Wine Pants and Navy T-shirt

I finally finished the wine pants and the navy print t-shirt.  Neither were difficult to sew  I just have not been home long enough to do any serious amount of sewing.   A picture of these two items is shown below. 

Before writing this, I took a look at my previous posts to see if I am making timely progress on the 12-piece wardrobe.  I am not!  I have completed only four items:  3 bottom pieces and 1 top.  The weather has finally changed in Michigan.  We have had two days in a row of good weather.  It looks like summer may truly be on the way this time and I still have 8 pieces of the wardrobe to make. 

In the midst of this need to sew more, I am also trying to learn to use my new sewing machine.  I signed up for five weeks of classes at Country Stitches on Thursday nights.  I much prefer daytime classes, but those classes are scheduled for Wednesdays and that conflicts with one of my sewing groups.  So, I had no choice but to go on Thursday nights.  I went to the first scheduled class and everything went well.  However, the instructor made an announcement that if anyone missed a class, they would not be able to continue the next week.  The only option would be to enroll in the next series of classes.  

Of course, I thought that would not be a problem for me because I would make these classes top priority and would not miss any.  Last Thursday morning I checked my calendar and told my husband I would be attending the class at 6:00 p.m.  Little did I know my brain would get screwed up before then!  .

We made a trip to Joann Fabrics to purchase some Vogue patterns that were on sale.  They were $4.99 each instead of the usual $15 - $25.  I did not want to miss that bargain!

After purchasing the patterns, we went to Sears and purchased a stove and microwave.  After that, we ate lunch and finally returned home.  I then had to hurry to start preparations for our dinner.  I had beans soaking and I rinsed them and got them boiling so I could make baked beans.  I peeled potatoes and got a dish of scalloped potatoes and ham ready for the oven.  My last task was to make coleslaw.  Finally, dinner was ready and we sat down to eat about 6:30 p.m.  My husband and I enjoyed our dinner and after cleaning the kitchen, we went to the living room and watched some television.  

I thought my day had been very productive and I was satisfied with my accomplishments.  Then a light bulb in my head suddenly went on and I realized I missed my sewing machine class!  Nothing I accomplished was worth missing that class.  Now I have to wait until May 24^th to start the class over.  

My husband felt nearly as bad as I did.  The next day he looked at the calendar and made a list of things I needed to do.  I appreciate his effort, but I am not sure that is going to work.  After all, I checked the calendar last Thursday morning and still got distracted and forgot to go to class.  I am not sure if this forgetfulness is an age-related thing or is it a sign I love to eat more than I love to sew.  I really think I got distracted by the food!  I know I don’t enjoy cooking more than sewing, but I am not sure about eating.

My next project for the 12-piece wardrobe is a white jacket.  I am using Vogue pattern V9176.  I will tell you more about that in my next post.

Judy

Roadtrips

I have been on the road a lot lately.  It seems I am hardly at home long enough to sew anything.  I am not complaining because my road trips have been fun, but it does mean I haven’t sewn much.  Four of the road trips were grandchildren-related, so I especially enjoyed those memory-making trips.  We were fortunate enough to get to travel to Indianapolis, Indiana to watch the Oak Hill High School Boys’ Basketball Team from Sweetser, Indiana participate in the state finals and, yes, they won the game!  Our grandson, Dale Rush, is one of the managers for that team.  Congratulations, Dale, and the Oak Hill Basketball Team!  The next day we traveled to Purdue University to watch our granddaughter, McClane Rush, be inducted into two honor societies.  Congratulations, McClane! 

After the ceremony we returned home to Michigan and brought our grandson, Dale, home with us for a few days.  He has his learner’s driving permit, so he drove us to Michigan and three days later he drove us back to Indiana.  We then returned home to Michigan and three days later we drove back to Indiana to spend Easter with the family. 

Prior to the basketball game in Indianapolis, we spent four days in the Shipshewana/Topeka, Indiana area for a horse sale.  I should say my husband attended the horse sale.  I spent most of the time checking out shops in the area, although I did spend about a half day watching horses sold.  Even though we visit this area frequently, I almost always discover something different each time we are there.  This time my discovery was Gohn Brothers.

I first heard of Gohn Brothers at the back of David Coffin’s book, Shirtmaking - Developing Skills for Fine Sewing.  The store is listed in the book’s “Sources of Supply, Mail/Order Fabric Sources”.  Only a post office box was given in the book for the address.  The last time we were in that area, I did a search on Google for Gohn Brothers in Middlebury and found an address for Gohn Brothers Manufacturing.  I wasn’t sure it was the same Gohn Brothers that was listed in David Coffin’s book, but I decided to check it out.  They are located at 105 S. Main Street in Middlebury and, sure enough, it is the same store mentioned in David Coffin’s book.  This is a store that has been in business more than 100 years and still has the original old wood flooring and tin ceiling.  They sell quilting cottons, family shoes and work boots, and manufacture men’s pants and coats for the Amish.  They carry a supply of many sewing notions, some sewing books, and some games.  The store takes you back to a by-gone era.  Very Interesting!  If you are in the area, it is worth your time to stop and visit the store.  You may be surprised by what you find.

During another road trip to Clare, Michigan, we also visited a couple of interesting stores, but I will write about that trip in another post. 

I mentioned in my last post I was having problems with my sewing machine.  Well, I never brought the machine home from the sewing machine hospital.  After three trips there in a couple of weeks, I decided to just let it go.  It was a difficult and expensive decision, but I wanted a machine that would sew and embroider when I wanted to use it and one that would not require a trip to the hospital every time I wanted it to embroider something for me.  I don’t mean to sound callous, but I needed a machine that would work consistently and not need to be pampered each time I asked it to embroider!  I felt it was time to produce or I could no longer provide a loving home for it!  So, out with old and in with the new.  I now have a new Pfaff Creative Icon living with me and I hope we will have many happy years together.  However, I need to learn how to operate it first.  I have had one lesson on it and have four more scheduled.  Hopefully, we will be a team at the end of the fifth lesson!

I hope to stay home long enough to finish my wine pants and post a picture of them soon.  How are you doing with your projects?  I hope all of you are sewing something fun and learning lots of new techniques.

Judy