Sewing is for Winners

On occasion, I sew.

I'm more about the curtains and the pillows and the sock monkeys than clothes.

But I love fabric so much that I get overly ambitious every time I'm in a fabric store. This weekend, I decided I was going to tackle some of my projects.

So I took some fabric, chose a pattern, and went to work. Cutting, and measuring, and cutting, and then sewing the bodice, which has GASP! lining, and GASP! darts! I make it through.

A major advantage to making my own dress should be that I can sew it to fit me. But I don't really know how to "fit" clothes. More importantly, I've never uses this pattern before. The bodice more or less fits. The darts are a little pointy. I move on. I power through.

Time for the skirt. Easy, done. Attaching the bodice to the skirt requires some adjustment of the pleats. Done. Zipper time!

And by "zipper time!" I mean, "f%&*#$*&(*$# zipper *(R#*($ time." First it required a special trip to the sewing store, where I found it easier than usual to resist the calls of the lovely fabrics. Sewing is hard.

I get home, put in the zipper, try on the dress. Whoa bad fit, this is not going to fly. Plus the zipper is a little wonky. I remove the zipper, remove the skirt from the bodice, make the bodice band shorter, yell at T for making a loud noise, re-attach said skirt to adjusted bodice, re-attached one side of zipper. Then try to re-attach other side of zipper. Rip out, try again. Dangerously close to tears.

Decide to eat a weird organic brown rice stale marshmallow krispy instead of re-trying zipper attachment.

May Laura Ingalls Wilder was right - store bought dresses ARE special.

Current state of dress. Grr.

I got this dress on the interwebs. It required a click. And a credit card. But no frustration. Or satisfaction, which I suppose I will one day get from finishing the zipper installation. From now on, I may stick to skirts. And sock monkeys. And pillows.

Soft Spot in my Heart for Hoosiers

Sigh.

I love hoosiers (the furniture, not the Indiana fans). Every time I see one, I want to buy it.

It's because they remind me of my childhood. We always had the hoosier that was originally from my great grandparents' kitchen in the cottage on Keuka Lake. One time, I was eating ice cream, and my tooth fell out. I put it on the hoosier so I could finish my ice cream. Another time, my mom left a stick of butter on the hoosier to defrost. My little sister Kristen ate the WHOLE THING. (She was just two.)

The hoosier at right looks like it was well loved. I want to love it some more. But really, how many hoosiers can one woman fit into a 475 sq ft apartment?
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Dancing Through Life

I came across these lovely photos by Jordan Matter Photography. They look like people living life to the max - like they are actually acting out their emotions instead of keeping them inside. Of course, they're professionally trained dancers with extraordinary muscles and skills.. so that probably helps.

Enjoy the Dancers Among Us:

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Greetings in the name of the lord

Subject: GREETINGS IN THE NAME OF THE LORD

On Sun, Apr 25, 2010 at 6:51 PM, Susan Catterall  wrote:

Hello and thanks for taking your time to read this message.
I just want to know if you believe in the following......

DO YOU BELIEVE IN LIFE AFTER DEATH?  Not really. Pretty much you're dead after you have died.
DO YOU BELIEVE A SOUL CAN MAKE A HUNDRED HAPPY? Yes. But I think when you say "soul" you mean "a rich sucker".
DO YOU WISH TO BE SEEN AS A PHILANTHROPIST? No, I'm cool being seen the way I am - kooky but loveable.

if you believe in all these,reply and i will tell you more. You may want to write to CaseyEwilliams at gmail dot com. She definitely would say yes to all three of your questions, as she is a devout Catholic.

Stay blessed      I'll be sure to do that
Susan Catterall     Why doesn't your name match your Howard.Jade email address?

Take care,

Casey A Williams

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