Ahh! That caught your attention, didn’t it?! 

I have proof positive that sewing machines reproduce…

My larger antique Singer entered our household via Mme Erica.  She spied it at a garage sale, and like any dutiful daughter who knows her mom, she brought it home.  That was a couple of years ago.

And now we have a baby! 

I don’t know HOW they reproduce- but I know that they do!  Isn’t she sweet?  She is in perfect running order- she does a chain stitch, and came with a case, all the accessories and the manual! 

Mother and daughter are doing well!(The sewing table belonged to my grandmother!)

Now I need a name!  Any suggestions?

The amazing JoanneM from Miss Muslin tagged me, and like a good blogging friend, I will comply with her desire to know more about me!

Which pattern/vintage style have you been thinking about lately?   This is probably my favourite vintage pattern- and I have a lot of them! 

I have made it once- but not reviewed it..yet!   Here is the back.   I love the underbust gathering, and it has three nice darts at the elbow.  Really a well drafted pattern.  Which causes me to ponder.  Where are all those well drafted patterns in McButtVogue or SimLook?   It uses an interesting slash and gather method that I have never seen elsewhere.   I would like to use that drafting for a tee shirt, or excercise top, as I think it would be a neat feature!  For all of you techo geeks, here is the pattern layout!

What is the one place you want to visit you’ve never been before?  I’ve been lucky enough to do a fair bit of travelling.  When our girls were young, we would plan a trek every summer, either in Canada or the States.
One place that is is Very High on my to see list is California!  MyPR  friend Kathi has been “encouraging” me to visit, and sent me photo’s of great fabric stockpiling shoportunities.  We have a hiking trip planned for Peru with a bunch of friends for the winter first, then I can start California planning.

How do you relax?  Relax? What’s that?  For me, sewing is relaxing.  I think that is the way for most of the people who read this blog!  Other than that, I enjoy (in no particular order) golf, reading, skiing and geocaching.  Relaxing for me doesn’t involve sitting!  In fact I remember when the Fivemonsters whoops.. FiveBlondes were little, the only time I had the luxury to read was in the shower.  Yes I said the shower!   

What is your favorite holiday/vacation?  Truthfully, I’m  not much of a “holiday” person.  I always put way too much pressure on myself to make everything perfect, and end up stressing myself out.  It doesn’t help that our business is a 365 day a year job, so even on Easter and Christmas, we are in the barn.  I like the vacations that we sneak in – like going up for a day to Niagara on the Lake to cycle with friends, or taking a 1/2 day off to geocache with a friend.  Those are my favourites. 
If you were to change that phrase to ” what WAS your favourite vacation” – that is easy!  The time that I remember with the biggest smiles and laughs is the 2 weeks I spent with our five daughters (then aged 11-16) “vanning” our way through Europe, staying at hostels, and exploring.  We started in Prague, went across to Holland where we stayed in a convent, to Paris, sunbathed in Cannes, flew around scary curves in Nice,  gondeliered in Venice,  skiied in Austia, drank beer in Germany…I wish we could do that again!

What is/are your sewing skills you want to learn/try out? Can you knit? Crochet? Other crafting talents?   I can knit and I can crochet.  I don’t get as much enjoyment out of them as my daughters do.  I have tried my hand at pretty well every craft- I’m a pretty crafty person!  A good friend gifted me with a Cricut for my birthday!  I really want to master that this fall.

What garment/accessory do you wear most often?  I have a black/white  brocade coat that always gets complimented.  I didn’t make that.  I think though, that my leather croc purse that I made would top this list. 

How much time do you spend reading blogs(per day/week)?   Per Day- 10 minutes.  1/2 hour.  1 hour.  3 hours.  …Standing up.
“Hello my name is Connie and I am a blog addict”!!   I’mnottellingandyoucantmakeme!

Your Motto/Mantra?  ”On to the Next“  It comes from a book my husband and I both read years ago.  We can’t for the life of us remember the name!  In the book, the main character is a writer(?)or a student(I can’t even remember!)   HIs mentor, instead of praising him, when shown a piece of work  just says “…on to the next“.  Meaning, don’t dwell too long on your accomplishments, and what others think of them; instead strive to get to your next level of achievement. 

+++

There, that was fun!  Now it’s your turn…I tag any fellow blogger who was at the PR Weekends in either Philadelphia or Montreal to answer the same questions!  Come on- share time!  I’m not going to name names, cause you know who you are and I don’t want to leave anyone out “on accident” .  But link back to me when you do so that I know that you did it!

Once upon a time I had a pattern stash that was manageable.  They were kept in a box . Then I met online friends and read reviews of great outfits that I Had To Have. My pile grew and grew, fell over and magically reproduced, bearing multiple offspring.

From that was born a pattern stasher hoarder COLLECTOR. 

Don’t worry, I won’t hold it against any of you for tooo long!

For a long time I organized my collection like many of you do.  I took the insides out of the pattern envelope and filed the envelopes in a binder.  Okay, three binders- but who’s counting?!! The insides went into a freezer bag and were filed in numerical order in the real, authentic, five dollar auction sale pattern filing cabinet find.  (It used to be in a Polka Dot store) Do you Canadians remember Polka Dot?

It grew and grew.  I was organized enough to purchase patterns, but not organized enough to take them out of the envelope, and file them appropriately.  So, once again, piles grew in mysterious places. 
Like in the living room.  And on the high chair to be perused by PrincessH. 

And sometimes in the bathroom!

As well, I never knew what kind of patterns I had.  If I wanted a boatneck, vintage dress pattern, I had to leaf through the pattern books, the piles and the myriad of pattern magazines.  Then, OF COURSE  I would build new piles.  This boatneck dress, that boatneck top that could be a dress.   You get the picture.

I needed a new system, and here is what I have decided. 

1.  I want my patterns back in their envelope.  I hate not keeping them together.
2.  I am photographing the front (and some back) covers of the patterns
3.  File them numerically in the pattern cabinet
4.  Using Picasa (I may use Flickr but then I need a pro account) I created a Pattern file, and am adding all my patterns and tagging them.  For instance this dress would be tagged – women, dress, tunic, sleeveless, Butterick, 5485, empire, gathers, mockwrap.  That way I can search the pattern set for whatever parameters I choose.  I plan on printing the photos out – 4 to a page, and putting them in the binders for a visual as well. 

Are you thinking- Well I guess we’ll see her in January?!! Lord I hope it doesn’t take that long.  I am leaving most of my vintage patterns alone.  They in themselves take up one entire drawer. 

Right now I have the patterns  all back in envelopes, and photo’s taken of 75% of them.

“and they are all laying in piles on the sewing room floor!!”

I can hear my daughter saying. 

And I retort,

“Organized piles!  They are all in organized piles! See, the 3000’s are here, the 5000’s are here…where the heck did the 6-9000’s go??” 

Bhleh.  I’ll get there! 

I am loath to start tagging them in Picasa because I am afraid that there is Some Program Out Therethat will organize them better than Picasa.  I know that there is MySuff for Ipod, but I haven’t mastered it yet. And I am loath to just have them on my Ipod as I am likely to erase it on accident!  I thought that by having it online, I could access it  more easily.   I was trying to use Excel, then put it on googledocs, but wasn’t pleased with what I came up with. 

Are there any suggestions out there as to the best way to catalogue pattern collections?

Talk at you soon!
Connie

ps.  MissMuslin, the tagged post is almost done!

It’s hot today.  Hot for Ontario, heck hot for anytown!

Just a second, and I’ll tell you how hot it is.  Okay. The thermometer on the veranda says that it’s 32 degrees celcius in the shade.  Enviroment Canada says that it’s only 30.4.  That may not be hot to some of you, but for us and our animals, it’s stifling.  Our 130year old farmhouse does not have airconditioning, but there is a cross breeze and a yard full of mature trees, so it is almost bearable!  We got the major part of our workday done early this morning, so I had time to fool around with some fabric before lunch. 

Which brings me, in a verrrryyy round about way, to todays sewing update!
PrincessH is 5 months old now and is actually growing out of her sun hats.  There are some Very Cute hats for little people out there.  There are some Very Ugly ones too!

I drafted a quick pattern and in an hour came up with this. 

Front view with the brim turned up.  It is reversible!  Can you tell we are John Deere fans?!

Back view

No PrincessH, so this flower will have to do! 

Side view.  I made the back a bit narrower than the front.  It seemed the thing to do, for ease of wear for a baby!

I will have to try it on her to see if it fits!  Yes, I did do a quick little fit of a mockup a few days ago, so it WILL go around her head.  I’m not that much of an idiot!   If it fits, I will make another and post a tutorial, since there are few hat tutorials out there!   This would look so ridiculously cute in grey wool or denim for the fall! 

Oh- and the Holland/Uruguay match is on in 2 hours,  and I am going to get in a bit of waving my Ipod vuvuzela around to  further irritate hot people! 

HUP HOLLAND HUP!

I’ve been feeling under the weather for the last week and a half or so- achy, a stiff and sore neck, and that whole “I’m swimming slowly upstream in a fog”  aura, all the time.  I have so much organizing and sewing to do before next week, and all I want to do is sleep!  Don’t feel sorry for me, I know this too shall pass.  It’s just that I am never, ever sick, and I am a whiney poor-me type sicko!

I did manage to drag myself out of the slumps on Sunday to run my very first 5k race.  I’ve been training for a few weeks now, and was scared and excited to try a run.  I say “run”, cause there was no “racing” about it!  BabyGirl Lauren, who just turned 20 this week, decided the day before the run, to join me (thanks babygirl!) I think she regrets not training in the least, but she did great!

There were about 300 runners and when the race started, I felt like I was flying. 

until…..

I looked up and realized, that after about 200 metres, most of the crowd was already at the 1/2 k mark!  I’ll admit to a bit of exaggeration here, but do you know that sinking feeling that you are over your head, and “there ain’t no way out of it”? 

Yup, that was me. 

There were unfit women ahead of me- and I know they were unfit because the entire race all I saw were their asses!

I got passed by a 70 year old man at the 3.5 k mark.

I got lapped by a 10 k runner (finishing his 10 k, which started the same time as my 5k) at the 4.75 k point.

BUT

I finished!

And there isn’t anyone taking that away from me!

Here is Lauren and me after the race.  Yay us!

I found out yesterday that I was 2nd in my age group!  I’m not admitting as to how MANY women were in my age group- it was at least two!  I am going to keep running.  I found out it is something I enjoy and I actually feel good when I do it.  Getting fit will be an additional bonus, I hope.  I have a pair of Gap jeans in my room that don’t fit anymore.  It is my goal to get back into them this year.  Yes it is, and now that I have put that in print, it is a goal that has to be attained!

Sewingwise, I am wrestling with the dress from hell!   More about that tomorrow, when hopefully I win the fight…

Most of my workday involves me working on my own, in a pretty noisy environment.  A barn.  The noise level in a barn such as the one we own can range between 66 – 133 decibels.  FYI, hearing protection should be worn when the decibel level exceeds 85. Most of the time, therefore,  I should be thinking about protecting my hearing. (all you hairdryer lovers should be wearing hearing protection when you blowdry your hair by the way! hahaha)

For the past few years I have sported the adorable, bigass earmuffs over the head, look while in the barn.  No, you are not getting a photo of that!  What makes it worth it all is that I also carry my beloved Sansa MP3 player with me.

Unfortunately FM radio  doesn’t come in very well in the barn, so radio listening is out of the question a lot of the time.  I am more of a spoken word  than music person anyways.   Luckily the two library systems that I hold membership have a great array of audio books to choose from.  It is easypeasy to download  books, tranfer them to the MP3 and listen while I work.  Also- and this is a big also- it has voice recording technology.  Which means that I can tape play dialogue when I am in a show, and practice to my hearts content to the pigs.  They do, in case you are wondering, make an AMAZING audience!  They look at you intently, in large groups, but give you no feedback like, f’rinstance… “yo baby, you call that acting?” or “Get off the stage“, or, well you get the picture.  What they do, is give you the opportunity to get beyond eyes looking at you.  I mean, they are eyes, but the brains behind them aren’t there processing what you are doing or saying.  Sad, but true!  Maybe the new suggestion, instead of “pretend everyone in the audience is in their underwear” should be “pretend everyone in the audience is a pig, complete with snout and ears!”

Wow.

How did I get so far off track here? Point me in the right direction someone.  Quick!

Okay, back on track. the reason for telling you about my love for my gizmo, is to tell you that I want to cheat on it!  

I have my heart set on purchasing a Ipod Touch.  In the past I have shied away from owning one. 
A. They are expensive little toys.  My 8G Sansa (have I mentioned it is the love of my life?) only set me back about 80 bucks on sale.  B.  I don’t want to be one of those people who always has their blackberry/Ipod/insert current little gadget here glued to their ear, or in front of their face,  updating during parties, in restaurants,  crossing  the street, or otherwise ad nauseum.
C.  I really hate giving in when I have made a “stand”.  Marketing and hype are not the ways to woo me!

Lately however, I have seen reasons to rethink my stand.  Sigh.  The Touch does things that the Sansa can’t.   I sometimes wish I could Tweet or update my FB status when away from home. 
My Sansa can’t even take pictures, much less surf the web.   Both can hold photo’s, so shoving my latest PrincessH photo in someone;s  face is no issue.  My Sansa is  only good for farm work now, due to its …let’s call it distinct aroma. But really,  I actually don’t even know what else I could do with an Ipod Touch that my MP3 player can’t do!  Application wise- can I get a stopwatch, or something like that for running training?  I don’t think it has voice capability.  I know it has games, but I’d rather read a book than play a video game. So can I download ebooks and read a sentence at a time? There is no word processing, but can I send an email?  recieve one? 

Or should I stay in nerdland and be a hold out on, and realize that, indeed  the Ipod Touch does indeed represent the antithesis of productivity?

Maybe I should look into the IPad?…….

What do you like best about your Touch?  or Ipad? or MP3 player?  Or are you a ludite too?  I really need opinions here.

Have you ever read a book that hit you so hard, it almost became a part of you?  You read it, laugh, cry, question..then you read it again and again, recommend it to others, force your bookclub to read it,  write in the margins….
I have such a book in my life.

I fell in love with The Time Traveler’s Wife when it first came out  in 2003 and have read it at least once a year since.  I don’t know what draws me to it.  Perhaps the idea that love can cross time, space , and even thought.  It is an interesting mix between science fiction and romance, delves into love and loss, and, for the author, served as a metaphor for her own failed romances.  It is nostalgic, and a bit wistful.  You almost need a playbook to figure out at what point in their lives each  character is in each chapter.
It comes out in movie form next week.  I won’t be able to stand in line on opening night.  Something about a wedding happening!  Sunday night though, I will be sitting in my seat at Silver City, fearful that the movie- like most movies that I see after reading the book- will not hold a candle to the movie version of the book that plays in my mind.

Some quotes from the book

“Don’t you think it’s better to be extremely happy for a short while, even if you lose it, than to be just okay for your whole life?”

“We laugh and laugh, and nothing can ever be sad, no one can be lost, or dead, or far away: right now we are here, and nothing can mar our perfection, or steal the joy of this perfect moment.”

“But you know: you know that if I could have stayed, if I could have gone on, that I would have clutched every second: whatever it was, this death, you know that it came and took me, like a child carried away by goblins.”

What follows is digression taken to the nth degree….

That last quote reminds me so much of a “death memorial” that I have had on my fridge for at least 5 years. 

I never read memorials.  Well, almost never, apparently!  This one struck me as written by someone in love for all of her life.  I happened to see it one day, and cut it out.  The next year I saw it again- eerie no?   Remember, I don’t read memorials.  I guess someone wanted me to see it and keep it.  I don’t know who the author(?) submitter(?) is.  It was signed “lovingly and respectfully Madeline“  It is too long to copy here, but my favourite line is..

“You were the treasure in my heart, you were the one who always stood beside me, so unaware I foolishly believed that you would always be there, then there came a day when I closed my eyes and you slipped away… t

I don’t see any regret in it,  just love, and longing to feel the past once again.      I like to think I will feel like that someday- holding the love that I have in my heart with a desire to remember and relive the joy of the past.

I don’t know if the movie will meet my expectations.  Somehow I expect it won’t give me that thrill I get when I reread the book and and  the shiver of sharing the love that  that little piece of paper on my fridge gives me.    I’ll be sure to let you know though. 

So, Sunday night at the movies- I know Erica, Kate, Leah and Lauren are excited to come along.  If you are in too, let me know- the more the merrier!

How about you?  Are you looking forward to “The Time Traveler’s Wife”?  Are you usually pleased or disappointed with movies made from books you have read? 

And a cool rain threatened day at that!  Luckily, all I have planned is work, a golf game and dinner with some friends, and sewing dammit.
I don’t often like to copy my favorite fiveblondes, but since they stole the video from my Twitter tweet, I am going to steal it back.

A cute little Canadian rap from a talented duo in London.  This way you American friends get to see what my area of the world looks like!

Canadian Please!

Come on- I know you want to be Canadian!

Here I sit, waiting for the washing machine repairman- for the FIRST time in my life!
How can it be that I, approaching middle age at what is alarmingly become warp speed, can possibly have avoided that scenerio for so long?
For the past 26 years or so, I have had the same  one cycle Maytag.  Purchased second hand even(!) it has seen us through 5 cloth diapered children, countless pee soaked sheets, muddy country kids having fun clothes, and barn coveralls.  It even spent one summer performing out on the deck while we renovated the laundry room.  Yes, it has needed repairs, but they were always done be My Mike or myself.  Let’s face it- there’s not too many parts to break on a “vintage” washing machine.
Fast forward to last weekend.  Our new barn, and it’s accompanying office/laundry shower room needs a washing machine.  Seeing as it would be silly for me to have an old machine in the house and a brand spanking new one in the barn, (you all need to nod your heads in total agreement here) I dragged my mother out to look at new ones.

(Trust  me- this is excitement in our household!)
I had pretty well decided on an LG.  Not the biggest one- those “two or three sets of sheets a night” are well behind us thank you very much- but a middle of the road size 3.5 cubic feet I think.  Comparison shopper pro’s that we are, mom and I managed to get a really good deal on exactly what we wanted.  Honestly it was – lowest  price, whoops, 10 percent off that, no taxes, and oh look, a mother and daughter shopping together- lets knock another 15% off! Well kinda, sorta..
 
Saturday night Mike and I decided to install it.  No biggie- hook up and go.
Like new parents watching their baby sleep, we threw a towel in to see what would happen. 
“Filling up pretty high”
“I thought these things had load size sensors”
“Oh yes, there it goes”
then
“Umm..Connie?”
“Yes?”
“there is water pouring out the door by your feet….!”

Shoot!

Well, what I said was more like something that would make a sailor blush, but this is family reading material.  My girls could probably tell you what some of the words that came out of my mouth mean!
I had to run to read the manual while Mike sat by the machine and sealed the door with his feet.  We managed to drain the machine and set it to spin the towel out. 
“It’s supposed to spin it so much that it is almost dry.  That’s what everyone says about these things.”
“the spin cycle is supposed to be so fast that maybe we will need some extra joists put in, honey.”
“gee and I read that it will gather up the dirty laundry, wash it, hang it on the line, fold it andddd put it away” 
I don’t think my machine read the manual, because half an hour later, it was was still spinning at the same rate as our bread machine does in the first part of its cycle!
15 minutes later I had made my first ever washing machine repairperson appointment. 
At least now I know why the Maytag repairman was always so lonely!
So, now I am waiting…..     …..   ….

Answering a question…
Sarah had a question regarding how I did the “stiffening” in the lining.
Sarah, the lining has, from the flare down, three layers.  I made a pattern of that- it looked like a modified trapiziod.  Then I cut out a piece of really stiff netting and another piece of lining fabric from that pattern.  I sewed those two pieces together and did a hong kong finish on the top edge.  Basically a bias finish.  Then I layered that piece on the to lining and sewed them together as if I was underlining.  I hong kong finished the side seams there too as I didn’t want to have any netting visible.  It was very stiff to work with, but I was pleased with the outcome.

(Taking a break from wedding posting until I get some good dress photo shots!)

I have never had a fashion icon.  Movie stars– blech- I am old enough to realize that a dress that  looks good on Cindy Crawford is not going to have the same effect paraded around my left thigh!  I harbour no illusions that I am stick thin.  Tall yes – at 5′10″ and usually in heels when I am not in steel toed boots,  I can attest to that.  Good healthy farm stock says more about my figure though than, say, svelte, or trim!

So up until now, I have made my way through life with my own – non style, wearing whatever is in my closet and not thinking alot not admitting what it looks like on me.  I have been known to go for days without looking in a mirror, only to get a glimpse of myself in one and say “What the f**k?!” I can run in from the barn or field, jump in the shower and be done, dressed and ready to go to my next appointment in 7 minutes.  Note to self- this would never be touted as an admirable trait for a fashion maven!  I let others dictate my hair colour and style and even my lipstick isn’t my own.  At least I have excellent taste in perfume - thank you Michael Kors!    Honestly, if you haven’t tried this perfume yet, RUN and get some!  Even my girls steal it!   Here I go – digressing yet again.  Back to the subject at hand.

So, you may ask, where is this all leading?  Lately, I have been strangely attracted to the fashion styling of a certain prominant woman.  The First Lady of the United States. Crazy no?  A farm girl from Ontario, Canada aspiring to look like the Michelle Obama?!!

We are roughly the same height, to me look the same shape-ish and Mrs Obama is almost the same age as me.  We may not have the same ethnic background, or the same hair colouring, but  the overall sense is still there.  To my deusional eyes anyways! 

Not that her style is always impeccable.  To the contrary, she (or her stylists), has made errors in judgement.  But they are errors that I can learn from!  And her hits have been stellar!  The necklines, the hemlines, the shaping!  Seriously, what’s not to like about an outfit like this one? 
What have I learned thus far? 
1.  Sheath dresses need to take up more room in my closet.
2.  No cardigans!
3.  No full skirts.
4.  A gorgeous smile goes a long way.
5.  Sometimes you have to ignore detractors!
6.  Attitude baby, attitude mixed with grace and charm.

You can be sure that my radar will be tuned to Tom and Lorenzo for many further Ms O updates!

On to the next….

To all of you PR friends who are headed off to Portland without me….have a riot, shop for all of us, and hoist a bevvy at dinner for all of us you left behind!  Next year for sure, right Karen?!