Work No Sew

This week I spent two days traveling.  Before I left town on Monday, I locked myself out of my house and spare house keys were not in hiding place.  I then remembered I took them out of the hiding place.  So had to call DH to come home and unlock the house.  I had to go to a neighbor's house to use their phone as I left my cell phone next to the keys.  :-(

It also was the most humid day of the month thus far so I am "glowing" waiting at my neighbor's home for husband to come home; their A/C was not set cool enough for me, stressing out makes me "glow" more. My inner thermostat is set much higher than it use to be!

So my business travel got off to rocky start.  Thank goodness no car trouble or anything else occurred on this trip.

I had hoped to visit a JoAnn's while in Richmond; I was not able to do so.  I did not find any other fabric stores pop up on phone search using Verizon navigator.  There used to be what I thought was a great Hancock's on Midlothian in Richmond; we all know that Hancock's is no more.

I came home last evening and found Vogue Fabric Swatches had arrived in the mail.  So I am going to sit down shortly and thumb through this and day dream about sewing.

I am going to be on a staycation next week and made mental plans for what I want to sew then.

More later.

On the Road

I have been traveling some this past week -work related.  Traveled to Asheville, NC, a four hour drive one way.  I spent the night in a very nice hotel and the business purpose of the meeting was fantastic as well.  The weather arriving and departing was just lovely.  Sunny and warm, not to hot and not too cool.  Usually when I traveled there I would make time to visit Waechters Fine Fabrics. They no longer exist as I believe I recall that the owner retired.  I would not have had time to visit there if they were open.  I think I have one or two fabrics from them still in my stash!

Today I am again traveling to NC for a family reunion with relatives from my father's side of the family.  Unfortunately with my parents divorcing I did not have the contact with my father's side of the family as much as I did with my mom's side.  So it will be good to actually meet cousins and their families that I have never met or when I did meet them they were very little.

Not much in the way of sewing this weekend.  I have some patterns ready for pin fitting and hope to squeeze in some time tomorrow.

Hope your weekend is a pleasant one.

Traveling and sewing

Tuesday I had to travel to Richmond, VA for a business meeting.  I was on the road by 6AM and got to my meeting by 9:00.  Then left Richmond around 2:00 and got back home by 5:30.  Lot of time on the road.  I did not take time to stop at any fabric stores while there.  I fell asleep early.

This evening after work I attached the sleeve bands to sleeves.  Last and final step, hem the dress.
Probably will not wear the dress until next week and will have photos to share soon.  I am real pleased with the fit of the dress and see a few more in the near future.

I have a lot of sewing ideas floating around in my brain.  I have some PTO time at the end of the month so hopefully can fit in more sewing then.

Later.

Traveling

I spent two days traveling for work this week.  I had hoped that I could visit the Hancock store while there. It just did not happen.

I did do a few small things this AM in my sewing room before going into the office; preparing the invisible zipper and marking the fabric for aligning the zipper.  Small thing and necessary.

Tomorrow I travel again, only a short one day trip.  There is a fabric store in that area also and one I have not been to recently, so maybe I can get in a quick visit.

I did order two new patterns, one is a dolman sleeve knit top from Jalie and the other is a pleated peplum top from an indie pattern company call Lolita's patterns.  Once I finish the dress, I am going to whip up a couple of quick knit tops.

I did wash the red stretch denim fabric and will wash it one or two more times to help the denim from bleeding onto sewing machine and hands while sewing.  I have a Kwik Sew pattern I will probably use to make this, though I have been looking at other patterns like Burda for an alternative.

I hope your sewing time has been productive.  More later.

No real sewing this weekend

I have to travel later today (by car) to Asheville, NC for a business trip, a four hour drive.  I will be there for 1 1/2 days and hopefully can stop by Waechter's Fine Fabrics on the way out of town.

It seemed like so many things had to be done before I could leave today that I just got in a wee bit of sewing.  The only sewing I did was to attach the sleeve lining to the sleeve for the Butterick dress.  After dinner with DH and some light packing before final packing today, I just did not have the mojo to sew.

This AM I have been catching up reviews at PR and ready blogs on sewing.  I think it is that transition time from summer to fall that starts to slow me down, though my desire and motive to start sewing fall is there the mojo just has not kicked in. 

The current dress is definitely a summer one and will probably wear it once or twice before I will feel that it is just not in season.  I made some final tweaks with the dress and do plan a fall version so the second one should go by quickly.

I hope your sewing weekend was a good one.

Back from traveling and preparing to sew

I have had two business trips within a few weeks of each one.  It is always great to get home afterwards and spend time with DH and my sewing room.

I decided to wash the lace knit fabric as I am not sure if I had done that prep before; better safe than sorry.  I also washed some other knit fabrics that will become something hopefully soon.

I did a final tweak to my pattern fitting adjustments.  Once the fabric prep is complete I will cut and sew.

I had hoped that my recent business travel would allow me to visit a fabric store while in the area. With the meeting schedule and terrible flash flood rain thanks to tropical storm coming up from Florida it was just not meant to be.  I was so happy to get out of the rain while driving.  Traveling Interstate 81 in the Shenandoah area to and from Roanoke and then getting on Interstate 64 going over a high mountain with heavy duty fog is a challenge; especially with all the 18 wheelers plus  heavy duty rain creates a more stressful drive.  All the driving time gave me an opportunity to listen to music and think about sewing projects.

I wore my recently completed Vogue dress for the first meeting day which also was a travel day.  The knit held up well for travel, meetings and then a group dinner.  I think I need to take in the sides just a tad more and I did not hem this as deep as the other dress.  I am not sure if I like the length or not.  I have a black pair of shoes that I call my rainy day black pumps and the heel is a little lower than another pair that I would have worn with the dress.  I think I will see how this looks for those shoes before decided to hem it a little shorter.

More sewing updates later.

In prep

The fabric did very well in the washer and dryer.  A lot of the loose fuzz was eliminated and the fabric is a tad softer which is okay by me.

I was out of town a few days this week for business travel.  I had so hoped to be able to visit a Hancock's Fabric store while traveling; it just did not happen.  Not that I don't have enough fabric or patterns on hand.  Actually was going to look at buttons and stock up on a few.

The fabric is laid out on the cutting table and the KS vest pattern is adjusted.  Hopefully this evening I will be able to cut out the vest and set up sewing machine.  Maybe even sew a little.

More later.

Going on a business trip

I will not be doing any sewing the rest of this week as I am traveling to a conference today and will return Saturday.  I am taking my black, cream and grey Vogue skirt recently posted about along with the black knit top with the dotted front to wear one day.  I am hoping to visit a Hancock's fabric store while on this trip as that is the only place I have found that is in the area where I am going.

Plans for this weekend is to start on making the knit top to go with the Simplicity skirt as well as fitting a few other top patterns for future sewing.  Oh yes, I also get a long weekend as we get Columbus Day as a floating holiday.  Wooo Hooo!

Later.

Back from Asheville

Well I am back from my recent business trip to Asheville, NC.  Let me say that it has been several years since I visited this lovely city. I wish I could have extended my stay there.  There is so much to see and I just did not get the time to do all that I would have liked.

I did get some time to visit Waechter's Fine Fabrics.  They were about 10 minutes from the hotel. Once I checked in and knew I had about four hours before the reception, I entered address into Verizon Navigator and I was on my way.   I did find some fabulous fabrics and picked up a few independent patterns.  Their employees were so helpful and entertaining.  It was a great visit.

I have been recharging camera batteries so I could take a few photos of my newest items to my fabric/pattern collection.

I resumed my sewing again yesterday evening and getting closer to finishing the Simplicity skirt.  It is not a real difficult pattern to sew; the challenge for me is the sewing steps are rather different from my thoughts on how you would sew it.  Yet their way makes a lot of sense.

I am hoping that I now have several weeks ahead of me for sewing and less traveling.  I have so many sewing ideas and items I want to sew.  More later.

Skirts

Vogue 8750 is complete including the hand work--yeah!!  I am ready to begin sewing my next skirt which is a Simplicity Project Runway skirt and is now OOP.  I have had several plans to make this skirt but seemed to always put it aside as another pattern become my focal point.

I think I posted previously that I am using a striped fabric with the stripes running vertical and the band at the bottom edge will run horizontal.  I read through the instructions last night and glad that I did.   I would not have pleated the fabric the way the instructions have you do it.  I think that the instructions are probably better than if I had done it the way I was thinking.  There are pockets and side zipper involved and can see where it would be better to sew those first than doing the pleating first.  I will share more about that later.

I have another business trip coming up next week; I will be traveling to Asheville, NC.  Waechters' Fine Fabrics is located there and has been several years since I visited their shop.  They are in a new location since I was there last so looking forward to seeing the new shop and all the goodies. My plan is to go there first before checking into the hotel!!!!  I have my priority in clear focus.

I will try to take some photo shots of the completed skirt and the Simplicity work in progress.  More later.

Fabric purchase during my travels

Monday I traveled to Richmond, VA for business.  I arrived about 1.5 hours earlier than my meeting, so after lunch I popped in to Hancock's I was able to purchase two KS patterns.  I also had two fabric pieces jump into my cart and assisted a fellow sewist/shopper about a piece of fabric for a dress she was making.

I bought 3 yards of black double knit.  I had acquired a yard recently from Fabric.com but I did not like the look of this double knit.  It was rather thin and had a shine to it that did not go well with the fabric I was going to use it with.  I will use it with something else later.  I also found a faux snake/reptile skin fabric that I knew I wanted to make into a jacket or vest.

This looks better in real time than I could capture with my camera.  This next photo shows the wrong side.  It is a woven.

The sewing mojo is back in full swing, my problem is lack of time to sew with so many others things going on right now.  I am taking the week after Christmas off and plan to get a few items sewn.

On the Road Again

This week I will be attending a regional conference in Charlotte, NC. I will be driving down tomorrow. I am hoping that I have some free time to visit Mary Jo's in Gastonia. I need to Google or Bing for fabric stores in Charlotte also. I miss Hancock's and maybe one in the area. At least the one we did have in Roanoke had great button selection. Plus they carry KS patterns.

I am definitely on a quest for buttons for my BWOF jacket. Of course, if any fabric jumps into my cart, I will just have to live with it.

I can tell my sewing mojo is slowing down, not stopped just cruising at lower rate. I think part of it is stress at work and sewing, unfortunately is not the therapy that is working now. I am enjoying viewing what others are up to; viewing other blogs is and can be a good sewing mojo booster.

Back from Richmond

I spent the last two days in Richmond on business. Our meetings yesterday started at 10:00 which meant I and my staff person had to leave at 7AM to make the meeting. We broke for lunch and dinner with business wrapping up around 7:00 PM. Hotel check-in and a drink at the bar before hitting the rack. I took my new Vogue Patterns magazine with me but I never opened it.

Today's meetings started at 7:30 and ended at 1:30, travel back home another three hours. Whew, I feel tired. My employee and I like to sew but this trip did not allow for shopping at all. This was probably a good thing.

I will say that I have been designing new fall clothes in my head. Soon I will be taking a week off from work and plan to sew several items. I am ready to start my fall and winter garment sewing now.

After the wadder disaster with the blouse, I sort of lost my sewing mojo. I am now past this and plan to finish up my blue skirt this weekend.

Limping along

Yesterday was another pleasant day weather wise. As for sewing, not much to write about.

I did set up my serger, coverstitch and sewing machine for sewing the brown/creme knit dress. I actually did sew the front neckline/collar together, sewed gathering stitches for the knit bodice, sewed the gathering stitches for the midriff and basted them to the front stay. Began pinning the midriff/stay front to one side of the front bodice and that was the end of my sewing for yesterday.

I am going on a business trip to Richmond tomorrow late afternoon and will return on Thursday; thus no sewing during the week. I will be thinking about it.

Work and No Play

Friday evenings I normally do grocery shopping after work so that Saturday can basically be a play day. The past few Saturdays we have had to take care of family issues with MIL.

This past Friday was a day long trip to Richmond, VA for business purposes that requires leaving very early to attend an early AM meeting, lunch, afternoon meeting and 2.5 hour driving trip back. Then pick up DH and take to get his vehicle out of the shop. Thus grocery shopping was postponed to Saturday.

So Saturday proved to be mostly a non-sewing day. The sun was shining instead of raining so being out and about in sunny, warm to hot weather proved to be pleasant anyway.

Late last night, close to midnight, I did finish cutting out the Butterick dress. So I have two pending sewing projects ready to go. This AM I set up the serger for the brown and cream knit McCall's dress. I need to thread the coverstitch machine and I am ready to go.

More later.

What you see previously is what you see now!

I was amazed to see that I had not posted since Monday. Not sure why I should be amazed, it has been one of those weeks! Work has consumed me.

Yesterday, my boss, another staff member and I traveled to Richmond, VA which is over 2.5 hours drive, normally. We attended a very productive meeting with several staff from a state government agency. We then had lunch and then visited our sister agency leaving Richmond around 3:30; arriving back in Roanoke around 6:15 and then I drove myself home. I left home at 6:30 AM to meet my boss for the ride to Richmond. 12 hour day is a long day.

Earlier this week my work days included late hours as well. So no sewing going on here. So the photo of my dress from Monday is the way the dress is on Friday. I hope to get some sewing in tomorrow as Sunday is Mother's day and a trip to Danville again. Monday, I again travel to Richmond and will stay overnight as this is a two day business trip.

Back from DC and no fabric

I returned yesterday late afternoon from DC. It was a very good conference and weather though to some was "hot"; it was perfect for me. Unfortunately for me my plans to go to G Street got canceled; it was a work related thing that started out as a mountain and was really only a mole hill. I did however go shopping (mostly window shopping) with some of my staff at the Fashion Centre Mall at Pentagon City. I think we made it to all floors. So much to see and not enough money or time.

I did get some great ideas for blouses with ruffles. I also saw a blouse costing over $100 with the worst sewn ruffles ever on a blouse. I wanted to take a photo of it with my cell phone but sales lady kept hanging around while I looked. More about this later.

Back to the office today!

I was able to do a little sewing this weekend before I had to travel to Charleston, WVA. I am in my hotel room writing this now. This was 3+hours trip driving through some pretty mountain area. Add to that my packing and all things involved in getting ready I was pleased that I got to sew what I did on my Vogue dress.

First I want to say this knit fabric I am using for this dress is truly a nice knit to sew. Secondly, given my last dress being too small, I chose to cut the larger size included in this pattern for bust to hemline. After sewing shoulders together and basting side seams for fitting, I definitely did not need the larger size. The good feeling about this was that the seams could be trimmed down to the next lesser size.

The dress has neckline facing which I think is essential to keep the pleats in place better at the neckline. I did change the structure of the neckline facing since I am using the 3/4 sleeves. The facing is designed best for the sleeveless version and I was surprised that they did not provide a different facing for the sleeve version. If I kept the version they have I would not only have a under arm seam of sleeve and bodice but a facing seam at the under arm. I kept visualizing too much bulk. So I curved the bottom of both of the front and back facings so that they end at the upper edge of the sleeve seam allowance. This bulk is okay with me as it gives some body to the sleeve cap.

That is where I left it all-shoulders attached for dress and facing; facing attached to neckline. All other work I had completed last weekend and off and on sewing during the week. Good news I am on vacation starting Friday of this upcoming week; so can see this getting completed on Friday! DH is on vacation this time as well. I will get more sewing in than I have in the past few weekends. We have a couple of short overnight trips. DH's mother has to have some medical tests done the latter part of the week thus we will be involved with that as well.

More later.

Back from DC and no fabric purchases

My business trip to DC was a good one and I accomplished the business tasks that I needed to. I spent time meeting with House Reps staff and actually got to meet with Rep. Goodlatte with a staff member. Truly was a nice experience. I met with both Senators' staff. I walked and walked and walked some more. I wore business yet comfortable shoes. Unfortunately I suffered from shin splints that evening and all day Thursday and today. Gosh, that is painful and I know of no real remedy for this.

I looked up G Street in Centerville and was hoping to schedule a side trip to that location. But I was all work and no play most of my time there. I stayed at the Willard Hotel, very historical place. I also saw a motorcade with I am assuming the President or Vice President traveling to the White House. If not one of them, it was very top security travel for someone. You certainly don't see that here in Roanoke. The hotel had lots of Secret Service folks in it all Tuesday evening and part of Wednesday AM. There were protesters outside the hotel Tuesday evening with a camera crew taping the protest. The Capitol Police brought in K-9's and had them running throughout parts of the hotel lobby and banquet rooms. I was told at my 7:00 AM breakfast meeting that the President of Iraq was in the hotel. Someone of some high caliber was definitely there. I found it all rather intriguing. I love to sit in hotel lobbies and watch people. I have to admit this was the most interesting lobby watching I have done.

I did win an auction on eBay while away and will share my new treasure with you when it arrives. I am a tad concerned as I have not heard from the seller since I sent my payment!!!!
I have not had a bad experience with eBay before so hope that this is not going to be the one to break my good fortune.

I hope to get some sewing in this weekend. I have several knit tops ready to sew. I also have been thinking about the Great Coat Sew Along and unfortunately I have not done anything about it except buy the pattern, fabric and sampler items. I also have some more summer sewing I want to do and as usual have limited time right now. However, I do have some vaca days coming up and since I am not really going anywhere but need to use the time or loose it, I plan to put in some sewing time as well do some spring cleaning or I suppose I should call it summer cleaning.