seraphicmachine

I am once again stating that I do NOT WANT to spend the whole weekend lying on my bed doing phone games while watching Drag Race, I want to DO SOMETHING ELSE. Dress could be finished up easy peasy. Next item(s) could be cut out easy peasy. Will I actually do it? Stay tuned...

Payday today and I am excited to have funds in my account again. My planning went very awry and even with the influx of cash from the expo, I lost most of my saved money for NYC. But it's a 3-period month and I have GRAND PLANS to catch back up. M and I were looking at flights yesterday as there is a sale on right now. I could do it as long as I got approved for flex-pay. I need to do a big grocery shop. So many plans!

Yesterday I finished up the majority of the sewing for the dress, first making 2 right sleeves even though I was trying to be really careful, and realizing that I hadn't cut facings for the cuffs and I DEFINITELY did not have enough left for them. I cut them out of black poplin; the cuff is a permanently turned up feature on this sleeve, so it was fine. Just needs hemming, buttons and buttonholes, and a good press.

Didn't get anything else cut out yet, but that's on the "rest of the week and into the weekend" list. I have an appointment on Saturday morning and otherwise no plans.

On Friday I did finish up the knitting swatch, and blocked it on Saturday. I put it in a closet to protect it from the kittens, and have not yet looked at it again.

Saturday I said I am NOT going to spend the whole weekend rotting in bed watching Drag Race! I'm NOT!!! I have my fall wardrobe fabrics picked out and by golly I'm gonna make them before it's too cold!! Luckily they will work as winter clothes too lol. But that still doesn't help if they aren't made into anything and just sit on my table as yardage.

So I put on the Hadestown soundtrack and cut out the first article, another Scout dress. I had this hideous orange and blue plaid in my stash forever. I wanted to make a Victorian-esque dress out of it, inspired by a couple of costumers who made similar ones out of a tablecloth or 1.5m of fabric, but I could not figure out how to make it work on the little yardage I had. I didn't measure it this time, though I had in the past. I did measure the width, and lookit that, its 35" wide, so it was another of my aunt's deep stash that I've had for 20+ years. This fabric is certainly older than me. I knew there was NO WAY I was getting the pleated skirt onto it, absolutely not, and that was never the plan. I was struggling with placement for a hot minute, the 3/4 sleeve I wanted was too wide to fit on the half-width, but I also didn't want to open up the fabric bc that left a lot of waste and a skirt that wasn't as full as I would like (it was already a struggle on 35" fabric!). And the plaid was directional! In the end, I scooted the sleeve onto the width I had and got two even panels that even started on the same bar of plaid for the skirt. There is literally scraps left, not even enough for a shirt pocket, never mind a skirt pocket.

Then I made the critical error of sitting down on my bed and letting the kittens lay on me. Out like a light for two full hours.

Sunday morning I started sewing, knowing that M wouldn't want to leave the house too early. At 10 am I took a break to go to the pet store for cat food and pop into the gas station to fill up my dang tire, which was completely flat gdi. I ended up parking right in front of my place and at a spot where i can see the rear tires very clearly from my window and I think it's still holding air, or was as of approx. 4pm yesterday. The bodice is already mostly constructed, sleeves are next. Very quick make, this one. We went to the museum, where it was busy (because it was free admission) but not too bad, wandered the special exhibit (orcas, which both awed us in their size, and saddened us in how cruelly they are treated) and then decided to leave. We power walked the galleries last time because we only had an hour, and for about 30 seconds we were like "well we're here..." and then just, no, no thank you. Too peopley. This museum is here, it's not going anywhere. We can visit it again.

Took a wander through the gift shop, where we bought rocks (mine has an ammonite fossil in it!) and then decided to walk 1.4 km/most of a mile to an ice cream shop. Enjoyed our ice cream, chatted, said hello to a doggo, and then walked all the way back and went home. I immediately made dinner and washed some dishes because the minute I sat down, that was going to be IT. The rest of the night was watching Drag Race and playing on my phone.

Tomorrow is a solemn day that I get to spend at home (I hate calling it a holiday, its not, its the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, aka Orange Shirt Day, aka a day to reflect on the horrors of residential schools and other atrocities committed against indigenous peoples), so I should be able to finish the dress no problem. M should be off in enough time for us to watch DWTS at a reasonable hour, but I can pick her up too, and that will make the evening a little smoother.

I pulled out my prepared pattern pieces for a jumper dress, so that's next on my list. I need to add a couple of undergarment pieces too, nothing wild or complicated.

Getting back to sewing felt really nice :3

Monday I was exhausted so the evening was spent laying in bed.

Tuesday was Dancing with the Stars, so I was at M's place for most of it.

Yesterday I was fired up! My first evening home in 4 days when I wasn't completely wiped! I was gonna do THIS! I was gonna do THAT! I might even do THING!

Reader, I collected the garbages, and took a nap. I even went back to sleep at a reasonable time (just after midnight) and stayed asleep all night.

Hanging out at the other building today, so at least my day is going to be quiet and free of noisy coworkers talking my ear off. I can't watch videos over here, but that is OK. So peaceful! Perhaps tonight the this and that and thing will get done. I definitely need a change, this is stressful on me in ways that are so subtle.

I have been successfully advertised to, after nearly a year of instagram ads, with creative journaling stickers. I've been waffling on them, would I actually use them, probably not, waffle waffle... Then I was looking at their videos on YouTube and decided to just go for it. I haven't got a clue how to start, but for now I can just copy their spreads until I figure out what works for me. I was thinking how it would be useful for me to have a monthly list of all of my pre-approved and recurring payments, and this will suit me very well. Pages of stickers and a small space for each day already tickles my brain. I feel like I could just write down something each day, that doesn't have to be world-shattering or even "productive", and review the books whenever I like. A nice analog of my life right now to look back on some day.

So I was watching those videos on Tuesday and I was just FIRED UP to get home and pull out my plethora of stickers and a blank journal I have kicking around. While at M's place, I made a month for October and filled in bits and pieces. I did use ultra cutesy stickers because that's what I had and it does not fit the vibe of October at all lol. When I got home, I added a bunch of Halloween stickers and that's much better. But I do not like the notebook I used, the paper is SO THIN that a regular gel pen is heckin visible through the page. "I can do this," I said. "it's fine for now."

"For now" lasted about 12 hours and I subscribed to the stickers. On the 24th, completely missing the fact that the next sub would be out on the 25th and would charge again. Whoops. Welp. I could have skipped it but chose not to. They did say anyone who auto-renews would get a coupon, and I 100% intend to take advantage of that...

Anyway, I guess I'm in my sticker journal era. Yay me?

Ok self, let's get fired up for a few nights of being a fantastic human who takes care of themselves and does fun hobbies. Plans for the next few nights/weekend:

-free!! museum friend-date with M
-dishes (ugh)
-cleaning in general, the floor esp needs a tidy and vacuum
-start the sewing!
-are you ever gonna finish that knitting swatch?
-prepare yarns for next KAL project
-make bread