kicking my own ass.....

I'm about halfway through a new dress (McCall 4768) and it seems from the time I took my measurements until now either a) the dress has shrunk, b) my ass has grown, or c) the pattern measurements on the envelope are just off by an inch or two.

I'm going with option C personally, but that doesn't make me feel any better. While the dress does technically 'fit' there is no way in hell I'm going to wear this out in public looking the way it does. I'm no Mariah Carey, and 'sausage casing' is not a good look for me.

So the dress has been put aside for the time being and I started day 1 of Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred to see if I can whittle myself back down into it. Stranger things have happened! Plus I'm just coming off my cycle so that always makes me swell a teensy bit anyways.

On the sewing room front - I got a new ironing board and (cheap) iron today so I can return the good/expensive one back downstairs for every day use. Figure I'll do most of the major ironing of fabrics as soon as I pull them from the dryer so I can use the Rowenta downstairs for that and just use the new one upstairs for seams while sewing. Also hung two of my photography prints (one of my own, one of my old photog prof.) on one wall and framed two of my old sorority cross stitch pieces to hang on another wall when Stephen is available to help me hang my shelf. I've also got an old painting he did in the first grade that his Nana had mounted and framed that I plan to hang as well, it's really cool!

what's new in my world...

I FINALLY got a sewing table, and was able to set up my space in one of the spare bedrooms upstairs!


you can also see the new serger I got Friday as well ;)

Also finished something new (and stop reading if you are my brother or sister-in-law, or are married to or was a groomsman in my wedding) just a few minutes ago -


Actually made two of them, but since they are identical I'm only showing one, kindly modeled by Betty and my cowboy

why I have the BESTEST husband evar!!!

I just ordered a serger!


Brother 1034D

Since my free trial of Amazon Prime is still good for another 9 days I was able to get one day shipping for $3.99, so she will be delivered on Friday and I get a whole weekend to play with her!

gremlins!

we seem to have gremlins in our house, or maybe a mischievous leprechaun?

whatever it is, something has swiped my potato peeler, and now my skirt/pant hooks are missing!

I've finished another skirt (McCall's 5429) but I can't find the hook closure, and I KNOW I have some since I bought a new pack when I made the last version of this skirt!

The last one was denim and was cute, but I wasn't very happy with the fit or the cheap denim I picked up at WalMart. This new version is a really nice stretch cotton-blend khaki, and (as well as I can tell without the closure) fits absolutely perfectly. The pattern makers seem to assume that all women are at least 6 feet tall so I've got to cut a few inches off so I don't look uber-religious, but again that requires the closure so I can accurately measure where to cut it...

guess I just have to console myself with this glass of wine and the homemade brownies that are currently baking...

FINISHED!

The fleece jacket is finished, just in time for this warmer weather ;)



McCall's/DIY Style 5714 in polar fleece

Hooray for progress!

So I'm almost finished with McCall's 5714, just have to hem it and sew on the two snaps. Surprisingly the sleeves were a piece of cake, it really is true that using a LOT of pins makes set in sleeves much easier!

I dug through my old craft/Chi Omega box today looking for the old GRE exam prep book I bought 11 years ago. Did not find it (think I tossed it when I realized I wasn't going to grad school anytime soon) but I DID find the missing pattern I've been searching for off and on for the last year.

Bought this when I first started belly dancing but it was delayed by the publisher, so it did not come in until after my first hafla, so I'd already made my own costume based off tips and tricks I'd found online. I've no idea how the pattern ended up in this box but I sure am glad to have found it. Also found a bunch of old photos in there, including one of me and my mom on my 16th birthday.

And as for why I was digging around in the box in the first place, I have decided (after 11 years) to apply for graduate school for a Masters in Project Management. I'm planning to enroll in Penn State's program this fall, so wish me luck! Just ordered two GMAT exam prep books so I can go ahead and start studying, I'm afraid my math skills might be a bit rusty...

where the heck does the time go?

actually I know where it goes....to my employers and clients, that's where!

I made quite a bit of progress on my latest sewing project last weekend, McCall's 5714 fleece jacket (http://www.mccallpattern.com/item/M5714.htm??tab=diystyle&page=1 - I'm making the orange one on the model but in a charcoal gray color) but I've had absolutely no time on the machine since I went back to work Monday.

Guess I could have made time today but darn it, I worked HARD this week and I just wanted to spend some time curled up in my chair with a good book or running errands with my hubby!

Maybe tomorrow I'll finish it up, now that it's getting warmer and I probably won't get a chance to wear it until next winter!

I'm also ashamed to report I've done NO exercising for the last couple of weeks. Got a few new videos to try out but due to the aforementioned lack of free time I can't get motivated enough to head upstairs to my workout area to give them a try. Maybe tomorrow will be the day.....at least I can report that eating healthier (and taking Alli) is actually making a difference as I've dropped below 140lbs for the first time in as long as I can remember. Stephen has already dropped about 15 lbs since Christmas, but I've only lost 5 or so.

Hopefully my next post will be much more exciting, with photos of completed projects or something actually interesting to report!

Baseball cards...

My husband says my patterns are like baseball cards - that I seem to collect them and try to get them all

He might have a point, I bought some new ones this weekend and decided to take stock of everything I had, and it was more than I thought!

http://picasaweb.google.com/artemis76/SewingPatterns is my current inventory, minus one FatChanceBellyDance/Folkware pattern that I have misplaced

I need to go back through the photo gallery and add captions so I can search more easily, but it looks like it will be very helpful to see at a glance what patterns I have when I'm looking at online fabric sales!

new year....new start?

Obviously I read other blogs far more often than I post to my own (any of them!) so I'm going to attempt to do better this year

I've been collecting patterns far more than I'm sewing them these days but mostly due to how busy I've been at work lately - by the time I get home I just want to veg in front of the television and on weekends I just want to relax!

Knitting has been pretty rare around here too, though I did knit mini stockings for all of the gift cards we gave out for Christmas, and I've knit some thumbless mittens for some upcoming arrivals in my Aunt's family (which reminds me to finish the second pair and get them in the mail!)

Starting to get back into photography thanks to my new Nikon D80 SLR I got for Christmas, so prepare to start seeing random photos. If you've added me on Facebook you've already gotten to see some of them, with so many blogs/social networking sites it becomes somewhat redundant to keep posting the same things over and over, especially when I don't even know if I have readers here!

So I guess that pretty much sums up my first post of OH-NINE, might as well kick it off with a new design while I'm at it!