2007 Draws to a Close

I'm not a huge fan of New Year's resolutions.

However, 2007 got a bit out of control at times. I didn't get a lot of things done that I wanted to, sewing among them. So perhaps a few would be helpful for 2008. But let's call them intentions instead--somehow, that has a more positive connotation to me.

• At work, focus. My mentor and current boss is moving to another department in January, so I'll be working directly for our department head (his boss) for a while. He's known to be a stickler and obsessive about metrics. It will be a challenge. And then there'll be a new boss--hopefully, someone I know but it's not unknown for management to hire from out of state. So in other words, gotta bring the "A" game.
• Sewing, more of it for starters. I spent a lot of time and money buying RTW, stash, patterns, and sewing books in 2007. Time to turn some of those sewing goodies into garments. I won't be on a fabric/pattern/book fast; however, it wouldn't hurt to be more mindful of what I'm buying. No guilt, you all may know my attitude already, but I don't believe it it. At least where sewing is concerned. I want to be more productive because it's fun and makes me happy!
• Health and Fitness. This is an area where I actually did accomplish a lot in 2007, dropping down from 155 to 128 (goal is 125!). The fitness part was lacking though, so I'm planning on getting toned up in 2008. After all, I have that wedding to go to in August, and it would be great to look buff in my fabulous designer original!! I'll also be turning 50 in June and I would like to look really good for that.
• Financial. Too often in 2007, I did my bills in a rush at the last minute. Not good. I have the tools so I need to make better use of them. It's not like I'm procrastinating because I'm broke, I'm procrastinating because...ummm, well, I don't really have a good reason. Sheer inertia.

I think these are good general goals for the year, and achievable. Have a happy and safe New Year everyone, and may your favorite team win (unless your team is playing the Gators, heh heh heh!)

And Another Thing...

DBF has interesting ways sometimes (don't we all!). Anyway, one of his quirks is not to exchange gifts on occasions such as birthdays, Christmas, etc. OK, so far it's worked out because he remembers to buy flowers on special days and does other thoughtful things.

One of which took place yesterday. I went over to his place last evening to watch the Pats/Giants game, and he handed me a bag from the Apple store. Inside was a blue iPod Nano, which is just the cutest little thing! He thought it would be more convenient to carry around than the 30 GB one I've been taking everywhere for almost 2 years now. He also upgraded the earbuds, another nice touch.

What a great surprise and pretty nice gesture for someone who "doesn't do gifts"!

On a More Positive Note...

My sister's niece is getting married in a fancy Long Island wedding in August. Black tie, so of course a nice dress is going to be required. I'm already starting to develop some ideas for a fabulous designer gown.

I've been wanting to buy this pattern, so now I have an excuse:

The back is a touch bare, but perhaps I could bring it up a little higher. Otherwise, it's "hello, long line backless, strapless bra!" A nice plus to this design is that it's designed for knits, which would make it easier to travel with.

There are other possibilities already in my stash too. Like View B of this Bellville Sassoon from 1995:

I've loved this pattern for a long time. However, I think I'm past the age where I can have that large of a bow on my butt. Maybe I could change it to a smaller bow, substitute some Dior roses, or eliminate it altogether.

Or View A of this Givenchy:



I love how the neckline is draped and twisted to create the effect of a bow. Although this is a 1997 pattern, I think it still looks current.

Or this Issey Miyake from 2003:

I'd eliminate the asymmetric godets on the front of the skirt, but otherwise leave it as is. It's more bohemian than the others, but since I'm the New Mexico relative I can probably get away with it. This one's another pattern for knits.


So, any thoughts?

Oy Vey!

I got back from Florida on the 26th, Wednesday afternoon and discovered that my house has no water! Arrrgggh!! And it's Sunday and I still have no water. The plumber and a city water guy both came out and determined that the meter is working, but the line is frozen somewhere between the property line and my house. We are expecting to have cold weather through New Year's, so yes, I'm camping at my house. What a pain!!!

I also had a pretty hectic couple of days back at work on Thursday and Friday, and I'm the only officer in my department at work tomorrow.

Although I had a nice visit to my sister's at Christmas, I'm seriously going to have to rethink the traveling. Between home adventures like frozen pipes this year and holiday blizzards last year, and year-end customer frenzy at the office, it's just getting too hard.

Merry Christmas!

Hi All,

This will be a brief one because I'm posting from E's computer and I feel like I need to limit my computer time since I'm a guest in their home. My computer is extremely limited this year since I can't find any wi-fi to borrow. So no pictures or links until I get back to New Mexico.

It's been fun in Florida. We went to see Michael Andrew's (warning: music on the site) show Friday night and had a lovely dinner for E's birthday at Enzo's on Saturday night. I know that some claim Florida is a shopping wasteland, but it was very cool to shop the Mall at Millenia with my brother in law on Friday. Thanks to the fabulous Martine for showing us around the designer department at Neiman's! There are several Etro, Prada, Kors, and Escada outfits that I'm totally inspired by.

But in the meantime, I've been shopping RTW with a zeal bordering on insanity. OMG! I've gone down yet another size, and E and I are now the same size for the first time in decades. So I'm stocking up on work clothes, mainly pants and skirts. I will be sewing clothes when I return but I need stuff in the meantime.

Tonight we're off to E's sister in law for Christmas Eve noshing and presents. Tomorrow should be quite relaxed, then it's a travel day and back to work.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday full of love and joy!!!

More Christmas Sewing

Last week I was grocery shopping at the Wal*Mart Superstore (folks, it's the closest grocery in my neighborhood, OK?!?), and I saw some adorable Christmas cotton on sale for only $2 per yard. So of course, I bought 3 yards of the 2 fabrics I liked the best. I must have really thought these were cute prints because it took forever to get some cutting help in the fabric department. Ugghh.

Anyway, I made yet more pj pants from my go-to pattern, McCalls 2476. One pair is for me and the other is for my sister E, who I'm visiting in Florida starting on Thursday.

This cute pair with penguins is for her:

The Santa ones are mine:

I changed the pattern somewhat because this pattern absolutely has a ton of ease. I ended up recutting the tissue a size smaller than the pattern indicates just because the last couple of pairs I've made prior to these were so incredibly baggy. I also decreased the crotch depth because the butt was way low.

I also want to respond to a couple of recent questions:

Raesha D asked if I was looking to move to the east side of Albuquerque. In a word, yes. DBF is wild for the Tramway/Paseo del Norte area, and I was willing to compromise, even though I have a perfectly lovely home near the Petroglyphs on the west side of town. I used to live near Albuquerque Academy when I first moved to town in 1988 (!), so the area is already familiar to me. This is a long term plan and hopefully I can put my house up for sale once the market rebounds somewhat.

MéLisa wanted to find out about the ASG meetings here in Albuquerque. They take place on the 2nd Thursday of each month at Asbury United Methodist Church on Candelaria, just east of Eubank. The meetings start at 6:30 pm. Please feel free to come!

Oh yeah, and here's a gratuitous shot of Smudge:

This one is from the summer, when I was documenting my closet for a previous post. I ran across it today when going through some old picture folders. He loves the closet floor, especially when there are shoes to be sniffed. It just cracked me up and I thought you all might find it amusing, too!

Aunt Sook Aprons

My latest project has been a couple of kitchen smocks that my sister E named "Aunt Sook Aprons", after our great aunt Sook. This style was a staple of her housekeeping attire, wearing them when she cooked and cleaned her little house in New Albany, Indiana. No, Sook wasn't her real name, that was Sylvia, but I never ever heard anyone call her that. It was always Sook.

E originally requested one of these several years ago because she wanted an apron that would provide good coverage when cooking dinner after getting home from work. She remembered Aunt Sook's smocks and asked if I could make that specific style. An internet search commenced, and I was fortunate enough to locate a pattern at Patterncentral.com. According to the website, "Here you will find over 500 Sewing, Craft, Quilt, Crochet, Knitting, and Embroidery Patterns. Our company has been in business for over 50 years selling patterns through the newspapers and now we are also on the Internet." So those of you who are old enough to remember the patterns you ordered from the paper now have a resource for them.

I'd made 2 Aunt Sook Aprons for E previously, but she gave one of them to her friend who has a medical condition that makes swallowing difficult. The friend wears it to protect her clothes when she tries to eat.

So I decided to make a couple of new ones, one to replace the one that E gave away and another one for her friend. I figure that you need at least a couple, one to wear and one to wash. And of course, I have plenty of cottons to work with! Both designs have kitchen themed fabric, the green with its vegetables and the black has little kitchen utensils in the middle of the black squares. I classify this type of project as "utility sewing," but at the same time, I enjoyed making something that I know will be appreciated and used.

And of course, I have yet to make any Aunt Sook Aprons for myself. Isn't that typical?

As a seasonal note, I've been working on Christmas like everyone else and here's my tree! I go for an eclectic look, with lots of glass balls and featuring ornaments I've made or collected over the years. Too bad I can't capture what it really looks like, the flash really flattens and washes it out.

And in local news, Albuquerque seems more like Seattle or San Francisco this week. Over an inch of rain yesterday and more expected today. It's not quite cold enough for pretty snow just the less pleasant aspects of precipitation like slick roads.

Fabric Mart

I received my first order from Fabric Mart on Friday (11/30)--I couldn't believe how much they were able to cram into one small box! I meant to post on this sooner, since many of us sewing bloggers have succumbed to the siren call of "Anna Sui Silk Blowout." It's only fair to share, right?

Yes, there are 3 colorways of the same crysanthemum print Anna Sui fabric. And I'd ordered a fourth, the blue, but it was sold out. I also like the paisley, and would have gotten other colorways of it as well, if they had been available. All of them are so beautiful in real life! I bought it for lining (per Shannon's suggestion), but some of it may need to be used for something else, matching tops perhaps? I got 4 yards of each, so there's plenty.

This is a really unusual poly/wool blend, both shiny and fuzzy. I'm thinking that it would be perfect for a Sewing Workshop jacket. 4 yards of this one, too.

Nice basic wool. I don't know if I'd call it spruce as they do on the site, but it's a nice color that I'd describe as more of a sage green. Yep, 4 yards.

These two are tie silks. Love the black jacquard, not so much the other one. But that's ok, it will get used. These were also bought for linings, but then again, the black is so fabulous that it may become a little black dress instead. 5 yards of each, because the fabric is narrow.

Happy Blogaversary

I started my little blog a year ago this weekend!

As I look back I'm a bit bummed at how little sewing I've done.

But on the other hand, maybe it's not so bad. My DBF has been calling me "The Incredible Shrinking Nancy," due to the weight loss journey I've been on since May. I'm down 27 pounds (!) and have only 3 pounds left before reaching my goal weight of 125. I know, I know, sew as you lose weight. But let me assure you, I wasn't going around in clown suits or naked thanks to TJ Maxx and Ross Dress for Less. I'm getting really psyched about gearing up with sewing again--it's much easier to fit garments when your measurements are closer to the pattern envelope (voice of experience here). Hopefully, I'm not belaboring the point, but I'd like to share a resource that's really worked for me, Calorie Count. It's a free site with lots of tools to help figure out how to lose weight in a healty way. I have mixed feelings about the Community feature because posts like "I ate a carrot, is this healthy?" drive me nuts. But overall the site is great.

But back to sewing. There has actually been a lot of sewing-related activity during 2007:

• I've done a lot of purchasing, so I have lots of fabrics and patterns to work from!
• I bought a new serger, a Babylock Evolve. Love it! Although I haven't posted every single pair of pj pants that I've made this year, I've made many, and the new serger is a joy to sew on. I've also hemmed a bunch of skirts using the coverstitch feature. Even though alterations are not a favorite activity, I have to admit that it was almost enjoyable with the serger.
• I attempted to sew a SWAP. Even though I didn't complete it, I got a lot out of the experience. I'm applying many of the SWAP techniques to garments I've been buying. I have some half-finished garments to complete as a result of the SWAP, and I still plan on posting them.
• I entered a sewing contest, The Sewing Workshop's "Reinvent the Inventor."
• I went to a sewing getaway in San Francisco hosted by The Sewing Workshop. It was great to sew with a group of fellow fanatics and learned a bunch.
• I've enjoyed sharing the love of sewing with others on the blogosphere. I feel like I've made new friends in cyberspace and have picked up lots of tips and tricks from you.

So what's next? I'm hoping to have a lot more sewing projects to post about in the upcoming year. I'm also starting to look at relocating to the other side of town, so you may see some posts about that. More recipes. And my 50th is in 2008 (!), so I'm sure there will be posts on that milestone.

Thanks everybody, for visiting SewWest, and please keep visiting and commenting! Mwah!