Thursday, April 23, 2009

Where does the time go?

The past week has gone amazingly quick. I have accomplished a couple of things. The office has been moved from the basement to the new space. The renovated room which was soooo big when I started has really shrunk. When I moved my desk into the room, I realized that I didn't really have enough room to move around. Ok, there wasn't enough room for a chair. So, we had to move stuff around a little bit. Not so bad really. I do like the small area where the office is located. I am still going through boxes of office stuff to determine what needs to be filed and what needs to be tossed. I did find the software for my printer. So now, I feel more comfortable about uninstalling it and reinstalling the software as it has decided that it no longer needs to scan for me. We also discovered that the phone line doesn't work.

On the sewing front, not much is happening as I am still digging through boxes. It is a good thing that I don't sew as a need. I wouldn't have any clothing. I'm still eyeing the New Look skirt with the black linen. I'll get there. The pattern is cut out and test fitted. Just need to lay it out on the fabric and cut. I really think once that happens it will be a super quick project. In the meantime, McCall's new summer collection is here and here are the items that I like:

This dress is M5873. I think it would make a nice summer dress in the version with a belt. This is actually a maybe.






This is M5882. I like the basic shape of this dress and it has darts which would make it a bit easier to alter. The only fear I have is that it may present the uni-boob look and I'm not going for that look.


This is M5894. It looks like it would be a nice jean pattern and it sits a little below the waist. I think this pattern is a definite "I'm getting.". The last time I purchased jeans I must have tried on 100 pair before I found something I was willing to purchase.

This is M5900. The craft patterns do not usually capture my attention but I'm going to get this one as it is adorable.





Of course, my "new" pattern cabinet is full. So, I'm being a little more careful about what patterns I purchase. I guess I need to do another purge and see if anyone else would like my excess. Such a shame! As I love them all and really intended to make them when I bought them. Well, I at least dreamed about it.

Happy Sewing!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Summer patterns are here but....

Today, I went looking at the new summer patterns. I found very little of interest to me. I'm not saying that the patterns were bad but a lot seemed very young. There was one dress at Vogue that I liked:

This is a shirt dress with a pleated skirt (V1107). The only problem is it's above the knee. I wonder what it would look like lengthened. I don't need to show off the leg above the knee. I think I would prefer something at the knee. I'll have to think about it.

Isn't this sad? This is the only thing that I saw on any of the pattern websites. Oh, there was crafty stuff that was cute but there are other companies that do this type of pattern well.

The taxes are done! Yippee! It took two late nights and every time I thought I was finished, I found something else to do. I do still have local taxes but they are not due for a couple weeks. so there is lots of time to them.

My son have been whining about my office still being in the basement. I guess it is time to finish up the room renovation and move the office to the newly renovated room upstairs. It will be nice to have everything upstairs again. Although, I think that extra packing supplies will remain in the basement. I need to decide on the next project for the house. It's either going to be paint the house or renovate the basement. This is going to be a tough decision. Maybe I still getting estimates and maybe that will help with the decision. Oh, there is always too many things to do and not enough time to do them.

Ok, it's off to finish up some work. Then, maybe I can think about working on my skirt. I need some new clothes as I have lost a little bit of weight and everything is a bit too loose.

Happy Stitching!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

We're home!

We arrived home Saturday morning at 2am. We were all happy to be home but sad that the vacation is over. We had a great trip visiting the Petrified Forest, Painted Desert, and Grand Canyon in Arizona and Zion in Utah. Everything was absolutely beautiful. A little bit on the cool side (think 20 F to 60 F) but we survived. I was expecting the cool weather but was surprised that it had been snowing in Arizona. I'm ready to return. There is so much to see and everything is more beautiful than you can imagine. I have seen pictures of the Grand Canyon many times but being there was a different experience.

I was surprised when I arrived home that my machine was ready to pick up. I wasn't expecting it to be ready until the end of the week. So, I drove over last night to pick it up and much to my surprise all of my orders were in also. So, I have new embroidery designs and another new foot for my machine. I'm looking forward to trying it the new foot. I am also looking forward to making the time to play with my embroidery unit. The new designs are for the endless embroidery unit so it should be lots of fun playing with them.

I'm going to attempt my linen skirt this week after I finish doing the taxes. Nothing like waiting till the very last minute to get that finished.

Happy Sewing!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Not much sewing going on

Vacation time is here once again. It has become a ritual to go somewhere for spring break. This year we will be visiting the Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forest, and Bryce Canyon. It will be a very busy week with lots of hiking around. Between work and the ritual of cleaning the house before leaving on vacation (am I the only one who wants to come home to a clean house?), I haven't had much time to sew. I did manage to get my pattern traced. I traced both the size 16 and the size 18 of the skirt and pin fit both to see which one fit the best. Would you believe I didn't like the fit of either one? The size 18 fit well across the front. However, the size 18 would be too big overall. I will be making a muslin for a change just to see how it will look using the 16. I know that the the seam line will be forward but based on the information it will need to be this way for the overall balance. Hope I find a little bit of time after the holidays to sew. My machine went to the shop today for some adjustments and it will be back in a couple of weeks.

Have wonderful holidays!