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UFOs

March 23, 2008 in sewing | 1 comment

UFOs are UnFinished Objects. I have a lot. My goal is to work on UFOs and finish a bunch before starting something new. Last week, I wore one of my favorite shirts. Until last fall it sat in the UFO pile. I picked it up and decided to go on a whim with design changes and completed it with maybe 4 additonal hours of work.

Here’s the shirt.

So here are my UFOs in the order I’m currently planning on finishing them. I’ll keep you updated on the progress.

1. Alabama Chanin shirt and photos/thoughts about the weekend organized.

2. Khaki shirt that has the same pattern as the one in the photo above, but different styling.

3. Blue tonal striped shirtdress.

Wish me luck!

^_^

Happy Easter

March 23, 2008 in family, food, self care, sewing | No comments

It was snowing when I woke up. It certainly doesn’t feel like Easter. My parents came to visit us for the weekend, and my dad is known around the family for bringing bad weather–so he got the blame. It really wasn’t too bad. It didn’t stick. Snow on Easter, however, just doesn’t seem right.

Happy Easter to you all. I feel like life is blasting by me–so it is nice to have a holiday to make me slow down and reflect on things greater than myself.

I just signed up for a “practice” tri. Practice and 5 mile run don’t seem to belong together though. We’ll see. It’ll at least get me used to transitioning–even if the entire event is capped at 250 people.

So, I mentioned my parents are in town. It feels like all we did all weekend was eat. The scale said I’d gained 6 pounds right after dinner tonight. Yikes! Considering I’ve already put on 5 with my training, even though I’m trying really hard not to eat poorly. I’m really not amused. Does anyone have any tips? I’m trying to add weight lifting to the workout plan–but it is difficult considering I already devote at least an hour 6 days a week to running, biking, or swimming. So needless to say, all of my projects are getting delayed slightly. I caught up a lot on my Alabama Chanin corset this weekend.

Here are my goals for the week.

1. Complete all scheduled training–yes I skip every now and again. This is a recovery week, so the workouts are a lot shorter.

2. Work on one Illustrator project with Eric. We just bought Adobe CS3 with his student discount and are both hoping to learn a bit.

3. Finish corset and finally pull together my thoughts about my Alabama Chanin experience.

4. We currently have 3 things scheduled for the weekend coming up, a 1-hour appointment on Saturday, a 1-2 hour lunch meeting on Sunday, and group swim practice on Sunday. We’ve resolved not to schedule anything else! As I write this I realize an invitation to a VIP party before a runway show finale for St. Louis fashion week sits in my inbox. I must stay strong and politely decline. I’m definitely the queen of over commiting.

I hope your week is full of spring-time goodness.

Peace,

^_^ Katy

Miscellany

March 13, 2008 in artist way, family, food, leukemia, patterns, self care, sewing | No comments

First off, this weekend was AMAZING. I had such a wonderful time and met some of the most interesting and caring women! What fun. More on that later. Thank you Natalie!

The lady in NY found a bone marrow donor! Yippee.

Fundraising is blowing my socks off. Seriously!! I’m so awed at people’s generosity. I will be updating the Fundraising Fun post with additional names. There are still several people that I don’t know at all. Thank you all!

This morning’s run was nuts. I didn’t have to bundle up–but it was so dark. Yay Daylight Savings time. I feared tripping. Instead I managed to trip when the sun had already started to come up. I was sprawled out on a stranger’s driveway with a little scraping on my knee and bruising on the bum–how did I hit both sides? Just as the other knee was healing from the bike debacle two weekends ago. Oi vey.

St. Louis Fashion Week is underway. I plan on attending a few of the events–mainly the free ones!

Much love to y’all and I promise more goodies and photos soon!!

Peace,

^-^

Shirt Progress

March 7, 2008 in sewing | 2 comments

Here are those photos.

Music Moves Me

March 6, 2008 in Musings, patterns, self care, sewing | No comments

Last night I planned on attending spin at the YMCA. I had a bit of time at home between work and spin. Eric cooked and did dishes–I am so enjoying his housework help! I caught myself running around the house singing “YMCA.” Even as I pulled the door open to the Y, I was still singing it in my head.

Spin class was lots of fun–it was a little less intense than I’m used to, which was a welcomed break. One of the songs the instructor played was “Yellow” by Coldplay. Every time the word “yellow” was said we had to increase the resistance on our bikes and do a climb (ride standing up for you non-spinners). That was fun. The next song that came on was Cake’s “The Distance.” I was immediately taken back in time to high school. I ran cross-country and that was a popular song with our gang. I lip synched as I remembered the words. I’m sure I looked silly, but I couldn’t really see anyone else with my glasses off, so it didn’t bother me. The last song before our cool down was “Eye of the Tiger.” I love music. It totallly motivates me to train faster.

I did take some photos of the top, but they are still in the camera. Tonight’ll be busy with going to the homeless shelter immediately after work, then getting home, packing and taking a few camera lessons from Eric on his Digital SLR. Tomorrow I am going to spin and run at the Y in the am (6am spinning class!) and then head out of town for my Alabama adventure. I will try to post the images before I head out.

There’ll be plenty of updates when I return Sunday night. They’ve given us sneak peaks into what to expect and I’m beyond excited. I’m going to stay at a charming (by the photos on their site) B&B. I am feeling totally spoiled.

Peace,

^-^ Katy

Snow

March 5, 2008 in self care, sewing | 1 comment

St. Louis was covered in snow yesterday. The amount varied greatly all over the city. In the area where I work, 11 inches fell from 8am-5pm. Here’s a look at the parking lot at about 11am. Since the snow plow plowed the parking lot, all of the snow was pushed up to our cars. We had people litterally digging out (with a shovel) a space in front or behind people’s cars so they could get out!

To give you an idea. When I got home and pulled into our apartmentment parking lot, my car door skimmed the top of the snow. This was in a parking space that hadn’t been shoveled. I am more than ready for spring.

Self-care was a hot topic! Please let me know via comments or e-mail if there is anything specific you’d like to discuss.

Monday, since self-care was on the brain, I did great. I read a lot on my library books. I even cut out a shell front for the Balenciaga shirt and attached some fabric. Instead of creating a terrible mental image description–it looks great. Really! I’ll be sure to take a photo or two and share tonight or tomorrow. Tuesday, the snow messed with everything. Like that excuse? Tuesday, I didn’t focus on self-care and I could really feel it.

So what exactly is self-care? Essentially it comes down to taking care of yourself-asinine I know. There is no magic formula. Everyone is different. Do you love having pretty nails? Then you’d take the time to make sure your hands are moisturized and maybe splurge for a manicure regularly. Do you love fresh berries? Then you’d purchase them at the store and enjoy putting them on your cereal. Self-care is self-pampering. I realize it is difficult and can be expensive or time-consuming, but it yields extremely high dividends. So for me on Monday, self-care involved investing time.

Weekend Update Continued

March 2, 2008 in Musings, sewing | No comments

Here is what Scotch was doing during my first update. He loves me lots.

Here’s the headboard. At work they just shot my first textile design for bedding. So we are planning on updating our bedding ensemble. I’ll show you photos as soon as it is available for purchase!

Here’s a close-up of the headboard. I really like how it looks.

Lastly, here’s a quick–2 minute attempt at draping the top. I plan on making a shell underneath and then I use smaller pieces to drape. Currently these are 2 yard cuts of two colors that I purchased in New York. The colors are a little fall-ish.

Weekend Update

March 2, 2008 in Musings, sewing | No comments

Well… first things first, the Balenciaga-inspired top did not get worked on, yet. I have everything out and am hoping to give it small spurts of attention tonight and throughout the week.

The weather this weekend was AMAZING. Tomorrow it is supposed to snow! Ugg..

So, here’s what I did do this weekend:
1. Went to a work happy hour on Friday celebrating a co-worker’s promotion.
2. Went for a 13 mile bike ride with the team on Saturday. I did manage to fall over on my bike with the clips–so I’m now “official.”
3. Took a nap after the bike ride.
4. Went to the library.
5. Joined the YMCA.
6. Saturday evening church.
7. Watched a movie at home.
8. Cleaned house.
9. Went out for Sunday morning coffee and pain de chocolate.
10. Visited Body Worlds 3. Today is the last day it is in town.
11. Read some of the library books.
12. Did ironing.
13. Got out pattern pieces for Balenciaga undershirt and ironed them.
14. Arranged car assistance and picked up headboard that I’d purchased in December at a sample sale at work.
15. Going to swim practice in less than an hour.
16. Loved on kitties.

Whew–so I really haven’t been lazy. I head to Alabama on Friday morning, so we’ll see what I can accomplish this week. Keeping in mind I have spin Monday night, dinner date Tuesday, and my final night working at the homeless shelter on Thursday.

I love my full-life, I just sometimes have to push sewing aside for a bit–which is probably why I don’t make more of my clothes.

Peace,
^-^ Katy

Alabama Chanin

February 11, 2008 in sewing | 2 comments

I blogged about the Slow Life last week. Turns out I wasn’t just interested in the slow life, I am looking for ways to implement it my own life as well.

Alabama Chanin is offering 4 weekend workshops a year. I applied to be considered for a scholarship for the one in March. Yesterday, they announced I was one of the winners.

I am super-excited. I keep re-reading the e-mail just to make sure I didn’t mis-interpret what they were saying. They chose me along with 5 other very talented and inspiring people to participate. There are the briefest bios on the Alabama Chanin blog. Originally, they were only going to offer two scholarship positions. They said they received many outstanding applications so they decided to offer six instead. I feel really honored and look forward to the experience and community.

Peace,
Katy Renee
^-^

Project Blogway

February 10, 2008 in sewing | 1 comment

I finished the bag. I checked with Jillian and she says I can post photos. I plan on getting it in the mail tomorrow.
Here’s Maud styling

Here’s the inside. It is a muted leopard print. Goes great with Jillian’s kitties and new puppy!

I added a bit of elastic to the sides. Since it a large bag, this’ll allow it to expand when more items are added and be a more manageable while it is less full.

Since Jillian is a student, here’s the bag with a patternmaking book on the inside. Plenty of room for rulers, scissors, fabric and anything else she might need.

Finally, here’s the side-view. Hope you enjoy it Jillian!

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