Still Here

I guess dropping off the radar after the last post wasn't the best thing.

Thanks to everyone who checked up on me. It was really appreciated.

Truth to tell, I was mostly ok just seemed to lose the blogging mojo. Actually I lost a bunch of mojo - you know when you just seem overwhelmed in your head and don't get started at all. That's where I was. So many things I wanted to do but thinking too much and never really got started...or got started and stopped.

Been thinking about a blog post for a while, but after putting it off and putting it off, where do you begin ? Start fresh or catch up ?......or do nothing.

I've been sewing, knitting, even reading my blog list although not commenting much because I've just been so far behind ... all the usual stuff to some degree. I just haven't been overly visible on-line.

OK, lets just do a couple of posts to get back into it.

When I got back from New Brunswick after Christmas, I found a new toy from hubby under the tree...

Brother 3034D - Sooo different from my old Singer, sooo easy to set up and use, I needed a project - quick !

The serger came with a lesson - a trip to Club Tissus to sign up for it produced the Jalie hoodie pattern 2911 and a red/grey stripe jersey.

No idea why it took hold so quickly but I wanted that hoodie NOW! LOL But I didn't want to ruin it so I had to make a muslin. Heavy-ish brown jersey muslin and striped version both made within 3 weeks

Love 'em both, and I was off and running.

When PR Weekend Austin was announced I decided I was going. My last PR Weekend in 2010 I wore only RTW - not this time. I planned a whole wardrobe - LOL deluded much ? I did get 2 new items finished...

Vogue 1247 - I really wanted to make the skirt too but it's still not done yet.

Vogue 1250 - Gaylen of gMarie Sews sent me the pattern for this. Thanks g !!! Today there are 292 reviews on PR. My review, once I get to it probably won't add much.

PR Weekend was amazing, I tacked on a day at either end and spent some quality time with Connie who did the same. It was a great time and I met some really wonderful ladies !  Next year LA...I'm planning already.

Daniel Esquivel (from Project Runway) gave a talk Friday morning.

Lots of Twitter & Facebook posts LOL

Pattern Swap

Puppy fix - This little girl was just too adorable and lovey not to cuddle !

Still need to take pics of the purchases and the travel project so I'll stop here for now.

The right tool for the job

Haven't been around much lately, and you know, there's actually a bit been going on so it means possible upcoming posts - Yay    ! A little gift sewing, a skirt for me (but not yet finished), a bit of bodice fitting (for M6506),


But today, today I really had a thought come home to me (steam coming out of the ears and all ! LOL)
DH is big on the right tool for the job. I'm getting better (used to be in the camp of 'use a handy butter knife instead of going to find a screwdriver' :-)

I need a top to go with the new skirt that's almost finished and finally decided to try Sorbetto. I think it'll work.

source coletterie.com

I printed off the pattern the other day and hadn't yet cut the pages down to size and taped them together.

I started to do this last night and stopped. Why ?
Well, for paper trimming, you got your scissors...


You got your personal trimmer...


We have both scissors and trimmer at home.

BUT at work we've got THIS !...

That sucker is 60-inches wide and I put it to good use this morning.
Perfectly trimming 16 pages of pattern took about 10 minutes - Fabulous !

It's all Skippy's fault LOL

I wasn't going to do it - not 2 times in a row - 'posting for the sake of posting'. 'course, at this point I'm not sure who all would still be reading :-)

It's been ages since I've done any sewing. I do have 2 pairs of socks almost done and another pair on the way, but nothing postable yet.
Thinking about sewing is happening though. I had a girls' day on Saturday and I tried on a bunch of maxi dresses. Can someone explain why they look fine on everyone else but in all but one, I looked pregnant ? phooey ! At least there was one and now I'm trying to figure out if I can make a copy of it.

DH took pics of Skippy earlier and I went through the pics on the camera. Here's a sampling...

A few weeks ago, I spent 2 weeks in Toronto with a friend who was recovering from a major surgery...and in high 20°C temps where better than the beach ? I really had no idea Toronto had real beaches right on their waterfront, duh ! We watched some beach volleyball...

...at one point I walked across the sand to get to the water. This isn't even half the beach.


Hubby loves to catch me unawares - I finally made it to the end of 'Breaking Dawn' yesterday morning.


Before I left for Toronto, my flowers and shrubs were just starting to green up and get buds. My rose bush was about 10" tall. 2 weeks later it was full of buds and blooms too!

...and a close up - they're beautiful.


Another couple weeks later, this is what they looked like today. I've already pruned out all the spent blooms and thinned it out - you can't easily tell but there are still a LOT of buds to come.




The last couple years, my clematis has bloomed but the leaves turn brown starting at the bottom and within a week or two the vine looks horrible. This spring, in preparation for digging out the clematis and the rose bush in front of it, I chopped it right down to the ground and left it for later. Well, later it is and look at it now. No brown leaves yet, but I think I'll still dig it up and replace it in the fall.


Skippy's seat of choice is on the arm of the couch, any arm, and it doesn't matter if someone else got there first !

And when I attempted to ignore him and keep on surfing anyway...he dropped ! Daddy ran for the camera...and I had a blog post - LOL


Alex had her own thoughts on the camera this week.

Apparently, one pic was her limit :-) too funny.

It never works this well at home...

My sister has a great recipe for bread that she makes regularly (and perfectly !). I've tried it a few times and while it tastes good, it never rises particularly well and is heavy-ish.

My Dad has also tried it once, unsuccessfully. During my last few visits home, he has said he wants me to watch him make it and tell him what's wrong. Yeah, sis lives in the same city, it's her recipe, she makes it perfectly and he wants ME ? to show him ??? So since I'm visiting for a longer time this trip, we planned a day. Today.

In actuality, since I hadn't attempted it in a while, I made it and he watched. THIS is the finished product...




Don't they look fabulous ????!!!! So far, I'm happy :-)

Then 'someone' (not naming names 'DAD' LOL) couldn't wait for them to cool before tasting. So we cut off a few pieces. Here is the middle of the loaf shot...

OMG! I have NEVER made bread so light and fluffy. They were a hit.

And Dad ?
Well, we have another date before I leave on Friday for him to make a batch himself.

Waterlogged !

After the sunny long weekend we just had, it has rained almost constantly since Tuesday, and we're not expected to see sun again before Tuesday. We are in no danger of flooding and have had none of the extreme weather our southern neighbours have been subjected to. My prayers go out to all of you dealing with the ravages of the flooding and the tornadoes that have been plaguing different communities recently.

Our rain is only inconvenient and so we are very lucky.

The upside to the rain is that - everything moved aroung and divided in the garden last week has been well-watered in and seems to have recovered nicely from any trauma. They all look good and the rose bush is showing a lot more leaves this morning.

The other upside is - although I will spend this weekend indoors, it will be mostly spent sewing and baking. Laundry is the only other 'must-do'.

The last pant-fit coming up shortly...

Motivation

There's a new gadget just added to my blog. Hoping to keep myself on-track and motivated :). A treadmill walking program I started in October had the added benefit of taking off 8 lbs !

A few weeks ago, I found an APP for counting calories. I downloaded it and found out that based on the data and goals you input, it would track calories, exercise and weightloss. It calculated my calorie count for my weightloss goal and I've managed to be consistent with entering everything I eat and any exercise time. 4 weeks later, as of this morning, I'm down another 9 lbs - Right now, I'm pretty motivated and while he's not giving up any of HIS goodies :-) DH is very supportive of my choices and my attempt at portion control. Surprisingly, some things were unexpected...I don't mind whole wheat bread after all and most measured portions were either just about or much more than my usual amounts so I actually don't feel like I have to eat less at my meals - just keeping an eye on my calorie count overall (and choosing different snacks !) is making all the difference.

My sewing will take some rethinking now. It has gotten warmer here in the last week or so and I've started wearing my skirts. In the last 7 work days I've worn 3 skirts that I've made and they're all too big - one of those was uncomfortable snug and it was LOOSE **happy dance** and yesterday I wore my pants BWOF 04-09-119 you know, the ones I couldn't sit down in after they were made LOL - now...THEY FIT !!!!!



These are my 'walking home' shoes, I wore real shoes at work, promise :-)
I lightened up the pics to show more detail.
I know the hems are even so maybe I'm standing funny - the back shot shows wrinkles in the left leg that weren't there before - at least I don't think they were. The close up of the seam shows it's pretty straight. They were really comfortable and I think I'm going to try another pair.

My 'planned' weekend sewing plans have fallen through - my SIL has exams for 3 days next week and will spend her weekend studying instead of sewing. So I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Definitely something, but exactly what, we'll see on Sunday.

It was all about colour

It was a draining 7-8 weeks at work and most weekends we had something or other to do. This weekend I didn't want to DO anything ! I wanted to sleep til I woke up and just do whatever I felt like. Well, today I did laundry and that was the only household chore I accomplished all weekend - no groceries, no cooking, nada.

Yesterday, I woke up at 4am and surprise, surprise I was actually awake and rested. There were hours of recorded shows on the PVR that needed to be cleaned up, including about 4 weeks of Coronation Street - yes, I'm addicted to 'Corrie' - my one and only soap. I grabbed my knitting bag and the remote and started playing episode after episode (8 total) while finishing up my latest pair of socks - SFFTU #8 Ribbed Ribbons socks.

First color of the day - lilac

Stats:
Knit Picks Stroll - Twinkle Heather (mauve/lilac)
Purchased online December 12, 2010
2.5 mm needle
CO Jan 10, 2011
JMCO 13 st each toe
inc to 66 st for foot
inc to 57 st at end of gusset
slip stitch under heel
eye of partridge heel (thanks g !)
leg knit at 68 st
CO JSSBO Mar 12, 2011

At 8am my day really got started, DH was up and made breakfast (I HAVE previously admitted to being spoiled *smile*)

Then I decided that since I hadn't painted my toes all winter, it was time. I don't do a great job, but who can tell that far down LOL !
Color #2 - deep green

BFF made an app't for us to have haircuts next weekend. Well, my ever-so-helpful DH has mentioned that my roots 'glow in the dark' and I like to have my color done before I get a cut. I grabbed a box from the cupboard and he was pressed into service. He has been doing my color for years, does a great job and for now I do NOT glow in the dark !
Color #3 - burgundy-ish, purple...oops, no pic

Rather than cast on another pair of socks right away, I found my string bag that I'd started way back in Sep 2998 hello? 2008 - I had done the bag up to starting the shaping for the strap and put it down...it's on my UFO list, but it was in a drawer, out of sight, out of mind. It's not yet completely finished but it should be done tomorrow.

Sometime Saturday afternoon, I decided my nails should also be done. No pedi without a mani ! In the summer generally all my nails match, or at least coordinate - in the winter, not so much...Color #4 - purple

Color #5 White - we had snow at the beginning of last week, right before we got LOTS of rain to wash it all away. After work Monday, I let the dogs out back and looked up. That snow is hanging off of the roof way more than a foot past the edge of the roof line.


and the garage - that one's a 2-foot drop !


After mild temps the rest of the week, the roof is almost completely clear. We still have a long way to go, the snow piles will hang around for a while yet, but it's nice to think we got 30 or more cm of snow and 5-6 days later, it is noticeably less. Spring is coming :-)

I had my restful weekend - back to the grind tomorrow. Hope you all had a good weekend !!!

Some actual sewing ?

Nope, not yet, but soon.

I've wanted to sew since the year started and just haven't been able to make myself go into the sewing room much.

Sometime ago, I couldn't say exactly, maybe November, a friend asked me to hem some pants for her. I detest hemming pants, even mine, except hubby's (don't ask me why LOL). But if she asks, I will always do them for her - she's one of those friends that you go running for at any time and she will do the same for me. Hemming fits in there somewhere - even if it's 5 pairs. She made a major tactical error though, and told me they don't quite fit yet so 'no rush'. Yep, so 2 or 3 months later I'm still avoiding them. Since then I bought DH 2 pairs of pants and my friend's DH bought 2 pairs of jeans - all needing hemming. 9 freaking pairs of pants all ganging up on me and keeping me OUT of my sewing room. As of tonight they are all done and it's a load off my mind. Not even picture worthy, I didn't want any reminders !

Next in the queue of 'real' sewing is simple but at least more interesting. My niece is due to have a little boy in mid-April and I'm going to make crib sheets & receiving blanket for her shower at the end of Feb. So simple it may not count as actual sewing :-)

I started another pair of socks - hmmm, at the beginning of Jan maybe - only just started the gusset yesterday so there's still a long way to go, the rest of the gusset, the heel and leg.


Ah, here's a pic. Of the four of us in this house, Skippy is the only who is liking all of this snow ... This was taken Wednesday after work. They called for 10cm, said afterwards that we got 20cm but you wouldn't know it from my deck or driveway what with all the drifting. And yesterday, another 10cm or so.

My Look Back on 2010

I spent a bit of time looking over my posts from this year. In no way was it a sewing year - in fact, the only piece I made completely during the year was my orange dress. That's not to say there was 'nothing' sewing - the absolute highlight was the 2010 PatternReview Weekend in June in Montreal !!! It was such a fabulous weekend, working with Connie, Kay and Anne-Marie to plan it and finally after months of anticipation, meeting all the sewists who were able to come and share the weekend with us.

Knitting was pretty productive this year - I finished 8 pairs of socks and 2 hats (socks take me about 6 weeks to do a pair - the exception being a stockinette foot and rib cuff, 2 weeks for those !) The 9th pair of the year is still on the needles with a couple of inches to go, they won't get finished before midnight tonight but in the next couple of days for sure. November and December were busy and I didn't post much at all *smile*. The 2 hats and 3 pairs of socks are still due to be pictured, posted and added to my logs.

Personally, the year improved somewhat - I got off the short week and was back on full time in April, thank goodness. Work is busier and that gives a bit of security. Our owners are very optimistic for an improved 2011.

In October, I got off my duff and started a treadmill walking program in addition to making a concerted effort to walk more often and longer. Took off a couple of pounds too - bonus !

New Year's resolutions and I don't usually get along - the quickest way for me to NOT do something is to SAY I will LOL. There are a few things though...I want to keep up the walking and exercise; make sure I get some sewing done (I've a capsule/collection in my head just waiting to be made) and finish some of the sewing and knitting UFO's. Both the yarn stash and the fabric collection have grown and need to be worked up.

2011 is a big year for DH & I as a couple. Come November we will have been together 25 years - our wedding anniversary is 11 years behind that though :-)

I want to thank everyone who checks in on my rambly posts and comments with such encouragement. It is much appreciated and truly makes me feel a part of a very welcoming community.

I wish you all a very happy, healthy, prosperous New Year !

Sewing - but not sewing

Still no sewing going on here. Still have tee partially done and waiting for me to get my act in gear.

BUT - I'm still Buying Stuff ! There is a problem with this as I haven't yet kicked DH out of his computer room and switched it with my sewing room.

Saturday's acquisition ? We went to a local open air flea market and while we saw 5 or 6 sewing machines, none came home with me. This did...for $5



It's huge - I put the one I bought from Fabricville on top and measured them. The longest part of the small one is 18 inches - the large one is 30 inches.



I'm going to recover both of them - I don't want the silver covering on the small one and the new one needs to be updated. I've got a green/white stripe twill (a mistake from fabric.com) that should be enough to cover both. Just need to find something for padding.

This weekend was about finishing up things - there are 2 posts in draft mode now - 1 sewing / 1 knitting. First one - tomorrow.