It's a four day weekend

... and I am up at 4:30 am to embrace it!   Not really my decision: the dog was hungry, and decided to make that my problem.  Nevertheless, it's wonderful to stand at the precipice of an extra-long weekend and think of all the things you could do.  Never mind that experiences teaches that only a pallid fraction of those will actually get done.  At the moment every possibility is available!

Obviously, I'm hoping to get a lot of sewing done.  Perhaps I can finish ten five three garments?   I'm thinking of starting with the Claire Cami Dress from Serendipity Studio.  I am not one hundred percent sure I'll love the high waist, but I have been lured in by Patty the Snug Bug's cute renditions of this dress and what the heck, it's actually meant to be made from quilting cottons.  It seems like it would be a nice weekend or dog-walking dress in this one million degree heat we're enjoying here in Texas.

But before I start on the dress, I have some housekeeping to do in my sewing area!  All the variations of the two patterns I've been working with are spread out all over my sewing space, so I need to gather them up and sort them into folders so I can put them away.  In some cases that means doing some pattern tracing, because some of the variants share pieces, and I want to have a complete pattern in each folder.   Last night I did some speculative alterations to the evolved Butterick 6149 bodice, and it kind of makes me eager to try that one again ... but really, I gotta make something else first.

So .... ready, set, sew!  I do plan to do a few other things over the long weekend though.  I want to kick off a daily drawing habit.   In theory I love to draw.  But because I'm out of practice, I am frustrated by not being able to get the pencil to do what I want.  (In my mind's eye, this used to not be a problem.  But that may be just a rose-colored memory.)   The only way to fix it is to get the pencil moving on a regular basis.   Who knows, if I ever get myself out of this hole, it might be fun to illustrate my blog posts.   And until then, who cares -- once I turn the page in my sketchbook, I never have to look at that drawing again, right?

I also want to get some vintage patterns into my Etsy shop again, and sort out a few for a giveaway here!  It's been ages since I've done either of those things.  Why?  Because I hate counting pattern pieces, or to be more precise, folding and unfolding them.  Makes me apoplectic.

Want to know what else makes me apoplectic?  All these insanely cute Michael Miller fabrics.  There are like ten of them I must have immediately, and this is nuts.  I just bought a bunch of fabric, and should not even be looking at more fabric.   I don't know how it happened.  (OK, yes I do.)

And finally, for no particular reason:  my new polka-dot Nikes!  (I bought mine on sale for less at Zappos but they're already gone from the site.)  They're not quite as cute as the Liberty of London Nikes but I never could catch those in stock in my size (and then there's the price ...)   I'm still jealous of CarmencitaB's pair, though.