So-So Sewing

Do I sew better than some folks? Definitely. However, there are far more folks that sew better than I, which is what is challenging me to improve. There was a time when I could make just about anything. It may surprise you to learn that in spite of having all boys, I made clothes for them as well. But that was a long, long time ago. The ensuing years brought less of a need to sew because you could buy clothes on sale, and then too, what boy wants to wear something homemade when they are 10 years old? Not mine! I think you've seen this photo before, but I came across it (long story) and thought it was worth a second look. Jonathan just turned 33 a few weeks ago.

The machine on the left is a serger, and the one you can't see, aside from the red dot, was the Elna Supermatic I got from my Mom.  My sewing table came from Bruce's Dad who got it while working on the VAB, at Cape Canaveral. It is in our bedroom when we lived on Whistler Drive. I so adore that sweet little face on Jonathan. Sorry for how choppy this sounds, just some background info!

But, long before I sewed for the Peck family, I sewed for the Price family. Here's a picture taken at our Grandpa Stahl's farm the summer we brought our brother Pat home from the Viet Nam War. He flew into San Fransisco and then on to St. Louis where our Dad met him and brought him to Grandpa's farm before we all drove back to Florida in a car without air conditioning. All seven of us!!!

Nancy tells me that not only did I make my little outfit, I made both hers, as well as Mom's dress. As to Carol's dress, I'm not so sure. Remember how I just became acquainted with Joelle? That's her Grandmother Ruth in the very middle. I can almost remember making all those scallops on the hem and neckline of Mom's dress with our Dad critiquing all the way.

So, it is with great frustration that I am not very good at sewing any longer. My ripper has seen more use in the last few months than it had in the previous twenty years. The last time I made a dress with set in sleeves I did a remarkably poor job. Furthermore, what once was second nature, now takes me forever to get right. The hours fly by when I am sewing, so I can't say how long it took, but I am finally happy with the end result of this sleeve installation.

I finally got to the point when the sleeves go in after spending a stupid amount of time getting the front placket right. For those who are lost with this lingo, it is the white bands on the front of the nearly finished top below.

I kept fiddling and fiddling with it to make it lay down better!

Hey, here's how basket looks like "on road."

I have been such the home body it is incredible...aside from my bike ride, I've hardly gone anywhere. If not for Bruce's birthday and such, well, who knows when I would have gone out? As it turned out, Abbe, from Vancouver, got into Orlando at 3AM, and was too pooped to go out on Wednesday night. Well, I'd canceled the family dinner before those facts became available, so just the two of us went to Santiago Bodega for a flavorful meal, ending with some croissant donuts and a candle.

On our way home I asked Bruce to pull over so I could take this shot of Lake Ivanhoe at sunset.

Thursday night, however, we went to Hillstones with Abbe who was tasked with seeing it while in Orlando. What a delightful young woman she is!

Of course I like anyone who praises my honey to the hilt. While B was in the restroom, she gushed over how much the girls in design love Bruce, as well they should is what I have to say about that! In very good news, the review of the plans for Plano went very, very well.

Actually I finally did leave the house on Thursday to return some library books. Who leaves the house in a driving rain? Me, that's who.

Actually, by the time I was at this intersection, the rain  had slowed down quite a bit, but what a storm before this! Blowing wind, and driving rain, are not ideal driving conditions, as you well know! I finally finished "The Girl on the Train" and what a thriller it was. I'm pretty sure my friend Bev told me to read this last year sometime; I should have listened to her then. Interestingly enough, the book, published in January 2015, is already a movie set to debut in October. Seems like that is a pretty fast turnaround to me.

Believe it or not, I'm still taking photographs like a madwoman, particularly while on my bicycle. Cheryle's garden is just spectacular this time of the year.

Everywhere you look there is a feast for your eyes. A few weeks ago I was made aware of something that just blew me away. During a Hill's Happy Hour, the talk turned to the tortoises on the same street. Say what? Well, I learned that the folks who bought a second lot behind their home, Dr. Yonfa's family, have for years and years housed a male and female tortoise in their lovely back garden. Immediately, upon hearing this news, I marched down the street to see it for myself. No dice that day, nor the ensuing days that I stopped to look. Well, finally I saw one of them on Friday afternoon.

Crazy, right? I'm pretty sure I heard Catherine say their is a baby tortoise as well. Unreal!

And finally I saw the owlets again. Last year, almost any day of the week I could find them readily but they have been so elusive this year.

Aren't they getting big? This was kind of fun to watch...

Pretty much all those downy feathers are gone now. In other wildlife news from Southern Oaks, last evening I got a text from Lisa about bats at their home on the other end of the street from the owls. What next?? She wondered if I wanted to photograph them for my nature photo challenge over on fb. Hmmm....maybe not.

I never did get into the discussion of sewing pattern sizes..good grief, no relation whatsoever to sizes that we all have come to know and love. Vanity sizing has not hit the sewing industry!

Trying to improve with practice,

Gail