Time to catch up

Oh my goodness, I didn't realize October got completely away from me - only 2 posts !

So, what's been happening ?

I went to NB and spent a couple of days with my Mom & my family. Mom waited 3 days for the surgery to repair her broken hip. They did exactly what they would do, if she were expected to walk again, but in Mom's case, the Alz' is advanced so far that the hip will heal (without pain, hopefuly) but they won't be able to teach her to walk again. The most hope is that she will be able to sit comfortably and not be bedridden.

When I got there, it was 4 days after the operation and she was just coming off of the IV painkillers. She is physically recovering from the surgery but typically it was a drastic event for her and the Alz' has progressed yet again. My last email from my sister is that Mom has had quite a few down days. Not able to make her smile or laugh at all, which I was able to do during my time home with her. It's something, even though she can't talk it seems like you can communicate if you can laugh with her. She doesn't know any of us any longer - but I look at her & I still see my mum, it's heartbreaking to know she can no longer do anything at all - she must be fed, dressed, moved from place to place or even just rolled over in bed. The disease progressed so much faster than any of us ever expected.

My sisters, one in particular, handle this on a day to day basis. I can't even imagine the toll this takes on them. I do know that they were both very grateful to have a couple of days to recoup while I was there - I wish I could do more - But 600 miles may as well be a million - I get home when I can.

Sorry, I didn't expect to vent. Didn't think I needed to until I started to type.


Here are a couple of pics of Mom...

This one was taken in March at my Aunt's 100th birthday. She had a good day that day and seemed to enjoy the day. But I tell you, I would have to dig really deep to find any other pictures where she is looking right at the camera. She would always duck !

Three of my siblings are in this one. The guy on the left is my eldest brother. Next to him is my sister - the one taking care of all the decisions for Mom. My youngest brother is on the far right (with the camera).



This one was taken at my Dad's 80th birtthday in August 2008. That's my mom, my sister and my sister's two granddaughters. The baby was just a few days old.



I'm on my weekend now. Two weeks ago the company went through a major downsizing and just about all the staff got hit. Laid off or put on a short week. Luckily, I got a short week - 30 hours. 7.5 hrs Mon-Thurs, Fridays off ! It's a double-edged sword - I like the hours, but not the pay :-( Oh well, I still have my job.

Christmas baking is underway - anyone who followed me last year watched me make batch after batch of cookies. I need some for home, work and for my guests who come for a Christmas dinner early in December.

With some extra weekend time, I started early this year. Last weekend I made the ribbon (19 dozen) and candy cane (7 dozen) cookies. They are safely tucked away in the freezer waiting to be packed. This weekend the plan is to make the spritz cookies.

I'm also considering making cherry loaves to go with. I'll see and decide soon.



Projects - I've got a few on the go, almost but not quite finished. I'm hoping to have the 2 sewing projects finished and posted before the end of the weekend.

1) SFTTU socks - the 2nd pattern in Wendy Johnson's book (Socks from the Toe Up) is called Lacy Ribs Socks. I started these while sitting with Mom a few weeks ago. They haven't progressed much because once I got home, I went back to working on project number 2.


2) Baby afghan - this is for a colleague - she's due to begin Maternity leave in 4-6 weeks, so this is getting most of my attention for the moment. There is about 2 rows left on the 3rd ball of yarn. I want to add one more ball before I consider it finished.


3) The D$%$m shirt - I 'still' have to do the buttonholes & buttons !


3) Skirt - BWOF 07-2008-113 - this is in my PR Wardrobe storyboard - finished by Sunday ??? maybe.....stay tuned.


I found this link to make a personalized signature at Mary is Sewfast and had to try it out. Isn't it cool ? I just wish my actual signature was this neatly written LOL !

BWOF 04-2009 (101) - Done

I knew I wouldn't get 4 items sewn in one month for the mini-wardrobe contest, but I got close. One more item is done ! If anyone is counting that's 3 things this month that I finished !!! I can hardly believe it :-)

Here we go - might as well copy the PR review rather than type it all again.

Pattern Description: The perfect length, the perfect cut. You can't go wrong with this slightly flared skirt in novelty-weave fabric !

Pattern Sizing: 36-44

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes, although I actually made 101B which is the one without pockets or topstitching.

Were the instructions easy to follow? (Why do they ask this ? If you select a BWOF pattern, this section should just assume 'NO' and let it go at that - LOL! ) For the skirt, yes...for the yoke, well, I'd read the PR reviews first and didn't stress too much when they were confusing.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? No dislikes, this is a great basic skirt.

Fabric Used: Black stretch cotton twill from a FabricMart Mystery Bundle - it's a FREEBIE !

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made:

1) cut a 44 waist and 42 hips...by the time I was done taking in the seams to fit, I should have just cut a 42. Next time.

2) I scooped 1/2" from center back for a swayback adjustment but it wasn't enough. There was still lots of bunching in the back ! back - 1st fitting
I took out another 1/4' and it seemed much better. adjusted back

3) I added 4.5" to the length since I'd seen a few comments about it being quite short. I'm tall so I generally have to add length anyway. It turns out it wasn't 'that' short on me. I cut off all but 1.5' and hemmed it with a 1/2" hem just above my knees.

4) My sewing order was pretty wonky, I think. I don't think I did anything in the order it said to and the yoke instructions were horribly confusing so I followed Allie in Hong Kong's review for the yoke. Her inside front photo was great.
I did the yokes first, including buttonholes and buttons, placed them RS together with the center front panel and serged them on. Then I put that full panel aside til the rest of the skirt was done.
The facings were attached when I did the center zipper using the tutorial from Fashion-Incubater the same as my previous skirt.
The last thing I did was serge the full front panel seams to their side panels, including facings. No hand stitching, no fuss, no muss. It's a pretty clean inside finish and since I made such good use of Allie's pic, here's mine in case it's of any help to anyone. inside yoke

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? Yes, & yes. My twill seems pretty lightweight and has stretch. I think I'd like to try this one again in a denim or heavier twill with no stretch. I would recommend though that you don't bother with the BWOF fussy instructions for the yoke, they seem to make it more difficult than it is.

Conclusion: It's gonna get lots of wear !

M3341, No. 2

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Here is the finished skirt I mentioned in the last post.

It's the same pattern and view ("C") I used for the black&white houndstooth skirt I posted on in June.

It's a peachy/orange stretch cotton that is VERY comfortable, the A-line skirt is better at work than a straight skirt - much easier to access bottom drawers of filing cabinets !

In June I made a size 16 which is pretty loose fitting. This time I made a 14 and it fits alot better. I'm very happy with it but see the wrinkles in the back now - I guess they are in the first skirt as well, but we didn't take pictures of that one on me. Since I've replaced the broken zipper maybe it's time for a pic.

Anyway, I've been paying close attention to the adjustments on the coat sewalong and in the blogs I read and, unless someone tells me otherwise, will pinch out that bit of extra fabric in a fish-eye dart on my pattern. Hmm, this is the fix I see people do on their muslins, since I'm working on my actual pattern pieces, could I just lower the CB the amount I need, tapering to nothing at the side seams ? Is this a swayback adjustment?

I traced the pattern out onto tracing paper for this skirt since I suspect I will make it a few times more - my first TNT ? After the holiday trip, I now have lots of skirt fabric to use up.

Vacation's Over

We were away this past week on holidays. Generally our vacations are very low key. Either visiting family in New Brunswick or in Toronto...this week it was Toronto.

I had no access to the internet til Thursday so, no blogging, reading blogs, reading emails AND no sewing either ! But, on Wednesday our hosts pointed DH and I in the direction of Queen & Spadina and I spent 3 hours dragging him through all the fabric & notion shops in the fasion district. I had a couple of notions I was looking for but I was NOT going to buy any fabric.....I didn't, hubby did ;-). Saturday Aug 2 was our 11th anniversary after all, what better present ?

I picked up a few skirt pieces at The Wool House - they had their end of roll pieces cut to approx 1 yd lengths and I will use these for skirts for work.

A couple of doors over, at Downtown Fabrics, I got :

a rayon knit print (the fact that I haven't yet got up the nerve to try knits didn't stop me),


a red stretch cotton w/embroidery,


blue cotton w/embroidery,

and 2 pieces of linen, the same print - one blue, one red, DH liked the blue, I liked the red, therefore I had to have both ! No ?

All of these pieces are quite a bit darker than these pics show.

I really liked every piece I bought and would like to sew them up rather than stash them. Tomorrow shortly, I'll start prewashing them.

Now I have to make another attempt at the sleeves for my coat and I've got a skirt almost finished (M3341) in an orange stretch cotton with a woven stripe in it. It only needs the waistband facing and the hem.

April Project - McCalls 3341

Next up was McCalls 3341, View C - Just below the knee. This was faster, I wanted it for a specific date and only took a week to do. I know, I know if I was quicker at this, it would be a one day project, but not yet.

It's comfortable, but loose. All my measurements say I should be making size 16, but so far everything is a bit big. On every skirt I've made in the past few years, I take in side seams til they fit. I'm going to have to try size 14 and see what happens. Murphy's Law - 14 will probably be too tight ;-)

I would have shown a picture of me wearing it, but the zipper stuck in the 2nd wash and now I have to replace it. Mending already !