Fabric Relapse

Despite the fact that I promised myself I would not go to JoAnn's, I could not stay away. The sale was calling to me. My gift card was burning a hole in my wallet. My car drove itself there. I spent a good hour in the fabric aisles. That's right, an hour. You may or may not know that home improvement stores like Lowe's, etc. make me instantly sleepy the second I pass through those automatic sliding doors. I want to nap on the lumber until whatever errand we've ventured there for is complete. JoAnn's, however, is the absolute opposite of that. I am invigorated in that store. Instant energy. I love looking at all the bolts of fabric. And even though there's usually a long line at the cutting center, I like hearing what everyone else is making too. I digress.

I purchased this black and white wavy dotted fabric intended for a dress that I pray will fit over my hips. I took this picture sideways. The print will actually be vertical.



I also fell in LOVE with these umbrellas. There was a smattering of Asian inspired prints and I just kept coming back to this one. I'm making a blouse with it, although I haven't settled on a pattern yet.




And last but not least, this fiery paisley which I think has a bit of an Indian flair to it. This is going to be a blouse as well. I've already cut it out so it's next to be sewed after vacation.



So, I'm on a sewing hiatus until we get back from Florida. I've got packing to do instead.

Also this weekend, I had a birthday party!! It was great fun. I think everyone liked all the food and drinks and we played Catch Phrase for something like 2 hours. I used to think I hated that game but it was a lot more fun than I remembered. It doesn't get played a lot with just me and John since we gravitate towards Scrabble and Sequence. But, it really lends itself to a larger group. And I wore my new skinny jeans which I think look pretty good on me. At least I hope they do! It's good to be 27.

Blouse Blunders

Lately, for some reason, I have been obsessed with short sleeve blouses. I think because the weather is warming and I can comfortably wear them without freezing. Plus, I'm pretty tired of what's been in my closet and I'm not loving the full-priced spring tops in the stores so, I'm expanding my wardrobe with my sewing skills.

Simplicity Built By You Pattern #3835 caught my eye and seemed easy enough. Famous last words. I really have a fitting problem. I'm getting ahead of myself.


My focus is on the blouse in the middle, not the backwards looking tunic on the left, or the dress I may consider making in the future on the right. I liked this blouse because it seems so simple. The sleeves and neckline are gathered with elastic which I thought would add some interest.

I needed to go ahead and use up one of the fabrics in my stash that I recently purchased. It's a black and yellow floral hawaiian print. I am slightly obsessed with black and yellow clothing, much like my obsession with short sleeve blouses. I am drawn to it like a moth to a flame. Anyhoo. I had plans to wear this on my upcoming Florida trip, because I am not typically all about the Hawaiian prints but it would be apropos in Flo, no? Not surprisingly, this is one of those fabrics that, despite it's awesome colors, I was only lukewarm about by the time I got it home and had sewed (read: screwed up) projects with my other purchases.

Anyway.... once again, I decided to cut this in a 10. I even measured the darn pattern this time to be absolutely certain it would fit. Lesson learned the first time, right? Well, I got it sewed up and was about to deal with the elastic bands when I put it on and the darn thing wouldn't fit over my hips. Blast! The arms sort of fit but they didn't have any gathers yet.

Here's where the real trouble starts. By the time I finished the sleeves, the arms were too tight around my bulging biceps and I needed assistance getting the blouse off! I really wish I could get a perfect Ashley dress form. Having to constantly strip down to make sure your project fits while sewing is a pain! Defeated by the tight arms, I threw the blouse aside in disgust. When a string of obscenities is flying in the sewing room (read: dining room), John just starts shouting things out from the spare bedroom/Xbox lair such as, "It's ok. Everything can't go right all the time. I bet you can fix it." These things aren't really calming. I gave up for the day.

Refreshed and confident, I returned to my machine knowing I could make this blouse wearable. I cut vents by the hips so it would lay flat and I nixed the elastic in the sleeves. They don't need no stinking gathers! And what do you know? It fits! Again, I didn't feel like taking off my clothes to photograph me in it but here is my chair doing a fine job as a stand in model.


I don't know how much use I'll get out of it but I think it'll look nice in Florida, and perhaps I want to feel tropical at the office.

Lesson learned again for next time? Regardless of what the pattern measures, cut a 12.

A couple days ago I promised myself I would sew up every last bit of fabric in my stash before purchasing anything new. Some of them are more than 2 years old and I just haven't found the right pattern for them. Then, as fortune or misfortune -- you decide, would have it, this weekend starts one of Joann's big sales! What am I to do? I promised. But I am addicted to fabric. It's like a drug. A healthier and probably just as expensive habit ( Though, I don't know the going rate for actual drugs these days.) I'm working out a compromise with my conscience. I got a gift card to Joann's for my birthday and I feel like it might be okay to spend that. I do need some fabric for a time sensitive project so at least I'd be assured of sewing that up right away. Dilemma.....

It's my birthday!

I'm off celebrating with steak, presents, and CAKE! Back tomorrow with an exciting blouse story. No, really. Riveting stuff.

Sundress Numero Dos

Remember that smock topped sundress with the big red flowers on it? I made another one! This is black and white paisley. Fabric is from Joann's. This could not be easier. Side seam, hem, DONE! But, I need your opinion. Because it's not a full-length maxi dress, and I already have the other longer one, do you think I should cut this off to my knees? I think it would be cute as a shorter dress. Also, at this length, I can only step about 2 feet, instead of my normal length stride. Don't get me wrong, I'm not taking tiny little baby steps here. It can just be slightly inhibiting. As in, if I had to break into a dead sprint while wearing said dress, I'd have to hike her up.

So, what do you think? Short or long? Please vote on the right-hand side there!!! I can re-hem it before I leave for Florida since it goes lickety-split.



Also, check out my new shades. They're Calvin Klein. I got them for $17 at Marshall's. SO ready for the beach!

Hoppy Easter!

I hope you all had a wonderfully sugar-charged Easter. We didn't do much here at Chez G. The Easter Bunny brought me a PedEgg. Am I the last person in the world to acquire one of these? I feel like they've been on the shelves forever. Was I finally influenced by television marketing? Those women in robes sitting on the sides of their tubs, scraping away the dead skin on their heels. Is that what did it for me? Not really. The Easter Bunny brought me a PedEgg because he knows I want to keep up my soft feet between pedicures. I don't get pedicures often. Only once or twice a year. In fact, my next pedicure will be had in Florida, 13 days from now! I didn't want the nice Asian woman painting my nails to be utterly disgusted by my feet. Thus, the PedEgg.

Have you ever used one of these before? I was under the impression that they were battery operated. You know, so all you had to do was hold it up to your foot and it would slough away the skin. Oh, no no. How wrong I could be! This thing is manual, yo. So, you scrape and scrape with a cheese grater looking file and when you're finished, you open up the egg to reveal some of the nastiest business you have ever seen. That's right. All your dead skin in a little pile. Thanks, PedEgg, for holding onto this for me! Once you get past the gross part, the PedEgg does a decent job. I got it on sale for $8.00 at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Totally worth it.

Now that you're all hungry. I want to pass along a delightfully refreshing dessert recipe. This is what I served on Easter knowing that I would be having plenty of fatty desserts this week for my birthday. It's a Lemon Tart with Blueberry Sauce from Eat Better America, which means it's low fat, low cal, high on flavor. Try it out!

The Sharper Your Knife

The Sharper Your Knife the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter and Tears at the World's Famous Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn is one of those books I picked up at random off the shelf at the library. It also has an incredibly long title. Not really knowing what to expect, I dove in. This memoir follows Flinn's journey from being laid off to enrolling at Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in France to fulfill a lifelong dream. Along the way she finds love, in life and in the kitchen.

Fun fact I learned from this book: Le Cordon Bleu has nothing to do with Chicken Cordon Bleu. It's simply French for blue ribbon. C'est vrai!

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. It was a pretty cute story and I really liked Flinn's writing (she's also a journalist by trade). This was kind of a cross between Julie and Julia and Eat, Pray, Love in that it combines cooking and a soul searching quest of an experience. It's also peppered throughout (cooking pun intended) with recipes from her time at school. These all seemed too difficult for my cooking skills; I'm no blue ribbon chef. But, they were interesting to read nonetheless. This memoir is a few years old but should you happen upon it in the stacks, it's worth the quick read it will bring you. It also made me long to go to France.

P.S. This was my 16th read for 2010!

It's April, fools!

I couldn't be happier that the first quarter of the year is behind us. January, February and March are rather dreadful months, in my opinion. I'm sorry if you were born in any of those months. They are not my cup of tea. I much prefer the warmth of spring and summer and the crispness of fall. Winter? Not so much.

I think April is going to be super fantastic for a few reasons.

1) My birthday!!! It's coming up this Wednesday. I'm not one of those to get all hung up on age. I'm still young, of course. I just LOVE cake. Cake is my favorite dessert. Maybe you didn't know that. So while I use others' birthdays as an excuse to eat cake, it tastes best on April 7th. And for leftovers over the next few days. Oh, and if it's your birthday cake, there are no calories in it for you. Double thumbs up!

2) My birthday party!! I can't even remember the last time I had a birthday party. I distinctly remember my 21st birthday. It was a Tuesday. What a bummer! But, I didn't have a party. I think my last birthday party must have been in my early teens. Nevertheless, I'm hosting a Mexican Fiesta for myself this month. Two kinds of sangria, creamy jalapeno dip, and of course, cake. What is the Spanish word for cake? Ole! (not really, help me out on this one, C)

3) FLORIDA!!!!!!! That one gets a lot of exclamation points. I haven't had any time off from work since New Years Day. Far. Too. Long. John and I are going to Ft. Myers to visit my parents for almost a whole week. Hopefully I will come back relaxed, rejuvenated, and perfectly golden brown like a s'more. (yeah right!)

See? Lots of excitement in Ashley's life. Things are looking up.