans a few weeks ago, but, alas, no luck.  However, I did find some very, very nice Telio doublknit (the kind with nylon instead of polyester in the mix) in a passable mustard color and  made up the Sewing Workshop Helix pants, slightly modified to include pockets (borrowed from Loes Hinse's Oxford pants...).  They really and truly do not look nearly as baggy in the mirror as they look in the photo; not sure why, unless it's because the tail on the  Vogue 8305 cardigan is obscuring the leg line.  The RTW sweater looks much more puple/pinky on my monitor; it's really a very nice cranberry..., er, garnet red.

I really liked sewing with the nylon/rayon/lycra doubleknit.  I may have to order more in something that doesn't look so, um, Ronald-McDonald-ish.

But I will have something, at least, to wear when mustard yellow/dark gold pops up in the choir color list.  The pants feel so nice, I may actually wear them a bit more.

Maybe.

Choir Wardrobe 11 13 16

November choir colors are garnet red, spicy mustard and black.    Just couldn't bring myself to wear the yellow overtop again this week, so it's red and black for me....pinstripe Loes Hinse Oxford pants, morphed into boot cuts,  the aging Vogue 8305 Cardi-Wrap, and what may be the swan song of  my red silk charmeuse Simplicity 2750 shell top, as  I happened to look down about  halfway through the morning and realize that the center front has shredded at the neckline seam.  Fortunately, it was not terribly obvious from any distance, but it made me sad.  I'm not sure it's salvageable; gonna have to have a close look at it later.

But I will have plenty of opportunity to mend it...if it can be mended.  I went on a cutting spree this weekend and cut out  a skirt, a cardigan, a shell top and a pair of pants, and all of it but the pants is garnet red (the shell top is actually the rest of that same piece of silk).  So I will have the right thread loaded up...

That's the last cutting I'll do for a while; I need to clean up the spare room/cutting station as it needs to be converted from Sewing to Gift Wrapping for the next few weeks. I'm about half done w/my Christmas shopping...and the Princess's birthday (she's gonna be 31...unbelievable...) is in the mix...so I need to close down the cutting room for a while.  I've plenty of stuff cut out to keep me busy...should I actually find time to sew.  Maybe I can 20-minutes-a-day myself into something finished by next weekend... ;-)

In other news, the week is up on the Blogiversary Giveaway.  I actually only had TWO ladies who did not tell me they already had that specific pattern (or enough patterns) so the drawing was simple...I wrote the entries on a couple of pieces of paper, folded them identically, threw them in a small box and shook it well, then about half an hour later came back and dumped one little folded note out.  Mary Deeter, you have won the pattern!  I know I had your address earlier, but I apparently deleted all those emails (again! LOL), so if you'll send me your address (tig77LW at yahoodotcom) I'll get that out in the mail for you.  Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to leave an encouraging note!  I know I'm not as active round here as I used to be...or as active as I'd like to be...so it makes me feel all warm fuzzy to know that there are still folks following along.

There's been an incredible amount of tension and emotion running through the online communities of late; I'd just like to take a minute and say that I fully recognize I have many ladies who stop by here who would disagree with me on many topics.  I try hard to be who I am without offering offense to those of you who would not agree.  But in these stressful days...I just want you all to know that I appreciate each of you.  You are all gifted in your own way, and you are important.  Thank you for letting me share my wacky wardrobe with you all!  Hugs for everyone... ;-)