Does this still work? Don't have anything to write about since it's been ages since I last did any sewing  but would like to change that this year and this doesn't seem like a bad way to start.

Not being part of a group that challenges me to make something every month might make it harder to keep on track tho so I should see if I can find some kind of online sewing group I want to join, maybe one for lapsed sewers.

I did purchase a new pattern the other day, a Kwik Sew one for a camisole with shoulder pads, so once that arrives, that may be where I start this year's sewing, making something I could actually use rather than sewing for the sake of meeting some challenge deadline. 

Leggings!

I'm not exactly the size and shape nor age to wear leggings, but I wanted to join the Christine Johnson Facebook Sewalong on making them so purchased the very well designed pattern and used some old (very old! Malden Mills Power Dry fabric and sewed them up and after a bit of tweaking (they were much too long and wide in the thigh area but a bit too tight around my calves), I now have a pair of leggings that I can wear, at least around the house, but they are so comfy that I'm definitely going to be making more!

I'm baaacccckk (cue Polgetergiest music)

Been so long since I posted that I don't remember where I left off, but just finished an outfit in time for my sewing guild's annual meeting so thought I should write about that in case anyone has been wondering what I've been up to!

I purchased a piece of denim colored knit from Fabric Mart last summer based on a swatch in my first Julie's Pick's samples, but it ended up being a lot slipperier, stretchier, and shinier than I would have liked, however I used that fabric to make a pair of Silhouette Yoga pants and a Cutting Line Designs Pure and Simple shell and after wearing those garments during the long meeting last Saturday, I have to say that it is quite comfortable plus created the "inner column" of color that our guest speaker Nancy Nix Rice had said in her book was very flattering.

The jacket is another story, though, since even though I chose the fabric from my stash at the same time I started working on my top and pants (I'm still trying to make 6pacs of clothing for the various seasons, but this was supposed to be part of my Fall collection!) and was pretty sure I was again going to use my Little Somethin jacket pattern, I didn't get around to making my jacket until the week before our annual meeting and didn't finish it until the day before our meeting, which is when I told the woman in charge of our fashion show that I was going to be another model on Saturday. I've always been big on last minute sewing, but this was a bit ridiculous even for me!

I did something even crazier than that, though, since Nancy Nix Rice taught a workshop for our guild on Sunday and I wanted something to wear with my old pair of pants made from a denim stretch fabric so I cut out and sewed another Pure and Simple shell from a piece of blue knit fabric that I'd bought to go with those pants at the Worcester Expo this year, but never had gotten around to making and I finished it in time to wear to that meeting. No pictures of that, since I kept my jacket on for most of the day, but I felt good about having a top to match my pants, another "column of color"!

All of this has gotten me back in the sewing mood, so hopefully I will continue to make a few new garments, even without those deadlines and hopefully post some stories about my creations on this site!

Another monthly report

I'm still plugging away on the anvil blocks I started working on during the Feb. Drop and Give me Twenty challenge I joined when I was stuck inside this winter, but since I can now wear something other than fleece from head to toe, I've also begun working on a few clothing projects.

First want to share my progress with my anvil quilt, though, since I am 1/4 of the way done with the quilting and binding of each block and think (hope!) it's going to end up being a pretty nice looking quilt, if I ever finish it.

I'm still trying to work on it in 20 minute segments, something that doesn't move things along very quickly, but which seems to work for me now that I've become a much more lazy quilter than I once was, in fact, I also made a Dear Jane block that I began over a dozen years ago recently and could not believe that I once used to make 6 of them each month to exchange with other quilters across the country, something I did from 1997 until 2003! I decided to take a picture of what my old and new approach to quilting projects looks like to show just how much things have changed:

I am also still making clothes, including working on a Little Somethin jacket that a woman from my American Sewing Guild group began and abandoned, but it's still not finished since it needs to be hemmed and to have the front facing sewn in place. I'm fairly happy with the way it fits and feels, though, a definite improvement over the larger, longer Little Somethin I made from some old striped fabric from my stash recently.

My other clothes sewing project in May involved preparing for a Sure Fit Designs demo that I and 5 other members of my ASG group did for the rest of our guild, however the garments I wore that day were made a couple of years ago when I first started working with that system, so they no longer fit as well as they once did, something I should have taken into account before choosing what to wear that day. At least I had a dress and vest made from my SFD patterns to show the people who attended that meeting, though, and they fit a bit better than they look in this photo, but I thought this was a good shot of the demo that I did that day, how to add parts of a commercial pattern (a Sandra Betzina vest) to a Sure Fit Designs pattern in order to create an entirely new design.