Hard work with little to show

Hey, that was a great Lady Gaga concert last night, right?  But, what was up with that long football infomercial?

We are binge watching Star trek, Enterprise on Amazon, so there wasn't much time left over for infomercials.  I got the binding sewn onto the Dresden Plate quilt.  And, last night, I got half of it sewn down by hand.  And, I got the next applique block for Simply Delicious set up and ready to start.  I think Rob was surprised at how much pre-work goes into that.  But, yesterday, I found myself wondering if it wouldn't be easier to break this task into smaller bits.  But, when I'm sewing without having to stop to prep, I'll remember why I like to do it the way I do. 

And, I finished a shirt.  Remember that the teacher of the class I took over the holidays said to make three shirts as quickly as I could.  For me, that was a month.  And, I did finish in January. 

Fiscal January, anyway. 

And, if you don't ever need a rationalization like that to make a goal come true, then you are a very lucky person. 

Anyway, it's a denim shirt.  I was given many yards of denim many years ago.  And, every so often, I pull some out and make something.  Like this shirt.  The denim is a very light robin's egg blue, so it looks more like a blue oxford dress shirt, but when you touch it, you can feel the extra weight of the denim. 

 

 

Notice the collar.  Remember I've been unhappy with my collars lately, so this time, I took some width out of the collar.  And, I sewed it together and threw it away and cut another one the original size.  When I was finished with the shirt, I realized that collar is perfect for a button down.

 

Here it is from the back.  It is almost perfect.  If I'd add some curve down to the back where the back joins the yoke, I bet I could get rid of those wrinkles at the backs of the shoulders.  Maybe I'll try that sometime. 



 

 

Anyway, remember that the first shirt I made ended up ruined and so I cut it up and turned it into practice pieces?  I realized that I needed a different collar shape at the points and that taking width of the whole collar wasn't going to do what I wanted.  So, I found a collar in a David Page Coffin book and gave it a try.  It got kind of wrinkled overnight, but it's smaller at the points and frames my face better. 

 

 

And, the lady that taught the class had a unique take on sleeve plackets, so I gave that a try, too.

 

And, when I knew those two things would work, I cut out another shirt. 

 

The lady that taught the class said she can make one in three hours.  I spent about 6, including buttons and buttonholes.  Hmmmm...

 

But, can she quilt?

 

Everybody have a great Monday.  All is well here.  Work is crazy.  It's going to be crazy.  It's supposed to be crazy and they give me money to compensate for it being crazy.  So, that's enough of that. 

 

Sydney, teenager that she is, is doing well.  She works a lot and sometimes we don't see her for a couple days.  And, she's busy doing school work.  She spent all day yesterday writing a paper.  She's getting herself up and to school without my help.  She comes out of her room for meals and is generally pleasant.  And, she's participating in what is going on around the house, even if it is only peripherally.

 

But, she also takes every situation and turns the difficulty level up to the "challenging" setting.  Everything has to be pulled out of her.  She doesn't volunteer anything.  And, in every situation, she looks for the opportunity to be angry or sad.  Waaaaaaaa!

 

In other words, she's just like every other teenager in the world.  Except I can see signs of her growing out of it as she learns more and more about managing money and how much things cost and how hard it might be to be an adult, making adult decisions.

 

So, there's hope for tomorrow.

 

Lane