I'm still here, just spending more time enjoying various activities and events. These days, I'm spending less and less time on social media. Way back when, it didn't seem like It took that much time to create content. Now there are so many tools and applications to use. This are much different from a few simple pictures and a few good paragraphs.
Anyway, I'm almost finished with Vogue V2097 and the Burda Style Jacket 7321. Of course, I have about six other projects going on at the same time. Lol
Over the holiday weekend I made my first Babylon Leather purse. I'm so pleased with how it turn out. Next post I'll give my full review.
This week I returned to Calumet Middle School for the third session of the enrichment program. This is a great program, and it has been a great year of teaching young people to sew.
I just want to encourage people who are thinking about teaching sewing and those who may want to sew.
I create some very easy projects that elementary beginners can make and enjoy the process. There are a few I plan to review here, like the tote bag.
Tote bag project is done at week 3 or 4.
I start by teaching students how to do some hand stitching, followed by one or two hand stitched projects. After that we move on to learning how to drive the sewing machine and then a few machine sewn projects. The class session is about five weeks long, meeting twice a week. So, we don't have a lot of time, but a enough to learn a few basic sewing techniques and processes.
Hand stitching is essential to sewing. This is the first practice project that the class completes. Next, we complete one of three hand sewn projects: owl pin cushion, needle book, or hand sewn bear.
The class spends the remainder of the class learning about sewing on the machine, sewing techniques, and one or two more projects.
I can't tell you how much I enjoy teaching young people how to sew. I'm very happy that I chose to take this position.
I hope everyone is off to a great start to the new year. It has been several months since my last post. Much has happened in my little creative world and life in general.
I have made a few things, just didn't take the time to post. I may or may not do a review. I'll see how things go. I'm very happy to say that I returned to Calumet Middle School as the sewing instructor for the after school program, which is one of the "high" lights of my year. I created a nice group of fun projects for junior sewers that I plan to share at some point. (I did a lot of chocheting.)
Every year I plan to read many books; some selected by the bookclub and some that personally interest me. See books below:
My 2025 big trip was to Alaska. This was my second trip there. I'm still in awe of Alaska's beauty; the lad, people, culture, and animals. Yes, I could easily visit again. There is so much to see and learn about this parr of the world.
2025 was fill with all kinds of events: HCC Fashion Show, several theater shows, countless dinner parties, holidays parties, and birthday celebrations.
My faith and spiritual life has grown. I must say that my life experiences have definitely influenced my relationship with God. I could not imagine my life without God.
In 2023, I helped to establish a college scholarship award program that my church. It is designed to assist our college students with the costs of their education. Since the establishment we have made several $500 awards to students who are member of our church. This program brings me great joy as we are able to help others reach their goal.
2025 Award Recipients
Unfortunately, but again fortunately I had two medical procedures in 2025. Both have improved my health profile. There are still some things that I need to address during the coming months. Blessed in progress.
Meanwhile, I'm continuing to make plans for a full happy, rich life. I love my family, friends and God.
I hope to be a more active blogger in the coming year.
Here we are nine days into the new year. It's great to be alive and well. I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday season. It's one of the busy time of year; but it is a good time of year at least for me and my family. I always look forward to spending time with family.
This month I plan to post the last projects of 2024 on my blog starting today. I just didn't make time for it during the holiday season. So, I'm playing catch up again. I probably won't do a year review for 2024 as I want to start on projects for this year and there is only so much time to do that.
Anyway, stay tune for my projects made from October to December 2024. Some good and others not so good.
I can't believe how quickly the time has past. The entire summer gone just like that. I hate that I haven't gotten better with posting my adventures on a consistent basis. These days, many 2000 bloggers are moving towards creating videos on YouTube or TikTok. It's another way to entertain, teach, and inspire. I'm not there yet. So for now I'll keep trying to post on blogger.
It been a great summer. I have lots of posts and sewing projects to share. This weekend I'll probably start with a few of my simpler projects and a few tutorials.
I'm knocking the cobwebs off my blog today! It's been a long journey to come back to blogging and sewing. There were so many events and activities that occurred in the past two years. It's easier to post to Instagram and Facebook. But I don't like to post pattern reviews there. Blog post are better for that. So, I'm happy to be back to give some details on projects and other events.
For starters, I will review several sewing projects that I finished in June, July, and August. The first will be a set of bags. So, the following post will be to review them.
Parting Photo: Graduation day for me. This was one of my big goals post retirement since work and school were too challenging to do both well.
This is the first time I've attempted to write a blog post since my accident with the hedge clippers. I'll skip the details. The good thing is I'm all right. Anyway, I had a few potential blog posts that got derailed the day of my incident. It does take forever to type out a post on my computer. So for a while my posts will be abbreviated.
I just made another blog anniversary. Fourteen years of blogging on July 4, 2021. It doesn't feel like fourteen years have past.
Today I'm posting a photo from my first pattern review. I made the faux leather outfit with fabric purchased from Walmart. The second half of the picture is my most recent outfit made with fabric from Minerva Fabrics of the UK..
It has been a wonderful journey. I am so happy I chose to start blogging. It has so many benefits. I seen growth in my ability; an opportunity to share with others who love what I do; I've gained a host of new friends; I've had opportunities to share my knowledge with others as well as an opportunity to learn from some great sewists. These are just a few benefits.
In the coming days I'm hoping to publish a few short posts on some projects that were near completion or in the works.
I found a Threads Magazine Youtube video titled, "Pattern Adjustment for a Full Bust Without a Dart." Excellent tutorial and I used it for two projects that I will post soon.
Initially, I was going to do my own tutorial based on my own measurements and projects. But I decided not to "reinvent the wheel". Posting Threads video is easier. My reason for wanting a dartless FBA is to maintain the original pattern design as much as possible and/or to use striped fabrics without disrupting the flow of the stripes with a dart. I hope that makes sense.
My first project is Simplicity S9222. I'm still working on this one. The dartless FBA does not interfere with the drape of the top of the dress. This is one I decided to make after seeing Carol Crocker-Ware's dress that she posted on Patternreview. My dress is coming soon.
The second project I used the dartless FBA on is Vogue V1786. I love this shirt and think it is great in a striped fabric. My July Minerva project is using this pattern and a navy/black jacquard. The jacquard is double layered where the navy stripes appear. On the reverse side of the navy, it is black, and the reverse side of the black is navy. So you can use either side of the fabric. Early June, I made a medium blue pair of slacks to wear with this shirt using Simplicity S9147 again.
This project is actually finished, but I want pictures of me wearing the outfit before I post my final review. ;-)
My goodness! It's been awhile since I did a blog post. My intentions were to post a detailed post to support each sewing project Instagram post. Didn't happen.., So now I'm playing catch up.
So sorry. November has been really busy for me. I wanted so much to have our traditional family gathering for Thanksgiving. But weeks before we decide to follow the guidelines set by the CDC and other governmental officials. I still cooked the major part of the meal. We shared dishes and eat at our respective homes. Boring.., My hope is that we have a better Christmas dinner. But, right now it looks like we will celebrate with only the members of our household.
Anyway, I've completed several projects since my last post, and I wanted to share the details of those projects. I would be remised if I didn't mention the Vogue jacket V8627 of my previous post. I actually finished it; well almost finished it. The hem is wonky. I remade the lining and installed it a second time. It still wasn't right. So I put it aside to work on something else. Now it is Christmas month and I have a few gifts to make. So maybe after Christmas I'll pick it up again.
Meanwhile, I want to blog about some successes. They are: Simplicity S8750; McCall M7836-B; and Simplicity S8844-A. I'll start with another jacket project. There will be a few post about it starting with a mini tutorial about making the patch pocket for the jacket.
It's been awhile. I hope everyone is well and staying safe. I only go out to the grocery store and to the park for walks. This week has been very productive for me. I've been spending a lot of time in my sewing studio, and I'm loving it!
Several weeks ago, I posted about making masks. Well I'm still making them. I've received so many requests for them! And it's so hard to say no. So, I worked out a strategy for sewing masks and sewing for myself: make several masks, make two dresses for myself. Or make several masks, make three shirts for myself. It's working. :-)
So hopefully, I'll have pictures and reviews to post soon. Sometimes it takes awhile for me to get the photos needed to complete a post. In the meantime, I'll continue to enjoy the extra sewing time.
I received the best gift for Mother's Day. My DD knows that I'm a Prince fan, like forever. So she created a Prince gift basket for me. It included Prince's autobiography "Prince, The Beautiful Ones", The "Prince Fashion" book, and "When Doves Cry" body scrub and wash. Great gift!
Today, I wanted to include some photos of the costumes designed for Prince. Great eye candy and inspiration for any sewing enthusiast. The costumes are SPECTACULAR! Enjoy!
Spring has arrived with the sun so bright you can hardly keep from squinting. It looks beautiful outside and perfect for a afternoon stroll in the park. The air is still crisp though and no walking without a warm jacket. This is one of my pleasures in this stay at home situation.
My favorite park is Veterans park in South Holland. It's nearby and has a picnic area, playground, and a lovely pond. There are also two gazebos, a huge picnic area, fields for soccer and baseball, and portions of the calumet river are on the east side of the park. It's a great place to clear your head and get some exercise.
Often I come to this park to take pictures for my blog. There are several beautiful flower beds. And if you are lucky you may see the residential turtles sun bathing. This is just an all around nice park.
My last week there was only one other person in the park other than me. But yesterday, we (DD came with me) saw maybe ten people. Most were with a friend or family member walking the trails or fishing in the river. Social distancing was not hard to do. When passing on the trail, people made sure they "distance themselves" from others. It felt great to be outside.
I think I'll visit the park daily, just to get some fresh air and to take my mind off of the crisis.
Anyway, I just thought I'd post a few pictures of the park today. Later, I post pictures of my recent makes and review a few patterns.
This has been the longest three weeks ever! I'm still recovering from whatever this is I've had for the past three weeks. Being on lock down has given me a great opportunity to work on the "LIST" of many projects that I think about constantly while at my part-time job.
Ask me how many things on that "LIST" have I completed. The answer is not many, just a few. My time is spent working on getting back to my 100%, reading/listening (Audible), working on my tasks "LIST", adding more things to the "LIST", and making masks.
Making masks started out being a donation project to those in my family who are first-responders and healthcare professionals. That didn't last long. Once I started sharing them, others asked if I would make masks for them. I'm always happy to help, but it is overwhelming. So many are in need/want. Because of the huge demand, I started loosing site of my original goal. After, making nearly 200 masks, I have no more elastic nor is there any to be purchase. So my masks making project is finished. And I'm back to using my time to make other things and to continue to complete tasks on the "LIST".
This is the first time I've ever experienced anything like this. I'm praying every day that this soon will past. And we will all get back to our normal routines. In the meantime, I hope everyone is keeping busy doing something that you love to do or tackling projects that are on your to do list.
In closing, it's been a pleasure to support many who are on the front line. We are blessed to have them.
This is almost a wordless post. These are pictures from my vacation in LosCabos, Mexico. We Lodge at the RIU all inclusive Resort and had dinner at the Mona Lisa Restaurant.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
