Flypaper thoughts Friday edition

• When your husband says, "you should sew this weekend" you have to wonder.
• Little bossy lately?
• Too long a story about the meeting at work?
• A clever man's rephrasing of slow down kiddo.
• I'll take it.
• Working on sleeves this weekend for my last Burdastyle seminar of the year 
• Interesting conversation with an old sewing buddy
• He said "I don't so much want to wear it as figure out how to make it"
• Some of that in us all
• New glasses again, now a pink, clear, purple and blue
• I love accessories and these count
• Those discount boys send things out fast
• Did ten bags of leaves this week
• About 10%
• I love trees
• Had a room built on the side of the house at an angle to go around a tree
• The only one I can climb
• Or could
• Folks sit in the living room and say "Is it me or is your hallway crooked?"
• I tell them about the tree
• What I don't say is that the Chinese say if you cut down a tree someone dies
• That's what someone told my mother
• I am taking no chances
• What do you think of the new Vogues?
• I am speechless
• Used it all up at the meeting
• They got a case of the depressions down at BMV?
• Even for Hallowe'en it wasn't funny
• May do a review just for sport
• That Stylearc is looking better by the minute
• I got hit with the domestics last weekend and made four pans of lasagne for the freezer
• How long does that stuff keep in the freezer?
• Ate it all week and now don't want to see it again for another decade
• Come by and I will give you some
• I will meet you on the curb
• Went trick or treating with the girls and family last night
• At one house the man asked if he could borrow my witch's hat to wear to work
• He is a church organist
• Not sure what denomination
• Left it with him
• Played dentist with the girls when I sat them today
• Miss Scarlett looked at my molars and said "when I grow up I am going to get a gold tooth too."
• We both like to accessorize
• Never too young to start
• "At the front"
• Maybe wrong about that

Babs, Barb and Barbie

It was a full week. 

Two days ago I put my almost 86 year old mother on the plane to go home back to Winnipeg. Protesting all the way that she doesn't need a cane but that it is the "open Sesame" of service and excellent if you want to queue jump.

My mother really is something. You would have to go a long way to find anyone, of any age, who is as cheerful or who operates as much on shear positive willpower. 

It did hit me at the airport, when I said goodbye, that I have lived my adult life away from her, although we have talked most days on the phone, and that by now there is a lot of time and distance that separates us, so much activity.

But as I watched her turn the corner through security I thought, "you are still my mommy." 

In the day-to-day of so many days now the intensity of that gets buried but it's still there, just as it always was, just like it was when I opened the back door and came home, then everyday.

I got in my car that late afternoon and turned on the radio and there was a song by one of those atonal contemporary singers where there is no tune at all and the chorus was "Hang on. Your children love you more than you know."

I had said goodbye to a son and his dear girlfriend a few days before, so I could look at it both ways.

Like I always do when I feel emotional I decided to focus on a project. You have to make yourself feel better with doing family when you miss family.

My daughter has asked me to make the little girls a bookcase dollhouse for Christmas. Barbie scale because they have lots of Barbies (some even with all body parts) and that makes it easier to play, not to display.

Let me tell you the world of Pinterest and Barbie collectors is quite the world - these folks are in deep. I looked for ideas and was quickly overwhelmed.

Now I am not a perfecto crafter,  don't be looking for a Pinterest board from me on this, so I have quickly decided to work within my limitations.

One of the things I have done is collect a surprisingly large collection of miniature wooden furniture from the knick-knack shelves of the thrift stores (now that's one weird  culture too knick-knacking), scale chest of drawers and wardrobes that are jewel boxes in disguise, rocking chairs and little tables. I have searched non-toxic paint and am going to be doing those up to match yet to be determined decor.

I have also made myself a regular on ebay, and unimpressed with the cheapo plastic furniture sold right now, have a vintage Barbie fridge coming in from Quebec, a sink from Calgary, and a stove from California being shipped to my son in Brooklyn.

The bathroom however has been a challenge.

At one point I was lurking around the house at 1:00 a.m. and came that close, that close, to cannibalizing part of the Cuisine-art for Barbie toilet parts until I pulled myself back from the ledge and came up with this, still to be glued in place and the hole in the seat cut out (once I can figure out how to do that).

This picture will give you an idea where my head is at these days:

Now that's Barbie.

Equally dramatic I finally sewed myself a pair of the Barb pants from StyleArc.

I have sort of been wimping out on this one. The pattern was named after me and I have had it for five months but didn't make it, quite honestly, because where would I go if a pants pattern named after me didn't fit or look good?

I mean what would be the plan B?

The thing is though I am, eventually, a brave person (see illustration above) so I did make a pair in some black stretch woven from Emmaonesock, black being my new muslin, without any alterations at all.

Here is a blurry picture, taken by my harassed photographer who was refinishing the dining room floor and making home made ice cream at the time, the same time.

They are IMO a perfect fit and exactly what I was looking for. A bit snug across the hips but as those who wear stretch wovens know, that loosens up in the first 30 minutes. Not sure too if I shouldn't go back and shorten them a bit too - will have to think about the shoes.

The next versions will be in different colours and easier to see:

So more on these pants later. I love them and will be making many other versions.

So that's Barb.

Next was the Hallowe'en costumes. The little girls were hopeless at standing still for measurements so in the end I lay them down on the fabric and traced around them.

Then they had to go and get pillows because the floor was too hard.

Here is Scarlett being skeptical about being a witch:

And here are the pair of them ready to be traced. The little one, Heidi, is going to be a bumble bee because she makes good buzzing noises, here she is wearing her beanie with the pipe cleaner antennae you can't see:

I made her black leggings ( we have a black turtleneck) and this bumble bee top (the witch costume took off on the broom):

And finally since this seems to be family picture day I have to share my husband's Thanksgiving "double-breasted turkey".

Leaves more for hot turkey sandwiches the next day.

Now off to lie down on the floor and draft my own witch's dress.

A surprising weekend

Not much sewing done this weekend. 

Tomorrow is my birthday and last night we went over to my daughter's for dinner.

My mother-in-law and I walked in and there was my 86 year old mother from Winnipeg, and my son and his girlfriend from New York, and both my children from here with husband and girlfriend, the grandchildren and my oldest friends, a couple I have known since university, the kind of friends who had kids the same age (nine between the two families) and are like family. My daughter said she considered a larger party but knew I would then spend the night hosting and this was better for a big birthday.

She knows me.

It was the first surprise party of my life and I was completely surprised.

The really weird thing was the feeling that this was for me. All other events I am making the party for someone else and it was strange it was for me. I kept thinking that all night.

I was so touched that they were there. 

Everyone I love most in the world in one room and the three sisters who weren't there, close in spirit. One sister sent me jewelry she knows means something to me, another wrote a really lovely card and my sister who quilts made one that is half farmland (where I grew up) and half a seascape, because that is where I have spent the other half of my life. I will take a picture this week to show you.

I felt really emotional all night and still feel that way.

Everyone is so good to me.

My mom is here for the rest of the week and I will be checking in again next weekend with my project news.

In the meantime I am just going to enjoy my family.

Until then.

Knit class on Burdastyle tomorrow

I had a blast last time and am looking forward to tomorrow.

As requested here is the link to the class.

Greek potatoes

This is Canadian Thanksgiving weekend and we have the Big Meal underway. It is traditional cooking and pretty easy.

The fact is not everyone likes some of the standards, like mashed potatoes, like my husband for instance. 

If you are looking for a wonderful alternative I have to pass on my sister's recipe for Greek potatoes. So easy and so, so good.

Here it is here.

Now back to the kitchen.

T shirts : warning strange picture alert

Over the past week or so I have been making some experimental knit shirts. 

I needed some fast sewing due to the speed of life lately, and I was in the mood to fool around a bit with some patterns I had kicking around.

Worst case scenario I figured I would have something to walk the dog in. That's where I park my wadders.

I have a fairly large dog-walking wardrobe.

I also wanted to try out some new shapes, mainly the wider body dropped shoulder styles that have been sneaking back, to see if I liked them any better than in the last iteration twenty years ago.

So here we go.

My first try was this Stylearc top, which was my first ever colour blocking attempt, owing to the general policy of trying to be on trend when that trend was about to die.  

I am also still involved in my anti-black attitude and part of my motivation was to use less of the scary black print of haunted houses (yes you read that right) that I must have bought in New York at Elliot Berman when I must have been delusional and thought I was edgy when in fact I am live in the small suburb of a small city in a small, northern province where people wear Christmas sweaters at Christmas. Without any irony at all.

Here is the pattern I used:

I made the long sleeved version (see location above).

The shape kind of threw me because it is a current shape, that I have confirmed at Target and other high end stores is IN right now, meaning the body is boxy but the sleeves are themselves skinny as opposed to boxy. This is worth noting as this is a change from the last time boxy T shirts with dropped shoulders were in. In those days your dropped shoulders dropped into wide sleeves. Some men still wear T shirts like that and so do some women who wear their husband's T shirts.

I have seen this with my own eyes. Both cases.

To distance myself from the horror of having once paid more than my mind will let me remember for fabric with haunted houses on it, purchased without irony (see location above) I inserted in some turquoise knit that I have decided is more cheerful than black ( see current phobia above).

This is what that whole experiment looks like.

Excellent for dog-walking:

The first shot is to show you how wisely I have coordinated my bra strap to my skin and the second is to show you, but doesn't, that it is one of those longer at the back tops. A style that doesn't quite grab me since it reminds me of toddlers you are trying to catch and get dressed who run around with the tail of their onsie hanging down. I look I am not quite ready to emulate.

See what I mean about the drop shoulder transitioning into skinny sleeves with the underarm wrinkles that naturally gives?

( I also want to point out that I do not have a giant head and a tiny body - the opposite in fact - but it appears my husband had that lens on the camera for this photo shoot. It gets even better, keep reading).

Structurally the one interesting construction feature of this pattern is a tiny in-seam pocket in the seam between the two parts. This takes about the same amount of time to construct as 14 T shirts and I would like to point out is not entirely useful as it is only big enough for about one bus ticket, which you can hold in your hand anyway. If you really need a chest pocket, say for a packet of smokes, something I don't need, you might want to soldier on but you really should make the pocket bigger.

If I make this again I am going to leave the pocket out.

Moving along, and now to Vogue 8597

I made this top:

I used what turned out to be a fairly emotional fine rayon knit and I can see now that I need to go back in and redo something with the hem, the coverstitch seems to have tunnelled. 

The camera never lies and I often wished it did:

Again you will note the skinny arm thing going on and that lens is still on the camera and I seem to be standing on a deck at high seas.

At least my glasses match.

And on again to my third project of a busy week. No pattern shot because this is an out-of-print so long gone I can't even find it on the site. Vogue again. And cotton lycra and longer to go over leggings which I find is a good outfit to wear on home days when you are doing the laundry or out dog walking.

Here we go on vertical shot and one when the waves were really bad, but shows the purple colour more accurately:

Now off to dry land and off to walk the dog.

Now here's a DIY for the Canadian winter

Going to rush right down to the basement and try this one right now. I mean I don't know what I would do for laughs if I weren't alive. 

And BTW standby for T shirt reviews later today.