Allons-y!

The whole family is off to Phoenix today.  Our son, Jeff, is running in the P F Chang Rock & Roll Marathon on Sunday.  The race starts at 7:50 a.m, a little early for a marathon back here in the east.  If he finishes in three hours, he will qualify for the 2015 Boston Marathon which is his goal.  Yes, he has done it before.  Jeff has been training for the past several months and is ready.

Our son Kenny and his girlfriend, Patty, will be joining us and we all will be staying in Ken's sister, Nadine's, condo in Tempe.  It will be a little tight, but at least there are 2 bathrooms and three courtyards to take in the weather.  Nadine is putting Kenny & Patty on an air mattress in the garage with a space heater, good luck to them!  I can hear Kenny complaining already.  Temperatures are in the 70's during the day, just perfect, and down to 45 at night.

The sewing room organization is coming along.  This week I have been going through patterns, weeding, asking myself will I ever sew it, what made me buy it and discovering duplicates (which means I will definitely keep one since I liked it enough to buy it again).  I have been planning the layout of the room and checking out IKEA to see what would work.  Last Saturday, I visited IKEA for a couple hours to check out the furniture I was interested in.  I found out that the store will deliver (for a fee) the same day you purchase it, so the Saturday after our return from Phoenix, I'm off to IKEA in the morning.  I plan to pick up two Billy bookcases and the Malm desk which seems pretty sturdy and has a moveable return which will be great for my serger.
  I already have a smaller bookcase in the room and will add a couple other small storage pieces which I have, but want to paint first.  Lastly, I want to add a file cabinet for my patterns.  They have been in banker's boxes for the past ten years and it's time to upgrade.  The end result of my weeding patterns will help me determine the size of the cabinet.  Staples delivers for free and within a day of ordering!  I should also check out Craig's list just in case.

So no clothes shopping while in Phoenix, but I think there will be some wine tasting somewhere in the agenda.  There are some really fabulous wineries out there believe it or not.

Go Pats!

2014 RTW Fast

 

I've revived my blog (after much trouble figuring how to get back into it) and plan to post all my sewing in 2014.  Since both of my sons have moved out of the house, I am in the process of cleaning out one of my son's room and turning it into my sewing room.  So I'm moving out of the basement into the attic.  I have gone through all 700 yards in the stash,  eliminated what I know I will never sew, stripped the closet and inserted a wired shelf rack.  All fabrics have been refolded and stored by fabric content and color.  I'll post a picture soon.  I truly love these fabrics and am not afraid to cut into them,  I just need to get back into sewing all the time.  The room has more work to be done, but my goal is to finish by the end of January and start sewing again.

Anyway,  while surfing sewing blogs, I came across the 2014 RTW Fast on http://goodbyevalentino.com/2014-rtw-fasters/ .  I was always running to the mall for pants.  I live in pants, rarely wear a dress these days.  What I should have been doing is concentrating on fitting a good sloper for pants instead.  I look at my stash and am so inspired--I just need to start using it again.  By not letting myself purchase clothes, I will be forcing myself to start sewing these lovely fabrics. 

My local ASG group is also concentrating on sewing blouses/shirts this year.  I love to sew blouses, and will be running a couple meetings on pintucks and flyfronts for blouses. 

So into this RTW Fast I dive, first to finish the jacket I cut out last year, then a shirt to go with it.  After that, I will concentrate on pants.  No more short cuts/cop-outs buying clothes.  I have the skills and fabric to make the clothes I really want to wear happen.

My best wishes and happy sewing to all of you who are part of this lovely group.