goal post

...Not the football kind.

It's oficially Friday, so I can write a goal post. Well, a goal and obligations post.

This weekend, I am want to...
-alter the pattern for the birthday PJ pants to include facings and a fly and the elasticy thingy. I'll take pictures
-make a wearable muslin of the Afternoon Tea Top that I will be turning into a dress in the near future, by which I mean pre-Easter. The pink dotted Swiss is destined for an Easter dress, then for Turkey!
-Finish sketching for the Istanbul wardrobe
-look at the pattern for the next evening gown/special project more closely... I'm using the pattern, but not completely. I'll intro that soonish.

This weekend, i HAVE to...
-Solidly outline a 5-page paper due Wednesday, and do the research for said paper
-Strike a show
-Go to a lock-in for the college group at church
-sign up for a seminary visit
-memorize some wicked Greek

So it's all about multitasking and a semblance of balance right now. Go me!

What's that stuff on your forehead?

Warning: Religious post ahead. A tiny bit of ranting, and a lotta bit about me. Back to regularly unscheuled sewing blogging soon... with a pair of pants!

Ash Wednesday was yesterday, and this week I have heard many conversations that start with a phrase I have very mixed feelings about...

"What are you giving up?"

There are always those people who have, in my general experience, given up things that they love, only to complain about missing the thing they love for 40 very... long... days. And to me, that's not what it's about. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a time in which we grow closer to God. If we give something up and then talk about it for 40 days, are we really growing closer to God? Are we really being the servants we should be?

Of course, now that it's out there, you all probably want to know if I am giving anything up. And I think part of my Lenten promise is a tough concept if you don't know me.
The simple part to expalin: I am taking on the task of writing a letter to God every day...Visual reminders of prayers that should happen more than they do are a good tool to make me think, and make me aware of how much I say the word "I" when I pray.
The complicated part: Get back to me. What I stood for, with a good dose of starch in my spine in earlier times, has come to not be as important in some ways. I lollygag instead of getting homework done. I linger on the computer, I go out when I should be working and am somewhat anti-social at times when maybe, I should go out. I mindlessly eat sweets and junk out of boredom when I should munch on celery or carrots or some other healthy snack.
So I am limiting myself to 90 minutes a day on the internet to spend between blogging and Facebook. I have carrots in my fridge, and I will try to eat them or just be concious of what goes in my mouth. I will have the patience I've never really had, but should try to have more. There are other parts to it, but I have bored you for long enough.

A project! A project!

To warm up on sewing garments for real people, I have chosen to make a pair of PJ pants for a birthday present for a friend. His favorite color is green, and he's a pretty simple guy, so they will be made with green cotton.... And will have blue facings in a print. I am using McCalls 5504 in a large as a basis, and will be altering the pattern to have contrast facings and will be giving the recipient a choice of pockets or no pockets.
The jury is still out on a PJ shirt... I'm kinda doubtful. I've never seen him wear a button-down, and buttonholes are scary.

Tartuffe and sketches

Well, Tartuffe is oficially up. Meaning I have the time to sit and refine and finish sketches, and start looking at patterns and pairing up fabrics and generally doing sewing things on my wardrobe for Turkey. SO exciting!

But right now I am coming down off of the "high" that comes with a successful show. I am SO proud of the cast and crew, and the costumer really made the entire thing come alive. Brilliant! I need to get pictures up.

So if I can get to a scanner, over the next few days parts in a series will pop up with fabrics and lovely ideas.. I now have hit the learning curve telling me I have to use a scanner for these things.

Be nice to me...

...I gave blood today.

I love the stickers. Not so much the tshirts, since the vast majority of my tees are gym-only apparel during the schoolyear, and as is the norm, they were either Large or 2X. So none for me. It's also nice to have an excuse to eat sweets... I have been trying to be a good girl of late, and havn't been doing too terribly much with sweet things. However, there is a tub of coffee ice cream sitting next to the keyboard right now... yay sweets to up the blood sugar. It's a little thing that can make a big difference in someone's life, and since I am not queasy about things like that and have no real fear of needles, I like doing it, if for no other reason than to know I am helping someone else.
The only reason I am not so much a fan is it makes me mauseous about half of the time, but that's seriously a small price to pay. And I am not supposed to do anything strenuous or gym-like for 24 hours, which means I will have to skip stress-buster time before class tomorrow morning. On the day we open the show... AHH!
Kay. Off to change and tech this beast for the last time... With a nice little interem for transition.

Back to regularly scheduled crafty programming soon... the show will be up and I can sew for me!

A blogging question...or 3

How do y'all keep up with things like project lists?
What about yards in/out?

I visit blogs all of the time that have cool little sidebars that do it for you, and it seems really neat.

Speaking of sidebars, bow the heck do I make buttons work on Blogger? For the life of me, I can't put them all in one place or even get some of them to look right...

I wanna play too! Will someone show me how?

Small Spaces....Bathroom

I am fortunate to have my own bathroom, which, in some dorms, could be considered a rarity. I always pack my bathroom things up last and unpack them first... Don't ask me why, that's just how it seems to happen. I like putting one little room in order when I get there. And this is my countertop, in order right now:

Well, not exactly countertop. See, while one DOES exist, it's not big enough to store much, and there's really no good way to store jewelry in an enclosed manner when one has my budget and amount of jewelry.

So, 2 packs of cork squares and a box of pushpins later, I had this system for necklaces and bracelets. It works like a charm! I love it, because it keeps my jewelry in the open.

And yes, those are martini, wine, and champagne glasses... the best kind to keep earrings around. The boxes are cigar boxes, which contain more jewelry, makeup, and memories. They worked so well color-wise I couldn't resist for the price (between thrift stores for glasses, free cigar boxes, and glasses I already had I spent maybe $12.00, including candles and cork.)

But what you really wanna see is what I did with my Saturday. Here is my craftiness for the weekend.I repaired the necklace at left which a sorority sister made for me 2 years ago. I used glass beads in combination with cloisonne beads to make the second necklace, and strung it on gold tigertail, closing with a gold clasp. Number three is cut crystal in a smoky gray, complienting blue-gray cultured pearls and purple glass beads. The clasp is an S-hook I bought to use for my Junior Prom jewelry... I wore a rope of knotted "pearls" instead. And the last necklace features more smoky crystal with hematite and red glass beads... The clasp is a loop made of seed beads and one of the crystals!

I was getting tired of jewelry, and I have made it almost to the 2-month mark without buying any new items... I'm gonna make it! All of the beads came from stash... Necessary to offset the cost of the fabric that should be here later this week! Pictures when it gets here.

A dress! A drawing! Oh my!

Here are some ideas I am thinking about, and you'll have to forgive my blurry line drawings...
Right now I am devoting a page to every color, and have staggered graph paper with printer paper in a homemade notebook... I'm carrying it around and throwing around ideas in my head...
Like I know I want to make at least 4 dresses.... An Ivory, a pink, a dusty teal, and a chocolate. You only get to see ivory and pink today though... Yes, I know, so teasing of me. But so far that's all I have really sketched. More colors to come... I spent much of today at work because costume parade is Monday afternoon...

I have a slinky stretch knit, most likely some synthetic, but it is ivory and just calling out to become a dress... I am still toying with a neckline I will be able to wear modestly and will still be something I will want to wear when I get home. I really like this style.

My thought process at the moment is that i can always put a tank top under it... And I am finding that Istanbul is not as conservative as I thought it was. So that is kinda nice.

The pink dress was born of a fabric choice I am officially wishing I had bought more of.... Dotted swiss from fabric.com and I found a line drawing for a top hours after checking out. The top will become a cute princess seam dress, ruffled at neckline and hem in ivory broadcloth, and lined too. Exciting, no?

I'M excited. More line drawings to come. Tonight, to celebrate Single People's Awareness Day(ha ha) I am going to watch a chick flick and work on some necklaces. I have decided I need more variety.

Mom called me this morning to tell me happy heart day... I called V-Day heart day until I was at least 8. So I hope your heart day is happy!

SO many things I want to make for Turkey! I was filling out the application last night(way to count chickens before they're hatched) and it's SUCH a simple process, I couldn't help but have my hopes renewed again. But I have to remember to buy envelopes. And passport pictures. And I have a mom to reassure (along with other family).

And then there is the sewing list... Yesterday's color scheme includes colors I wear A LOT on a regular basis, and I realized I am kinda just picking 3 neutrals and 5 colors I wear already... What am I going to do with them?

And then I made a baby sketchbook that will doubtless be put to use in the very near future. Like when my head is in the clouds if class is the reading regurgitated, which today I have a feeling it might be.

SO yell at me if there aren't sketches, swatches, and a refashion up by Sunday, because sometimes that's just motivating...

Happy Friday!

a refashion and a wardrobe

I am turning a sweater that was too trendy in all of the wrong ways into a sweater that is almost trendy in all of the right ways... And giving serious thought to a summer wardrobe in 2 color schemes. I just bought fabric... A rayon-blend jersey in chocolate for a dress,a dotted Swiss in pink for a top (or combined with something for a skirt), and some sand-washed twill in a cafe au lait color for walking shorts and a skirt. I'm gonna supplement that with 2 more knits I have made up in dresses. I'm doing 2 capsules that will cross each other, replacing my SG SWAP but along the same premise:

The middle browns and ivory will blend with each other, and there will be pieces that are primarily blue and pink, and pieces that are primarily plum, teal, and red. Off to class for now, but I will edit later to talk about pieces in each scheme.

These will include refashions, RTW I already own, and sewn-from-scratch pieces... YAY! A way to simplify packing and leave me with a smaller bag... or more room for textiles.

Edited to say the list of things to make has to be narrowed and will be along later.

guh.

Rainy weather and a room that is ALMOST but not quite clean are not ways I care to begin my day... But you know what? I'll live. I skipped the gym this morning in favor of some floor exercises in my room and a clean-up before a good friend comes over for dinner after a L-O-N-G rehearsal... We are now going from 5 to 7:30 or 8.
But there is chicken sitting in Balsamic vinegar and olive oil in my fridge, and tortellini in the cabinet. I may add a veggie, but I don't know that I'll have time to get to the store, so we might just be unhealthy girls tonight.

In sewing news, I have started my first refashion, a month and a half into my 2-month promise. A cropped sweater from God knows where is becoming legwarmers and a cute little cropped short sleeve thing... I got excited and cut before I took before pictures, so you'll just have to wait!

Kay. Off to class! Hope you get to enjoy your rainy day more than me.

I feel like a grown-up.

I filed my taxes last night.
I made my first quasi-budget.
I contemplated making a menu for the week this morning.
I haven't missed church since the semester started, and haven't been dragged out of bed to get there.... I go twice a Sunday, and am a youth sponsor... People give me charge of their teenagers.

I am contemplating apartment-hunting and leaving dorm life.

I know I've always been a little ahead, what with my needlecraft, scrapbooking, cooking, and generally mom-like tendencies, but I feel like this is probably where those of you who are older are nodding, saying 'I was there too'.

How old were you when you got your first place of your own? What is the coolest thing you remember about it? What's the worst thing?

On a crafty note, I watched Catch Me If You Can last night while swatching more fabric... I am up to 20 cards! My yardage count is at 47 &2/3 yds... So not much of an increase there, meaning I have lots of smaller pieces in this batch. But you know, that's okay. I am learning to buy more. But not till I know what I have.

It keeps growing...

Well, the pile of cards hasn't really grown all that much, but holy cow! I never realized I have so much fabric!!! I am beginning to pull things out, to catalog and reorganize, and I am ASTOUNDED be the sheer number of pieces... To the point where I really don't wanna count. But since there's a moratorium on buying and I want to get to a notions sale next week, I want to do as much as possible... Because I will be able to buy thread and cups and boning dirt cheap. I think if I make it through the stuff on the bed and have ALL of that put away, I will let myself get notions. But I have no business buying fabric if I don't have places to put it... maybe.

No pictures of fun stuff... I am too embarrassed to show you my room in its current state. But this one of my trip home last month is kinda cool... I am pretty sure I was driving through a cloud.Hope y'all have a great weekend! I am off to drink coffee and do hw... sigh

The evolution of swatching

I am up to 31 yards in recorded fabric... and the end is not in sight... :(

Most of the stuff I got cataloged was a garbage bag from my ex-boyfriend's (as of a week ago*) mom... And the one purchase I have made this year. I have yet to get into anything in the bins! This is just what was out. As I go through, I am planning to weed out the things that I know I won't use. And get some kind of a system. I really don't have one, sadly!

But here's where I started. On post-its with paper clips and my trusty tape measure on the dorm room floor.

Then I got a box and cards!

My cards are 4x6 and all handwritten. I elected to staple swatches, for the simple fact that I can tell how something feels or how see-through it is... And it's handwritten because I have no patience to try to feed these thorough a printer. All of the ones here at school are big and scary, and I took mine home because the network is so good!

Each card looks like this, and lists the name I gave to the fabric, or when I start to buy named fabrics it'll say those. I list yardage, width, place of origin(so far lots of people) and date and cost. All of that goes on the right, and a swatch goes on the left with fiber content underneath. Elementary, but it works for now!
The back will come in handy when I start using all of this up, and for fabrics like the one this card is for, I'll put a picture of the repeat on the back...

Here is the repeat, with tape for scale. I like it so much I wanna share! The tape kinda tells you more about how HUGE the flowers are... I can see a great summer skirt long enough for Turkey in my head. Or maybe even a dress, hmm....


Kay, wish me luck getting through this catalog! Super-long rehearsal tomorrow and a run-through and dinner out Friday so I won't have any progress to report till this weekend at the earliest... And I may just sleep then. This has been a heck of a week!


*: I am hurt by how it happened, but really okay... and it's for the best. He has some thinking to do, and I do too. We may be friends down the road... I just don't know yet. I am sure we won't date again. And I think that's all I want to say. So much not-sewing stuff this week! I know y'all don't necessarily come here for that. When I decided to really do this, I promised myself this wouldn't be a college angst piece.
And I really appreciate the supportive comments encouraging me to ramble. Thanks for bearing with me!

1980s to now-

I am gonna do one!
Mom pulled this silk dress out of her closet...

And I couldn't help but take it to upcycle. How could I resist? I posted a picture of just the skirt, because it's gonna come off that black ribbed awfulness and be just a skirt. With a waistband.

It might be long enough to make a dress, but I don't know... What would I put with it?

It'll be neat to start making things I know will transition well out of college and into life. I know dresses like Sunset are lots of fun, but I don't know that I will make as many of them when I graduate, unless something falls out of the sky, hits me, and tells me to make it a career.... Right now that's not what I see myself doing, because I don't think it's what God sees me doing.

I don't mention God much because I feel sure that not everyone who stumbles across this site wants to hear my opinions on God. Don't get me wrong, I am a Christian and pretty involved in my church. I also happen to be very liberal, but no matter I am politically, I feel that God has a pretty big say in how I live... I know my purpose is to shine God's light. Right now I am on a journey to figure out how. I feel a very strong calling toward vocational ministry, because helping people through the questions I have faced and still face on a regular basis is something I feel pulled toward. Letting God work through me in such a way as to help others would be an honor, and be very fufilling.
It's something I feel that MANY aspects of my life have prepared me for, and the logic behind God's master plan is something I believe in, and know that the events of the past week or so have been a test. I know God wouldn't get me to it if I can't handle it, and I think I wrote this as much for my sake and remembering that as for anything else. Sorry.

But that's not what you bargained for when you saw the title... But I guess it applies to that dress and me. Both have been on a journey, our paths have just crossed.

Kreativ Blogger and a resounding thank you!

I have been nominated twice... Thanks L and Gwen!

I remember someone saying this is a nice reminder that people really do read what you write. I couldn't agree more. So I tracked down the rules...

1. Copy the award to your site.
2. Link to the person from whom you received the award.
3. Nominate 7 other bloggers.
4. Link to those on your blog.
5. Leave a message on the blogs you nominate.

Kay, I wanted to put this up to say thank you... And I really appreciate it.

I'll try nominate some wonderful ladies over the next few days, although I think this one has pretty much made the rounds... All of the blogs I find inspiring have posted about it at one time or another.


I have been simply TERRIBLE about posting regularly, largely due to a dead camera and the fact that all of my sewing is theatre related right now. So if I have done anything, it's been catalogging. And school is keeping me plenty busy too...

But the thank you... YOU GUYS ARE TOO SWEET!!!! I really appreciate your comments about my dress... It was a long road, and without the encouragement I got from y'all, I don't know what I would've done. I think the photographer at the dance may have gotten some pretty awesome pictures of the twirl factor, but won't know for a bit.

Kay. Sorry if posts are fewer and farther between, but I hope you keep popping in! I hope to have quite a few refashions and some ideas for Turkey floating around soon.