Silky Pillowcases - done!

Why yes, yes I do post a lot more when I'm on vacation, how nice of you to notice LOL!

Well here we are, two posts in two days. I'm thinking this is probably as close to a miracle as I'm going to get this week ;-) Here they are, two green "silky" pillowcases with Tiana borders.
They aren't perfect but one of the things I've had to learn over the past few years is that perfection and I don't really do well together. I'm not perfect, my sewing isn't perfect but on the other hand I certainly pay more attention to detail than the big clothing/decor corporations and I'm learning to be okay with that.
So ...ta da!

Pretty simple construction just one big rectangle sewn up 1 side, Tiana border attached (with some fancy stitches my machine does) and then sewn up the other side. Both sides were serged since this material frayed like crazy.

There's really nothing special about these except that they're probably one of a kind, fill a need for Little Miss C and they're danged pretty. I guess they are special! Time to wrap them up!

Ta!

On the sewing table

This week I'm off (on leave, vacation, escaped...what ever you want to call it!), so of course I have lots of sewing planned (and a whole lot more chores planned too!). I know I won't get it all done...I never do, but I thought I'd give you a glimpse of what's on the sewing table waiting to go.

First up is a birthday present (don't worry, it's for Little Miss C and she's too young to be blog reading on her own!)

By the end of the week (or even earlier I hope) this will be a pair of "silky" pillowcases with a Tiana border so a little princess can sleep happily without having to choose between a Disney pillowcase or a "silky" one. Ah if only all of life's dilemmas could be solved to easily.
Green was not my first choice for this project since Little Miss C is more of a pink or purple girl but it was the best match the store had and who knows, maybe it's her new favourite colour, since we all know *that* can change in a heartbeat with a 5 oops, 6 year old.

Next on the table is a mix in blacks and whites;

This will become the No Pattern Bias Skirt in the current (June/July no 161) issue of Threads. By the directions there are supposed to be 5 different materials but again my local fabric store failed me and I could only find 4 that fit my requirements. Besides a desire for black and while like the picture in Threads my biggest need was mainly that it be cotton! For me there's no point in making a summer skirt that's supposed to be for hot weather wearing if it's not cotton or linen or some other natural fibre. Sadly that means a limited selection since Fabricland has an affinity for polyesters and such. With no air conditioning at home or really at work either (not that I'm likely to wear a skirt to work!) and being a larger woman...natural fibres are my true friends!
3 of the 4 are shirting material with the 4th (top) being a quilting cotton. I know, I know, that's pretty much a no-no for clothing and it's SO not the same weight as the others but hey...it's skeletons and pins! I couldn't resist! Keep your fingers crossed that I can get this work with only 4 patterns of fabric. I'm pretty sure I can but extra good wishes never hurt.

Well, if I plan to get any sewing done I'd better get a move on.

Ta!

What is or isn't sewing?

I was getting ready to write today’s post (it was going to be about how I didn’t sew this weekend) when I started to think about the things I*did* do this weekend; mended some stuff, restyled a shirt so I’d actually wear it, hemmed a pair of pants and spun some lovely wool.

 

Of the 4 main things (besides laundry, grocery shopping and dishes..ick) I got done this weekend 3 of them included a needle and thread so why don’t I, at first "glance", consider that sewing?

An interesting question that made me think. 

Is it because I think of sewing as a creative process? Possibly. Sewing has always been one of my creative outlets and I love that sense of accomplishment I get when I have taken a pile of papers, materials, and threads and turned them into something else. Within that narrow definition then what I did this weekend would not qualify as sewing. But then, if not sewing….what? The major components of sewing were all there; scissors, needles, thread, a plan.

Perhaps it’s that there is a difference between “Sewing” and just “sewing” to me and “Sewing” involves some creative process to me.

Something to think about. ;-) 

Ta

I sewed!

I finally did some sewing! After a bout of procrastination, a skirt mental block and 2 months out with a bum hip (who knew sewing could be so dangerous?!?!) I finally got some sewing done this weekend.
Even better? It's a long weekend here in Canada so I have another day!

Who knows, I might even get something worth taking a picture of!

In the meantime I will share a picture of my first finished project of the year.

This is a short row scarf I made from a pattern in spin Off Magazine. It's a very easy pattern and my first ever time knitting short rows. It's made from hand spun yarn that I spun last year after buying the roving at the Ryder Lake Spin In. It's from a wool I don't remember with angelina and silk mixed in. You can see some of the gleam of the silk in the 2nd photo. It's lovely to wear and I'm quite proud of it.

So stay tuned, I might have some pictures of sewing soon, now that I'm back at the sewing table. In the meantime here's a look at what I'm back to working on; Simplicity 8640

Ta!

What's been going on?

So with such a long break between posts it would probably be good to do a little explaining on what happened.
Basically life happened, and then it snow balled and then it got embarassing to have not posted for so long.
But I'm over that and I have lots of sewing news to share.
First (and because I have no pictures right now) the life part;

As you know if you read my blog earlier this year, Scooby became a bit of an escape artist. In June/July he reached a new pinnacle. He not only got out of the backyard he jumped over the balcony to do it! I'm not sure why but for the first year ever fireworks totally freaked him out. So up over the balcony he went, over the yard fence and into a major intersection not far from our house. Happily (considering) he was found by a dog friendly couple who got him into their car (not hard, trust me!) and they took him home with them to safety.
At that point he became a much more restricted doggie and sadly he was fine with that. It got to the point that he didn't even want to go outside by himself at all, even to eat. And for a dog that lives up to his nae....that's a huge thing.
So now, a few months later we have moved from a dog that was outdoors 24/7 to a dog that's indoors 24/7! That's a pretty radical change for him and for us.

Add to that some ex-husband and family drama, a teen and a tween and well, you have a pretty busy life and a busy me. But I really missed blogging so I'm back and I promise I will do better....well, better than the last 6 months anyway!

Right now the camera is unused and there's a fair pile of things to photograph and lots of projects in the works (2012! It's a big year for costuming folks!) but for now I'll get this up and then see what happens.

Thanks for reading Ta!

I'm back

Hopefully for a good long haul this time.
I have lots of things to tell the world about but in the meantime a little haiku for you all......

The days pass slowly

Then rush by, too fast to see

Why no posts lately

Stanley Cup Final - the aftermath

I'm sorry to say that this is not going to be a sewing related post. Frankly there hasn't been enough sewing done in this house to warrant one. :-( There will be one soon though, I promise.

In the meantime I wanted to take a quiet minute or two and write a bit about a rather bizarre local event that some of you might have heard about in the news. They're calling it Riot 2011 or The Stanley Cup Riot or the Vancouver Riot.

It was a travesty, it was sad and awful and is in no way something that Vancouver or BC is proud of. For those who don't know the story the Vancouver Canucks made it to the final round of the Stanley Cup. They fought hard and took it to 7 games. That final game was played in Vancouver. We lost. And then some people got really stupid. There were fires and looting and people got hurt. Lots more people got scared.
The only good thing to say about the riot is that no one died.

We as BCers are ashamed at how a small group of people acted. We just ask that people remember that it was only a small group and that it in no way represents the rest of us.

There are some good things that happened during and after the event and I would like to focus on that.
There were people who stood up for what was right and there were more people that stood up for them.
A lot of people came out into Vancouver where some of the worst damage and looting happened and helped clean it up yesterday.
After 2 police vehicles were burned Wednesday night another police car was found today covered in notes of gratitude and well wishes for the Vancouver police. It is a beautiful sight.
Some people have realized that what they did  Wednesday night was wrong and have come forward and turned themselves in. I applaud them for doing the right thing. I know that admitting you're wrong is never easy. Wednesday night they were people to be ashamed of, today I can feel a small piece of pride in what they did today.

This is not an event to be celebrated but perhaps, if we learned from it, we can celebrate that.

Ta! 

PS  To all those people who posted about their "accomplishments" during the looting or posed after being caught on camera being stupid....do the rest of the world a favour and don't procreate..Please!!!