Starting Fresh in the New Year!

Hmmm so it is that time of year when thoughts turn to making a fresh start for the new year. As we are still dealing with all the left over house crap from 2005 it’s not a complete fresh start, but for some reason I feel ok with that. We have come to terms with the fact that we must get through this & then we can move on. We still are unsure of where exactly “moving on” will take us, but I think that we are both ok with that, which is new for me. I like a bit more direction normally, but as I don’t have much, sorry any control in this situation. I am letting the cards fall where they may.

So I thought that I would actually make a list this year of if not resolutions at least things that I want to accomplish for 2007.

Sewing & Crafting:

~ Do more sewing for $. I already have a couple orders for the Spring shooting season but will work on getting more & finally get some thing in my Etsy shop.

~ Use up as much of my stash as possible & quit being afraid to use it. Come Jan 1 2007 I will not buy any more fabric unless I must have it to finish a project that I already have all the other stuff in the stash to make.(or unless it is for a customer)

~ Make purge the stash of fabric, patterns, magazines, books, papers, stamps, etc sewing & craft supplies.

~ Sew more shooting clothes for John. I have a couple things I have on the mental list already, 2 vests (one cotton & one faux leather), flannel shield shirt, a couple cotton shirts & at least one pair of saddle pants.

~ Sew more shooting clothes for me. On my mental list: embroidered carriage coat, purple & navy 1890’s dress. Olive split skirt outfit, faux leather split skirt outfit, multiple shirts, Mardi Gras inspired Can Can outfit. Finish: navy split skirt, burgundy flannel dress & the shawl I have been crocheting for 1 ½ years.

~ Make all the gifts possible for family & friends birthdays.

~ Keep track of any $ spent on sewing & crafting. I am stealing this from Beki’s list for 2006. I am just curious & it might help keep in me in check.

~ Cut back on swapping. I love it but need to keep it to a manageable level. I would also like to do some personal swap. Fiona & I have talked about it but time got away from us.

~ Make more jewelry & use my kiln for PMC creations.

House:

~Make a menu & stick to it. I hate the grocery store. I want to limit my trips & stop buying all those little impulse items.

~ Throw out less from my fridge. We end up with soooo many fuzzy little UFOs in there.

~ Try one new recipe a week from my collection of cookbooks.

~ Purge the house “stuff”

~ Work harder to keep the kitchen table from being the dumping ground for mail, paperwork, stuff, stuff, stuff…..

~ Try to get my house work done during the week to leave my weekends free for more fun stuff.


Personal:

~ Keep in touch better with my friends & extended family.

~ Take more walks with Puppy Dog.

~ Eat better.

~ Get less up set by my co-workers & MI family. My MIL is always saying I need a thicker skin. I am going to work on this.

~ Improve my shooting & shoot more.

~Save more.

Yahoo! One down!

And about a bazillion more to go on yea old Christmas gifts to make list!

I am, however, really excited about how this turned out. This is a gift for John’s aunt & Godmother, Betty. Possibly the most giving woman I have even met. She is constantly sending us things. But I digress.

I bought this fabric last year with her in mind because it is so her but the perfect pattern/project never came to me. Then in Nov. Indygo Junction came out with their Nouveau Hobo Bag pattern. Perfect I thought, but darn I don’t want to spend the $ on that pattern. After talking with Judi, I was emboldened to draft my own pattern. Thank you Judi! Here is what I can up with…….


I changed a couple things. Like the strap I made my ends rounded instead of pointed. I like the look better. The buttons are purely decorative. I am not sure about on the original.



I added a zipper pocket(not shown)& a patch pocket to the interior.

Also check out my label! Thank to that Artsy Crafty Babe, Beki. I was able to print off my own at home. I am very excited about this. I am not so sure that I am totally thrilled with this design for the label, but the idea is really cool!


Of course you need to have matching accessories for such a fab bag right? Here we have a tissue holder & change purse. Fun stuff!

Now I need to make one for my MIL. I have a really cute patchwork bag planned for my mom & all the other things one my list. Ugh! I will start earlier next year. Yeah I know I say that every year!

Quilts for the Kim’s

I popped on to one of my favorite Blogs this morning, Artsy Crafty Babe & found a post that I felt I must pass on. Beki was passing on information about a quilt that a couple of ladies Patricia & Shanna are putting together for the Kim’s daughters. Check out the Dec 12th post to sign up.

We like the rest of the country prayed that the family would be found alive & safe. Then when Kati & the girls were found, prayed they James would also be found alive even with the odds so against it. I honestly wept when we watched the news report. All I could think was the picture of those sweet little girls that would now have to grow up without their father. It just broke my heart!

Then I read more about the Kim’s on different blog & learned that Kati is a crafty lady too & I believe that she owns a shop. So to me, she could be any one of the crafty ladies that I have met here in Blog land. In fact it could have been completely possible that at some point Kati & I could have been reading the same blogs. It would even be conceivable that we may have “met” one day just the way I have met the other ladies that I now would consider my friends.

So for all those reason I pass along the information about the quilts in the hopes that maybe one of your will want to participate or pass it along to someone else who will. It sounds like the sign up has been slow & I would hate for this idea to hit a wall before it is even able to get going.

Now with any luck I might be able to post the button for the link.

Wedding outfit Part 1

Ok I think that I have the wedding outfit kind of worked out! (Thank you LLA, Beki & Stacy).

I am going to make the top first & then see how that looks with some different style of pants & go from there. I actually dug out the fabric that I had in mind last night to see how it would look together. I think that I like it, in theory anyway. You have to kind of use your imagination of the picture of the fabric on the dress form* but you can get the idea. At first I was thinking of the lace on the bottom, but then if I have a black jacket the white on the top will stand out more.





So this morning I was trying to think of what to wear tomorrow for our work Christmas lunch. I remembered that I had made a pair of pants to test the pattern for the wedding outfit from Hell. (I will have to get a picture of it so you can see). I really liked the pants, but never got around to hemming the test pair so that I can actually wear them. I was thinking maybe I could hem them for tomorrow. Then I I had my “Ah HA!” moment! I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before, but I could use that pants pattern for my “new” wedding outfit. I know that I already like the pants, the pattern is already traced & is a good fit! The other cool thing is that I will be able to try the top on with the already made pants first to get a feel for how they will look together! Bonus!

So here are the pants that I am thinking of. They are from the 11/2005 Burda WOF the Marlene Dietrich Trousers. There is even a review of them on Pattern Review!




So now I am thinking that I will need to go with a jacket with a lower front opening to show off the pretty front of the tank. I am sure that I must have something in the pattern stash. If only the sewing came as quick & easy as coming up with what to sew does!

Also ignore the mess, after all it is 1 ½ weeks before Christmas & my sewing area is a hazard area!

What to or not to wear?

Ok so to add to the madness that is our life of late, we got an invitation over the weekend to my boss’s daughters wedding on Feb 17th! I totally did not expect this & of course have nothing to wear. So because I am so easily distracted instead of working on my huge Christmas to do list I spent about a ½ hour contemplating what I might be able to whip up for the event. I am guessing that when the invitation says “Black Tie Optional” that it is going to be fairly fancy, right? I didn’t have a fancy wedding so I am kind of clueless as to what to wear, at least when it comes to the freezing north in Feb! My cousin got married last Feb (not this fancy) I made my outfit & HATED it. The actual outfit did not end up any where near the picture in my mind. I wore it but was not happy with it. John said it looked like those matchy matchy jogging suits that old ladies wear to mall walk. Thanks dear!

Anyhooo I am trying to figure out what I can A) make from the stash or B) only maybe have to purchase fabric for a top of some kind. The reception is being held at the Kalamazoo Art Institute.

So I was thinking oh cool it’s at an arty place so I can go with something a little artsy, a little different? But not this different mind you. A little more elegant a little less fiber.

In my quick search of the available patterns from the stash I found not much.
At first glance these couple caught my eye, but I don’t know……





Than I thought I would check out the pattern sites to see what they have, thinking that maybe I would get inspired.

I found this : Simplicity 4885


I really like the black & white checked skirt suit with the ribbon on the jacket or the same jacket with the satin pants. I, of course do not own this pattern. I do however own the following ones:

Simp 4698 - Jacket

Simp 4273 – Top (I don’t care for the skinny straps on the other one) & the pants if I go with that.



Or maybe a top like this, minus the beads I think, I like the lace but no those skinny straps again.


Simp 4882 or 5914 – Skirts



I was thinking that I could do the pants in a black satin backed crepe, satin side out, that I already have. Then what to do about the jacket & top……
Although that is not very differnt or artsy I guess.

Is black ok to wear to a wedding?

Should I go with something else completely? I don’t know!

I hate weddings in Feb in Michigan! Warmer weather is so much better to dress for as far as weddings go!

Help!

Ok I had to add this. I love this outfit! It's from the upcoming Burda WOF Jan '07. I don't think that it is wedding appropriate, but maybe those pants? They are different & with the right fabric might be pretty elegant, but kind of top?

Yes I still sew!

Ok I finally have something sewing related to show. It has been finished for weeks but I have been having home computer problems. Then I had to figure out how to use my work computer to up load the pictures. I got all that worked out now, I think anyway. You know me the big techie I am.

You may remember these fab buttons that my mom & I found when she was up visiting.



I put them to good use on my wearable muslin for my Garbo Cardigan. I didn’t think that the fabric would do well with that large of button holes. So I took a page out of the Oct Burda WOF magazine & used extra large snaps on the inside & the buttons on the outside just for eye candy. I think that the next time make it I will use larger seam allowances because it could be just a tad slimmer on the sides, but for the most part I am pretty happy with it.

So now without further ado my new cardigan!*



* ALso if you look closely you can see the new do, not looking too spiffy as it was raining that day & my collection of Cowboy Snowmen. Yes our Old West obsession knows no bounds.

Nothing says Merry Christmas like…….

13” of snow!

Well yes that would do it too but how about tomorrow is your last day of work 16 days before Christmas! Yeah! No not me but John was told yesterday that they have no more work & that today will be his last day of work. OK. Um could you maybe have said a month ago, Um John you know things are really slow & I don’t have any worked lined up beyond the next three weeks, so maybe you might want to be looking for something else. Oh well such is life in the #1 in the country for unemployment state. Where’s Capello? I believe that only she can fully express my feelings for the state of MI at this moment, as she spent the weekend from hell here earlier this fall. Words cannot fully express my feelings for this Godforsaken state at this time. Nothing good has come from moving here. (Other than meeting you Judi). Seeing as on Dec. 21, 2005 was when all our house problems started, I don’t think that I want to have to spend Christmas 2007 here! That is my goal for 2007 to get the hell out of here! (pssst Gina you are not allowed to go away again, see what happens when you are gone?)



Also to add to our ridiculous situation, we have taken in a stray dog that showed up at our house last weekend. I have nicknamed her Noel & am looking for her owners or a new home. She is incredibly sweet & so good, but now that I am soon to be married to a K-Fed* wanna be I think it best that she go to someone who can properly afford her.

The good thing about John’s recent loss of employment is that all those little jobs around the house can now get done. Well all the ones that done require spending any more mullah that is. So the utility closet should be put back together by the end of the weekend.

So I guess that my dreams of a Christmas iPod are out the window. Oh well I wasn’t meant to be that hip anyway. Ok so now I am on my way over to Capello’s for my daily does of freaky Lego Advent Calendar, then to LLA’s to look at her cute bead tree again, then I think that I will see what pretty things Stacy, Beki, Fiona, Heather & Bekka have been up to. Thank God for the internet & all it's prettiness to distract us!




* by the way when I told John that, I then had to explain who K-Fed was. The joke kind of lost something after that.