Happy Halloween!

Wow! Today is Halloween and I have nothing to wear. Okay I do but not without making some huge alterations. Lets just say me and my weight are at war and currently i'm retreating to gather more strength for another frontal assault, so I guess that means my weight is currently winning the Battle of the Bulge. I shall not admit defeat, i'm just biding my time for the moment cause I need a really good strategy.

I'm a little disappointed with Halloween this year. I love Halloween even though I no longer have a little one for trick or treating or go to Halloween parties or events. I would love to dress up and go out, I just don't like how I look. Me and costumes haven't gotten along for numerous years now. It seems like every few years you get a big rush for Halloween stuff in all the stores and then it trickles down to practically nothingness a few years later, up and down up and down. I know we have the Halloween stores that pop up a month prior but they are overpriced on a vast majority of their stuff. Heck even the goodwill thrift store jacks up the prices for their decent stuff and crap that should have made it into the garbage. Example: Goodwill- bagged halloween outfit, used, some parts missing, $5 less than same item brand new unopened and all parts in package. Okay so goodwill is the only thrift store that I know of that jacks up their prices especially at Halloween. I was going to do a pirate costume this year to go with my mini pirate hat. I was going to make myself a poet/peasant shirt and a waist cincher with a peplum and some knee high spats to make my boots look more piraty. It didn't happen, maybe next year.

I've been meaning to post for the past few weeks but just never got around to it, okay, I avoided it. I haven't been happy with myself, well my sewing skills. I'm always unhappy with myself. Anyways, I finished the shirt I was all excited about. I don't like it. I'm not sure if it's the print that doesn't work or just the cut of the pattern itself. I used Simplicity- Sew Simple 1969 pattern. 1st, I cut the largest size in the envelope, fit but pretty tight across the chest area. No, I didn't do any alterations to the pattern, should have. I don't think i'm going to attempt to make this shirt again. Honestly, it needed more than just a chest alteration to the pattern. Sigh, for once i'd really like to sew something other than a circle skirt with drawstring or elatic waist, that fits without some fiddlin.

front:
back:

It really bums me out that my sewing skills suck. I think part of it is my machine, it needs some professional TLC. I want to get a serger, that's what I told the hubby I wanted for christmas or my birthday. I want a serger mostly for knit fabrics because my sewing machine refuses to sew correctly on knit no matter how much I fiddle with all the different dials, needles and so forth. I know, I just need to practice more. I'm trying but i'm really getting discouraged with making clothes. I think I'll try some very simple quilting next. I only have to sew straight lines for a simple block quilt, I can do that.

I really am feeling discouraged, so fat far, 3 shirts i've made, simple, simple, simple and they all bombed by my standards. No, my standards aren't that high, truly. If I didn't like this last shirt, i'd wear it to work, it's still subpar standard wise but doable. The other 2 shirts both knit material so that might explain it, oh and I thought I double checked which direction the stretch was going before cutting and some how I still managed to get the stretch going in the wrong direction. (smacks forhead)

My next project, underbust waist cincher (w/peplum-maybe) and a kitty bed. I also need to work on my kids quilt, I have the batting now. I think I'll start all 3 within the week.

I'm dragging

I haven't been up to much. Slowly working on a few things here and there. I'm almost done with the shirt I'm working on. My muse decided to skip town for a bit while Mother nature is visiting. My sinuses are killing me, after no rain for what seems an eternity we finally get some but I can't breathe now. My music selection lately consists of a few artists, Beats Antique and Azam Ali and her work with Niyaz and also a little bit of Enigma.


I did finish a throw pillow and I made a fabric pumpkin.






I hand cut out the leaves from the fabric scraps from the pillow and glued them to the top of the pumpkin.

One of the things I've been doing lately, washing new fabric I've acquired that i want to make a quilt from. One of the fabrics, the animal printish one, I'm not sure about yet, i'm kinda iffy on it. Here is the fabric, lots of green.




I've also been cutting out lots of squares from some 1/4 yard fabrics I have. I have lots of 1/4 to 1yd cuts of fabric for a quilt that had no real idea or color scheme so to speak. Since noone wants to buy the fabric as is, guess I'll cut it up and attempt to sell it as charm packs or whatever you call them, big giant group of hand cut squares out of cotton fabric. Yeah, think that is just a mouthfull there. I haven't fully decided what i'm going to do with them yet. Once they are sewn together they will equal 4", that's after 1/4 seam. In these 2 photos, I guesstimate about 200 squares give or take 50.