Lady Who Lunches

I woke up this morning feeling awful!!! I was SO dizzy that I felt like I was at sea in a hurricane in a tiny boat. I wake up feeling like this every now and then. I have attributed it to dehydration. Sadly there was no fun drinking or general over-doing it that caused this. I probably just did not drink enough liquids yesterday and it was like a gillion degrees. So after lots of liquids a bath and some rest I am feeling like I can at least function.Which is great because I am having lunch with my good friend Heather who I just don't see often enough! Then when I get home my mom (aka Mimi - to Marion) will be here!

So until I am off to lunch I plan to work on the birthday outfit for my neighbor Ally. I think it is going to turn out super cute. Her birthday is technically today but we will see if I can manage to get her outfit done ;).

All the pieces are cut and I have started sewing, well the pockets for the pants are ready. And I even busted out the tracing paper and traced the short sleeve version out of the whole bunch of sleeve options, which I am normally too lazy to do. But when I sew for someone else I tend to be more careful. My daughter can have a crooked sleeve but not my neighbor by golly! 

Ally and Marion in the wagon in the drive way that we all share.

I have not made any more progress on the birthday dress for myself. No telling when it will be done. I have to admit that last night, which was chore night, after M went o bed I sat on the couch reading "Gone with the Wind", which I am LOVING! It is making me feel and think all sorts of things, more about that later.
But because of my laziness and thins mornings illness, I may have to do things other than sewing over the next couple of days! NOOOOOO!!!!!!

oh no sewing today

Today was an ok day not entirely productive, but not entirely unproductive either. It was my beautiful and funny daughter Marion's third birthday. After Eric took M off to school I made Rice Krispie treats to take to her class for afternoon snack. I made 2 batches the fist came out really gooey and the 2nd was a little dry. But I took them to school with some little blowy things and the kids seemed happy.

We are having a more official yet tiny party for Marion on Sunday with our neighbors. I feel a little bad that  I have not gotten Marion her birthday present yet but I did confirm with her this morning that she would like a tea set so if you have any tea set suggestions I am all ears.  My mom sent her a rocking chair that she is enjoying.

After the school party we came home and played with the neighbors. Both neighbor girls have birthdays over the next few days too so their mom and I are being supremely lazy and having a joint party.

On the sewing front, I opened a pattern cut the paper pieces apart and cut a few pieces of the fabric. It is the beautiful mystery fabric that Eric brought back from Spain with him. I am hoping to make myself a birthday dress. Do you think I am too old to pull off a halter dress? As you can see there is an option for the same pattern with a covered back and a cap sleeve, may have to go that route. Also it sort of amuses me that the fabric I received from Eric is so similar to the illustration on this 1940s reproduction pattern, I am hoping that it means it will turn out well. I have never made something so similar to the illustration.

But today I promised my soon to be 7 year old neighbor that I would make her an outfit. Little elastic waist capris and a top should not take more than a couple of hours but still got to get it done.

 Tomorrow is another day. As a friend of mine says, "well you know how you eat an elephant right? one bite at a time".

Day 3, I am on a roll!!!

First the AC repair man finally came at 7:45 pm. My sweet hubby had to take care of dealing with him and putting M to bed b/c I was off at a committee meeting. I am now on the fashion show committee for a local charity.  More on that as I know what I am doing.

On the sewing front I did manage to finish the lovely pink shirt. Eric says it is my best thing that I have made yet. But he says that almost every time I make something new.

I was working on it for a while before I was brave enough to sew on the buttons, and put it on. I am always worried that some how mean fairies will come in and make my clothes too small.

The pattern that I used was Simplicity 2601, with some modifications of course. I did not like any of the collars that they had. They did have an option of putting rick-rack at the edge of the neckline but that would not have been right for this fabric. Speaking of fabric I used solid Anna Maria Horner voile that I got from Whipstitch. It is soft and lovely. But was a little tricky to sew on. I really do suggest that if you sew on such delicate fabric that you change to a smaller needle. I tend to sew with a large needle. And anything larger than a 12 just pokes too big a hole in the fabric. I would suggest a 10 or a 12, I used a 10.

The sleeve is less gathered than the pattern suggested. I decided that I have big arms and I do not need to draw extra attention to that fact. A bow is drawing enough attention.

I used off white thread for a contrast detail. To attach the ribbon detail I used the same thread but used a tiny stitch length, between 1 - 2 on my old manual machine.

When I was in Chicago last week, I dragged the ever dutiful Eric out to a cute neighborhood called Buck Town. Where we went to this lovely little shop that sells buttons and ribbons and other lovely trims, Soutche. They were very nice but the funny thing is they said they were jealous of the fabric stores in Atlanta! I said WHAT?!?! you have got to be kidding me. There are so many more fabric stores in Chicago and there are few in Atlanta, except for Whipstitch (yes another shameless plug). And they told me about Nicholas Kniel, he is in Atlanta and I had no idea! Field trip! But they sold me some very lovely ribbon and sweet little Italian buttons and I went about my merry way.

I was not sure what I was going to do with the ribbon when I bought it but magically I had just enough to make the button loops and trim the neckline. When I was almost finished and working on the hem I felt the shirt just needed something to tie it all together. So I added the ribbon to the bottom as well. I had only 1 inch of ribbon left, it was just meant to be.

If you ignore the fact that I have on no make-up and really need to get my hair done, it is a really cute, flattering and well made shirt. I am super excited about it!

Now I can start cutting my birthday dress! My birthday is on Wednesday but the celebrations start on Thursday, do I have time to get it done? What will tomorrow bring? I know I am getting my hair done! But more importantly my darling little rockstar of a daughter is turning 3! I am bringing rice crispy treats to her class at 3pm so that should be fun!

Rock and Roll!!!!!!

Don't go down the rabbit hole of the mundane!!!

Oh wait I already have. I had these grand plans to do all this sewing and get all this stuff done. I started my day all ready to go and then the mundane attacked! I took M to school, I went and worked out (yeah! a small victory itself). But then I got home and I was the only one there. No one knows what I do all day. I could be eating bon bons and watching TV for all anyone knows. And by the state of my house you are not entirely far off.

But I did deal w/ landscaping issues. Did I mention I am the head of the landscaping committee for our town home association? And I confirmed that I am joining a committee to help plan a fundraiser for one of my many political / social causes first meeting is tomorrow evening! I scheduled the Air Conditioning repair people to come tomorrow, made a grocery list, etc...........

While I am happy that I have a rather unstructured life I need to set some rules and add a little structure.

Here are the rules:
1. TV limitations - only allowed to watch tv if I am also working out at the same time. Until 4pm, that's when Oprah comes on and I am not going to deprive myself of such a pleasure.

2. The only things I HAVE to do every day are get up and get dressed (no lounging in PJs all day!) & make dinner and have it ready for Eric and Marion when they get home, or soon there after ;) depending who is on Oprah that day.

3. If Eric is out of town I still need to stick to the rules and somewhat of a schedule b/c things just go better when we do.

Not the best quilt block ever, but I am new to quilting.

So after I set these rules for myself, I headed to the sewing studio and got started. I made another quilt block. I have now made a total of 2 quilt squares in my life. Neither are terribly great, but they are for a good cause so I am going to send in my attempts, check out this cool project that Anna Maria Horner is doing called Rainbow Around the Block. I plan to send them off tomorrow.

Ok this is what I get for not using a pattern. But I think it is sort of cool.

 While experimenting with quilting is fun for a good cause I don't think it is my new passion. However I also worked on another project today and here is a sneak peak,

I am hoping to finish this and tell you all about it tomorrow.

 

Additionally today I signed up for the Self Stitched September challenge. I already make and wear a lot of stuff but I really would like for the majority of my fall wardrobe to be handmade. More to come on this.

One last thing to come out of today is that my cousin Stacy Sheets is working on this cool looking web-series The Focal Point and has asked me to help with the costuming. So I am off to read the script and see if maybe being a costumer is a good fit for me?

Today was pretty darn good! Full of interesting developments in the "Who is Chrissy Weeks?" project.

What will tomorrow bring? Hopefully the air conditioning repair person......and some more interesting developments.

What the heck have I been up to?

I have been getting this question a lot lately. And it is one that I have even asked myself.

Back in January I decided to help my friend Deborah grow her business Whipstitch. Now that she has had her baby, and the store is up and running, she has taken over at the head of that ship. I am still involved but not on a daily basis.

Now I am on a new journey of self discovery to figure out exactly what it is that I do want to do every day.

I have the rare luxury of being afforded time and space to spend time trying new things and experimenting with what I want my daily life to be like.

I do have a lovely (almost) 3 year old. She goes to full time "school" aka Daycare at the Clifton School and LOVES it. So pulling her out of there is not really an option.

If you care to join me on this journey. I plan to use this blog as a journal for me to analyze the things I try and see what fits. If you have any advice, please give it. I am not sure how this will turn out at all. And for once I am ok with not having a BIG plan. I have always been a VERY ALL or NOTHING person and I am working hard on changing that. 

A wise man (my amazing! husband), reminded me once again that you really can take life day by day. You do not have to have it ALL figured out and approach it as a finished thing. Which I think I am finally realizing that I do. After 32 years (almost 33) I am finally slowing down enough to stop and realize that there are roses, maybe I will even smell them! By the way this is my last official birthday coming up in August. 33 sounds nice, I may stick with it for several years!

What will tomorrow bring?????