The Internal Battle

My hosts at the Copper Kettle B & B in Nanaimo talked a lot about astrological signs and the personality traits associated with them. Fiona referred to me as "a real Gemini" a few times. I certainly wouldn't plan my life around a horoscope. It seems a little off to me that all of the people born in a particular month would be moving in the same direction on the same day. I know lots of people born in June, even people born on my birth date, who are nothing at all like me. Instead, I find it amusing, much like a personality test or something of that nature. There are always a few elements that fit.

Fiona & Maurice had a birthday book. In it, you could look up the exact date of your birth and read a two page description of persons born on that date. When I read mine, I laughed and showed it to my friend Barb. She read the first paragraph and started laughing. It was VERY close. One aspect the description referred to was the dual personality of persons born in this twins month. That's something I can really relate to.

There are huge contrasts in my personality like the fluffy girl part compared to the business minded entrepreneur or the stop and smell the roses part compared to the type A workaholic. There is something ironic about making a goal of having fun.

The contrast that really gets me is the minimalist compared to the fashion creative. One part can grasp the paired down wardrobe with a few garments that mix and match well together. It's a challenging concept. Another part is all for creating a huge wardrobe, an equally exciting concept with so many opportunities to explore creative expression. AND... I sew.

By sewing my wardrobe, I would get at least five times the number of garments for the same amount of money that I would purchase for a minimalist wardrobe. There's the fashion creative justifying her point of view to the minimalist. And then, the practical part kicks in and asks where will you store all those garments and how often would you wear them anyway and I'm back in a tug of war between the desires of my fashion creative and the practicality of my minimalist.

A few weeks ago, Sally at Already Pretty asked readers to submit questions. I wanted to see what advice she would give to help women get out of their fashion rut. She sent a lovely answer with lots of questions to ponder and actions to take. It made me laugh. They were exactly the kinds of things that I would advise my students to do. Her opening line said, Since you are clearly experiencing an internal battle, I suggest... Ah yes, there's that battle of the twins again.

At forty-seven, I've come to accept this as a part of my way of being. I seem to have a need to dissect and over-analyze everything - to death - and I acknowledge it and try not to let it get out of hand. It will show up in questions like why aren't I finishing the white bra? Because white is boring and I don't need another white bra. Or, why am I dragging my heels on the black t-shirt? Because I already have several black t-shirts, don't need another one, and wasn't I trying to perk up my style anyway. I'll procrastinate, and then finally address the question, and then, knowing the answer, I can finish the bra and the t-shirt and move on. The practical and the creative parts of me are constantly showing up. I'm still trying to teach them how to play nice together.

Yesterday, I was knitting on the sweater sleeve and thinking about Sally's questions when the thought that I can't NOT be creative popped into my head followed immediately by another thought - but you ARE not being creative. While I'm thinking and over thinking and analyzing and debating, my ability to do grinds to a halt. It's annoying. It's another fact of life for my way of being. Doing for doing's sake is very difficult for me. Doing with a goal in mind is much more attainable.

This may seem like a topic change but hang in there, it's connected. I spent a lot of time yesterday researching overcoming allergies. There were quite a few mind over matter type articles which have validity - think Lance Armstrong - however, what I wanted were some facts that made sense and data from which to make a plan.

I eventually found this article that notes allergic symptoms are often caused by inadequate diet, emotional stress, upsets, and insufficient sleep - to name a few. It goes on to talk about several other aspects like dehydration, the lack of digestion enzymes, and bruising that are relevant to me and/or a blood type A. If you read about the characteristics of blood type A's, they are often creative and don't deal well with stress and should chose independent rather than competitive outlets.

From the data in the article, I can develop a plan for taking specific vitamins that will help to heal my physical body. However, from what I read. I will also need to deal with the inadequate diet and managing emotional stress. Normally, my diet is far from inadequate so when I first read that sentence I wanted to discount it except that over the last year, since developing these allergies, it's become increasingly difficult to eat although I am making progress. After reading the article, I'll add taking the advised vitamins, essential fatty acids, and digestive enzymes to the "battle" plan.

The emotional stress is partly but not completely within my control. One cannot control the choices of a teenager or of a boss who doesn't think you need a day off a week or of a world wide recession. My son's struggle with diabetes, being let go from a job I loved, and the bottom falling out of the art market were not something I could anticipate and plan for. HOWEVER... I can make a plan for dealing with the reality and that's where the two topics meet up again.

It is in my best interests both emotionally and physically to be creative on a daily and ongoing basis which I would bet is true for any of you reading this posting. When we are NOT creative, especially when creativity is such a huge part of our personality and our way of dealing with and de-stressing from the world around us, then we do ourselves and our friends and family a huge disservice by not being creative. It's like not eating, or not drinking water, or not getting regular exercise. It's essential to us living healthy.

When I taught Self Expressions and Women Art Life, I recommended that those students who were not regularly creative start by setting aside a minimum of ten minutes to develop the habit of being creative and to make a priority of nurturing themselves and their inner artists. Many reported that it made a HUGE difference in how they coped with life. For me, right now, I don't need ten minutes. I already have large chunks of time each day. What I need to do is stop worrying about wasting this time - stop debating the issue - and get to actually stitching. AND SO...

... and here's where we connect the dots. I have definitely decided to join the Sewing With A Plan contest. I'm going with option one with the six tops, four bottoms, and one choice. I'm going to make a general plan but I am not going to over think it. I'm going to sew and have fun sewing and if I get done on time, great, and if "all" I do is have fun along the way and produce a few pieces of clothing, excellent, good and enough. My main focus is healing.

As part of the plan, I've set a goal to reduce my fabric stash by 50%. Obviously, I can't do that with the eleven garments in the stash but I can make a start. What you see in the image above is not everything. There are three boxes to the right and six more to the left. Having this much fabric while not sewing it up IS stressing me out. It would be healthy for both my fashion creative and my minimalist to sew it up.

I have the same goal for my yarn stash. It has oozed off of the yarn shelf into a basket beside the curl-up chair as well as this drawer. These are left over balls of yarn and/or projects that I have taken apart to re-knit. I'm going to start by finishing or being finished with these items and reduce the total yarn stash back to fitting on the shelf. See that white stuff? It's cotton. I'm going to knit it up and then over-dye it. WHAT fun.

There were a few funny moments yesterday. I was not happy with my hair cut. Even though I much prefer it shorter, I couldn't figure out why it wasn't styling well until I held up this strand. MY GOODNESS. I used to be a hairstylist and the final thing you do before blow drying the client's hair is a cross check holding the hair in all directions to make sure that it blends and flows correctly otherwise the weight of the hair can cause flips and styling issues.

Right after taking this photo, I washed and trimmed it and now it's doing better although I do believe I'll be getting another haircut soon - probably for the Christmas party to "go with" my new outfit. I wanted a MUCH more dramatic angle at the back. I think I'll go with a different stylist.

AND THEN... a few weeks ago I bought the book The Conscious Cook. It's a vegan cookbook written by chef Tal Ronnen whose celery root soup I showed yesterday. I returned the book because one of the main ingredients that he uses - Gardein - contains wheat gluten. Since I'm gluten intolerant, I can't use it ONLY... he uses this product in place of meat. I'm not vegan! What was I thinking? I don't need to use a chicken substitute. I can use REAL chicken. What a duh moment. I'd returned the cookbook already so yesterday, I bought it again at Costco where it was - nicely - less expensive.

With all my researching and thinking, I have not finished the sweater yet so that's my goal for the next few days. Have a great weekend.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - healing information and an action plan

Blanching & Blending

Yesterday, I learned that it is possible to be allergic to all flours. It's not common and typically happens to bakers who are exposed to flours ongoing however, it is possible especially for people who are ultra sensitive. I also learned that it is possible to be allergic to all grains or more specifically the protein in the grain.

While interesting information, this was not happy learning. I looked it up after eating a bowl of gluten-free rice cereal with rice milk and brown sugar followed by a reaction. Gosh... think it was the rice. Either that or the sugar. I looked that up too and yes, it's possible although I don't have those symptoms. Now, I'm researching ways to overcome allergies.

One thing I'm paying careful attention to is rotating foods. When I started eating gluten-free, I also started consuming far more rice, potato, tapioca, and corn starch than I have in my entire life. The food industry seems to take one solution and over use it. Almost every gluten-free product contains these ingredients as well as soy. Not a good idea. Over consuming any one product can lead to an allergy.




For dinner last night, I made something completely free of any flour or grain that I have eaten before. In the pot is salt, olive oil, onion, celery, and celery root. It was simmered in chicken stock for a half hour before adding cashew cream for another ten minutes and then blended together. The recipe - celery root soup - is vegan. We're not so I used chicken stock. Chef Tal Ronnen suggests vegetable stock or a faux chicken.




In Tal's recipe, the soup is garnished with granny smith apples and chive oil. I went with the apples and added some crumbled bacon. At this point, I didn't feel like blanching and blending chives and the soup was enough of a stretch for my boys without green dots. I knew they'd like the bacon.




The cornmeal muffins are made with Amaranth flour. I used powdered milk which I seem to tolerate if it's cooked possibly because the enzyme that I'm allergic to has been broken down twice at this point. The muffins are sweet. Next time, I would reduce the sugar to half.




One of my favourite, on-line, fashion sites is Peruvian Connection. The garments are pure eye candy. The prices will make you gasp. The site disables downloading so I can't copy the pictures. I hope you'll visit the following links.

Edited - Oct 30th @ 7:45 pm - Thanks Linda! I can save the smaller images. I was trying for the big ones.

So far, my Christmas skirt will be made out of a silver taffeta flocked with black velvet. Even though this started out as home-decor piece, fabric is fabric. It was in the bargain center with an additional 50% off that day. I paid $7.50 for five meters of the 60" wide fabric.




It isn't silk like the Silk Taffeta Fishtail skirt above - $450.00 - however, now that I've put it through a hot wash and dry, it's soft and pliable with similar properties. The combination of such a feminine skirt with a more casual cardigan is wonderful as is this combo of a cotton t-shirt with the Sugarplum Sequin skirt below - $399.00. It has the same contrast of casual and dressy.

This Simplicity 2516 pattern should work for what I want. View B, shown in pink, is a short skirt with two layers ending just above the knee. My plan is to make the top layer out of the taffeta with a lace edging and the bottom layer out of a lining with a tulle edging. Only the lace and the tulle will show below the top layer of taffeta.




The motif on the taffeta is pretty big. I do NOT want a huge flower on my butt so I'll deliberately stagger and not match the design. I just read an article on decorative seaming techniques and might sample a few of those but they're not likely. I think that would be over-kill and take away from the lace edging.




Above is the sweater I'm knitting in a heathered (silver-ish) purple. In the magazine, it's paired with a very feminine skirt. That combination must have stuck in my mind because that's the direction I'm going in. I'll start with sewing the skirt but wait until the sweater is finished to decide on the top. Unless I dislike the way it looks together, I plan to wear the sweater as a jacket over the skirt with a more dressy top underneath. I'll wear the sweater coming and going and through dinner before taking it off for the (warmer) dancing.

Since I plan to dance all night (and don't like to be taller than my husband) I don't plan to wear very high heels. I bought a pair the other day that just might work. They - like the sweater - would provide some interesting contrast however, I'll wait until the outfit is complete to show you the shoes.

It's supposed to snow like crazy today followed by a lot of rain which doesn't sound pretty at all. It's just starting to snow now. It's eight o'clock. The one store that I would like to go to isn't open until 10:30. I'll skip that if the roads are already covered. Driving in the first snowfall is never a good idea.

Other than that, I plan to do a few chores and then curl up in the studio and knit. I'm very much a one thing at a time artist and I can't make progress when I have a stack of un-done things tickling at my brain. The black t-shirt is finished except for the collar and there is half of a sleeve and the collar to knit to finish the pieces for the sweater before blocking and sewing them together (and finding six perfect buttons - LOL). I'll finish these and make a few changes to two of my January exhibit pieces before moving on to the Christmas skirt.

Talk soon -Myrna

Grateful - an all wheel drive van that keeps us safe in winter driving EVEN IF it's old and rusty.

Style & SWAP 2010

Karen wrote - Obviously you are still looking for the perfect way to provide an income for the family. I think you are being correctly advised not to go into anything that is similar to your creative projects of knitting and clothing.

I am. Thanks for the encouragement. Other people's reactions to my being a stay at home Mom are fascinating. Some have said quite clearly that they are envious and wish they had the same opportunity. Others seem to want to find me a job and typically their suggestions involve criteria that I have indicated I'm not willing to accept like a uniform, low pay, or nights and weekends hours.

My unwillingness to change my criteria has been called "you're so damn picky" by more than a few people - to the point where it's just easier to say it myself. I am being picky and I can be at the moment. We had an incident this past weekend that re-enforced my priority of putting my son first. I'm not likely to change my mind on that. He is and will be my top priority for the next few years. However, I am remaining open to opportunities that won't take away from that priority or from my creativity but will utilize my skills, pay a reasonable wage, and involve school hours. One may or may not come along. Two or three years down the road, I'll have other options.

What I think is going to be difficult is to find meaningful work that involves my skills and abilities without taking away from my creativity. The two things that I am really missing from my career are writing and teaching. This weekday blog helps me stay in touch with those just a little bit but it's not the same as putting together and then facilitating a workshop and interacting with my students and seeing their "ah ha" moments. I really miss that and the creative energy that comes with it which has me wondering if there is anything I could do with the things that interest me.

One thing that really interests me right now is developing a sense of style which in art terms is finding your voice. As with art, it's already there in the choices we have made previously. We don't need to find it as much as we need to grow it up. YEARS ago, after singing in a morning worship service, one of the women in the church came up to me and said that she just wanted to tell me how much she appreciated my style. She saw something that she enjoyed and that inspired her. How wonderful. Back then, I was heavily involved in my career. I didn't really stop to think about what she might have meant. Now, I have time to develop that expression.

There are all kinds of ways to develop our style. Some involve the inspiration and emulation of other women. Some involve snoop shopping, magazines, and collages. I've been reading Nina Garcia's The Little Black Book of Style. In it, she makes the distinction between a woman who dresses with style and one who just loads up on whatever the current trend is or on designer labels. She says (paraphrased) that there is nothing "stylish" about having the current "it" bag. That's just following the herd.

Women with true style are much harder to find. They are not typically "in style" as much as they are interesting. I know two women like this. Every time I meet them, I'm intrigued to see what elements they've put together in today's ensemble. When you see a woman with style, she has confidence, she is comfortable with her body and with herself, and she stands out from the rest of the crowd. I want to be (more) like that.

Yesterday, I did a little snoop shopping looking for a Christmas outfit - not to buy but to sew. I wanted to try on a similar look and see what I thought. My plan is to sew a skirt, about knee length, with lace and tulle showing at the bottom. Something feminine, flirty, and ever so slightly retro.

In all of Kamloops - which is not a big town mind you - I could find ONE dress with this particular hemline and even then it was not as involved as I want. That thrilled me. Unlike the other women who are going to be limited to these look-alike outfits, when I sew mine, I won't run into myself at the party. That's such a WONDERFUL aspect of sewing fashions. However...

... you may have noticed that I'm having a difficult time getting back into sewing fashions even though it's something I really want to do. After reading about the SWAP 2010 (sewing with a plan) contest at Stitcher's Guild, it seemed like the perfect project to make the transition. Here's the criteria:

Within the following options, one will be a matched print or stripe, one will feature embroidery, beads, or sashiko, and one will have buttons as a star feature OR use unusual or alternative closure(s). When complete, the group of garments should work well together and look like they belong in the same closet. The options are:

Option 1 - 6 tops, 4 bottoms, and 1 choice (not an accessory)
Option 2 - 2 dresses, 6 tops, 2 bottoms, and 1 choice (not an accessory)
Option 3 - 5 dresses, 4 tops, 1 bottom, and 1 choice (not an accessory)

Each option involves eleven garments. There are just enough guidelines to be fun without being limiting and there are some challenges that will encourage me to step outside the box - like using a print or stripe which I almost never wear and an embellished element. I prefer embossed to embellished. SO... somewhat different and what fun. I already have a GORGEOUS button that I'd like to incorporate.

I'm leaning toward Option 1 as it's the most practical for my current at home lifestyle. My personal goal would be to use fabrics and patterns from my stash and to create a cohesive wardrobe that shows my existing/emerging/developing style. The contest begins December 26th and runs until the end of April. I'd like to be done by the end of March beginning of April because I'm going on a holiday in early April to a Sandra Betzina and Ron Collins sewing workshop.

The contest gives me a focus for fashion sewing, the options provide a plan, and developing a wardrobe for my holiday gives me a goal while answering the "what's the point" question. If I aim toward fashions that are easy to wear and ones that will transition weight loss, this is a highly motivating combination. YES YES! More later.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - a supportive husband

Fun, Pretty, Perky

It's Monday night. Some friends just phoned and they're coming to stay on their way to Vancouver. I'm not sure what time they'll be leaving so I thought I'd write this post tonight and schedule it for the morning. Otherwise, it could be late afternoon, after Arts & Crafts Club, before there's time to write. I promised a bit about the SWAP 2010. There isn't enough time to put that together before they get here so I'll talk about it tomorrow.

I finished the second bra. I wish I could say it was fun. Mostly, it felt like tough slugging. I just wanted to be done. A bra is an interesting project so I wish I hadn't felt that way. Thinking about why, I've decided that it's the color. I already have one RTW white bra and then the sample one and now the "real" one. That's way too many white bras for me. I don't want more boring white. I want fun, pretty, perky.

A few years ago, when my daughter moved into an apartment and was using a laundromat part of the time, she decided to only buy dark lingerie since she rarely wore light clothes and therefore rarely needed white bras or panties. Dark lingerie could go in the dark load and was less expensive and MUCH easier to keep fresh and clean. WHAT A SMART GIRL.

I copied her. Since then, my lingerie has been black or dark. I have one white bra, one white pair of panties, and a couple pairs of white socks for when and if I need them - which is rarely. I could probably count on one hand how many times they've been worn in the last few years because I only have one white shirt that I've worn twice, one pale blue t-shirt that I rarely wear, and no light colored pants. Everything else is a medium to dark color - mostly black.



Sewing a bra is not complicated. It is a bit fiddly and there are lots of opportunities to get off track and do a less than neat job, which means there's room for both fun and improvement. Maybe I'm being picky. When people see the bras I've sewn, they say that they look just like a real bra so the quality is good. BUT... me being me... I want to sew an even neater product only that won't be happening until I can get some patterns and colors into the mix. All of the lingerie supply sitess that I've been able to find in Canada have only white, black, pink, and cream colored materials. BORING!

I've ordered an out of print book called Sewing Lingerie That Fits. Hopefully, it will talk about suitable fabrics and maybe about dyeing. The two paints shown in the image above are suitable for synthetic fabrics only they are paints not dyes. I've read that Jacquard makes an acid wash dye for synthetics. That would be perfect. Then boring white could become bright and beautiful. I'm researching it.

On the weekend, I went down to the local sewing machine store and had a good talk with the owner. She does custom sewing as well as alterations. Although I said I didn't want to sew bras as a business, the idea kept tickling because I know there is a demand. At the head of the line would be my daughter.

We (the owner and I) talked about what if I opened a plus size, lingerie sewing, business, what would the demand be like, what structures could the business take, and what would the end result be on my creativity. That was the key question. I don't want another business in my home. I want to go somewhere, work, come home, go into the studio, and be creative for myself. When I asked her if she felt that could happen, she said no. Based on her experience, and on what she knows from other custom seamstresses, she said that she could almost guarantee that I would not feel like sewing once I got home.

I've heard that more than once from quite a few seamstresses. While I was in Nanaimo, I talked to one woman who was so burnt out from her custom sewing business that she never wants to sew again. I feel that way about traditional quilts. I can barely be polite around them. I don't want that to happen to my fashion sewing. So... NO plus size, lingerie sewing, business although my daughter still gets to be head of the line. It'll be fun to sew some bras for her and for me IF we can find some fun fabrics.




I thought that I was standing nice and straight in the picture above but that downhill slide on the shoulders obviously tells the truth. That's what I love about digital cameras. They're amazing for getting an unbiased impression and really seeing what's there. Either I need to straighten up or get my back adjusted.

The wrinkles you see are because of the way I'm standing. Otherwise, the t-shirt fits smoothly over the back as a result of the sway back adjustment. It made a world of difference. I took the side seam in at the hem 2 3/4" tapering from there to match the existing seamline at the waist. That's a huge difference. I need to figure out if it's the extra weight I've lost since I started this project or if it's in how I added back onto the side seam after the sway back adjustment.



What you are seeing from the side is how the fabric shows every lump and bump over my jeans. It feels wonderful on but I really don't want it to cling to me quite that much. I'll do some research into that too. Perhaps this isn't as wonderful a fabric as it feels.

AND... as you can see... I had my hair cut similar to the way it was at my daughter's wedding. This has been a tough year for haircuts. I can't seem to communicate exactly what it is that I want to the hairstylist. I'd hoped for a bit more texture and a more dramatic angle from front to back. Oh well.. maybe next time. Even as is, it feels a lot better.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - visit with friends

Our Best With Balance

Friday night on the news, Peter Mansbridge interviewed Anne Murray. He asked her what music she was listening to now that she has retired. She said (paraphrased) that she was tired of music and that right now she was spending time on herself, doing the things she's been wanting to do and putting off for years, while working on not feeling guilty about that. YES YES

Last night on Extreme Makeover Home Edition, Michael Molony talked about the Montgomery family and how they give back to their community through their food, furniture, and clothing bank called Salt & Light. He said, "the purpose of life is a life of purpose". YES YES

Both of these statements ring true for me and yet I was glad that Anne talked about dealing with the guilt. It is very easy to watch a show like Extreme Makeover, see how one person or group of people is giving back in an area of basic needs, think about how you are trying to find balance and refreshing in your own life, and start to feel REALLY guilty about that decision. Guilt is not needed.

I believe - and you may not agree with me and that's okay - that each of us has a life purpose and that while those purposes will have different expressions and outcomes, they are of equal value. What is most important is not the specific thing that we each do but that each of us finds and fulfills OUR specific thing. One life purpose is no more or no less important than another EVEN THOUGH judgements will be passed - including by ourselves. Along with finding our purpose, is finding peace within that purpose.

Years ago, I defined my purpose as to support and encourage others (especially women) to their best and to share the gospel. That purpose is combined with my skills and abilities. On a down day - a day when I see someone who is feeding, clothing, and housing the poor while I'm teaching how to sew a better seam, what hair style suits which face shape, how to dress for a body type, and the best way to renovate a house or the power of thinking positive, visualizing success, rephrasing, and building esteem - it is easy for me to think that what they are doing is far more important than what I am doing.

Comparisons will drag us down every time. To repeat - one person's purpose is no more important than another's. They are simply different. If we were all doing the same things, the world wouldn't function too well. What is SO IMPORTANT is to be our best with balance.

When our life is all about others with no nurturing of self, that way of being is as equally wrong as when our life is all about ourselves with no nurturing of others. The format in which we each reach out and touch the lives around us is one that is unique to our interests, skills, abilities, and purpose. Finding that format, and living into it, allows us to live at our best life with balance.

I just hugged Kyle good-bye and sent him off to school and I'll be here to hug him again when he gets home. It's wonderful to have this time to focus on my family. My oldest child is 23, married and moved out. The middle one is 20, in university, and still living at home. And, the youngest is 16 and in high school. This is the first time in all of these child raising years that my number one task is my home and my family. How fabulous.

I recognize how lucky I am to have this opportunity although it was somewhat forced on me by circumstances. It was something that I had talked about wishfully and then, it became a reality - and it's good - and even so, I get grumpy from time to time. When I do, my mood usually has something to do with money and acquiring more things or paying off things already acquired like a mortgage or with meaningful work.

However, when I weigh the pros and cons, I am exactly where I need to be at this moment and over time, the thing that I am to do next - in terms of work - will be revealed. Until then, it is absolutely vital that I refresh and create balance in my life so that I can continue to reach out to - and support others in - their life's journey. I hope my little lecture to myself is encouraging to any of you in a similar situation.




On a completely different note - but still connected - here is our first loaf of flax bread. We mixed it up in the bread maker last night and when it beeped ready, I turned it out on the cutting board. Nothing happened. When I used the spatula to loosen the edges, the center fell out leaving the crust inside the canister. The middle was slightly mushy and inedible and the edges cooked and crunchy. I slathered them with Earth Balance (a butter substitute) and enjoyed them along with salmon and vegetables for dinner. While I'd been anticipating a slice of bread, even a sandwich, I happily settled for the crust.

Challenge, with a touch of obsessive compulsive, is beginning to creep into my cooking life. I've been reading gluten free, dairy free cookbooks and learning about substitutions and techniques as well as about different tools like a Vita-Mix blender and a Japanese Mandolin slicer. I commented to Howard yesterday that I might need some kitchen gadgets - a completely foreign concept in our house. There is a teeny tiny little bubble of enthusiasm beginning to grow. Yesterday, I learned that gluten free bread dough looks more like cake batter. I found myself thinking that I'd bake the next loaf by "hand". When I mentioned that to the boys, they teased me about learning to love cooking.

While talking to my friend Rosemarie, she said that the first time she heard me say I don't cook that she thought I was teasing. I wasn't. I've been known to burst into tears at the sight of all those brown paper packages in the freezer. Closing my business was one step toward returning to better balance in my life. There was a time when I made all our meals. I even grew a garden, froze vegetables, canned fruit, and made jams and jellies.

Life and illness and stress and the business all piled up to make cooking a completely overwhelming, task. When there was too much to handle in the rest of my life, this was the thing that I let go of. So much so that I can't quite remember those days but the part of me that feels it's important to eat healthy and to feed my family healthy, nourishing meals is catching up with the part of me that doesn't cook. I'm cooking about 50-60% of the time now. There's hope.

Rosemarie came over to knit for four hours on Saturday afternoon. It was wonderful to spend time chatting and knitting together. I finished the back, one front, and about half of the second front of the sweater I showed you last week. The pattern is merely a guideline. I'm not really following it because my gauge is slightly different and because the original garment has a dropped shoulder and I prefer a fitted one. As I knit, I'm not beating myself up about what I don't know or about doing it right. I'm just trying this and trying that and doing my best with what I have - an attitude that works well in all areas of life - like cooking. We learn by doing.

Today, I want to finish the second sweater front and then the bra and then the t-shirt. Maybe I will; maybe I won't. We'll see what comes up because I talked about finishing these things all last week and never got them done. Life's like that some days. Oh well.

While I'm knitting and stitching, I am also thinking about the 2010 Sewing With A Plan contest that is being sponsored on Stitcher's Guild. I've mostly decided to enter because I find that having a project to work on helps me to focus on a task. I'll give it more thought and tell you about it tomorrow. This posting is more than long enough and somewhat rambling even though in my mind the topics are connected to doing my best and to supporting and encouraging others in their best. Have a great day.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - ongoing learning of life's lessons

GFDF Lemon Loaf

Yesterday was one of those puttering, not too much gets accomplished, kinds of days. I ran out to get milk and a few other groceries, tidied up for company, and baked something to go with our coffee, visited with a friend, went to a parent teacher interview, booked a hair appointment for tomorrow, and knit.

Baking was the big moment. It has always been a HUGE accomplishment for me but ever since I've become GFDF (gluten free dairy free) it's a MAJOR BIG DEAL. See what I made!!!

Darlene - the woman who came for coffee - is a new friend. We've gotten together a few times however our schedules don't mix too well so it's a bit difficult. She LOVES LOVE LOVES LOVES LOVES to bake. She can rattle on about baking like I can about sewing. It's so intimidating and fabulous to have someone to ask all these questions to.

We talked about the mixes that had arrived and what I could do to change them. For instance, putting cranberries in with the lemon loaf and/or lemon zest. I made it according to the instructions and then added a lemon glaze on top while it was cooling. I knew that much.

With the cookie mix, we talked about how to make it become gingersnaps and with the bread mix how to make it become cinnamon raisin bread. Both are previous favourites of mine.




Fiona - my host at the Copper Kettle B & B in Nanaimo - had used two of these Celimix mixes while I was staying there on my holiday. I knew they were good and wanted to start with them just to get an idea of what the things could taste like. However, they're expensive.

The lemon and apple cinnamon loaves are each $6.49 for one loaf, the cookie mix is $6.79 for about a dozen cookies, and the chocolate cake is $5.99 for one cake plus the gluten free icing. The bread mix was $17.99 for six loaves or $3.00 per loaf which is less expensive than buying gluten free bread. That's good because buying gluten free, dairy free bread is even more of a journey and so far everything I've tried tastes horrible. Never in my life have I imagined myself baking bread. This is so weird. I'm learning all kinds of new things.



I ordered The Gluten Free Vegan with (they say) 150 delicious gluten free, animal free recipes. It gets good reviews. One of the negative reviews said the book is too basic. Perfect... that works for me since I'm learning both for myself and for my family. Right now, the boys still live at home and eat what I cook. However, when I go to visit my daughter, it's difficult for her to feed me. I'd like to give my friends and family a really good, all around, basic, GFDF cookbook for when I come to visit. Hopefully, when I find one, it's not too expensive.

We are not vegetarian or vegan however using a vegan cookbook helps with the dairy free aspect of what I need to eat and both styles of cooking teach about alternate proteins which will (hopefully) give us variety in what we eat and less expensive choices than some meats.

As well, we're all blood type A's. If you know anything about the blood type diet, you'll know that the diet for A's is basically vegetarian with minimal amounts of chicken and fish. Diabetes and Celiac's disease are both autoimmune issues which are strongly associated with blood type A's as is high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart issues. I don't know about the other two but I do know that my blood pressure has gone done since eliminating gluten so you can see why this is good learning for all of us. I'd like my family to be healthy.

The next time I'm at Chapters, I'll look at Veganomican and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. The first book has 267 positive reviews on Amazon and the second has 252. They are obviously good cookbooks however, these are dairy free but not gluten free recipes. We'll see how many could work for me. I'm still learning about substitutions and it's WAY TOO MUCH.

Yesterday, while Darlene and I were talking, she said that after our last visit she had gone online to look for recipes to make for me and was intimidated by so much new and different information. If she - who absolutely loves to bake - found it intimidating, imagine how I and others who are recently diagnosed feel.

After my trip to Nanaimo, I had the brainy idea to start an online, gluten free, cooking school. Knowing how many hours Roger and Carol put into running QuiltUniversity.com, I wanted to give it a lot of thought first. I have no intention of working seven days a week. I'd gotten to the strong maybe stage when I googled the idea and, it's already being done. Instead of re-inventing the wheel, perhaps I'll take some classes.

AND THEN... it seems that I'm becoming allergic to something else. Wednesday, I made brownies and Thursday, I made the lemon loaf and both times I had a reaction although a far more severe one Wednesday. I'm not willing to figure this out and will ask my doctor to send me for food allergy tests. By comparing the ingredient lists, the possibilities are sugar, eggs, corn, potato, or rice. NOT fun. This is certainly a strange way to learn to cook, which I have wanted to do for years, but not in such an overwhelming way. Be careful what you wish for - LOL.

Kyle is off school today. It's parent teacher interviews. As I mentioned, I went for mine last night and we're going to discuss it over breakfast. Very fun! It's really just an excuse to spend some time together. Tomorrow, I'm getting my hair cut. Not sure how yet. I'll let you know. Other than that, I have plans to visit with friends, spend time with Howard, knit, sew, and read for the weekend. Have a good one.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - GFDF cookbooks, help and learning

Snoop Shopping Weight Loss Fashions

If I had a million dollars, I'd buy _______ - The first time you heard the Barenaked Ladies sing that song, did you start filling in the blanks? I know Howard and I talked about it quite a bit. I bet we all did. What intrigues me is the difference between what I think I might buy and what I actually would buy because...

... as much money as it is, in today's economy, a million dollars is really not a lot. By the time I gave some to charity, invested for retirement, paid off my mortgage, helped my children, and bought a new car , it would mostly be spent.

The fluffy, pretty girl, part of me would love to buy shoes and purses and clothes. Designer ones with gorgeous details. The kind I gaze at, touch lovingly, and never take home. There's a huge difference between what I'm drawn to in the stores and what hangs in my closet. This is one BIG reason why I'm returning to sewing. If I'm willing to put in the time, some of the styles I enjoy can be made for just a few dollars.

Earlier in the summer, my weight hit a plateau and then, when I was away on holidays, I started losing again. It's strange, and not true for most people, but I tend to lose weight when I go on holidays. It's because I eat three regular meals nicely spaced throughout the day.

We can gain weight by eating too much AND we can gain weight by not eating enough because our body goes into starvation mode and tells itself to save every last morsel just in case nothing else shows up for a while. Even though I know this, I still have a hard time feeding myself at home. I thought that after ten months of these allergies that I'd have adjusted to the food issues but not so far. At home, I am really vague about when and what I eat.

In the past, I ate toast with peanut butter and honey or a bowl of cereal with milk for breakfast. Now I can't eat toast, most cereals, or milk which means unless it's eggs or left overs, I rarely eat breakfast anymore. This is not good so I'm working on a "standard" breakfast. I've ordered some loaf and muffin mixes that are gluten and dairy free. If that works, I'll figure out how to make my own, bake them, freeze them, and zap them for breakfast.

In the last six weeks, I've lost an additional 1, 2 and 1 inches on my bust, waist, and hips. Millicent is now bigger than I am and I'll need to dial down her numbers to keep sewing. Interestingly, I've lost more weight from around the back of my hips than around the front. It's where all the fluff goes I guess. My back and front sides are getting closer to an equal width. I've asked a friend of mine who is also broader across the back if she notices that during weight loss or gain. Have you?

Since I want to sew and I want to be able to wear those fashions even if I lose more weight, I went snoop shopping for weight loss fashions at the Anthropologie website. I think I mentioned once before that I love their details and fabrics.

These three blouses are the Vermillion Acres Tunic - $74.17, the Smartly Shaped Blouse - $85.08, and the Preened Plumage Blouse - $139.62. LOVE the pin tucks around the neck of this first one but otherwise it reminds me of an apron. With styles like these, elastic could be placed at the waist to achieve and maintain shape. If the garment is not too full through the bust, the elastic can be taken in as needed. I have a waist and I'd like to show it off.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE little ruffles. Don't ask me why. I almost never wear a ruffle of any kind but these teeny tiny ones, especially made out of a knit fabric with a lettuce edge, are way up there on my favourites list. These three are the Petal Shower Top - $63.26, the Last Light Tunic - $95.99, and the Grey Tie Top - $85.08. With some shaping at the waist and side seam, a soft drapey fabric, and a focus on details especially up toward my face, these would transition the loss of at least ten pounds and if I used princess seams, they could be taken in a bit further.

This is a COMPLETELY wrong style for my figure type and my age. It's way too cutesy with the floral fabric, the lace, and the bow and for some reason I really like it and the parts I really like, like the pleats and tie at the hips, are not something a Triangle would normally wear. I'd look even more bottom heavy. When I'm strongly attracted to the wrong style of garment, I ask myself why? In this case, it's the femininity combined with the crispness of the pleats. That's information I can use in another garment. Buying this one, the Sheer & Light Blouse -$95.99, would not be a good idea.




The femininity of these styles is also what attracted me to the Ladylike Blouse - $74.17 and the Flocked Chiffon Blouse - $161.43. The first one would bring attention toward my face and add visual weight across the upper body which is good for balancing the Triangle figure type. The second one accomplishes a similar goal however, with the elastic at the waist, it also shows off the figure more. Both have tiny, covered buttons which are on my LOVE list right after tucks and tiny ruffles. LOVE these details however, love them small, soft, and not overdone.

It's almost impossible to see the details on this blouse since it's black but I wanted to show it to you partly because the details around the neck are gorgeous but mostly for the price. The Bow Un-Tied Blouse is $215.97. These are Canadian prices but even still. There is NO WAY, I'd pay that much money for one blouse. I hope that would remain true even if I were a millionaire.

The Carmen Tied Back - $161.43 was my absolute favourite of all the blouses I looked at. I enjoy the simplicity and shaped, clean lines, the detailing at the neck, the short piece of elastic to give shape, and the lovely bow at the back. I couldn't copy the back image so you'd need to go to the site to see it. This blouse would be beautiful with a simple skirt or even extended to a dress. Adding short to three quarter length sleeves would not be an issue. This is the type of garment that looks extremely flattering on a Triangle.

Back at home - shopping in my own closet - where the patterns and fabrics are already paid for - this Vogue 2946 is the closest pattern to the looks I enjoed at the Anthropologie site. Several others could be adapted but - first - I will finish the new bra which is already slightly too big while I think about what's next. Perhaps, I could add some of these elements to the t-shirt in progress.

While I was typing this, a package arrived on my doorstep. It's the gluten free, dairy free mixes. YUMMY. I have company coming for coffee later today so I'll make either the lemon or the apple cinnamon loaf now, have some for breakfast, and serve the rest later. YES YES.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - the ability to and the fun of sewing

Row Gauge

Today, I have another eye appointment about contact lenses. The mono vision (one for distance, one for close-up) didn't work out for me. After about two hours, my eyes were fighting each other. What a weird feeling.

Next, I tried two distance lenses intending to wear magnifiers when I wanted to do close-up work. That's not working either. With this option, two hours later, I have a headache and things are looking blurry.

So far, I see the best with glasses. I've heard that from other women as well. I'll put the contacts in around eight, my appointment is at ten, and we'll see what he says. I don't mind if I can't wear them all the time but I would like them for special occasions.

Just in case, and just for fun, I'm exploring options for less expensive glasses so I can buy a whole bunch of them in different colors. I've ordered some trial pairs. When they come, I'll tell you what I think of the quality and prescription. I don't want to say anything until I know for myself even though they have fabulous reviews.




My friend Barb bought me six skeins of this Bernat Alpaca Wool Blend as part of my retirement gift earlier this year. They are 100 grams, 240 yards, of 80% acrylic and 20% wool. I'm hoping that is more than enough to make the Shawl Collar Jacket from the Fall Winter 2009 Debbie Bliss Knitting Magazine.

The pattern calls for 18 stitches and 24 rows to four inches using a 5mm needle and my gauge is 17 stitches and 24 rows to four inches using a 4.5 mm needle. Since the pattern is written in rows, it seemed more important to have that correct than the stitches. I've adjusted down a size to compensate. After I'd knit a few inches on the back yesterday, I had one of the ladies at Knit Night check it against my body and the sizing seems right so I'm knitting on. Wish me luck.

I love the look of this yarn knit up. It's a darker purple with a soft, heathered look, feels wonderful, and shows off my tension quite nicely. There are several things that I have no idea how to do with knitting but I am able to knit with very even tension.

To get the shaping for the waist, the pattern is written with the increases and decreases placed six stitches in from the edges. They show nicely in this yarn. Soft and interesting rather than lumpy.

It doesn't look like I'll get to the bra or the t-shirt today and possibly not tomorrow either. This morning, I have the eye appointment, tomorrow I have a coffee date, and this afternoon, a friend is coming over to learn how to do some basic, free motion quilting. She has grand ideas of finishing a project incorporating a beautiful piece of cross stitch work into a pillow top. I have smaller ideas of doing some sampling and starting the project. Hopefully, she's willing to do that first. It's been a while since I taught someone how to quilt - last spring, when my cousin was visiting and made a pillow as well. What fun.

Have a great day - Myrna

Grateful - sharing my skills

The Crabby Creative

Late last week, I turned into a little black cloud. For no apparent reason, it started to feel like the weight of the world was sitting on my shoulders. Once I realized I'd been eating gluten, it made sense but even now, after eliminating it again, it's taking work to shake off this feeling. Maybe, it's the weather. Wet and grey. Apparently, I'm hiding my mood well. That part is good at least. It's really not nice to take little dark clouds out on your family and friends.

Saturday, I uttered those fateful words - what's the point. LOL - it only took me seven weeks to get to them even though I defined the point of my sewing and knitting (in advance of closing the business) as pure entertainment with a bonus wardrobe. Those reasons are good. I still like them. However...

... I'm rather the crabby creative right now because I seem to have found all the poorly written knitting patterns. I knit and knit and turn out things that don't have a hope of working well and then I'm fudging and fudging and nothing is really quite right. I have enough knitting experience, combined with what I know about garment construction, to wonder at some of the instructions but not always enough to know for sure so I try it and see and usually I'm right. What I thought was a rather ridiculous way of doing something turns out to be a really ridiculous way of doing it. Obviously, I need to trust myself more because knit, unravel, and fudge are NOT fun even if they are good learning. Take this capelet for instance.





It's up on the design wall. At this point, I'd already unravelled from 8 stitches across the top to 40 stitches. See that orange marker? I kept unravelling to there, 64 stitches. The pattern says to decrease to eight stitches - which creates even more of a point to the triangle - and then those eight stitches are supposed to sit at the back of the neck with the left and right edges wrapped around to hang down at center front. A button band and collar are added by picking up stitches along one side, across the neck, and down the other side. You can see this in the image below.




When I did that, it didn't fit smoothly across my back. It bunched right up. My friend placed that marker at the point where it crawled up and sat smoothly against the back of my neck so I'm guessing that there is a lot of fabric pinned at this model's back or that capelet was not knit according to the instructions because my gauge was correct, my inches were correct, and it sure wasn't sitting that nicely on me.

To fix it, I decreased to the orange marker, picked up along one edge, and started knitting a center front band. I was going to knit a left and a right band and then pick up for the collar but I realized as I was working through it that I'd be fudging all the way. The neck edge would need to pull in more and the collar curved and shaped and... NOT

To me - and what do I know really since I'm a "baby" knitter - it seems that a capelet would be better knit from the top down using a raglan formation where increases are added systematically to each side of the "armhole". That way the neck edge and the center front edge would be clearly defined, lay smoothly around the neck, and hang straight at center front. OH - that's the other thing about this pattern. It is knit from the bottom up decreasing from 160 to 8 stitches only the decreases aren't evenly spaced. They are skewed to one side. I bet you know what I did with this project - LOL - it's unravelled and back in balls.

Last night, I worked with some purple yarn to get gauge on a sweater that I have been wanting to knit for a while. Annoyingly, it is also written in rows. I don't get that. Even if you're using the recommended yarn, all knitters knit with different tension. It is rarely possible to get both the stitch and the row gauge entirely correct BUT... if the stitch gauge is correct and the pattern is written in inches, it is possible to be successful. When the pattern is written in rows, It's a lot more work.

This morning, I'm skipping Arts & Crafts Club to clean house because I'm getting company tomorrow and on Thursday. This afternoon, I'll try to work out the gauge so that I can start on the sweater at Knit Night. IF I figure it out, I'll show you the pattern otherwise, I'll pick something else and show you that - VBG.

AND THEN... there's sewing. It was wonderful to fit into that skirt that I showed you yesterday. It's a pretty small number that I haven't seen in a long time BUT... it meant that the skirt I sewed in early September doesn't fit me anymore. It's too big. In fact, since I made the Chanel-ish jacket a few weeks back, I've lost another 1" on both my bust and hips and 2" on my waist. So far, I've lost 4-10-4 which does make it a bit tricky to decide on what and how to sew. That's why those fateful words - what's the point - slipped out.

(Edit: I was wondering about losing ten inches on the waist. That seemed like an awful lot so I pulled up my largest chart and measured my current waist and on the most bloated of bloated days, it's ten inches and on average, it's probably closer to eight. Still a significant amount - mostly caused by the gluten and dairy.)

Giving it some thought, I think I'll sew a few blouses and perhaps an elastic waist skirt. For the blouses, the shoulders will be correct no matter what and if I chose close-fitting with minimal ease, the blouse will look good now and still look good if I lose a bit more weight. The same is true with the skirt. The waist to hip to hem proportions won't change so if I make it close-fitting with an elastic waist then it could be taken in slightly if needed. I'll give this more thought. I want to sew but I also want that bonus wardrobe because...

... last week I was reading through some previous and current postings with wardrobe advice at Already Pretty. Sal does a great job of presenting options as well as her personality in styling and opinions on the world. It's a fun blog and posted daily which I really appreciate. She gives a list of thirteen basic items that a wardrobe should have and another list of the top fifty things in her personal wardrobe. I had six of them and that included jewelry and shoes. Hmm... no wonder I think I have nothing to wear. LOL - I need to work on that.

Question - how many pairs of jeans do you own that fit and that you wear regularly? What would wear regularly mean to you? How many times a week/month?

In yesterday's posting, Sal said she's not really a jeans girl and yet she still had five or six pairs. I am a jeans girl and right now, I have two pairs. Partly that's my changing weight but I don't think I've ever owned six pairs that fit at one time. Hmm... that could be because it's hard to find a pair of jeans that fit my body shape but...

SO... that made me wonder how much clothing do people really have. I'm always trying to find that balance point between too much and not enough and too much of what I don't wear and not enough what I do wear like too much dressy and not enough casual. That's something I'm working on too though. Perky up my party so that my everyday clothing is not quite so plain. I don't want it to be dressy dressy but I do want it to be a lot more interesting. I've been spending quite a bit of time looking at the tops at Anthropologie mainly for the detailing - VERY fun.

AND THEN... there's my hair. When I posted those pictures yesterday, I took a good look at my hair and I really don't think it's flattering my face shape. Yesterday, I was pondering do I hang in there, grow it longer, get it all to one length, and then decide or do I cut it off into something more fun and perky right now? Considering I feel like a little black cloud, fun and perky now has great appeal - LOL.

Whenever I grow my hair out, it's because it's less expensive to maintain a long, blunt style and because I imagine putting it up and then I never put it up because long hair up is like short hair and... as you can see in this image below... short hair really doesn't look that good on me. It's wonderful from the side but NOT from the front.

Here it has basically the same shape as the short cut above but is longer and softer around the face. I think that's a huge improvement but still not my best look.

And here it is same style but even longer, closer to the way it is now. Those straight pieces around the face seem to drag me down partly because there is too much hair on the back neck. The head isn't framed and shaped on all sides.

This picture was taken for my oldest son's grad. Even though I'm twenty-five pounds heavier than I am now, I think that style is a whole lot more fun and flattering.

And this one was taken a few weeks before my daughter's wedding two and a half years ago. I like the shape through the back and the softness around the face. That's what I mean by shaping and framing. However, I think it should be a bit longer and not end at the chin level as it does. I was growing out a (awful) short hair cut.




Here it is a couple weeks later from the front. Looking at these photos, I think I'll get my hair cut like this tapering from the back like above but longer in the front so it tucks under the chin and flatters my neck more since my neck is aging. How annoying - LOL. Thoughts? Less twenty-five pounds, I think it's going to look even better than it did then. Isn't my daughter gorgeous?

Okay. I'm off to read blogs, get dressed, clean house, swatch fabric, start the sweater, and head off to Knit Night. There's a tiny bit of sun peaking out. Hopefully, that's the start of a beautiful day AND a shifting in my own personal storm cloud. Today, a light grey cloud. Tomorrow, even better - VBG.

Have a great day - Myrna

Grateful - a sense of humour and the ability to laugh at myself

Far And Beyond Better

A few weeks ago when I was in Qualicum Beach, I bought a black and white, checked suit at a second hand shop. Fully lined and a designer name, it was a REALLY good deal at $39.00. When I tried it on, the saleslady said, "Several people have tried that on. You should buy it." That made me feel really good as did the smaller size label inside. AND THEN, yesterday, when I was trying to figure out why the zipper wouldn't slide smoothly, I noticed that the skirt is a size smaller than the jacket. What fun. Perhaps they neglected to put a one in front of that number but I'll take it.




There were two things I didn't like about the suit. The first was the buttons. There must be a garment on which these glitzy things would look fabulous but I'm not sure what it could be and I know for sure that it's not a black and white check. The wrong buttons cheapen an expensive outfit and the right buttons can upgrade a less expensive one.

Since I am avoiding Fabricland - LOL - I went through my stash looking for two buttons that would work. First, I dumped out the jar of black buttons and then I looked through the carded ones. I have lots of buttons. You would think I could find two the same that would do the trick. NOT.





I did find five sets that wouldn't work. Laying them against the fabric showed which size was better but none looked exactly right.




These two below were the only real possibilities however, one is too simple and the other too glitzy which meant - DARN - off to Fabricland.




When I got there, buttons were on sale 50% off. Perfect. I bought two cards of two. I did NOT buy any extra buttons. The one on the left was not glitzy but was still too fancy for the fabric. The one on the right had enough texture to make it interesting without taking over.




Here's a detail shot of the ones I used so you can see what I mean. They're quite nice. Hmm... perhaps I should have bought more. NO - I have enough. I have enough. I have enough. I'll just keep repeating this mantra.




The original buttons were not only the wrong flavour, they were too small and spaced too far apart to make any kind of statement. In the image below, I put the black ones along side. You can see how vastly different this looks.

And here they are sewn on. While you might not agree, - and you're fully entitled to your opinion - I think the black ones look far and beyond better. It could be because I'm just not a glitzy girl. I prefer my shine to be the diamonds on my fingers rather than buttons on my breast.




Problem number two was the fur cuffs. If you have wide hips like I do, then the last thing you need is additional inches right at hip level which is exactly where the cuffs were when my arms were down.




Luckily, the fur was basted in place with large stitches and easily removed. Here's the cuff before and then after. Again - IMHO - much better.

I woke the boys up fifteen minutes early yesterday morning so they could take pictures of me in the outfit before I left for church (They go to a later services) only they were too sleepy to wait until I was smiling and ready. Excuse the grumpy looks AND the red face. I accidentally had gluten last week - several times. It was not labelled on a spice mix that I bought, mixed into a dish, and ate repeatedly with the left overs. It took me a bit to figure out what the problem was. One of the symptoms I get is a red face and a rash and the longer I'm away from eating gluten, the redder my skin gets when I do have some. It should settle down by mid week. It takes a few days for the gluten to work out of my system.

Below is the skirt with a knit top and the necklace I bought on holidays. This is the length of short skirt that works for my body shape because it hits at a point where my leg narrows. I'm comfortable wearing a short skirt at this body weight which is three sizes smaller than the last time I tried this style on. When I gain weight, it goes on my hips. When I'm heavier, I look like a ball on stilts in a short skirt.

Here's the jacket unbuttoned. Done up, it's just a little bit snug - a few more pounds and it'll look even better. Maybe next winter. Maybe never. This is a fun garment. Inexpensive and something that is "in" right now and mostly likely "out" next year, at least the coat. I've always liked black and white checked fabric so I'd probably still wear the skirt if it fits ALTHOUGH...




... on my figure type, a dark bottom and a lighter top is a much better look. I have some dark green lace left from the outfit that I made for my daughter's wedding. I've been thinking about a short skirt made from it.

Today, I need to take pictures of the pieces for my exhibit and get them to the curator for an upcoming newsletter. They don't have to be professional shots - just good ones. Thank goodness. Then, there is some tax information to fill out for the previous quarter. I only have one more of these to do for the end of the year to finalize closing the business UNLESS I come up with another brainy idea but so far, nothing.

I thought about Susan Being Snippy's suggestion to write a book. It intrigues me but I've done that already. It's not a money maker. I did ponder a title - Fashion After Forty: From Frumpy to Fabulous. Sounds fine. Completely subjective though.

After the photos and paperwork, I want to tidy up the studio and work on finishing either the bra or the t-shirt. I'm ready to start something new but can't do that until I finish the work in progress. I did a lot of knitting on the weekend and finished the main part of the capelet. Before the meetings tomorrow, I want to pick up the stitches for the collar band, hopefully. I think my list is longer than the time allotted.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - second hand shopping, a fun find at a great price