Saturday, January 31, 2009

I've been "unwell" and now I am also angry!

I have been under the weather the past two weeks. I have had a continuous headache that I can't get rid of. I hate going to doctors but decided earlier this week I needed to. Earlier in the month I had the "crud"-a head cold with terrible sinus issues. With an antibiotic prescription to heal the sinus infection, I began to feel better.

Meanwhile, I received a letter from my health insurance provider in December, indicating that a medication I have taken for fours years for acid reflux was no longer going to be covered except as a Tier 1 drug; i.e, I will pay close to full price for this prescription. They are now going to provide Nexium, a drug that up until now they would not cover. Since my other prescription, Protonix, was no longer going to be covered, my physician wrote a prescript for Nexium the beginning of January. I began taking that at the first of the month. Three days after taking, I began having headaches, cough, stomach issues, etc. All of the known side effects. So, is my continuous headache due to sinuses or Nexium? Add to this stress from my job and newly imposed deadlines that in essence helped intensify my headache. Thus I am "unwell".

So I go to the doctor on Friday for the headaches and semi-vertigo issues. After an examination and additional discussion, the Nexium is not going to be good for me and my sinuses are still infected. So new medicine and treatment for sinus and a new prescription for my old medication. Of course my physician tells me that my insurance carrier, Anthem Blue Cross, will balk at this prescription and I will have to pay a higher price but my physician will present an appeal for the old medication. Sure enough, on the way to the pharmacy after leaving the doctor's office and running home momentarily, I get a call from the pharmicist saying that the insurance company will not cover the prescription and they suggest that I try Prevacid OTC or Nexium. In case you may not know, these drugs are from the same company with similar drug composition that my system does not like. I inform the pharmacist that I was anticipating this reaction and suggestion from Anthem but my physician has determined that this is not a suitable medication for me and thus they should fill the prescription and I will have to pay the full price while I await for an appeal decision.

Let me summarize to make this long rant shorter, I picked up my gold plated prescription which has served me well for four years!!!! and paid $102 for a 30-day supply when I use to pay $60 for a 90 day supply for the same medication!!!! The "moral" of this story is that my insurance carrier can and is being bought and paid for by big pharmaceutical company. To h--- with what the need of the patient is or consideration that the other drug may be more suitable for the patient since they have been taking it for FOUR YEARS. So an appeal has been registered by my physician but from hearing about others who have had to go through this for other medication, my insurance carrier will probably say no!!! This may be my new "cause" to push as this is just not right!

Since this is a blog about sewing how do I get this to relate. Well I just have not felt like sewing with not feeling well. So last night and this AM, I just read others blogs about sewing and visited fabric sites thinking about what I would make from the lovely fabrics I was seeing.

The sinus situation is starting to improve and this afternoon I spent about 1.5 hours in my sewing room working on the Vogue jacket. My intent this evening is to watch TV with DH and tomorrow do some sewing on the jacket as the sinus situation is showing some improvement and the headache is almost gone. Still a dull ache.

If you have had a similar situation with your insurance carrier and got the issue resolved in your favor, leave a comment.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

No sewing, no bloggging

Past few days have been very busy at work with late night yesterday due to our board meeting. Plus the weather was truly crappy but not as bad as folks in say Arkansas or Kentucky. Sewing is in the back of my mind, but there it stays for now. Hopefully this weekend will give me more sewing opportunities.

Friday, January 23, 2009

A small sewing moment

Let me say that the economy is impacting my job and this week most all of my time has been spent on budget revisions and potential department restructuring. I have spent most of my past three days in meetings from 8 to noon, a small break for lunch which has consisted of pretzels, water or coke. Not a very healthy diet.

DH and I had a nice dinner last night and then when we got home. I took a small sewing break to work on my jacket. I basted the side seams and then tried it on. I still have the bottom front swinging out at the bottom. Not sure if this is because of the FBA I made which was necessary but created more bias at the upper side front. Not sure how that would impact the bottom. It is not a huge swinging out but I notice it. Others may not. I also may need to trim some of the shoulder length. It was nice just to spend time thinking about fitting and not about budgets!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Award!


Thank you to Lori for nominating me for the award! I appreciate being thought of for this award. Here are the rules for this award:
  1. Copy the award to your site.
  2. Link to the person who nominated you.
  3. Nominate 7 other bloggers and link to them on your blog.
  4. Then leave a message on their blog notifying them you have nominated them for this award.


My 7 nominees are:

1. Cidell-Miss Celie's Pants;

2. Cennetta-The Mahogany Stylist;

3. Lindsay T-Lindsay T Sews;

4.Trina-The Slapdash Sewist;

5.Sigrid-Sigrid Sewing Projects.

6. Carolyn-Diary of a Sewing Fanatic; and

7.Sharon-Adventures in Sewing


















Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Thank you for the wishes

Thank you all for the birthday wishes. The snow for my birthday was very minimal but I know many of you have had more than enough of the white staff. It basically was "spitting" here.

I did get some sewing in for the day. I sewed the front/side fronts as well as the back/side backs of my jacket. I added the faux welt pockets to the jacket front.

My DH had to have an emergency root canal yesterday afternoon so that put a little damper on the end of the day. All in all it was a nice day.

It was back to work today. We did get to stop a meeting to watch the swearing in of our new President. What a great moment! DH recorded the event so I got to see more of the event this evening. I liked what the First Lady wore; the daughters were precious. Today I feel so much better about the future and the hope for some real change.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Holiday and Birthday

Today is my birthday!!! Having a day off for a holiday and it is my birthday day is just great. I started working on the Vogue jacket yesterday and plans are to continue on that today.

We are anticipating a little snow today. When I was a small child it seemed that it always snowed on my birthday. So I was actually hoping for some snow today. It will probably be only an inch yet that is a little something.

Off to sew now!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Next projects

The skirt is finished and I still need to take photos of the completed skirt. I cut out the Vogue jacket pattern today. I decided to pin fit the pattern again as I found a note I made when I started this pattern before. The note was about issues with the bottom of the jacket not hanging correctly.

The real issue was that I had not made an adequate FBA the first time around. So I added another inch using FFRP method for princess seams. Pin fitted again and pleased with the pattern fit. I just did have enough fabric left to make it. I did run out of lining fabric. I only needed to cut out the side front lining piece so used the polyester charmuese fabric that I am also using to make a blouse.

I plan to make this McCall's blouse. I plan to make View D. The fabric is from Gorgeous Fabrics. Here is a photo of the fabric. I also used some of this as lining for the jacket. Learning from others who use silk or poly charmuese, you really need to cut the pieces single layered as this is truly slippery fabric. Having it folded, the fabric was fighting against itself.

One new technique learned

One of my sewing affirmations for 2009 was to learn at least two new sewing techniques.

As many of you know from reading here, I hate to do much hand sewing. I don't think I am very good at it; plus my right hand hurts when I do a lot of hand sewing. I have always attached my linings to zipper tape by hand. However, most of the time I just don't like the look of it when I am through.
While thumbing through the book "Easy Guide to Sewing Linings", I found a section on attaching linings to invisible zippers. Thus I tried with much success the first time when I completed the Butterick skirt recently. When finishing up the Vogue skirt, I decided to try it again. I am pleased that the results were good again. So this will become my method of choice from now on. Here are two photos showing the attached lining to visible zipper.






I sometimes ask myself why did I not know this before. I have been sewing forever. I know that no one taught this to me either and of course, did not figure it out on my own. I have found this book to be one of the most helpful books on linings and I highly suggest it to others as well.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Cold and Sewing

It is extremely cold here today! When I got up it was 0 degrees!!!!! Thus coffee, email and sewing were my priorities today. I have completed my Vogue skirt. I finally got the waist and hip fitted correctly. I will do a review at PR later. I also need to do a review for my Butterick skirt that I completed about two weeks ago.

I took some photos of fabric I am going to use to make a blouse and if possible use to line the Vogue jacket that I have decided to make to go with this skirt. I will post those photos later.

I have a three day weekend so I truly have some ambitious sewing plans.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Thanks so much!

Thanks for your feedback about the jacket. Most of you suggested the Vogue jacket. I think I will be making it. I attempted this jacket before but then did not finish the project. The fit adjustments have already been made to the pattern; should be easy to just cut it out and sew!

Hopefully the skirt will be completed on Saturday. Sunday will allow me the opportunity to cut out the jacket. Monday is a holiday so sewing, sewing, sewing for me!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Feedback, please!

My skirt is almost finished. Again I had to take much deeper seams through waist and hip. I actually think fabric is stretching some and I did interface the waist area of the front and back yoke. I also think the ruffle kinda pulls the skirt down. The fabric is wool crepe. I have not had much in between or dedicated sewing time since Sunday.

Yesterday morning while getting dressed for work I decided to slip on the skirt for fitting. I was stunned at how much I had to take up. I have now basted the side seams taking in about an inch on each side from waist to just below hip area. I have not tried it on again since doing this but will do so hopefully in AM while getting ready for work.

With that said, I am so undecided about what kind of jacket to make to go with this skirt. I have numerous jacket patterns but just can not decide what is going to work with this skirt. Here is a view of the OOP Vogue skirt pattern. I made the view with ruffle. I was thinking about using this pattern. Or this OOP Simplicity pattern, making the jacket in the bottom right of the photo.

Then there is this one, making the one in the bottom right corner. I am wanting something simple, and short so the jacket does not take away from the ruffle on the skirt. What do you think? Any of these, none of these. Go with one of the fuller style jackets. Your comments are truly appreciated and requested. Thanks for your input.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Sewing while I can

Going back to work after a vacation is truly hard. The first day back is truly the most intense as you have mail backed up, people wanting a lot of your attention, etc. Then I start bringing work home so I can continue to work, thus time is taken away from my favorite past time.

But continuing to want to work on my sewing affirmations, there were some sewing moments to take advantage of this week. One ten minute session before work allowed me to pin the front skirt yokes to the skirt and the lining. Another 20 minute session allowed me to sew those yokes to both and to serge finish the seams on the side back and back pieces of the skirt and the lining.

I am getting ready to shower as later this month is my birthday and my friend's birthday was earlier this month. So this afternoon and evening we are getting together to visit and then go to dinner. I am sure I may find another 10-30 minutes of sewing later today. I will say this I am liking the look of this Vogue skirt and can see some other views being made up as well. Later.

Sewing Back Story

Lindsay T had a nice post yesterday about one's sewing past. You can click here to take you to her post.

As she noted, bloggers may have written something before. Yet there are more new sewists and bloggers potentially and they may not have gone back to a previous post on this subject. So here is my "sewing back story":

My grandmother was my inspiration. She was born in 1906. Lived on a farm with about 10 other children. They pretty much lived off the land. Her inspiration was a Sears and/or Wards catalogue. She and another sister were the seamstresses as well as her mother. They made clothes for themselves and the other sisters. My grandmother from the time I was born until her retirement worked either with Health Tex making children's clothes or Tate's Manufacturing making men's uniforms-shirts and pants.
My grandmother bought me my first sewing machine which is a hand cranked, beige Singer machine for little girls. She had me cut out squares and we sewed them together so I could learn to make sew a straight line. I made a small doll quilt.
In Junior High-perhaps known as middle school now-I was REQUIRED to take Home Ec. My first sewing project was a blouse. We were taught (supposedly) how to take measurements. The blouse was huge on me and ended up fitting my mother who wore it proudly. It was a beige cotton blouse with bust darts, buttoned up the back and had sleeves. The next year we made skirts, plus we had an at home project.
In High School, I did not take Home Ec. as it was not required. I did continue to sew and two of my girlfriends sewed as well. So we were influenced to make certain clothing items based upon our teen idols styles.
After graduating from High School and attending college, my sewing came to a halt.
When my DH and I married, I needed clothes for work and social ; money was tight. My grandmother again purchased a Singer sewing machine for $90 and gave it to me. It was a black Singer with a pedal with only straight stitches and an attachment to make buttonholes. I remember sewing an evening gown and cape that I needed for a special Young Career Woman's event in Richmond, VA. I won our local contest. The state wide event for which I needed the gown was in Richmond. I came in second losing first place to a woman who was a budding state attorney. I had become the 12th female in the US to become a CEO for a local non profit organization that was a member agency for a then national non-profit agency. This was 1978 and woman were just beginning to move up the career ladder. The evening gown was from a knit of some sort and required a zipper. My grandmother did not believe in basting. You don't baste in industrial sewing settings. So I inserted that zipper with some issues but I remember having anxiety about it. Also that Singer machine could be hard on knits. But the dress survived and I was so proud of that accomplishment.
My career allowed me the opportunity to move to Texas, California, Florida, Pennsylvania and back to Virginia. I continued to sew during all of this time even though my salary continued to improve and I did buy more clothing, but also I began to buy better quality fabric. Moving to Florida was my real first opportunity to meet some sewing stars such as Sandra Betzina, Linda McGhee, Louise Cutting and a few others. This is where I also learned to make better fitting adjustments and such. Also my body was past 40 and was beginning a new chapter in its look! So making clothes straight from the pattern without adjustments was a thing of the past.
I continue to sew today. I certainly know much more about sewing and fitting. I could stop sewing today and purchase more clothes but I choose to sew as I like what I create and I know I will not see someone else wearing the same garment as I am. I also like the creativity and the stress reduction from my every day work. I think it is better for my mental health than a psychiatrist.

Thanks Lindsay for encouraging our back story and I will be reading other blogs to learn your story.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Fabric purchase



Yes, I did! I took advantage of the 50% off wool sale and bought these two fabrics yesterday AM. First one is black and olive, wool and silk blend. The yellow one is a unusual weave and a yellow color that I really love. It reminded me of a suit I made years ago that I got great compliments when I wore it. Unfortunately the suit shrunk over the years and thus made its way to Goodwill.

Photos courtesy of Fabric Mart website

Monday, January 05, 2009

Keeping one of my affirmations

I took advantage of a sewing opportunity this evening as DH was arriving home late. So while yesterday's leftovers were heating up slowly, I worked on my skirt. I was able to complete the front bottom part of the skirt. I will sew it to the front yoke next. This is not by the directions but this is better, IMHO.

I really enjoyed that brief sewing interlude.

Saturday, January 03, 2009

My 2009 Sewing Affirmations

A friend and I were talking about resolutions. From that conversation, we both agreed that affirmations were meant to be more positive, as the person is affirming to do something. So I decided that I will not have sewing resolutions but sewing affirmations. So my sewing affirmations for 2009 are:

  • I will take advantage of sewing opportunities when they present themselves and spend more time at sewing machine than computer.
  • I will make some garments from BWOF; I renewed my subscription for 2009 after a two year hiatus, so I want to get my money's worth.
  • I will learn and use at least two new sewing techniques.
  • I will continue to sew for quality not quantity.
  • I will make one pair of good fitting pants.
  • I will strive to use patterns more than once, develop some TNT's. (As my sewing friend Carolyn has noted this does increase productivity as the pattern has been perfected for fit and will still allow for creativity.)
  • I will use fabric from my fabric collection (stash) more often during 2009.

I won !

Lindsay of LindsayT Sews had a give away opportunity. I won it! Nice way to start the New Year. You can click on the link above to see the cute notebook. Tuesday, I buy a lotto ticket. Maybe my luck will hold.

Friday, January 02, 2009

Butterick skirt-WIP-12-31-08


This is how the skirt was progressing on Wednesday. Yesterday I was able to attach the lining and the facings, after making some final fit adjustments. It is now ready to hem. I have decided that the way this fabric wrinkles while sewing that this is probably a linen fabric. I have not tried a burn test.
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Thursday, January 01, 2009

Happy New Year!

Wow, where did the year go????

I want to wish all of you a Happy New Year! It has been a pleasure receiving so many comments from many of you. Blogging has surely given me an opportunity to meet some very nice sewists! I wish I had more time in each day to read all the blogs I visit, but I just don't. It is truly a great way to share sewing information with a lot of people and I learn so much from each of you.

I look forward to a very productive year, whether sewing, exercising, reading or working.

August Sewing Simplicity 7295

 I am not doing well as a blogger. I have been working on this project since July 30. Today, I finally finished it. It has been a stop-and-g...