Fine Tuning & Going a Little Old School

 Because I am that kind of mom.  I mean, I'm all for new technologies and such (and trust me, I use it to my advantage on a daily basis), but sometimes you just gotta fall back on what you knew way back when.....

Still playing around with the Halloween decor; fine tuning the eyes in the tube for all the outdoor plants up the front walkway.  It's starting to look nice & creepy (and here's a shout out to new technology - LOVE the night setting on my camera, even though it means I HAVE to get the tripod out and set it up just to take a simple snapshot...)   :

This will either make them laugh, or it will keep them from coming
to the front door.  We'll have to see how it looks when I have all of them
cut out with all the different colors in them. 

Whazzat?  You have no idea what I'm talking about?  Hmmmm.....after trolling my blog, I'm discovering that you are (ahem) in the dark after all - I guess I never posted about this little project.  My bad!

Old School #1:
Simple craft:  save your cardboard tubes (from toilet paper or paper towel rolls); head to your nearest Dollar Tree or 99 Cent Store and pick up multi-paks of glow in the dark bracelets (they are EVERYWHERE right now with the Halloween stuff); find some eye designs by Google-ing images of scary (or Halloween) eye clipart; draw them on the tube (it doesn't really matter if they are perfect, trust me); cut them out carefully with an X-Acto knife and a very sharp pair of small scissors; crack the bracelet and shake it up; fold it into the bracelet shape & attach the connectors included in the pack; stuff it into the tube; then go outside and stuff it into one of your trees, bushes, or plants.  The bracelet should glow for several hours - this is one I cracked open about three days ago to start beta-testing, then threw it into the freezer.  It's still going strong, so I'm pretty sure the new ones will be scaring the kiddos all night on Halloween.  Especially since we have about 8 of these multi-tier topiary type bushes out front, LOL.......just imagine eyes in every tier, in about five different colors.....

Someone is fired - AGAIN:

 The Sewing Assistant, sleeping on the job.
As usual.

New School # 1:

C'mon, seriously?  Who names their daughter "Monet?"
No matter - as long as they can pay for the embroidery job....

An Old-School, New-School Combo:

New School:  The wireless mic that the field show soloist needs to have somewhere
on his person because he doesn't have time to run up to the podium during the show
for his solo.  Needs a secret, secure pocket close to the front, so he can hit the
button and have it near enough to the pickup on the bell of his sax to prevent
distortion or loss of sound.

Crappy photo of Old School:  After measuring the mic, I serged the top edge
and turned it under for a clean finish.  Then I measured the front of the pocket with the
mic unit inside of it, took two tucks in the bottom corners for depth, and sewed them diagonally.
After rechecking the fit, I pinned the front part of the pocket to the back part, to make it
a little easier to remove and reuse should they need it again next year.
When I'm not "with the band" any more.  

Stitched the side from the top of the pocket (with reinforced backstitching)
to the point of the diagonal and stopped (backstitching again for reinforcement).

Folded the diagonal toward the side that was already stitched,
started the stitching on the bottom at exactly the same point where I had
just finished off, and continued across the bottom.   I repeated this
when I got to the other corner.  After stitching all of this into place, I
serged around the entire pocket, leaving the top of the front open.

The finished pocket, sewn to the inside of the soloist's jacket with
a simple straight stitch.  This will make it possible for the next uniform chairperson
to detach the pocket and reuse on the jacket of whomever has the solo next time.

The inside, hidden pocket with the snugly-fitting wireless mic firmly in place.
Wish you could see & hear the show - the music is awesome this year.

Really, Really Old School:

Son # 1 comes home with some hysterical story from work roughly three weeks ago, about one of his co-workers who seems to have a real gift for humor.  He can come into the break room, look one of his fellow employees up and down like he's deciding whether to make a pass at him, then mutters "Mmmm, mmm, MMMMHHHH!" before walking on.  Apparently, this scenario repeats itself every time these two guys cross paths - and it's pretty funny because everyone knows they are just posing.  Son #1 gets the bright idea to make a custom t-shirt to wear underneath his uniform shirt as a surprise - then brings the other employee in on the joke and they decide that I need to make at least three of them - one for each of them to flash at the employee the next time he comes into the break room "eyeing" the other guy, then one to present to the employee as a gag gift.  

(Notice how "the son decides to make custom t-shirts" became "I NEED TO MAKE AT LEAST THREE OF THEM"?   Yeah, I did, too.)

Son #1 surreptitiously photographs the "swinging" employee, brings it home, puts it through
Photoshop & makes a black and white, high contrast stencil silhouette.  He tapes the printout to
a piece of Reynolds freezer paper, does part of the cutting
before he goes to night class, and mom finishes it up.
Note that he had to "borrow" mom's X-Acto knife, mom's cutting pad, and mom's new blades to do this.
And that mom had to go hunt for these items in said Son's bedroom afterwards.  Just sayin'.  

Mom irons the freezer paper stencil, shiny side down, onto a pre-washed shirt.
Out comes the Jacquard Textile paint in black, and mom paints it
on with a cheap-o foam brush.  It's much better than using a bristle brush.
(Dab the paint on if you're going to try this at home.  Works better than actually making brushstrokes
 - especially in areas that have tiny or thin pieces of the freezer paper cut.  Otherwise, you
can dislodge the smaller cuts and distort or ruin the pattern.)

This brings back all kinds of memories of doing late-night, last-minute painting projects
during art school (college), and mom gets all nostalgic and stuff.

Thought you might appreciate a view from the stencil side.
I know it looks like some crazy kidnapper got wild with the
duct tape, but be patient - all will be revealed when the paint dries
and the stencil can be VERY carefully lifted off the shirt and re-used.
Remember, mom has to do three of these suckers, and she's not about
to spend another three hours tonight cutting out all these tiny little details.  

The finished project (shirt #1).  Two more quickly followed
this one.  Can't wait to see the photos of the other employees
when Son #1 presents the shirts to them.  

Yes, this kind of detailed hand-cut stencil work takes a lot of time.  But - I really didn't have time to hit that learning curve to burn and use a silkscreen on my Yudu tonight, possibly wrecking the only two sheets of emulsion that I currently own and probably ending up doing it this way, anyway.  I figure I saved myself a lot of time & frustration.  But I WILL master that Yudu some day....especially if (and probably WHEN) either Son #1 or Son #2 come up with an idea for multiple t-shirts that they "really, really need by tomorrow, Mom!"

Bet You Thought Sewing Was All I Did.....

Not really.  I just don't often have time to do my other crafts.  There are some projects I haven't gotten to in years, some that I started but couldn't finish, some that just need a bit more work, and some that I just can't seem to get to no matter what.

And then, there are the if-I-don't-do-something-creative-today-my-head-is-going-to-explode kind of projects.

Have always wanted to try this "yarn" - and I use that term loosely, as it seems more like an amalgam of ribbon & mesh:

My mother was the one that turned me onto this particular yarn (Sashay, by Red Heart).  She worked with it when it first came out, and has made somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 or so scarves for friends and family members.  I happened to run across it at Joann's Fabrics one day, and thought - hey! - I have a 40% off coupon, and it would only take a couple of dollars to see if I could work with this stuff.  Mom had a lot of difficulty with it in the beginning, but since I'd never seen it, I had no solutions to give her over the phone because I couldn't even picture it in my head from her description.

After I bought it, I looked at the instructions printed on the inside of the wrapper - and thought "no WONDER she was having so much trouble figuring this out!"  Talk about confusing!!!!

So I Googled it, and ended up watching videos on YouTube that show exactly how you are supposed to work with it.  Just search for Knitting with Sashay yarn or Crocheting with Sashay yarn, and select the ones that are from the Red Heart company.  They make it much clearer.

My son came through the room while I was knitting, asked what it was that I was working on, and said his girlfriend would love to have a scarf made of that.  I told him about all the color combos that it came in, and he said she'd either like a blue combo or a green combo.  The one I bought was more aqua/blue.  They have another combo that is more indigo/denim blue, so I figured once I was done with this one for myself, I'd go back and get the indigo combo for her.

Best laid plans, and all that.

While visiting the other day, she took one look at the scarf at about the halfway point, squealed, and said she would LOVE LOVE LOVE to have that when I was done with it.  So I guess the next coupon I have will be for the indigo/denim combo for myself, LOL.

The finished scarf

It's more a showpiece than a keep-you-warm-in-the-winter kind of scarf, but in Southern California, that's about all you need anyway.  And it looks pretty amazing with the teal and deep royal blue colors she has in her hair, too.  

Hmmm.  Maybe I should go with a purple combo, then.

A good friend of mine just had a birthday and we all got together at a mutual friend's house.  I didn't have any idea what to get for her (gifts weren't required, but it's always nice to bring something.....besides the typical bottle of wine, anyway).  I hit Michael's during a sale, and picked up these beads:

Oh, dear.  I'm beginning to see a color pattern, here....

I also picked up some of their nicer sterling silver findings, and since my friend really rocks these color combinations (along with the longer style of earrings), I came up with these:

Stars not included.    :^)

A Gift That Keeps on Giving

Have a little time on my hands this week between client orders, so I thought I'd put it to good use.

You may have seen this post, which had partly to do with one of our Marching Band friends (Color Guard, to be exact) earning her Gold Award for the Girl Scouts.  She recently left the country to live in the Czech Republic for a year in an educational exchange program.  Before she left, she donated several large sacks full of leftover fleece she had acquired while making her hats for the Children's Hospital (and also fabric she had used to make her own stylish hats that she wore during night rehearsals on the field).

I have a flyer that I had picked up at our local Summerfest, during the Dog Show that was a main event one day that weekend.  This is from Operation Blankets of Love (www.OperationBlanketsofLove.org), which collects blankets for homeless animals in shelters, rescue groups, wildlife & farm sanctuaries in the Southern California area.

Light bulb moment.

Starting with 4" square cuts

Overseeing the action

Pieces cut for backing medium (pieced) blankets, and smaller pads for carriers

4" cuts, ready to be pieced into colorful blankets

I'm overwhelmed with choices - this is going to be such a cheerful project!

More color!

The Sewing Assistant, giving approval to the largest blankets, ready  to go!

Alexis, this one's for you.  When I get the blankets started, I'll post more photos - if I can get Neko out of the pile of fabric long enough.  The blanket organization will be back at Mile Square Park for the Howling Halloween event on October 21st, and will be collecting blankets from the local community.  I'll make sure they know the back story & I'll post the final donation so you can see how many homeless animals you've helped to comfort and warm - your gift that keeps on giving!

Sticking With It

H'lo!

Thought I'd give you a brief wave from my workroom and reassure all of you that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth.....not yet, anyway!

(WAVES)

I took a bunch of photos to show you all the projects/jobs that have sort of taken over my life lately - not that that's a bad thing, it just means I haven't had time to write much - but then realized that maybe posting all of it wouldn't do more than just make me feel overwhelmed all over again, LOL!  So, I thought I'd just throw a few of them up here for your consideration (and as an opportunity to see how busy a work-from-home seamstress can actually get....):

Custom digitized applique for a client for Halloween

Patterns I bought at the most recent Vogue/McCall's pattern sale at Joanns,
with an eye for refashioning garments 

Some of said garments, languishing in the Refashioning Pile
(Disclaimer:  this is a very, VERY small random sampling of said Pile -
if I showed you the entire stack, you'd want to commit me.)

Dress slacks that needed to be relined, for a client who had a small
tear that turned into a much larger headache when she accidentally
stepped through the tear into the Space Between.
  I carefully cut out the lining, took the seam ripper to the
seams, smoothed it out, and used it as a pattern to cut out a new lining.
Client was exceptionally happy.  :)

Another one of my Made in China alterations - I simply cannot stand that
they sew on rhinestones/beads with what looks like kite string.  And that
they use stitching to hold pleats upward on one side of the bust, only to have the other
side pleat the opposite way because the cheap tacking was done with one tiny
length of thread, so when one pleat went, they ALL went.  The wrong way.

Same bridesmaid dress, which needs about 2 inches lopped off in the hem.  Sounds easy,
until you realize that they bagged the lining in the dress hem, as if it were
the bottom of a tailored jacket.  Which means I have to take the lower part
of the dress completely apart in order to stitch these two (of three) layers back
together at the proper length.  I also need to take the upper bodice apart just to
shorten the shoulder straps.
I know ordering a special occasion dress online may SEEM like it's going to
save you tons of money & time, but usually these dresses need a ton of alterations and
I can tell you that is going to end up costing you even more in the long run.
The wedding dress this client ordered from the same online company fit her so terribly
I had no choice but to tell her she had to go buy another one.  There was no way to make
it fit her properly.

Pads and pad covers for the cat rescue my son and I volunteer for -
brought these home for sizing, so I could knock some out
(in all my spare time).  

A purse and a dress/jacket set that another client would like for me
to draft patterns from in order to make new outfits with the same fit & comfort,
and to replicate the purse completely (as well as possibly make a few more
purses using this same pattern/style).  

What will eventually be about 24 embroidered purificators for the church.

This will be a custom made dress for a renewal of vows (for a 25th Wedding Anniversary).
That won't be until next March.
I like this client.

More onesies for The Sweet Tart Lab.

And MORE onesies for The Sweet Tart Lab.
Between these two boutique orders, some custom orders, and
some orders from her web site, I'll be cranking out almost
200 items for her this month.  I love working on things for
this client, because they are so cute & cheerful!

A work jacket that needs tailoring, on hold until this client
gets another one from the same company that will need identical tailoring.
Why they think that medical personnel need to wear shapeless,
oversized, boxy garments to look "professional," I have no idea.
We decided to (gently) buck the system.  The tailoring isn't going
to be terribly obvious, but it's going to make a whole lot of difference
to my client in terms of how she looks during the day.  That
translates into how confident (and NOT self-conscious) she will feel,
which is pretty important when you work in the public sector.   

And just in case you didn't think that was enough, here is a partial list of
what I need to tackle in the next week or two.  With client names
blobbed out to protect the innocent.  There was more added to this after
I took the photo, but it's an ever-evolving list.

So there you have it.  Back to work, now!  All except for the Sewing Assistant, who was fired again after dumping what was left in my glass of Dr. Pepper all over about a half dozen of the onesies.  You know, the white ones.

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Blog Post

...even though I have no late-breaking news to bring you. 

Did you even miss me?  LOL - I thought not.  Someone has been lurking my previous blog posts, though - they must have seen something that they really liked because they have been visiting the same post, every single day.  So far, that post has logged 166 visits.

Maybe it's a blog bug.  Do those even exist?

Haven't been posting much lately for a few reasons:  

1. Been doing a lot of the same thing.  Figured you didn't want to have to suffer through reading about that.

2. Been doing work for clients and had second thoughts about posting the work on my blog.  I'm still all for giving them props for their designs and free advertising - I just got a little spooked reading about how many people are ripping off designs by blog-stalking and then claiming the designs as their own.  More than a few of my clients are young designers and I'd hate for someone to walk all over their dream - so I've opted not to post photos of prototypes/samples on my blog anymore to attempt to fend off said perps.  

3. It's been hot.  Hot, hot, hot.  And that tends to make me sick to my stomach.  Which doesn't leave me exactly focused on blogging about my creative skills.  I figure most of my readers are also hot, hot, hot (or for some of you lovelies in the "other" hemisphere - cold, cold, cold) and probably don't want to sit with a cuppa and browse my musings vague rambling.  Wish I could send you all a cool pack and a sympathy note.  I know I needed one this week.

4. I was in a creative slump for awhile so even though I managed to get work out for clients, I wasn't "in the zone" when it came to doing my own thing.  

That last line is making me bonkers.  I finally had some down time this past week, so I excitedly began cutting apart two soft-n-loverly tie-die print t-shirts that I'd purchased at the 99 Cent Store.  I know, I know - but the fabric was so soft I couldn't help myself.  Somewhere along the line, the 99 Cent Store people have been buying up name brands like you see at Kohls, The Gap, Old Navy, and other department stores - I just about fell on my rear in the store when I started going through the labels.  Long story short, I was trying to replicate something I'd seen on Anthropologie:

I figured between the two oversized t-shirts, that I'd have plenty of fabric to pull something like this off.

Not even going to justify that with photos of the disaster that ensued.  

My calculations were off, I hadn't accounted for the soft-n-loverly fabric to be so limp when it came to draping & weaving like the above shirt, and it hung on me like a sack of potatoes.  I was crushed - it's not often these days I have time to make something for myself.  I rushed through it, knowing I'd have work coming in any day, and it really disappointed me so much I thought I'd lost my sewing mojo. I haven't given up entirely, just need to come up with a Plan B. 

In the meantime, here are a couple of projects I just completed for a friend's daughter who is getting ready to do an exchange year in the Czech Republic:

I think this is the PERFECT bag to carry to Eastern Europe, don't you?
She chose the colors for her name to be embroidered on the bag -
wish I'd had more time with it, I would have loved to have knocked off
the design a little - not copy it directly, but it had some nice features.

She chose the colors to coordinate with the flowers on the bag.

This next bag was a special request from her mother (my friend) -
Alex had gone on a small trip using a bag to carry a blanket & pillow
on the plane, only it was just a few inches shy of being big enough to zip shut.
So her mom and I went to Joanns to choose sturdy fabric, since Alex is going to be using this bag
for day trips with her host family when she gets to Europe.  We wanted it to coordinate with
the other bag; not match it, but complement it.
I chose this embroidery design out of the Jacobean Flowers I've purchased from Embroidery Online, and changed
up the colors to match the flowers on the other bag.

And here, after two zipper assembly snafus, is the completed bag.
Do not ask me about the first zipper disaster.
Do.  Not.  Ask.
It was the heat that did it.  The heat, I say!

ECU of the completed Jacobean Flower -
I love me some Embroidery Library!
Their designs ALWAYS stitch out muy excellente!

Check out the color blocking - Alex loves green, but also loves
this deep blue (check out her prom dress), and my friend and I
thought she would also love to have the red & yellow from
the floral print worked into the bag as well.

The red inside lining, with a contrasting yellow inner pocket, just for a
fun pop of color when she opens the bag.
Hey, the zipper needed SOMETHING to coordinate with, right?
Note to self: make sure to write in the margins of the instructions
for making this type of bag -
SERGE INNER EDGES OF ZIPPER PLACKET.
That is all.

Embroidered on the other side, in letters to coordinate with
the other bag.  Trust me, when you're not in direct sunlight,
those first two letters do not look like exactly the same color.
Really.

It's interesting for me to imagine that my work is once again going half way around the world. Of course, that happens every time someone overseas looks up one of my blog posts, but still.....


Stay tuned for more projects, including one of the strangest alteration/repair requests I've gotten so far.  And I promise to upload photos of Plan B, if I can ever make it come to fruition.  

Craftiness Is Not Confined to My Workroom

Well, it's been a week.  

My son's preschool teacher used to say things like that when I'd pick him up at the end of a class.  She didn't like saying "he had a bad day" or anything negative in front of him, so she would say, "Well, he's had a day."  That way, I'd know right off the bat that something had happened, but would wait until the right moment presented itself before asking her about it.  This sounds like it could be annoying, and I imagine I thought it was at the time.  But when you think about it, it makes sense - I was alerted to the fact that something not so great had happened, while we were preserving whatever peace of mind he'd attained in the aftermath.  Since he was a bit high-strung, this was a particularly effective way of coding the message for Mom.  

Fast Forward to the present: here I was, working my caboose off to get the Relay For Life pouches ready to take with me to the Relay.  After struggling at the computer (see this post), I managed to get about half of them done for donors - especially those I'd be meeting up with at the Relay - when I finally called it a night and decided to get the rest done after the Relay.  I figured it would be a good thing to work on while I was recovering.  

HA.

First things first.  I did manage to correct the stitching on the reduced cupcake image, and, as promised, here is the net result:

MMMMM....doesn't that frosting look much better?
I like learning new stuff.

Then dawned the day of the Relay.  I made it there in time to register and find my team before the opening ceremonies & Survivor Lap started, which was good.  I hadn't had time to make up a pop-up display for the pouches, which would have made it a lot easier to see.  Most of my team didn't know that I was bringing them to take more orders, so when I wasn't at the table, they weren't sure if they should be selling the ones I had brought or if they were just for show.  As a result, I didn't sell as many that day as I was hoping to.  Bummer.

The Relay started off well, though:

About half of the team goofing around for a photo op!
I'm the one in the back in the black pants and black shoes.
Too bad you can't see my purple hair.  It was awesome.

I'd arranged with my sons (and one of the girlfriends) to meet me at the track with lunch, and to stay to cheer on the team.  My oldest and his girlfriend had decided to go to the local swap meet first, then he would text & ask what I wanted for lunch, pick up his younger brother, and head my way.  Lunch time came and went, and around 1:00 or so, I texted him and his brother, asking what happened - did someone sleep in a little too long?  Find something terribly interesting at the swap meet and lose track of time?  Forget about mom's lunch?  

How about "None of the above" ?

I finally get a call back from the older son around 1:15 - and he's calling from the emergency room, where he was taken by ambulance after being hit on his motorcycle.  He hadn't wanted to call me, knowing I was pretty determined to get my miles in at the Relay, but he knew I would be worried about him not showing up (and he felt bad that I didn't get lunch) so he called anyway.  He didn't want me to leave the Relay and head to the ER (yeah RIGHT - like any mom would sit back and say "OK, I won't head straight down there, like, YESTERDAY!"), but I knew even if he was perfectly fine, he wouldn't know how to check out properly and I knew he didn't have the $75 co-pay with him at the time.  Besides, I can never take it for granted that he's "just fine," in spite of his insistence.  I could tell he was upset & spooked, and if all I needed to be was moral support, it was still worth the trip.  So I finished up the lap I was working on, took my bead, and told one of my teammates where I was heading.  

Oh, yeah.  The beads:

The commemorative bead stopper, made by one of the volunteers.

Some of the volunteers donated a huge box of pony beads
and plastic lanyard cord - that way, as you made your way around the track,
you could simply pick up a bead and string it while you were walking.
This helps you figure out how many laps/miles you've walked.
Simple, but genius.  Trust me, when you're exhausted after walking the track
and napping here and there for 24 hours, picking up those beads is the ONLY
way to keep track of what you're doing.
Here's a partial view of my 10 miles.

After being in the ER with my son for several hours, meeting with the doctor who had overseen his care, making sure he hadn't had internal injuries, picking up his crutches and then his medications and getting him discharged, I needed to get him home and DOWN.  As in, "you're not moving unless you need to go to the restroom" DOWN.  Got some food in him, gave him his pain meds, made sure the girlfriend was settled down - the poor thing was beside herself - she was really rattled because he had held the bike up as he was getting hit, so that she could jump off the back and not get hurt - it was all he could think about at the time.  We've nicknamed her the Backseat Flying Ninja, because usually she has a hard time getting on and off the bike - but this time she was fueled with adrenaline and made it off in one giant leap!  Trying to hold the bike up while being rammed by the truck in front of him (that guy threw his truck into reverse & backed into my son without looking) was what had caused his injuries - pulled ligaments & torn muscles in his groin area & thigh, a pretty good bruise in his abdomen from the motorcycle handlebars slamming into his stomach.  Thankfully, nothing worse.

I left him for awhile at home with his brother; the girlfriend, her parents, and I went to U-Haul to rent a trailer and then up to the accident site to get his motorcycle to bring home.  Eventually, after giving him his second dose of pain meds, I decided to head back to the track to walk off some of the stress.  I got about 5 more miles in to make it an even 10, and finally left around 10:30 or 11:00 pm.  Most of the rest of my team spent the night there and took turns walking the track while others were sleeping/napping, but I couldn't make it that long, especially with my son at home needing attention.  Still, it was a very worthwhile endeavor and I'm planning to walk again next year.  
I had plenty to keep me busy this week while trying to keep that son down and quiet.  He's like me - I swear we're half jackrabbit the way we're always jumping up to do something.  His girlfriend came over every day and stayed most of the day to keep him occupied and make sure he was eating, because I needed to get three bridesmaid dresses done for a client.  Keeping him occupied was a full-time job, especially when he started feeling better - he was so bored!  So they decided to go to the store to find something for him to do while sitting down - we went to about three stores and none of them had the toy he was thinking about getting (thankfully - it was an RC helicopter and I'm sure he would have been dive-bombing the Sewing Assistant).  Well, he had a plethora of PVC pipe and other assorted oddments from a project he'd worked on earlier, so they decided to make some marshmallow air cannons. 

The 99 cent store rocks for stale marshmallows - apparently, the best kind to shoot.

Decorated by the girlfriend - they nicknamed it the Phat Blaster, and that is
a cartoon rendition there of the Sewing Assistant.  

Stuffing a stale marshmallow into the barrel of the cannon, which was
lovingly decorated with kitty footprints.

Little Phat will be face to face with a version of himself as the cannon is being shot!
Unfortunately, they never really got a chance to test it out against the Sewing Assistant.
The girlfriend's brother & dad showed up to bring something over and help my son by rolling
the motorcycle up into the garage from where we'd left it on the curb.  Her brother then swiped her
cannon and stuffed too many marshmallows down into the barrel - so now it won't shoot.  Rats.  

So as you can see, not all the craftiness that goes on around here happens in my workroom.  

I got the three dresses done in time for the client to pick up to do the fittings, but needed to do a little more work on one that was a bit on the tricky side lining-wise.  So she left that one with me and came back to pick it up later on Friday night.  While she was there, I related to her that my niece had narrowly missed being at that theater in Aurora, CO with her boyfriend and his two sons - I never thought I'd be grateful to find out that someone was too broke to go to the movies, but this was certainly the case here.  It still freaked me out all day, though, just reading the reports and imagining what nearly happened to someone I love.  The client took a phone call while I was finishing up the bodice lining, and then told me after she hung up that she'd just found out that the bridegroom's sister had a very good friend (her sorority Big Sister) who WAS at the theater - and had been one of the victims that was shot.  What a sobering way to send your client off with dresses intended for a happy occasion.  I'll be seeing them again soon - which is good, because I forgot to photograph them in progress.  She was going to do the fittings but I will be finishing them off once she brings them back - hopefully, nothing else will happen and I'll be able to photograph them this time. 

Like I said - it's been a week.  Maybe the Sewing Assistant has the right idea for once (sure beats the migraine I got after everything was said and done):