The Consolation Prize

The trip to Calgary went well. My daughter and son-in-law have a freshly painted apartment which is, in my opinion, the best way to wash the walls and clean off years of dirt. Painting gets into all the cracks and crevices and there were some that may not have been investigated since the last renovation which - based on the cupboards and color - appears to have been in the eighties. It was time.

Just down the street is My Sewing Room. It's predominately a quilt shop which doesn't interest me at all - however - they have a fabulous selection of buttons. I picked up another fuchsia triangle to replace the one used on the lime purse as well as three purple buttons. They're quite large - 2 3/4" on the longest edge - and more purple than they appear in this picture. They should go well with some boiled wool in stash.

There are four Fabriclands in Calgary, two of which are within a few blocks of the apartment. Since fabric is my favourite souvenir, I checked out the bargain centers. Above is a black and metallic silver stripe which is much darker on the reverse side. I like stripes for bias especially. The paisley-ish print is a knit. The plaid is a brushed cotton. And the fuchsia is a polyester pant or skirt weight.

I've sewn with these two fabrics before and they're fabulous which made buying more yardage very easy. I previously bought the sweater knit in grey and have this exact grey of the wrinkled cotton polyester blend which means I can make something requiring greater yardage. It presses and drapes like a dream.

These two pieces are the consolation prize. They're a flocked velvet and a lace that are both regularly $42.00 a meter and were significantly marked down but still more expensive than what I normally pay. I went shopping right after spending two hours cleaning paint out of the carpet. As I was making my way down the hallway to paint the final three bits of trim around the edge of the main door frame, the thought occurred that I was tired and that perhaps lifting the ladder over the stack of drop cloths with the paint can on top was not a good choice. Too late. The leg of the ladder hit the pile and the can toppled forward spilling paint down my face, neck, and arms, and through my clothing from bust to knees before tipping the other way and spilling down the ladder, over the pile of not spread out to protect the floor like they should have been drop cloths, through the box of paint supplies, and onto the wall leaving two thirds of the can to pool on the carpet. No fun. Totally deserving of fabric.

I hadn't planned to go to Calgary until sometime next year, possibly in May, definitely before the DOL workshop next June, and now I'm planning several trips. This time, I took twelve receiving blankets. In March, I'll go back to paint the nursery and at the end of April to snuggle the baby. Our daughter and son-in-law are expecting. LOL - I've bought a "few" baby patterns on the latest BMV sales.

It looks like I'm finished making muslins and ready to make a t-shirt. Vogue 1314 was a good choice for a basic t-shirt pattern. There have been some (pleasant) surprises that I wasn't expecting along the way. More about that tomorrow.  First, I plan to go through my stash and find a fabric with the exact stretch of the muslin material and then stitch a real t-shirt and we'll see how that goes. Hopefully amazingly well.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - babies and safe travel