Halloween gave me a great opportunity to finally make a costume pattern I’ve had for a very long time.  Just like that backpack from 1991 this Costume Pattern dates from around this time.

Remember the tie dyed aprons I did a few entries back?  The couple I did these for tied the proverbial knot this past weekend and it was a hoot!  Everyone was in costume and it was a total blast.

The bride and groom were tie-dyed forest fairies.  Hysterical but very sweet.  Complete with tie-dyed wings, shoes, and coordinated trimmings.

I was a costume sewing fein these last two weeks.  I went to the store about 7 times and spent two full Saturday’s and a few late nights at the machine.  It was really a lot of fun though.  Jim loves his hat.

Let’s see.

Fleece, Feather, Elastic, Pink Satin, Gold Braid, Hot Pink Satin, Pink Netting, Buckram, Interfacings, Cape Green fabric, Tunic Brown Fabric…..legging material (vinyl) for fake overboots…this was a hoot!

I went to Vogue, JoAnn’s (ugh), Hancock, and Hobby Lobby.  Hobby Lobby turned out was the best.  I’ll have to remember this for next time, it was completely unexpected.

I was really aiming to make this exactly like the picture above…with the materials I could find.  Please don’t look too closely!  Whoo Hoo!  I love costumes!

Finishing up old projects.

It seems I have about 20 or so projects that are in bins, bags and boxes throughout my house.  I know I’ve tossed a few others over the years but why is it so many just hang around…unfinished?

I must have a slight case of hoarding disease.  (Speaking of which…have you seen the show ‘hoarders’?…fascinating…Mondays…8pm…watch it…).

Well.  I’ve lined up a couple of unfinished projects and I don’t care if it kills me.  I’m going to finish these up.

This first one was a companion piece to an anorak I made back in or around 1991.  Yes….1991.  This is Simplicity pattern #9585 copyright 1990.  The anorak was made, worn..and worn out years and years ago but at the bottom of a box was the cute little back-pack all cut out but never made up.

Until now.  Just two more steps to do and it will be finished.  God, that feels good.    I found some really bright green (fluorescent green?) webbing at the store over the weekend and thought it would go perfect for the straps and handle.

Most likely this will end up going to someone as a gift…some youngster out there…who knows.  The colors are just kid lov’in bright that is for sure.

One down…19 or so more to go!

So how many projects do you have lying around unfinished…can you top me?

I spent this past weekend pulling out fabric scraps and sorting through old projects.  When we were in Fairbanks this past spring I picked up the Amy Butler pattern for the Weekender Travel Bag.  A sample of the bag was in the shop and I couldn’t resist the impulse to purchase the pattern and figure on someday I’d make one.

Then I read the instructions.   Well, I’m rather fearless, so I don’t really let a little thing like Timtex or ‘Heavy Duty’ Dritz brand template plastic scare me.  I don’t even know what Timtex (with a TM) is even…so sorry if I’m going to disappoint you all.

It wasn’t until I was hand stitching closed my lining that I decided to type in Amy Butler Weekender Bag into Google when Whooooaah Nellie!  There is so much written about this very bag!  And some really fantastic looking examples.

see here, here and here….good stuff!

I even went over to Pattern Review to see what they were saying over there and sure enough a lot of people were talking about this Timtex (with the TM…of course) and how hard the bag was to make.

You know.  I even went to the store for some heavy interfacing and saw something really heavy and dreadful and to myself said “no way I’m using that stuff!”.  It wasn’t called Timtex (with the TM…just in case we don’t know it’s trademarked) so went with something on a large long roll used for shades.  I guess I wasn’t thinking about it or just couldn’t remember the sample from May.  Now after reading all this hub a lub yeah, I guess the bag was pretty stiff.  Mine works just fine though without it.

Oh well.  I thought it went together pretty easy.  It just took a little time, like anything else.  I used some leftover upholstery/drapery fabric, an old jacket zipper and two pieces of plastic canvas (finally got rid of it!) for the false bottom and only spent about $5 on the interfacing and cording.

Turns out it only made a small dent in the extra drapery fabric!  I’ll probably have to make 4 or 5 more just to use it up!

“How many more do I have of these” I said to myself after taking number 5 off of the machine.

I turn the little television set on to give me some noise.  A smart local newscaster announces that the band U2 is in town to start their North American leg of their 360 tour.  I listen more than I watch.  A flash of Bono and the Edge are seen being shuttled through a concrete canyon to a vehicle, surrounded by a crew of body guards, publicists and whomsoever else knows.  A shout about the Olympic bid…I drift off to apron number 6.

I’m not interested,  I’ll catch it on video someday I remind myself.

The band returns to the rear recesses of many happy memories.  I’ve long ago put out any thoughts of actually getting to see them again.  I’m not one to spend so much money anymore.  Earlier this year when the tickets went on sale I came to the conclusion that the asking price was just too much.  And I certainly wasn’t going to get trapped into a membership just in order to buy tickets.  Some four and five letter words were exchanged with my computer monitor at the time and I just let it be.  Wasn’t going to happen.  What ever happened to the $10 and $25 concerts of yesterday that all you needed to do was call or show up at a box office?

Snippets of a tune sneak their way in and I hum. 

..Uno, dos, tres…

...hello, hello..

Somewhere there is an end to this job I am doing for friends of ours that are getting married the last day in October.  Tie Dye and Halloween.  Only I could have friends that would wrap this combination together.  Apron number 9 and 10 now.

Somewhere the number 17 is finding its way into my day.

Seventeen aprons, a song in my head, an image of a newscast and waking up to my 17th wedding anniversary today.  ‘It’s a beautiful day…’

Trying to make a game plan for sweetness on the rest of the day and looking at my watch, I bide my time between the aprons being embroidered.  Fidgeting, I call across the hall to the next bedroom we use as an office. “honey…what time do you want to go to the beer festival tasting at Dobby’s?”

“I think it starts somewhere around two o’clock” Jim says to me.

“Okay then…let me check on the times of the movie before we go”.  I am starting to think we may not get in a beer tasting, dinner and a movie all in the same night without either a later movie or a later dinner, neither of which I’m never too fond of.  Being an early riser that I am, I’m usually falling asleep too easily after a certain hour.  I’m probably the only person on earth that would attend a 6:00am theatrical event, if ever there was that option, and be content with a coffee, hot dog and popcorn for breakfast during the show.  Sick.

As we leave the house Jim says to grab a jacket because the temperature is supposed to drop a lot tonight.  Oh I know he’s right, we could be out and about at the mall, or even the movie theater could have air conditioning capable of blasting us into a deep freeze.  Instead a blast of hot air hits us as we open the car door.

“Are you sure about this drop in temperature” I ask seeing that the gauge is nearing 87 degrees.

“Oh yeah, oh yeah.”  Jim reassures me.  I think no more of it, he’s an Eagle Scout I remind myself.  Always prepared.  It’s best to just take the advice.  Lessons of poison ivy have cured me from ever doubting my better half on matters of nature.

The beer is going down with much delight.  I am surrounded mostly by men at a table.  A beautiful twenty something in a jersey halter dress and 2 inch black sling-backs is sharing the virtues of hops and water purity.  I don’t think the men are actually listening.  Her sales are doing quite well I must say though.  Her table appears to be one of the busiest.  I like the ‘Dogtoberfest’..only for the name.  I somehow am able to get my arm, which is holding a sipping cup, into the melee and she graciously pours me a fraction of an ounce.  I taste.  I wince.  Pumpkin and vanilla flavors just have no business in beer and the Oatmeal Stout should have just remained on the truck.  I watch the men surround her.  Table 5 has the best beer of any I’m sure of it.

I really should make a new career studying social behavior.  I’m amused.

“Hey, there’s *Sharon!” Jim points out to me and we both look over the stacked cases to see the top of her head.  And for sure that means *Josh is here too.  Oh good.  This is going to be fun and now I know at least another female here.

With much of the sampling already tasted and now Josh and Sharon sharing pleasant conversation with us (we are still hovering near table 5 btw…not sure…but I just know the flawless skin on the backless dress has something to do with it.  I don’t mind.  She is beautiful).

I don’t know who asked who for what and how I ended up sharing that it was our 17th wedding anniversary and we were just planning to spend the day together doing whatever, it wasn’t long before Jim asked if it would be okay if we got something quick to eat and then try and make the earlier show.

I shared with him my concern also that I didn’t think we’d have time to do both.  For some reason I was just taking this day as it came.  It just didn’t matter to me.  I just wanted to spend time with Jim.  Whatever was just cool with me.  We can eat at Vittorio’s any other day…their butternut squash ravioli will still be there.  No worries babe.

“Well, what I mean is…” Jim reaches into his shirt pocket and hands me a ticket.  I look at the Ticketmaster Logo and think “Oh how sweet we are going to see a play”.  I look.

I look again.

“C’mon.  You’re kidding me.  How…how..” I can’t get the words out.  I’m in a state of slight euphoria.  Pinch me.  Can this be real?  Is my husband standing near table 5 handing me tickets to go see a concert for a band I’d long ago resigned to the fact that I’d just never be able to see live again?  Is this real?

“Get on your boots…baby..we are going to town!”

I look over and Sharon is taking a picture of my stunned amazement.  What a great surprise.  I need to go buy a lottery ticket.  The luck of Irish has kissed it’s way into my little corner of the world.

The show was great.

As the night winds down I promise to rejuvenate my 22 year old 4 x 6 foot poster of a silhouetted Larry Mullen Jr and hang it somewhere in my house.  I’ll subtitle it ‘Table No. 5′

…*knowing the internet, some names have been changed to protect the innocent…

September 22nd is the Autumnal Equinox.  That means there are only 20 more days left before the official start of the ‘Fall Season’ begins.

In stores you should be seeing the new collections and the colors should be close to what is in this report.  Pantone is just one color company that does a color report but I’ve found them to be the most accurate.

Just click on the photo above for the .pdf file.  Towards the back are some great notes on ‘must haves’.  Print out the second page and stuff it into your designer’s notebook or wallet (whichever one is best for you…for myself it’s most likely scrunched up in the bottom of a tote bag but that is a conversation we must have later on how to stay organized, of which I am surely not your professional resource, but I digress) so that you’ll have the colors on hand when you are shopping for fabrics.

Remember to stay away from anything that isn’t ‘In Fashion’.  You’ll notice that some colors (red, olive, and purple) have held themselves over from previous years so if you do only one thing, stay with the colors in the reports, you’ll at least be building a fabric collection that won’t quickly go out of style.  Hopefully for all of us sewers, enough time to get the sewing finished!

I thought I would wait until the 3rd episode to give my predictions for the show but somehow I just can’t.

Oh sorry.  Thought you were with me here on my train of thought.  You know.  PR.  The show.

Oh where was I? Yes, predictions.

I’m going to make this a game for myself and predict the outcome this time.  I think this show is so heavily produced that a predetermined field of favorites is selected way before any of us ever catches on.  I know.  I must be in my cynical week but after shows 1 and 2 it is just so obvious.

The show formula hasn’t changed one bit.  I’d at least have thought the players would catch on and start developing alliances like they do in Survivor but out of all these seasons there’s only been one or two ‘help me out a little here’ pleadings from friendly show-mates.

Oh well.

So here we go…

So here’s my picks.

Christopher

Shirin

Johnny

Christopher and Shirin are my outside favorites.  I did notice they both had a win so maybe there is something there.  And then my most odd pick is Johnny the former meth addict.  He does have talent and he already cracked but he came back, focused and produced some really nice designs.

Overall winner: Christopher.

Game on…let’s play.  Who are you putting your money on?

photos courtesy of Liftime television and USA Weekend.

Just a quick update on MTD.  I received the blood and urine reports this past Monday and talked to Dr. Schwartz.  All digits look good and there hasn’t been much change in the numbers since February so the best belief is an infection.

We are on now a 14 day treatment.  Poor guy is walking around like he’s straddling a soccer ball under his belly.

He got a little testy with me yesterday when I tried to help but at least he slept last night.

Now if only I could figure out a way to get this pill inside a piece of bacon fat…

When I walked the dog this morning there was a decisive chill in the air that comes this time of year.  I needed to wear a fleece jacket to fend it off.  A flock of Canadian Geese squawed above me as I rounded the park corner towards home and steam was rising on the manmade lake across the street.

I’ve walked this path a thousand times with my dog.  Every morning for the last 11 years we would get up before sunrise and venture out to either see (me) or smell (him) what the night left and just enjoy the sounds of the neighborhood coming to life.

MTD (as I call him, his name is Mike The Dog) is getting on in years and the walks have become shorter in distance but the time outside probably still has remained the same.  He can hardly walk anymore due the stiffness in his back legs.  It takes him awhile and sometimes he’ll tend to move both of those legs at once.

This past week was a little tough around the house.  MTD wasn’t doing too good and had forgotten more than a few times the house rules on where to go to relieve himself.  At one moment I ignored his urgent pantings and nose nudgings and within seconds he had let go involuntarily.

I made an appointment for Saturday to see Dr. Schwartz.  After an exam, x-rays, blood and urine extractions, and the confirmation MTD’s legs were indeed built up with bone from arthritis the belief was that he might be suffering from an infection.  I’ll know today what the lab reports say.

Sunday was an all out ordeal.  I couldn’t go an hour without the poor fur making machine conduct his circling maneuver.  At the very sound of tap..tap..tap..pause..tap..tap..tap…pant I’d run over and shuttle the beast to the door.

My eyes feel heavy from too much coffee and not enough sleep.  I have to go to work in a few minutes and I can only hope MTD will make it through the day without an accident.

“Be sure to give him some rice and chicken” the doc says to me on Saturday.

I make rice this morning and layer on some leftover chicken breast.  The cat takes interest in the chicken too but this time I’m just watching to make sure something gets down the hatch of the old dog.

MTD stands.  Eyes heavy.  A wobble.

The endings are never easy.

“Hi Cathy…I hear you sew…” came the voice over the telephone.

Yeeeesssss I cautiously answer. These revelations by the extended relationships I share are always laced with a hidden agenda.

“Well I want to make some cornhole bags for the tournament at (insert local town festival) and I was wondering if you knew anyone that sewed…and/or if you knew who all the sewers were for the (insert garment made for another insert able festival)” ya da ya da ya da. More lead in.

“Can’t we just buy them?” came my answer. Knowing full well anything made by hand these days if it can be purchased ready made was always the better choice.

But alas. I found myself behind my little Bernina Sport these last two nights sewing up 200 bean bags.

I’m tired.

I’ll need to be there for the tournament to hear the players give their reviews. Our team of cutters, sewers, and fillers could not all agree on the proper bag weight. It sounded more like a scene from the ‘Princess and the Pea’ then anything else.

I don’t even know what to think about these events that I get roped into. I guess I’m just glad they don’t happen that often. But please people. Take it from me. Spend the $150 and use your time on something else….

ugh.

I’m going to bed.

Say hello to Chloe.

Hi Chloe.

After we got back home from Oregon/California I went to pick up my dog from the pet resort where they had started a new program to adopt unwanted animals.  This was all new and I just couldn’t pass on this little kitty.

She was actually my fourth choice but once I met her I couldn’t leave without her.

She is fearless, friendly, calm, loving, a total goof ball and so far the sweetest animal I’ve ever had.

They say cats pick their owners.  I don’t know if that was the case here but there was definitely something that made me take her home that day.

And she even lets Jim pet her.  Which is saying something huge since our last two cats (now deceased) were either 1) a complete cat snob or 2) ultra shy and scared to come out and be friendly

Let’s just put it this way.  If she were a dog she would be a Collie or a Golden Retriever.

Chloe was her name when I picked her up.  What do you think?  I think it fits her although Spice Girl would probably be more appropriate name.

I’m keeping her!