Starting a cross stitch project and some life updates

Going to be working on the Boo Crew Mystery Stitch Along! 

It's been awhile since I have blogged and a LOT of things are changing for me. My boyfriend and I are moving into a 30' 5th wheel next week to live on property that has to be cleared (by us) before we can build a house. So I am trying to be strategic in what I bring into the 5th wheel with me because of limited space.

The 5th Wheel sitting in our driveway!

Joe in his spot

Joe and Teddy both love being in the RV. I had a slightly small twin quilt that an aunt found at a garage sale. It's the perfect size to cover the jackknife sofa. Joe's snuggled in to his favorite blanket from his grandma and he runs and jumps right up there as soon as he gets in the RV.

My Singer 301 is coming along, and I am packaging up some quilt and sewing projects in soft bags to put under the jackknife sofa. I am so lucky that my boyfriend owns a building in town with a huge unused office space and I am going to set up a complete sewing studio there. But I want to have projects in the RV, too, for evenings and down time. 

I bought a Flexispot desk and I'm so excited to get to use it every day for working at home and for my crafts. I have to change up sitting and standing for my back health and this desk also tilts for drawing and coloring. 

Desk in the RV - it will slide to the far right after we set up in our RV site, it's just over here to travel.

Desk with the drawing section raised

I have wanted a sitting & standing desk for a long time, but now I need it more than ever as I left Jerome High School and am starting at an online-only public school! Exciting and a little scary to change schools. I'll work from home from this awesome desk.

This week, in addition to packing and decluttering, I'm cutting out some knit PJs for summer and I'll quickly sew them together on the serger. My mom gave me her serger when she upgraded and now I have a 5 thread!

Trip to Anaheim!

I took a student and my mom to Anaheim, California, at the end of June for the 2019 FCCLA National Leadership Conference!

We flew from our little, local airport through Salt Lake City to John Wayne Airport in Orange County. Such a quick and easy trip! We flew at noon on Friday then went to the hotel to check in. After getting settled, we went to Seal Beach and enjoyed a delicious dinner and time in the water.

On Saturday, we were up bright and early to spend the day at Disneyland. Had a blast and didn't go on Splash Mountain early enough. Mom LOVED Splash Mountain and having wet clothes would have kept us much cooler all afternoon.

Did conference stuff on Sunday and then visited Disneyland again on Monday. Even better the second time!

On Tuesday, I was priviledged to listen to a talk by Gemma Stafford, of Bigger Bolder Baking. I love her site and use it with my students all the time because she has great videos and appealing recipes. They are easy to make for students, too. That evening, I completed my first 5K Run / Walk! I walked and it was tiring and fun. We were at the Angels stadium and unfortunately, their pitcher had just been found deceased that morning. I was sorry our party happened to coincide with that sad day.

I was able to visit the Richard Nixon Presidential Library on Wednesday. Unfortunately, I could only stay a short time due to other responsibilities, but Mom stayed for a longer time. I enjoyed it and would love to go back. I only knew President Nixon for the Watergate scandal and China. He did so much more. Interesting place!

This visit made me miss California so much, even though I always lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. It's so vibrant and busy! I would love to live in So Cal and be an annual passholder to Disneyland :-)

  

 

Sewed 6 dresses in 6 days

I had to get ready for my first FCCLA National Leadership Conference. This was my first year to have students compete in FCCLA at all, and two of them qualified for Nationals. One dropped out, but the other wanted to compete. I also have a state officer this upcoming school year, and they ask state officers to attend NLC before their year begins for training.

The dress code says advisers must wear "professional dress," but I wear business casual at best in my work and home life. So, I thought at least I could sew dresses because I will never be wearing a suit. I had to sew at least 4 dresses and I had 6 days to complete them.

I had enough of the right fabrics in my stash but I went out and bought new patterns because I don't own many dress patterns and none of them were right for the look I wanted. Atlanta, Georgia, is hot and humid so I wanted a basic A-line or trapeze dress for comfort. No belts! I added scarves from the Dollar Tree to dress up the dresses even more, while not getting too hot.

This was my first-try dress. I made A but without a center seam as I wanted to use all one fabric.

This is the pattern for dresses 2-6. I modified and refined the short sleeve as I felt it was not drafted well. I still have some adjustments to make for future use.

The first two dresses did not turn out well, since they were muslins. But I love the fabrics so I will work on altering them to function better for me.

First try on a pattern. I hated the neck detail and felt it did not sew together well. It's a lightweight linen look fabric. On to a different pattern!

Second dress, first try on the pattern I used for all others. Love the fabric, but the darts were wrong for my body. I think it's a rayon blend twill.

Dress in knit and I added a sleeve pleat detail.

Dress in wonderful rayon, again with sleeve pleat detail.

Lovely rayon blend crepe in navy. Love the drape and swing of this dress.

And a rayon linen look that is nice and heavy. Great sheen in person.

Patterns under consideration for 4 dresses

Going to Atlanta for FCCLA National Leadership Conference and need 4 more dresses to look professional every day. Heat and humidity for me mean that I wear things only once, or they get too smelly!

Leaning towards Simplicity 9640 view C and McCalls 6465 or 7711 with short sleeves

I will spread out the pattern tissues and measure a dress I have that fits pretty well to decide which styles and sizes I will be making. Going to use some linen look fabric that's been in my stash a long time and in my mom's stash before that - it won't wrinkle and will feel pretty comfy.

More teal than green on the left, navy in the center, and red on the right.

If I don't have enough red for the whole dress, I will make a navy band for the bottom. I have a light pink to use for the fourth dress.

Wish me luck - I have about 4 days to sew them all!

Knitting and sewing prep

I've been working on a shawl and eventually will be making prayer shawls regularly.  I was working furiously on a final paper for my education class (School, Community, and Family) & had to have a break! I am loving this pattern, from "KnitSimple 33 Knit Shawls: Beautiful Wraps in Cables & Lace" published by Mixed Media Resources in 2015. I found it at my local Michael's store back in February or March. Here's an Amazon Affiliate link: 33 Knit Shawls: Beautiful Wraps in Cables and Lace

Coconut La Croix water with a touch of cream and my current shawl

Getting Organized for Summer Sewing

In the new house, I've been working on a sewing area. Mom came to visit (with Dad & dogs) and helped a lot.

I have my sewing machines and tools in the small room (office) since it has a built in wall unit. Then, all my fabric storage and cutting table are in the big room next door.

Finally setting up a sewing area again

All progress on unpacking and setting up a sewing area were suspended when I was hired to be a classroom teacher in August 2016. Now that school is out and I have about three weeks before summer school starts, I started unpacking!

First, I had to move all my books & bookcases across the living room. Then, I could position the plastic shelving for fabric & other craft supplies. Now, I need to give the shelves a good wipe-down before putting away my fabric and yarn.