Bad Blogger Again

I have been doing some sewing, sort of hit and miss.  This past work week was a hectic. Our governor announced several weeks ago that the Commonwealth had a $1.5 billion deficit and the Governor is requiring budget cuts.  Because I work for a non profit agency that  gets state funding for some of the programs that I oversee, yes Virginia, I too will have to implement a budget cut.  This is always painful.

Sewing a little here and there has helped with my stress.  Yet I had to resew inseam pockets on the McCall's 7100 pattern three times!!! That was just on one side!@#!!!  Perhaps just not focused enough!

I plan to get some sewing in for the weekend. I will catch up with you later!

All Work No Sew

Crazy week.  It is great to have a holiday and then you cram 5 days work into 4.  TGIF!

Thought about sewing a lot and pressed the hem of my dress ready to actually sew the hem and attach the collar,  I am having some concerns about how this dress is going to fit.  It may turn into a duster instead of a dress before it is complete.

I have so many ideas running through my brain for what I want to sew next.  I am gearing up for fall next even though it has been in the 90's all week.

More later!

Catching up!

Sewing has been minimal of late.  A couple of weeks ago, we lost power for several days due to snow/sleet and freezing rain which toppled tress in several neighborhoods including where I live.  Without power for three days required living in a hotel to have warmth,  to eat and shower.

The weekend following this freeze developed into restocking some refrigerated food items, defrosting a smaller refrigerator and catching up on laundry, etc.  Then our bank account was messed up from a very bad error relating to a payment to a creditor; filing a fraudulent complaint got all parties talking and money put back into our bank account.

And then this week I received a phone call that my cousin who came to live with my family when I was in elementary school, becoming my quasi brother, passed away unexpectedly.  So spent time with family the past three days helping arrange funeral services and catching up with long time family members and friends.  I am still feeling the loss.

This afternoon I actually spent time in the sewing room spending time on the Eleanore pattern by Jalie.  This is my Freaking February project which hopefully will get finished soon.

I also started going through fabrics that I pulled for fall/winter sewing and want to move them out of the sewing room and start pulling fabric from stash for spring/summer sewing.  Next week the temperatures will be in the 70's!

Beginning to feel a little back to normal.  Will post more later.

Busy-no sewing

This is the time of year that I call Budget Season at my office.  Staff and I have to prepare capital budgets, payroll budgets and the list goes on.  This has created more evening work and less play time for me.  During this time, we have strategic planning process taking place as the budget and the plan should match up.  We have a planning retreat with our Board of Directors Sunday afternoon into the first half of the day on Monday.

My weekend will be one free day-Saturday.  Unfortunately for sewing time,  there is another planned event for that day, so sewing has come to a halt.  Hopefully I will find a few moments here and there to continue working on the Butterick top.  Not much left to do actually: insert sleeves and hem.  I did baste the back princess seams from waist to hip and I need to try on again as I think that will eliminate some of the fullness in that area. 

Overall I like this blouse.  To me it is somewhat of a cropped top with shaping.  I do see more of this one being made for fall.

Happy sewing and more updates later.

A Little of This and a Little of That

Not much sewing going on at Casa Danvillegirl.  Motivation to sew has been somewhat lacking.  I only have to hem the McCall's top and I will have a new one to wear.  I just turned up the hem a moment ago and totally lost interest in sitting down to sew.

I thought I would just take a moment to post something on the blog; unfortunately blogging has been neglected some also.  I am not a big fan of winter and I can feel the winter blues at the moment.  Yesterday we had a glimpse of spring and today temperatures plummeted.  I know compared to some others this is hardly winter.

I have made it through January and 5 days into February without buying a pattern. I have been very tempted as new ones keep cropping up.  Since I am not feeling the mojo to sew I have in the past purchased patterns.  I am telling myself no sewing mojo no patterns.  Trust me I have a lot to motivate me when the sewing muse hits again.

Later.

Bits and pieces

• I had a great time at my reunion.  
• No sewing taking place at this time.
• Traveling  today for business trip, will have zero time to shop, particularly for fabric or other sewing related items.
• Will be back home Friday evening.  Between now and then I will narrow my sewing ideas down to one.
• Wondering where the cooler weather for fall is as I have some clothes, both sewn and purchased I am ready to wear.
• Hope your week has and will continue to be a good sewing week.

Under the weather

My best sewing plans for Sunday did not happen.  I woke up with a headache that just would not go away; then I had stomach ache and then chills.  Ended up being rather sick and lost several hours for the day.  All I can say is that the fabric is cut out, machines are on ready to go and hopefully will find some time before the weekend to do a little sewing.

I hope your sewing weekend was a good one and will be roaming blogs to see your latest creations.  I was able to rally and go back to work today.  I hate my lost sewing time.

Winter blues!

The winter blues have set in this week.  It is just too darn cold here!  Those north of me, how do you stand it??  The good news is there will be a warmer day come Saturday, highs in the lower 50's.  I can get excited about that as most days this week have started at 9 or 10 degrees and then gets up to 27 to 30.  I have never been a fan of cold weather and don't have any plans to change that.

I have not been back into the sewing room to do any thing remotely related to sewing.  My second top is still ready to be cut out but just have not had the urge to do anything about it after work.  Because it is Friday, I feel a glimmer of hope that I will be motivated to get in there and cut out the second top and get those machines ready to sew.  Good thing is I can use the same color thread for both projects!

Next week I am traveling again for business for a couple of days.  Hopefully no long distance travel the remainder of the month.

I did take advantage of a Mood 1/2 price sale earlier this week.  The fabric looked pretty and spring like.  It also seemed to incorporate the new Pantone 2014 color of the year or close enough for me.

Until the next post, I hope your sewing projects are going well!

Sewing Mojo on Holiday

I wish I had something new to report-I don't.  This past week has been consumed with preparations for Christmas.  Gift shopping, gift wrapping, gift packing consumed most of my evenings last week. 

I did take vacation day on Friday and that too was spent on getting groceries for the holidays and getting a much need manicure.  Yesterday was more holiday shopping.  I did however wash knits recently purchased from Fabric Mart yesterday; that helped me get back to doing something sewing related.   I just have not had the mojo for sewing.

I also have neglected the housework of late and my cleaning mojo took over for sewing.  Sometimes you just have to clean the house.

I do have some time off next week and taking the last week of December off returning to work in the new year.   I just like saying that!!! It makes me think I am in control of work time----

I have plans to get into sewing room later today and hopefully will share something of more value sewing wise later.

Where did the week go? 10 more days til Christmas!!!!

I spent three days out of town on business last week so all sewing came to a halt.  I didn't even get a chance to find a fabric store :-(

Yesterday morning I did spend a short time in the sewing room working on my skirt.  I truly drafted this too large. I had to take up the back seam a little and take much deeper side seams; I cut off 5/8 of an inch on the side seams after the first fitting, I drafted this with too much ease.  I still took a deeper waist to hip seam after doing this.  Now that I have the seams basted to fit I will mark and sew.  Will need to adjust the lining as well.

I pulled out my copy of the Easy Guide to Sewing Linings.  This book is worth its weight in gold.  There was a section on facings and linings and suggested methods of using together.  After reading this section I am going to use the easy method of attaching the facings to the lining.  The lining will help serve as interfacing, yet I think I will interface the facings using lightweight interfacing for stretch fabrics; I am using a stretch woven which also probably explains the need to take in the side seams.

Whether I will get to do this today or not is up for grabs.  Yesterday afternoon and evening was spent shopping and more shopping for home and Christmas.  My husband's company's Christmas party was postponed to today because of the crappy weather last Sunday.  Hopefully between my laundry activities this morning and getting ready for party, I can slip in a few moments of sewing which requires me to stop blogging now.

More later.

No fabric and sewing magazine

I did not get to go to Waechter's Fabrics while in Asheville and found out later that I was probably only two miles away from them !!!!  Meetings went longer than planned on the last day and it is a 4.5 hour drive back to Roanoke, so  I decided to hit the road and travel home.  Too many critters out at night in the mountain areas for me to feel real comfortable driving late at night.

I had today off so I have a longer weekend to sew.  I am about finished with the Butterick dress.  Of course, it is still summer but when the calendar turns to September, I think the dress will not get worn.  Nonetheless, the fitting issues are resolved and I do plan to make this for fall.  I did not sew much today as I had a hair appointment and pedicure.  Time for some pampering.

I got the latest Vogue Pattern Magazine.  I am not sure that I am liking the new format.  The past issue was similar.  There are more articles on various subjects, some on fitting and stitching which are okay and helpful but I get that kind of information from Threads magazine.  Granted others may not read Threads so this may be useful to them.  There is a long article on making denim, nice but does not appeal to me.   There is just less and less showcasing patterns, and most of that is pushed to the back of the magazine.  I get more excitement going to their website than the excitement of looking at the magazine these days.  The last few pages of this magazine were of the patterns they released for fall which yes I have purchased several.  I would prefer they showcase those new patterns made up in different fabrics than what you see on the website and present more sewing ideas around the pattern---it is a pattern magazine.

I am always saying change is the only constant thing in life;  does not mean that I necessarily like it.  Hope your weekend is a good one.

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.

Power outage

Almost a year later, short by two weeks, we had another horrendous storm come through our area Thursday afternoon causing severe damage with trees falling and power outages to over 11,000 residents/businesses just in the city where I live.  I, of course, am among that group.  So DH and I are living in a hotel again until power is restored.  AEP, our electrical provider, was not giving expectation times as they did last year; earlier today we were told by Monday.

So my sewing bits and pieces are halted at this point.  Dang!!!! We went by the house around 2pm and still no power.  We extended our hotel stay another day, being optimistic that all will be well tomorrow.

Granted others have it worst than we do, our neighbor has a huge oak tree collapsed in their yard with some roof damage as a result of the tree falling toward their home.  Still feel disappointed that my weekend sewing for my upcoming vaca is halted.  Too much to handle to move my sewing machine and all the stuff that I need to sew while in a cramped hotel room.  Maybe a smaller, basic sewing machine would be a good investment for future outages.  Though I think we will invest in a generator or move to Salem, VA where they never lose power!!!

Spent sometime by the hotel pool reading the current Threads magazine.  Can't sew, then read it about.  Some good articles to nudge one's creativity.

More later.

The best laid plans

This is a long weekend for me and my plan was to finish the KS jacket and moved on to the next jacket.  Thursday a quick developing snow storm blanketed our area with anywhere from 12 inches to as low as less than an inch of snow.  We got about 5 inches.  I was so delighted that we did not lose power during Thursday night.  Friday AM, power went out at 6 AM and did not come back on until Saturday evening.

DH and I spent Friday night at a local hotel; it was just to dang cold in the house without heat.  In checking with the power company on Saturday morning, it appeared that we would not get power until late Saturday night.  So we decided to extend our stay another night at the hotel.

Saturday was my birthday and we kept our dinner plans with another couple.  We had a great dinner together and spent a lot of time talking, laughing and catching up.  Prior to traveling to their home, we learned our power came back on around 4 PM, so that was a nice birthday present from our local power company!

This AM we packed our belongings and came back home after having a great breakfast at a restaurant close to the house.  After unpacking, it was off to grocery store to replenish food supplies and to replace food items that I decided we should not keep; better safe than sorry.  My sewing mojo had not come back so spent the afternoon napping and watching football.

Tomorrow my plan is to make up for my lost sewing time.  More later!

Sewcation Derailed

Last Friday, I was so excited that I could spend the weekend completing my McCall's skirt.  DH was late getting home and I had gone grocery shopping after work so that would reduce my time to do that chore on Saturday.  Once DH was home, we ate a light dinner (supper) and watched a little TV.  He decided it was time to take a shower as it was close to 9 PM.

While watching TV, the floor lamp light near where I set, flickered a few times and I thought then I really needed to get some new light bulbs.  When DH went to take a shower, the power went out, then came back on, then out again, on again and finally out for the night.  We were able to sleep through the night in spite of the high temperatures. Saturday was suppose to be close to 100 degrees.

Saturday AM-still no power.  We decide to go out for breakfast.  Let me say that power surges and outages are somewhat typical for our neighborhood; no rhyme or reason to be given to us from APCo for this in the 9 years that we have lived in our house.  So not having power did not truly phase us until we go out for breakfast and see the storm damage all around us.  Tree limbs broken-new and older trees.  One tree limb laying across power lines on the road that leads in and out of our neighborhood.  Fortunately the tree was only blocking one side of the street and power lines were still intact but could have easily snapped.

Two of our favorite breakfast places were closed due to loss of power.  Several other chain restaurants were open but crowds and waiting time was 45 minutes to an hour.  DH proved to be the smart one and called a hotel to make reservations for us to spend the night based on what we were seeing, hearing and briefly reading about, this was no typical storm that came through.  When checking in, wait time for checking in was over 30 minutes due to long line of people that were in the same situation as we were-no power.  While standing in line, DH called reservation 800# and extended our stay for another day, smart move and smart man.

As it turned out, we have been without power since last Friday, a week ago.  The stay at the hotel has been extended several times, power came back on last night and we will be back in the house tonight.   Today I spent time washing clothes, and scrubbing out two refrigerators as we lost all of food.

Many of you who may read my blog have experienced some of this as the storm came through WVA, Southwest VA and into DC.  I am grateful for the other states (NC, Florida, Indiana) who have sent power crews to assist in this repair and restoration.

I have always felt empathy and concern for others when they have undergone Mother Nature's wrath; I have learned you can not fully grasp how difficult those situations are until you go through it yourself.

I am thankful that I know I will have some more sewing days ahead; sometimes life just takes a different course and derails your plans.

Fashion

Like many of us we turn to fashion magazines for inspiration.  Last evening after dinner, DH and I went to Barnes and Noble for coffee and perusing magazines and books.  I acquired the new, big September Vogue issue along with Harper's Bazaar.  I also picked up a new Sew Stylish magazine.

IMHO, the fall Sew Stylish is always the better of that seasonal publication.  I always get better sewing ideas from the fall one than others.  Or perhaps because I am needing a sewing booster, this one just does it for me.

Right now there is just a lot of things going on with my life on a work and personal level that I am just needing what I call "ooze time" and for now sewing is not providing an outlet.  Yet I am continuing to design in my head; I have two dress garments in the works and yes, I just ordered some knit fabrics. 

So I will be perusing my mags and visiting your blogs to help energize my sewing mojo for later.

More patterns, but no sewing mojo

I can't seem to get my sewing mojo going.  I did take advantage of the Club BMV sale and purchased 4 Butterick patterns.  They arrived today and kind of lit a spark but just not enough.  I am even taking a vacation day today.  But I planned the day to get all my grocery shopping done, take "stuff" to Goodwill, clean the car washed and heading for a manicure in about 30 minutes.

DH and I are visiting a family member tomorrow evening for a cookout and then I head out on Sunday for a business trip.  Sewing is just not in the cards for now.  I will be checking out what others are working on in the meanwhile for some sewing inspiration for when the sewing moment strikes.

Sunday Sewing Mojo Gone

My usual routine for Sunday AM is to get up, drink some coffee, read emails/blogs and go to my sewing room.  There was no sewing mojo this AM.  I think I used it up trying to finish the tops to  participate in the One Pattern Many Looks contest on PR. 

I also had some other items to take care of and decided they needed some priority over sewing.  I will do some cleaning up of the sewing room this afternoon and set up machines for my second Butterick dress with neckline ruffle.  That one is ready to sew.

I did browse through some sewing photos of others while reading through blogs and found this photo.  I saved it to my favorites.  Boxy tops are in, the Sorbetto tops are rather boxy.  Of particular interest was the white scalloped edge top in the bottom of the photo.  I had not seen this before making the yellow eyelet top.  Good minds think alike.

Later

No progress

I have not been able to do more with my February Jacket of the Month.  My MIL continues to be in critical condition in the hospital and prognosis is still not good.  So my focus is and needs to be elsewhere as we go through this family health issue.  Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Where have I been

I looked at my blog and realized I have not posted anything since last weekend.  Work and housekeeping has kept me away from my blog and my sewing room.  My sewing mojo is dormant just because so much is going on elsewhere in my life. 

I do see some glimmer of hope on the sewing front though and mostly because I will be on vacation and holiday all next week.  I mean can you believe next week is Thanksgiving and a month later it is Christmas?!

I did go into the sewing room last night though and spent some time with my new blind hemmer machine.  I finally got it threaded.  I went to JoAnn's yesterday and purchased one of those serger threader "do-hickeys" as the best way to thread the needle on this is to use that.  I also purchased a magnifying glass to help my already stressed eyes to feed the threader through the needle and pull the thread through it.  I did not try it out though as I had to go work on some work for my job that could not be fitted into the "normal" work hours.

My new fabric order arrived and I realize I need to take photos of the new boucle fabric.  I want to share the look of the fabric that will be used to make two new jackets.  So sewing thoughts are still churning in my brain though actually sewing is not occurring.

Later and thanks for continuing to read my blog.