Vacation Break

I have been away vegging, will be back soon with more observations, comments and just sewing stuff soon!

Thank goodness I keep a blog!

I just breathed a huge sigh of relief! This has never happened to me before and thank God I keep this blog! Okay, this is what happened. I have a week off between the old job and the new one and I want to spend it sewing. So today I was making a list of some things I want to work on and added two UFOs to the list. I am sure that you all know that UFOs stand for "Unfinished Outfits" ~ well at least that's what it means to me!

At the end of the winter season, I feel in love with this Dana Buchman wool from Fabric Mart.

It is a 92% Wool 6% Cashmere 2% Lycra Flannel ~ Light to medium weight, soft hand and absolutely gorgeous. I paid $12.99 per yard for it and they have it again this year for $15 a yard. But I would buy more at that price, if I hadn't already bought about 10 yards of it. I made several pieces from it ~ a cardigan with pinstripe band, a sleeveless lined shapeless dress (that I am going to alter for a better fit to wear this season) which I used in my SWAP. Later I made a lined 4 gore elastic waist skirt and had planned a jacket and lined pants from the fabric also. An entire little cluster of pieces that would work with each other.

Well, when I pulled the already cut out jacket pieces today, I couldn't remember what pattern I used for the jacket. No where did I mark what pattern was used but luckily I had blogged about the jacket back in March in an entry called, "Hate fitting but love to sew!" So my blog saved me! The jacket pattern is Butterick 3978. Now I will look through the pattern collection and find the instructions!

Sheeewww! That was a close one!

Shoes, shoes and more shoes!

As you can tell from the title this is a non-sewing post. See, I love shoes...especially the sleek 2.5" to 3" ones with skinny heels and a pointed toe! I love how they make me feel tall and feminine. I love how they finish off the look of a dress or a great pantsuit. Ohmygosh do I love shoes...but here's the thing...you or well at least I can't make shoes...so I have to buy them!

Usually, I can keep my shoe obsession in hand. Usually, I can remember that my children need to eat or I like being able to turn the lights on and have all of those electrical appliances work in my home...especially my sewing machine. But, I recently scored a new job with a much higher income and so shoes have been calling my name.

Now isn't that unusual for someone who has such a powerful fabric addiction? I thought so too but even though those wonderful emails announcing amazing fabric bargains keep popping into my email box, I have no desire to purchase more. Do you think its because I have a filled to the brim fabric closet with a rubbermaid 25 lb tub sitting right outside the closet door filled with fabric, also? Yeah, that's what I am thinking too!

So in the last two weeks I have purchased three pairs of the most amazingly, beautiful, sexy shoes. I need to pause here just for a minute because the thought of them took my breathe away! I walked past the Nine West store in Manhattan yesterday and this pair called to me:

A lovely 3" gray patent leather slingback that once on my feet made them look smaller, my legs slimmer and me tall and skinny. Yes, shoes have the power to do that! Well already they had worked their magic on me so when I saw the price ~ they were on sale ~ they had to come home with me! But as an aside, do you know how hard it is to find a good pair of gray shoes?! I have only one other pair that are a light gray suede that I managed to locate at Aerosoles a few years ago. Otherwise gray shoes ~ a rare breed indeed! So these were loving packed into the box, well okay boxes-plural, that I shipped home from my office. Boxes by the way that contained boxes and boxes of yes, shoes!

Now two weeks ago a pair of Anne Klein slingbacks in brown suede & brown patent leather followed me home from Macys. You can see them here. I originally bought these to use for interviews. I had these grand plans to make a beautiful brown glen plaid suit with a dark brown sueded silk Sewing Workshop mission tank to go under it...but that never happened! And somehow I managed to get a job without the suit and the gorgeous new shoes. But at least I own them and they will work with all the brown fabrics that I currently have which are dancing around in my head.

I bought a third pair but no where on the vast space that is called the internet, can I find a picture of them! I think its because they were reduced in price (isn't that a kewl way to say on sale!) and were being discontinued. So you will have to be satisfied with a description of them. First they are beige with a pattern and a hint of gold in the pattern, so that the gold sorta reflects in the light but let me stress these are not garish or dressy shoes. They are a 3" sling back with a pointy heel that can and have been worn with a work suit. Actually, I wore them this week with this outfit. I was wearing this outfit with the shoes at the interview that got me the job! The shoes gave me confidence ~ I am sure of it! *smile*

So now that I have written an ode to my shoes on a sewing blog, how about you? Do you love shoes? Do they make your heart go pitter patter? Do you drool over them when you walk past them or are they just shoes? And please feel free to share any good shoe stories because I truly believe that shoes like jewelry make an outfit complete!

Have a shoe shiny day!!!!!