December 28 Update - End of Year

The Simplicity 5190 autumnal floral dress is finished! It looks exactly like the little illustration from a few posts ago! I will wear it tomorrow and hopefully get pictures taken then.

The Grainline Moss skirt has not been cut out. So it will be 10 in 2012 after all. I'm not bothered about it at all because since it is not cut out, it will not count as an unfinished object (UFO). I will start the new year fresh with three muslins that I can then sew right off the bat. Sounds good to me.

My last projects of 2012 are two fleece dresses and one fleece sweatshirt for two children in my extended family. As of this moment they are not done but hopefully will be by Saturday afternoon when I will see them in Maryland. I guess I'm just not me unless I'm stressing myself out!

Currently reading: Wish You Were Here: The Official Biography of Douglas Adams (of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy fame) by Nick Webb and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson.

Listening to: Ceremonials by Florence and the Machine, pretty much all the time.

Most recent movies seen: Skyfall, Hitchcock, Les Miserables


Have a Happy NEW Year!!!

Happy Holidays To One And All

This past year:

Wow, what can one say. 2012 had it ups and downs. Unfortunately, it is ending on some truly tragic negatives. Which I can only hope means that 2013 will be our salvation: that real change and responsibility will be put in place to benefit all and not just some. This sentiment amazingly, refers to so many things this year, not just the obvious. We are in this together; that's the only way we prosper, as a world, a country, and as individuals.

Hug your family and friends, let them know you love them, and look forward to a new shinier year.

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!!!

December 16 Weekend Update

I had a very productive weekend, sewing-wise*:

 

I have completed my Grainline Moss skirt muslin, incorporating the new pattern alterations. It wasn't perfect but it is at the point where it will only need small adjustments in the final fabric. This time I even completed the waistband to see how it will really look, and I liked it.

I am about one third through Simplicity 5190, which will be my holiday dress this season. I like to complete garments in pieces if possible so I stitched up the sleeves, leaving the hems till later. I also completed the belt ties. Right now I'm working on the neck bands which is probably the most difficult part of this dress. With a five-day (!)** weekend next week and not celebrating the holiday with family until the 28th I believe I will have time to finish both of these completely.

*Unlike Sunni, I just couldn't work on one project at a time, this just worked better for me.

** Normally would be a good thing, but I'm paid by the hour! : (

No Sewing Here...

I’ve decided that maybe once a week I’ll write about non sewing-related things. This blog originally was for everything but has been sewing or fashion focused for quite awhile. So here’s some not-particularly-sewing-related stuff:

• Sometimes I try to take a short nap after work, always less than an hour. Yesterday, I got in bed, turned on NPR, and set the alarm for 7:45 PM. Well, I awoke at 5:30 AM!  Yup, I slept all night! Well, I HAD planned to dye my hair or either work on the Moss skirt pattern or cut out my next dress project.
  
  However, since I didn’t have to be at work until 9AM…within the next 3 hours I successfully dyed my hair (perhaps a bit too dark), deep-conditioned it, did some web surfing, and laid out the pattern pieces for Simplicity 5190, view A. I did not start cutting because I don’t actually have enough fabric for the view I want and will have to get creative.
   
• Somebody save me from Pinterest! I just noticed that I have 669 Pins, and 245 Likes. That’s a lot more than I meant to accumulate. With that many, if you can't keep track of them, how can you use them? Especially the free patterns and the recipes.
  
  So my question is, if you start to edit your boards and delete images, how does that effect the people who have linked to them from you? Do they suddenly disappear from their boards? I’d like to know because these pins are making me anxious. Anxious, like the way I get with too many unfinished sewing projects. Not good, not good.
   
• I’m really loving The Mindy Project. Have you seen it? I’ve linked to that tracks down the female cast's outfits by episode.  However, I want to know about that brown lipstick Mindy wears. I think this is it but I will not spend $48 on a lipstick! Anyway, we need more minority led TV shows. By the way, also loving Scandal. Did you see that Oval Office love scene last week? Wow.

Unique Sewing-related Boo Boo...

Last Friday night, I tested out my newly sharpened pinking shears. I grabbed about six of my completed garments and finally finished the seams satisfactorily. I had a bit of difficulty with the thicker corduroy pieces but just applied more pressure to power through the layers. At the time, I did feel a bit of numbness in my right thumb but I just kept going until done.

Three days later, the middle and interior side of my thumb still feels numb. Not completely numb but about 50% of it is. Sometimes I think it's healing and I have more feeling and then suddenly it's numb again. I've tried warm to hot water, shaking my arm around to boost circulation, and trying to keep weight off of it but nothing has worked. I did a Google search and loads of people have the same issue but no one has found a definite explanation or a surefire solution. It's not carpel tunnel but consensus is that the nerve has been bruised and that time is the only healer. As this is my right hand that I use for typing, hand sewing, cutting (scissor or rotary) this is a bit of a problem.

Update: I realize from the comments that I should have said I'm not feeling any pain. I can use my hand (and thumb) like normal, it just feels weird.

Updated update: It took a little over a month for full feeling to come back to my thumb. Strange.
Has this happened to any of you before?