Resolutions

Last year, I made four resolutions. Here they are in all their italicized glory, along with comments on how well I stuck to my plan and finally a grade:

1. I will allow myself to buy 1 m of fabric for each 2 m sewn. Wish me luck!
Seriously, who am I kidding? Although I bought less fabric this year than I ever have, I still managed to add significantly to my stash. The only thing that may slow me down this year is lack of storage. GRADE: D


2. I really, really want to sew up more stuff from BWOF, so I vow to sew up 12 garments this coming year.
I did well with this one. I made up eight different BWOF garments (I made many of them multiple times) and traced off at least another eight. GRADE: A


3. As well, I want to sew up a bunch (a minimum of 8) of vintage Vogue Couturier Design, Vogue Americana & Vogue Paris Original patterns.
I did so-so with this one. I sewed four patterns. GRADE: B-


4. I have had my new sewing/embroidery machine for almost a year now and I have yet to embroider anything, so I want to learn how to embroider.
I did horribly with this one. I wish I could say that I embroidered anything, but I didn't. I didn't even read the instructions on how to embroider. I'm bad - very, very bad. GRADE: F


Okay, so all in all, kinda mediocre. Oh well, whatcha gonna do?



Onward to a new set of resolutions:

1. Get back in shape. I still have 10 pesky pounds that need to go. I will get on the treadmill at least 3 times per week, I will weight lift and do flexibility training at least once a week each. This leads me to my sewing-related resolution:
2. I am only allowed to spend money on my hobby if I earn it. For every hour spent exercising, I will get $10 to spend on fabric, notions and the like. No movey the body, no spendy the money!

That's it. Two resolutions. I figure everything else will fall into place as I go along.

So, How'd I Do?

Well, it's that time of year again. Time to cast an eye back to the past 12 months and see where I've been. So here are the highlights:

* This year, I sewed up 96 garments - everything from fully tailored suits to tank tops.

* I used up 162 m (177 yd) of fabric in my garment sewing.

* I took second place in the Timmel 2008 SWAP Contest, with my Jackie Kennedy inspired wardrobe. I still can't believe that I was chosen in amongst so many beautiful entries.

* I am the master of the bound buttonhole due to the above SWAP - I could make 'em before, but now I own them.

* I survived a severe loss of sewing and blogging mojo and I am on the road to recovery.

So, it's time to look forward to another new adventure...Hello, 2009!

Beagle Overload

The past few days I have been wasting my time in the most wonderful way. I simply cannot tear myself away from the puppy cams at ustream.tv. There are golden retriever puppies, dauschund puppies, miniature schnauzer puppies and Havanese puppies, among others (just search for "puppies" and you'll get quite a selection. However, my favourite, hands down, are the beagle puppies (imagine that)!

In the beagle theme, here's a photo of Simon and I suiting up to go for a walk. The temperature around here lately has hovered around -8 Celsius, so warm hats are definitely in order. However, Simon seems less than enamoured with the choice of head gear I have made for him!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow...

Not like we have a choice!

Okay, so we get nailed by Mother Nature on Wednesday - 10 cm of snow. Then yesterday, she sticks it to us again - 20 cm of snow. Now, we're bracing for another 20 cm to hit tonight into tomorrow. To the left is a photo of Simon navigating the snowy backyard - he has always loved snow ever since he was a pup!

The only good thing about all this is that I am now off for Xmas break - two whole weeks of vacation. Besides the obligatory holiday stuff, I am planning on making my sewing machine sing. I already have a back log of finished sewing projects to post about - 3 skirts, a top and a cardigan. I'm also almost finished a pair of pants and another cardigan. So, stay tuned...

And the Winner Is...

Not me.

I came in 5th of 5 blogs in Round 2 of the Canadian Blog Awards. However, I am consoling myself with the fact that placing 5th out of the 15 original blogs from Round 1 is nothing to complain about. I'm amazed that I did as well as I did. So, a huge congratulations to the winners and a heartfelt thank you to all those that voted for me. Maybe next year... ;)

P.U.

A small rant.

If I can smell you before I see you, you have applied too much perfume.

'Nuff said.

Fabulous Fifties

ETA: She has changed her project. In her own words, from her blog, My Decade Year, "As of December 15, I've altered the project to include the 60's, 70's, and 80's. Read about it!"

My Original Post:
This morning I was reading the blog, Life of a Jersey Girl, and came across a post about Marzipan Jones. Marzipan (a pseudonym) has decided to live the life of a 50s housewife for one year. She started this experiment on September 1st, 2008 and she documents her daily trials and tribulations on her blog. She has vowed to cook, clean and take care of her husband and child a la June Cleaver and she will do all this while dressed the part.

I quickly came to realize that she feels much like I do about the 50s:

"I've been both enamored and repelled (ha!) by the 50's for as long as I can remember. I think it began with the music and of course, the fashion....Everyone always looked so wonderfully put-together and there seemed to be a quality of innocence that pervaded everything said. However, I also knew about the terrible conditions the cultural climate held for people of color, gay and lesbians, and for women. So, I had a love/hate relationship with the era..."

I am completely awed and amused by this little experiment and I can't stop reading her blog. I am hooked and I will certainly be keeping a close eye on her trials and tribulations!

I have always been fascinated with the 50s (and to a lesser extent, the 60s), although I was born in 1970 and never had any first hand knowledge of the era. I adore the fashion, the etiquette, the music and the cars. I long for a return to sophisticated dressing. I could easily step back in time and don a pencil skirt, a sweater set and a string of pearls - no one knows how to dress quite like Grace Kelly these days. However, I can't imagine what it was like to live in a time of such rampant sexism and racism - being anything other than a strong-willed, independent woman seems foreign to me.

So, dear reader, what is your era of choice and why? What fashions make your heart go pitter-patter? Who is your style icon?