12 Months for ME

Many people make "New Year's Resolutions", but not me. I've learned that like avoiding assimilation by the Borg, resistance is futile and resolutions WILL be broken, forgotten, left by the wayside or somehow end up in the Delta quadrant through no fault of their own.

[insert awesome Barney the Dinosaur as Borg clipart that I had a decade ago and has since been lost]

I learned a valuable lesson in 2012. NEVER say "Next year can't possibly be as bad as last year". Because while 2011 was rough, 2012 sucked. Had the Mayan Apocalypse happened on 12/21, I probably wouldn't have cared. Instead of brimming with optimism about how gushingly wonderful 2013 is going to be, I'll just be happy if an asteroid doesn't crash into the planet and kill us all. Totally glass half full, that.

That being said, 2013 is going to be ALL ABOUT ME. I've spent the last decade+ gestating, lactating, educating and chauffeuring my three kids. And to quote a dear family member, "I NEED A BREAK! I NEVER GET A BREAK! WHY CAN'T I GET A BREAK?!?!?" (Love ya, dad!)

Each month in 2013 I'm going to do or make something just for me. Too many times projects for my own edification have been shoved aside for others. Well, NO MORE! I've long said to others who are struggling, "Remember when you're on an airplane and the flight attendant instructs you to PUT YOUR OWN oxygen mask on before helping others? Well, take care of yourself first because if you aren't healthy then you can't help others." Physician heal thyself.

This doesn't mean that my poor family is going to get crumbs from the table. Oh no. It only means that *I* will no longer get crumbs from the table. As an aside, when I'm looking for clipart in Microsoft Word, WHY does the keyword "happiness" bring up a gazillion pictures of pregnant ladies? SRSLY?! Because while my kids make me happy (most of the time), the process of being pregnant? Uhhh notsomuch.

If you want to join in the "All About Me in 2013" self-fulfillment project, feel free. The rules are simple.

1) Do something for your own edification at least 1 time each month and post about it somewhere. Bonus points if you link back to this post.
2) Use the tag  "All About Me in 2013" in your blog/facebook posts or use hashtag #AllAboutMe13 for Instagram/Twitter
3) If you want a badge for your blog/website/whatever, right click the image below, save it to your own hard drive and upload it to your own photosharing site/blog/whatever.

Who's on first?

This bit of comedy gold just cracks me up every time I hear it. So of course when I'm about to post about plans for the upcoming year it comes to mind. Click play before reading. Then try to read this post with a straight face. I dare ya. I double-dog dare ya.

First up the sewing projects:

1. Formal gown in emerald green and gold.

Formal Wear - my own design

2. Formal kebaya in citrus colors.

Inspiration - Source

These I have but a few days to work on. They need to be finished completely by January 29th (exactly 1 month from today). I have the fabric all ready to go, but the pattern pieces aren't even drafted yet. Fun times.

The "Next Big Thing" up is to completely de-holiday the house which shouldn't be a problem. Except for the fact that the sewing projects will consume all my time and then we're into pageant season which will last from February to March. So much for taking the decorations down right after the Octave of Christmas.

Sometime before Chinese New Year (2/10/13) I need to clear out the old and de-clutter. I'm really bad at multi-tasking. REALLY bad. So this can only end badly.

The kids go back to school January 10th, so I can start sewing in earnest then. Before then, I'm playing a waiting game trying to get all my supplies together, get measurements settled and put away all the stuff that has been inhabiting my dining room sewing table for the last few months. My poor children have been relegated to eating dinner sitting tailor-style in front of the TV watching Mythbusters since the late fall while I attempted to finish Halloween costumes, pageant costumes, holiday costumes and various and sundry baking/decorating projects.

In the midst of all this, I have to plan birthdays for an 11 year old, 9 year old and 7 year old. I can't believe my "babies" are getting so old... We won't talk about how old that makes ME. Let's just say that 2013 is a "decade" year for me.

I'm thinking about spending some of my Christmas money on a quilting class in the new year. It's one thing I've never done before. What say ye?

[insert resolution here]

This is the time/place that I'm supposed to make a resolution or something. Well, FUHGEDABOUDIT. Resolutions suck. We ALL know what happens to a resolution by about January 10th. Yeah. So instead of a reSolution, how about a reVolution?



Beatles - Revolution
Uploaded by harrison73. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.
"It's going to be all right." That's my motto for 2011. Rock on into the new year, my friend, rock on.

New Year, New Leaf

or something like that. I know it's been for almost stinking ever that I've blogged regularly. Mea culpa, dear readers. All two of you. ;-)

To catch you all up on what's been going on, we've had a round robin of sickness including confirmed flu *and* strep over the last three weeks. So I think that buys me a "get out of blogging free" card, right? This is going to be picture light and text heavy, so grab a cup of tea and put your feet up.

We made it through Christmas and the pyjamas/house clothes were a huge hit as always. I've got a couple of sewing contracts coming up in the next two weeks, so I've got to get on that, but before I go there, I really, REALLY want to get my sewing space set. If I could, I'd kick my son out of his room (my old sewing room) and be done with it, but there's no other room in the house that can hold his massive collection of Thomas trains, so there you have it. My dad used to make fun of how many Barbies I had as a girl, but this boy? More Thomas than I ever had Barbies. We counted locomotives last night. There are 17. Each one with at LEAST one coal tender and most have another car after that. And we won't go into how many pieces of track there are. No, we just won't. I promise I'll take pictures once I'm done with the furniture rearranging in there.

Which leads me to my newest project. By way of the Kitchen God. As you may know, my better half is half Chinese. So we pay a little homage to his ancestry by quasi-following some traditions. Most notably is Chinese New Year and angpao. I was explaining to my oldest child the other day about the Kitchen God and Chinese New Year and out with the old, in with the new, etc. For the Chinese, that happens later on, but for us on the whatever it is calendar we use (Julian?) it starts Jan 1. So combining the tradition of clearing out the old to usher in the new (it's like "spring cleaning" except it's Darn Cold) and New Year's Resolutions (or goals as we call them) leads to moving furniture around (getting our chi right), cleaning up the detritus of the holiday and overall clearing the foggy spaces in my head.

I moved the armoire from the front hall to the boy's bedroom. He was starting to need his own closet space anyway and the armoire was too bulky for the front hall. Which led me to have to go through all the c.r.a.p. inside it. Which meant my LPs moved into the office which meant my fabric in space bags moved to the floor and the homeschool stuff in the armoire is ALSO on the floor, but sorted into piles of donate, sell & keep. Despite that, the front hall looks actually CLEANER than it did before. I'll be taking ONE room at a time - thank God for small houses! - and working from front to back in time for New Year's. And if I don't make it by January 1, I can still make it by Chinese New Year. Which is apparently February 3rd and is the Year of the Rabbit. Which according to http://www.theholidayspot.com/chinese_new_year/ is "A placid year, very much welcomed and needed after the ferocious year of the Tiger. We should go off to some quiet spot to lick our wounds and get some rest after all the battles of the previous year.". You know what? I think they're on to something. Because the Year of the Tiger just about kicked my sorry backside.

Anyways, here I am, almost one "room" done. To remind you of how small our house is, there is from front to back: front hall/office (used to be one space), living room, dining room, kitchen. that's the left half of the house. The right half is long hallway with bathroom at end and three rooms that open off said hallway. From back to front: kids' rooms (2 connecting rooms) and our room. That's it folks, one tiny house. I could count the back porch since it's our laundry "room", but I won't. I only use it when the weather is good.

So today is front hall day. I've got my messes sorted into neat piles. Which for the ADD person is the equivalent of Martha Stewart's best organizational skillz. I'm in the process of clearing the flat surfaces (piano, console, stereo) of c.r.a.p. I've got ADD, so if stuff starts to pile up on a flat surface, I just don't see it until it starts to slide into the floor in a heap. This is why I HATE tchotchkies. And I mean HATE. My mom, on the other hand, has all kinds of that sit-aroundy stuff and is able to keep it neat as a pin. She totally doesn't get that I can't STAND having little bits of stuff because my brain sees ALL of it as c.r.a.p. So the fancy dancy candy dish and the pile of receipts and keys and cell phone all look the same to me. Ergo, nothing sitting out = looks good. I've managed the console and the piano top. And I might finish the stereo, but I'm not sure. But that gives you an idea of what I'm up against.

After all that, the office (pit of despair) should be up next, but I think I might have to save it until next week. The living and dining rooms aren't terrible and will take wayyyyyy less time and give me much more satisfaction. As will the bathroom. It's in great shape considering that 5 people share one tiny bathroom. And one of those 5 is only 4 years old and still working on peeing standing up. We won't talk about the kids' rooms. Part of it is my fault for not putting the shelves and stuff back on the walls after moving the kids around.

But this year? All the Christmas Decor will make it's way to the garage instead of hanging out in the dining room all year. See? An improvement already!

New Year, New Leaf

I'm not generally one for making resolutions because they're so easily broken. So this year, no resolutions! I've got a few goals though.

1. Rejoin Wardrobe Refashion. I'm working towards a "life" membership. It's a scary prospect to actually head towards sewing everything new or thrifting. Especially when sewing new is more expensive than shopping clearance and thrifting is NOT easy when there aren't any Op Shops about.
2. DONE!!! Catalog my pattern stash in a spreadsheet complete with picture and category. I might even get crazy and add a catalog number. But we'll see. I don't want to act all "SuperWoman" or anything. It might ruin my rep.
3. Write one pattern review per week. This should be easier to do now that I'm going to catalog my stash. I think I'll break these down by category (Men's, Women's, Children's, Crafts) and do them on a rotating basis. So you'll see 12 of each category per year. In a month with 5 weeks, you'll get a "bonus review" of my choosing.
4. Try one new thing per month. It might be knitting or needlework or something I'm not very familiar with or haven't done in a while. We'll see.
5. List one thing per month in my Etsy shop. It could be something I made or maybe something vintage, I dunno.
6. Participate more regularly in Iron Cupcake: Earth challenges.

They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To

Or a rant on Why I Hate Modern Patterns.

Let me preface this posting by saying that I am NOT a n00b. I'm actually a decent seamstress and would call myself intermediate/advanced. Now that I've established my creds, here goes:

Modern patterns (a veritable snore of the devil) are NOT made with the same attention to detail, quality and general re-usability of patterns a mere 20 years old. Yep. Whoda thunk I was praising the 80s?

Going back further, patterns from the 1970s - especially childrens' patterns - are superb. If not for fashion sensibility, at LEAST for the fact that once a pattern was cut, you could use it again and again. Why? Because the paper was a MUCH better grade of paper. Thicker and easier to refold. Has anyone tried to refold what passes for patterns these days? Trust me, you don't want to try. All you will get is M.A.D. Or be left with little shreds of paper where it refused to cooperate. Or both.

My favorite patterns are those that range from the early 1940s (how I love printed patterns) to the 70s. Why? Because they came in ONE SIZE. Not FIVE. Multi-size patterns are yet another snore of the devil and the bane of my existence <--- which I've spelled three times and figure "e" in the middle looks better. Especially CHILDRENS' multi-size patterns. Help me boab! When you have five sizes ranging from 1/2 (yes ONE HALF) to 4, it's quite obvious that the cutting lines are going to be ridiculously close together. And don't try actually cutting out the notches. So HERE is the offender:

It looks deceptively simple. There's a mere 21 pieces to the pattern. Yes, you read that correctly TWENTY ONE pieces for standard pajamas.

You could scoff and say "just transfer the pattern to paper and THEN cut it out". And I'd tell you BTDT ThankYouVeryMuch. That was just as much a PITA as doing it the "normal" way. So now, I'm back to the cutting table to finish New Year's Resolution 7.128: DO SOMETHING ABOUT ALL THAT FABRIC THAT IS SITTING IDLE IN YOUR STASH. AKA: Just make the darn outfits before your kids outgrow them.