It's Been An Extreme Honor

...to be one of the initial nine bloggers asked to participate in The Mood Sewing Network.  I was thrilled when asked and I blogged about that excitement here.  

Throughout the last year I've had a lot of fun, met and made friends with several members of the staff at the Mood NYC store specifically Todd, Eric, George and Diane. You've all enhanced this experience for me but Monday's post was my last post for the Mood Sewing Network.

It's been an amazing journey and I've grown in so many ways.  I've challenged myself in many areas, especially photography.  But all good things must come to an end and I would like to personally thank Eric Sauma and Meg McDonald for giving me this opportunity, believing in me and welcoming me into their wonderful organization.  I will miss my monthly visits to the store!

I really hope that The Mood Sewing Network continues to grow and touch sewists everywhere.  And if you haven't had the opportunity to shop at the Mood store in NYC, you should put it on your bucket list because it is an amazing place full of wonderful fabrics and magical moments.

Mostly though, I will miss my fellow Mood bloggers.  Many of you I didn't know prior to joining MSN and now I count you as friends.  You know who you are without me naming names and I wish you ALL continued success and many more wonderful sewing journeys!

I will still be sewing and sharing my garments here in my corner of cyberspace and I hope you will continue to follow the wonderful sewists at MSN!

...as always more later!

p.s. Per Meg - if anyone is interested in becoming a blogger for the Mood Sewing Network, you should send an email to: info2@moodfabrics.com with "Mood Sewing Network Blogger" in the subject line and a link to your blog in the body of the email!!!

Good luck to anyone that applies!

One Year Later

This time last year I was freaking out...*LOL*...no seriously I was packing up my fabric and my sewing machines preparing to move...freaking out!  I was focused on how I was going to cram all of my sewing paraphernalia into a 9x12 room and create effectively since it was previously stored all over my apartment.  A year later, with a sewing cave that's experienced a re-org, I now have a calm sewing environment, and I feel like my creativity is firing on all cylinders.  Here are a few reasons why:

The City in Winter Collection:
I've added several more pieces to my collection.  The additions came about organically.  A few new pieces of fabric were acquired that begged to be included.  I feel that they will expand the collection, as well as, allow me to create a few "artistic" pieces so that the collection will reflect my artistic/creative side, as well as, my stylish/professional side.  Honestly I will probably be making pieces for this collection during the entire fall/winter season...and that's okay with me.

My Mood Connection:
Besides the acknowledgement of my participation in the Mood Sewing Network, I haven't really spoken about what it means to me and how it will affect my sewing. So I would like to write/say a few words about it now.  

First, it really is such an honor to be one of the nine bloggers chosen.  I'm sure that there are many out there in blogland that feel they could have been chosen, should have been chosen and maybe you will have the opportunity to participate since Mood has clearly stated that they will be adding additional bloggers. 

Second, the association with Mood is not set up whereby I can't sew with any other fabric besides Mood's fabric.  The requirement is that I make at least one garment a month with Mood fabric. I guess that would be a concern if I only made one garment a month but since I usually sew four to five, I believe that there will be a good mix of Mood fabrics and fabrics from other sources being sewn. Because seriously people, I own an awesome fabric collection that I amassed to sew from...not just to own...so I'm going to need to use fabric from my collection, y'know what I mean.

Third, this arrangement allows me, as well as you, the opportunity to explore the myriad pieces of fabric that Mood offers. I'm trying to choose fabric across the spectrum...designer pieces, knits, silks and wools, to name a few. The store is a veritable cornucopia of interesting pieces and I will be able to highlight some of those choices for you. I will provide links to the website when a piece or grouping of fabric is offered from there so that you can purchase it too if you're interested...just like I've done in the past when I've come across other amazing values or pieces of fabric. If I've purchased a piece in the store, I will let you know where and when and if you really want a piece I'm sure that you can call the store directly to see if they will ship to you.

However, I believe that this arrangement does not bind me to Mood in such a way that it swallows up my creativity, nor does it make me a shill for them. I think it opens doors for both me and you and allows us to wallow in their extensive fabric collection. Believe me I buy way more from them than is included in my monthly allowance. Hopefully this collaboration will encourage and stimulate creativity in all of us.

My Diary, My Journey
I understand that many of you stop by daily, weekly, bimonthly, whatever to read my sewing adventures ~ of which there are many ~ since I seem to have a one track mind. *LOL* But please remember that this is my journey that I chronicle here, I just allow you to share it with me. So a few things...I do have a day job so I may not answer questions promptly, even though I do read all of the comments. There are a variety of reasons why questions don't get answered...some of it is because a question is asked that I've already blogged about a month ago, a year or two ago and the answer can easily be found by searching the blog. Other questions, I do mean to answer and try to but many of my posts are written days in advance and by the time I get back around to the questions, it seems as if the blog has moved on. I will try to do better answering new questions!

I try to acknowledge the compliments that you give my garments because they are truly appreciated. Cause y'all know about my comment ho addiction.  However, I will never be the person that writes a thank you for every comment. If I had to choose between writing them or sewing, you know sewing is going to win out every time! *smile* But please know that I'm so appreciative of the fact that you want to follow along on my journey as I document both my triumphs and my failures.

A Giveaway:
If you've made it this far, I have a giveaway - a $50 Mood Gift Certificate.  Leave a comment telling me how long you've been reading my blog and how you follow it. Is it by email, by a reader, by RSS, by blogspot's followers or did you just bookmark it and check in from time to time? The giveaway is open to anyone even international participants, though I don't know how far the $50 will go - I guess it could be used as free shipping! All comments must be left by Wednesday, October 17 by midnight EST, when I will lock the comment section. I will choose the winner by random generator and the winner will be announced on Friday, October 19th. The winner's comment must include answers to both questions before the gift card will be rewarded. If the entry is incomplete, another number will be picked via the random generator until I have a winner! Good luck!

...as always more later!

The Mood Sewing Network

The blogosphere is abuzz!  Yes, yes it is, because Mood Fabrics has announced a new network of sewing bloggers...The Mood Sewing Network!

"Welcome to the Mood Sewing Network, a collective of fashion sewing bloggers from across the U.S. The nine women we've chosen to help us launch the Mood Sewing Network represent a cross-section of home sewers: some still consider themselves beginners, while others are at the more experienced end of the sewing spectrum. No matter where they fall, we admire their enthusiasm for sewing and their love of fabric. Follow their adventures here in sewing and creating with Mood fabrics and use them for inspiration with your own sewing projects.  Each month Mood Fabrics provides the Mood Sewing Network bloggers with an allowance for fabric that they can spend online at MoodFabrics.com or in our NYC or LA stores. The bloggers, in turn, will sew a garment with Mood fabrics each month and then blog about it on their own blogs and here."

I have to tell you that I'm so honored to be included in the company of such awesome sewists.  The experience of working with Meg and the team at Mood has been amazing and can I say that I'm so thrilled to be involved in this project!

I hope you will continue to follow along as I start this new journey!  And please make sure that you check out my fellow  Mood bloggers, the amazing Amanda of Amanda's Adventures in Sewing; the stylish Miss Erica B., of Erica B's DIY Style; sweet Ginger of Ginger Makes; the chic Sarah of Good-bye Valentino; my girl Cidell from Miss Cellie's Pants; the fabulous Marina from Frabjous Couture; the outrageous Marcy from Oonaballoona and finally adventurous Amy from Sew Well who has an awesome entry in the Sew Tessuti contest.  Am I in good company or what!?!

So can you hear it?  The distant rumble of sewing machines...gearing up to turn out some new and fantastic creations with fabrics from Mood!

...as always more later!