Plugging away

I’ve been trying, but the progress is slow and the blogging even slower. The quilt top is done, and thanks to Stacy from StacySews, I even have a strip with Scotch’s name and the date embroidered on it. But I’m procrastinating on getting the backing put together and quilting it. No, I have no idea why. Maybe it’s because there’s things that need planning–like a wedding shower and a baby shower (I’m going to be an aunt!! Huzzah!! And she’s having a girl, so there might be sickeningly sweet little girl clothes for my future niece featured soon!!! 😉 ) to plan. Or maybe it’s just because I, frankly, hate quilting. I get all excited about planning the quilt, but when the rubber hits the road I’m just not interested. Oh sure, the first few squares are exciting to see come together, but suddenly it’s tedious and I just want to shove it aside and do something else. But I can’t, because it’s so damn expensive to make a quilt. I honestly don’t understand how anyone can afford to make these as a hobby. The fabric requirements are huge and pricey, the batting isn’t exactly cheap, and then you have to either pay someone to quilt it or wrestle with it yourself. And I don’t even make complicated quilts!!

I’ve also got a dress that I started for Christmas, but didn’t finish until just before the first weekend of January. It’s kind of funky, but I kind of love it. You really have to see it as a whole outfit though, otherwise it’s maybe just a bit too weird. I’m going to try and get pictures so I can blog about it soon, because it’s way out of my comfort zone in a very cool way. I wanted to participate in Jungle January too, but I’m not allowing myself to start something until that damn quilt is finished and on my son’s bed, so I am probably not going to get to make anything by the deadline. 😦 Oh well. Hubby says I have too many “jungle” prints in my closet anyway…I didn’t even know such a thing was possible! 😉

The shirt that almost wasn’t

Last night was kind of a big deal for my husband. He’s on a couple of the local boards, and last night was one of the annual meetings. The attire was to be somewhere around business dress. Being a stay at home mom doesn’t tend to require business dress clothing, so I had none. Well, aside from my black slacks, but those were originally intended for something else entirely. So began the saga of the Burda JJ blouse.

Knowing that I didn’t want to tape pages together, I decided to download the “copyshop” version, and take it to the nearby printing store. Apparently it was going to be in the vicinity of $40 to print off this pattern, and I figured I could have Burda print and ship it from Germany for less than that. Then I remembered the plotter at my husband’s work. Yes! I shall take it in and they will print it for me! And they did! 🙂 But, being the procrastination professional that I am, I didn’t start working on it until Tuesday afternoon. So I traced off the pieces, cut out my muslin (I’d never made a non-jersey Burda for the top half before), and prayed that a 38 with a hefty  FBA would fit pretty close to right. Meanwhile though, the hooks pull out of my bra….so Wednesday morning I flew to the city to purchase a couple of extra bras, since I don’t have time to make one up, and didn’t want to fiddle with the odd sized hooks/eyes on the back of that one. BTW, if you are looking for bras that are bigger than DD, I recommend Dillard’s–I bought two there for the price of one at Victoria’s Secret–and they actually fit instead of playing around with the band size to “make it work”. They even had a pretty decent selection, of brands/colors/styles.

Sorry, I’m digressing again. Anyway, I get home with my new bras just after noon on Wednesday, stitch together my muslin, and make fitting adjustments but run out of time to do the actual garment. So yesterday (the day of said event), I cut out, stitched together, washed/dried, and wore the Burda JJ blouse. I still can’t believe I took it from a sheet of fabric to a finished collar and 6 handsewn buttons (and my machine even made fuss-free buttonholes!! Six of them!!) in less than a day. My version is kind of plain this time, it’s sleeveless and lacking ruffles because of time constraints, but I kind of like it that way because it’s less frilly, and seems to really showcase the fabric.

Wait, you expect pictures?! OK. Here’s a couple then. The actual color is somewhere between the two pictures.