TGIF

It's been a busy work week and I'm so glad the weekend is here. I need the rest. It's a good busy, but still …

Speaking of work — look at the torture I've had to avert the last 4 months. These are the "birthday cakes." Every month on the middle Friday, they order in a bunch of cakes, pies, and cookies to celebrate that month's birthdays. I've been good and haven't had even a bite of any of these FOR FOUR MONTHS. But I do stop by and look at them. Today, I brought my cell camera to share the torture with you. Actually, it's not really too much torture. I'm so used to not eating sweets and carbs that these are easy to pass up, and I have the greater goal in mind. If I'm still around in March, maybe I'll request a veggie tray?? ;-)

Waiting for me when I got home was my houndstooth order from Gorgeous Fabrics. I'm hoping I get a chance to at least start my skirt this weekend. It would be nice to even finish it and pair it with a yet-to-be-bought sparkly red top for the Christmas lunch on the 16th. Beall's had a few, so maybe I'll stop by there tomorrow while I'm out.

For now, it's off to the sewing room to work on an OOO RAH wallet for my FNSI project. If I get that done, the skirt is next.

Not Much

Just a few pics of what I've worn the last couple of days. This was Tuesday's outfit. It's my Vogue 1250 dress with the Vogue cardi I just made and am too lazy to look back a few days to get the pattern number. The belt is getting big now, so it likes to slide off-center. I'll need to find a replacement because I like having a wide brown belt.

Here's a sideways shot (and my head looks weirdly small). The tum still has some disappearing to do but it's definitely going in the right direction. Chili was a love pig during this shoot and had to be in every pic. He's so cute he can (and does) get away with anything.

Today's outfit is all RTW. The dress you've seen before, from Walmart. One of my best buys ever. I love this thing and it was less than $20. The cardi is from Burlington on my shopping trip before Thanksgiving. Today was the first day I wore it. It has covered shank buttons up the front and on the sleeves. Nice touch. Also under $20.

It's cold here tonight so I'm snuggling up by the Fire ;-) and reading under the covers.

I just finished this one:




… which was pretty good, very John Grisham-like, and only 99¢ on Amazon. But now I'm reading the real thing, The King of Torts. I usually keep up with all of his books, but I've missed a few and didn't have to wait long to borrow them from the library. If you're interested, I'll be posting what I'm currently reading in the upper-left corner of the blog. The new Lucky magazine was also delivered to my Fire sometime in the last 24 hours. I'm still undecided about whether I like reading magazines on the Fire, since I have to do my fair share of zooming in or give in to the cheaters. But you can't beat the convenience factor.

Work went very well today. I can't really elaborate, but I made a few good impressions and actually had people "clamoring" (my boss' term!) for me to design a couple of projects. It's nice to be needed and wanted. It does the soul good. :-) Our pot-luck party yesterday was fun. I ended up with a good gift and mine was well-received too. I'll try to remember to take a pic for the next posting.

Back to the covers and more snuggling with the Fire and Dani.

FNSI, and a Plug

Thanks for all of the nice comments on my latest wardrobe acquisitions. I wore the gray skirt, tee, and ivory cardigan today and loved the outfit!

There will be two FNSI's this month, with the first this Friday. Click on the link to hurry on over to Heidi's blog and sign up for this Friday, and you might also win a copy of my OOO RAH Wallet pattern and fabric to make it.



I'm plugging away on two wallets myself. I need to finish one of them tomorrow night and get it the heck in the mail. The other needs to be done too but it's not as urgent yet. I also received THREE purse orders today. Yikes. I immediately emailed these peeps to let them know that Christmas delivery was not an option. ;-) Looks like it's a good thing I bought some clothes cuz my personal sewing time just got chopped. It's OK. Extra money at Christmas is a Good Thing. I think I have an xbox or 2 to buy.

Tomorrow is a casual Christmas pot-luck lunch at the office for my department. We're also doing a silly Yankee Swap, with the main rule being that the gift you bring has to be something found around your house that you don't want. (Can I wrap up STBex?) So now I have to go hunt down something. I have an idea and it's not even a bad thing. Then I have to get up early to put together the salad I'm bringing. Or at least the parts of it. You can't really make a green salad too far in advance, so I'll bag up the toss-in's separately and then mix it all together just before lunchtime. I'm not the only one who mainly eats salads at lunch, but since I do, I wanted to be sure I had something I could actually eat. Tricky, eh? ;-)

More Cheap Clothes

I did another self-timer modeling session tonight to see my recent makes and purchases through the camera's eyes. Note to self: Don't take pics of snug skirts right after dinner and make sure you're not also hiking it up with your hands on your hips, cuz … OMG. So, with that said, forgive the tummy wrinkles and fat knees. I still have about 30-40 lbs to lose and I swear 95% of it is between crotch and kneecap. IOW, those damn thighs. ;-)

Here's the Vogue/Marci Tilton cardigan I whipped up today. Haha. Seriously though, it was a pretty quick project. The skirt should've been whipped up yesterday but I kept distracting myself and it took all day. The shell is covered with tiny clear sequins on the front. A Walmart purchase for about $10. I had to return the first one because it was too big. I love that. I'm usually pretty good at judging size by just holding up things, but it's a moving target these days. NOT complaining. I was also trying out two necklaces. I like the longer one with this. I may still return this shell because I'm not sure about the sequins for the office. They are not in your face, but there is some shine/sparkle. Then again, they do perk up an otherwise bland outfit. (Yes, I argue with myself like this all the time.)

Here's the back cut-out ruffle thing. I kind of like my top peeking out. It distracts from the knee fat. Well, except now you're looking at it, aren't you? ;-)

That's it for sewing. The rest of the pics are RTW. Gray skirt below from Walmart a few weeks ago. I really need to just go ahead and buy the smaller size of this and the black one while they're still available. They are cheap and I think I'll miss them. The cardigan and tee are from Beall's Friday night. I *love* this cardi. It's textural and has a very subtle gold metallic woven into it. It's also got an interesting raw-edged trim which doesn't really show up in these pics.

Tee alone. The grays aren't a 100% perfect match, but I think they're close enough. I never wear gray (even less than black), so this is a new color for me. I really like this top, though. The floral is lace over a solid ivory inner layer (bodice only). It was on clearance for about $12 and there were lots of them so I guess I'm the only one who liked it.

The cardi again with a plain sweater knit shell underneath, also from Beall's. They aren't the same brand but they match perfectly. Kismet.

The purple sweater (from Beall's) that I'm not sure about. I like the color. I love the black rosette humungo snaps. I'm not thrilled with the puffy, gathered sleevecaps. And again with the tummy wrinkles. Sheesh.

Cheap cotton tee from Walmart tonight. Like $7. The overall length and sleeves are too long, but I think I'm going to make it short-sleeved and see how much it shrinks in the wash before I hem it. It will be a good underlayer piece. It's also got subtle gold metallic threads knitted in, which you can see better in the pic one more down.

Another cheap Walmart tee, but this one fits better. Same brand, same size as the one above. Yeah, it's Walmart. What can you expect? Don't you love the boob tag still stuck on? The print is brown and beige and will work with my brown Magic Pencil skirt and the cardi above, as well as jeans. Not so much with the gray skirt, but I was being lazy at this point.

And last, a brown "tweed" turtleneck I couldn't resist even though we'll only have about 10 days I can wear it and not melt. It's velour rib knit and it is SO soft and comfy. And it was only $15. I don't think I'll wear this to the office, but then again, I might. It's nice to wear a turtleneck without 3 chins resting on it.

I don't expect the Walmart purchases to last beyond this season, but since I don't really want them to fit next winter, I'm OK with that. At some point, I'll get down to a size where I can do more "investment" shopping and sewing, but until then, I'll just keep faking it with disposables.

And one more — I made this Vogue cardi last year to wear at Parris Island for Tyler's graduation. I never modeled it then. Now, it's one of the few "old" things that still fits OK. It's tied kind of wonky in this pic, but you get the idea.

I wore the HECK out of last weekend at my Uncle's. And my sister put in an order. I told her I'd make it for her for Christmas but not to expect it BY Christmas.So now I need to find a color of Sophia knit that she'll like. And serger thread to match, since a wide serger overedge stitch is how I finished the edges.

Eff Ohs

Finished Objects. Get it? I'm just so witty. ;-)

These are the pattern photos for Vogue 8559.The only useable photos are the ones of ivory top. Uh, hello Vogue (and Marci)? Photos of black garments are freakin' useless!! What were they thinking?

The cardigan is quite short, which you can see in one photo and also when you see the pattern pieces.I added 5" to the length, which seems to be about right for me. Even though all of the views look to be pretty much the same, there are actually two very distinct ways to make these, along with very different pattern pieces to go with. The view I didn't make has no sideseams and is basically one big square with holes for sleeves and the neckline. It's a little more finessed than that, but I'm speaking generally.

Must shrink Zillie soon as she's all boob now and I'm not

Because I was eeking this out of leftover fabric, I chose the other view which is a more traditional looking cardigan pattern. In retrospect, I would probably still choose this view no matter how much fabric I have, because when there are no sideseams, there is also no sideseam shaping at the waist. I want all the help I can get. ;-)

I really liked the ethereal effect of the trim on the ivory cardigan on the pattern envelope. I didn't have anything even close the mesh-y trim used for that but I did use a thin and much drapier rayon knit for my trim, which is sewn lapped with all edges left raw. The main bodice pieces are ponte knit. I like how it turned out, and I think it will look even better after going through the wash and curling up. How lucky that I had two browns that matched perfectly. Another reason for a big fabric stash (like I need an excuse?).

The pattern is divided into 2 size ranges, XS-S-M and L-XL, one range per envelope. I cut a straight L, which is a 16-18 pattern size. The only alterations I made were the length adjustment mentioned above and a square shoulder adjustment. For the length, I just added to the bottom. I did incorporate the little cut-out on the back bottom edge, but I forgot to take a pic of the back on Zillie. I'll take a pic of that when I'm wearing it. I'm not sure when that will be since I don't have anything to wear under it yet.

Here it is with the Burda skirt I finished last night. It's just quickly pinned on Zillie since it doesn't fit her. Yay!. For this one, I sewed the panel and sideseams about 1/8" deeper since my first makes a few months ago are really too loose now. It's snug, but not for long.

I also cut the side panels on the bias, but pics of plaid get so wonky it's hard to see. Click the pic to enlarge it and it will be clearer.

This is a little better.

Now I need to get busy on two wallets I need to send out this week. I'm hoping to get one done tonight while half-watching football.