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Monthly Archives: August 2017

WIP Wednesday: The Not-Sewing Part of Sewing

30 Wednesday Aug 2017

Posted by STH in Uncategorized

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

mending, SCRAP Tri-Cities, sewing, WIP Wednesday

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WIP = Work in Progress

Happy Wednesday!

I have been busy doing everything sewing-related that doesn’t involve actual sewing this week.

I’ve more or less finished my fabric database in Evernote (I thought I was finished, but then happened to look over to my left and notice a couple more yards I’d put in a project bag).  89 pieces of fabric!  No idea how many yards that is yet, but will update my Excel spreadsheet this week and figure it out.

Stashbusting has taken a definite hit lately, what with being out of town and that $2/lb. fabric sale at SCRAP right before we went on vacation.  And then there’s that fabulous turquoise batik in the photo above–that was a curtain that I got for free from my Buy Nothing Facebook group.  I do love me a bargain, but my stash closet overfloweth.  The plan for September definitely calls for more sewing and less acquiring!

I also sorted and organized my stash as I catalogued it.  This is the bulk of it right here:

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As an aside, I tried REALLY HARD to buy some fabric while in the UK and just had a terrible time managing to do so.  I went out on three separate excursions to find quilting shops that Google assured me were there and couldn’t find any of them.  The fabric store I did find in central London didn’t have anything that grabbed me, though my partner and I did spend a minute admiring the gorgeous £100/meter tweeds.  It wasn’t until our day trip to Cambridge that I stumbled on a quilt shop by accident that had some fat quarters that I could bring home to my sister for taking care of my cats while I was away.

I brought three meters of this home for me:

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I’m saving this one for spring fever sewing next year.

So now I’ve got all this fabulous stuff in my stash, and I’ve been pondering what to make next.  It’s still plenty hot here, and will be for at least another month, so something for hot weather makes sense, but what?  A drapey tee with that lovely rayon jersey?  A dress out of that raspberry linen?  Or a shirt out of the turquoise batik?  I spent way too much time on Pinterest yesterday considering possibilities . . . .

While I play around with ideas, I’m working a bit on the dreaded mending.  Tonight’s job was hemming a pair of pants and putting patches on my partner’s kikoys.  He acquired them on a cycling trip through Africa a good 25 years ago (!!) and the fabric they’re made of is on its way out.  He loves them, though, and wears them daily, so I’m trying to patch the tears as they happen.

Someday, both kikoys will be covered in patches and he’ll be set for another 20 years or so.

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Some of my patches.  I have so much fun stuff hiding in my scraps!

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More patches.  He may not appreciate the fish, but I enjoyed it.  🙂

Three items out of the mending pile.  Progress!

By the way, if you’re in the market for indie patterns, many sales seem to be happening right now in order to benefit Texas hurricane relief efforts.  If there’s a company you particularly like or a certain pattern you want, this would be a good time to sign up for the company’s e-mails or Facebook page to get their sale code.  Love Notions, Muse, and Schwin are three indies having sales that I’ve run across just this evening.  Time to sew that stash!

Have a great week and may your path be ever strewn with bargains.

STH

ETA:  This appears to be a public post, so hopefully the link to it will work.  This is a list of pattern companies participating in the sales; sale codes are in the comments.  Some of these sales are short-lived (I think the Love Notions one is only for 8/31), so don’t dawdle!

Further ETA for Chic Mona, and anybody else who might be interested:  On Monday, Craftsy is allowing members to view their classes for free.  Here’s a link that explains how it works.

 

WIP Wednesday: Home Again!

23 Wednesday Aug 2017

Posted by STH in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Barbican, Cambridge, City of London, Highgate Cemetery, London, Museum of London, Natural History Museum, Oregon, travel, Tube, V&A, Willamina, WIP Wednesday

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London, captured.  Picture taken at the Museum of London.

I’m back!

So happy to be home and chatting with you all again!  Travel is wonderful, but so is coming home.  🙂

We actually got home from our London trip on August 12th, but then had to turn around and get ready for an eclipse camping trip in Oregon the following weekend.  Still plenty to do and many errands to run, but things seem to be settling down a bit.

As for London, well, three weeks of adventures there is a lot to process!  We went to museums, ate lots of great food, hung out with friends, and went on three walking tours.  I took many, many pictures, just a few of which I’ll share here.  Be sure to check out Flickr for more.

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I just may have ordered some London Tube map fabric as soon as I got home . . . .

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From the Balenciaga exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum.  X-ray shows the corset built into the dresses.

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The altar at St. Mary Le Bow Church.  Tradition holds that you must be born within the sound of its bells to be a true Londoner.

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Leadenhall Market in the City of London (financial district which has a weird, semi-autonomous status–its own mayor, for example).

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From our walking tour in the City, which is a strange mix of ancient buildings and modern skyscrapers.

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The Barbican.  Wandering around this concrete miniature town on a sunny summer day may almost convince you that Brutalism can actually work as a style for residential building.  I suspect it feels like a damp, gray wind tunnel in November, though.

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Cambridge, the river Cam, and the famous punts.

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Highgate Cemetery, on a gray, wet day, which seemed very appropriate.  Our tour guide told us “there are no bad pictures in the Cemetery” and I think he was right.

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Dinos (and many, many people) in the Natural History Museum.

And a few from our eclipse weekend in Oregon.

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Our friends have 30 mostly-untouched acres near Willamina, OR, which just happened to be right in the path of the eclipse.  I took this with my back to our tent; that’s a rather green pond just beyond that tall grass there.  I was hoping to see the elk that come down here to drink, or maybe even the local bobcat, but the only wildlife we saw was a massive slug.  Welcome to Oregon!

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Eclipse watching in the meadow.

I’m hoping to get back to doing some sewing soon, though right now I’m pondering what to make and enjoying the feeling that I can sew anything I like with no deadlines.  We’ll see what idea gets me moving first.

I hope you are all well, enjoying what’s left of the season you’re in, and looking forward to the next.

STH

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