Pussycat Blouse Again

I'm really only loading these photos so I can have them for the PR review I'm about to write, but I did finally wear this outfit today. I'm also happy to report that the shoes passed their test with flying colors. Comfortable all day long.

LOVE this fabric, which arrived from eBay yesterday. It's going to be made into something very soon. Maybe even before I make jeans.

That's it for tonight. I blew off grocery shopping over the weekend and so had to sacrifice a weekday night (tonight) instead. After dinner out and then groceries, there's not any time left for the sewing room. I'm on the homestretch with the purses so I should be able to gear up for garment sewing soon. My garment-sewing mojo is in full swing, of course, because I'm working on purses. I hope it doesn't go missing once I'm ready for it.

R.I.P. Patty Cook

I've made good progress on the cammie purses but they still aren't done. I *will* finish them this week, or bust!

Life threw a curve ball today and it will be a little more topsy-turvy than usual around here as we found out this morning that my sister-in-law died suddenly in her sleep last night. She was 54 — maybe 55? —  and COD is still unknown right now. We weren't close at all, but since this is my STBex's brother's wife, STBex will be flying up to Virginia soon for an extended stay to support his brother, and I'll be on my own here. It will be good practice, right? (Was that too unsensitive?) Her daughter (my niece and her only child) is flying home from Germany, where she and her Army husband are stationed. My heart goes out to my niece because the last words she had with her mom were a big argument, which in hindsight was probably really about nothing. Take this as a cue to tell your loved ones they are special and don't let bad feelings ferment.

Next Week's Sewing

Since I've made NO progress on the cammie purses since last weekend due to severe lack of energy in the evenings (busy week), this weekend's sewing time will be devoted to finishing those. But NEXT week, I'm sewing jeans for me.

I really wanted to buy some jeans for my Thanksgiving trip, but I've tried on about 20 pairs now in the last week and none are it. I'm losing hope. And time. Most of the RTWs fit everywhere except at the back waist, where they gape. I don't have a small waist in relation to my butt/hips, so who on earth DO these jeans fit?

I decided that if I had to rip out a waistband and topstitching down the center back and then re-do it to take in RTW jeans, I might as well make my own from the start and be reasonably assured they will fit when I'm done. It's also hard to find jeans without the un-strategic (in my case) fading and whiskers and I've got solid blue denim waiting in the stash closet.

I'm using the pattern I traced off from RTW and tweaked 7 years ago to make these:

I'm going to go with the bootcut leg like the burgundy pair, which was a change I made to the original "pattern" after making the green jeans. Those green jeans, if you remember, are the jeans I tried on at the start of my weight loss journey, which I couldn't even zip up. Now they are getting too big. Yay! Both of these jeans are straight out of the dryer so they haven't seen a full day of stretching yet. I can really only get one day of wear from either (but I'll probably still take them both on the trip).

I already dug through my pattern drawer to see if I could find the pattern and was relieved to know that I kept it. There's lots of notes on the pieces and in my reviews so I think I'm ready to just cut and sew. But for now, it's back to the purses and just dreaming of new jeans.

On a little bit of a sad note, I called to make a dentist appointment and found out that my wonderful dentist (and the person who really inspired me to change my eating habits) moved out of the area. Selfishly, I'm sad because I really wanted him to see how far I've come. Hopefully his former partners will be as good as he is. If not, I may be driving to Ocala (an hour north) for my next dental needs. 

Parting Shot: Tyler's new medals. On the left, National Defense. On the right, War on Terrorism Service. They will make nice additions to his dress blues, which he'll be donning next Friday night for the Marine Corps Ball.Right now, he's on a plane flying back to Cherry Point NC from Yuma AZ. After 6+ weeks away from "home," he's ready to be back in his own barracks.

A Present for ME

This will be released on November 15. And on a complete whim last night I pre-ordered one and it will be here November 17. Along with a green leather case. And just in time for my trip north.

Will an iPad be far behind? ;-)

Tuesday Tidbits

This is what I wore today. Obviously, I'm a cardigan fool and will soon end up with one in every color. The printed top is the mesh knit shell I picked up at Bealls. The pin is my mom's, circa 1975.

This shows both the HP Pussycat Blouse on me, as well as what I have to put up with during my tripod self-photo shoots. Do you think he wants ALL the attention? (Answer: Yes!)

My bow, if you could see it better, looks perfect only because it's not actually tied. I used a hair elastic to cinch the ties together in a faux-bow. Hah! FoBo, cute. You have to get REALLY close to me to see the hair elastic, so I'm going with it. Far easier than wrestling with tying a stupid bow a million times to get the ends even.

Rear view. Note to self: Don't stand like this in real life cuz you're pulling the skirt up. Waist, it's nice to see you again. ;-)

These are my latest new shoes. I suck at shoe-in-the-mirror shots. I need more light in the bedroom.

Here's the Zappos pic, so you can actually see the shoes.

I really, REALLY wanted these first. Until I remembered I don't actually wear silver. Of course, last week I didn't wear black either. ;-)

I need to be sewing the cammie purses, but instead tonight I'm going to be re-sewing a couple of pleats on some skirts so I can wear one tomorrow. They haven't ripped, but I can tell I need to secure the stress area better before the stitches do work loose. Tomorrow when I get home from the office, I'll work on the purses for a couple of hours.I want to have them done by the end of the weekend so I can cross that project off my list and shop for a coat.

In work related news, I was invited to a sit-down meeting this afternoon with my boss and my boss' boss, where they proceeded to tell me that the person I'm filling in for will be returning from her maternity leave in 2 weeks (which is about 6 weeks earlier than expected), because she's out of paid time off and needs her paychecks. Don't panic. Without missing a beat, they also told me that they will definitely be keeping me on in my current status until at least mid-January while working hard to get me in the budget for a permanent position because THEY LOVE ME. Yay, they like me — they really, really like me. ;-) (The feeling is mutual.) So while I have a bit of time before I know anything for sure, all signs are pointing in the right direction and I'm thrilled! 2012 is looking to be a goodie, even if I don't recognize THAT birthday.