Home to Sew

I arrived home Wednesday mid morning. The rain had stopped and by evening the sun was shining. Are we over the monsoons we had? I doubt it. It will probably shower some over the next couple of days.

Prior to going to the fashion show, I had a chance to go to the community’s Fabricland. Nothing but outdoor fabric and some cottons were on sale. To kill time, I roamed around snooping on all the shelves and stands. I found two pieces of cotton I really liked to use for meshwork grocery bags.

The red, green and print will be woven together and then I will use some of the print in the bag.

The second print I bought is the peacock I used in a rodeo shirt. I love it so much that I want to use it in a bag using meshworks.  I need to buy royal blue and yellow cotton.

After lunch, I went down to the sewing room to fool around. I thought I would interface the yokes on the skirt of the dress. I got that done and then continued putting the pieces together. Soon the front of the skirt was done.

The pieces were well behaved and the yoke was easy to put onto the skirt. Today I will do the bodice front and sew it to the skirt. Then it is ready for bling.

The back yokes are interfaced ready to be put onto the skirt pieces. I am still thinking about it as the pattern shows leaving the seam allowance open for a kick pleat. That will show leg when walking. If I leave it open, I will add another piece to make a pleat/godet.

Until tomorrow…………………

Rain, Sewing and Goals

It rained yesterday. All day long. Soft showers, pouring rain, and everything in between. We know we had over 1/2” of rain fall; probably 3/4”. This morning is brighter though cloudy and it could start to rain again this afternoon. We needed this rain as everything was so dry.

The dress I finished tracing is now cut out. A new skirt pattern is being tried on this one. View B (red) has been lengthened to be floor length.

 

Next the skirt yoke pieces need to be interfaced. I will use a lightweight knit interfacing. When the front and back pieces are sewn together, it has to be glammed up prior to sewing it together.

I did a clean up of the exercise room and got my small spot back again. I can’t remove a lot of the items in there as there is no other place to put them until the renovations are done in the kitchen and family room. I can at least exercise again.

I had a look at my goals for the first six months of the year.

• Stress has undone my diet and exercise regime. After this week, I can start again in that department. I am looking forward to that. The stress has gone down many notches and I am not hiding in the sewing room sewing while it ate at me.
  
• January to June:
• Finish clients wardrobe by May 30, 2013. The wardrobe will include:
  a dress
  17 tops – 8 are done but some need glamming up.
  several belts (haven’t counted how many yet)
  You will be amazed that I got most of this done by May 15th. I think I made 16 tops plus have three more in bags to finish. The dress I started off making still needs a ton of work done on it. It is my July project – an hour a day. The tops in the bags may get made and then again, I may trash them.
  
• Donations to be sewn:
  Make a red shirt with black and silver on it for Miss Rodeo Canada 2013 (Jan. 30) Done and has been worn many times.
  
  Make/donate 2 shirts with embroidery on them for the Williams Lake Stampede queen contest (March 31)
  Making 3 shirts. I got the measurements late and am working on them now. No embroidery but lace on the yokes with crystals.
  
  Make 4 banners for the Sundre queen contest (Jan. 30) Done and there is enough fabric for 2 more. I will see if I have time to make them before the crowning on June 22.
  
• Resign from my job as literacy outreach coordinator June 30. I am ready to be fully retired this summer. I will commit myself to doing the plan we have in place, help find another person to do the job and mentor them to have a successful start.
  Did that and got the job back again. LOL. I am looking forward to one more year of this job. And I am not working this summer. We have some plans in the making.

Pauline, you mentioned using ginger in stewed rhubarb. Is it candied ginger or grated fresh ginger? I want use it in the next batch of rhubarb I can.

Today I have to head out to a dinner and fashion show. I get to judge this event tonight. I will stay overnight and return tomorrow about noon. I am looking forward to this event.

Until the next time…………………

Flowers, Fabric, and Rhubarb

Yesterday started off with us admiring our weigela bush. It has more blooms on it each year thanks to the Spousal Unit trimming it once it finishes blooming.

It even looks great from the other side.

The second thing we did was can rhubarb. As we have so much of it, we stewed it before putting it into the bottles. What surprised us was the beautiful colour it is. The nicest colour rhubarb we have ever put up. I did add some citrus peel to the jars. Fourteen jars are done and 7 more to go next week.

The first canning session of the year had to be done upstairs in the main kitchen. Nice to have the extra space but we didn’t enjoy the number of times we had to run up and down the stairs to find and get the equipment.

After cleaning up, I wandered down to the sewing room and pulled out all my rodeo fabric. I sorted out what needed to be returned and folded up what was mine and put it into two tubs.

Good to have it corralled again. After that was done, I traced a pattern top for a dress and lengthened the skirt. The top is on the ironing board

and the skirt is on the table.

Today’s goal is to get the dress cut out. Once the front is assembled, it goes to Daughter for decorating.

Betsy, you asked how we pollinate the cucumbers. The doors to the greenhouse are open so the bees can go in. In the past we would shake the plants some to pollinate and what ever we did, worked. This year I got a new variety. The blooms look male (no real flower), the cucumber forms and then the bloom has a flower. We wonder if this variety is self pollinating.

Until tomorrow…………………

Greenhouse to Sewing

The greenhouse is cleaned up. Everything was moved, shelves swept off, and then completely organized. So much so when Elliott went out for his roam, he had to sniff everything.

The English long cucumbers have been growing about 3” a day with the heat in the greenhouse.

And, if all goes well, we will have a lot of cucumbers. There are baby cucumbers all over the place.

I did get some sewing done on Teal Blue Shirt #2. The yoke was cut out, lace pinned on, bottom edge finished, piping made, and then sewn onto the shirt. It took quite a bit of time but looks great (well like Shirt #1).

Today, I have to can the rhubarb, wash some floors and lay out the dress ready to cut which may only entail tracing the bodice. And, if there is time, sew the button bands onto the shirt. That means cutting more bias pieces for the piping and make them. It should be a surprise as the only two things guaranteed are rhubarb and washing floors.

Until tomorrow……………….

Teal Blue Shirt #2

When one door is shut, another opens. That saying is heard time and again when things happen to people. It happened to us last night. We have been moving on with the client issue. Doing okay with it but it left us both winded as we liked the person. Then last night another door opened; one we are happy about.

Yesterday’s trip to the city was uneventful. I bought the Spousal Unit some shirting fabric and a few other bits and pieces.

I did look for raspberry satin for another client’s dress and found some. It is a stunning colour and expensive. (What a great colour to include in a wardrobe.) Not sure if I will be making the dress or not. I am at the quote stage.

I got home in the early afternoon and, after a break, I worked in the sewing room. I have Teal Blue Shirt #2 ready for the yokes.

I also stitched out the last of the designs I wanted to play with. Sometimes it is fun to play with designs.

This morning I plan on cleaning out the greenhouse. Top to bottom as the cucumber plants range from 2 to 3 feet tall. Once it is done, then we can focus on getting the patio area cleaned up. That will start next week.

I am also wanting to start work on a dress. I can get it started then off to Daughter for the appliques and then back to me finish up. I can work it around the shirts I am making. 

Until tomorrow……………….

Caturday

Teal Blue Shirt #1 Done

We had a bit of thunder yesterday afternoon. That was it for the storm. 90 kms away and a different story; the city had 4 mm.

After finishing up all the planting of flowers, I headed into the sewing room to finish up Teal Blue Shirt #1. It is now ready for buttonholes and buttons.

Teal Blue Shirt #2 and #3 are cut out and the darts are in the back of #2. I decided to play a bit with my embroidery machine while I was working on the shirts.

Design#1 is “redwork”. A bit of a search told me redwork can be done in any colour and mine is done in silver on red satin.

The second sample is swirling feathers on a piece of lightweight denim. I think I should have done the navy in another colour but this combination is talking to me on a cream. As in something for the household.

I have a third design to stitch out and it is swirls also. Not feathers though.

Today I am heading into the city for a quick trip. Groceries, look at fabric, look at Michaels, and home. I would like to work on Teal Blue Shirt #2 and stitch out the third design.

Until tomorrow………………….

Teal Blue Shirt

The forest fire in our area is now officially 75% contained. There is still smoke coming up from it but it isn’t affecting us now. Just as I was going to bed, there was black smoke billowing up about 3 miles from our house on our side of the river. Shortly afterwards, the fire trucks went screaming up there. Not sure what was on fire; hopefully not a home. All I know is it is out.

After spending the morning working in the yard, I got a couple of hours sewing time. All the seams are serged on the teal blue shirt and the first sleeve is set in.

I had to have a stern talking to the sleeves though; not once but twice. The first talking to was the continuous placket. I pinned it in carefully, sewed slowly and half of the placket had no stitching attached to it. Pick and retry. The second stern talk came when setting in the sleeves. Occasionally I have to unpick one tiny fold on the sleeve. Not this sleeve; there were three bigger folds to be unpicked. Egads!

For a shirt that was easy to do up to the sleeves, all I can say is “It must have missed me” to give me the old “one-two-three”.

Today I have to plant the rest of the plants (8) and bulbs (10). We will be done planting. Then I should can/bottle rhubarb. Once that is done, I can sew. And, if I want to be outside, I can weed.

Once this shirt is done, I will cut out the next two matching shirts that are sponsored and work on them along with a dress for a new client.

Until tomorrow……………….