Intentions and Inspirations

This summer has been… full.  In greater and lesser amounts there’ve been short trips and long nights, strep throat, a broken A/C (in Dallas in the summer this is a crisis of the first order), fireworks and barbecue, visits with old friends and distant family, fun work and hard work, swim lessons and new ear tubes, a little turmoil , worry and heartache, a great deal of fun and laughing and more.  What has there NOT been?  Sewing.

Sigh.  I got partway through a McCalls 6884 wrap dress.  I was rockin’, I was rollin’.  And then all that other stuff happened.  I think longingly of the day I can pick it up again and finish it.  But that has not yet happened.  I think I last made progress on it in early June.  I may not get back to it until next month.  

In the meantime, I’m letting my mind fill up with all the things I’m going to sew AFTER I finish my wrap dress.  This is a fabulous mental exercise because I can entertain myself endlessly by pairing different patterns with different fabrics.  I do not let myself focus on practicalities such as when exactly I think I’m going to fit all this marvelous sewing into my current daily menu.  Said menu is demonstrably full up.  But I’m an optimist and I’m just going to keep thinking about those future projects.  Right now they’re all shiny and mistake-free, nary a swear word or seam ripper in sight.  It’s really pretty dreamy.

These are earmarked for my soon-to-be 8yo daughter.  I usually make her a skirt for her birthday.  I’m also thinking of making her an orange sherbet dress (it is both eyelet AND flocked! so awesome).  It will look fabulous with her Strawberry Shortcake red hair.

And here are some other delicious fabrics I'm enjoying mentally whipping up into various things:

Mmm, intentions.  In a slightly different vein, here are some of the inspirations I’ve found online these past few days:

Oh mercy this swimsuit.  It is divine.  I love it when someone makes something that is so perfectly an expression of themselves.  

Speaking of always being herself, Oona has made another daringly gorgeous skirt - with the fabric that is somehow woven into her destiny, Anna Sui of course.

In non-sewing terms, this story had me thoroughly entertained.  There are many things I love about it - what’s not to love about a rude theatre-goer neatly schooled by famed diva, mid-performance?!  But my all-time favorite thing about it was this quote:  “I did it with such grace and panache, I surprised myself!”  The moment I read it I vowed to use that line in my annual performance review self-evaluation next year. And maybe in all coming years.  HR managers, take note.

I am baking these cookies right now.  Because I cannot leave well enough alone (and also because, to be perfectly honest, I have no idea where to find “instant milk powder” in the grocery store - I’m not even sure what that is), I changed it up a bit.  I don’t yet have one in my mouth, so I can’t tell you if it’s good or not.  Although licking the spoon was certainly satisfying.

I loved this post about the sewing community, blog rolls and supportive comments from Diary of a Sewing Fanatic.

This.  It is awesome.  All it needs is a giant inflatable beer stein - and maybe a small inflatable tub of “cheez”.

There are a hundred other bloggers out there demonstrating sewing projects and patterns and fabrics that inspire me on a daily basis.  This really is a fantastic hobby and a great bunch of people!  

I hope your summer is full of good intentions, sources of inspiration, finished projects and reliable A/C!