Leftover Christmas

Despite my grumblings about the class and pattern, I am happy with the way the Christmas stocking turned out.

I might make another one later in the year, closer to Christmas. I’d still like to try some of the coverstitch techniques. Now that I can see and examine an actual stocking and the placement of the fabrics, threads, and ribbons, I will be better able to plan the layout of the next one.

One of the other projects I finished during the forced hiatus from internet service was this fabric wreath:

I think I got this idea from Pinterest. When I cut strips with my die cutter, sometimes I have leftovers that are only an inch wide or so. I can’t bear to toss them. I picked up the smallest wreath frame at Hobby Lobby—I didn’t want to get discouraged halfway into the project—and tied 6” lengths of fabric strips onto it. The finished wreath measures about 12” across. I need to add some kind of ribbon and hanger to it.

[I would be happy to donate my bag of skinny strips to anyone who would like to try this.]

I am ready to move on. I cut out this pattern yesterday using some stash fabric:

This is a dead simple round-necked blouse with a keyhole opening in the back. The pattern comes in cup sizes so I’m trying it out to see how it fits. I have had reasonably good success with Butterick patterns. If it fits, it will be a useful basic that can be frankenpatterned into other styles. I am still woefully short on dressy tops. I have plenty of fabric in the stash; the tops just need to be sewn up.

I got the pieces cut and the facings interfaced yesterday afternoon before the husband and I made a trip into town. We bought a new TV for the living room. (Our children will be shocked.) I said to him that we are officially old people now, having bought ourselves new recliners and a new TV.

We try to get our money’s worth out of our purchases. His old recliner was so worn out that the seams were coming apart and he had worn a hole in the leather with the back of his head. I did some calculating on the age of the TV and figured out that we’ve had it since 2006. DD#1 was a freshman in high school (she’s 30 now) and I had saved up my substitute teacher pay to buy it. My mother came for Christmas that year, though, and she bought it as our Christmas present. It was a 34” HP flat-screen TV and it stopped working shortly before the warranty expired. Best Buy actually sent out some techs to replace the motherboard. The TV has worked perfectly since then. The husband is going to put it out in his shop.

Registration for the Sew Expo in Puyallup, WA, opens Wednesday morning. Tera and I have been comparing notes about what we want to take. Gail Yellen is not teaching there this year, sadly, but the class sessions include quite a few serger and pattern drafting classes. I hope we can get into our first choices. The classes tend to sell out quickly. I found us an Airbnb about 10 minutes from the venue.

And Robin and I have tentative plans to go to Spokane in February depending on weather conditions. This is the November trip we had to postpone, but coordinating our schedules has been tough. She subs at one of the local elementary schools and I’ve got various classes and meetings already scheduled. If we don’t do the trip in February, it will have to wait until later in the spring.