Shiny Objects

It was cool enough yesterday to turn the heater on. Just barely. I might have waited longer except that both boys were home feeling yucky and I didn't want them to get chilled. Fall is here. Winter is coming. I heard that there was snow on the highway between me and my holiday. It has to happen sometime but I really hope it's gone by Friday morning.

This is obviously... LOL ... the perfect season for flannel pajama pants. Even though I wasn't doing much fashion sewing, I did continue to make these over the years. The kids and I love them. A pair takes about an hour, less if I do several at a time using the same thread color. Here are the three fabrics that I used for my new ones - a black and white floral, a plain black, and a black and purple zebra print.




I used a different elastic application this time than I have in the past. First, I serged the top edge. Next, I cut a piece of elastic slightly smaller than my waist and sewed it into a tube. Then, I quartered the tube and matched it to the center front, center back, and side seams. After that, I stretched the elastic to match up with the top edge of the pajama pants and zigzagged the two together. Finally, I turned the elastic to the inside and once again zigzagged the edge this time through all the layers. Finished, the waistband is the perfect size, follows my tipped waist, is gathered evenly, and won't curl inside the casing. It worked great. I'll do that again.




I finished the pajama pants early Monday afternoon and didn't want to start a new project or tackle the complications of the black t-shirt since I'd be busy all day Tuesday with knitting, cleaning and packing on Wednesday, at appointments for Kyle on Thursday, and leaving early Friday morning. SO... I cleaned my fabric shelves. They were A BIG MESS from finishing the exhibit pieces. I'd been looking at that for a month and a month was long enough.




Originally, I intended to pack up the cotton fabrics and put them in the closet but when I got to five boxes and counting, it was obvious that wasn't going to work. Instead, I condensed them into one of the units. It's full but not stuffed. I can still pull things in and out easily.

I eliminated less than a boxful. There's more that I could weed out only I wasn't quite ready to part with that much fabric. Just in case. For now. I'll keep it. I know that at some point in the future, I'm going to want to make a textile painting again. The supplies will be ready when I am.

Once the other unit was empty, I thought the yarn would look looks pretty in there like the fabric had so I shifted it all over intending to use the yarn shelves for fashion sewing supplies. Yarn doesn't stack as neatly as fabric. I didn't like the way it looked on the shelves (messy) so I put the skeins back under the work island and started filling the shelves with zippers, elastic, interfacing, pressing supplies, and so on. It's coming together.

I'll finish up when I get back from my holiday. For now, I'm glad to have these supplies within easy reach and neatly stored. I was getting tired of climbing under the back of the work island for the pressing equipment and besides - VBG - I needed more room there for my (growing) pattern collection.

The serger on the bottom shelf is my old one. I'm hopeful that it can be fixed and my daughter can use it at some point in the future. I haven't missed it. Instead, I have THOROUGHLY enjoyed sewing with my new one these last few weeks. No pinging and breaking of thread is MUCH better, way less frustrating, and a whole lot more fun. I'm glad I bought it.

While on my holiday, I imagine that I'll visit a few yarn and fabric shops. Having shuffled my yarn back and forth, I am reacquainted with how much of which yarns there is and have concluded that I don't need any more. A good awareness.




Since I was cleaning the fabric shelves, I kept right on going and cleaned the fashion fabrics in the closet as well. See those six boxes on the floor? They weren't there before. These are relatively recent - as in the past two years - acquisitions. Before, there were only the eight boxes behind these.

FOURTEEN boxes of fashion fabric is really quite enough. Another good awareness. Unless I come across some super duper, absolutely amazing fabric at an unbelievable, rock bottom price that I intend to use immediately (all not likely), I don't need any more of that either. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me keep this review of the resources in mind when I see the next "shiny object".

Barbara of Sewing On the Edge wrote a blog posting called On Knowing Yourself, Sewing Contests, Loes Hinse, and Fabric Boards. In it, she talks about the high level of responsibility in the rest of her life and how she wants sewing to be fun with the ability to be distracted by shiny objects like new patterns, fabrics, and the inspiration of other's projects. Coming back to sewing, I feel exactly the same way. I'm here to have fun. For me, fun involves being responsible in terms of purchases and acquisitions. I don't want that pressure of too much stuff.

When I told one friend how I felt about returning to fashion sewing, she said she wanted some of whatever I was drinking. It's called Conscious Choice. I am consciously making time for sewing and focusing on sewing fashions. I have defined "the point" as entertainment and creative expression with a bonus (or not) of clothing to wear. I have determined in advance what I'll do with those garments that simply don't work out so that they too have a purpose. I'm letting go of perfection and doing my best job each step of the way, taking that learning forward, and growing my skills as I go. I'm happy. I'm focused on having fun. I'm refreshing, being creative, and have let go of expectations and pressure to just be in the moment. YES YES - This is good. And, it's self care which is vital for everyone and especially for women.

This week, I've read two blog postings called Why Are Women Unhappy and Thoughts About Women And Happiness. They were VERY interesting especially in light of our conversation a few weeks ago about the women's lib movement and what the phrase "kept woman" means in different countries and to different people. Reading these postings confirmed more than ever (for me) the need to practice self care.

I was talking about the postings with a friend yesterday and she told me about someone she knew who lost consciousness in church and had to be rushed to hospital. There was "nothing" wrong with her except that she was so exhausted from caring for a sick family member that she literally couldn't go a minute further. She was totally depleted. I've been there, done that, and I never want to do it again. Let's not get to that stage. Let's practice self care so that we have enough energy to go about life and take care for those we love. Let's be good role models for our daughters, our friends, and the other women around us. Let's take care of ourselves, the care givers.

Cassy wrote - Well, I am NOT bored. I am really enjoying reading about your sewing. My upcoming retirement will give me the desperately desired uninterrupted time to to ease back in. I am not sorry that I have collected an abundance of supplies to work with as I am at a point in my life where USING them provides more satisfaction than buying them and being frustrated with limited time to create.

Congratulations Cassy. When is the day? You must be SO EXCITED. I'm glad that you are already making plans. YES YES - I so agree with you about the abundance of supplies. As you can see, I have lots and it's wonderful and amazing and energizing and inspirational and rich with potential. Enjoy.

During my years of teaching (on-line and in-person) most of my students were older than me. One of the many things that I learned from them was how important it is to own your own time before someone owns it for you. This is true of my current situation. First, I retired from traditional quilting and then, closed down my business. As I did so, I freed up a lot of time and attention.

Eventually, I'll go back to work but for now, I am in this pleasant bubble where I want to be relaxed and creative and very specifically, I want to sew fashions. I've let everyone know what I am doing and I'm very careful to say "no" to things that would detour me from my purpose - even good things or "unselfish" things or noble things. This time will never come again. It's mine. I've worked for it, I deserve it, and frankly, I need it. Learning to say no is a critical element of self care.

Both boys are home again today. They're still feeling quite yucky, poor things. I'm not sure how cleaning is going to go with sleeping people but I'll try to figure it out while doing my laundry and packing my bags. It'll take me a bit to decide on the parts of my sewing project. I'm feeling a lot less focused than normal since my time is going to be divided differently. It'll be good but...

... it's not going to be the same holiday I usually have. Usually, at this time every year I go to Port Townsend for a week with 59 other creative women. It has been my favourite holiday for YEARS. Last year, I was an emotional mess. There had been too much stuff going on in my life and I had a melt down. Most of the women were incredibly supportive. Some were not.

One of those not supportive women wrote me about a month ago and once the exchange of emails was over, I had concluded it would not be a good thing for me to go this year. I wanted a holiday and not a fight and I didn't want to be where I wasn't wanted. At the end of the conversation, I was proud of myself. I had not written anything negative or offensive, nor had I blamed someone else for the situation. Even though the outcome was not what I wanted, I had nothing to regret. I'm glad. I'm growing up.

What hurt the most about the exchange was that at the end, I received a forward (accidentally I'm assuming) that she had sent to I don't know how many people that contained very negative comments about me. Let me tell you that forwarding your conversation, especially one of this nature, with someone else - without their awareness - is just plain not nice. Forwarding it with snide comments that make a lie of the conversation that was supposedly going on is beyond not nice. I don't recommend it if you'd like to be respected and to respect yourself.

With that door closed, I still wanted a holiday so I made different plans. Friday morning, I am driving to Vancouver Island where I'll stay with a friend for three days. We're going out for dinner and breakfast with other friends and spending two days working in her studio. Sunday, I'll drive up island and on Monday and Tuesday, I'm taking a bra making workshop. It takes a certain kind of woman to attend a class of this nature which leads me to believe it's going to be a lot of fun.

I'm staying in a gorgeous B & B with two separate rooms, each with their own bathroom, and a shared sitting room. My friend will join me Tuesday night and we'll spend Wednesday and Thursday shopping, walking, knitting, driving around from artist studio to artist studio, and generally having a LOT of fun. That Friday, I'll return home in time for Howard's birthday on Saturday and the long (Canadian Thanksgiving) weekend in my studio. All good.

First, I have to pack - Myrna

Grateful - conscious choice