Reflections on 2011

Dear Readers, I am a terrible blogger but sometimes life just gets in the way. 2011 was a year of challenging health problems. I won't go into detail but I had 4 hospitalizations & 3 surgeries since April. My body is failing & there's not a lot that I can do about it. I just keep on sewing & helping others as I can. So let me bring you up to date with what's happened since my last post ...

I went on a sewing retreat for my birthday with 17 internet friends from around the world. It was a wonderful 5 days/4 nights get away about 30 minutes from home. I still cannot travel but I was so blessed to have these wonderful ladies come to me. It was one of the most wonderful birthdays ever.
We sewed, we laughed, we talked far into the night, & had a delightful experience as we shared our common love of sewing, prayer, & the internet which is what brought us together. Most touching was the faith service that we held for those with cancer, survivors, & those who went on to our Heavenly Father's home. I am so blessed to have these ladies as my friends.

In November, I finished the dresses for the St Jude fundraiser. I heard that they loved the dresses & I was happy to participate in this project. I was unable to attend the fundraiser but that was okay. Then I started my Christmas sewing or at least planned to. However due to 2 hospitalizations & 3 surgeries in November, I was not able to start until December after gathering my supplies. I ended up making 38 gifts for Christmas & finished all by December 23rd. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the last 2 packages mailed until after Christmas but at least they were done. I will be posting photos of these gifts in my next post as well as the dresses that I made for the fundraiser.

Christmas was quiet & wonderful with my daughter & husband. I got 3 new sewing DVDs as well as some presser feet for my Babylock serger & a new jacket plus gift cards for some of my favorite restaurants & some jewelry. I am truly blessed.

As I think back about 2011, I realize I am not invincible. There are mistakes that I made but I learned a lot more about myself too. I feel that 2012 is going to be a better year all the way around. I have developed a love of heirloom sewing & hope to incorporate more of these techniques into my wardrobe this year. I also love my Ellisimo & my Eclipse DX serger. Both make sewing such a pleasure. In spite of health challenges, I realize that I love teaching others to sew & create garments. I don't want to be paid for this as it comes naturally to me. I must do a better job on keeping track of my commitments & learn to say "No" more often. Life is fleeting & too important to get hung up on petty details & things that we thought would never change, do. In many ways, I feel that I have grown this year both in my sewing skills & in my personal life.

So treasure the moments that you have with your family as you never know when they will be taken away. This is a special gift that has been nurtured thru experience & an investment in your future. I believe that all talent comes as a gift from God so honor this, treasure your sewing skills, & honor those around you by sharing your gift with others.

Happy New Year!!!
Marty  

Fall Sewing Craziness

This has been a very busy summer & fall is turning out to be that way too. I finished a sweet baby blanket for a friend's daughter's first birthday. She loved it. Then I'm replacing the lining in 2 pairs of pants for someone that I know from my beauty salon, Neuvo. On top of that I've been making chair bags for our church's kindergarten class & 2 dresses for a St Jude fundraiser that's due November 1st. It seems like I'm constantly sewing & loving every minute of it. I am also still doing alterations for church members & teaching others to sew on Saturday afternoons. Last week, I got my first taste of heirloom sewing by making a puffed pillow & a linen table runner. I took a class with Mary Jane Sprague & Sharie Behrquist, licensed Martha Pullen educators. I learned how to use a wing needle, join lace to lace, lace to entredeaux plus entredeaux to fabric & pintucks. I also learned how to shape lace & bias tape in a figure eight shape without any puckers. I had a wonderful time. Now, my brain is about to explode with the possibilities of projects to make as gifts. Today, I went to lunch with some friends at The Women's Exchange & gathered even more ideas. I have even figured out how to create my own lace as well as make my own entredeaux & lace panels. Oh, I don't even want to go anywhere except to sit at my sewing machines & sew. Unfortunately, I can do that for about 2 hours at a time before I get too tired. However, I've been going to our church's softball games on Thursday nights where I have been scorekeeper this season. I love softball/baseball/basketball & football games if I can go watch the game. Don't care about watching games on television. After the game, the team gathers at Sonic for a late night snack or in some cases, dinner. I sleep in the mornings & am on the go in the afternoons/evenings. Overall, life is very good. So what are you doing this fall?

No Sewing

Had great plans to sew this month but instead I did a lot of purging, cleaning, sorting, & storing some of my sewing supplies. I did cut out & embroider 18 chair bags for our church's kindergarten dayschool classroom. I had planned to get them sewed up but ended up having to put the project on hold. My hubby had surgery & was at home. I needed to spend my time helping him in & out of the bed, fixing meals, running errands, etc. All of this was very stressful which landed me in the hospital. So here I am, waiting for the doctors to determine what caused my blood pressure to crash last Tuesday, & hopefully I'll be able to go home in a few days. That's one of the challenges of heart disease is that you never know when you're going to crash. Hopefully, it won't be long before I'm able to return to my sewing machines.

A Little Girl's Dream

I was contacted last week by a friend who asked me to join "The Dream Team" of Women of Style, Spirit, & Success, Inc, a non-profit corp that works with young girls. They needed seamstresses to help with a fundraiser for St Jude Children's Hospital & I was invited to participate. One of St Jude's patients is a 7yr old little girl battling neuroblastoma who dreams of having her own fashion line of clothing. So today, we met at L'Ecole Culinaire cooking school for a tea & met the little designer, her mom & sister. We were given drawings of the designs & now it is up to us to convert those drawings into garments for a fashion show fundraiser for St Jude in September. Here are the drawings that I will be converting into clothing. This will be a fun project & a challenge to my pattern drafting & sewing skills. The pink dress will be a halter dress with sparkles on the front & a full gored skirt. The turquoise & yellow dress will be a dropwaist with a collar, buttoned down the back, short sleeves & pleated skirt. I can use pattern drafting software or a commercial pattern with the details. I will get the models' measurements sometime next week.

Shopping on 4th of July at Hancock Fabrics

Had a great shopping day at Hancock Fabrics. I bought the above patterns, some thread & zippers, 1-1/2 yards of a lovely purple pinwheel rayon challis for a top (Simplicity #2599,view A)& an 18mm rotary cutter. I was pleased to get my ASG discount on all items as well as an additional 15% off of the entire purchase. It was overall a very good shopping day.

Removing Clutter

My family has told me that my sewing supplies, fabrics, projects in the works, etc are out of control. Mostly I ignore these comments but recently, I was reminded that there are others who do not have the financial means to purchase fabrics, supplies, patterns, etc. Grace Place Ministries works with women in prison in teaching them to sew as a creative outlet while serving their time. I have decided to go thru all of the many bins of fabric that I have accumulated as well as my patterns, notions, etc & put together some supplies for Grace Place Ministries. I know that physically that I will not be able to sew everything that I have so this is a way to share my love of sewing with others besides the classes that I teach. My question to you is "do you purge your fabrics, supplies, patterns, etc as you would your closets when they become too full?"

A New Top

For our ASG program, I had to find a pattern & fabric to make a top by serger. So off to Hancock Fabrics, I go. There I found a ponteroma knit (polyester/rayon) and Kwik Sew pattern #2900. I chose view C. I made two tops which took about 2 hours on the serger including doing the coverhem. It was a nice easy project for instant gratification to demo at our ASG meeting. Here are the photos of the 2 tops that I made. I can see this becoming a favorite pattern. I didn't really read the directions but here is how I put the top together.
Tutorial:
Take front & back pieces & with right sides together, lay your stay tape on the shoulders & serge. Then take the neckband & serge the ends together. Folding in half, line it up with your center back & pin. Then pin the center front & shoulder seams. Stretching gently, serge slowly until the neckband is attached. Then serge your sleeves into the armhole opening leaving the fabric open flat. Then serge your your side seams starting at the bottom of the top & going up to the sleeve end. Next set your machine up for coverstitch, & folding the sleeve hem under securing with Wonder Tape (a double sided fusible), stitch either a 2 needle wide coverhem or a 2 needle narrow coverhem. Then do the bottom of the top using Wonder Tape to hold the hem in place. To finish your top, just use the coverhem to stitch down the neckband seam allowance. Now, you're done.
Happy Sewing!
Marty