keelysews... sometimes

This morning I took DD1 to the Doctors. Nothing too urgent we thought, but the only time we could get into see 'our' doctor. We ticked off the few things that needed checking and then DD thought to mention the 'stiff, lumpy neck'. Now the Doc is great and very calming, but even though it was preceded by "I don't think we need to do a...", the word 'biopsy' is one word that a mother does not want to hear mentioned in relation to her daughter! Rationally, I know he's not too worried, that we're on a monthly check-up for 6 months and often they go away by themselves.... but in my sleep-deprived irrationality, all I can think is that the possibility is still there that in 6 months if the lump is still there, or if it gets any bigger, there will be a biopsy to check for the big 'C'. I have been slightly freaked out all day. Luckily I had a paper to write to distract myself, although I'm not going to promote it as my best work. Tonigh...

Well, okay.... this post has been sitting, all typed up waiting for photos, for 2 weeks now. So, lets just call it 'Last fortnight....' :) Week 1: What does 15 minutes at a time get you? The sleeves got sewn into the check shirtdress. When DD tried it on I found it was a bit tight across the shoulders so I let the back armscye out a smidgeon to provide a bit more ease. It's still sitting on the desk waiting to be finished... Oops, you can tell this has been sitting 'folded' on my desk for a while. It still needs the hem done, belt loops, belt, and buttonholes. All those buttonholes. I dug out and hemmed a UFO - Jalie 2682, to wear out to dinner on Thursday a week or so ago. (Sorry, the photo quality is a bit rough. That's what happens when my photo helpers are all tucked up in bed.) This top was sewn over a year ago and I blogged about it then. When I looked at it I realised that I'd shaped the sides after I'd taken the original photo. It only took me...

As I've alluded to before, I'm studying full-time. On top of family life this means a lot of my time lately seems to be timetabled. Not rigidly hour by hour; more in a structured must-do list type of way. Along the way, as I feel stretched every which way, things get shoved to the bottom of the list. I've realised lately that two of my joys in life (and sanity savers), my special group of friends and sewing, have been getting ignored. Shame on me! So, having had this insight, what's a girl to do when her husband generously shares his tummy bug and it leaves her unable to focus on academic readings over the weekend? Well, I was selfish enough to keep my bugs to myself, lol, but I did risk a bit of sewing. Rated 'Easy' of course - no point in pushing my luck. The sacrificial garment in question is a shirtdress for DD1 in checked 'poly rayon stretch suiting' from Spotlight (and which melts impressively to the iron if you let it get too hot....). Both the pa...

Well, my holidays are over and I don't seem to have got any of the sewing done that I'd planned. It seems my mojo packed and went on holiday too. So, in an effort to kickstart a sewing spree, I started to tackle my DD2's woeful lack of clothing. First up was to use a piece of Mickey Mouse themed sweatshirting I had acquired from my mother. This was apparently purchased in the mid to late 80s, so it was certainly time it was sewn into something useful. Everytime I looked at this fabric all that came to mind was those really baggy 80s jackets. I started with hoodie pattern #36 from Ottobre 04/2007, added extra length to the body and sleeves and used the ungathered pockets, sleeves and hood from #34. I made a size 146 so there is plenty of growing room. Next up was the 'Emo' sweatshirt as it has been titled in our house. I had a small remnant which was not big enough to allow the hoodie DD2 wanted. A bit of digging in the stash and we came up with some white sweatshirt...

You may have noticed changes in the look of my blog over the last couple of days. I decided I was bored with my old blog colour scheme. After spending an evening playing with almost all the Blogger templates, plus having a look online to see what was available, this is what I came up with. What do you think? Any suggestions? Is the type easy enough to read? While I'm picking brains, any idea on how to change the colour of the little arrow markers that still show in green? :) TIA for any suggestions!

Yesterday we woke to snow to sea level here. As we're fairly close to sea level that meant we actually got some at our house. :) The kids were pretty excited as school was cancelled - which was good because there was no way we could get the car out of the driveway and no buses were running. Instead the kids put the drive slope to good use and had a great time sliding down on old skateboard decks. Then it was down the road for a snowball fight at the park. This may look like a pathetic amount of snow to some, but for us it's a big deal as normally it's the hill suburbs who have all the fun. Snow this low, that actually settles, only happens maybe once or twice a year at the most. It snowed on and off for most of the day - Luckily we didn't have to go anywhere. DH kept in touch with work by phone, not that many others had managed to get in. Fortunately, my exam wasn't until today or I'd have had a problem because the University doesn't cancel exams. Speaking o...

I have a lovely clean bathroom. Nothing like exam time to get that house sparkling. :) Oh, and fabric came home with me from Spotlight. Nothing too amazing - black tricot and a printed satin with skulls on. Both have been bought as linings. Yes, I'm shamelessly copying inspired by Judy's idea. I'm sure she'll forgive me. [Insert big cheesy grin here :) ] Hopefully there'll be some sewing in the next few weeks.