I might be cutting out a pattern (after a >2-year hiatus).
I might have a separate cutting room, now that Alex has moved out, and maybe even a sewing room if I move my machines into it and straighten up the mess.
I might have a new dog (meet Cyrus), after Alex "stole" my other three when he moved out.
I might have another "roommate" after Tyler moved in "for a while." (I'll still get a cutting/sewing room since Alex had 2 rooms and I'm only sacrificing 1 for Tyler. Ha.)
I trust most of you have recovered from the shock of seeing a post from me.
Seriously, thank you for all of your kind comments. While I sincerely appreciate them all, Janet's comment of "While you were gone, I stopped by for 'advice' a couple of times" cracked me up for a good few minutes. And Bonnie@SewPlus, how did I not know about your blog before this week? I spent HOURS reading through it, wanting to make everything you've made, watching your daughter grow up (and you grow DOWN!) — and reliving a hurricane or two. I think we're almost neighbors, right? And Carolyn, I'm out of "retirement." This one's for you. :-)
So, while the pattern was still on the cutting table, I quickly cut out another Niagara and sewed it up over a couple of days/nights. I made a couple of construction changes on this version, but that's it.
Instead of front/back facings for the upper bodice, I made it single layer and bound the neckline opening. We're quickly heading into hot temps here in Florida and keeping the polyester layers to a minimum should be cooler. (Who am I kidding? There's no such thing as "cooler" in Florida summer.)
This is an ITY knit from Fabric Mart a couple of years ago. It's much brighter than it shows in the two pics above. More like the right side of the pic below. Unless you're new here, I'm sure you know how I love bright colors.
No pretty enclosed seams this time, but I'm OK with that. It's faster, lighter, and uses less fabric.
And here I am, with my Old Navy joggers. Not sure if I'll ever be able to wear office shoes again. Also, see that OTT light in the background on the left? I found out that if I have it and my iron on at the same time, I'm blowing a fuse/circuit breaker. Every time. So, the light will be on its way out. I've got an LED bulb in my coverstitch machine which is plenty bright, even for my old eyes, plus another regular lamp over my sewing machine/serger so I'm really not going to miss the OTT.
* * * * *
Now to catch up a little on some non-sewing, mundane life news. First is my car, below. Alex was driving it to pick up some dinner and got sideswiped. (Minor accident; he's fine, but boy was I hungry by the time he finally got home.) I took it into the local dealer (not where I originally bought it) for body work and a couple of service issues. They had it for three and a half weeks and I finally got it back last night. Except they missed a couple of things so it's going to need to go back. Ugh. They promised me a free rental this time, but truthfully, I hardly missed it those three weeks. Thanks Covid.
See this reflector where the arrow is pointing to below? That's one of the things they missed. Or two, actually, since there's one on the other side too. There's also an area where the bumper meets the tail light that needs to be re-aligned better. And I asked them to replace the wiper blades and they missed the one on the back. I'm not overly thrilled with this place. The pic below is from when my new fridge was being delivered last year. I got it right before the lockdowns and before all appliances were selling out. Thankfully dodged that bullet since the new fridge was a need, not a want. OK, it was a want too, just earlier than expected.
House update: Shortly after moving here, we had a garage built in the back yard. It's really more workshop than garage, and it's really nice to have all the extra space for junk and projects.
Alex update: We're still sharing this house, but over the past five or so years, he's been building a real estate "portfolio" of rentals. In December, after selling one that he had rented out for about three years, Alex bought two more fixer-uppers in New Port Richey, which is about 45 minutes north of Tampa. That makes five houses he now owns.
We've been spending many weekends updating floors, kitchens, paint in Alex's latest additions. Below, is the tile that was in place throughout one of the houses, but it was coming up in places, cracked in others, and not very stable.
Alex jackhammered it all up and is replacing it with vinyl plank (below). After both "new" houses are rented, the plan is to put similar flooring in our house. I don't know if my old knees can take that.
To save my knees, I've been mudding the drywall of a wall and closet we added to what was a second living room, to enclose it for an additional bedroom. The light "fixture" you see is really a new ceiling fan, just with the blades removed. The closet area used to be a pass through to the kitchen. We also added french doors to the left of this view, but I didn't get a pic.
And, finally, the project supervisors … sleeping on the job. I'm glad we don't pay them by the hour.
First things first. Yes, I have been absent from the blog for a freakin' long time. With that out of the way, soon I'll be buying myself a new home computer, so that should get me posting more often instead of waiting until I can "sneak" in a post from work (it's not really sneaking, but finding time because my work days are usually very busy). I've missed having a home desk.
Speaking of home … that's the biggest reason I've been MIA. I have moved yet again. (That's the new house from the listing photo below.) But this time (and hopefully the last for a LONG time), to a home I own. Relatively speaking because the mortgage company would probably have a bit of a say in actual percentage of ownership at this point. But it's good to be a homeowner again and in control of my living situation. I'm still in the City of Tampa; just a tiny bit further north. Instead of 7 minutes to work, it's now around 12 because of 2 additional traffic lights to get through. The new house is great. Lots more room all around. I won't have a dedicated sewing room (gasp!) but my bedroom is big enough to accommodate all of my regular bedroom furniture AND all of my machines and still feel roomy. It will work great for me … that is, as soon as I can finish unpacking and organizing.
This is the view from the LR into the dining area and kitchen, just after moving day. It looks a little better in here now, but not much. I want to hang shelves on the walls for books and a few deco items (very few since dusting is not my priority these days), but I haven't found the right shelves yet. I also need shelves in my bedroom so I can deal with my sewing stuff. I'm highly motivated to get on with those shelves, even if I have to settle for temporary versions, because not having them is holding up so much unpacking. And sewing.
So, on to the last sewing I did before I embarked on months of house hunting, packing, buying, and moving.
It's the Cedar Dolman Top by Cashmerette. And, for me, it's a hidden gem for two reasons: Letting it sit too long and not immediately looking past the envelope styling suggestions. Oh, and a third — nice fit! I'll have to double-check when I unpack this pattern again, but I believe I blended from size 16E/F at shoulder/bust to a 20 at hip. Whatever my blend was, it was straightforward going by my measurements to pick pattern sizing. I never have to adjust this mostly unfitted style during the day. It stays in place and doesn't slide forward or back as would a RTW loose-fit dolman that doesn't really fit, because my custom Cedar fits at both my shoulders and my hips instead of fitting one area and hoping for the best in the other.
I was given this pattern in PDF form by Cashmerette months and months ago, with no strings to test, review, photograph, or anything. And it sat in my download folder gathering digital dust. I finally opened the file, printed it, and brought it home. Where it sat collecting actual dust for a while longer. I'm not sure exactly what prompted me to at last have a go at it, but I did. I think I chose it because it looked fast and easy (spoiler alert: It is!) and because I was seeing lots of hem-tied tops out and about and I wanted in on that.
Looking past the pattern meant concentrating on the line drawings and not the athletic-wear styling and fabrication. I wanted a knit top I could wear to the office and out on the weekend. I'm so glad I finally cracked open the Cedar Dolman using some ITY dottie b/w knit because I have worn this top at least once a week since I finished it. I love it! It's comfortable. It's even trendy. And when I can finally get back to my machines, a second version is going to be the first thing I make.
The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that I swapped out a "self-drafted" (using that term very loosely) vee neckline for the pattern's scoop neckline. I didn't find anything wrong with the pattern's scoop shape (except for my dislike of neckline facings in knits); I just prefer vees. I would show you the pattern piece with my changes, but it's still in a moving box somewhere. Below you can see the top on Zilly posing in a corner of my new bedroom.
Below is the inside view. I changed the order of construction a little bit by (1) sewing fronts to backs along the shoulder and overlocking, (2) turning and coverstitching the neckline, and (3) sewing the CF seam and pressing the unfinished seam allowances open. I then picked up where the pattern instructs to attach the tie and hem facing, which is a very nice finish for the ties and gives extra oomph to the hem, and well-drafted so it all fits together perfectly.
Here I am in a mirror selfie in the former house. Photobomb by Chili. It was still pre-summer temps because I'm wearing pants. It's now near 90°F every day. And so, so steamy. Ahhh. Florida.
And here I am last week in work bathroom selfies with matching skirt. Because if you've been reading my blog for any amount of time, you know about me and my 2-piece "dresses." Plus, I needed to use up the extra fabric instead of packing it. The skirt is actually the very last thing I sewed before packing up all my sewing tools and supplies. It's McCall's 7386, version too-many-to-count.
And OMG that bathroom lighting does me no favors. I can't wait to get set up for pics in my new back yard. It's going to be great — brick pavers, natural light, tripod, privacy! (None of the stuff in the photos below is mine; these are more listing photos.) If only I could get Gillian to come down and take the photos! :-)
So that's what I've been up to. Plus work. You can also catch me on the Curvy Sewing Collective doing Pattern Roundups! See you soon!
Warning: VERY photo-intensive post. I'm doing a huge photo dump here of my last year since my blogging pretty much went south and unless you follow me on Instagram, this will all be new to you. I understand that not everyone is going to be interested in my mundane, boring year but I'm documenting it as much for my own recollection as to catch you up. Feel free to scroll down and move on. I won't be insulted :-)
All in all 2015 wasn't terrible and overall better than 2014. But it started out crappy because the house in the city I started renting in April 2014 turned out to have a major slumlord as an owner and I hated everything about it. I've never lived in such a horrible place and it really took a toll on me. (First world problems, I know.) But once I found a new place, moved, and (mostly) settled in, my mental state did a 180 and things have been rolling along ever since. (I'm still in the city, with a 7-minute morning commute. It's awesome!) Even the sewjo has returned and now that the holidays and my related travels are pretty much in the rear view, I expect some serious output to start happening. If for no other reason than I NEED NEW CLOTHES.
So here's some "highlights" of my last year, sewing- and family-wise, at least those moments documented via cell pics.
I think this is the first thing I started and finished in 2015. I still wear it (which you'll see below in the December pics).
My "baby" Alex turning into a man.
A visit to The Tattooed Moose and the Marine in Charleston, SC.
At the bar at Parris Island. Quite a different experience from boot camp there.
And then I wrecked my car on the drive back to Florida. No injuries and the car is now good as new. The damage was mostly plastic and the radiator and looks worse here than the bill reflected. Thank heaven.
Seeing the Blue Angels practice over Beaufort, SC on my trip back to pick up my fixed car.
Another sewing project. I wear the HECK out of this. It's comfortable, flattering, and professional looking. It's the Muse Jenna cardi over a Simplicity pull-on tank dress with an elasticated waist. I'm too lazy to look up the pattern number.
A work bathroom selfie and another Simplicity dress and I'm still too lazy to look it up. It's the faux wrap that was popular a few years ago, which took me a while to get around to.
One of the MANY reasons I moved house. Yeah, it's what you think it is. OMG.
A long weekend get-away to the beach with Alex, his then-gf, and the pups. Much needed.
Just sitting and chillin' at our fun little rental cottage.
Isn't it cute? We could walk everywhere, and did.
A quick maxi tank dress I made for the beach trip and which subsequently got a lot of wear over the summer. I think this is the last of the cheap rayon knit from Fabric.com.
A rare (for me) blogger meet-up. Mr. Celie's Pants was there too but he was holding the camera. This was so much fun and I'm glad Renee and Jordan have an excuse (her dad) to return sometime. I want a repeat. They are SO nice!
Still enjoying my job and still very thankful to have it.
We "found" pup #3, Charlie, in July, the week before we moved. He's a Chi-Weenie and is adorable. I still can't believe I have 3 dogs again. Alex is a mean negotiator and it's all his fault. And they all love him more than me.WTF
The herd.
The new place, as of July. It's a lot smaller than my previous houses and I've had to get rid of a LOT of stuff, but I'm of that "downsize" age anyway and it's nice to not be tied to housework and ... stuff. Plus, it's so bright and pretty inside and I'm happy.
The new small sewing room. It's mostly unpacked now but it's very small and my cutting table lives in another room and my pattern cabinet and much of my fabric live in the garage. I'm slowly moving some of the best stash inside and will eventually get rid of the unloved remainder but for now, it's working.
New kitchen before we hung shelves.
The Great Tampa Flood. That's my street.
We spent a lot of time (and cash) at Ikea those first couple of months after moving in. That's Alex pushing the cart in the warehouse.
I bought Alex a new BBQ/smoker he had been eyeing and he's been perfecting his wings and ribs since. We've had delicious food pretty much every weekend since football season started. Momma knew what she was doing buying that BBQ. ;-)
In November, we saw America at the 2015 Ribfest in St. Pete. A bunch of "old" people my age (hahaha) enjoying them and the Doobie Bros and Santana tribute bands. It was a great day with great music, but Alex makes much better ribs.
A treat for myself (and Alex) from Black Friday and the proceeds from selling so much of my crap that didn't fit in the new house. (Have you noticed how bright every pic of my new house is? Sigh.)
The Cook men, minus Alex who stayed home with the pups, from when I went to see Tyler's performance 2 weeks ago in a church Christmas production in SC. This was the first time seeing my ex in 4 years. It was ... interesting. We all just ignored him and had a good time. I'm not kidding. Hahaha.
Tyler at church practice the night before the Big Performance.
And the church band performing "Carol of the Bells," which you'll recognize as a Trans Siberian Orchestra tune. They rocked it, and the rest of their performance!
The infinity scarf I made (on request) for my soon-to-be stepdaughter-in-law. While in SC two weeks ago, my stepson Michael asked for this and also for my help in picking out an engagement ring!!! for his gf (and the mother of his son, which makes me a step-grammie OMG).
Here's me with the "boys" on Christmas Eve in St. Augustine ... it was about 400 degrees that night, so we felt as blurry as we look here ... and ...
... Michael proposed to Hannah (see her scarf heehee!) ...
... and Tyler filmed it all (bad language warning if you watch it).
Michael and Hannah's son, Dean, who will be 1 in January.
And, finally, the sewing project (Cashmerette Appleton) I started at the beginning of the month and which I WILL finish this weekend.
