I Didn't Go Overboard

OK, I didn't need any fabric, but you can't go to PR weekend and not get something!. Actually, I'm very pleased with my little 12 yards of fabric because quite a few went over 30 yards, and some even over 40! It's easy to do when you are in such wonderful fabric stores. We visited Fabric Depot, Josephines, and Mill End. Fabric Depot had a fabulous selection of notions and I dropped over $40 there in notions alone. But, they were all things I've been needing (like tracing paper, a new point presser, loop turner, etc) so I figured I might as well stock up and save on shipping.

Josephine's was our next stop, but Cindy Lou and I had to take a side trip and go to Clogmasters where I bought TWO pair of shoes. Yes, I bought two, but the cool thing about clogmasters is that they "custom" fit you. They size with european sizes (which always seem to fit me better) and have 17 different widths! I took one pair of simple black clogs home with me and ordered a pair of bronze colored sandals.

Josephine's had some beautiful fabrics, and for the most part, I did not think their prices were out of line for what they carried, although they were not "bargain" prices either. I was disappointed when I saw one of the fabrics that I bought there (the dotted swiss) at mill end for almost half of what I paid for it. Oh well, if it's not worth buying at full price, it's not a bargain anyway.

Mill End was my favorite store for a few reasons. 1. They have a huge selection of fabrics. 2. The sales staff and cutters were very friendly and helpful. 3. There prices were good. Everyone was going crazy over the Burberry fabric, and although I did RUN through the store chasing Melissa with a gorgeous bolt of red in her hands, I ended up not getting it. I already have red wool coating and a similar Burberry fabric in tan, so until I make those, I won't even have ROOM to put the other (although I still keep thinking about it.) It was really nice fabric.

Here is what I did buy (between Josephine's and Mill End):


These are all rayon jerseys and mostly tissue weight. I was inspired to get knits by all of the cute Jalie tops I saw people wearing over the weekend.























This is the dotted swiss that I later saw at Mill End. That's OK, I still really like it and I will be making a blouse out if this and the white shirting shown underneath this one.




















I kept looking at this fabric on a display up by the cash register and finally bought it. I think it will make a great sheath style dress.






































This was taken right before we all left for the airport. We had such a great time.

Ramblings

School has started and I feel like I’m finally settling into the routine. The routine of working late, bringing work home at night, and going in on the weekends! Arghh!! Actually, I won’t complain, because I think I have a pretty good class this year. My class last year was, well, shall we say, challenging? Not that I don’t have my challenges this year. (one with turrets, one with epilepsy, almost 1/2 my class reading below grade level, a couple reading at first grade level (I teach fifth) and I already had one parent pull their child out of my class because I tried to teach her how to hold her pencil correctly.

Back to school night was last night and I had a pretty good turn out. It seems like I have some really nice and supportive parents this year. I also got to see a few students and parents from last year which was nice. Usually, I don’t see my students again because they go to another school after they leave fifth grade.


On the sewing front, things have been kind of quiet. I have been working on my free-motion quilting, and although this has hundreds of mistakes (no, I’m not exaggerating) I still think it looks pretty good (you know what they say - ignorance is bliss)








I stopped at the quilt shop on my way home today and picked up this pretty panel. Not sure what I’ll do with it yet, but I they had one made up in there and I liked it. Then I went to JoAnns and bout 1/4 yard of 8 different flannel fabrics to cut up into white-board erasers for my students.
Yesterday I got an email from a lady at my church who does a lot of sewing. She is having a sewing day at her house and asked me if I’d like to come. What, pass up an excuse to sew??? I think not! Yes, I’m sorry DH, but that cleaning up in the garage will have to wait for another weekend! ( we don’t let him clean in the garage unsupervised - he throws everything away. It’s an ugly site when I have to go pulling my things OUT of the dumpster! - and yes, we have a dumpster in front of our house right now. This is like putting a big juicy steak in front of a dog with a fence in between. DH is dying to throw away anything he can get his hands on!) Anyway, I’m going to the sewing day tomorrow, but I have to make sure my machine is working well first. I ‘ve been having a lot of problems with it lately and have been using my friend, Sandy’s machine. I think mine is working fine for regular sewing now. It’s just that every time I drop the feed dogs, it won’t pick up the bobbin thread. I can’t figure it out. I’ll be working on my 1945 jacket this weekend - when I’m not perusing Science curriculum or grading papers.






And, I had a nice package in the mail when I got home. I had ordered fabrics from sewingstudio.com and they arrived today. Most are knits. The ivory is a stretch crepe and the pink floral is a rayon crinkle. Everything else is some kind of knit. I think I need to have a cutting day and cut out a bunch of knit tops. Knits are so fast to sew together that if I had some cut out I could really get a lot done.

The Fabric Store

I have been wanting a cabinet to store all of my fabric and finally got one. I was trying to decide between 2 at our local OSH, and settled on the bigger one. I'm glad I did! In a way, it was exciting and sickening to unload all of my boxes of fabric and put them onto shelves. At last I can finally see at a glance what I have. And OMG!! I have too much! I know there are others that have much more, but even if I made up every single pieces, could I possible use that many clothes? Opening up the boxes was kind of like bringing out the Christmas decorations. I'd forgotten about several pieces, and most I could remember exactly what pattern or project I had bought the fabric for. I will say it is inspiring to be able to have everything organized in one space. All of my linings and silks are still in a box on the bottom shelf, because it will be easier to pull out the box and look at it than to try to look at all of those smaller pieces on the bottom shelf. I could rearrange the shelves, but I'm not going to. I thought about organizing by color, but this seems to work better for me. The top shelf is all jacket and coat fabrics, next shelf is knits and some unusual fabrics. Third shelf is linen, linen-like, and cotton. Next shelf down is wool, blends, and suitings. Bottom shelf is denim, twill, the box of silk & linings, and a few odd things. Oh, and the doors aren't bowed. For some reason, my camera is doing a weird "fish-eye" on all of my shots. It's been doing it for a while, but didn't do it when it was new. I'll probably have to take it in to the camera shop.



I haven't been doing much sewing lately because I have been having machine trouble. Last weekend I took a machine quilting class, and about half way through the day, I started having trouble with my machine. By the end of the day, it seemed I couldn't even sew anything because my needle was not taking up the bobbin thread. (Today, I pulled apart my machine for about the fifth time, and now it seems to be working OK.) I only seem to have trouble when I drop the feed dogs.) A couple of nights ago, my friend Sandy, offered to let me use her machine. She is a quilter and has another machine she is using right now, so I took her up on her offer. This machine is about 10 years old, but really works well. I have been practicing my free motion quilting, and it really is fun. I'm really glad she let me borrow it. Unfortunately, so is my dog. One of the legs fell off the extension table, and he chewed it up before I even knew he had it. Fortunately, the legs from my coverpro table are exactly the same, so I just exchanged it. I wonder where you can buy just the legs. Actually, all I need is the foot.

It's Thursday

Yeah, that's the catchiest title I could think of. NO sewing is getting done here, even though I have great motivation like this:

(two new knits from Gorgeous Fabrics)

and this:

( yay! My new CoverPro has arrived, but I haven't even had time to plug it in!)

The fabric above I purchased to make 2 body suits, but I think I'm going to turn the brown one into a dress/ tunic.

I'm hoping this weekend to make a pair of quick pull on pants and top.
I've been spending much time checking out assisted living and skilled nursing facilities for my father. Have taken 2 days off work to go to court, and many hours of decision making regarding what will best suit his needs - and what can we actually get him to do. Right now my brother is taking time off work to stay with him until we can get better living arrangements in place.

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

—Philippians 4:13