Sweetheart Top

I actually made the Jalie Sweetheart Top (#2794) before my LA trip, but just got around to posting the review over the weekend. I love Jalie patterns because of the large size range. It's nice to know if my daughter likes the garment, I can make it for her. I love the sweetheart neckline on this top, it's just a little different than any other pattern I own and it's a fun neckline to incorporate into my wardrobe. I made my usual size "R" and it fit very nicely. I had read some reviews on PR about ladies not having to make a FBA (full bust adjustment) so that made me a little concerned, but it seemed to work out just fine for me. In the above picture, I made it as is, but after wearing it, I felt like the bust area was a little too loose, so I went back and ripped the elastic out and tightened it up (I did this by shortening the elastic). The result was a closer fit to the chest and more gathering, however this pulled the neckline even lower, tho it still covered my bra fine. Next time I will raise the neckline a tad so when I apply the elastic it won't be quite so low. This is another great Jalie pattern, so if you're a Jalie fan, you'll probably really like this one too. I will definitely be making a few more of these tops! My review on PR.

Finally LA Pictures

**Note - I don't know what is up with the formatting of blogger today - if this looks wonky to you, sorry! I tried to fix it, but for some reason I can't get the formatting to look the same - grr!

My apologies for taking all week to post my pictures. I honestly didn't take many (this is pretty much it except for a few duplicate ones that Leslie took that I already posted). I have seriously been sick tho this week. On Wednesday, I finally decided to go to the nurse treatment room at my doctor's office because my throat wasn't getting any better. Sure enough I was truly sick and was diagnosed with strep throat! Thankfully after almost 48 hours of antibiotics, I'm feeling much better. I sincerely hope no one I was around this weekend has gotten sick - if so I'm so very sorry. :-( So glad I listened to myself and went in, I would hate to be feeling awful still.

Me at Fabrics & Fabrics

Leslie at Fabrics and Fabrics

Jennifer, Jeanette, & Leslie at Alan's Fabrics (look at all those tropical prints!)

Cindy having a snack at F&S Fabrics

Fabrics & Fabrics

Fabric Covered Button maker at Kashcool

Shopping at some trim store, I forget the name

My loot (from left to right) ~ knit from Michael Levine's $3/yd, stretch woven from Mike's Fabrics $2/yd, red/white dot shirting from Fabrics & Fabrics $3/yd, mystery sweater-type knit from Kashcool $.50/yd

I wish I would have taken more pictures, but I always get so caught up in the moment that I forget to take pictures. Oh well, next time I'll try to take more - thanks for peeking!

I'm back!

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end and unfortunately that holds true with the West Coast PR Weekend. I had so much fun, I still can't help but smile about it. It was great to meet all these wonderful and talented woman in person and talk sewing for three days straight! First off, my apologies for not posting my pictures yet (the ones you see below are snagged from Leslie my roomie). I really didn't take very many and still need to get them off my camera, but I've come down with some cold/virus thing and am feeling a little under the weather. Instead of making you all wait, I decided to snag hers and show off a bit of the fun.

The trip was full of fun, fabric, and friends - not necessarily in that order of course. Leslie in Austin, dvmCindy, & I were graciously picked up by Kathy Rank at the airport. We went to the hotel, stored our bags, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and headed off to our couture hand sewing class with the famous Susan Khalje. Susan is so patient and enjoyable to work with. We learned many new stitches and she even stayed an hour later than the class was supposed to go so we could finish up all the stitches she taught us. After class we had a small group dinner at Engine Co (about 20 of us) and Susan even joined us! Then it was back to the hotel ballroom for Susan's trunk show where three PR members modeled her exquisite creations!

On Saturday we shopped downtown until we dropped and amazingly enough, I only purchased 4 different fabrics. The stores really overwhelmed me. The fabrics were pretty disorganized in most places and stacked to the ceiling. I really didn't have anything in mind, but fell in love with a few things. Total spend on fabric $19 plus tax ~ I'll post a picture of them when I get my pictures uploaded.

After a fun filled day of shopping it was time for our group dinner at Adoro (Mexican cuisine). Very tasty, but I think we took up the whole restaurant! Once dinner was over, we headed back to the hotel ballroom to show off our fabrics and play Project Runway PR style with our ugly fabrics! The game was a hoot and all the models sported some pretty "unique" outfits (that is saying it politely! LOL). You can see all the videos of each model plus read all about the fun on the thread over at Pattern Review. Once the fun was over in the ballroom, Deepika and Annika came back to our room and we chatted until the wee hours of the morning.

On Sunday, we did a little more fabric shopping at a place called F&S Fabrics. Sweet PR member Brigette drove Leslie, Veronica (verosews), and me there where we met up with Cindy and Nancy (NancyWin). They have the most expensive fabrics I've ever seen, but some very gorgeous and pretty reasonable priced fabrics too. It was a neat store, but unfortunately by this time I was so sleep deprived and just ready to go home. So off the airport I went compliments of Brigette (thank you again sweetie), but not before her lovely hubby brought us all lattes from Starbucks to recaffeinate us all for our trips home (thanks Floyd!). And I must add what a cutie pie Brigette's daughter is - in the back seat we played "I Spy" and a new game she taught me, I don't know her official name for it, but it involved us making up new colors for existing colors and she always told me "oh that's a good one!" (just a sweet and polite little girl and so fun to converse with).

Here are Leslie's pics (thank hon for letting me "borrow" them)...

Roomie Leslie & I modeling our "twin" blouses compliments of Leslie!

Shopping at Mark Levine with Cindy, Cidell, Jeanette, Me, Lilia, Leslie, & Joda

At Mike's fabrics Jennifer, Jeanette, owner Erika, & me (nice tennis shoes, huh? what a dork, but I didn't need to get a blister!)

Project Runway PR style ~ Jennifer, Cindy, me (the lovely model! lol), & Leslie

I've never been so sleep deprived in my life, but it was so worth it! I can hardly wait until the next WC weekend! I'll post more pictures later, but for now, I just need to lay low and rest so I can get back to my old self (which I miss very much!).

LA or Bust

Tomorrow marks the long awaited Pattern Review West Coast Weekend in LA! I'm so excited, tho I'm not sure how excited I will be when my alarm rings at 3am. With such an early flight out, I have to get up before the crack of dawn but it will all be worth it.

Tomorrow I'm taking a handsewing class taught by Susan Khalje as well as attending her trunk show - should be inspiring. Then on Saturday we're going to shop til we drop in the garment district of LA!!! I am not going after anything particular at this point, tho I'm sure I'll find some treasures to bring home. I would like to find some more FOE in a rainbow of colors and some stretch lace trims too. I'll share my findings when I return.

I have been a busy bee sewing lately. I made the Jalie Sweetheart top last weekend, then I made three of the same top from 4/2007 issue of Burda (the first two needed tweaking) and then I also made a dress from the same issue. Oh and a blouse from 8/2007 issue of BWOF too which I worked on slowly but surely for over a week. I will share my pictures of those garments next week when I return as I just don't have enough time today to get everything photographed and edited and still get everything around the house done that needs to be taken care of before I get into bed.

Your prayers and positive thoughts for a safe trip would be appreciated. I really am not that keen on flying and traveling away from my family makes me a tad nervous. I just pray that I'm safe as well as my family while I'm away.

Lastly, thank you for the sweet birthday wishes, you're all so darn sweet! *smooch*

Happy Birthday To Me!

Ahh, another year has come and gone (my mom is right, they go by faster the older you get, eek)! I had a lovely day that ended with my mom-in-law fixing my favorite dinner (white chicken enchiladas) and my mom baking my favorite dessert (Huckleberry Delight). I am so blessed my in-laws and parents like each other and we can share a meal together - what a fun time we had too! And of course I was spoiled with gifts by my family, but my very favorite thing I received was the card my daughter made me (she's 10 and in 4th grade). I should take a picture of it, maybe tomorrow when I dig the camera out - it's so cute with her drawings on it. On the front it says "Happy 33rd Birthday!" and inside it says:

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

You are so sweet,

and I am too!

She's such a sweet girl and I will treasure that card forever (as I do every thing they make me).

And thank you for all the birthday wishes you sent though pm's on Pattern Review, messages in my blog comments, and emails. It was indeed a wonderful day and even more so with all my sewing friends sharing the love with me. I appreciate you all so much and am so thankful for all the friends I've made that also share the love of sewing. :-)

Kai Scissors Rock!

Okay just a quickie post to declare to the world I LOVE my new Kai scissors! They cut so beautifully - I can't even describe it, so smooth and perfect! So my best advice is, next time you need new scissors, just pop on over to Kai Scissors and treat yourself ~ after all you deserve it.

*Disclaimer* I have no affiliation with Kai Scissors, just a happy customer! :-)

P.S. I hope I get the Kai pinking sheers for my birthday next week, I dropped a hint so keeping my fingers crossed (or at least some birthday $$ to buy myself a pair). :-)

I got mail!

First off, thank you for your kind responses on the "homemade" topic - I appreciate all your insight!

Well nothing perks a girl up more than a good mail today! Today I hit the mother load with my new Ottobre Woman, new March Burda WOF, and a journal from Ottobre that was sent to me as a gift from the staff for sending in photos of garments I've made (they are such a top notch company, if only every company was as wonderful as they are!).


Yesterday I went to the big Sewing Expo in Puyallup, Washington. I had a pretty fun time, tho I feel like year after year it's the same old stuff and there is lots of quilting and machine embroidery stuff which isn't really what I'm interested in. I did get to attend Sandra Betzina's seminar on unlined jackets. It was fun and she's always a hoot to listen to - she's just so down to earth and practical! I also met a fellow PR member Diane E. She's from California and came to the show to help Sandra in her booth at the show (they are friends and I'm jealous!). Diane is so fun and I wish I would have had more time to chat with her. I also bumped into another PR member Cathy - we shopped together in Portland this past fall. It was fun to see her again and hopefully we'll have another shopping adventure in Portland fairly soon.

I'm so proud of myself too because the only thing I bought at the whole show was a set of Kai scissors. They are awesome and I got the whole set for $45 (I think that was a pretty good deal). I'm excited to finally have curved tip ones to cut jump threads when I embroider stuff. The other two pairs will be very useful too of course.

I had big plans of sewing today, but instead we went to town to run errands and were gone far too long. It's now time to get dinner started, so maybe after dinner I'll get myself in gear for what I will do tomorrow. Only 12 days until I leave for the big LA Pattern Review weekend and I still have things to make - ugg, why do I leave things to the last minute????