Bra Fitting

Extremely busy at work this week so again I didn't get any sewing done in the evenings. I'd planned to do some this weekend but what seems to be a bout of sciatica has hit and the discomfort is enough to keep me mostly on the couch - nothing quite like sitting on an ice pack huh ? LOL

If I can stand long enough tomorrow to hem my skirt, there will be a pic to post. Let's hope.

Today's post is not about sewing but it IS sewing related.

I HATE wearing a bra ! & I'm sure I'm not alone. I have never owned a comfortable bra that I could put on and not fuss with all day. Back rides up, straps fall down, you know, you spend all day fidgeting trying to get everything back in place. Aggravation to the 'nth' degree. Yuck.

A few months ago, DH & I were in our local mall and noticed a small lin gerie boutique. I took a peek in and the sales lady said they do fittings. Since then I intended to go but never went in. Now, I need a couple of new bras.

Last weekend I went into Walmart and picked up a $7 special. It's my usual size but really not more comfortable than any others I've owned. Yesterday afternoon, I went to the mall looking for another bra and ended up back in this little shop. When the sales girl asked me if she could help me, I said 'yes' rather than my standard 'no thanks, just looking'. She asked if I'd been fitted there before and I figured 'oh, well, might as well' - I'll admit, I was feeling a bit embarrassed about it. :-)

Her 1st question - what size are you wearing - 36C and I figured it was too big

Um, no. Out comes the tape measure and she says ... 32 and probably at least DD - say what ??? I don't think so !!! My mom only passed out the boob genes to my eldest sister - the other 3 of us got left behind, waaayy behind - or so I thought. LOL

Anyway, back she comes with a 32DD - nope. I figure we're going back up to a 34 at least. NO ! next one - 32E - I'm now pretty much freaking out. It didn't fit either ! Now she explains where the underwire is supposed to sit in order to cup everything. We're still not there yet. Next up ? 32F - O.M.G. it's snug, well, tight, but it's sooooo comfortable. She assured me that it is supposed to be this snug and it WILL loosen up over time.

After all that (I must've tried on a dozen bras) I narrowed my choices down to three. The ones at home were never going to be worn again, so I needed a couple - got talked into the matching underwear - and left with a new bag of goodies, feeling pretty amazed. I guess mom passed me a few more of those genes than I thought :-).

The goodies ?...


Yes, there's a bra missing, I'm wearing it and the Internet is NOT getting a picture of that !
I also just realized I'm not stocked up yet - I can't wear black and red under my light colored tops. Gonna have to go get a white one. More shopping, what a shame.

And the sewing part of the post - I'm going to have to learn how to do an FBA ... LOL

It's been 2 weeks...

and so, there's a long ramble to follow...............



I haven't done any more sewing since the invisible zip drama production in the last post ! LOL
I got the zip in, the lining attached and the sides sewn up. And stopped.

Last weekend I went to New Brunswick for the weekend. One of my brothers is moving to England (long story) this Sunday and last weekend was the get-together. I wasn't home for Christmas and so hadn't seen DB since LAST Christmas !

It was a great couple of days - 6 of the 8 siblings were there & I got to spend time with all of them, a couple nieces & nephews and my BFF (we met in grade 1 and are now trying to ignore the fact that that was 40 years ago)

Friday afternoon, I made a point of spending a few hours with my Mom. So, do you want to know ? It's tougher each time. She is now in the physical care unit as she can't do for herself at all anymore. I know this, I know she must be fed, I know she can't move herself, I know she doesn't know me. What I didn't picture is that while they do have her sitting up in a chair, it is a geriatric chair that she is seatbelted into. You know, the mental picture you have of residents in a nursing home restrained in chairs to keep them sitting upright because they can't hold themselves up - sitting in groups but no real mental activity happening ? That's where Mom is at now. She still has some response but not a lot. My sister & I were able to make her smile a couple of times. That's it, that's all I can type about it.

The visit with everyone on Saturday was wonderful, although bittersweet. There are so many of us and we live in different cities and live our own lives, but we would all say we are close. It's hard to imagine DB moving so far away. Up to now, my eldest brother & I lived the furthest and we're only in Montreal.

Sunday, I got a 2nd visit with my BFF. We met for coffee but it turned out neither of us had any plans for the afternoon (other than me needing to be at the airport on time LOL). We went to visit her parents, who I haven't seen in about 4 years.

It turns out that Mom (BFF's mom) quilts. I can't believe I didn't know that, considering I spent as much time at their house as at my own when we were growing up.
Anyway, during our visit, it came up somehow and Mom asked if I wanted to see her quilts. Well, yeah !!! 1 on her bed, 1 on the bed in the spare room and 11 - yes, 11 ! in her cupboard !

I almost cried - I didn't have my camera.

Here's a sample though. Every bit of this is hand-quilted.

The top is machine-pieced though...



See this bed ? It's MY spare room bed - Mom GIFTED this amazing quilt to me ! While oohing and aahing over all of her quilts, I mentioned that this one was my favorite and she GAVE it to me.
I'm stunned ...

Since I make stuff, I'm not usually the recipient of such wonderful gifts. BFF though, was very happy. Some time down the road, she's going to have to find loving, appreciative homes for all of these quilts. Well, it will be well loved and I can truly appreciate all of the work that went into this quilt.

I've been home now 3 times with socks on the needles and this visit I only packed my own socks. I have just 4 pairs made and that was enough for a weekend trip.


Today's update - Being on a short workweek, I'm generally off on Fridays, but we were really busy this week and I offered to go in today (not a freebie, the time will be added to my banked time)
Afterwards, I walked to a "NEW LYS" !

Ariadne Knits - I recently found out that a coworker also knits and she mentioned this shop last week when I was hyperventilating (LOL) over the possibility of my metal Addi's with my 1/2 done socks being confiscated at the airport. FYI - they were fine, both ways, thank goodness. Since I finished at about noon today and I was bundled up, I decided to walk down and check it out. I should know better, right ? Yeah, bought a ball of sock yarn. The burgandy-ish ball on the left - "Trekking XXL"

The pattern and the Opal 'Orange' are my purchases from Cricket Cove in Saint John last weekend.

I must say, so far this is my favorite yarn store in Montreal. VERY friendly and helpful. A while back I posted about another one close to work. On my first visit they were also very friendly, but I've been back 3 or 4 times since and although I buy something every time, I've not encountered any welcoming personality at all - I admit to being somewhat disappointed.

Anyway, I'll give Ariadne Knits a few more tries and see if it keeps up the welcome. For some reason, I think they will. And in the meantime, I need to keep knitting or I'll soon have a stash to measure against my fabric stash !
Anyone want to take bets on whether the skirt actually gets finished this weekend ? If you paid attention to the first paragraph, you know the only thing left is the hem. Can anyone tell me why it takes so long to psyche myself up to do a hem ?