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...

charmed...a small peek.

I love Charm Packs. I pick them up at the quilt shop even though I'm not really a quilter. It's just all the coordinating prints & lovely colors & perfectly square pieces with pinked edges...I can't resist!

I spent the better part of an afternoon & evening working on a project for Lu using Moda Sonnet Collection charm packs by April Cornell (available last fall...but possibly you can still find them!)

Not giving you all the details because the whole enchilada is coming your way (hopefully) tomorrow! But here's a sneak peek:


See, the plan was to have this finished & start on a little top & jacket to match (TODAY). But the hellspawn who manufactures Maxi-Lock serger cones had other ideas. In my quest to have coordinating rolled hems, I spent the better part of an hour trying to force a robin's egg blue cone of thread into submission. (I won. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

In other words...you'll have to wait til tomorrow to see the "charming" results.

crushed.

When my mom was in labor with me, she was watching Cool Hand Luke on the tiny tv in the hospital.

Thus began my lifelong love affair with Paul Newman. I've seen most of his movies, tho not all of them. I do have my favorites that I watch over and over. Maybe they haven't left time or space in my heart for the ones I've never seen.

When I was 6, I was determined to be his Sundance Kid. I methodically learned to pick a diary lock, a padlock, and a doorknob lock, in that order, in preparation for our first meeting. (It's still a relatively handy skill to have in a pinch, altho Butch never did call.)


In my teens I fell hard for Brick. I've seen Cat on a Hot Tin Roof a hundred times, and I will likely see it hundred more. Brick & Maggie are tortured and steamy, and it never tires. Even after 50 years, its still one of the best movies ever made.


I really never had a shot though. A bit before filming this, my 2nd favorite movie, Paul met his Joanne while working on Broadway. Five years later they made the Long Hot Summer, one of my top 5 movies of all time.


They were married in 1958 and celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this year. Perhaps his most famous quote about their marriage refers to why he has been faithful all of these years..."Why fool around with hamburgers, when you have steak at home?


An amazing philanthropist, he and his family have donated more than 200 million dollars to various charities. And if that's not enough to convince you to check out his incredibly large body of work, let's face it, the man was beyond gorgeous.


I would imagine there will be one ore more tributes on AMC or TCM in the coming weeks. Catch old favorites, make new.

To live in hearts we leave behind
Is not to die.
~Thomas Campbell

Cotton Candy Pink - No Pattern Required

Mindless sewing was on the agenda today. I needed some stress relief, and nothing makes me happier than an opportunity to use my gathering foot! Lu needs a few easy skirts for Sunday School and those other occasions where a skirt is necessary attire.

Since she will still wear the occasional ruffle, I pulled out a cute retro print I've had in stash for a year or more, along with a cotton candy pink dotty print, and happily started ripping. I measured her from waist to knee for desired length. I measured her hip to determine how much to take off the selvedge edges; a full 44" width would be a bit too full & "Becky Home-Ecky" for the look I was going for. It's all about proportions. RIIIIPPP.

The dotty ruffle was 2 lengths of 4". Two more RIIIPPPs. Ahhh. Stress already leaving. I made one seam in the dotty lengths to join, then pressed together hotdog bun style for a long double ruffle. I gathered using my gathering foot (superfast. Yay!)

A couple of seams & some elastic later, and here ya go!


Cute dotty hem:


Then, I pillaged through my remnant and notion stash and found some pink shabby rose trim. Lucky me, Lu had an exact matched Old Navy tee lounging in her drawer. I snipped a few lengths of the rose trim and zigzagged it in place around the neckline.


Truth be told, it ended up being easier to stitch on by hand, and quicker too. I'm lazy sometimes though, and have to learn the hard way! I picked this rosebud trim up at Hobby Lobby for about $4.00/yd. But for this tee, I used about 1/4 of a yard, so that's not a bad price!


Sometimes it's nice to just do a quick project, you know? And this one has me all in the mood to do some more!