I'm Still Here!

Did you think I fell of the planet?  Sorry.  Here's a little of what's been going on.



Sewing:  I joined Faye's "Carnival of Skirts" challenge.  It was simple.  Make 2 skirts in the last 2 weeks of October.  Most skirts just take a couple of hours, so this should have been simple, right?  Um, sure.  I knew I had a piece of teal fabric which I'd bought in excess of 15 years ago at the old Wal-Mart.  You remember the old Wal-Mart here, right?  That's the one where they blasted out the hillside to put it in, and then boulders took up crashing down behind it.  And then they crashed onto the storeroom at the back of the store.  And then the corporate office sent in a couple of engineers 3 days before Christmas, who looked around and chased everyone out of the building at 2 in the afternoon, making them abandon their carts of stuff and everything.  Probably 4 or 5 years later they opened the current Wal-Mart; it's been here a good 10 years.  So, the fabric's been here a while.  Anyway, it was a 3 yard piece.  So I cut out an a-line skirt, from a new pattern I bought, McCalls 3341.  I didn't think it was a-line enough, nor was it truly straight, like a pencil skirt.  So I was somewhat disappointed, and my dearly beloved didn't like it as well as he likes most of my skirts.

Then I cut an old favorite, Simplicity 5914, out of the rest of the fabric.  Note the words "old favorite."  I knew I'd like it.  It made me feel better.

Then i fixed the neckline on the dress I'd made and worn on Mark's birthday.  I had bound the neckline, and hated how it turned out.  So I turned the binding under and stitched it in place.  This is the "before" picture; there's no after.

(That's a series of 3 pretty crappy looking pictures, isn't it?)

I also cut out dresses and a jacket from a 6 yard piece of maroon velour.  I started the jacket, and will probably finish everything Friday and Saturday, because I'm really excited about this project for some reason.  It's the first time in months something has caught my fancy, so I'll go for it. (Yes, I keep my mending and works in progress in a basket.  Otherwise, they'll migrate and overtake the entire house.)

We got up yesterday to maybe 1/2" of wet sloppy snow on the ground.  It was 60 degrees and sunny on Monday, so I went back to bed to hide from the signs of winter.  No picture.

Can you believe Thanksgiving is next week already?  I'm spending lots of quality time with my pad and pencil, drafting up menus for the week and for the day.  I also need to put together an order to be placed on Monday for a food delivery Tuesday.  Recipes for cake and pie are coming soon, I promise.  I just need to get organized.

Lastly, I'm sending sympathy to Sue on her loss of Samba.  This is the second dog she's lost this year, and I know she's devastated; they are her children, and the joy of her life.

Hope you're all having a more orderly week than I am!  I'll try to return soon!