Priceless

Alternate titles for this post:

1. What I Did This Afternoon Instead of Working

2. How Spoiled Is My Son?

3. Why I'm Glad I Have An Embroidery Machine and Software, Even Though I Don't Use It Much

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Apparently the football coach sent home order forms during summer workouts. Equally as apparent — none of them made it to our house. Typical teenage brain fade, I suppose.

The coach decided this year that instead of wearing game jerseys on game days during school hours, he'd have all the players buy "kits" of various game day paraphernalia. (I'm sure there were some profits that made it into the football slush fund too!) DS wasn't really paying close attention. He knew he didn't want or need the cleats or the shorts or most of the other things in the kit. And by the time he realized he actually *did* want and need the polo shirt (read: the coach expected him to be wearing it), it was too late.

Last week, we bought a navy polo shirt so he could at least look similar to his teammates. He tried to describe the embroidery on the official shirt, but we just weren't connecting with the description. I told him I needed to actually see one. So, last night he brought home his friend's shirt and then expected me to perform digitizing magic today so he'd have a "real" shirt tomorrow.

Abracadabra!

I only use my digitizing software about 3 times a year so I always end up fumbling around before I remember what I'm doing. But a couple of hours later, I actually had a workable design. And even though I really didn't have the extra time, I forced myself to also make a couple of tests. I'm glad I did, because a few adjustments were then made and the final stitch-out is nearly perfect. (See, "muslins" are necessary for all types of "sewing!")

My tests:



The friend's original shirt:



DS' new knock-off:



It's pretty darn close, DS is happy, and there's no way a bunch of teenage boys and/or football coaches will ever notice the differences. I think I'll keep my mouth shut.

Friday Night Lights

We just got back from DS#2's football game (they won!) and I was very happy to have been able to take an hour today and re-make my tee. Nothing like waiting until the last minute, but at least I was done in plenty of time. And once again, I'm SO glad I sew.

Before:



After:



I cut apart the man's 2X tee, laid my handy-dandy 1 billion times TNT Ottobre tee over the pieces and cut. A quick stitching of one shoulder seam, then running the neckline through the binder on the CS machine, then the other shoulder seam, sleeves, sideseams and hem, and I was D-O-N-E. I didn't even have to hem the sleeves since I cut them to keep the original hem stitching in place.

On the job front — I got a gigantic raise today (I'm now salaried) and I'm on Cloud 9. I will also be hiring and training 1 or 2 assistants in the next month to help with the workload so mine will decrease overall, keeping the parts I like best and delegating the other parts to my new assistants. What this really means is that I'll have more time for sewing, and my non-work life in general.

I've missed my blog and my sewing room terribly, but come the end of the day the last thing I want to be doing is staring at the computer screen some more so I've been vegging in front of DVR'd shows. I've become a huge fan of Mad Men. Survivor, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice and other fav shows are back with new episodes, and of course Sundays are spent watching football all day long. What I need to do is slow down for a minute and get a DVR for the TV in my sewing room so I can "watch" the recordings while I cut and/or sew. I really do prefer to multi-task and not just veg out with the tube.

Except for the "waste" of the office wardrobe now gathering dust, this job has been a real blessing. The work is tedious but I actually like it. The hours are whatever I want them to be, the pay was good before and is now outstanding, and the commute is non-existent. I never have to spend gas money to get to work or wonder what my pups are tearing up in the house.

Speaking of the pups, the weather has been cooling down enough to be bearable and we've all been spending more time outside during breaks in my day. Chili thinks his job is to hunt and catch all the lizards in the immediate vicinity and he's seriously not fulfilled unless he catches at least 1 a day. He plays with them for a while and then Dani comes along and eats them. "Tastes like chicken!" she says. ;-)

Our kitty Gizmo left us last month. He was close to 18 years old so he had a good run. It's still strange that he's not following me and the dogs around when we're outside like he always did. But he was getting incredibly weak and fragile at the end and I know it was just his time.

I'm hoping to squeeze in a trip to Joann's tomorrow around other errands. I'm nearly out of white and brown thread, for both sewing machine and serger. I can't believe it. I always have tons of the basics. I wonder if there will be anything else that catches my eye. I've been so busy I haven't even really had time to buy fabric. I know!

I also hope to have something new from the sewing room to show off next week. Fingers crossed!

Have a great weekend!