Great Start to a New Year

Happy New Year everyone!  Yesterday we had a wonderful day.  We had 15 people over for brunch.  This is becoming an annual event since we've done it 2 years in a row now!  We had great friends, great food, great fellowship.  It was freezing outside, but also sunny and beautiful.  Since we are blessed to have lots of windows and a beautiful view, a fire in the fireplace kept us all toasty and the views were gorgeous!  I should have taken pictures, but I was too busy eating and having fun!  We had a ton of food, including

• Quiche
• Garlic Roasted Potatoes
• Chili Relleno Casserole (my mom's old recipe which uses 1/2 & 1/2.  I tried to find a similar recipe, but most use evap milk)
• refried beans
• tortillas
• Cinnabon cinnamon rolls
• Palm leaf pastries
• and of course, juice, tea, coffee, lemon infused water

The best part?  Everyone else did the dishes!  I'm not a paper-plate kind of girl, so we had lots of dishes.  After everyone left, I had some time to do some sewing and worked on Vogue 1250.  This morning I am going to hem the sleeves and bottom hem and I'll be finished.

My poor dress form looks like she's drunk the way she leans over!  

I've decided that I'm going to make an attempt at the SWAP over at Stitcher's Guild this year.  It's so easy to say that now, but so hard to do once school starts again.  I'm really glad I'm retiring this year.  I just can't keep up with the ever-increasing demands, and I really don't want to work until 6 or 7 every night.  As it is, I leave my house at 6:30 am and don't get home until 7:00 at night.  Granted, sometimes I have to stop at the store or run an errand after work, but I really am just done.  I think God has something else planned for me at this stage in my life, and it does not involve the public school system!

Well, speaking of the public school system, I have a big bucket of school work that is on my agenda this morning!  I'm leaving enough break time to finish my dress so I can wear it tonight, but the rest of the day is going to be doing school work.  sigh...
Oh, brother, just thinking about school and I'm already distracted.  Back to my main point, this dress will be the first item completed for my swap. Well, I have a pair of pants completed, but you are allowed a previously made garment.  This is what I have planned:

Bottoms:

1. Gray pants - LH Ascona pattern (already made)
2. Navy Wool Pants - Sandra Betzina pants making class on craftsy pattern
3. Navy rayon knit yoga skirt - Peggy Sagers SP

Tops

1. Navy & Gray sweater knit cowl -SP
2. Ivory crepe drape front blouse - Tom and Linda Platt Vogue 1415
3. Reversible Navy and mint shell - CJ Patterns keyhole top
4. Long sleeve Navy rayon knit T - either SP twinset or CJP keyhole
5. Gray sweater knit Shell - SP twinset

Wildcard

1. Gray sweater knit cardi - SP twinset
2. Black, White, and Blue knit dress - DKNY Vogue 1250
3. Navy with mint fleck woven topper - SP Brook's Top

Getting Started Early

Since I did hardly any sewing for 2014, I'm counting anything I make now for 2015!   I'm strongly considering doing the 2015 SWAP over at Stitcher's Guild.  One of the things I want to make is this Tom and Linda Platt top from Vogue 1415.  I have something called "Eurostretch crepe" which is a rayon blend.  No idea where I got it.  It's cream colored.  I think it will be perfect.

I never know how these things are going to look on me, so I decided to make a wearable muslin.  I'm absolutely in love with cotton lawn and buy it whenever I find a piece that I like.  I'm pretty sure that I got this piece at Stone Mountain Daughter in Berkley at the last PR weekend that I attended.  I'm really happy with how this turned out.

This was actually quite easy and fast.  The one thing a new sewist would need to know is that all it says is to sew in the sleeve.  There is quite a bit that needs to be eased in, and they do not have you run an ease line.  I was able to ease it in by sewing with the sleeve down and adjusting tension with my fingers, but someone new to sewing may not know how to do this.  Other than that, everything was super simple.  There are no darts in this pattern, and although there was plenty of circumference, I added a little over an inch to the front hem to add length over the bust.  

So, today I cut out the cream colored crepe, I cut out a dress from V1250, a DKNY dress that I've made once before.  I bought this fabric specifically to make this dress (probably at the same PR weekend) so I'm glad it's finally going to happen.  I'm a little concerned because the fabric does not have as much stretch as the last one I made (and I have a bit more width than the last time!)  I added a about 1.5" in the circumference, so I hope that will be enough.  I have to get this dress made this week because I'm wearing it next weekend when we go out with some friends.  When Andy and I lived in Visalia, we went out a lot, and it was never a big deal.  Visalia is an out of the way town, but we have a ton of fabulous restaurants.  If you ever go through our area, I can highly recommend 

• Fugazzis
• The Depot
• The Vintage Press
• Watson's (only open for lunch, but great vegetarian food)
• Pita Kabob - three locations, all excellent
• Brewbakers if you're looking for handcrafted brews
• Taj Palace - Indian food - lacking atmosphere, but great food
• Several sushi restaurants.  Our favorites are Gozen and Sake
• Plus a slew of mexican restaurants and chain restaurants (Olive Garden, Chilis, Panera, Wild Wings, etc)

Well, I can go on forever on that, but the point is, now when we go out to dinner, it IS a big deal.  There are several restaurants in Three Rivers, but unfortunately, I wouldn't recommend any of them.  Well, I take that back.  Sierra Subs has GREAT sandwiches and unusual menu items, but they're usually closed by the time I get home from work.  So, we're going for a big night out on the town with some friends next week and I want to have a new dress.  Here's a preview on the left.

I love the brushstroke fabric!

Well, I haven't done a lot of sewing, but I did do some crocheting for Christmas.  Made a couple of hats.

And, a beautiful alpaca/merino shawl/mobius scarf for my daughter.  I was really disappointed with the yarn because it sheds like crazy.  It is super soft and warm though.  The color is gray, but it looks almost white in the picture. 

Oh, and I did sew an ipad cover for my sister in law.  These are a pain in the butt, so I hope I don't make any more of them.  I made them for 3 of my coworkers after I made my own and said "never again."  Well, never came, but I hope that's it!