hi everyone!

Last week, I remembered that I had not seen any posts from you, Larisa, in a while and wondered what happened; glad to know you're still around. Emily

Still here, things will be slowing down after tomorrow since Tom's summer class will end. I'll have afternoons to get some work done and hopefully will be able to get pictures up more quickly.

Saturday starts the new routine and we have high hopes for it.

Larisa

congratulations!

Hm... Look, sister, USING the stash is cheating! ;) Mind you, I've been doing that myself on a few items.

I know what you mean about pattern burn-out... Reached that with James's trousers!

I' also load up some trouser pix when I get a moment.

Yikes! That's tiddly! James, at 13, is 5'10", has a 33 inch waist, and takes men's medium in most clothes we buy! I'm sure your young man will catch up, and the vitamines seem a lot better to me than nasty chemicals for long term use. I know the chemicals have their place (and God knows I've had enough of them in my time!), but avoiding if you can find a decent alternative that is effective is a good idea. I'm always wary of homeopathic 'medicines'... Seem like a lot of smkoke & mirrors and snake oil, I'm afraid.

Ohh, yes! You know how greedy I am for pix! Me and the rest of us... ;)

Kate,

There's a site called:

It started as just a pattern review site, but has expanded dramatically to include sewing machines, etc. and they have contests throughout the year. The 2 that I entered are: MY pattern contest and Stash (fabric) reduction contest. I almost wone the stash contest last year thanks to the elizabethan costume. The only thing I have even close to that yardage would be the full Civil War get up that I have a pattern for. However, I don't think that will actually get done...maybe the skirt and blouse, but not all the underpinnings and such. So you see, to feed my competitive nature, I entered the contests, and to follow the rules, I *HAVE* to use up my stash!

The good thing is that the children get LOTS of new school clothes (though Bek's clothing is on hold since she's obviously going through a growth spurt), and I will get some new clothing made to MY sizes and specifications. In fact, I spent the day working on my first pair of made-by-me jeans!!! Ran out of jean thread, so I will let them simmer for a little bit longer until I can get to the store for more thread. Might do it tomorrow night since I have to run out and help get the church set up for vacation Bible school...shop is just down the road from the church.

Anyway.....I found some lovely shirt-weight in a light blue that I think will go into maybe 1 or 2 different style tops for me, so that might be what I work on next. Not to worry, though. Even if I sewed up all the stash projects that are sitting on my floor, the wardrobe is still rather full. I am trying to work back up to wanting to deal with boucle fabric again....lovely forest green with peach and ivory flecks in it that might get made into a trench coat for dressier events....but it shreds like the dickens!

Larisa, off to clean the futon from golden cat hair then onto the next project...after I have a soak and pray that the left leg doesn't turn too purple between now and tomorrow morning (fell in the garage yesterday)

I have TWO WHOLE CRATES of stash just for garb projects... When will I ever wear them, if I make them up? :D

Recently James needed new trousers for camp, and for the trip to France he's on now, so he got:

1 pair light camo cut-offs* 1 pair light camo cargo pull-ons* 1 pair dark camo cargo pull-ons 1 pair red zippy-off trousers 2 pairs 'manly lilac' (it's a sort of lilac-ish grey) shorts 1 pair light weight stone cut-offs 1 pair jungle green cargo pull-ons *I bought this fabric for him recently, but because of the style of trousers he wanted, I managed to get TWO pairs out of it! :D

All the rest came from stash, including all fly and pocket zips. I did have to buy the leg zips for the zippy offs. I bought him some jeans recently too, as I can't make them for the price I can buy them.

James has school uniform, and I can buy the shirts and trousers cheaper than making them, and likewise the blazer. I buy all that I cannot get cheaper or at all elsewhere through the school shop, as the school benefits from the profits.

Serge all the edges the moment you cut it out!

OUCH! Sympathies on their way. I hope just bruised and nothing broken. Alan is suffering from burning his elbow on a lightbulb while getting a bed out of a friend's cramped loft space! It was on the cup of the hospital/no hospital decision, so he didn't go... I think he should have done: diabetics don't heal as fast nor as well as us non-diabetics.

well, I'm pre-diabetic, so my bruises tend to stick around and go all sorts of lovely colors before deciding to go away. Nothing broken, just sore and scraped up quite a bit..from the knee to the big toe. Feels loads better today than it did yesterday and I can actually walk without limping too terribly.

I'm hoping that I can eventually move the business stash into the wardrobe and hang the clothing stash in the closet...high hopes, but better than nothing, right??

Back to work I go...have to resort since most of what I pulled was for the growing girl .

Larisa