Pretty Sights This Week

Until I got my bunny I did not know that a relaxed and completely contented rabbit will flop down and stretch out, legs behind him. Whoever made up the term "kick back and relax" must have had a bunny. He's still sleepy, but my camera flash has put him on the alert!

The International Space Station is visible in the last picture. It's a tiny dot left-of-center; if you zoom in on your monitor you can see it much better. I'm so happy it came out!

Collection in Progress 1

I can't believe we're already 7 weeks into the semester! Nearly half over! And critique deadlines are approaching too soon!

Babylon Rising : My Thoughts

This summer I read Babylon Rising, a four-book series by Tim Lahaye (named after the first title in the series). I tend to forget what books are about after a while, even forget favorite characters' names (!). I finished reading this a few weeks ago, so this is how I remember it.

Titles: Babylong Rising, The Secret on Ararat, The Europa Conspiracy, The Edge of Darkness

Author: Tim Lahaye, co-authored by Greg Dinallo and Bob Phillips

Dates published: 2003-2006

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group

Characters:

Dr. Michael Murphy (who goes by "Murphy"): The protagonist, a Biblical archaeology professor and outdoorsy, adventure-seeking archaeologist with brawn and brains, outgoing and outspoken, quick to get impatient, seems to think he is invincible, firm in his Christian faith. Murphy is a man of God, and I appreciate his clean character, but combined with his superhuman athletic abilities and mental genius, he's just a little too perfect to be real. Never mind that though, he's my new literary crush; where is his real-life twin?!

Bob Wagoner: Murphy's pastor and accountability partner, gentle and loving to his congregation, always ready to humbly take a stand for the truth. That makes him sound like such a stereotypical minister, but in Bob these things are authentic.

Laura Murphy: Murphy's first wife, a college counselor who is genuinely kind and caring, adventurous and brave in her own right.

Dr. Isis McDonald: a reserved philologist who becomes a close friend of Murphy, focused and diligent in her work, naturally timid but driven by curiosity and a bit of headstrong pride, brave in spite of fear. In many ways she reminds me of myself. She starts off as the typical anti-social academic, but she is one of the few characters who undergoes radical change; she develops a much deeper character as the series went along.

Shari: Murphy's hardworking lab assistant, one of his most passionate students, and almost like a daughter to him, strong through a lot of grief, sympathetic to others. She's a really lovable and believable character; I wish the subplot surrounding her life went better, but then again, that's what made her believable.

Paul Wallach: an archaeology student and skeptic of Christianity, friend of Shari.

Methusaleh: Extremely wealthy, mysterious old man who stays out of the public eye, has little affection for other individuals but wants to see right win

The Seven: Group of seven powerful, arrogant individuals from around the world who are intentionally preparing the world for the Anti-Christ

Talon: The Seven's hired assassin, who takes a sickening pleasure in his work, and is completely indifferent toward any other human, caring only for his two killer falcons

Shane Barrington: One of the richest men in the world, owner of a major media corporation, calloused, cruel, and self-absorbed to an incredible extreme.

Stacy: Star reporter, very ambitious without much of a moral compass, but has a deeply buried inquisitive and open-minded side that is refreshing to see.

Plot:

Murphy has been receiving a series of cryptic message from a man who calls himself Methusaleh. Intrigued, he takes the bait each time, and each time ends up traveling to a deserted location where he fights for his life in an extreme physical challenge (wrestling a giant-sized man, fighting a ferocious lion, fighting three ninjas at once at an old abandoned theme park, etc). When he lives through each test, he gets a "reward": a clue telling him where to go to dig up an invaluable historical artifact that has mention in the Bible. He makes several stunning discoveries this way, including the head of Nebuchadnezzar's statue, the Brazen serpent, and the ark built by Noah. Murphy manages to survive and eagerly shares the facts with his archaeology students. However, his artifacts or the evidence of their existence are repeatedly stolen and anyone unlucky enough to be present is brutally murdered. Meanwhile, "terror attacks" are occurring in America, and Christians are blamed by the media. Laura is murdered in the aftermath of one of the early attacks. All of this is perpetrated by the Seven, via Talon. Murphy finally begins to get weary of Methusaleh's games and pursues Methusaleh's true identity and motivation. Methusaleh tells him about the Seven and their plan to institute a one-world religion and government, and Murphy goes after Talon before he can get the final artifact- bronze plates that contain crucial pre-Flood information for energy production- buried beneath the sea. Talon dies in their underwater confrontation, Murphy is seriously injured, and the Seven move forward unhindered.

Negative themes:

I don't like the relationship between Murphy and Isis. Granted, Murphy and Isis are adults, and not young adults either, but I wish their relationship were platonic. Isis and Murphy cuddle and kiss toward the end of the series. They go through some terrifying experiences together in their search for the Brazen serpent and subsequently experience the joy of their discovery and coming out alive at the other end of it all. I suppose one could say when two people go through that much together, how can they not care about each other deeply? But why didn't the author keep Laura alive for all that? She is murdered in the middle of the first book, which was extremely disappointing to me since I really liked the affectionate, pure married relationship between her and Murphy while it lasted.

Talon and his killing methods are disturbingly interesting. In fact, Talon might be the most fascinating character in the book. A lot of the characters are a bit predictable, but any time Talon shows up, he's doing something unheard-of. He didn't seem human in the first book, but his character got a little more developed in later books. He actually experiences fear at the hands of the Seven and grief at the death of his birds. We're only given vague hints at his past, but it seems that he had a sad childhood. We're never allowed to develop any compassion for him though; he's 100% villain. There is a lot of murder in these books. Most of the people who die are people we were just introduced to and haven't really come to love, and we move on easily. After a while, the deaths seem insignificant. I don't think the author meant it to come across that way, but I can't shake the feeling that it's wrong somehow.

Positive themes:

If God foretells it, it will come true. God has always kept His word in the past, so we know that He will keep His word in the future. Everything in Revelation will come to pass, from the rapture of Christians, to the Anti-Christ, to the return of Jesus as the Warrior-King to defeat his enemies and bring in the new heavens and earth. Lahaye tells the story of these prophecies in the Left Behind series, but in this series he focuses on biblical prophecy that has already been fulfilled. The artifacts that Murphy finds are from time periods when God was letting people in on future events. God told Noah that He would destroy the earth with a Flood, and He did. He told King Nebuchadnezzar about all of the world powers that would arise after him, and we have already seen most of them come and go already. God told King Belteshazzar that his kingdom would fall to the Medes and Persians, and it did unexpectedly- that very night. God's prophets are usually ridiculed or even silenced. Twenty-first century people are skeptical that there's a God and of course that He will really take His church to heaven and destroy the rest of the earth, and that's nothing new. It doesn't change the reality of what is and what will be.

Archaeology confirms the Bible. Murphy's archaeological finds are fictional of course, but in his class lectures he brings up past discoveries that have really happened, such as all the witnesses who have seen Noah's ark in the last hundred years or so. I would love to research in more detail from authoritative sources some of the things he touched on.

People already have the evidence they need to believe. I have wondered, as I know many other Christians and skeptics have too, why God doesn't just provide such indisputable evidence of His existence and His word that we'll be able to believe in Him without a doubt. If we found Noah's ark, for example, wouldn't people believe then? Nope, not according to Lahaye. People who approach with a firm belief that the Bible is a myth will find some reason, however slim, to explain the evidence in other terms. For example, one of the men on the Noah's ark expedition with Murphy commented that there has been plenty of time for someone to construct a fake ark and plant it on Ararat. That is true, of course, and even though it goes against the general direction of the evidence, it offers enough hope to a skeptic that they can avoid thinking about it. What's more, even if the evidence does point to Nebuchadnezzar or Noah or even Jesus as historical characters, people don't automatically go from there to making Jesus their Lord and Savior. On the plane home after the discovery of Noah's ark, Isis realizes that she believes that the worldwide flood really took place and Noah and his family really were saved on the ark. However, she doesn't become a Christian until quite a while later, and then it is mostly as a result of watching how Murphy lives his life and how he treats her so differently from the way other men she's known have treated her before. Most of Murphy's discoveries are never made secure enough or documented enough to publicize. The one that does get media attention- the golden head of Nebuchadnezzar's statue- doesn't seem to lead anyone to Christ. People think it's neat and then move on with life.

There is not a happily-ever-after on earth. The end of the fourth book is a let-down unless you let your imagination go way into the future- into eternity. Murphy gives everything had for the sake of making these discoveries and comes away with nothing to show for it. He loses his physical strength due to injury and can't do the activities he loves to do anymore. Isis seems to have a full life on her own, apart from him. It might seem worth it if lots of people had come to trust in God as a result of his work, but that's not the case. Not only did he lose possession of all the artifacts he found, but they're in the hands of people who will use them for evil. As the book closes, doom seems inevitable- and then you realize that it is. Good only wins when Jesus reveals himself and everything plays out in eternity. I had to ask myself, then should Murphy have done what he did? Was it a waste of his life to chase after these artifacts? Was that what God wanted him to do? And I think it was. Murphy's own faith was built up time after time, as was that of Shari and a few other Christians who got to hear and see these things from Murphy. And Shari and Murphy needed that encouragement, just because of their own trials. Even though the whole world didn't come to Christ because of Murphy, there are a handful of individuals who did- Isis and Stacy are two I know of for sure. Many other characters' final decisions are yet to be determined or simply unknown- again, a reminder that what we see on earth isn't the whole story.

Overall, a really good series.

Fall Wish List

These are a few things I want to experience and remember of fall 2013:

• Carve or drill a pretty pumpkin lantern.
• Finish my crochet blanket with a decorative edging.
• Take a bike ride in a wooded area on a beautiful day.
• Make cinnamon scented pine cones.
• Drink a pumpkin chai latte for breakfast.
• Crochet a pair of fingerless gloves.
• Bake some sweet autumn treat for my family.
• Dress up as a character for my preschool students on Halloween.
• Go on a nature walk and take photographs of my surroundings.
• Discover and listen to fall-inspired music and Thanksgiving songs.
• Buy a pair of boots.
• Alter and/or refashion a couple beautiful knit sweaters I already have.

Fall Pleasures

Lately I've been obsessed with fall. Which season it is doesn't make a difference at all in my daily life, and that's kind of sad. I want to experience each season fully. Fall is an easy one to start with. I saw this little questionnaire on a blog and it was the perfect way to express my fall nostalgia.

1) What's your favorite season? (Don't be afraid to answer any season other than fall, if it's truly your favorite season!)

My favorite season iiiiiiiiiis: fall! I'll save my reasoning for the resonse to the next question:
  

2) What's your favorite part of autumn?

The weather finally cools down (somewhat, like in late November) after the looooong Texas summer.

I like the cold fronts themselves, those dark masses of clouds with a definite edge that I can watch approaching, feeling the chill wind whip my hair around.

When the temperatures and the humidity go down, everything seems cleaner, and even the sounds of nature outside are crisper. The interstate is about a mile from my house, and on cold mornings, I can hear it as a soft rushing noise; it's an unusual thing to like, but to me that says fall.

You know, I can't imagine that northerners appreciate autumn the way a southerner can. Yes, their season gets colder, but it's the normal state of things there; here, where autumn and winter together only consist of 25% of our year, they are truly special.

I like the smell of cinnamon and the sight of warm reds and oranges (not on trees; here that means a tree is dead. But the pumpkins and candles and all the other decorations still give me that cozy autumnal feeling, even if they must be commercially manufactured).

To top it all off, I like the anticipation that Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming, when I can count on festivities to shake up my routine-oriented life!

  

3) What's your favorite memory of autumns past? 

For years, my sisters and I would run out to the patio on the first day of fall and claim that the air felt cooler, and it really did.

I liked to sit outside on the patio to do my school work on clear, chilly days, and ride my bike as a cold front blew through in the afternoon.

As a little girl I loved collecting pine cones and acorns on walks with my family, then drawing faces on the acorns and making construction paper feathers to turn the pine cones into the cutest little turkeys.

I got so excited when we got out the boxes of winter clothes, tried them on to see what still fit, and then went shopping for new fall clothes.

I also loved going to Garden Ridge to shop for Advent candles and other holiday decorations with my mom. The store smelled like cinnamon; just walking in made me excited.

  

4) What's some of your favorite autumn foods?

  
Stuffed acorn squash, butternut squash soup, applesauce strudel muffins, my own homemade pumpkin chai latte, and all of the Thanksgiving foods (except for turkey. I tolerate it for the sake of tradition.)

5) What's some of your favorite things to do in the autumn days?

I still like to take walks and bike rides (in fact, my sister and I rode our bikes this very 50-degree morning. Bliss!)

On cooler days I try to do anything and everything that I would normally do indoors outdoors- hand sewing, reading. I even like to do yard work with my dad on autumn mornings.

My dad builds lots of wood fires in the fireplace on late autumn and winter evenings; my family likes to snuggle up in front of the flames to talk or read or just work on our projects.

I like to crochet new winter accessories, and there is a crochet blanket which I have been working on for about 4 years, which it is about time to finish!

  

6) What's your favorite autumn wardrobe additions? (Scarfs, gloves, socks, jackets, leggings, etc.)

  
My burgandy tights and my fur vest.

7) Does your family have any autumn traditions? (Pumpkin patch picking, Thanksgiving, etc.)
  
Most of our traditions center around holidays. On Thanksgiving we have the same meal every year and linger over it as long as possible, and after dinner we usually take a walk in the dark and play games. The day after Thanksgiving we decorate the house for Christmas.

8) Hot cocoa or apple cider? Do you like to add anything to it such as marshmallows or ice cream?

Apple cider. Since it's not so sugary, I can drink more of it!

9) Pecan pie or pumpkin pie? Why?

Pumpkin! The creaminess and the whipped cream that goes with it! But apple wasn't an option; if it was, that might have changed things...

10) Which is your favorite month, September, October or November? Why?

November. That's when I can finally say it's really fall!

New Industrial Sewing Machine and Sewing Room Organization

Every sentence I can come up with right now will make this sound like I just gave birth to a new baby. And there he is! I brought home my new Juki on Saturday. It's got everything I wanted. A new kind of Servo motor which is absolutely silent; even when I sew it's quieter than my home machine. A maple table top which makes my bedroom look only halfway like a garment factory. These industrial Jukis are wonderful; a sewer who has only used home machines just can't understand until they test one out. A Juki responds to the material being sewn. It can sew almost anything from delicate chiffons to those bulky jeans hems (provided you go slowly and have the right needle). It has a knee lift for the presser foot, which is especially helpful when going over those aforementioned jeans hems because you can raise the presser foot a tad to help it over the thicker parts and still have both hands free to guide the fabric.

We got pictures right away, so I was still breathless. Those things are heavy. It took my dad, two sisters, and me to get it up the stairs. But it came from the shop fully assembled and with the motor synchronized, which I'm so glad I didn't have to do myself. It's so satisfying to purchase something you saved for and put off buying even when you could have used it earlier. And when you find that it didn't even cost as much as you anticipated and you have the start of your next machine fund!

Since I had to move the armoire and the bookshelf to the other side of the room, I deep cleaned and reorganized all my sewing supplies. Yes, that is organized! Well, at least I know where everything is when I need it. The armoire is a beautiful piece of furniture that hides all my ugly electrical cords and sewing machine oil cans and all those other things I don't want to see when I'm not working! The two hat boxes on top hold zippers, buttons, interfacing, boning, and all that stuff.

I have two large canvas boxes (bought at Joann) on the top shelf: one for scrap material and one for works in progress. They have these nifty window pockets on the front where I put a running list of all the things in that box, and I just cross things off when they leave the box. If I have project in mind, I can read through the list and I'll immediately know if something in that box is just what I need.

Since I draft a lot of my own patterns, storage and organization is a problem. For now, I've jammed all of my patterns, both self-drafted and store-bought into one drawer. I used to put each pattern in a gallon ziploc bag, but those don't file nicely.

Now I put newly drafted patterns into small manila envelopes, and so far I'm liking this system much better. More expensive, but more tidy. I write the name of the pattern on the outside. This is where it makes sense to give the patterns a real name (like Georgina) that you'll always remember, rather than a description.

The other three drawers hold my uncut fabric lengths. One drawer for knits, two for wovens. I use the list method to keep track of my inventory here too.

All of my design, sketching, patternmaking, and sewing books fit on one shelf, along with about five or six binders of technique samples and notes and charts taken from classes and library books.

Look what I found when I was cleaning out my room. The first thing I ever sewed when I was eight years old. She was a Christmas present for my baby sister. I sewed her by hand, and I thought it was so hard. I would not have been happy to hear that I would be sewing for a living later in life! It would have been hard to throw her out, had she not been disintegrating and puffs of... something... coming out every time I set her down on the table.

And this little clothes pin doll. I used to make these all the time, but this one was my favorite. I took a photo to remember her by before I threw her out. I don't have room in my life to be sentimental about these things. If I have a little girl one day I'll certainly teach her how to make clothes pin dolls then!

Sewing Stripes, Stripes, and More Stripes

I've completed several projects in the last couple weeks. Hacking away at that fabric stash to make room for bigger and better things! This brown and gold striped knit is lovely. And I used all my creative problem solving powers to make two tops out of it!

The Batwing Top

This was taken in my sister's mirror since I threw away half the things in my room including my dresser and the mirror along with it! I'm not sure how to style this top, yet. With jeans, of course. I wore it one day with light khaki twill crops and gold gladiator sandals.

Side view on the dress form. I drafted the pattern for this top, basing it off of a top I saw at the store which I really liked except for the too-big neckline. There are only 4 pieces- front, back, and two gussets under the arm. The ruffles are just an extension of the front and back. They're widest at the top and taper down to nothing at the hip, just about an inch from the hem.

This is my room in the midst of rearranging furniture and awaiting new fixtures for the room! I feel like I'm moving. Every time I do my hair in the morning, I have to rummage around for my stuff in a plastic bin on the floor.

Things I learned from making this batwing top:

• You can use plum colored thread on a brown and gold top, even though there is a lot of top stitching. It's different if you actually peer at it closely, but it looks good anyway. Why buy more thread when what you have will do?
• If you decide that you want to cover your shoulders a little more after you've completed the top, just use a zigzag to hold the two juxtaposed pieces together. I kinda wish I'd zigzagged all over these seams.
• You can try to leave the neckline unfinished, but it will eventually roll. (I was lazy, and I tried.) To finish all the raw edges on the neckline and the ruffles, I folded the edge under 1/4" (single-fold, not doubled over) and stitched it down with a narrow zigzag (set on 1mm)
• You need to stretch knit fabric as you sew with the zigzag on my machine. The tension turned out much better on this product than on the flyaway I did recently. I don't have to be careful at all when I pull this shirt on and off or move around, because I gave it that stretch.

Dolman sleeve top

I designed this top to be most flattering on my pear-shaped figure. A horizontal stripe on a dolman sleeve top usually means that the stripes start turning downward on the shoulders, which on broad-shouldered women is really flattering, visually cutting off their shoulders. On me, it practically eliminates my shoulders altogether. I like the horizontal stripes in the center of the shirt, so I added style lines, and cut out my fabric in two different directions. Instread of turning down at the shoulder, the stripes turn out. Voila, instant shoulders!

I'm loving it. The cut, plus the stripes, plus the color, looks so eighties. But I'm still loving it. It also looks sort of athletic. I'm picturing it with tracksuit-inspired drawstring pants and wedge sneakers (neither of which do I have nor do I plan to buy) or tweed crops with a racing stripe down the side (which I have actually seen and might buy if the colors look right together.)

I didn't design this pattern entirely on my own. I started with this McCall's pattern in size Medium; raised and slightly broadened the neckline; raised the hem about 4 inches; added style lines; cut it out and let the pieces hang so that they get any wonky stretching out of the way; sewed it up and found it to be too baggy; trimmed off a total of 3 inches all the way around the circumference (I was able to do that without interfering with the sleeves, thanks to my style lines); removed two inches altogether from each sleeve (from the bottom only! If you do this, you don't want to remove anything from the top or you won't be able to raise your arm very high, and you'll cut off your shoulder!); sewed it up again, and it was perfect! It's so odd. Based on my measurements I really should be a medium, but clearly I'm not. Ai, ai, ai, this is why I don't use commercial patterns; so much trouble.

Asymmetrical peplum top

I thought I would like this top more than I do. It reminds me of an ice skater's dress, and I can't decide whether that's a good thing or not. My sister Kayley loves it for that very reason. She is a ballet dancer, and it's very much like her. I like the tarzan neckline with a wide strap covering the other shoulder, the alternating diagonal lines, and even the peplum, but all together? I just don't know. I wanted to make something like this for a while though, and I'm glad I did it.

My Bedroom/ Sewing and Design Studio

I have a slanted wall (or ceiling, I'm never entirely certain which it is). When I was in junior high, I thought it looked really bare, and I covered the wall/ceiling with Christian music posters and pictures from magazines. At some point I realized how tacky it looked and removed all the paper, but I felt it needed some sort or decoration or definition. That's when I put up my first generation of lights. They were multicolored Christmas lights on green wire. I took apart a silk flower lei, cut the holes in the center a little bigger and put a flower over each light. I really liked them. They would be really cute in a bright, beach themed room, but they didn't go with my room, especially as I got older and added more decor- which took a romantic turn with burgandy, mauve, ivory, and warm brown (the colors in my bedspread and pillows), plus a little black and pewter. For my second generation of lights, I started with a string of clear lights on white wire. I got a pack of clear disposable plastic cups, 8 ounce size I think, but I shortened them to about half their original size, and cut a hole in the bottom of each cup that fit snugly over the lights. Then the fun part! Actually, it turned out to be the really long part. Ribbon doesn't wrap around a conical shape very well, so I cut lots of little pieces and wrapped them vertically or diagonally around the cups, overlapping the ribbon more at the small end of the cup. I covered all the ugly cut ends with one more ribbon on each border. With wider ribbons, I just pinched the excess ribbon out of the way at intervals and glued it down.

I have lots of knick-knacks and doodads. A lamp in the right size with the right colors was the hardest thing ever to find. My sister discovered this one at Garden Ridge and gave it to me for Christmas. It's perfect.

My space doubles as my bedroom and my sewing and design studio. This bulletin board is where I stick my inspiration (and any paper that I find floating around in my room. I make a list for everything and this is usually where all those end up). I got a cheap-o picture frame at the charity store (which should have cost less than it did), spray painted it a modern gold (that turned out to be more expensive than I thought it would be too) and sealed it. Rather than buy a mounted corkboard, I got a roll of cork at the craft store and cut it to size. Then I cemented the cork to a thick layer of corrugated cardboard, weighed it down as it dried, and tried not let impatience get the better of me. The cork and cardboard together were thicker than the space in the frame, so I had to glue it to the frame too. A lot of work it was, but it's so much nicer than a basic corkboard.

There are exciting changes coming to my room soon (on the sewing side of things) so I don't think the room will look like this much longer.

Daddy's Birthday Celebration

My dad chose fajitas as his birthday supper. Heather brought us some clementine juice and blackberry juice that they were getting rid of at her store; I love having a sister who works for a grocery company.

A great shot of our VCR, which got some use again during Daddy's party. While Daddy was reading about the Newsboys on Wikipedia, he learned that the band made a movie (we can call it an art film) back in 1996. So he promptly bought it on VHS for a few dollars on eBay. It's an elaboration on the Newsboys' song "Reality," which is a prodigal son story about a kid who runs away to join the circus. In the movie, lead singer at the time, John James, inherits a bankrupt circus when his Italian uncle passes away, and John needs to put together one more show so that he can pay his uncle's debts and let his widow retire to Orlando. (I don't know how Steve Taylor and the rest of them came up with this stuff.) Most of the circus members leave, and John recruits the other members of the band, which is at the height of its career but having a hard time getting a bass player, to join the circus for just a week. All of them along with the motley assortment of circus performers who are left are then put through a crash course circus school. Meanwhile, Newsboys bass player (hint, hint) Phil Joel, who plays the runaway son, is doing everything he can to get them to let him join the circus. It's really satirical, just like the classic Newsboys lyrics. And like their music, parts of the movie were funny, other parts I just didn't get. The only thing I didn't like was that Duncan Phillips' character was a little leering towards the twin girls in the circus; there was no reason they had to do that.

Here's my dad with his birthday presents. My sisters and I gave him an omelet pan, two polo shirts, a slim pocket calculator (the one he's had since college is finally going out), and a World Market gift card so he can get himself a bunch of snacks and sweets.

 Kayley made an amazing Tres Leches cake!

Recent Sewing and Craft Projects

A few months ago, I kept seeing sailor knot bracelets on Etsy. I'm the sort of person who likes someone else's genius idea and then copies it rather than paying them what they deserve! So when my sister asked me if I could make anything with a pair of white and silver shoelaces she had, I said "Yeah!" I made four identical sailor knot bracelets, one for me and each of my sisters. Then I googled the term "knot" and came up with images for all sorts of beautiful, elegant knots that would make fabulous bracelets. I only made a couple more simple ones, but a chunky, smooth cord reveals the beauty in even the most basic, ordinary knot. I rummaged through my yarn/cord box and found a red lanyard, which I made into the anklet in the photo. (I knew I was saving that lanyard for something!)

I've had this striped knit jersey fabric in my stash for over a year. I often feel hesitant to cut up fabric, because once I do, I can't change my mind and make something else! I decided on shrugs because I have a few solid brown tops that desperately need a complementary second layer. The reason I like stripes is the way they make shapes look wider or longer and the way they interact with each other when they converge. No lines straight across and parallel for me! I cut the shrug on the bias so that the stripes would point up to the shoulder and make my shoulders look wider, which I think they do. I cut the sleeves on the bias too so that from the front they also point up and draw the eye toward the shoulder from the other direction.

What I learned in making this shrug:

• It might be a good idea to let bias pieces that will be stitched to a straight of grain piece hang after cutting and before sewing . It's not extremely noticeable, but the front did stretch out a little- except where the front binding was stabilizing it, creating a few stress wrinkles.
• I should have made the stripes on the left and right of the front binding symmetrical. I thought about all the other pieces, but it's these stripes that are most crucial because they're right next to each other and horizontal too. Oh, well, I just won't pull it closed when I wear it.
• The stretch stitches on my machine never turn out well at all, so I've learned how to use the zigzag for knits. I put it on a stitch width of 1 mm. That allows the seam enough give that it at least doesn't break when I pull the garment on (when I'm not in a hurry anyway). When using a zigzag stitch on a knit, it helps to stretch the fabric a little. Not a habit I've really picked up since I got most of my experience sewing knits on a serger at school and we were taught NOT to stretch the fabric. If the fabric still looks tense around the seam, I pin one end of the seam down on my ironing board and gently stretch the seam while steaming it with my iron. That eased some of the tension in the shrug, especially at the back, which hangs beautifully now!
• I intended for the front binding to reach all the way to the hem, but I forgot to include the 2-inch shoulder pieces in my calculation. How long will it take me to learn to measure properly?! I like the way it looks though. Chance is sometimes a better designer than I am.

I couldn't wait to take pictures once I was done with the shrug (Thus all the sewing mess in the background.) I'm going to keep it new until the fall weather comes along. I'm not sure I'll have much money or time to sew things then so it will be nice to treat myself.

I really like the perfect chevrons at the back.

I made an asymmetrical peplum tank top out of this material too, but I'll save that one for another post.