Sunday, January 31, 2010

Saturday Sewing

Whenever I saw this little set of sewing supplies in JoAnn's I coveted only one thing - the pincushion in the lower left corner. Not only do I love Project Runway, I have a thing for pincushions. The rest of the stuff was not a draw; no need for them nor are they the same quality as the rest of my supplies.  I couldn't justify paying $25 for a plain pincushion. Until the other day, when I saw it marked down to $7.50. Yay!


 I'll find something useful for this little plastic case to do...maybe pencils or something.

 I had planned yesterday to be a sewing day and it was, but I'm a bit under the weather so it wasn't quite as much as I'd have liked. Tally:

  • 2 completed knit tops, a green and a brown
  • 1 halfway completed black top, with a ridiculous mistake that will take forever to rip out -  if I can do it without tearing the fabric.  It was the best knit of the bunch, too.
  • 1 experiment, on a very inexpensive knit, in drafting a draped neck. 
  • One altered Eddie Bauer sweatshirt for DH - he didn't like how long a new sweatshirt was, so I cut off the ribbing, cut two inches off the body, and put the ribbing back on.  
 

The two tops, with badly trimmed inner necklines, I must say.

I would like spend a few hours in the sewing room again today, but I don't know if that will happen. I have this gray wool to make a skirt (pictured here with the garishly shiny "static-free" lining fabric) and some fleece DS2 picked out for a new gaiter. He has some specifics I am supposed to follow - - how lovely, to have a personal seamstress at your disposal!


Hope my sewing and crafting friends made some time this weekend for their projects too!

Monday, January 25, 2010

Who needs sleep?



Yep. When I have a sleepless night this is the song that plays on an unrelenting loop in my mind. Nothing against BNL, I like them, but I could do without the soundtrack to my insomnia. While not alarmingly frequent, I have my share of restless nights. I'm going on just a few hours sleep but will be happy to nap later. I love naps.

I have several ideas for things to do today, and I'd really like to touch on all of them before tonight. No pressure, but just because I want to.
  • I have several hours of reading/researching and then some organizing and thinking to do for school.
  • I really should balance the checkbook and pay the bills.
  • I'd like to get something cut out in the sewing room, and I'm also playing with pattern drafting software, Wild Ginger. Could be amazing if I get it right. I've been checking out another one, Bernina's My Label, which actually builds your garment and puts it on a 3D model of your body, letting you view it from all angles, select fabrics, and play with lengths. 
It's pouring rain and windy. I've made a fire, I have a coffee, and I've already begun reading - there's a sofa within stumbling distance if sleep catches up with me. We'll see.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Me and Mr. Bento

I'm so excited - my new lunchbox was delivered today! He's a Mr. Bento by Zojirushi, and I love him already. You will too, look:


Here he is - soup bowl, main dish bowl, and two little side dishes.




They all stack up nicely inside the stainless container - two hot bowls on the bottom, two cold sides on the top. Snap the lid on and look how cute that is!


Here is Mr. Bento inside his zipper bag, with the "forked spoon" and its holder on the counter. The holder goes inside the bag in its own little pocket, which tickles me to no end.



Zipped up and ready to go. How cute is this? I will test it out and make some fabulously healthy and balanced lunches - stay tuned for pictures. I was going to buy the Ms. Bento, which comes in cute colors, but the soup bowl is even smaller than here with the original Mr. Bento, which is already only 9 oz so it's small. Japanese meal planning apparently calls for small side soups as opposed to soup as the main dish.


Thursday, January 14, 2010

This. Is. Delicious.

I will be making this recipe again. Quinoa Salad with Toasted Almonds.


Here's the link to the recipe from Whole Living - trust me, this is really good, and makes two servings. You can share it or put it in the fridge for lunch tomorrow.

Colorado Skiing

Bowls. Bowls are hard to explain and harder to photograph - there isn't much for scale and they're really white! They are aptly named, however, because generally they are huge scooped out bowls from which you enter from the rim and head for the bottom. They can have tree areas or be bare, they can be super fun or dangerous. There is one lift out, at the bottom of each bowl. This is China Bowl, and you can see another one in distance. I think I can name it but I'll check with DD first. 

Thanks to the two in the foreground for providing a sense of scale - or lack of one!

This one also gives a feel for how big and open bowls are.


 

Some, but not all, of my family.



Breathtaking views, and icy trees. Gorgeous. 






Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Well that was boring.

What a bad idea, to announce to the waiting world that the family blog has been turned into a public blog and then - - - go on vacation.

We're back, pictures to follow. Vail was spectacular. It was a quick trip and allowed for only two ski days for me (altitude, altitude) and three for the rest of my family, but blue skies and endless snow-capped peaks will make up for anything.

Great surprise last night:  I went into the sewing room for the first time since perhaps Thanksgiving and found a nearly completed skirt I had forgotten about! There it was, decent quality denim with a bit of stretch, two perfectly sewn kick pleats in the back, needing only hemmed and faced at the waistband. I spent about 15 minutes at the sewing machine and then hemmed and tacked while watching District 9 with DH and voila - a new skirt to wear today. Damn!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Happy New Year!

Finally, what job it has been to edit this blog! Last month I realized that none of us were paying attention to what had been, for about 18 months, a pretty active private extended-family blog. I decided to turn it into my own blog instead but first I had to:

  • edit out all the entries made by other people
  • delete all their comments (since they were all made on a private blog originally, who knows which comments should stay and which should go?)
  • edit names from the posts that I decided to keep

The result - just over 100 posts from the orginal 350 - is what's left. If anyone flips through the entire thing and thinks it seems disjointed or jumpy, just keep in mind that it is no longer whole.