Jenny La Fleur

Remind me to not make a black toile again. I wanted black to minic my QotN fashion fabric, so I could better visualize the finial product, but I'm finding I don't enjoy working on it. The black drains me somehow and I can only work on it for short bursts of time.

Not a good sign for my QotN. I'm hoping the excitment of velvet will help me get over that. Rich, nappy goodness - yay!

This weekend I toiled and finially finished tracing the master pattern for the QotN bodice. It took me a couple of toiles to get the back fitted nicely (drafting out that jacket peplum) but it was worth the extra effort. This is going to serve as a master pattern for my upcoming Pimpernel re-vamp and a new English gown too so it needed to be right.

I also got all the pending baby quilt signatures ready for embroidery. All five of them. *sigh* We are working on a signature alternative. The quilting group is too big now and this lone embroiderer can't keep up. This lone embroiderer is also tired of being behind and feeling guilty because of it so she is more than ready to hang up her shingle. It was fun but moving on can be a good thing too.

Also, another sewing commission. Another English gown for an RCHS member. Nice and easy, yay!

I’ve been working on finishing up some commission work this week *moneymoneymoney*. I finished the bridesmaid alterations today, delivered the frock and was paid *yay* and will work on the other pile of alterations tomorrow. I also have 3 quilt signatures to do. I’m hoping to start on my new stays next but I’m determined to be a good girl and get the other things all out of the way before I start anything new.

May I just say that David’s Bridal constructs it’s gowns in the stupidest way?! It’s like they are determined to make it as difficult as possible to alter. I did it but it took much fiddling… definitely not the way I would have constructed such a thing!

I have been scheming endlessly about my Gala costume though. bauhausfrau invited me to join her group’s fancy dress Elements theme as “Fire”. I’m so excited. I did an over dying experiment with my orange faille yesterday with interesting results. I need to go get some more dye and do some more though for wanted results. The fabric takes dye much better than I expected though which is fun.

I really have no idea what I’m doing. I have two fabulous concepts that I adore! How I shall ever decide between them I don’t know. They are 100% different of course. *thinkthinkthink*

Looks like the Mum, B and I are off to the Fashion in Film exhibit at Winterthur on Saturday, just for the day. Who knew Delaware was so close?! I’m excited! :>

Not much on the costuming front happening these days. I have taken out all the broken stitching from the kitty toy that was my ballgown trim and started again. I've also started another quilt signature. I'm so glad I changed the stitches I used for that. The chain stitching was pretty but so time consuming. The stem & seed goes much faster.

B & I saw Narnia this afternoon. May I say wow! Great job - I thoroughly enjoyed it. I totally want Lucy's crown. I also thought the Witch's battle outfit was the coolest costume. So imaginative!

I must brag that all my Christmas shopping is done, I finished it up Wednesday. All the packages that have to be mailed are taped up and addressed too. I'll swing by the post office after my Mary Kay appointment tomorrow and post them. The Twelfth Night invites are also (finally) sealed, stamped and addressed. They will also go out tomorrow. I'd say I had holiday things pretty well in hand but I haven't even started my Christmas letter yet. SO BAD. As long as I write it before Christmas day, right? :>

Elizabeth you would be very proud of me, I went over 24 hours without thinking about my 18th century toile issues. I even had the cup of tea you suggested and started a new book. Of course it's about Louis Saint-Just of French Revolution fame. :> I do try not to obsesses about things but well it just comes so naturally! *hee hee*

Today I began thinking again however (always dangerous). I went through all my LALD (L'Anglaise et le Duc) captures, my library of 18th century books and websites of costumers who have made a lovely 18th century things (Katherine, Demode, Bjarne). I was specifically focusing in on the shoulder area and how the pieces were shaped and constructed. With those visuals and helps in my head, I decided to drape the bodice front once again, totally reworking the placement and shaping of the shoulder area. I now have several ideas of achieving the effect I want, I just need to work them out in fabric. Luckily I have lots of that pink and black stripe still to play with.

I started a new bodice tonight but didn't get terribly far with it. I had to stop and go to the quilting fellowship this evening. Just got back from that actually. It was fun, despite some difficulties with the current quilt. Apparently when they cut the strips (I wasn’t there), someone wasn’t very accurate in the cutting and now whole sections are off and having to be fudged. That is one thing I realy hate about quilting. Tiny mistakes in the beginning can be huge headaches later on. Luckily I got to iron and cut another section of strips so I didn't have to really deal with the mess. That worked out well as I wasn’t really in the mood for mess.

Everyone cooed over Mr. Butterfly though so that was fun. Encouragement is always a good thing!

I think I'm almost recovered from the lack of sleep this party weekend. I thought I was recovered this morning and then crashed again this afternoon. I actually fell asleep in front of my movie (House of Elliot), which is why I'm still up right now. *grrr* My body clock is so screwed up right now!

I managed to work on my pocket a bit this weekend. Yesterday I pinned the pocket-hole binding. I folded the ½" linen tape in half then, wrapped it around the raw edges. The ends of the slit were a bit fiddly but do-able. This evening I stitched it together using a stab stitch. I figured after spending the effort on the crewelwork I should finish it by hand. I then pinned the tape to the pocket outside edges before my headache took over and I had to stop. My second headache in two days, yuck! The barometer must be changing again. Blah. Hopefully I can finish that up tomorrow. I have some cleaning and web-site stuff to do in addition to the quilt meeting.

My church has just started up a quilting fellowship, to support the baby quilt ministry. The idea is to bless each new baby in the church with a quilt. The ministry has been going on forever (Mom was actually in charge of it when we lived here before) but they have just changed the format as the old one wasn’t working. What worked in a church of 50 people (when it started), is not going to work in one of 600! The quilting fellowship's purpose right now is to catch up on the current backlog of quilts, doing it a bit more assembly style. When we've caught up with the baby quilts, we'll move on to personal quilting projects, classes and such. That is the plan anyway.

I'm having fun so far, learning from the more experienced quilters in the group. We are making a log cabin quilt right now, which I haven't done before. Actually I find quilts very intimidating so I haven't done much quilting at all, just simple things. I like the finished results though. I’m also really enjoying being able to use my sewing talents and skills to bless others. Sometimes I feel like I am very selfish with the talent, passion and resources God has given me, just making clothes for me and Bridget. It’s great to be able to use them for God’s glory in some small way.