I have a new sewing machine.  And I'm beginning to feel like writing more again so maybe I'll take up writing about sewing again!  Right now though, let us toast my new Bernina 750 Quilters Edition with its many lovely features and long arm for machine quilting!

Mobile Shopping

One thing I guess should be included under "mobile" is my shopping.  As I said in the last post, Anne and I bought the fabric for the jackets when I was visiting Washington state last summer--I always go to quilt stores when I travel if I can find them.  The store that started this project was Bayside Quilts in Olympia where I think we may have bought the pattern--we at least saw a sample there that impressed us--and then we bought fabric at Shibori Dragon in Lakewood.  I, however, have decided to not use the lining fabric I bought there.  It will have to go into another project someday but that should not be too big of a problem.

This past June I went to Las Vegas as part of a biennial gathering of a group of women I've known on the internet for the last 13 years (wow!).  I'm not a gambler so this was a bit odd, but I did go to two quilt stores there:  Quiltique, in Henderson, and Fabric Boutique in Las Vegas proper.  Our hotel was conveniently situated 15 minutes away from both of them, one to the north, the other to the south (though since I get disoriented easily, it might have been east-west.  Just go with the thought that they are at opposite points of the compass).  I loved both of these stores:  they were fun and well-stocked and the personnel were all friendly.  Quiltique had some of the best lighting I've ever seen in a store anywhere.  Fabric Boutique had a ton of stuff I wanted to buy and in the end I bought some fabric to make my granddaughter a dress which is in process.  Pictures soon?  It has a double ruffle at the hem, one layer of which I've pieced from a fat quarter.  It is a lot of fun to improvise like that.

Many thanks to my shopping buddies and chauffeurs Sarah and Michele, as well as Laura who very good-naturedly went along for the ride and ended up doing some shopping of her own!  And I should add that Anne pioneered the quilt stores in Vegas while on a conference last year--I packed my Mapquest directions along with the boarding passes!

First Project in the New Room!

So I lied about the pictures.  Actually I just haven't put the most recent lot on to the computer yet and there are some interesting things going on.  Update:  I realized that I had in fact uploaded a few pictures!  Here are two of the least awful.

As with housework, the thing that got me mostly moved into my new room was the prospect of company.  My old friend Anne  was coming in July and her suggestion was that we spend the time we had together sewing!  Last summer we both bought a jacket pattern and fabric while driving around western Washington but then neither one of us had touched it since.  Her idea was that we should work on it, maybe inspiring each other to new heights of skill and daring in the sewing world.

Well, that was the idea.  Our first hurdle was to try to figure out just how on earth you were actually supposed to *use* this pattern.  Fortunately, Anne had purchased Swedish pattern tracing paper which you can both write on and sew on so it is possible to fit the pattern pieces on your body.  Our first attempt revealed that the pattern was about two inches too narrow across the back (weirdly, the front was OK). But we are grownups so we traced the pattern pieces again, adding two inches all over for me and tapering down to one inch for Anne who has a real waist.  Once we figured out that the unlabeled rectangle was meant to extend the sleeves to the right length, we were good to go. 

Except then we had to follow directions.  This next part was my own fault:  I sewed the front piece to the side front piece upside down.  No wonder that curve seemed so much easier than described . . . however, Anne saw immediately what I had done (duh!) and I reiterated my mantra of "The seam-ripper is my friend" as I took out that wonderful first seam.

Some of the directions are just opaque and we are not going to be able to figure out what they mean until we actually have the cut pieces for the lining in hand.  I am baffled by this method of putting the lining in but maybe it will make sense when I'm doing doing it.  I hope.  Anne had to go back home to Washington state before we got to that point so I'm on my own unless we figure out Skype.

But the room!  The room is light and airy and I can see what I'm doing!  It's amazing!  !!  It makes me happy to be in there!  I am going to get a radio to keep me company--the IPod keeps my ears blocked so I can't hear what's going on in the rest of my house but maybe I can get a radio with an auxiliary port. 

I promise, (more) pictures next time.

Oops!

Long pause, but I kind of like what I wrote last fall.  Just to keep up the theme of mobility, I have decided that I have to move to a different room in my house.  The room I'd been using, the one with the pile of fabric and patterns and so on, is just too dark.  I mean, it's like working at the bottom of a well.  There is only one window, large enough, facing west which would be great late in the afternoon you'd think but no--there is a little hillside sloping up from that side of the house with a bunch of overly-mature pine trees on top just to complete the picture:  I haven't seen a sunset in 19 years.

So, the boomerang children seem to be moved out now and I can have the room with three windows that faces north and east, without trees or hills blocking the way.  I started moving my books in there today--it was embarrassing to discover books that I thought I'd long ago lost or given away.  On the other hand, new resources!  I'm kind of excited.

Of course, I still haven't finished binding Matthew's quilt.  I have made one cowl-necked top out of fabric from the $2.97 table.  I actually did it twice because I decided it was a little shorter than I liked and I'd made one mistake that I could see but no one else would notice or would they?  what the heck.  I had plenty of fabric so I redid it and was much more satisfied.  That's why you buy fabric for $2.97/yard:  to experiment.

This time I really will try to take pictures of my sewing rooms, present and future.

The Apron Is Finished!

I have finished the apron!  I do have to repeat to myself that perfection is not to be found in this life:  I am not entirely happy with the finishing of the rickrack but hey, it's done and I can actually put up a couple of pictures. My plan is to wash it and iron it and then pack it up to send to Cece, hopefully today and hopefully in time for Thanksgiving.  I may do one last thing (tack down the tie ends more securely) before I actually put it in the mail . . .

And so it goes!  I have a really hard time feeling that any project is truly done while it is within my sight.  After a while (like months) the flaws fade into the background and don't leap out at me every time I look at the garment or quilt or whatever but it's hard at first.

Now, on to the next project though maybe I should just finish a few things I have already started, like binding Matthew's quilt?

Midway on the apron . . .

Since I seem to have inadvertently published the first post, I guess I'll keep going.

I have spent my afternoon sewing on my sister's apron.  Things are never as perfect as I want them, but then this is an apron.  Repeat after me:  Perfection is not to be found in this life.  It's certainly not to be found in my sewing.  On the other hand, I think it looks pretty cute so far.  I probably will have to go out and buy some rickrack to finish off the rough points (it's part of the pattern which may explain why this pattern does leave some things curiously unfinished) but it'll give some body to the neckline anyway.  It'll also be kind of busy but maybe that's OK too--it makes the gravy splashes almost invisible!

Tomorrow, the ruffle.

A small introduction

About two years ago I was displaced from my sewing room when my husband's mother moved in with us due to declining health.  She is still with us so I am still displaced, but I've been trying to make the best of it.  From the first month when I just had a pile of unfinished projects, washed fabrics, tools and patterns sitting in the middle of the new room's floor, to just yesterday when I straightened up the table top where I theoretically cut out my new quilts and garments, that room has been a work in progress.  My plan here is to take a picture of the very orderly mess and try to chronicle my efforts to work through some of the backlog.  While organizing, I discovered that I have some very interesting and inspiring fabrics in there, many of which I had completely forgotten.  OK, most of which I had completely forgotten.

I confess, I started to write this a couple of weeks ago and then just got distracted and lost interest.  However, I am back and I think I'll be trying to do some more writing--just without pictures for the moment.

Project I cut out the day before yesterday:  an apron for my sister, made from chicken fabrics purchased on my Washington state trip this summer, supplemented by something in my stash whose origin is a total mystery . . .