Moving the Office

In case any of my three followers were wondering why I haven't posted since last Thursday, this is why:

Our office is moving!!    

We have been in one location since 1987, and believe you me, there is a LOT of junk that has been accumulating over the years!  We've been going through a major records purge, sending a ton of boxes to off site storage, and shredding a lot. 

Well, we haven't shredded, a company called (appropriately) Piranha has been providing big blue bins into which we have poured our paper lives from closed projects and expired archives and all the nooks and crannies of our work life.

We're down to the wire.  There are two more 'in office' work days this week.  Then Friday the big moving van comes and picks up all our our totes, carts and boxes, and drives us the seven or eight blocks over to the new location and unloads it all.

Saturday those of us on the moving committee will be putting everything in the new space.  I'm responsible for our joint venture project and all the office supplies and kitchen supplies.  Other people will be moving the garage, the machines, hooking up computers and phones, all the other lovely things that go into making a 100 person office function.

about half of what needs to go into my new cube!!

After an open house on Sunday, the only thing remaining will be for each person to put away their own personal office stuff and settle in to work.

Pros to the move:  two locations will be combined so instead of two rents there will be one, and instead of two offices half full, there will be one nearly full.  We'll all be in the same spot so we can spend less time on the phone with each other.  Our new location has many amenities in the building including food vendors, a workout room, a big lobby with tables and a TV and the parking is attached.  We'll be in an office building that caters to professional working people.  A building built in the 20th century as opposed to the 19th.  One with heat that works and AC the same, and an elevator that does not take two minutes to go one floor!

Cons:  well, I'll be in a cubicle instead of an office with a door, but I've done that before. 

So if you don't see a new post for a bit, you will know what I'm up to... and say to yourself "I'm glad it's not me!!"

Nancy's 30th Anniversary Show

Today I had one of the most enjoyable days of my life, and certainly one of the best days of my sewing life!  I was part of the live audience at the taping of Nancy Zieman's 30th anniversary on public television.  I cannot begin to tell you how special that was. 

I took a day off work and purchased one of a limited number of tickets to attend a taping of one of my favorite shows on TV, Sewing With Nancy.  I think I started watching SWN about halfway through the first year she was on public TV, or maybe the second season.  I taped it the old fashioned way, on VHS tapes.  I watched them over and over.  Every year at Sewing Weekend I would buy the full season of booklets that Nancy wrote to accompany her shows.  She even autographed a few of them.

So how could I not attend the event marking three decades on public television?? 

The drive to Madison where she tapes was uneventful.  The WPT volunteers were there to help us find the studio.  We walked past carpenter shops and prop rooms into a studio with black walls and lots of cameras and ceiling lights.

 


I was early enough to get a good seat.  I choose to sit on the right side in an angle row where no one was sitting in front of me, because it usually happens that the tallest person in the place will sit in front of me and block the view.  Think dance recitals where I don't get to see the dancers in the center...

There were desserts and beverages, and a wonderful WPT volunteer whose name escapes me but I know you've seen her during pledge week gave us the housekeeping rules.  We were able to take photos before and after but not during taping.

Nancy had her family there.  I recognized her husband from past Sewing Weekends where he once offered to rent me a trailer to help take my loot home, and her oldest son who once shuffled a big box to my car for me. 

Taping was done in two sections for the two part series.  The show will air in the fall schedule, but you might see it sooner (during Pledge prgramming) if you get Wisconsin Public Television on your cable (as opposed to Milwaukee Public Television, which is a different station).

There were a couple of retakes of a few things, but things went very smoothly.  Nancy has a great crew and she's a total professional!  She had guests  including Mary Mulari (her most frequent guest at 46 shows so far), Gail Brown, who she called most versatile, Eileen Roche, Natalie Sewell and her two 'right hand women' Donna and Pat.  These ladies are some of my favorite sewing professionals and it was a joy to here them reminisce about their years of working with Nancy.  They are genuinely nice people in addition to being such good teachers.

Left to right Donna, Gail, Pat, Nancy's director I think, Nancy, Natalie and Eileen.

From the other angle you can see Mary Mulari, third from the left.

A staff member with a video camera was filming the audience, making a video for Nancy, and I waved and said hello.   I should have said congratulations, but I was kind of tongue tied!  Duh!  I used to be better at thinking on my feet!

There were great door prizes.  Gosh, you can't even believe it, but someone won a TEN THOUSAND DOLLAR BABY LOCK SEWING MACHINE!!  <sigh> it was not me.  I also did not win the Amazing Designs 25 CD design pack, or the Madeira Thread Chest (which I've been lusting after for so long) or the Oliso Iron or the Clover Notions gift packet. 

However, I am the proud owner of a lovely Baby Lock coffee mug, some Madeira thread and a Mary Mulari pattern that came in the goodie bag we all received on our way out.  And I had the privilege of attending an awesome event with one of my sewing heroes.  Did you know that Nancy was the first person inducted into the American Sewing Guild Hall of Fame?  Yes, she has done THAT much for the home sewing industry and sewists all over America!!

There were lots of audience shots, so hopefully I'll make it to public TV...  and not be left on the cutting room floor.  When you watch in November, look for me.  This is what I was wearing:

It's a Sewing Workshop pattern, made with Japanese cotton I bought at an ASG conference a few years ago.  I sewed it faster and more efficiently with techniques I learned by watching Nancy.

Thanks Nancy and WPT for 30 great years, and I look forward to many more to come. 

If you're not a supporter of Public TV, IMHO you should think seriously about becoming one!  And by all means watch.  You're sure to find something you will enjoy.

Keep on sewing.

Princesses and Dinosaurs

We don't have the normal kind of princesses in our family.  No looking for the pea under the mattress for us!  We're kind of a rowdy bunch, girls who work and fix things and help their husbands with projects or do their own projects and aren't afraid to get their hands dirty sometimes.  We are womanly women, make no mistake about that!  We like to get dressed up and wear cool shoes and all that.  We can do anything we want to do.  We are woman, hear us roar!! 

However, we choose what we like, and we like whatever that might be whole-heartedly!

Some of my girls like animals more than dolls and dishes.  I like to think they may be budding veterinarians or something along that line.  I think one may be a future archaeologist or paleontologist. 



Sitting astride a T-Rex

Our county zoo has an awesome exhibit of mechanical dinosaurs that make lots of noise and movement, set in a corner where the vegetation has been made to look Jurassic.  The vignettes are very lifelike, and if these dinos aren't truly life sized, they're pretty darned big! 

We went to see the dinosaurs last Sunday.  It was very hot and for me the walk was torture.  But to see the enjoyment on the faces of these three sisters was worth the discomfort.  I drank two bottles of water on the trip up the hill.  The girls put me to shame on the walk, or should I say walk/run?  They ran, I dragged my sorry butt as fast as I could without coming out of the flip-flops.



Can you tell they have a sense of humor?

I took the first picture at the beginning of the exhibit.  Nicely posed, sitting properly on the small fiberglass dino.  After a second, more candid shot (self-posed) we toured more of the exhibit.
There was a nest of some sort of babies that made a lot of noise, and the mama posed behind it made lots of threatening noises in response to their squeals.  It was pretty authentic-looking!

But no one was afraid, at least not in our party!  The smallest of us was possibly the most intrepid.  She wanted to touch all of them, but the exhibit had enough barriers to keep her on our side.  The dinos move their heads and limbs but they don't leave their spots, being anchored pretty well to the ground.



The nest of babies

So real you think it might eat you!!

Dinosaurs!

It's going to be hot tomorrow in southeast Wisconsin, so we're going to the zoo. 

DH bought a zoo pass again this year.  You pay a set amount and you can go as many times as you are able.  I think we have a parking pass too. 

They have a dinosaur exhibit this summer.  I'm not sure what's there, but Miss A desires to go in the worst way, so we're taking a family part tomorrow.

She knows the names of nearly every dinosaur there is.  I think she owns all the dinosaur books in the tri-county area.  I know because I've ready nearly every one of them to her at least 275 times!

She also has a corner of the market on dinosaur toys.  She has so many they make their home in a large plastic bin with double handles for hauling!  She sleeps with about five of them, her favorite is named T-Rexy, and he has a friend named Triceratopsy.

So this is how a five year old celebrates their birthday!

Ah yes, girls are different than they were when I was little.

But then, her big sister was the same way with dogs, and has never played with dolls.  Although some day I will show you all pictures of the nifty sweaters and scarves I made for her stuffed dog collection!

Keep on sewing.

Blahhh!!

Disclaimer:  I am generally a healthy happy person. 

This past week I've had either a flu bug or tummy problems perhaps relating to a new brand of pain reliever I take for the arthritis I have in my hands, elbows and knees.

I used to take Brand X a couple of times a day.  It never bothered my tummy at all.   Then the industry came out with New and Improved Pain Relievers Brands A and B and C, and they were just as effective and they promised to be so much safer for your tummy...

After a couple of years of taking Brands A or B or C (generally whatever was on sale or had a coupon!) I developed a pain in my tummy that hurt more when I was hungry than full, and other assorted ailments related to that area of anatomy.

Hmmm... Dr is concerned.  Let's go get an Upper and Lower Endoscopy!  Oh Joy!!

I won't go into that whole thing.  Suffice it to say, not fun!  But the results showed lesions that would have become ulcers.

OK, back to Brand X!  Plus pick up some of that Not Inexpensive OTC Stuff That Prevents Stomach Acid From Forming!!  Take that for three months, they said.  At about a dollar a day this had become my biggest medical expense. 

I take a few vitamins, probably fewer than I actually need, and one daily medication for blood pressure.  And if I'd just lose a few pounds I could probably stop taking that!

So one day, I found out they recalled Brand X.  Not being able to find it in a store was the first clue.  Then I Googled and read the whole story.  So now I had to find something else to take for old Arthur-Itis.

The guy at the pharmacy told me just what to take.  Yeah, yeah, coated and everything!  Safe for your tummy!!

Until this week that is.  Ugh, I remember this feeling.  Better go back for OTC STPSAFF...

I wish they had a pill like this:

Not Blogging This Weekend

I had lots of lovely plans for blogging this weekend, and Sunday after church I was hit with the most awful bug.  I don't know if it was something I ate or some kind of flu, results being nearly the same, but I felt horrible and did nothing that took me too far afield.

Needless to say, blogs are deferred for a little bit, until I feel better.

I know you'll find something out there to read instead, all three of my followers!

Keep on sewing!

The Painter and the Project

Before we painted, this room was the brightest blue you'd ever seen, and the ceiling was the same color!!

The AFTER color is sage green.  The closet will be green and will have a new organizer with poles and shelves.

I can hardly wait for the blue to be gone!!

'Tis the Season -- for Graduations!

Last week the preschoolers in the four year old class where my youngest grand went to school had a graduation ceremony.  These are children who are attending a local private preschool affiliated with the church our family attends, so they'll be going off to kindergarten in other places next year.  The teachers wanted to make it a memorable occasion. 

And they did!

I had taken the day off work to attend.  The two classes marched into the sanctuary of the church in lines, to a recording of Pomp and Circumstance, just like you're supposed to at a graduation.  They had risers set up, and there was more than one set of eyes filling up and more than one throat with a lump in it when they entered. 

They had made mortarboard hats with those Styrofoam plastic bowls and some kind of square cardboard, and each little graduate had a red tassel hanging from the center.

The Graduates!

There were songs instead of a commencement address.  There were no valedictorians.  But there was an actual reading of names and each graduate got a certificate of completion.  They moved their tassel from whatever side it was hanging on to the 'other side' and shook hands with their teacher.  There was not a dry eye in the house when they were done.

Then the winners of the Q is for Quilt raffle were announced.  A's best friend won the quilt that I made for the other class, and a girl in her class won the one that "Andy's mom" made for A's class.

Of course we had cake!  And punch and lemonade. 

This week E graduates from elementary school.  Next year it's on to Middle School.

Congratulations, ladies!  Good job.

Sow Along - May 28 Progress!!

I have to admit, I'm not really sewing ALONG with anyone, I'm just sewing along, making progress once in a while and getting behind at other times.  But I counted some progress this memorial day weekend.

I hemmed five pairs of pants for DD, fixed some pants for the eldest grand and did some minor sewing to a blouse and a swimsuit.  I cut a pair of my own slacks too short, and now I guess I'm making a pair of capris out of them.  And a couple of evenings I let myself be seduced by the bin of green fabrics and a couple of pattern books!

Remember back to our first basket block, how some of us didn't really LOOK at the templates and decided this basket didn't have a handle?  Clearly there WAS a handle, but without instructions some of us missed it.

Well, I decided to go back and put the handle on.

This is the result:

The handle is straighter than it looks.  And the color of this picture is actually more true.  I'm not sure what was wrong with the first picture... it could be that it was the camera or phone or whatever I took that picture with. 

I have 45 blocks done, but my design wall holds less than that.  Here's a photo of the current wall-full.

Six rows and seven columns... I think I'm going to do sashing and corner stones as a setting.

They look more restful with white space between, don't you think?

I started out with 2 1/2 inch strips, which will finish at 2 inches.  But I could just decide to cut that down to 1.5 inches finished.  It just depends on how many I have when I stop.  Although these things are like potato chips... you can't stop making 'em!

The three above, with the no-longer-handle-less basket, are Waterwheel, Tall Pine Tree, and a variation of Flying Geese that I saw in the book 501 Rotary Cut Quilt Blocks.

I hope you're having fun with your blocks!

Sew on!





The List....

Remember the list from a few blogs ago?

• Mrs. D sewed a suit for Gail
• Mrs. W's gray wool skirt
• Mrs. H's blouse
• White wool coat
• Fabric shopping
• Jean jacket/batik remake

I wrote about the suit and the skirt and the blouse, with a segue into the white wool coat.  So this is the story of that coat!

After Mrs. H bought me the gorgeous white wool and all the accessories to make a dress coat, I went into whatever it is that's the sewist's equivalent to writer's block!  I was so undecided on what to do next... imagine what it's like to stare at beautiful, pristine, NEW fabric, after working on fabric salvaged from recycled items all the time.  Somehow having the freedom to choose the pattern myself and make anything I wanted seemed too hard.

But my mom did not suffer fools lightly, and she said, basically, "get your rear in gear and get it done".  So I cleared off the kitchen table, laid out the fabric and started cutting.  I cut lining and interfacing, because by this time I had learned to read the pattern directions all the way through before starting anything.  I marked with old fashioned tailor's tacks because anything else might have left permanent marks.  And I started to assemble the coat.

Working after school and around my part-time job, it took me almost a month to get it done.  I never spent a lot of time on homework because school was pretty easy for me, but that had to come first.  That was the first question we were asked at the dinner table, and a no meant you were going to be back at the kitchen table with books right after the dishes were done.

So that was probably the longest period of time I ever worked on a garment continuously, that is without working on some other project in between.  But I spent a lot of time reading my source material (the pattern guide sheet) to make sure I did it right.  And I had to set up anew each time I worked, which also meant cleaning up after -- machine, materials, iron and ironing board.  Each time I think of this project I give thanks that now I have a big dedicated space in which to work!

I learned the use of a press cloth working on this coat.  I learned how to press lightly so as not to get the impression of your hem showing on the right side of your garment.  I finally perfected that button hole attachment... and I was impressed at how much the texture and loft of wool can hide some of the imperfections of a beginner sewist.

The first day that I put that coat on over my church dress, I felt like the princess going to the ball.  And when I showed it to Mrs. H, she was very liberal in her praise of my skills. 

I wore that coat for 'dress up' occasions until about 10 years after I graduated from high school.  Somewhere I have a photo of me wearing that and holding my DD as a baby in about 1976 or 77.  It still looked really good! 

Sadly, having two small children and a white coat didn't really go together.  Wearing the same coat every spring and fall for a number of years, and sending to the dry cleaners regularly, made it kind of an expensive item of clothing.  It really didn't make sense to hang on to it, and the fabric became so worn that it couldn't be recycled.  One sad spring day it was put into the donation box and that was that!

I never made another coat for myself.  I used those skills to make a number of coats and outerwear jackets for my children over the years.  Now I make other items of clothing for myself and the family.  But I will always have warm memories of the years with my white wool coat!

Thanks, Mrs. H, for lovely memories.

Sew on!

Sow Along Catch Up May

Time for a little catch-up on my Sow Along.  Some of you like my one color blocks.  I have to say I'm liking the other blocks I've seen.  Bonnie Hunter's plaids are great.  I hope some day we can all link up at Bonnie's blog and show off our blocks to each other. 

I started with the basket I made too small.  This one has different fabrics in it, but this time it came out to the proper six and a half inches!

  You can see this one is larger by half an inch!

This one was pretty but too small!!  Oh well..

Next I worked on a block I've seen in a couple of places, called the Evening Star.  It has a dark background and light points.  I was fascinated by the 2 inch by 3 1/2 inch flying goose block.  As in, can I make one that small accurately?  I made the eight required and when I squared them up I only had to shave a little off each one.  For some reason my sewing does not provide a rectangular goose -- I seem to get one that gets a little wider where the point is in the center of the block.  I wonder if I'm stretching those bias seems a little.

I apologize for the fuzzy photo.  This is from my cell phone.

Finished size 4 1/2 inches...

I also made a Shoo Fly block.  Well, actually I made two.  Follow the directions!! I didn't and made a perfectly adorable Shoo Fly with 2 inch blocks instead of 2 inch (finished) blocks.  This little fly finishes up at just four and a half inches!  And here's her larger brother, too.

Finished size six inches!

After the fun I had with Shoo Fly, you'd think I would have stopped for the evening, but I made one more.  It's called maple leaf.  I've seen it done in glorious fall colors, and it's always so impressive.  But our maple in the back yard is full of green leaves right now, so here it is in green plaid with kind of a fussy background. 

Maple Leaf in summer

I think I have made at least 32 different blocks, but I have to count because I think I have more than 30 six inch blocks, plus some others of various sizes.  LOL!!  Hope you enjoyed looking at these blocks as much as I've enjoyed making them.

Keep on stitching!

Mrs. H's Blouse

One of my jobs in high school was to sew my own clothes.  I am from a big family, back in the days when having a big family was something you did.  I'm the oldest of eight, one of two girls.  Men who grew up with lots of sisters sometimes complain about living in a house full of women, but we had the reverse -- 30% estrogen, 70% testosterone!

NOT my actual brothers but some of these guys are dirty enough to qualify...

I started babysitting for other families when I was about 12, and I saved up my 50 cents an hour to buy garments at the thrift stores and Goodwill (see other post on the subject).  I used my mom's machine but always had to clean up to clear the table for dinner, and things took forever to finish.  Otherwise I sewed in an unfinished basement.

When I was in high school I got a job for the Christmas season at a local variety store, one that had a big fabric department.  Someone traded in a used sewing machine in a cabinet for a new portable machine.  The store manager let me purchase this beauty for $65. 

It was a couple of days before my mom could come with the station wagon to haul the machine/cabinet home.  I set up at the foot of my bed, put my sewing basket under the legs and was thrilled to be in business!!  Funny, I am trying to remember what kind it was, probably a Kenmore.  I remember it had cams for the different stitches, and a big honkin' buttonhole attachment that fastened to the back of the presser foot.  It took me months to figure that thing out.

But figure it out I did, and that led directly to Mrs. H's blouse...

Mrs. H was a lady who went to our church.  She had a daughter and two sons.  The daughter was older than me, I think she was away at school most of the time.  One son was my age and one was  younger, and my brothers were friends with them.  I think Mrs. H missed Karen because she always was so nice to me.  But then she was a VERY nice person...

This is what it looks like in my memory...

She knew I sewed, and I think she must have been impressed with my skills because she offered to actually pay me to sew some things for her.  She had her eye on some fabric for an outfit for work at her job in a doctor's office.  It was a gray a-line skirt, and for a blouse she picked out a lovely teal paisley cotton blend.

 Sewing that outfit was a challenge; I wanted it to be as close to perfect as I could make it!  I sweated those buttonholes.  I'll bet I made them a dozen times in my dreams before I dared to make a couple of samples on the scraps.

I didn't have the benefit of any sewing classes, or a mentor who knew anything about garment construction.  My school schedule was full of college-prep classes like Advanced Algebra and Chemistry.  When I think about the vast amount of stuff I didn't know, I'm appalled at my hubris in thinking what I did would be worth payment!  Mrs. H, if you're still around, I'm humbled by your faith.

The blouse was very pretty.  It had a button placket and about 7 buttons that couldn't have been bigger than 5/8 of an inch.  Plus one more on each cuff.  The skirt was easy, a centered back zipper and a metal clasp on the waistband, pretty standard stuff.  I pressed carefully as I worked.  I didn't prewash anything, I'm sure.  I can't remember seeing Mrs. H in the outfit at church, but she thanked me prodigiously for my hard work.

Instead of money, she bought me all the supplies for a personal project at an actual FABRIC STORE downtown.  Two and a half yards of white wool, interfacing, lining, and buttons, and a pattern for a dress coat for spring and fall... at the time it was a dream come true.

And THAT project was so enjoyable to complete that it should be worth its own post!

Thank you and bless you, Mrs. H, wherever you are.  I hope you know how much you influenced me!

Sew on!

Instead of Sewing...

This morning I intended to post the catch up photos of the blocks I've finished since Randy's last Sow Along post.  Key word being intended.

The famous writer said "the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry" or something like that.

First of all, DH is painting the second floor of our house.  Why that matters is that he decided to do it without giving me much notice, and he went at it with a vengence!!  He started hauling stuff down and stacking it in the garage before I knew what he was up to.  I wanted to go through it and make decisions about what actually goes back into the rooms, but that will have to happen in the garage, I guess!

The reason he took off with this is because I had requested that we think about taking down a wall that divides our basement in half, and expand my sewing room downstairs.  We have a gigantic laudry/storage room with a lot of junk in it, and we could make better use of that space.

HE decided that he'd rather shuffle the furniture in the three bedrooms, making the smallest room which is a den into a guest room/den, moving our furniture into the guest room, and putting my sewing stuff into the master bedroom.   Huh.  Except. My cutting table has to stay in the basement.  And probably a lot of the stash too.

Just think about it before you say no, he asked.  OK.  I knew the answer to that one.  He MUST have known it was a big no because when I said it three days later he was not really surprised.  Meanwhile he started dragging stuff down and I had to go to the paint store.

But all this moving and cleaning and inspecting has put me seriously behind schedule!  Can you imagine what it would be if I had to move all my stuff up two floors?  Well, I can't afford to lose the whole summer, can I?

I spend enough time cleaning up after I work on a project, or more accurately, cleaning up and organizing when I want to work on something because I didn't clean up after myself when I last stopped!  Last night after dinner with DH I spent a half hour re-ordering the Sow Along greens and backgrounds so I could catch up.  Two blocks were actually sewn together and pressed but I can't find the camera again.  It WAS on the desk.  Which could now be in the garage or under a dropcloth!

Well, after A's preschool graduation ceremony on Friday, and E's last school concert, there is a long weekend ahead. 

Maybe I can get caught up.

Sew on...
 

Tabbed!!

I'm taking a hint from Randy's blog (and others!) and I have created a tab, as a place to link up the pictures of my Phone Guy's Wife quilt blocks.  Hope you enjoy it!  It's very "green"!

Sue

The Importance of Reading Directions

On Sunday night last weekend, after all the kids had gone home and the Mother's Day cake crumbs were cleaned up, I went into my sewing studio to work on some more Sow-Along blocks. 

Randy had posted three blocks on her blog, the Barrister's Block, and I wanted to do at least two of them.  I like the Fruit Basket block, I'm really starting to like doing baskets!

I made the middle block, called Union Square, without too much difficulty.  I had made a batch of 1 inch finished HSTs a while back, and stashed them in a baggie.  It was enjoyable picking out some other greens to go with them to make the block look like Randy's.  I was using my Little Wooden Iron to make the seams go where they belonged, or at least go into a direction that made the block lay relatively flat before it was pressed.

I'm pleased with the way it turned out.  You can judge for yourself:

Then I got to work on the basket.  The block divides into four rows and four columns.  The basket center takes up the two center spaces in both the columns and the rows.  Sort of a block with a border kind of thing.  Dividing the 6 inch finished block by four units gets you to an inch and a half finished per unit. 

OK, so I'm so smart I can sew this block together without even thinking about it.  I proceeded to cut pieces, sew the rows, sew the columns, sew everything together.  Gosh this block is so cute!!  I'm sure you'll agree!

The only thing is, when I laid it next to the Union Squre block, it's so cute because it's smaller... When I did the cutting for the units in the 'outside' rows, I mentally added the required seam allowances to the pieces I needed, and came up with the idea that in order to finish at 1-1/2 inches,  they should be cut 1-3/4 inches, not 2 inches.  I must have thought I only needed seam allowance on one side!!  Duh...

So I guess I'll make it again, this time reading the directions...

Keep on sewing!

Mrs. W's Gray Wool Skirt

When I was about 12, I fell in love with a gray wool skirt.  My mother thought it was all about the boy down the block, but she was wrong.

There was a woman who lived across the alley from us who had three sons.  One was about 15 or so, very quiet, kind of cute.  He had two younger brothers who played with my younger brothers.  This woman, Mrs. W., was a friend of my mom's.  She knew how to sew.  She used to bring her projects over sometimes and work on hand work while my mom and she talked and drank coffee.

I remember the first time I saw the winter coats she was making for the two younger boys as if it were last week.  The one coat was burgundy wool with a black sealskin hood lining.  The other was brown with a sheepskin lining.

But the most wonderful thing she was working on was a gray pleated skirt.  I think it was just wool, but to my mind it was the most wonderful fabric I had ever seen!

At the time I was wearing mostly cotton dresses and nylon sweaters to school.  In fact most of the things I wore were hand-me-downs from an older cousin.  Nice things, but ordinary. 

I lusted after that gray wool!

Mrs. W. invited me to come to her house and watch her put it together.  I remember how she steamed in the pleats.  The iron gave off clouds of moisture as she pumped the steam button.  Fabulous!  And her stitching melted into the fabric.  When she lifted off the press cloth I was amazed at how beautiful the seams looked.  She finished them all off with an overcast stitch -- remember, this was WAY before sergers!

She was explaining to me how she kept her scissors very sharp and never let anyone use them for anything.  Men, she said, would cut the craziest things and just ruin your edge!  Keep your scissors locked up and sharp, she said!

Suddenly my mother was at the door.  She said it was time to come home, and I'm sure she was thinking that I was there drooling over Phillip, who was in the living room watching something dumb on TV.  Probably Ed Sullivan or something.

I knew better than to argue.  Mrs. W. gave me a little pile of wool scraps to take with me.  My mom didn't say much on the walk across the alley, but I could tell she was not happy.

How could I explain the hold that wool had over me?  What chance did a 15 year old boy have against one of the most beautiful and beautifully made garments I had ever seen??  None, I tell you!  And that night I dreamed about a gray wool skirt with a perfect pale pink twin set and a strand of pearls.

Mom-isms

This past weekend was Mother's Day.  My children and grandchildren came to visit and we had a good time.  But after they were gone, I realized how much I missed my own mother.  She would have enjoyed the day I had with all the people running around, laughing and talking.  And she loved kids, especially small ones.

Mom died in 1998 at the young age of 66.  She suffered from Alzheimers disease for at least four years before that, with her short term memory fading away over time.  So in reality I was losing her for a long time before she died.

Some time in 2009 I was doing an exercise in self-image for a class I was taking.  You had to write down all of the things you had accomplished in your life.  After we did our lists he reminded us how much others had assisted in those processes. 

At that same time, I started writing down things that I learned from various people.  I had a wonderful set of grandparents, some super aunts and uncles (one most particularly -- more on that later), and then there was my Mom.

These are some things she used to say to us regularly.  I call them Mom-isms.  And they're just as true today as they were when she last said them.Last weekend was Mother's Day.  While I was joy-filled to have my children and grandchildren around me, I missed my own mother. 

• Captain Kangaroo was right, and please and thank you ARE magic words.  Use them!
• If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. 
• You don't need fancy clothes to look nice.  But whatever you‟re wearing, make sure it's clean and neat.
• Call or send flowers to people who are alive.  When they're gone they don't care how many you send to their funerals.
• Wash your hands before you hold a baby.
• Don't frown, it makes wrinkles.
• You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.
• Use your head for something besides holding up your hair.
• Damn is not God's last name!
• Nobody ever said life was fair.
• Crying washes out your eyeballs.

Well, Mom, I still miss you.  Life isn't fair or you'd still be here.  And I washed my eyes out today just thinking about you.

If your mother is still around, call her.  You know she worries.

My Early Sewing Days

Do you ever have the opportunity to meet with people who love to sew as much as you do and share memories of how you learned?  Or even share that information with people who DON'T sew?

When I started this blog I made a list of topics I could write about.  I must have pinned it to the bulletin board too insecurely, because I found it tonight while I was cleaning the desk. 

The note says:

• Mrs. D sewed a suit for Gail
• Mrs. W's gray wool skirt
• Mrs. H's blouse
• White wool coat
• Fabric shopping
• Jean jacket/batik remake

So are those topics ringing any bells with you?  No, huh?  OK, I promise over the next five or six days to explain how each of those topics inspired me to want to learn to sew.

Topic 1:  Mrs. D sewed a suit for Gail

My sister Gail is a few years younger than I am.  We're separated by three brothers born between, and three more followed her.  We were too far apart in age to be close when we were growing up.  So this may contain just a little bit of envy for the way the story unfolded.

We lived in a fairly rural area when I was in elementary school.  There was a one room school and lots of families with multiple kids.  There was one lady my mom became friends with, and this lady had lost a daughter to some grave illness. 

The lady had sewn lovely clothes for her daughter, and wanted to do something nice for my mother, who had all these kids and not much money for nice things.  She offered to make over a darling little suit and since I was already older than her daughter had been, I was too big.  So she made over a little plaid skirt and jacket for my sister who was about three or four at the time.

This is as close as I can come to what I remember Mrs. D making.  Nobody dresses their kids like this anymore!

We went to the lady's house so Gail could have a fitting, just like at a real dressmaker or department store.  I remember being envious of the way she had to stand on the chair and get the hem pinned up.  The fabric of that suit was some gorgeous wool blend that had to be washed by hand.

I don't remember my sister wearing that outfit more than a couple of times.  Who these days would put a wool blend, hand washable suit on a toddler?  Sticky fingers, catsup, dirt, ugh!!  And the tot probably would not even be able to play properly in it!  But it was fine for church and maybe a visit to our paternal grandmother, who never let us play at her house anyway!

But the real take-away from this memory is that fabric!  It was a very rich deep burgundy with some tiny lines of navy and dark green for the plaid, or at least it is in my memory...

Again... as close as I can get to that memory.  This plaid is too large but the color is right.

and I was deeply impressed by the workmanship and tailoring that went into making this garment fit, even on a toddler.  I couldn't have been more than 8 or 9 at the time, and I was bitten by the garment sewing bug right then and there.

Do you have a memory of the first fabric that caught your eye?  Leave a comment if you do!

I'm Going Back to School!

Tomorrow I'm going to Kindergarten!

Nope, I haven't regressed, and I haven't been demoted.  I'm standing in for a Parent at Kindergarten orientation day at the local elementary school for one of the grands.

Through no fault of anyone involved, except maybe the Murphy guy who's laws tend to mix things up, tomorrow is Kindergarten Splash and both parents are involved in work things that prohibit their attendance.  All preschoolers who are going to this elementary school are attending one session with their prospective teachers, and there is a "Parents' Session".

My DD said "I hope you aren't bored at the Parents' Session"...but I don't think I will be!  For one thing, I love going anywhere I can meet with new people.  Also, I remember fondly my days in school, and being in school, any school, always makes me happy.

I think she may have the same teacher as her older sister had, and that teacher is a lovely young woman with a creative and adventurous mind.  I went to her class once to help with a kid-level sewing project and read them the story about "Corduroy the Bear".

My boss gave me the afternoon off and said "Do you think you'll pass this time?"  He only thinks he's a comedian!

So I'm going back to school.  I'm looking forward to it!  I just hope I get a decently sized chair!!

Bargello Update - ALMOST There!!

I finally have ALL of the 37 zillion strips of the Twisted Bargello wall hanging sewn, and the seams pressed in the proper direction.

The progression of colors and the twisting of the pattern make it very easy to sew in a mistake now and again.  I had places where a few strips were upside down, and a few places where I put in a whole set of four pieces when I should have used only a partial set.

Oh, I should explain that!  When we took the class for this quilt at the February retreat my family group attended, the teacher had modified the pattern we were using.  We had 20 fabrics in all, cut into strips.  We made a series of five strip sets of four fabrics each, rather than sew all 20 strips into one big piece.  It made sub-cutting easier and more accurate for one thing.  And for another, it made less 'un-cutting' when you had to separate the set to achieve the twist in the pattern. 

   It worked really well, if you were paying attention, and super well if you weren't!  So say you had to use the strip we were calling 1234 and attach it to the strip 16-15-14-13, you didn't have to dismantle a whole big strip and then discard the center.  And I think we actually did fewer sub cuts, because we only cut the sections we needed, not a whole 20 fabric strip.

So here we are, pinned up on my design wall.  The pieces of white and yellow at the top are paper scraps with the row number written on them.  It helped immeasurable to keep those pinned to the strip.


Not pinned at the bottom, which is why they're flying free... that's on a set of closet doors.

 You can see where I've sewn a couple of the strips together into sets by where they don't separate at the bottom.  That piece of yellow paper is a note one of the grands taped up -- I forgot to move it for the picture!

I have folding doors, two sets, on the storage closet in my sewing room.  For a design wall, I took pieces of quarter inch foam core board, covered them with flannel, and tacked them to the doors.  I used 24x36 inch pieces, which are bigger then the doors.  The ones that swing out can hang over the edge of the door, but on the ones that fold in, I had to cut the board into pieces, and leave a small gap for the fold area.  I only placed them above the handles.  Primitive but it works.

It shows better in this picture.

And no, they're not even at the top.  That's because I'm using recycled foam core board, from presentation boards that were discarded by the engineers at work.  I peeled off the maps or charts or whatever.  I figured since I was covering them it didn't matter.

And the price was right!!

Keep on sewing.

Nancy's Sewing Weekend Goodies

This weekend was a national holiday in Wisconsin... well not an ACTUAL national holiday, but it was Sewing Weekend at Nancy's Notions in Beaver Dam.  It's always around my birthday sometime, and this year it started ON my birthday.  I usually tell people how happy I am that someone as big as Nancy throws me a party --  <wink wink>

DISCLAIMER: I have NOT been paid to talk about any of these products, nor do I work for any of these companies. The opinions expressed here are my own!

I don't know how long I've been going up there.  This was the 28th year it was held, and I can find souvenir pins that go back to 1996 or 97, but I think there were a few years when there were no pins or I didn't get one.

In past years I've reviewed the Nancy's Notions catalog and crossed out things I had and circled things I wanted.  They would have sale items and clearance, days for 'remnant bargains' (more on that), and you'd get 10% off your total order at the end.  In recent years the merchandise offered has been more select, and the prices of the individual items have been marked down.

There still is clearance, but this year it wasn't anything in which I had a lot of interest, although I did find the book Word Play, that shows you how to build letters using fabric.

I am excited have this book as I want to try to use this method to put some names on some of the quilts I make and give away.

I also bought some of Nancy Zieman's booklets from her TV show, another of her templates for making purses or totes, and some Clover notions.

Speaking of Clover Notions, they have a booth at Sewing Weekend because Nancy has her name on some of their products.  They usually have a very nice sales rep or spokesperson giving away 'goodie bags' with some literature and a notion in them to all who visit their booth.  They do regular demonstrations of their new products and talk about what's on their tables.

Olfa was also there, displaying their cutting tools and mats.  Did you know you can buy a 2.5 inch square ruler, and a mat as small as 6x8 inches?  How about adding one of those to your Tablet Keeper??  Of course I couldn't resist a ruler that cute, so I bought one of each.  The mat came in so handy today when I was working on finishing up Twisted Bargello, the wall hanging from H##L. 

Oh dear, I don't know why that is rotated!!

Other vendors in the warehouse were the folks from Amazing Designs embroidery specialists, and of course Baby Lock, with all their super sewing machines and sergers.  I have a BL serger with the pneumatic threading, and I have to tell you it was among the best things I ever did for my sewing.  It threads the loopers with the push of a lever.  No more being afraid to change threads, or dreading the broken thread! 

What else did I get?  Oh, let me not forget the zippers!!  6 inch separating zippers in several colors for doll jackets, and some really wild 18-24 inch separating zippers for jackets and tops for the grands.

About those remnants...  Nancy's Notions has better remnant sales than anyone I know.  I was bound and determined not to buy fabric this year.  I have a ton of fabric.  I have so much I forget what I have.  But those NN remnants always get me.  They take cuts of fabric, sometimes several yards, sometimes bits and pieces, fold them attractively, put them into plastic bags with a label that gives fabric name, yardage, fiber content and regular price.  Then they start the markdowns.  The first day most things are half price, the second day they're lower and what's left at the end of Friday is drastically reduced for Saturday.  I've never seen such nice stuff in the remnant pile, and honestly if there's anything left on Saturday afternoon it's nearly free.

This year, I had to walk by those remnant boxes to get to the registers to check out, and I did succumb.  I picked up a lovely piece of black & white houndstooth check, nearly two yards of blouse weight fabric, for the scandalous price of $7.

But my premier treasure is a long handled, lighted magnet, for picking up the pins that fall under my sewing table too far in for me to reach without getting on my hands and knees.  That alone was worth the drive up!

There were lots of ladies shopping, so if you don't get there next year, there will be more for us!

Check it out at www.nancysnotions.com.