Runner-up for Queen of the UFO's

And sore for no real reason today. Got less done than I might have hoped as a result. Some progress has been made on both the petticoat and the new lining for the pinafore dress though. And I found an alternative fabric for my bias binding. Here’s hoping tomorrow is a better day.

Question of The Day:

March 28 - It's National Weed Appreciation Day - allowing a small portion of land (either in a garden, yard or in agricultural land), is being encouraged to help the insects to thrive. Do you take part in this, or are there areas where you live that have been allowed to be 'wild'?

We’re very limited in what we can do regarding the outside of our building, so no. However, the park area behind us has a “pond” (part of the storm drainage system) and the banks are completely wild on the side opposite to us and mostly wild this side.

Zed

P.S. Grey and colder today. High of 4C / 39.2F but a wind from the North made it feel a lot colder. It started snowing again late this afternoon.

About the snowfall. We got enough that everything that had been cleared/melted yesterday was completely snow covered again. Still no where near the 25 to 30 some areas were expecting.

Another day of hermit-ing for us. I noodled about online for a while, then spent about an hour and a half making brunch. Hashbrowns are much easier/quicker to make when you have precooked frozen ones on hand. When you start with whole potatoes, it takes a lot longer. Just saying.

I spent the afternoon in the studio. I spent more time fussing with the vest, but finally decided I needed to just move on and finish it up. I sure there’s a saying about perfection being the enemy of done or some such that applies here. As an aside, I feel said saying is the sort of faux folksy “quote” I’d see plastered all over the country kitsch that used to dominate the scene back when I was still doing craft fairs/sales.

So, the vest is now all sewn together and I’ve gotten a good bit of the topstiching done. I may or may not have rage quit when the bobbin thread ran out at the most visible point. I’m going to have to unpick that stitching back to a seam. Ugh!

In less annoying news, a deep dive into the storage bin that holds all my zippers produced one that just might work for the trousers. Fingers crossed!

Question of The Day:

March 24 - In 1874 Harry Houdini the famous magician and escapologist was born - have you ever watched an escapologist show at a theatre or on TV?
On TV, yes. David Copperfield was everywhere at one point and I think there might have been some others? Possibly parodies, I was fairly young and the memories are kinda fuzzy.

Zed

P.S. High today was -4C / 24.8F and the icicles outside the studio window are rather impressive.
 

Good, not fantastic, but hey, we’ll take it. So we’re sort of celebrating today. And maybe playing hermit as it’s still snowing and the roads look horrible.

In the morning, I mucked about online and did a few household adminy things. Then I spent the afternoon in the studio (mostly-Thing Two needed some help). Note to self – faux suede/microfibre is not suited to involved patterns with lots of points/darts/shaping. Pressing that stuff is a nightmare.

Thing Two set us up for a celebratory dinner by making tortillas and then spent a whole lot of time cleaning and testing the sewing machine we borrowed from my sibling. We picked it up when we were in the city earlier this week. It’s been sitting collecting dust (and cat hair) since about 2013, so it needed a lot of cleaning! It looks like it’s in decent working order, so Thing Two can now get to work on the quilt they designed. Ahem, I have not volunteered my beloved Bernina for this endeavour. I don’t share well ;D

Oh, and dinner was tacos, yummy.  Also, we opened the bottle of wine we’d been saving. Usually we’d have beer with tacos, but eh, we had wine and no inclination to go out to get said beer.

Question of The Day:

March 22 - World Water Day - a day to remember that not everyone has access to clean, safe water. Has the water to your home ever been cut off?
Yep, multiple times. Plumbing issues are a PITA. So are renovations. But those were situations where we had (some) control over when and how long. One summer, due to water main replacement/repairs, we did have the city shut off the water to our entire street but we were warned ahead of time and it was only for one day. My parents lived in an older area and similar work went on for weeks. At one point they were trucking water into the neighbourhood.

March 21 - National French Bread Day - the BBC Maestro website identifies 10 types of French bread - which one is your favourite?
Huh, I don’t recognize most of those types. Here we get baguettes and “french” bread which doesn’t really resemble anything described in that list. Generally, we opt for baguettes.

Zed

P.S. More snow today and -6C / 21.2F for the high. Snow is to continue through the weekend. Gonna stay home!

And more snow. Not great for us, as we need to go out this weekend and the roads are going to be a mess. However it is very good for the land. We’ve been in a drought for a number of years and any moisture is most welcome.

Note to self: you can not use chopsticks when you have a finger out of commission. I can adapt typing/knitting/sewing/even writing to accommodate, but not chopstick use. Results were very messy, also hilarious, but I’m glad I was eating alone and had no witnesses to that disaster.

Government bureaucracy continues to suck. I’ve given up for the day and am going to go spend time in the studio to calm myself down. My pinafore dress is almost finished, it’s just hanging to see if the skirt is going to stretch on the bias before I hem it. My next project is going to be a pair of “suede” trousers. I have exactly one pair of pants that fit, all the rest need a belt to keep them in place (or honestly on at all, a couple are big enough they fall right off). I hate making trousers/slacks/pants/jeans though. Skirts and dresses are so much easier. Except it’s winter and I don’t have any heavy tights. I can get away with wearing sweats/yoga pants under skirts at home, but it’s not a look I want for public appearances.

Next knitting project-leggings? Or is that completely bonkers? Probably, but people knit full length dresses, so.....! I have patterns :D  And probably yarn.

Question of The Day:
March 1 - The Welsh Saint David died in 589 and was canonised in the 12th century. Ever since then, he has been celebrated in Wales and by people of Welsh descent. Have you ever eaten Welsh cakes?

I have not. They look good though, we’ll have to try this recipe.

Zed

P.S. Along with snow, we're getting cold again.  -11C / 12.2F when I got up this morning.  High was supposed to be -7C / 19.4F but I'm thinking not.  Mid-afternoon and we're only -10C / 14F.

Was productive. I got the skirt portion of the lining completed to the back opening and started on the bodice before I lost the light. I’m working on black fabric and tricky bust seams in low light are a no go. I’d pinned the finished bits to the mannequin last night (avoiding wrinkles) and the first thing I noticed when I came in was how much I didn’t like the look of where the seams were meeting, or rather not meeting, at the waistline. I’m trying to recreate the shape of a pinafore dress I’d seen online, but I don’t have a good pattern match and I’m short on fabric. So I’m improvising. Not well though.

For reference, this is the dress~Peebles Pinafore Dress from Hellbunny.

I think I’m going to have to put the actual dress on hold for a bit while I try to figure out how to fix this. I’m rather new to the concept of pattern hacking and it’s been decades since my one pattern drafting class, so it’s going to need a think (and maybe some research). It’s all okay though, I’ll just finish up the lining (it doesn’t matter about matching up seams there) and then start on the next project.

As an aside, navigating through one of those trick seams only to look up and discover you ran out of bobbin thread just before the most difficult bit? Yeah can not express how annoying that is. 

 

Question of The Day:
February 12 - Today Charles Darwin was born in 1809 and across the world his birth is celebrated. Have you a Natural History Museum nearby you can visit?

Not really. The town’s museum is very small and focuses on local history as best it can these days. The flood of 2013 destroyed most of the collection and rebuilding is on going. There isn’t a Natural History Museum in the city either. The zoo has some displays that are related, but it’s not a focus. The two that are closest to us are both a couple hours away~in almost opposite directions. The one in Banff is Western Canada’s oldest Natural History Museum and The Royal Tyrell Museum of Palaeontology has one of the world’s largest collections of dinosaurs. We’ve been to both, but not in years.

Zed

P.S. Snow overnight was pretty light and the sun has been out a few times.  High of 2C / 36.5F again.

Except not. We studiously avoid manic here.

I did get serious about working on stuff again and the tee shirts are finally finished. I had gotten so frustrated I had to take several days away from the machines to keep my stress levels down. I even had time to do a bit on Thing Two’s PJ’s. I should be able to finish them next time I’m in the studio. Which might not be until Wednesday, just depends.

In other news, I started on my next test knit today.  I'm loving the look of this!  I'm holding two different yarns together and they're working so well together.  I can't wait to see how it looks as a finished garment, I think it's going to be lovely.

Question of The Day:
February 5 - World Nutella Day - yay or nay on the chocolatey nutty spread (and what do you spread it on, or do you spoon it from the jar?)

A very definite yay. It’s pretty darn expensive here, so we rarely buy it. Sometimes the store brand is on sale and we’ll go for that. There is a difference though. I like it on toast (no to the spoon in the jar see: expensive) and for a very special treat, in a crepe.

Zed