Stash Busting! Quilters Organize!

Hey, have you seen this in blogland?  Stash Busting is an actual initiative among quilters who want to work through more than they buy.  Who knew?  Not me, well not at first.

Used since last report:                   0.00  yards
Used year to Date:                       xxx yards

Added since last report:                 2.875 yards
Added Year to Date:                   xxx yards

Net Used for 2012:                        XX yards

I went out to visit a couple of my favorite blogs and saw these wonderful reports... hey I need to get on this.  It's too late to count 2012, unless I declare a Fiscal Year beginning Sept. 1, but maybe I should get started!  I have added a page to this blog called Stash Busting.  I'll see if it helps.

I also noticed that people title days, and blog a specific thing on a specific day, like Design Wall Day or Linky Day or UFO challenges.  Hmmm... that one sounds like it's for me!



UFO Number one million or so...  LOL!

Maybe we garment sewist should organize a UFO challenge.  Well, I guess I'd better check on what's going on at ASG, I'm sure I can find someone doing something onto which I should get on board.

Keep on sewing!

Reflections on the Day

I'm enjoying a little peace and quiet after an afternoon full of grandchildren.  The three smaller ones are 4,5, and 6 years old, and generally speaking they get along and play well together.  Two of them stayed overnight while their parents enjoyed a night out.  The other two live next door.

Miss E was a little put out that she couldn't stay over too, but the three of them together and none of us would have gotten any sleep!

I was thinking about when I was small.  I was telling Miss K about having five brothers who picked on me and made my life miserable sometimes.  This was after her little brother did something, or maybe she was telling me about something he did last week.

My brothers are all younger than I am.  When we were small we were grubby, snotty nosed little kids who fought and played and never sat still.  When we would fight our mom would make us sit together in a chair, and give each other a hug.  This would generally provoke some poking and pushing which turned into laughing, and you can't be mad at someone with whom you are laughing.  Trying to avoid hugging would be so funny we'd forget about being mad.

These are the dearest people to me... next to my own kids and grandkids they are the people I would give a kidney to, or send my last dollar if it would help them. 

I found out that one of my youngest brothers has an incurable disease that has no treatments, and has had it for seven years. We live half a continent apart, and my brothers are all from the John Wayne school of keep-your-weaknesses-to-yourself. It's devastating to find out that a sibling has something from which they will not recover. What do you do? I'm offering it up, as they say. Tell your troubles to Jesus. Well, Lord, this is a big one!

As I was waiting for the grands to go to sleep, and they were wiggling and giggling and generally NOT going to sleep, I was thinking what a nice day it had been with them.  I don't like to send kids to be hungry.  Or crying.  But they were in need of a little incentive to drop off, so I went in a fourth time and administered a stern warning.  Five minutes later there was only the sound of gentle breathing from their room.

Thank God for every day I get to spend with them. I thank Him also for my fairly decent health, and the fact that I am still employed and that the family is nearby.  I thank Him for the gift of brothers and sisters and cousins and in-laws and other family.  I thank Him that he has ALL of my brothers in his hands... and that He keeps us there.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.  Sometimes what does kill you does the same.  None of us gets out of this world alive, but none of us is ready to go right now.  But like Tim McGraw sings, we should all live like we were dying.  Because we are.

Some days there is great happiness, and great sadness, all at the same time.

Good night, wherever you are.  Don't forget to say "I love you".

Use Your Imagination!!

How much fun can you have with the stuff that's left over when you unpack a box from the UPS man??

Depends on what kind of material it is, I guess... I recently received a box of zippers and thread that I ordered from a place called WAWAK (that's another post, but trust me it was a great experience!) and the box came packed with some cool brown paper with perforations every 18 inches or so.

The day it came, Miss A was visiting and "doing craft stuff".  We opened the box and I naturally started to unfold and smooth out the paper.  At first she was disappointed that there was no bubble wrap.  Popping the bubble wrap is in the union rules for five year olds.

After I smoothed out the paper, she asked if she could have some.  Pulled into sections it suggested to her that it could be colored on, and turned into a mask and wings.

We had to find some 'string' in my yarn basket to tie the mask on, and it took two tries and some assistance from Gramma to get the eye holes right, but she flew around the living room for about half an hour.

Totally worth the effort!!

Thanks, WAWAK.  Get your own supply of paper at www.wawak.com and check out their on-line catalog of good stuff.

Keep on Sewing!

September is National Sewing Month

On September 21, 1982, at the request of the American Home Sewing & Craft Association, an industry and trade association supporting the sewing and craft industries, President Ronald Reagan, under Proclamation #4976, declared September as National Sewing Month “In recognition of the importance of home sewing to our Nation.”

He subsequently proclaimed the same thing in 1983, 1984, 1985 and 1988.  We don't need more proclamations to tell us that September is the perfect time to sew.  Just like January and April and all the other months of the year! 

Still, celebrating sewing is a good thing.  Studies have proven that sewing is relaxing, therapeutic and good for the soul. 


The web site http://www.nationalsewingmonth.org/ is a great place to check out the celebration.  There is a contest you can enter, and free promotional materials if you're a shop owner or business.  You can also find them on Facebook.

2012's theme is Sew For the Fun of it! An ancient art made new.

The sewing machine itself is only about 160 to 175 years old, but boy has it made progress in the last couple of decades!  I remember my first sewing machine -- the first one I owned, that is.  It was purchased used from a store where I worked part time.  Some lucky woman traded up and I got her old one.  It had cams for different stitches, and the button hole maker was a giant machine that clamped on the shank and required at least two changes to the throat plate.

This is the closest I could find to what I remember... way back then!!

Nowadays machines have so many bells and whistles you really need the free lessons they give when you buy from a good dealer.

I learned to sew on my grandmother's treadle machine.  I think she thought she was amusing me, keeping me occupied.  Little did either of us know how big a part sewing would play in my life!

So back to National Sewing Month... here are the S&C Alliance's suggestions for you:

• Teach a family member or friend to sew.
• Volunteer your time and teach sewing to a local youth organization like Girl Scouts and 4-H Clubs.
• Make it possible for someone to learn how to sew. Give employees time off work so they can volunteer their time; or donate fabrics, equipment, and sewing supplies. 
• Sew more often. If you haven't been sewing lately, find out what's new in the sewing world at a local fabric or sewing machine store. 
• Join your local chapter of the American Sewing Guild at www.asg.org and participate in its activities. 
• Register for a class at a local fabric store or sewing machine dealership and take a friend. 
• Contact your local public television station and make a contribution that supports sewing programs. 
• Create your own sewing circle of friends; it’s fun to sew with others!

Sew on!

Are You A Reader? Or Book TV Viewer?

I love to read, and I love to read good, old fashioned paper books!  I buy books all the time, both new and used.  I've been known to read an entire book in a weekend, or to stay up until the wee hours on a weeknight to finish one I cannot put down.

And don't even get me started on books about sewing and knitting and crafting!  I never met a bookstore or in-the-lobby book sale that I didn't like.  Like the one in our lobby last week Thursday, where I picked up a copy of J.A. Jance's Fatal Error.  I started reading it at lunchtime and finished it up on Friday evening.  It was a page-turner!!

This weekend, while I was knitting a scarf for Miss E, I watched some Book TV on CSpan 2 on cable TV.  For those of you who have never watched, it's normally 48 hours of discussions, lectures, reviews and more about non-fiction books that runs on the network that usually carried live coverage of the US Government during the week.  Yeah, boring but true, Congress has its own network.

On holiday weekends, it will be 72 hours, beginning on Saturday morning at 6 a.m.  I tuned in this weekend.  They were interviewing one of the librarians from the Library of Congress about an exhibit at the library of Books That Shaped America.  And if you don't happen to be in Washington D.C., you can check it out at the LOC website at www.loc.gov/bookfest .

Off I toddled to check out the entire list.  The librarian had talked about a few of them, and why they were chosen.  Somehow I thought there would be more, but there were only 88 books.  But what a bunch of great books!  I discovered that I have heard of most of them, and I have read 28 of them.  Books like Catch-22 and Beloved and Goodnight Moon.

There is a wonderful interactive list that can be sorted by book, author or year, and if you click on the book title it will tell you why the book was selected.  For example, the book Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (maybe you saw the movie) was a satirical treatment of military bureaucracy that made the title a catch phrase for the eternal do-loop. 

If you're interested in books of all kinds, there is a Festival Of The Book coming in to the National Mall in Washington D.C. on September 22-23.  I bet it will be televised on Book TV.

Google book festivals, I'll bet there's one near you!

Sew on!

A Question of Taste, or Not??

My boss knows I sew.  He takes a rather perverse pleasure in telling people about it when I am trying to be a serious business professional, like it's a secret granny thing or something.  BUT he is not above bragging a little too, when someone compliments something I'm wearing and he knows it's something I've made.

His mother sewed garments and quilts, and he has a cousin who is a successful designer and retailer, so I know he values the talent.  And he's not above asking me to do the occasional project and paying good money to get it done, so I cut him a little slack on the teasing.

However, once in a while I question the guy's taste!

Normally he's a rather serious and dignified guy with a dry sense of humor.  But once in a while he surprises me.  He asked if I would know how to take a design someone drew and turn it into an embroidery for a shirt.  His family was having a sports tournament, himself and his sons against his brother and HIS sons, and one of the guys had designed a 'logo'. 

I use the term loosely because what was designed could hardly be used as a logo in any modern business.  It was based on the shape of a liquor bottle that had been manufactured in the 1950s, and today would be completely politically incorrect, to coin a term by Bill Maher.

Having purchased some digitizing software, I knew I could do it, but you know, I have rules... like I do not sew on ugly fabric, and I don't do anything in a shoddy manner.  If I can't do something well, I do not do it at all.  OK, yes, type A personality trait.  Guilty as charged!

So when he showed me the logo, and asked me to sew it on a dozen shirts, I had qualms.  BUT and this is a big BUT, the shirts included men's and women's versions.  Thus I must conclude that the women of the family agreed to wear said shirts.  Oh yes, I know the wife and she would not wear it if she didn't want to wear it!

So I sewed the logo onto all the shirts he brought to work, and took the payment cheerfully.  But I made him promise NEVER to tell anyone that I was the one who did the sewing!!  We laughed about it then.  He never did tell anyone in my hearing either.  He sent me a photo of the group wearing their shirts.  They all looked pretty happy.  Of course it was a group picture and the logo could not be clearly seen in the picture.

Fast forward two years.  He brought me a box of shirts this week...  oh yeah -- same logo.

Sew on!

Post #103

Somewhere along the line I passed post number 100, and didn't even notice...  I guess I was having too much fun to count!

Sew on.

I'm Going To Wear Skirts Again!

Seems like since our new office move, I should be dressing better.  For too many years I've been working in a basement suite with anywhere from zero to six men as office mates, depending upon the day.  I've been used to wearing pants and a top and maybe a sweater or a jacket for far too long!

 

I usually get more dressed up on Sundays, but still, mostly pants!  I used to wear skirts and dresses... back before putting on pantyhose seemed like cruel and unusual punishment.

 

Last week I was organizing my stash, and came across about six yards of this bright floral cotton blend.  Had it been 100% cotton it would have gone into the quilting stash box, but if you're quilting you really don't want to mix blends in unless your fabrics are all prewashed. 

 

 

I must have liked it a lot!! I bought six yards!

So think of the possibilities with this print... might go with blue or aqua or fuchsia, and of course white and black.

I pulled out my trusty OLD Stretch and Sew pattern for straight, four gore and six gore skirts.  This one happens to be four gore.  It has less flair than the six gore.. it probably is very close to an A line but with four seams instead of two.  And with this print, unless I wanted a lot of swing, the seams will be hidden so there was no real reason for going six gore.

I pulled out the serger, whipped up the seams and clean finished the hem and top edge.  I sewed my favorite no roll 1 1/4 inch elastic into a tube, folded down the top casing and stitched it down using my regular sewing machine and the zipper foot.  Using the zipper foot gets the casing nice and snug.  Even non-rolling elastic benefits from this application.

Then I switched over to the blind hem foot and after pinning up the hem I sewed that on the regular machine too.

Voila!  About an hour later (allowing for pressing the seams and the hem) I added this skirt to my wardrobe.  I didn't think about taking a pic of me wearing it, but after I hung it on the closet door to put away, I took a photo of the sweater I paired it with (minus the white tank top that was under the sweater).



 

 

Next time I might try a blue sweater... or maybe I'll see if there is some bright green in the stash somewhere.  I love green!

 

Sew on!

Last Thing On The List

Way back a couple dozen posts ago, I started writing about things that inspired me or were important in my sewing journey:  Mrs. W, a white coat, and some other things.  The last thing on the list was the Jean Jacket Remake.

I bought a rather expensive jean jacket about seven years ago from Coldwater Creek.  It was expensive even though I bought it on sale, because it was made of a soft tencel fabric, I guess you could say it was denim in color only.  However, like most jean-style jackets it felt like it was too short on me.  I am long-waisted, and I normally add 2 inches to the length of tops and dresses.

This jacket was a major disappointment when I got it home.  I loved the fabric, and everyone in the world had a jean jacket -- except me.

I studied it for a while, hung it in the closet and pouted.  The catalogs were showing such cute combinations of jean jackets and floral skirts and dresses...  oh pooh!

  

I saw a Mary Mulari episode of Nancy's Notions where Mary extended the bottom of a sweat shirt cardigan with a fabric rectangle.  Hey, if she can do it on a sweatshirt, why can't I do it to this jacket?  It's just hanging there getting no use anyway, right?

I cut some batik rayon fabric into rectangles and finished the short ends.  Then I got out the scissors and cut the bottom band off the expensive tencel jean jacket.  I took out my serger.  The bottom of my jacket was longer than the width of the batik fabric, so I made two strips and overlapped them at the center back.  This would be more comfortable anyway, as it will allow for my wider hips.

You can just see above the date in this photo where the panel I added on this side angles toward the side seam.  I top stitched the seam allowance toward the batik panel.

OK, this was a totally gorgeous piece of batik, but with the fabric at the bottom it sort of looked like a patch, and not in a good way.  The secret to doing this type of makeover, according to Pauline Richards, is to put that same fabric somewhere else on the garment and make it look like it's supposed to be there.

I had a pretty good sized piece of batik left over, so I experimented with putting a piece on the pockets, on the cuffs, and finally settled on covering the collar.  That was a pretty simple operation.  I traced the collar onto tissue paper, creating a pattern.  I added seam allowance, cut it out, and hand stitched it to the jacket.

The fabric was very soft, and I didn't add any interfacing because the collar was as stiff as I wanted it to be.  The fabric easily conformed to the collar shape.  After 7 years it still looks very nice.

Here's the finished project:

I cut the cuffs off, finished the sleeve ends with the serger and folded them up twice for a casual look.  I wear this all the time with black slacks and a white tee shirt for casual Friday at the office.  With the black pants it's dressier than jeans and more appropriate for my downtown office.  I have also worn it over a solid navy tank and skirt, or my white summer Capri pants.

So I saved it from going into the Goodwill bin after one wearing, and have justified the money spent to purchase it by making it versatile, comfortable and more my style.

What are you remaking or restyling?

Keep on sewing!

Fabric Shopping

Anyone who reads this blog understands that I love sewing, and I have since I was a very small child!  I enjoy the process from beginning to end.  I was strictly a garment sewist for a very long time.  I started quilting when we were expecting the arrival of our first grandchild in 2001. 

My very favorite part of the process has to be picking out the fabrics.  I love the planning stage of any type of project.  Coming up with a pattern and having a picture in my mind of the finished product, and then trying to come up with the materials just makes my juices flow!

One of my favorite places to be is any fabric department of any store... but of course I have my favorites!! 

These days, I shop for garment fabric from my stash, and when I can't find the right thing there, I have to travel out of town, or shop the Internet.  <Sigh>

Sewists are by nature tactile beings.  We need to touch and feel.  We see as much with our fingers as with our eyes.  I dare anyone who sews even a little to walk through their local fabric source and not touch SOMETHING while they're walking the aisles!!  Nope, can't do it!

So learning to shop on the Internet has been a challenge for me.  For quilting cottons, it's not so bad.  You can learn a fabric line or buy a designer, and you just have to be a little concerned that the colors on the screen are what you really want. 

With garment fabric it's a bit more challenging.  You can learn the various types of fabric, and what they are expected to feel like, or how they would drape.  Books like Fabric Savvy and More Fabric Savvy from Sandra Betzina can help.

But if you really want to know how the fabric will FEEL, if that's important to you before you buy, shopping on line can be very hard.  That's why it's so important to find out some things about your on line retailer.  What is their return policy if the fabric is just not what you thought it would be?  And can you order a swatch, and will it be large enough for you to determine whether it's suitable?

Soapbox warning!!  If you work for a chain store you can turn away for a few second...

I am a big believer in supporting local merchants!  If there's a store in the area that carries what I need, I don't buy on line, even if I can get something a little cheaper.  Because if I'm not helping to support those local stores all the time, sooner or later they close up.  Then we're stuck with fabric from whoever stays in the area, and the choices dry up!  So shop your local merchants, and thank them for being in business in your area!

OK, off the soapbox now.  You can look again.

Enjoy your next fabric shopping trip.  Look around, you might see me there!

Sew On.

Goals, Sewing Goals

I confess.  I am a person with way more ideas than time.  If I made half of all of the things I daydream about making, well, let's just say I'd have a lot more wearable clothing and a lot less stash!

I stopped at Joann's last night to pick up a pattern I keep seeing on Pattern Review.  It gets raves.  It's a fairly simple dress with a draped neckline and a cap sleeve and straight skirt, Vogue 1250. 

There were a couple of other patterns from other lines that had the same neckline shape, but what I liked about this one was the back detail... a back waist seam gives a place for adjustment if you're long waisted like I am.  I have the world's shortest legs, but my back waist measurement is two inches longer than 'standard'.  I never made a dress with a waist seam that didn't need 2 inches in the bodice.

I think one of the things that really made me want to make up this pattern (as opposed to the several million others I already own) was that Pattern Review had photos of several women in two digit sizes who made it and looked fabulous in it.

If you're not familiar with Pattern Review, you should go there and take a look.  www.patternreview.com will get you there.  Scroll down in the left panel and click on Sewing Pattern Reviews.  You can see some stuff without charge or buy a Friends of PR membership and get enhanced services.  I AM NOT BEING PAID BY PR TO SAY ANY OF THIS.  I personally signed up for the free stuff only. 

They have on line classes but the price is not cheap.  My personal opinion for what it's worth is that the access to classes you can get with an American Sewing Guild membership are a better value.  AND you can get on-line classes any time you can turn on your computer.  Of course the class curriculum is a bit different on each site, but again, NOT BEING PAID by anyone, just my humble opinion.

Anyway, back to goals.  My personal goal for fall is to sew a 'five easy pieces' set of garments for myself between now and Christmas.  I want to make a navy pantsuit or pants and jacket for work.  I want to make three tops that go with said navy pants and jacket.

Some likely candidates from my stash of patterns...

Hopefully now that I've written it down, I will apply myself toward actually doing it.

Oh yeah, and I want to get back to attending regular neighborhood group meetings of my local ASG chapter too.  Maybe that will help with the inspiration and provide incentive to sew for me.

Sew on!

Tribeca Shirt or Jacket

Last weekend I sewed some buttonholes in a shirt/jacket that I started about this time last year. 

I went to a sewing expo in a small town in western Wisconsin in June of 2011 with my friends Marlene and Judy.  I went mostly because Marta Alto of Palmer Pletsch was doing a pants fitting seminar.  It's one of the least expensive shows I've ever attended.  Including two meals, my pants fitting class and four or five one-hour classes, I spent less than $100!

Among the vendors was one of my favorite independent fabric stores from Madison, WI, called Gayfeather Fabrics.  Virginia, the owner, sells patterns from the independent designers, and fabulous fabric.

On top of that, and a BIG plus in my book, is that she has sample garments made up, so you can try things on.  This helps a lot, because sometimes the drawing on the pattern envelope bears to resemblance to what the garment will look like on my 5'2", NOT size 12 body!

Anyway, I bought this pattern, called the Tribeca shirt

It's a fairly simple design, some neckline detail and some darts for fitting.  This is completely unlined, and with no facings.  You turn under the edges and mitre the corners, and the construction is easy.  The directions are wonderfully simple and easy to follow.

I put more buttons in the front, since I don't like the gaposis that can occur if you're a person who has to make a full bust adjustment in things, which I normally do. 

The fabric was a pinky rosy background with brown geometric lines, kind of a heavy linen.  I can't remember the fiber content but I think I'm going to hand wash or dry clean this shirt anyway.

Here's the product:

 I shortened the sleeve by about two inches, which is a normal adjustment for me.  I'm thinking about adding some shoulder pads, or maybe some Velcro strips in the shoulder seams so I can use removable pads.  I did flat felled seams because the fabric hinted at raveling.  The wrong side is a lighter color, and might show when I wear it, but that's OK because I did a GREAT job on the edges, if I do say so myself!

I used buttons that kind of look like jeans snaps for a casual feel.  It could be a light weight jacket over a tee shirt, or a nice shirt with either brown or white pants.

If you're in downtown Milwaukee tomorrow, you might see me wearing it!

Oh, and I DID finish a pair of trousers from the fitting workshop, but that's another blog...
Sew on.

Oh No, Did I Really?

I had to stop in at JoAnn's the other night for something.  I don't remember now what it even was...

Ohhhh, yeah... it was 50% off!!  And pretty, don't you agree?

From Wedding Gown...

This past week someone who knows that I sew, and has seen some of my more humble projects such as doll clothes and quilts, asked me if I knew anyone who could make a baptismal dress from a wedding gown, or if I would consider doing it myself.

Coincidentally, I always wanted to do that with my own dress.  My first child was a boy, so I made an outfit for his baptism but I used something more tailored than the fancy crystal peau satin of my dress.  When my daughter was born, I had forgotten about the wedding dress and made her something totally different.

Fast forward 40 years and I get another chance, but with someone else's gown!

The Pattern:

We got together to discuss her expectations -- literally and figuratively!!  Her due date is early November.

My friend brought two patterns along, one she thought was nice but...

the one she really preferred was this one.



Then she brought out the dress.

Here are a few pictures of 'before':

The dress is strapless, the bodice is heavily beaded.  She did think she wanted the satin bow to be reused somehow, but I don't think there's enough money in the world that could induce me to remove and use the bodice.  I think there's enough fabric in the skirt and train for even the longest baby gown.

The lace has a scalloped edge, which will be used along the bottom of the baby gown.  It's beautiful and there is plenty of it going around the back of the skirt of the bridal gown.

And there's even an underskirt with fabric that can be used for lining or petticoat for the baby.

I think I'll pick a nice long weekend to start this... I'll post about it again after Labor Day weekend.

Sew on!



I Have A New Project!!

I'm kind of excited to say I have picked up a new project.  A young lady I know asked me if I knew someone who could make a baptismal dress from a wedding gown.  Do I?  Yeah, me! 

I picked up the dress and her chosen pattern last night.  I'm excited to get to work tonight, taking pictures of both and doing some planning.  The baby is due in November so I have some time.  My only worry is that since the dress is a strapless number with a pretty straight skirt, I hope the pieces of this very full baby gown fit on the available fabric.

I'm told there is a train folded up in the dress bag... so wish me luck!  There's a beaded overskirt that she wants used to cover the skirt of the baby dress.

Photos of the project will be forthcoming!

Sew on...

Lemons

There's a saying that goes:  when life gives you lemons, make

From my interactions with the dozens of folks I talk to on a daily basis, I think most of the world has forgotten this.  People like to complain.  Nobody wants to see the good side of anything.

Well, that's a gross generalization if I ever heard one!

Lots of people like to complain.  I like to complain once in a while.  Like when traffic comes to an absolute standstill on the freeway and there is no earthly reason why it should.  Or if the bag of fast food I used the drive-thru to buy ends up short one greasy sandwich.

But lots of people don't ever get beyond the whining and either do something about it or forget about it and move on.  There was one guy at my office who was perpetually gloomy, raining on everyone's parade about everything, never ever happy about anything.  Even in the present economic climate with so many people out of work he couldn't be happy about being employed.

I read somewhere that women love to talk about things and men like to solve the problem and get on with it... another gross generalization to which that guy in my office was the rule-proving exception!

There is a lot of bad stuff happening in the world.  There are lots of mean people, only out for themselves.  Bad things happen to good people.  Sometimes it's just traffic backing up, or you stubbed your toe.  Sometimes it's horrible, like a terminal illness or loss of a job.

For me, those bad times are a test of faith.  If you believe that God cares for you no matter what, you can live through the bad times and look at them as character builders. 

There ARE good people in the world, and if you reach out when you have a need, you will almost always find someone who will take your hand and help you.  To me there is nothing better than the company of a couple of girlfriends to help you through the tough times and put the positive back in your attitude.

If you're one of my girlfriends, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart.  If you are part of a girlfriend posse somewhere, bless you.  If you are blue or lonely, find a girlfriend or two and start your 'therapy'.

And I will tell you one thing for certain -- there is nothing like the friendship shared by the people in the sewing world!  Guilds and sewing/quilting groups and sewing sisters are special people. 

Thanks for being you!

Sew on...

Photos for a 90 Degree Day

Remember this?

My driveway, February, 2011

Or this?

How about this?

Latest Conditions in Milwaukee, WI					Choose Your Front Page City
		Partly Cloudy Thursday Chance Showers High: 86 °F Next winter, let's try to remember how upset we were when it was hot!!	Aug 1 7:52 pm 78°F (26°C)

Resource Center Musings

I found this notepad in my stack of paper when we were moving all of our stuff from the garage back to the office.  I think this says it all... and I'm a contender!!

A notepad from my desk

In previous posts and in my blog header I've talked about my stash.  I've discussed the reasons why I believe a serious sewist should have a stash. 

1. When your colors are out of season, or the stores want to sell brown and you like black, you can shop where the proprietor stocks what you need.
2. When you want to sew at 11 p.m. or 5 a.m. and the stores aren't open yet, you're good to go.
3. When you have to make a blue monster costume on Sunday night for Monday morning, well, you get the picture!!

So you probably weren't surprised when I showed my stack of bins...

or my boxes of patterns...

But did I tell you that I ran completely out of muslin??  Or that I somehow have failed to store even one single black zipper of ANY size?  How does this happen?

I recently decided to take inventory of my sewing supplies, just for curiosity's sake, and perhaps to give a list of things to my insurance man for a rider on my homeowners policy.

I have approximately $300 worth of sewing machine needles. 

I have six different kinds of straight pin and three magnetic pincushions.  And before you comment, yes I DO use the various kinds of pins.  Maybe not daily but they gather no dust!  When I decide to cut patterns out, I will sometimes do as many as a dozen projects, and I leave SOME pins in each piece, so some are out of circulation, in the baggies I use for my 'ready to sew' kits.

You've seen these before...

I spent some time in the resource center trying to finish up DD's quilt so I can move on to other things.  I have a blouse to put button holes into, and another one that needs some interfacing.  I have about oh maybe 45 yards of interfacings in my resource center.  When I find it on sale at 50% off I buy 10 yards of the light weight or medium weight, and any time I find the stuff that's sold by Palmer & Pletsch, I get several packages of each weight in black and white.

Recently I donated two baggies of flat buttons to our preschool for craft projects.  I barely made a dent in the button collection.  But I did thin out the singles and the big buttons that didn't really appeal to me anymore.  I'm happy to make some 3 and 4 year olds happy.  :-)

What I didn't realize was how many SCRAPS I have saved over time!!  I used to make doll clothes, in fact I started my sewing career making clothes for my Barbie dolls.  I have an affinity for things Barbie.  I loved her professional outfits, I get a fluttery feeling in my tummy thinking about an outfit I bought her way back when, with its Chanel style jacket and matching purse and heels!!  My Barbie was stylin'!

SO I sorted out my scraps into a couple of piles -- Barbie-sized pieces, 18" doll sized pieces and baby doll/Cabbage Patch pieces.

You know those big plastic bins that hold however many gallons??  You know, the ones up near the top of this blog??  Well, there are two that are full of potential 18" and baby doll outfits, and the potential Barbie outfits fill a half-sized bin.  I guess I'd better get to work!!

Know any naked Barbies??  I guess you could send them my way...

Laughing out loud ---

Keep on sewing!