keelysews... sometimes

I can't believe it's been 5 months since I last posted! Well, ok I can because it's been hectic. Warning: Pity party bleat to follow - My Mother fell ill and died in August; the work/study thing has been busy, busy, busy; DH is still commuting to long-distance work which adds stress and makes life lonely at times; and I have 2 teens and a tween who's desperately trying to prove she too can exhibit teen behaviour. Phew!!! My hairdresser is certainly proving her worth keeping the grey at bay. Anyway, pity party over. Still no coat - which is my fault for not chasing up the proper interfacing for a while. Between Spotlight's lack of stock and the rude lack of service I received at Anne's Fabrics when I asked, it was ages before I got around to getting some. By the time I did SL had it back in stock. Plus I found a totally much more beautiful lining at the same time so obviously I was supposed to be slack take my time. It's all at Judy's house just wait...

(Apologies to Shakespeare) It's rapidly becoming winterish here and after shivering away with the knowledge that my schedule was not going to be allowing any coat sewing I came up with a brilliant plan - buy the biggest bag of Reese's Pieces I could find and bribe Judy to make it for me help me make it at her place (tho' who are we really trying to kid here - my 'help' will consist of opening packets and nodding wisely as Judy explains techniques). So, pattern - Vogue 8626 which has a nice pleated back detail, the collared version. One visit down and there's progress. A muslin has been examined, Judy has approved it and was very tactful about the modifications she will be making to fit my broad back, full bust and the hollow chest that occurs above the ample aforesaid bust. And perhaps stitching the pleats down for the first few inches. Then came the big decision. Sensible navy cashmere for which I do have a really beautiful satin lining already picked? OR t...

No sewing, no hobbies, nada. Except for a looming deadline this week, a growing collection of empty coke bottles, and one furry helper who seems to feel ignored. I'll know I've been a bad mom when the the ten year old tries this. But Friday, Friday.... I'm free for a week! (anyone else got that irritating song in their head now?)

It feels surreal today to be sitting down to work as normal when the TV is showing such terrible pictures of devastation from Christchurch. I cannot imagine the day my DH is having up there. There will be no 'normal' for some time I'm sure. I admit that, selfishly, I wish he could quit and come back home. When I felt the quake yesterday I wasn't too worried about DH. Must be over in Fiordland I thought, because our house seems to be sheltered from the northern quakes to an extent. However, the realisation that it was from Christchurch and that we had felt it strongly here underscored how big a quake it was. Luckily I was able to ring DH and get a 30 second call so I knew he was ok. However, the ongoing uncertainty and concern over his safety and well-being is wearing. I can only imagine what it is like for those who have not yet heard from family and friends and are having to face the possibility of bad news. The death toll is inevitably going to rise, and the lives of...

My plans to do a bit of sewing may have fallen by the wayside , but I have been reading about sewing. My mother had a clear-out of her sewing books and I liberated this one: I can't find any indication of the age apart from the illustrations, which I think indicate 1950's (one google result did suggest 1940). The book is in 3 parts dealing with patternmaking, sewing processes and techniques, and garment making. I've been leafing through this enough to know I want to sit down and read it fully. There seem to be copies available secondhand, but with the power of Google I did find it's also available as an e-book. Adding to the interest was this pattern tucked inside the cover. It's a supplement pattern from the May 2, 1962 Australian Women's Weekly magazine. I can usually take or leave vintage patterns, but it's quite interesting to try to imagine the woman who once pulled this pattern out to make. I wonder if she ever did? Or did she decide that adding 1/2...

My DSis recently gave me a large desk which had been left behind in the house they bought. I love the size - perfect for studying with everything spread out and, if I cleared it off, a good size and height for pattern tracing and cutting. However, the height was uncomfortable when studying, even with my office chair as high as it could go and my feet dangling in the air. After ending up with sore shoulders after just one evening something had to be done. The desk was flipped over and I realised that at some point somebody had added extra to the base. They'd attached it well too with what seemed the longest screws ever invented which had of course, rusted and stuck themselves in there forever. Annoyingly, my drill couldn't reach because the screws had been sunk so far into the wood. What to do? Fetch the hammer and saw of course. :) I cut my way down to those accursed screws, disposed of the wood and got those screws out. Well apart from the one that refused to budge which I, ah...

With a move in our future later this year, I have started removing the junk clutter in the house. Judy kindly volunteered to give me a hand with the patterns, so armed with chocolates, coffee and cola, we sat down Monday night and went though the lot. We ended up culling half of my pattern stash! 299 patterns soon to be gone (minus those Judy removed to her house...) Leaving me with the majority of my remaining 268 patterns in the drawers (the Jalies are on a shelf with the Ottobres) and another 28 'probables' in the blue box you can see in the bottom corner. At the moment these have just been shoved in the drawers and still need to be organised properly. Maybe some others will join the culled pile when that happens. :) There are also 2 Hotpatterns (my first) winging their way to me after I was inspired by both Debbie's and Michelle's results. I still have to go through my mother's even larger stash of patterns. Somehow I ended up with all of them to sort out a...

Just for Judy, some 'real' sewing at last. :) While I was tidying up the chaos of sewing bits and bobs, I came across a UFO. This was supposed to be a dress for DD1 last summer. I winged the pattern back then using the Ottobre 02/2007 tanktop and an existing dress for the skirt measurements. However, when DD1 tried it on, the top part was a bit short (oops) as well as, apparently, too high a neckline. (You may remember that DD1 and I have had that conversation before. ) The dress-to-be was therefore put to one side to be forgotten about while I contemplated what to do and whether I could be bothered digging out more of the purple cotton lycra to make another top. I think it's fairly obvious I couldn't. So yesterday, whilst scratching for inspiration, my eyes lit upon this in the pile and I decided to take another look at it. DD1 announced that she no longer liked the fabric that much, but DD2 did. I used a size P from Jalie 965 to recut the bodice and was able to us...

For some reason I've had that Bowie song going round in my head lately. You may have noticed I'm trialling a new look for the blog. What do you think? It might take me a while to get used to it. Still, at least my blog is tidy(ish) even if my house isn't. Today's weather was not summer-like at all so I actually attempted a bit of sewing accompanied by an episode or two of Mad About You. It was the perfect program to take my mind off the fact I was unpicking armhole binding. I'm resizing a dress for DD2 after DD1 'went off' the fabric. Fortuitous perhaps because it was a bit short in the bodice length for her anyway. ;) Hopefully that means some more sewing to show soon.

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all had a good Christmas. Although you'd be forgiven for wondering given the lack of blogging this year, I haven't fallen off the face of the planet. 2010 was such a busy year it simply flew past. To top it off, we found out on Christmas Eve that 2011 is bringing big changes for our family, including a shift to another city. DH will be moving early in the year to take up his new job. However, after I found out I'd been given a scholarship by the university we've decided the kids and I will hang out here until the end of the year to clear up school years, the house etc with DH popping home for visits. There's a lot of clearing out to do over the year. It is amazing how much 'stuff' can accumulate when you've lived in one house for 17 years. I started this week by dumping gifting an enormous pile of craft magazines to my friends at our regular 'girly night' and didn't come home with any. :) At some point I w...