It's Been Such a Long Time

Wow. I can't believe how long it's been since my last post. And no, I haven't been sewing. I haven't been reading blogs either. What I have been doing is dealing with dental "stuff." "Stuff" as in a tooth ache that started at the back of my mouth and found it's way to one tooth. When I realized it wasn't going to get better, I went to the dentist. He said mean things -- "you need a root canal." So, off to the edodontist. He said meaner things "are you taking any meds?" "No, why?" "Because you have an infection and that infection has made it's way to your jaw bone." Great. So, I get a root canal and a prescription for what seemed like 200 penicillin pills. Ick. Penicillin, after about 4 days, makes me sick. I had to take it for a little over a week. Sick, sick, sick. So now, I've finished taking them (earlier this week) and the mental fog is finally lifting. Next step is a crown and then I'm done with dental meanies for a while. As for sewing -- no, not a stitch. I have been, however, watching "how to dress yourself" shows with wild abandon. The next step for me is not to sew, but instead, to go through my closet, try on every piece of clothing and donate anything that doesn't flatter me. I'll also be weeding out those sewing mistakes. In addition, I really have to de-clutter. It's scary in my sewing room. Then and only then, will I begin to sew -- with an actual plan. I plan on taking lots of chances, but in the end, if it doesn't flatter my figure, I'll chock it up to experience, donate the garment and move on. It's my "you don't know until you try" plan for 2010. Now, let's see if I can actually stick to that plan.

Until the next time, happy sewing.

Feathering My Nest in a Cold Birdcage

Brrr. Hello from sunny but incredibly cold Florida. It' s 28 degrees outside this morning, which classifies this day as "stupid cold." But given a choice of cold and gray and cold and sunny, I'm going for cold and sunny. Even if these temperatures are stupid.

Yesterday I continued feathering my nest by moving onto the mitered corners. Look -- pretty huh?
I thought I would show you Amy's method for mitering corners on this project lest you think I'm clever. She really made it quite easy. First a little press.
Then fold the first corner to a 45 degree angle (remember to turn the picture though).
My next step was to check the angle of my first corner.
Then I ironed (note: Amy's patterns rarely mention the iron, but trust me...iron and then iron again).
Fold that piece out of the way to expose the second side that needs mitering.
Fold it down 45 degrees
check the angle
press
As you can see, the design of the coverlet is such that you can't get this part wrong.
Here's what it looks like once you fold back those corners to 45 degree angles.
give it another press
slap in some pins
top stitch
press again
Here's the back side
At this point you trim the seam allowances to 1/2 inch
Ta-da! Here's the ugly side that no one will ever see
And here's the front. Nice huh?
Okay, enough of that. For the batting layer, I decided to use up the "what was I thinking" fleece that's been hanging around for eons.
I didn't have enough of any one piece
so I just sewed them together patchwork style.
After this I proceeded out to the garage where it was a toasty 36 degrees, laid down newspaper and then proceeded to crack the garage door.
I laid out my "batting."
and place my coverlet front on top of it. Then I got to work on getting these pieces ready for basting. Note: quilting purists stop reading. When I say basting, I mean non-traditional basting. It was (a) too cold in the garage for pinning or sewing and (b) the concrete floor is really hard.
I got out my basting equipment and got to work.
and voila -- a basted coverlet top. After this point, I got out my chaco-pen and ruler and marked the sewing lines. No, I wasn't too accurate. It was too cold for that nonsense -- I used the "eyeball" technique.
Finally I was able to roll up my coverlet, toss the newspapers in the recycle bucket and go back in the house.
I even managed to finish the simple quilting last night, which is just lines -- horizontal and vertical - my kind of quilting. Today I move on to the backing and then putting the entire thing together -- after I clip some threads of course.

Feather Your Nest - My First Project of the New Year (Well Actually the Second)

sHappy New Year everyone! It's a Festivus miracle. I've started my first (well second) project of the new year. The first project, a skirt, was a complete dog. It was a UFO from last year and should have stayed as such. Ah well, live and learn.

The second project, Amy Butler's Feather Your Nest, has been born of necessity. You see, my crazy dogs decided to eat the really cheap comforter that is on the bed. Yes, you read that right -- eat it. All it took was a breach of the poorly sewn squares for them to discover that the comforter was filled with cheap batting that resembles.... fiberfill. Yep, a gigantic dog toy. Ah well, it was gross and needed to be replaced, much like everything made of cloth in my home. So, I started on a new quilt that has minimal quilting (thank you Amy!!)
For my fabric I chose Nigela which is a home dec weight fabric from Ms. Butler herself. I was amazed when picking fabrics to discover that my gigantic stash of Nigela was quite depleted. I do have enough, however, to complete my quilt. This really is quite simple to make -- the top consists of two large blocks of fabric (I didn't have enough of any one fabric to do this, so I made four blocks using four fabrics -- so quilty). The borders are simply long strips, one on each side (again, not enough fabric, so two strips per side -- I'm quilting now!!).
I have one more side strip to sew on and then it's time to miter the corners (groan!). The back of the quilt will actually be one solid color, which is, again, a Festivus miracle. And for my batting? Fleece in a goofy Christmas print that will never get used for anything else (one of those "what was a I thinking? purchases). Once I finish this one, I plan to make another out of quilting cotton in a biker motif. And yeah, I'm using small stitches to hold this thing together.

And now on to other business:

I've been thinking a lot about my plans for 2010, sewing and otherwise. "Resolutions" do not really work for me, so I don't make them. Looking back on 2009, I realize that I spent the year flitting from one thing to the next. This is what happens when you don't have a plan. So, I decided 2010 would be spent doing LESS. That's it. That's the big one.

So, what do I mean by less. I realize that I'm a sucker for busyness. It's stupid, but true. So, LESS. Less spending. Less "doing". Less accumulation. Less pride. Yes, I said it, less pride. It's true. You see, I realize that it was pride that made me decide 3 years ago that retail was evil and I should only wear clothing that I made myself. What I didn't consider was the fact that I work a full time job and commute. Yeah, I made a lot of stuff last year, but it certainly wasn't enough to fill a closet when the other things were wearing out just as quickly due to hard use. The only result of trying to do it all was a house badly neglected that is now driving me insane. So, I took a very large slice of humble pie and a incredibly generous gift of Coldwater Creek and got myself some work clothes. Thanks to their end of season clearance (I was using a 70% code while the site was still at 60% off), I was able to put together a pretty decent work wardrobe and get rid of some of this pressure. Yes, I now have a decent wardrobe that fits my position in a corporate environment and am going to return to professional dress -- still business casual without all the casual, that reflects my age.

I still can't believe I found clothes that fit me and are appropriate for my profession. Where has Coldwater Creek been all these years? Of course, I do owe a debt of gratitude to sewing for making this all possible. You see, I was able to take my knowledge of fabric and put it to good use since I was shopping online. I also approached that size chart without fear. I may not know my retail size, but I certainly know my measurements! (the real ones, not the pretend measurements). Worked like a charm. I got clothes that fit and fit well, with beautiful princess seaming where needed and lovely fabrics. I got dresses with hems that end right below my knee which is where they should be on me. And get this -- pants that fit! That's right, I said pants that fit! For the first time ever! I'm going to have to tweak the waistband of the ponte knit pencil skirt that I got, but the natural waist pants? Score!!!

Now, before you give me the "tut, tut -- you signed up for Wardrobe Refashion for life" look, I'll tell you that clothes for work do not violate the pledge. Nor do specialty items (i.e. ski clothes). Sure, we are to try to make or refashion all those things, but it's not necessary. It only took me 3 years to realize that you have to have a base wardrobe before you go off on crazy adventures like trying to make all your clothes for work and play, while trying to work and play. Humble pie. But this humble pie is also going to allow me to return to sewing for play. I plan to begin this year sewing for my home. It needs help. It's neglected. The window treatments have been in place for 10 years. The pillows are flat and faded. It's time. I also want to spend some time sewing for my goddaughter. What good is a collection of Farbenmix patterns if I'm not going to use them? And yes, I'll sew for myself. But having a base wardrobe allows me to venture into new areas like lingerie.

So there you have it. A plan for 2010, with a slice of humility on the side. Nice.

Blankets a Gone Gone

It took me longer than planned, but I finished the blankets this morning and delivered them to my church. I was able to make 24 blankets with the fleece that I had stored in my sewing room closet.
I even had enough scraps on hand to make this reversible blanket
I wish I could say it was an easy job, but it wasn't. Not due to technical difficulty, but from the stand point of actually giving up fabric (isn't that stupid? I have too much, but when it comes time to part with it.... wah!!). Then I found myself thinking "this would make a good gift for so and so." (as if I don't have this year's fleece that mom sent -- stupid, huh?) But, in the end, I pushed through and delivered all of them to their intended destination.
Giving this time was challenging, but I think, in the end, that's a very good thing.

Happy sewing, y'all

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!
and a very Happy Festivus!

What the?

I was flitting around the net just for fun. I came across these white jeans on BananaRepublic.com. Imagine my surprise when I clicked on this close up photo:

Why does this model have crusty toes syndrome and why oh why didn't anyone notice when they posted this picture? It's bad enough that I have to look at dried, cracked heels and toes year round (with the exception of the few days (okay weeks) that it's too cold for open toe shoes in Florida), do I really need to see it in store ads too? Truly WTF??