What??

It's April 17th already.  I haven't posted since January.   I have thought of numerous things I wanted to blog about, but for one reason or another didn't.  Mostly it's because I want to post pictures when I blog.  But I don't have a good place to take pictures.  Especially when I want to take pictures of smaller items, such as a bottle of nail polish.  Clothing items I can just hang on the back of a door.   The smaller items I really have to work at getting photographed.  I enjoy blogging even if I don't have pics, so I'm just gonna do it.  lol

Fabric and Sewing and Patterns! oh my!
My sewing mojo comes and goes.  Mostly it has been on vacation, at least for the past couple of years.  Same for my knitting and crocheting mojo.  I have decided that I will go into my studio and sew every day.  (I have a dedicated room for sewing. So I can leave everything as is when I want to quit for the day and don't have to put everything away.) Even if for only 10 minutes.  I use the term sewing to include tracing off patterns and cutting out, as well as taking needle and thread to fabric.   This past week I worked a few minutes a day on McCall's 6287.  I'm making the top, view A, in black jersey, as shown on the pattern envelope.  I'll post a pic when I have it completed.  It calls for leaving some of the edges unfinished, which I don't care for.  I'll be using my cover stitch machine to finish them.   I also got a couple more pieces of fabric and will post pictures as I complete the garments.

I haven't been following all the sew-a-longs, SWAPs etc as closely as I normally do either.  :( I still have pics of a SWAP on Flickr, I had planned a few years ago and never followed through on it.  I'm thinking of updating the patterns and finishing it.  I AM interested in seeing all the jackets that have been made for the 12 jackets in 12 months challenge.  I live in Florida and rarely wear a jacket, even in the winter.  But after receiving last month's Burda, and looking through it, ironically, I only saw one pattern I was interested in sewing.  The parka on page 57.    I'd like to make it in a forrest green or dark teal.

More Challenges

I have been participating off and on in a number of challenges. My goal for July is to get everything caught up and add a couple more to the list.

The first challenge is the 1% Well Read Challenge. The goal of this challenge is to read 10 books in 10 months from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list. For you non-math people, 10 out of 1001 is approximately 1%, hence the title. The challenge will run from May 1, 2008 through February 28, 2009.Here is my list of books:
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte
The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster (I’ve already started reading)
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Cocaine Nights by JG Ballard
I know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence

The next challenge is the Self Portrait Challenge. Each month a theme is introduced and you take a self portrait using the current month's theme. This month the theme is skill. I just found out they blogged about this over on whip up.

Before I blog any further I must show a pic of my new "baby".
Yup. I did it. I switched to an Apple. Family and friends are amazed. They all know me as a Window's nerd girl. Bill Gates is my hero. I thought getting an iMac would be a pleasant change. I have mixed feelings about it. Some aspects are nice. I love the monitor and the sleekness of having everything compacted. On the other hand, it's hard getting use to the "windows" I have open deciding to switch places again, again, and again until they give me motion sickness! LOL I'm still getting used to the keyboard shortcuts.

This week so far

In a challenge I'm participating in I'm supposed to take a picture a day. I thought I would post the pics here two or three times a week and tell something about them.



This is a statue of elephants that my ex gave me for Christmas 2006. They are hand carved. I can't remember what type of stone this is. I also can't remember where I put the info card that came with it. Obviously some place where it would be safe. LOL I used to collect elephants. I have quite a few, but after a while no longer wanted to increase my collection. I only collected ones that really called to me.





These are a few of my Threads magazines. I have every issue that has been published. I LOVE going back to the older magazines and re-reading the articles.





I really like to exercise ie...lifting weights. I like my muscles getting hard and tight. And oddly enough I like the delayed soreness after I work out. This is a pic of my favorite style and brand of workout gloves. This particular brand is Bollinger. I've had other brands, but this is, in my opinion the best.




I enjoy having sushi two or three times a week. My favorite is California rolls with brown rice. I always have it with a little soy sauce and ginger. I think I like the ginger as much as the sushi.







This is Hannah Jane, my sewing goose. She was supposed to be my lawn goose, but I decided to not put her outside. She is so cute! She sits on my sewing table and advises me on my sewing. LOL On my list is to make her clothes as cute as she is. She is named after Laura Prepon's character in October Road. I enjoyed watching Laura in That 70's Show. I didn't think I would ever be able to see her as any other character but Donna. She is a really talented actress and I'm glad she got another series so quickly.




Never look down on anybody unless you're helping them up.
Jesse Jackson (1941-, American Clergyman, Civil Rights Leader)