3 down, 1 to go!

Yup, almost through. I am working on (ahem, procrastinating) a 15-page paper due tomorrow. I've made some stellar advances in laundry, and I'm sure when I get back to campus I'll make stellar advances in apartment-cleaning before the oh-my-goodness-I-have-to-do-this-now ship firmly arrives.

My procrastination efforts have involved crafting, I'm sure you're excited to note. Here are some bullets before I return to the grindstone.

• pre-washed SWAP fabrics in a laundry marathon
• found an AWESOME tutorial on making continuous bias tape and a new blog to read along with here at Pretty Jane. You'll see the results soon in many a project.
• had dinner with a friend and got a promise to learn how to make chicken parm from a real Italian!
• made a necklace for one of my dinner buddies
• helped another dinner buddy find some cool clothes- he's a shopping- challenged guy friend
• the dishes
• blogged... but I suppose I should really go this time. This paper is not going to write itself.

Wish me luck!

1 down, 3 to go!

Today I've lived in the OT and daydreamed about the day when Hebrew will be done. And it's going to be a pretty good day. Tomorrow at noon, I'm going to walk out of Hebrew and not look at it much till February, when I start Hebrew Exegesis. (Exegesis: critical explanation or interpretation of a text in the bible or portion of the text, often using the original language said text was written in) It's going to be a long night to get there, but the good kind of long night.

Wednesday afternoon I am going to take a short Sabbath of sorts for some shopping... helping one of my dinner buddies find some clothes for himself, covertly buying gifts for the same friend, and picking up some beads and clasps to work on gifts for other friends. It's gonna be a good break.

After we shop, I hope to feel refreshed enough to dive in to the next exam's studying, taking breaks to make gifts for 2 friends and bake 2 or 3 big batches of cookies to send home with friends. One more final on Thursday, and finishing up a 15-page paper on Friday and I'll have finished my first semester.

And then pageant craziness on Saturday and Sunday, and I get to define my very own routine for a whole week... YES! Work at the church in the mornings, have lunch, walk the dogs, and then afternoons of gift making, sending, and maybe even some things for me cut out and coming together...

4 more days...

whew!

Okay, time for a breather and the things I am thankful for so far this month...

• running buddies... We are up to a 5k for our long run, and I felt pretty awesome today with my 1.5 miles, no stopping digs... YESS! But as much as I am thinking 'go me' I know I couldn't have done it without the group. I wouldn't have even made it out of bed without them!
• packages... OF FABRIC! I have everything sitting next to each other right now on a chair across from me... and it WORKS! I really wasn't sure it was going to so I am breathing a deep sigh of relief. While the fabric would have been used eventually, I am trying really hard not to stash things at the moment...
• highlighters... between notes and blocking off parts of my paper calendar, I honestly don't know how I'd survive without them this time of year.
• good food
• good friends... My computer crashed yesterday at about noon, and through the grace of God and the mind of my friend DP, it was up again and funtcional by around midnight- no small feat!

Hope all is well with y'all!

finals...

... begin Thursday, when the first take-home is handed out.

We have practice exams, and I have pages to write for classes... and translation.

So, my contribution- what I offer for the week- is a queue of what will be done when I finish.

1. The Burda Turtleneck,

2. draft a skirt to make a SWAPtastic tneck dress

3. The suit jacket- alterations first, of course, but I'm hoping there won't be many evident on the tissue fit.

4. cut, cut, cut... SWAP sewing will be here before we know it, and I have bias strips to make, and many many things to cut out... I'm looking to cut all of my knits before I go home so I can get some quality time in with my serger, thus fulfilling the challenge to sew with knots on the serger... I have no idea how I will do hems... I don't have access to a coverstitch machine currently, and also don't have a serger manual yet because I don't know my model number...

5. some alterations for W, and, of course, gifts.

What are YOU up to?

a treat for me

So, I was given a gift of some money earmarked especially for fabric... and as I am trying to watch my spending, that suited me just fine... So I moseyed on over to fabric.com yesterday, armed with a coupon, a list for some gifts, and my SWAP plan, and promptly picked out just enough to earn myself free shipping. I'll show you what I got for me, because some gift recipients are readers, so you'll just have to hold your horses to see those projects.

I'm really excited! This stuff will all be in/out yards... and as I have limited (read: absolutely none) space for stashing, I am thrilled with the idea of buying something with the intent to do something specific with it.

Now off to Hancock... I could kick myself. I forgot to order interfacing for the suit when I placed my fabric order!

YAY!

I got something done.

Last night I skipped out on Improv because I wanted to sew. And lo and behold, I had a skirt in about an hour. Granted, it's a muslin of the pencil skirt for my suit so I didn't do it as well as I could have, but I'm pretty okay with that. I didn't feel like I really needed the zipper and nicely finished seams to know the fit, and after holding the fabric up to the light, I knew this muslin would not see the light of day. I wore leggings for fitting purposes.

And ladies, I am glad I did the muslin... The pattern's great, but a little short for church. I'll add an inch to the length above the slits, which sit a little high for my liking. In cutting I went outside the lines on the hips, which is normal for me, and I sure am glad I did, as it's snug, as a pencil skirt should be. I'll have to come in a bit below the waistband, and fiddle with how I should line this, because I would like to. I think the slits will make that tougher, because of how they're done...I know I will at least face the waistband, if not line to just above the slits in something... Any thoughts, dear readers?