Halloween

this year brought an earthquake to Texas! We NEVER have earthquakes. Tornados? Yes! Hurricanes? Yes! Earthquakes? Not until today (that I know of anyway!) Couldn't feel it where I live, but around Irving (Texas stadium area) and vicinity folks were making 911 calls not really knowing exactly what they were reporting. No damage and no injuries. It was mild, but I'm just sayin' "whoever heard of an earthquake in Texas?"

I voted yesterday. We have the option (I think of it as a luxury) of voting early in Texas. I know lines have been long in some places, but we must have hit the "right" time as we walked in, handed over our voter registrations and drivers license and then staight to the voting booth. So fast! YES!

The floor is finished, and I began moving furniture back into the sewing room today. I hope to post pics over the weekend. I want to frame some of my vintage pattern envelopes to hang, so I need to go through them and then decide on colors of matting to pick up at the hobby store next trip. Some will go back in boxes in case "I need them later." I also tossed some fabric scraps that I had been saving for I don't know what. It was time for them to go! I hope I am able to "rid myself" of more "things" as this "process of moving back in" progresses.

Only 3 more planks

I'm down to the last three 'planks.' There will be some tricky cutting on these so I decided to leave these final pieces until tomorrow.

Next will be getting the quarter-round down around the room to cover the cut edges of the laminate. I think I'm beginning to see the room coming together.

Have a doctor appointment in Dallas in the morning, so I won't get a lot done tomorrow. But---there's always Thursday!

Oh, and the Cowboys did get another in the Win column. Not pretty, but a win. I'm expecting the worst, however, next week against the Giants. With our injuries, it doesn't look promising.

Making Progress

I'm getting the hang of this click together floor!

Ten Boxes

of laminate wood flooring are now 'acclimatizing' (is that word?) themselves to their new home up in the sewing room. Painting is officially finished, and it's on to the flooring.

After a doctor apppointment in Dallas yesterday (that will be reserved for another post) I went by the Habitat for Humanity store. I don't know if they are all over the country; I would assume so, but, one never knows.......... For those of you not familiar with the store, they sell overstock and unused "stuff" from their home building projects. They ususally have a great supply of ceramic tile and laminate flooring. One can find cabinets, furniture, tools, toilets, doors, etc, etc. there. Anyhow, I stopped by and they were having a 15% off sale on all the laminate flooring. So I took that as a sign to go ahead and get what I needed. I think I paid about half of what I had priced at Home Depot.

I may get to start playing around with it tomorrow. I have a dental appointment this morning - routine. That means a trip back to Dallas so I can figure half a day gone today with that by the time I get there and get back.

I'm so anxious to get the sewing room back in order. I hope it works out as well in real life as it is imagined in my head!

Where are my Real Cowboys?????

Obviously not on the football field! I know we have injuries--Romo, J. Jones, B. James to name a few, but really! Have the aliens invaded? Hey aliens, who are you and what have you done with my Cowboys?

I have some hunches, but I'll wait and see.........

At least the UT Longhorns had a good showing last night against Missouri! UT #1

In the meantime, I'll go look for flooring for the room this week if all goes as planned!

Getting There

This was how I left the room yesterday. Today, all that's left is a second coat of semi-gloss on the baseboards and door facings. That will probably not get done until next week.

Tomorrow we have a family reunion at my sister's house. I've done some cooking today for that event, so I didn't have time to finish the painting "in between." That's OK.

After the painting comes the flooring. I'm still planning on the laminate wood flooring. I'll be very happy to get this project finished for several reasons. One: I'll get to sew again; Two: I can get the other rooms that now have "extra stuff" in them back in order; Three: it will be a nice sewing room if I do say so myself. I'm sure there are more reasons, but my brain is tired right now.

Have a good weekend, and I'll post again next week!

Painting and Pursley's

Hi everyone. I've spent most of the day painting. Status now is that there are two coats of paint on the walls. Next up is brush work around the doors and baseboards where I can't get with the roller. Then, it's back to get more paint. Looks like I'm going to need an additional gallon for the ceiling. Ugh, ceilings are no fun....then on to the baseboards.

I have no time limit, but I want to finish the painting soon - hopefully this week - we'll see..........

I got an inquiry from K Neal about Pursley's. It's the button capitol of the world :). Well, at least here in these parts!

Pursley's has a couple of locations I think, but I always go to the one in Duncanville at 208 N. Main. It's not hard to find. Going west on I-20 from Dallas, take the N. Main exit and go south (left) on N. Main. I'm not good at distances, but it is a few blocks down. You will see the old Ben Franklin store (with a steeple) on the left, and in the block just past the Ben Franklin is Pursley's (also on the left).

Plan a trip around lunch time. Ben Franklin's has the old fashioned soda fountain area and serves some of the best homemade Tomato Basil soup I've ever tasted. Most of their homemade desserts are WONDERFUL, too!

Happy shopping!

Deck Screws are my Friends

Just a short update on the sewing room. The floor doesn't squeak now--the capenters originally used regular nails (not even ring shank) to put the plywood decking down. As time has passed the the nails loosened and the plywood had enough give in several places to give that wonderful, very annoying squeak. Why didn't they use screws--what were they thinking? men!

I got 2.5" deck screws. At first I was just going to put in the screws close to the nails, but it became evident that it would be better to pull the "loose" nails and put in the screw at that same place. Worked well. Got all that done yesterday.

Today, the morning was the Animal Clinic. I don't think I've mentioned, but Jessie has been back with us for a couple of weeks and doing well. She's doing well, both mentally and physcially, since the accident. She still wants to talk about it - what she remembers and what she doesn't. She seems to want more hugs, but THAT IS NOT A PROBLEM for me. She will see the doctor again in two weeks. At that point it will be determined if she will need physical therapy.

Back to the sewing room--on the way home from the clinic I stopped by Home Depot and picked up paint, rollers, brush, and various odds and ends needed to paint a room. I hope to get started tomorrow after church. I filled some nail holes with spackle today and I need to do some caulking tomorrow before I break open the paint can. The color is Behr 'Stable Hay' (I think).

I forgot to mention in my last post that I had purchased some of the 4-ply silk from Fabric Mart. I got some black and some cranberry (I think that was the name of the color). It arrived on Thursday or Friday. It feels wonderful, and I LOVE the cranberry color. Not sure yet what it will become, but that was one of those deals I just couldn't let pass!

Finally - More on the Remodel of the Sewing Room

Remember this post and this post the following day? Well, I've made more progress today.

I had a lot of fun at the Sewing Retreat. It was a three day event, but my sewing buddy and I were only there 2 days. She had a doctor appointment so I brought her back for a late afternoon appointment yesterday. The weather was beautiful for us--cool mornings (some needed a jacket for an early morning walk) and 70's or low 80's in the afternoons. The screened in porch was WONDERFUL for breaks.

OK, back to the subject of this post. I didn't really plan to jump back into the remodeling project today although it has been on my mind lots since the weather is getting cooler. I just seem to do better with projects in the fall as the weather cools down a bit. So, I first began to move furniture from one side of the room to see how difficult it would be to start pulling up carpet.





Without any real plan this morning, I thought it might work if I could move most of the furniture to one side of the room, pull up that side of the carpet and pad, then move the furniture back to the plywood floor and complete the carpet removal. Hmm.



Well, the practicality of that initial plan wasn't so good. So, some furniture went into the master bedroom, some when to the stair landing and "fabric and stuff" went into the guest bathroom. YIKES!



Some furniture stayed in the room and got shifted as needed. At this point I broke for lunch.



And about 3:30, after using the ShopVac to suck up the crumbs the carpenters left and the carpet people didn't see fit to sweep up when the house was built, I called it a day in that room. (I hope I'll be able to get out of bed in the morning.)



So the carpet is now in the storage building. Yes, I drug it down the stairs and through the garage to the storage building. The tacking strips are all pulled up and in heavy paper trash bags. Most of the staples that were used to hold the padding in place have been pulled and tossed.

What's next, you ask? Well, the flooring is "squeaky" in places, so tomorrow I head to Home Depot for the approprate wood screws to try to quieten the floor. I HATE squeaky floors!!

Jacket Officially Finished

Hi all! The jacket is officially finished. The shoulder pads were sewn in and the facings tacked down yesterday. Now if the weather would just cooperate and cool down enough for me to wear it!

Our ASG Neighborhood Group is having a retreat this week. It's the same facility we used last year. So my vehicle is packed and we leave for our "adventure" about 9:30 this morning. We plan to catch up on some of our community service sewing projects. I made the Tomato Basil soup to take, and everyone else is bringing something tasty along.

It should be fun. I'll be away from blog land for a few days so I'll check in later in the week.

By the way, it was REALLY ugly, but the Boys put another one in the win column this past Sunday. Something is not right with the team this year. They should be Superbowl material, but ....................

I like the Jacket

I need to add the 1/2" shoulder pads and tack down the facing and it's done. I haven't looked for the shoulder pads, and I'm not sure that I have any on hand. I gave away lots of my shoulder pads a while back because I seldom use them.

I did a few things different that Nancy's directions. I mitered the corners at the side slits. I think it makes for a neater finish.




Here's a photo of the inside of the lined sleeve. As you can see I found gray ambiance lining--not black, but I am OK with the gray since it doesn't show anywhere. The lining is cut shorter than the sleeve. The sleeve and lining are sewn at the hem which pulls up the hem when you match the lining at the sleeve heads. I like the way this is done. I'll probably use this method again at some point.




Here's a close-up of the sleeve vent/slit.



This fabric was a bit of a challenge to sew since it was so thick. I do like it, and I think I will enjoy wearing it. I want to make another in a lighter weight fabric. I may consider lining the whole jacket next time around.

As mentioned earlier, the only adjustment I made to the size 16 was to lower the bust point 3/4".

I had to make a couple of adjustments to Sis' skirt and slacks. Nothing bad. I've finished those, and I want her to try on again before I hem both of them.

Not sure what will be up next. I really need to mow more pasture.

JIP - Jacket in Progress

I pulled out this fabric out of the stash this a.m. I remember purchasing it from C&C fabrics in Dallas. I think I paid $3 or $4/yd for it. I thought it would make a fun jacket to wear with jeans or black slacks. I guess it is considered a tapesty or something close. It does RAVEL!!!

Trying to think through this project, I decided to fuse black tricot interfacing to the fabric before I cut in hopes of cutting down on the ravel problems. "Block fusing" with a regular iron is a slow process. I did it in short pieces. I laid out pattern pieces on the fabric for one length of fabric, cut that from the full yardage and fused that portion. I think I got it done in 3 sections. I probably wasted some fabric this way, but I had plenty of fabric for the jacket, so I didn't worry much about that. Usually I'm very frugal with fabric, but I went for what I considered the "easier out" on this one.

Here is one of the sleeve sections with the fused interfacing:



The sleeves are lined so I've got to find appropriate black lining fabric in the stash. I think I have some black rayon ambiance. I sewed on it until about 3:30 this afternoon, and I'm tired. The fusing, cutting part took quite a bit of time. So, I am to the "sleeves" now and they will wait until probably tomorrow when I'm a bit more rested. So, far the project has gone pretty smooth, and I don't want to force it when I'm tired.

This is a Nancy Zieman pattern and she has written the instructions with the 10-20-30 minutes to sew approach. Sewing the sleeves starts a new section so this was a good place to stop for the day.

Stay tuned!

Ta Daa.........

Silk before:



Silk after:



Linen in its before color (beige/taupe) and in the after stage blue:



This is my first time to play with dye. I've wanted to for a while, but just dreaded the mess (or what I thought would be a mess). It wasn't a mess afterall.

I used Dylon in royal blue that I got at Hobby Lobby on Monday. I mixed it per directions and then used a plastic cat litter tub to perform the actual dying process. The dylon did not stain the tub. I used a satinless steel spoon to swish the fabric pieces. I did the rinsing outside and I only came out with one bluish fingertip (and I didn't even use rubber gloves)!

As you can see (I hope) the silk came out more of a denim blue. The linen really took the blue. I like it very much. I think I'll try red on some silk swatches and see what I come up with.

I bought some rit dye at Walmart yesterday and then started reading the directions about how it stained plastic and if you used your washer you'd have to clean with bleach. Not for me. I've ordered more dylon brand! I may experiment with some other brands as time goes on. This is really fun!!!!

I leave you today with some of the patterns I picked up at Hancocks last week during their sale.

I know I said I would

post photos of my adventures with dyes and fabric, BUT time just got away from me today and the camera is downstairs, AND if I get off the bed, the sleeping dogs might not calm back down in short order.

So, tomorrow, I WILL post pics.

I did have a good day with a jacket muslin. I decided not to deal with the vogue jacket pattern that I "tested" last week. I think I have decided that I'm just not fond of raglan sleeves (unless it is a knit garment). So that muslin went into the scrap bag to become quilt blocks.

I've had this pattern for a while. I dug out some muslin (real muslin) and cut it out. I still have one sleeve to sew in, but initial evaluation says, "I like it." The only alteration I need to make is to lower the bust point about 3/4". No problem.



Before I cut the size 16; I checked PR and didn't pull up any reviews to read. So, I just went with the 16. I have a bust of 37 so I'm right inbetween the 14 (36) and 16 (38). I'm glad I did--nice "driving" room across the back. I like the 3/4 length sleeve and how it is lined. The jacket itself is not lined. In Texas, both 3/4 sleeve and unlined are OK. We are still 85-90 degrees in the afternoons here. Also, regarding the sleeve, it is a two-piece and I like that.

If all goes well when the second sleeve goes in tomorrow, I plan to cut one from fashion fabric. I just haven't decided which fabric I'll use from the stash.

All in all, a productive few hours today in the sewing room.