shenanigans...and a contest!

I had the absolutest best conversation today with my buddy Shannon! (mind you, if you're not familiar with my BFF Shannon, she's beautiful, sews rings around normal humans, and is a kind, true friend to boot)

Anywho. We were talking about WORDS and I asked a somewhat rhetorical question: If someone apologized in an incredibly wonderful surprising way...would that make the offense lesser somehow? (For me, I'm a word girl, so yeah. Prolly.)

To illustrate, I wrote the following apology. One that I must say, I would most assuredly accept and give XOXO for:

You know this already, but I'm a huge ass. I made an idiotic mistake. I'm sorry beyond all scope of sorrydom. No man has ever lived who comes close to being as sorry as me. I'd shave my head and move to Tibet, but I hear they don't have gmail, and I laughably still hold out hope that one day I'll find the words poetic enough to do justice to an apology just for you. For now, the best I can do is profess that you are undeniably the cream in my coffee, the leaves on my trees, and if I thought for one stale moment you might answer an email from this thrashing, big dope...my fingertips would be black with smoke from the burning speed of my typing.

And I can do even BETTER. No, really! But what was most fun was that the whole process made me giggle like a goon and I'm in the mood to pass the luff around. Soo...

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, write the gaudiest, boldest, sappiest, corniest, wordiest, smooshiest apology you dare. Post it here and I (along with Shannon who I nominate as a judge even though she's at work and can't have a say so but will agree just because she luffs me too) will pick our favorite.

Fabulousest apology giver wins this, a brand new book release from Alice Butcher and Ginny Farquhar.


This is such a cute book that features lots of little projects, both hand and machine sewn. Perfect for that upcoming gift-bonanza season! I've got a copy ready to mail out to the winner, which we'll pick on Sunday evening (extended a day!)

So go! Pull out your wordy brains & sharpen your wits! I wanna hear angst, soul, ridiculousness with purpose. You guys are such great writers, if I'm not cracking myself up chances are YOU are doing it for me.

Here's a hint...if you make it personal, not an apology FROM you but an apology you wish someone would make TO you, it's a lot easier (and more cathartic to boot. Giggles are funny that way.)

Comments are open and waiting!

Was Listening to this and Now listening to this

angel.

Another uber cool design from Urban Threads, embroidered this rainy afternoon while I stayed home with the very sickly G-man.


The angel...

(sometimes.)
Sidenote to my children... you know I love ya if I make something that requires re-hooping. Just sayin'.

No disaster, just mush.

Could listen to this forever.

secret.

I'm coming out of the closet. I watch disaster movies while I sew. My favorites are the world-ending ones like Armageddon or Independence Day or The Core. But I'll even watch less action-packed ones like Apollo 13 (Ok, I'll admit that has more to do with my crush on Tom Hanks. And Gary Sinise.)

And can we get a big woot for Netflix!? I'm addicted to watching on my laptop, and it sure was nice today while I was sick & achy to lounge on the couch & pick out movies to amuse myself.

I didn't waste a Saturday tho...since the plan is to lounge in my pj's for the entire weekend, I decided a new pj top might be in order. I set up the embroidery machine and let it do the work while I concentrated on saving the world (you know, vicariously and all that.)


Here's a close up of the design:

It's from a fairly new embroidery company called Urban Threads that I ran across last week. This little design was calling my name (along with a few more you'll be seeing soon I'm sure.) Stitched up perfect (the outline is off intentionally.)

It's kinda hard to do anything when you can't turn your head to the right. Or to the left. Yes, the neck & ear still hurt. But I really DO feel better! Thanks for all the well wishes (and antibiotics. Thank you Lord for antibiotics.)

Disaster film of the day. (Which kinda sucked. Not in a good way either.)

Listening to THIS.

a day in the life

Yesterday I forgot to brush my teeth (luckily I keep an extra toothbrush & paste in my desk).

This morning in the shower I washed my hair. And then I washed my hair again.

When I got dressed, I took my shirt to the kitchen to iron it. And promptly forgot why I was in the kitchen. So I fixed my lunch, put on my shirt & went to school...

Where I looked down and remembered why I went to the kitchen in the first place. I could have gone across the hall to the room with the irons...but I was too tired of thinking about why I forgot in the first place to explain. So I was just a little wrinkled. But at least my hair was squeaky clean.

At 10:50 I realized I had forgotten to eat my breakfast.

At 12:25 I realized I hadn't eaten my lunch. I ate my yogurt (the breakfast) because it was easy to manuever while I taught.

Back at home, my neck is stiff, right ear aches, and all I really want to do is lie on the couch in my pj's and watch tv. So I picked up my jammies, headed to the bedroom to change...

and forgot what I was doing. When I remembered and tried to find the pj's, it took me 5 minutes to find them. (I'm in them now.)

At 4:50 I stood in my kitchen again, folding clothes (neverending laundry. I wish I could forget about THAT) thinking about old friends, pondering the complexities of new.

And then I pulled up this photo from last night...the glorious, sparkling, exuberant smile of the G-man...two hours post braces removal.


...and decided life is beautiful. Squeaky hair, stinky breath, wrinkled shirt, confusing, mixed up world and all.

What I'm Reading.

What I'm Listening to.

What I'm watching. (For you, Mr. X)

Charming Tiered Twirl

Here it is! I finished Lu's charm pack twirly skirt, in beautiful fall colors, the night before last...but it was too dark for pictures! Today was a beautiful day, but Lu is at her grandma's...so it's just hanging out in the back yard for pics! (Which is a shame, because this baby will TWIRL!)



I used 2 charm packs for this skirt, plus about 1/2 & 1/4 yard of 2 coordinating prints for the yoke and ruffles. The charm packs were "Sonnet Collection", an assortment beautiful fall color prints, by April Cornell for Moda.

Construction was pretty simple, just time consuming. I measured Lu's hips, added about 6" ease, and that became my length measurement for the first tier (and the yoke.) I divded that measurement by 4 for the number of charm squares to use. (Charm squares are 5" square, but I assumed 3/8" seam allowances, so rounded down to 4".)

For each additional tier, I multipled by 1.5. So for Lu's skirt, she measured 10 squares for the first tier, 15 for the 2nd, and so on. (I actually added an additional square to each tier just for extra grow room, so Lu had 11, 16, 22, and 30 squares in each tier.) It's not an exact science, I rounded up and down for the 2nd, 3rd & 4th tiers based on what prints I had, how much gathering I felt like, etc.

I ripped strips of 2" & 3" widths for the ruffles. I roll hemmed in robin's egg blue, for a nice contrast...and gathered using my gathering foot. All topstitching was also done in robin's egg blue.


I have this gathering foot business down, let me tell you! I can pretty much eyeball the correct tension & stitch length for quilting cottons (to gather at a 1.5" ratio) on my Bernina. I almost never gather by hand anymore! There are ruffles between the 2nd & 3rd, 3rd & 4th, and along the bottom. The bottom ruffle was 6 fabric widths!!! I did trim off a bit of excess, but NOT much. I used both contrast fabrics for the bottom ruffle (alternating each.)


The pics aren't my best. I've been in a bit of a fog all day. I didn't sleep well last night. And frankly, my mind is elsewhere. Have you ever had a shock or a surprise that just throws you for a loop? Ya. I had one of those yesterday...but no worries. It wasn't a bad surprise (it wasn't exactly good either), just a very unexpected surprise. My mind isn't quite ready to accept it, so it's been in reject mode ever since.

Unfortunately that also means I've been surrounded by fluffy brain clouds all day.

But it was very therapeutic to stand outside in the setting sun , on a beautiful fall afternoon and photograph a simple handmade skirt on the clothesline. I'm glad I have this hobby in my life, its saved my sanity on more than one occasion. And Im really glad you're all here to share it with too. Here's one more peek...