Happy Birthday...

Tomorrow is my Aunt Zel's birthday, so if you know her, be sure to wish her a good one! This is how we see each other most of the time...

 

Although usually it's ME on that side of the sewing machine...

 

I won't be seeing her tonight or tomorrow because she's quite the world traveler, which is awesome because she does not drive!  But she's an honored guest in a lot of vehicles on a lot of trips.  So she gets around. 

 

Tonight she's headed 'Up North' for a little trip to the vacation villa.  Actually it's the town she grew up in, along the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River.

 

Have a good trip!  Come home soon and safe, we have a prom dress to alter for Amanda!

 

Sew on...

Stash Enhancement

I never used to enjoy shopping on line, but over the past couple of years I've not found shopping malls very satisfying, and I really don't have a lot of spare time to travel all over looking for things I need.  Or want.

Since about 2009 I've tried many mail order and on line sources for various products.  I do love Amazon for books and other 'hard goods', I've gotten used books for as little as $4 including shipping.  Hey, they read just as nicely as new books, right?  If shipping is free I consider it a bonus because I haven't used $4 a gallon gas to make a purchase, even though my car gets pretty decent mileage and I can sometimes stop on my way to somewhere else.

Yes, I do know the library is free, but there's that time thing.  Plus returning on time... that's a whole 'nother story!

The drawback is you don't always know what you're getting so you have to do your homework. 

Fabric shopping on line can be hard if you don't know enough about weights and fiber content, etc.  Then there's the tactile nature of sewing, fabric shopping is as much about feeling as it is about seeing.

Because in my area most of the fabric stores are quilt shops, which I do love but they don't carry much garment fabric, or they're chains which don't always carry the quality of fabric I want, I started checking out on line fabric stores.  Now if you're an American Sewing Guild member, you get a leg up on this!  Many on line vendors have been at various ASG conferences so you know the quality of their goods.  Many of them offer deals through the ASG web site, so you can try them out and help the Guild at the same time.

I have a couple of favorites... I love Vogue Fabrics in Chicago and will even sometimes take a road trip there.  I've gotten nice things at good prices from fabric.com too.  There are some others but those are my go-to defaults.

I was looking for some leopard print fabric that would be appropriate for a jumper or dress for Miss A.  I only found swimsuit fabric and fleece locally.  But fabric.com had some poly/cotton and some sweater knit so I ordered some.

Of course I also found a few nice pieces for doll skirts and dresses to go with the sweaters I've been knitting.

Here's what came yesterday:

Leopard and some camo, all knits.  The back one is a sweater knit, perhaps for Miss E or my daughter.

Cats and pink plaid are a nice weight of flannel, and the blue and yellow are cottons.

This one is mine, a nice weight of doubleknit for a spring top and there's enough for either a skirt or a cardigan too.

Such a fun time when I come home and there's a package for me!  It's like Christmas... with the added bonus that DH is becoming fast friends with the UPS man. LOL!

Now I need to get some of this prewashed and pick out some patterns.

Oh, did I say I won a pattern package from another blog, Sew Everything (link in my blog faves at right).  I'm pretty excited about that, I haven't statistically been lucky at winning things and it was such a pleasure.  Of course the odds were in my favor, not like the lottery.

New fabric, new patterns, now all I need is some vacation time.

Sew on...

Administrative Professionals Day

It's nice to be appreciated.  Today is Administrative Professionals Day, formerly Secretary's Day but renamed to be more politically correct.  I remember fourteen or fifteen years ago, my boss at the time asked me if I minded being included in celebrations of Secretary's Day since I was more in the line of Financial Assistant than Administrative Assistant.  Evidently one of the women in the marketing group had taken exception to being invited to the luncheon because she was "so much more than a secretary".

Well, I never turn down a free lunch if I can help it.  AND I think the people who support the people who were paying for the lunch deserve everything they get and more!

Who makes sure the meeting rooms are reserved and the coffee service is ready and the travel arrangements are made and the bills get paid and the documents are properly prepared, sent, filed, witnessed, notarized or even spell checked?  Who makes sure supplies are ordered, visitors are made welcome, taxis are called, emergencies are handled?  Not bosses most of the time, not mine anyway. 

Big companies run on the efforts of all the little cogs represented by the people at desks in tall buildings and in small suites all over this country.  It's wonderful when that is acknowledged, in any manner.  It would be great if those support people could all be paid what they're worth, but I think that would mean the Big Guys up in the ivory towers would have to all realize that they don't exist in a vacuum.

Did you ever see the move The Devil Wears Prada (or read the book)?  Those poor assistants!!  They deserve a day every week if that's how the fashion industry really runs!

Anyway, my boss retired last year, and I now support a small fleet of managers from various states.  I do a multitude of things for them from arranging large meetings at conferences to processing invoices for payment to making expense sheets appear out of envelopes of crumpled receipts.

I think all of them appreciate it.  Some of them even show it.

Thanks to all the little people who work hard every day to make the Big People look good!  You rock!

Sew on...