Day 3

I'm getting this in just under the wire--it's been a busy day and I should be in bed, but I'm determined to post something every day, even if it barely relates to the subject of creativity or craft.

Tonight I went to the Lighted Candle Society's annual awards banquet at the Little America with my dad because my dad is friends with two members of the board of trustees. The invite said semi-formal, and while I'm always a little unnerved by the loose interpretation of the term, I decided nevertheless to up my personal ante and wear something shiny: a black lace dress with big pink sparkly clip-on earrings that were my grandmother's.

I made the dress 8 years ago for a conference-type thing in San Francisco, which is where this post ties into the creativity theme of the blog. Granted, 8 years ago I was a little thinner, so the dress is a LITTLE too short on me now (thank goodness I was wearing a black slip and kept my legs under the table the whole night!) but it's still pretty and I think I have enough leftover lace to add to the hem without it being obvious.

I wish I could remember the pattern number. I am pretty sure it's a New Look pattern, and I'll try to get a scan of it or something to show you what it looks like. It was a pretty easy dress to make, with a cross-over v-neckline, an empire waist, and 3/4 length sleeves. For the lace one, I cut the neckline pieces, sleeves, and skirt so the hems all fell on the scalloped part of the lace. I made a bias-cut dress out of a pinkish-purple iridescent taffeta from a Vogue pattern of my sister's to wear underneath it as a lining.

It's a great dress, despite the length issue, and even if I don't have enough of that lace anymore I'm sure I can find some that matches closely enough and call it a design element instead of a stop-gap alteration... One of the women ushering the event caught me as I was going in to dinner and complimented me on my dress. She said it was not only appropriate, but also just a little sexy, because at first glance the lining looks almost nude. I laughed and said I hadn't chosen the lining for that purpose, but because I thought the fabric was pretty. She said "oh, don't apologize! I think it's great--I love your style!" I told her how I'd made it, and she said she would have to try something like it herself.

I felt completely appropriate and confident and really enjoyed my evening, not to mention the excellent salmon and fabulous chocolate fudge cake. It felt good to have a reason to wear that dress again!

Day 2

I have no plans today. To do anything but finish putting away these files, go home, get on the bike for a bit, and shower.

I HAVE been working on a couple of baby afghans for some friends, though. I made it a goal about a year ago (possibly more) to have something in my hands whenever I watch TV. I don't watch much TV but I do enjoy a few shows with my family, so when those are on or when we fire up the DVR, I'm knitting or crocheting. Nothing big, but knitting a million washcloths has certainly helped my tension, and getting back into the crocheting thing has also been helpful.

I know this is short--my brain is shot and I'm tired--but I also wanted to apologize in advance (to my two readers) if I repeat myself here. I'll try to go back and read older posts so I don't have repeats, but I guarantee nothing!

Off to the file room, and then home. I hope to finish at least one baby afghan this week and I'll post pictures and relevant links when I'm done!

Welcome to NaBloPoMo!

So I'm attempting a two-fold mission here:

1. Start blogging again because I sure as heck don't write anything in my journal more than once every couple of weeks
and
2. Start blogging here in the hope that it will motivate me to actually DO something with the free time I have for the next couple of months and the scads of raw materials hanging around my house.

Today, though, I will write a list of all the stuff I've done for my current job and possibly apply for different jobs. I am intensely frustrated here when I let myself think about it for too long, but there are aspects about this place I really do enjoy. Hard to find a balance today, though.

Really hard.

What if...

What if I made wool felt hoods and my own hat blocks and proceeded to form my own miniature hats in various colors? And then proceeded to sell the undecorated hats on Etsy or eBay for others to decorate?

Would that make me insane or brilliant?

I have no idea (I'd probably vote "insane"), but I really really enjoy doing stuff like that so I might as well give it a shot, right? Granted, finding colored fiber for the felt could be a little tricky, but it's really so much easier to shape a hat on a hat block if it's already sort of in hat form instead of a flat piece of felt. This I have learned from my very limited experience.

What about TINY hats? Like 1:12 scale? PURE INSANITY. But wouldn't it be fun to curl tiny feathers for tiny hats? Yes. Yes it would. If you're insane like I apparently am.

Motivation, where art thou?

So I finished that stupid dress and the waistline is too high. Bleh. I mean, it's a cute dress (I love the print) but if I'm constantly tugging it down so it doesn't scream "LOOK AT MY BOSOMS", it needs to be something else. Am I in the mood to remake the bodice? No. I spent WAY too much time doing it the first time. Would it be a cute summer skirt? Sure. I'd just have to add a basic waistband and cut a few inches off the hem. Maybe add some strategically placed beads or sequins to the butterfly wings just for fun, maybe in different colors so I could actually wear different colored tops with it. It's a thought...

Either way, I'm disappointed in the pattern, and with the high empire waist (not to mention the bow in back) it ends up looking a little twee on me. Oh well. Lesson learned, I suppose. :) If I keep the pattern, I'm making notes on it to remind myself not to make the same mistakes again.

I've been crocheting and knitting whenever I sit down in front of the TV. I started this habit well over a year ago and now it feels weird to sit down empty-handed. Right now I have about 7 projects on hooks or needles, most of them very simple (washcloths, potholders, afghans), so I don't get too bored with any one thing. I can switch off when my hands get tired.

I blame Internet-induced ADD for my lack of motivation to sew. Or the fact that I can't find a zipper to match this lovely rose-colored damask that is now mostly-a-dress. I get frustrated and stop sewing when things don't match or a pattern just isn't working out, and that leads to piles and piles of fabric, cut out or whole, all over the sewing room. Not pretty.

Maybe if the cable on the sewing room TV wasn't so screwy...

In any case, it's been hard to tackle even simple mending/altering chores lately and that is frustrating and makes me want to not do anything at all, and then I realize that I don't have pants, and I get frustrated and overwhelmed looking at the Pile o' Pants that need altering. HOWEVER. I did successfully alter my first pair of pants last week! I unpicked three layers of waistband (Gap isn't kidding around about waistbands) and took them in at the back waist by about 2 inches, not breaking my needle (barely) when sewing the back belt loop back on. If you didn't know, you probably couldn't tell. Altering is still my least favorite, but once I get going, I'm pretty good at it--I just have to think of it as a puzzle and my brain actually enjoys itself.

So. One pair of pants down, 5 more to go. 4 to be taken in in the same method, 1 to be hemmed. Maybe it's 2. Something like that. Like I said, once I get going...

Maybe I won't look in despair at the pile of flannel, wool, and corduroy in another month.

Threats.

This stupid dress better fit, or I'm making it into a skirt. I have no desire to redo the bodice again, but I spent WAY too much time on it to just give it away if it doesn't work. Mental notes: If you do that pattern again, just add a seam to the center back and put the zipper in THERE instead of in the side; cut out size 14 shoulders, 16 bust, and 14 everything else (don't even get me started about how annoying that is); don't do the crookedly marked tucks on the cummerbund detail...

Meh. Maybe I just won't ever make it again. I'm not happy with it. It's cute, yeah, and I added sleeves to the bodice to make it wearable for me, but ugh. It's just taken way too long to finish--I had to keep putting it away out of frustration, and I'm no slouch when it comes to reading and interpreting a pattern.

Stupid pattern. It better fit.

Funny thing...

Once I get going, I tend to stay going--laws of motion, anyone? Anyway, today I MADE MYSELF hide in the sewing room to finally finish the bright pink flannel-back satin pajama top I cut out oh, maybe October? It's done. It took me three hours of being strangely unable to focus, but I sewed the collar (I have a weakness for men's-style pajamas), the buttonholes, the buttons, and the hems and now it's in my drawer...just in time for slightly warmer weather. ha ha.

Then, since I already had the iron hot, I ironed a skirt and a blouse for my sister and a skirt for me. While I was ironing, I noticed the infamous brown butterfly dress I've been avoiding working on for months (weird bodice alteration) and remembered that it was a moderately nice early Spring day, and decided to see how far I could get on it before I had to stop and wind down for the night (which, obviously, hasn't happened yet and which, even more obviously, I'll kick myself for in the morning). I got as far as the side seams, including the dreaded side zipper, before calling it a night. All that's left is sleeves and hems, and I may just do a turned-up hem instead of a nice blind hem. Doesn't really matter--I'm just happy to have a new dress ready to wear soon!

In other news, I'm not sure if I mentioned this or not. Remember how I applied for Penland's core fellowship? Well, I got a lovely letter just after Thanksgiving telling me that they appreciated my applying but didn't have a spot for me. 88 applicants tried for four fellowship positions, and I know I'm not as good a silversmith as many of the others who applied. That's ok. A couple of weeks before I got the letter, I actually had a very strong feeling I wouldn't get it, and I felt just fine about it. I just wonder what happened to the SASE that was supposed to return my little portfolio to me...I'll get around to emailing them one of these days. I'm actually thinking of heading out there for a few weeks this summer anyway, depending on how my work situation is.

Lots to think about. Let us hope it doesn't keep me awake or result in the weird/disturbing dreams I've been having lately...