winner winner, turkey dinner.

Yes, that's right. I won the $75 - 2nd place prize in the 2010 Hotpatterns Giveaway! Woot!

Leave it to my lovely sewing buddies to clue me in via email (Thank you Kristine, Carolyn, and Sondra!) or I might have missed this (or, at the very least, not noticed for a good long while.) See, I saw the HP Black Friday email, but honestly? I was going to skip it because I was trying to be good and NOT shop for moi this weekend. Oops. That'll teach me to put others first!

Here are my Hotpattern choices:

I put entirely too much thought into why/how to choose these patterns. Suffice it to say it came down to which types of HP's I already own/do not own and then a game of "let's fill in the holes".

(Thus, the pants. I don't sew many pants because they're more work for bootylicious me to alter and fit. So I chose 3 pants patterns. Only another sewist would understand that kind of twisted logic.)

I'm still trying to decide if I should go ahead and order the "rejects" from my pattern prize list. Like the Criterion Blouse:


Or the Sheer Decadence Blouse:

Or the Cocoon Coat:

Or the Summer in the City Shirt, Tunic and Dress:


Yes, I could do some real damage to the Christmas funds now that the pattern fast has been broken.

A huge, gigantic, THANK YOU to Trudy and Jeremy for this amazing giveaway. They'll be cherished and put to good use!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm thankful for my beautiful children, my family, my health, a job I enjoy, and for all of you, my sewing community friends. There have been many times you have brightened a dreary day or boosted flagging spirits.

The single and alone are often forgotten or overlooked, so if you are alone this holiday season, know that I feel your frustration and share your loneliness. Remembering to be grateful for all of your blessings helps put everything into perspective.

I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving in the US, and for those in other parts of the world, I send a heartfelt thank you for the visits, the comments and for extending the hand of friendship.


ps...If you are in the Chicago area and or just watching the McDonald's Thanksgiving Parade, our high school band is in the windy city to march this morning. Sending warm, toasty fingers and toes their way!

shenanigans.

I'm pretty sure this one sums it up nicely enough:
Last night to celebrate, my sister (you know, of coffee filter hat fame) & Lu & I ate here:


and then this is about 30 minutes before we were completely enraptured for 3 solid hours (with one 15 minute intermission):


Best time ever!!

Hey, did I mention I'm...

first little gift

Last weekend I had the chance to stitch up this little pillow for a Christmas swap I'm doing.


The prim snowman design is from Heartstrings Embroidery. All of the Christmas fabrics were ones I had in stash. I think they were mostly from Hobby Lobby. I used 3" strips to patchwork a border around the wool felt embroidery.


That's the sum total of my sewing (for others or me) for the past week. But I'm off for Thanksgiving now, so hopefully I'll have things to share!

Not today though, I'm leaving in a little while to shop with my sister & Lu, and then we're off to dinner and this:


Have a great day!

countdown.

Why yes, I do look fabulous for my age.
Thanks for noticing. ;)

Saturday plans...Harry Potter 7 with my girl Lu, and Olive Garden. Yum.

(Sewing and Nano may make an appearance too.)

Have a good weekend!

pensive.

I'm not myself today. Why is it one back-handed comment can make you realize all the things that are missing? :(

Ab Fab makes it better (at least in 2 minute increments).

in progress: HP Belle Wrap Skirt

I've been pining for a mustard yellow skirt for, oh, about 8 months. And as long as I'm procrastinating on the finishing of that anthro-inspired top anyway...might as well cut out another project!

I'm using this Hotpattern, the Classic Nouveaux Belle Wrap skirt.


I'm not enamored of the big square patch pockets, but, on the other hand, they do add a little panache to an otherwise simple design. The decision to leave them off was made for me when I discovered I didn't have quite enough fabric to include them. Here's a shot of that fabric, a corded twill in yummy goldenrod:


This fabric is a medium weight, with nice body, and I have NO idea where I got it. Fashion Fabrics Club? It's a mystery. I love the color!

I cut it out during a brief Nanowrimo break. Next is pinning/basting my pleats into place and the rest of construction will likely have to wait for bits and pieces of time during the week.

Not too long though...I really want to wear it with some snazzy new tights I have coming. It's a fairly straightforward project too, I've muslined it once (but never made a fashion-fabric version).

New week, shiny new project!

it's that time again...

(and vintage/recycled)

Have you started Christmas shopping yet? I've bought a total of one (1) thing. Hmm. I might be bit behind pace, considering November is HALF OVER.

So I headed over to Etsy this morning to see what I could see. I love handmade, but let's face it. We make our own clothes (um, when we actually sew) and jewelry is about the only "handmade" item I buy for myself. Other than possibly scented candles or soaps. Ok, I never actually buy the soaps, but I do spend a lot of time looking at them.

ANYWAY. I personally interpret the "buy handmade" tag to include recycled/upcycled/vintage/previously-loved items too. After all, they don't make 'em like they used to. Here are some bits and bobbles and sundries I covet.

You know I'm a bow girl, so these speak sweet nothings to me:

vintage rhinestone bow pin

hammered silver bow necklace

In the "Emma Pillsbury would wear that" category...

enamel poinsettia brooch

vintage sweater guards

For the vintage seamstress in your life... (erm, vintage as in "loves vintage", not as in OLD. KRISTINE I'M TALKING TO YOU. /ALLCAPSSHOUTING)

1930s tailored dress

1950s *gorgeous* wiggle dress

For the shoes-are-my-crack set:

ah-mazing 1940s red leather pumps

"I'm crying that these are too small"

1960s buckle shoes

the Hello Green Coat of Awesome

And...I'll stop there. Because it's so much more fun to peruse Etsy for the things YOU love. Er, I mean the things your GIFTEE's would love. Because you wouldn't be shopping for YOU this close to Christmas.

Uh huh. That's what I thought.

mojo madness.

Long before I loved Mondo:


I loved Kate Spade. Which might explain why I loved Mondo.








Ahhh Kate. (who is a front for someone with a much less cool fashion name than Kate Spade.) You understand me so well. Dots. Stripes. Juicy shots of unexpected color. Tights. ♥ ♥ ♥

Speaking of tights love... As an, erm, curvy girl, tights can be hard to come by. Target's a good place for cool, funky color tights in my size. The website We Love Colors is good too, in a wide variety of colors and sizes.

But...if you've got some serious crushing (like I do) on that middle photo above, the one with the aqua top, goldenrod skirt, LEOPARD JACKET (OMG), and black dotty tights... but, alas, you have generous thigh-age and boot-ay...have I got some www for you.

Forever 21 Plus, black dotty tights. Better hurry though. I already ordered two pair.

You're welcome.

ps poetry...

Oh, lovely sewing mojo,
why doth you abandon me so,
in the wee few hours of the weekend?

pps... Just a little note for clarity: Yup, I do know "Kate Spade" is an actual, living, breathing person. :) I remember when she launched her handbag line. But she is no longer the designer for Kate Spade. She & her husband left the company a few years ago, and I can never remember the new creative director's name. It can't be as good as Kate Spade. Now THAT'S a name.

lovely extra minutes.

HOLY cow, how'd the first week of November already shoot by me?

I'm exhausted, because the TIME NEEDS TO CHANGE AND BE DONE WITH IT ALREADY. Thank the bejeebus that it finally will this weekend AND I'll have one special additional hour added. Oh, lovely hour.

In one hour, I could cut out and tissue fit this lovely Hotpatterns that begged me to drag it out of the pattern bin a couple of days ago:


Or, I could write 800+ words on my nano novel.

I could do (nearly) two loads of laundry.

I could bake some brownies.

I could give the dogs a bath and their monthly flea treatment.

I could play with my fabrics and old BWOFs until I'm delirious from the perfume of as yet un-prewashed fabrics fresh from the fabric store. (Don't you find that said delirium often leads to that dreaded infliction, projecto non-start-ems? Me too.)

Nah, I think I better stick with the Hotpattern. (and them some hardcore nano.) Because...it's the weekend and I've got ONE EXTRA HOUR!!!

How will you spend yours?

monday things.

I started Nano. On time. Whoa.

I didn't make the 1667 words that equally splits up to get you to 50,000 by November 30, but that's ok. I made 1223. See my little ticker over there in the sidebar? Yea. That's called peer pressure. Feel free to poke me about it all month long. Especially if it stops moving.

In other news...I'm seriously addicted to this little guy on my igoogle home page. Why is that?

and now...

to sleep, perchance to dream;
what dreams may come.
(me, taking my liberties with Hamlet)