Waiting and Reflecting

I dropped my sewing machine off for a tune up and repair on January 7th.  I am still waiting for the call saying it's done.  After one week I got the call saying they needed to order a part for it and it should be ready in another 7-10 days.  I had told them when I dropped it off, that it needed a part; my repair-man in India told me the part I needed was "unavailable madame", but at least he got the machine working again.  10 days later, I called back.  The part was in, but due to the weather the repair man was having trouble getting into the shop.  Central Virginia had been having some snow and ice.  Fair enough.  A week later I called again.  The repairman had been ill and hadn't been in, but will hopefully be in tomorrow (ie yesterday).  Today...still no call.  I apologize for the whining...but I've gone from sad, to frustrated, to annoyed, and I'm still without my machine. 

In the meantime I have a few things cut out and ready to go.  The first is New Look 6150 which will be gin a purple jersey knit.  I will make the wrap front version with the plain 3/4 length sleeves.

NL 6150

Next is New Look 6110 in a raspberry/navy cotton print I brought back from India.  I will make the shorter version with the long sleeves.  

NL 6110

I have decided that longer tunics don't flatter me unless they some down to mid-thigh.  I am too curvy to have my hem hit at the hip or mid-hip length, so I'm going to stick with shorter versions.

Also cut out are 2 pairs of fleece mittens for my girls from this nice pattern located over at fleecefun.com.  Like I said, we've had a very cold winter here in Virginia, and I thought mittens would be a good thing to make. 

Lets see...there are also 2 pairs of yoga pants waiting to be hemmed.  It boggles my mind why standard length women's pants have a 32" inseam.  My husband is 6 feet tall and his inseam is 32"!!  I am 5'-2", even the 'short' yoga pants with their 29" inseam are too long!  I do love my twin needles for hemming stretchy pants though.  I feel cool at the gym knowing that my pants are the perfect length for me (yes, I am a geek).

Next on the agenda will be Kwik Sew 3499.  I bought some knit fabrics from Fabric Mart, and one of them was called "Light Tangerine".  Yeah...um...Orange is more like it, there is no "light" that I can see.  And I have a lot of it.  Looking back, I probably should have returned it, but oh well.  So I was thinking that I could use it for a golf skirt/skort using Kwik Sew 3499.  Yes, I do golf, no comment on how well I play :/  

KS 3499

The pattern calls for stretch knit to be used for the shorts underneath, but it does not call for it to be used for the overskirt.  I am going to try it anyway.  I have a stretchy Liz Claiborne golf skort that I love, similar to this one:

source

I thought that a Light/Bright Tangerine one would work and would help use up some of that orange fabric.  Time will tell how it comes out.  

Thinking about my sewing plans has made me realize that my life has changed quite a bit from when I lived in India.  First and foremost, I don't have fancy-ish places to go anymore.  There are no more Sunday Brunches at the local 5-star hotels.  No Friday night Barbecues at the local golf club.  No more "Ladies Lunches".  My made-by-me pretty dresses are sitting in my closet.  Besides the fact that they are all warm/hot weather dresses, I don't have anyplace to wear them without feeling shockingly overdressed or odd.  I shudder to think of the number of people I have seen in public, wearing pajamas and/or bedroom slippers!  Sigh, sigh, double sigh.

So what have I been doing besides cutting fabric?  Well, I have been reading this:  The Land of Painted Caves by Jean Auel.

Source

I had no idea the 6th book in this series had been published.  I literally walked by it in the library, stopped in my tracks and grabbed it.  If you haven't read The Clan of the Cave Bear, (which is the first in the series) I highly recommend it.  The later books (especially #5) aren't nearly as good as the first 2 but hey...when your sewing machine is in the shop, you have to do something!