Spring

Today was a REALLY STRESSFUL day - so I need to focus on something OTHER than WORK. Let's see, it was 88 yesterday, but only 64 today. But, while we had sun, I got some pictures of what I like about SPRING!

These flowers my husband had sent to me at work. Now the blooms are faded away and I am going to plant it in the ground.








This vine has the most beautiful and prolific flowers each spring. I wish they would last all summer.





















I love these iris. they practically grow like weeds in my front yard.




















More iris. I'd really like to get some more colors.


















This geranium is actually much brighter and prettier than it looks in this picture. This thing is growing like crazy, yet I have other geraniums that aren't doing nearly as well. Maybe it's the weeds that are keeping it alive :-)

A simple outfit for spring

I wanted to make the navy blue pants, but as it turns out, the fabric has a subtle (lurex?) stripe that is horizontal. Not the look I'm going for in pants. It will make a great jacket some day, but I'll have to find some other navy fabric for the pants. So, I dug through my cabinet to see what else I wanted to make, and I found this great black poly crepe fabric. It is lightweight and perfect for spring. Since the fabric had a nice drape to it, I decided to make another pair of the Loes Hinse Oxford Pants. I love the front pockets on these. The top is a very simple pattern that I've had for awhile, Simplicity 8523. What I like about this top is that it is a simple pullover designed for a woven. It would also be a great sleeveless top. If I make it again, I will probably make the V neckline a little deeper, but this is perfect for work.

I still want to do the navy pants and blue top, but I will have to find some other fabric for the pants. Right now I am wanting to make some dresses, so hopefully you will be seeing some dresses from me soon.

And, I have some belated pictures of Mother's day that I have to share.

Why Didn't I get Any SEwing Done this Weekend?

Because we spent our weekend working in the yard. Last year I planted a garden, but had minimal success. First of all, I do not have much room and second, our dirt was like a rock. Then, last year I heard about Square Foot Gardening. I was so interested, that I decided to order the book. While I was in Africa, Andy had someone make the wooden beds for us and then last weekend, they brought them over for us. I had told Andy about the soil mixture I wanted in the boxes, and when I got home form an event last weekend, the boxes were in place and filled. Unfortunately, they were not in place exactly where I wanted them and they had not put weed cloth underneath them. So, this weekend, we emptied the boxes and moved them. We made several trips to the hardware store getting plants, drip supplies, seeds, boards for the dividers, and other miscellaneous items. Today we got the plants in, but I still have some seeds to plant. I'm really pleased with how they turned out. Later this week we are going to put up trellis net and braces behind one of the boxes for tomatoes, cucumbers and beans.

So, as much as I wanted to get some sewing done this weekend, it once again, did not happen. I am planning though, and this is what I'm hoping to use next to make a pair of pants, top and jacket. I've had the navy fabric and the boucle for so long that I no longer have the cards that tell the fabric content. The navy fabric is probably some kind of polyester blend, and the boucle feels like maybe a cotton and rayon blend. I haven't decided whether I will line it yet or not. I'm going to make the Loes Hinse Bolero Jacket and the pants will be another pair of the Oxford Pants.

Ironing in the Village

Yes, the women do iron in the village. But how do you do that when there is no electricity? Well, this is how!


It is called an "iron box". You go into the kitchen (a mud room with a fire and rocks holding up a pot of whatever is cooking) The smoke from the fire is usually pouring out, so we poor mzungus have our eyes filled with tears everytime we get near it, but it doesn't seem to bother the ladies who are sitting in there through out the morning cooking food. You must get coals from the fire and put them into the iron box. It really works. Sometimes.







The first day we tried to use the iron box, the coals were not hot enough. It was too early in the day and the fires had not been burning long enough to get good, hot coals. Therefore, the iron was not hot enough and was basically useless. We, of course, did not understand this, having never had to use a fire for anything except enjoyment (and I don't even have a fireplace either) except for the yearly camping trips when I was a child. Of course, I was a child then and not in charge of the fire! Well, back on track here, we just thought that these were kind of ineffective and so decided to go ahead without the benefit of an iron. Never thought I could sew without an iron, but you do find other ways to press open seams - like warm fingers, sticks, and pulling the fabric over the edge of a sharp corner, like on a table.



The following day, we had had HOT coals and it was amazing how well this little iron worked. We didn't have an ironing board, of course, but we did have a table. We also used a brick to keep the iron on when not in use. Of course, for us, it was clunky and difficult to use, but the women of the village were very adept at using this iron and "went to town" with it.







I really wish I were sewing today instead of having to go to work. I'll even have to go to work tomorrow, my day off, because progress reports have to go home. Is it summer yet?

Sewing in Uganda

We finally made it back, safe and sound. It is such a long travel time to Uganda - it was about 20 hours of flying and about 10 hours of driving and layovers. But, we made it there and had a great time. We started our time there with a trip into Kampala to buy fabric. Now, that is taking your life into your own hands! If you've ever seen the way they drive in Italy, just multiply that by about 10 and you'll have the craziness of Uganda. Apparently there are few driving laws, and the ones that they do have, no one adheres to. Everyone drives agressively, and they only leave about 2 inches of space between vehicles, front, back and both sides! Trying to cross the street is like going on Fear Factor, but if you enjoy market style shopping, you would love it. We had a Ugandan lady with us named Betty, and she got us the great prices. If you go by yourself to Uganda and buy anything you pay the "Mzungu" (white person) price. If you have a Ugandan buy, it is about 50% cheaper.



We bought some beautiful wax prints that we cut and used for the ladies to make skirts. Fabric for making Kitenge (a type of Ugandan dress - and the kind of fabric we used) is sold in 6 yard lengths for anywhere from 1500 to 2500 Ugandan Shillings a yard/meter. We were able to get most of our fabric for about $.75 USD per meter. Other cotton fabric with a looser weave that is mostly used for over-skirtss (like we would use an apron to keep our clothes clean) is sold in 4 yard lengths, for about the same price.







So, after we purchased our fabrics, we took them back to our room and cut them into 2 yard lengths so the ladies could choose thier fabric and cut them out to make skirts. Some of the women we worked with had done a little sewing, a couple were fairly good, and some we beginners. Most did not speak English, but a few did and helped translate for us. The official language of Uganda is English, but even when they do speak English, it is hard to understand since they have a different pronunciation and intonation of the words.






They also have a different rhythm to their speech and use different phrases. For example, instead of saying "You're welcome" they say "OK, please" I love listening to them speak in the native Lugandan and in English. We had rented 2 treadle machines to use at the church and did all of our work in one of the rooms that used to be a school room. As you can see in the pictures, the walls are made of mud and have an opening at the top. This particular building had a metal roof, but part of it was thatch. It also leaked. It rained many of the days we were there, but the rain starts and stops suddenly, and dries up quickly.




The women loved the skirts, and most of them made 2 different skirts. On the last day, several of the women made tote bags. We usually started working with the women around 10:00 in the morning and sewed until around 2:00. At that time, we took a break and ate lunch. Other women had been cooking all morning in the room next to us, usually beans, rice, pineapple, and some kind of meat, but since I am a vegetarian, I did not eat the meat except for one day when they served fish. The women cook over a fire in large pots and the cooking, cleaning, and serving ends up being an all-day affair for them.

In the afternoons, we did a bible study with the women for about an hour and a half to two hours. We had about 20-30 women come on any given day. We talked with them about Christian living and worked in the book of Ephesians. Some of the women had Lugandan bibles, some had English bibles, but most could not read. We encouraged them to get together with some of the other women to encourage each other, read God's word, pray, and lift each other up. The women really loved this time and each day we had more than the day before. It was really a blessing to be there and be part of these women's lives. These ladies were the nicest people with the sweetest spirits. I felt like crying when we left because I know how much I will miss them.





I will have more to share later, but in the mean time, you can see more pictures here. Sewing in Uganda Album

Loes Hinse Cruise Pants

OK, this is a cruddy, frumpy picture, but let's focus on the pants.

These were quick and easy to make. I bought this pattern at the same time as I got the Oxford Pants pattern. The two are basically the same except for the width of the legs. Both patterns have

1. the "Hollywood waist" style elasticized waist
2. in seam pockets
3. edge stitching on the side seams which make the pants legs hang nicely
4. darts in the back
5. easy and simple instructions
   

I love that these are so quick and easy to make, and are comfortable to wear.

I made these out of a navy blue linen/rayon blend. I intend to wear these on my trip to Uganda. 30 hours in flight - I will need COMFORTABLE pants.

I actually made these pants for spring and summer, so I will be wearing them with sandals. I wore them this evening to "test drive" them, but it's a bit cold here for sandals right now!





(Last year I wore another pair of navy pants on the flight. I had made them from a Marcy Tilton pattern. The elastic was in a casing, and wouldn't you know, my elastic broke on the plane! Now those pants were SUPER full and there was NO WAY that they would stay up without some immediate repair. Fortunately for me, one of the flight attendants had a large safety pin. Lesson learned: never go ANYWHERE in elastic waist pants unless you have a safety pin in your purse!!)

Interesting side note - when I looked back at the pictures of these pants, I noticed that I had a migraine the day I took those pictures. (If you want to see proof, take a look at this picture and look at my face.) Interestingly enough, I also have a migraine in today's pictures. Fortunately, not as bad as the one in the prior pictures!






The elastic in these pants is stitched all the way around, so even if the elastic did break, they would only loosen up a very little bit.


Next up will be another skirt. I will be wearing nothing but skirts in Uganda. The main reason is that that is what the women there wear. Another reason is that they are cooler than pants. Of course, the most important reason is that out in the villages they only have "squatty potties" Much easier to manage in a skirt!

Finally back online!

Wow! I can't believe it has been so long since I posted on my blog! Well, I finally did find my camera. And yes, here is the culprit!

After I found my camera, then I couldn't find my charger! That was my fault though. I had put it somewhere I normally don't put it. But, now I am finally back in business.

I have been doing a little sewing, but not nearly as much as I would like to, or need to! I'm trying to get clothes ready for my upcoming trip and the time is getting short. It is very hot in Uganda, so cool clothes are the ticket. Dresses, skirts and blouses are all that the women wear in the villages, so that is what I will be wearing as well.
I have made two blouses and two skirts. The blouses are from McCalls 2094.

From Spring Clothes

From Spring Clothes

From Spring Clothes

From Spring Clothes

I am very proud of myself on the skirts. They are self-drafted. I have never drafted anything before, so even though these were very simple, I am very pleased. I used the method outlined in the book called Sew What Skirts.
The book shows how to make a straight skirt and an A-line. I made both of mine A-line. I need to make bigger darts in the back on the floral skirt because I do not want it to ride that low on my hips. I inadvertantly made the waist too big when I changed the way I did the binding on the waist. I'm not looking forward to taking off all of that bias tape to adjust the waist, but I really like this fabric and want to be able to wear the skirt. The blue and green skirt with the orange trim fits perfectly.

These were both "practice" skirts, because I wanted to find the simplest methods using the least amount of materials for teaching the women in Uganda. This is what the plan is (at this point)

1. use the simple drafting method in Sew What Skirts to make the pattern for each lady
2. side seams only with darts in the back (Ugandan women are built very straight from the front view, but have bigger behinds - little waist indentation at the sides)
   
3. use straight stitch treadle sewing machines, and/or sew by hand
4. hand picked zipper
5. Cut a bias strip from leftover skirt fabric and fold in half and use to bind skirt top edge
6. double fold narrow hem at bottom
7. patch pockets if desired.
8. seams are stitched and then stitched again about 1/4" from original seam line (no sergers or pinking shears available.) I thought about doing french seams, but then didn't really know how to deal with the zipper.

As it turns out, I think it will just be Karen and I teaching the sewing, but I also think we will be working with a small group of women (5-10 at a time) so that sounds perfect. We will be doing the sewing at the "hotel" we will be staying at out in the courtyard. We will bring the women in by boda-boda (motorcycle taxi). This will be good because we will have tables available to us to lay things out where they won't get dirty. In the afternoons, we will go into the villages and meet with the ladies, do a bible study and encourage them in other ways. I'm hoping we will also have an opportunity to help them work at their homes. There are lots and lots of children in the villages, so I'm sure we'll be spending some time with them as well. I am very excited about going and am working on raising all the support I will need. If you are interested in helping out, please see this post.

sorry - temporary shut down

Unfortunately, I have been receiving a rash of spam, backlinks, and comments in Chinese on my blog that I have no idea what it says. For this reason, I have shut down comments completely until I have time to find a better way to stop it. Thank you all for reading my blog and I will try to get this remedied ASAP.
You can contact me at nwinning at google dot com

Uganda Update

I am starting to get very excited about the upcoming Uganda project. I just got off the phone with John, our facilitator, and am getting full of ideas.

We will be spending most of our time at the villages of Busanna and Kasana. We will be staying at a small "hotel" in a nearby town. We will bring the ladies to the hotel in the mornings to do sewing since there is electricity at the hotel (we will need for lights and irons and any electric machines we use) as well as covering in case it rains. It rains a lot in Uganda this time of year.
In the afternoons we will be going back out the the villages to meet with the women again and do "workshops" on Christian living.

Life is so difficult for these women. When I was there last year, I saw the women working all day long. Most (not all) of the men sat in the middle of the village and played games, gambled, and drank. The women take care of the children, prepare the food, do all the cleaning and washing, help other families, and put up with abuse. There seems to be a lot of domestic violence in the villages, and some of them even have thier own peace-keepers (kind of like police.)

We want to give these women as much encouragement as possible, and tools for dealing with whatever kinds of situations they have to live with. Most of all, we want to share the love of Jesus and give them hope.

Uganda Bound - Again

I am so excited that I have the opportunity to go to Uganda again! For those of you who are new to my blog, last year I went to Uganda to teach women how to sew. It was awesome. Right now we are in the planning phase of another trip. We are planning on going March 27 to April 10.









Another woman from my church is going with me this year and we should be meeting two other women from back east (not sure where yet) who will be assisting us.
This is Karen and me.









Last year we went to Kampala, Busanna and Kasana, and I'm assuming we'll be going to the same areas this year. This year we will be teaching women how to sew skirts. Although there is electricity in the city of Kampala, it is very unpredictable. The villages do not have electricity, unless a generator is used for a special purpose - amazingly, all church services have loud PA systems! I think this year we will be using all treadle machines since they are more widely available there and certainly more practical. Last year we were unable to do the sewing in some of the villages due to unforseen events, and the women were disappointed. I am so glad that we will be able to go back this year and bring this opportunity to them! Many of the people (especially children) in these villages do not have any clothes at all. Last year I was the only one working with the sewing, so I am very thankful to have others with me this year.

Sewing is such a valuable skill. If you are reading my blog, chances are that you love sewing! It is so wonderful to be able to share a skill that not only do I love, but it is a skill that these women can use to provide clothing for their families and even produce income.

Time is short and I know the trip will be here before I know it. I still need to go get my shots, make up some sample skirts, and get my own things in order before we go. We will probably buy all the fabric there since they do have a "garment district" in the city of Kampala with some beautiful fabrics. The trip is going to end up costing around $4000.00, so we are in the fundraising stage right now.

If you are interested in helping the women of Uganda by supporting this ministry, I would really appreciate your support. Donations can be sent either directly to me or to International Messengers. If you mail your donation to International Messengers, please enclose a note stating that it is to support me (Nancy Winningham) so that the money will go to our mission trip. The address is:
International Messengers
PO Box 618
Clear Lake, IA 50428

If you prefer to send a check to me, please email me for my street address. My email is nwinning at gmail dot com.

I would also appreciate prayers for our ministry, that lots of women would come and that we would be able to work with them and share the love of Christ, that I would stay healthy in preparation and while on the trip, and for our safety while there.


There is still a lot of unrest in Uganda, and everywhere you go, you encounter corruption. The poverty is so extreme that I feel so insignificant while I'm there, but amazingly, the people are so grateful that we are even there.

I am so looking forward to doing this again and working with the women of Uganda. I thank you so much for all the prayers and support you can offer. For those of you who supported me last year, I can't begin to tell you what an impact you made, not only on these women, but on me as well. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

AS of late...

I have been a bad blogger. Things have been crazy-busy since we returned from Hawaii and school is sucking up all of my time. I'm hoping to get some sewing done this weekend. I did complete the first item for my swap: a black and white striped Tshirt with FOE at the neck and arms. Unfortunately, gremlins have absconded with my camera, so I have no pix.

I didn't make any New Years Resolutions this year, but I do have some goals. I am making great effort to change my diet to one of mostly Vegan fair. I've been doing pretty well with only one slip up of pizza and the other downfall has been staff meetings. They over-stress us with test score data and then throw chocolate candy at us.

I'm starting to make plans for another trip to Uganda, and will be giving more information in another post. I'm so excited to make this next trip as I have another friend who will be going with me to share in the sewing ministry.

On another note, my health has been really good this last year and my RA has been in remission most of the year. A couple of months ago it started biting back. Also, I may have ruptured another disk in my neck and am going in today for an MRI. I'm just praying that I don't have to have neck surgery again.

Kitties, Dobbo, and family are all well and we've been enjoying beautiful weather (that translates into little fog) Andy day that you can see the sky, cloudy or not, is a good day :-)

Well, that's my little update for now, although I hope to give a better post and show some sewing later this week. I'll have to borrow a camera though, I don't think I'm going to find mine :-(

Aprons

I'm so glad I finally got some sewing done! Actually, I had to take today off work so that I could go to the doctor, so I used some time this afternoon to finish up these aprons. They really are belated Christmas presents for my brother and his girlfriend. First I made the black apron for my brother. He is a big Beatles fan, so when I found this fabric several months ago, I bought some thinking I would make a pillow or something. Then I got the idea for an apron for Christmas.








I had a hard time finding something that I thought Margie would like, but when I was at the fabric store I found this fabric and remembered that she is a "horse person" so thought it would be perfect.

I made both of the aprons this afternoon, so I have not given them to them yet. I hope they will like them.











The pattern is an old OOP Simplicity pattern, but I really like it because it has a variety of apron styles in it. Now I want to make one for myself. But first, I really want to get started sewing for my SWAP.