Lolita Skirts!!

I went Lolita crazy this weekend!

I have this pattern, recommended by Peggy Anne Klinker, of Peggy Anne's, and I'd made an adorable skirt many months ago. Sophia needed new clothes, since suddenly hers didn't fit her. She was not happy about the new brace for scoliosis that gives her "Barbie hips." I don't know about you, but last time I checked, Barbie's hips looked pretty good, but you get the point. It didn't help matters that my clothes fit her. She wants her own clothes, not her mother's clothes. Now, mind you, her mom has clothes like this:

The original Lolita, meant to be worn with cowboy boots.

which begs the question, "what's wrong with wearing your mother's clothes?" But of course, she has her own taste and who wouldn't rather make her own combinations? Which she did...

Lolita 2: Sophie's summer choices

Lolita 3, my personal favorite

Lolita 4, How 'bout them ruffles? Thanks, Peggy, for getting me hooked on the ruffler attachment!

Lolita 5; this one is mine. Sophia wants nothing to do with this one. Shouldn't the seamstress also get another Lolita?

So, it's cowboy boot weather here in NH, and I'm going to be showing off my knobby, scarred knees, (sorry 'bout that,) until it's time to put on the leggings. That'll be when the snow sticks.

 This one was a gift to Clyde, Valerie's darling grandson. 21 September 2011 #52.

 This was my first quilt for Quilts of Valor, Let Freedom Ring, 20 July 2011 #45.

 Quilt of Valor 2, Peace on Earth, 20 July 2011 #46.

 Quilt of Valor 4, Maltese Star, 20 July 2011, #56

 Quilt of Valor 3, Liberty's Key. 20 July 2011, #55

Sushi Snap, 26 November 2008, #19.

A means to an end...

Now that I have let two years pass, I've forgotten how to post photos again. This is important because I want a file in pinterest of my quilts, and  I have to use the blog to post the photos of my finished (and unfinished) quilts, so that somewhere to pin FROM. So, how did I do that again?

Aha!! There's an icon that looks like a photo on the toolbar on the blog site, so I just clicked it and then found a photo on my hard drive and linked it. OK. Back in business!

Oh, that's how you post photos! NP!

This is the first quilt I ever finished. It was completed 2 years ago, but I started it almost 20 years ago. I just didn't know how to quilt it, and after about 4 inches of hand quilting, it was clear that hand quilting isn't going to be part of my skill set. Ever.

I probably started this quilt during my too-brief first pregnancy. Sometime between then and now, I got over my grief over that loss. The quilt isn't special, except that by the time it was done, it had earned its name, "Old Enough to Drive."

Dartmouth Medical School Reunion

We headed out with very mixed feelings. Everybody was exhausted, and Constantine and I had been irritated with one another for whatever reason. The girls always prefer to have no plans, but I'd reserved the hotel and was determined to go through the motions. We needed a happy weekend together. We needed some down time. Other than a few of the meals, I'd committed to nothing.
The weekend exceeded everyone's low expectations by a huge margin. I even got a "thanks for making us go," from Alexandra. Sophia and I experienced vanilla bean cupcakes which inspired haiku. I'll let you see hers on her blog.
CPB and I remain awed by our classmates. We've done fine for ourselves, but these people are pretty amazing. We've missed many, had forgotten others, and were so happy to re-connect with long lost friends.
Tomorrow, Brooks School with Alexandra. I feel as if I'm interviewing too. I guess I am.
So, here:

Life holds endless joy;
That vanilla bean cupcake
Surpassed my high hopes.

"I'm surprised you have the patience to sew."

"I'm surprised you have the patience to sew."

It started out as a compliment given to me by my mother, intended to point out how despite my busy schedule, I am productive in my sewing room. Now say it out loud. Repeat it 120 more times. Disregard that because of her dementia, she does not realize that she's said it already however many times. Disregard good intentions and concern for my stress levels lately and how much I've got on my plate. Disregard her feelings of regret and sadness over having given up driving, thus making her entirely dependent on me to transport her everywhere.

It starts to sound like a commentary on my usual lack of patience; like a judgement of how I choose to spend my non-existent free time; like a criticism of all my failings. I know, it's all my baggage, not hers.

Two years later...

So, no posts in more than two years. Since that time, my 11 year old has started a very nice -looking blog, and has posted many times. She did this while home alone for a day. Sara, our nanny, pointed out that most kids, left alone at home for a day, spend their time jumping on sofas, eating ice cream out of the carton, and back before the days of caller ID, making crank phone calls.

Still no photos. Still no postings.

Nobody would suggest that this one counts. Unless I actually continue...

I'm miserable because I've agreed to give an hour-long talk to primary care physicians on Breast MRI. I'm dreading it, dreading it. One would think I'd just stop wasting time and get to it, but I still have hope that somebody will rescue me. Or there will be a major coming to our senses, making October no longer Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but something else... Global Clean Water Month?

I've taken up the cello. Really. It's not that funny. I'm already as good as...some 5 year olds at the Ogontz Suzuki Institute we attended in August, and closing in on those 6 year olds, fast.

My intense cello studies ;) have taken a toll on my sewing room time, but unfortunately not my internet fabric shopping time. The fabric stacks up there are neatly pressed and rolled, but they are no longer confined to the top of the built-in cabinets. There are piles below the cutting table, in the "Projects In My Head" area, and on top of the plastic boxes holding collections of fat quarters and other coordinated collections. Perhaps as part of my penance, I should post pictures of my stash metastasis.

Today, I managed to work on three things: I am halfway into attaching a collar to a tunic that I fear may be too snug, but am too entrenched in to retreat. I cut out the pieces for my September Blocks of the Month at Quilted Threads. Most impressively, I finished quilting the Lime/Black Hip to Be Square Quilt and trimmed it. Maboo watched me do this, and prompted me to say, at least 8 times,

"Nobody who makes quilts actually needs any quilts."

Until next time, which should be around 2012,

Happy Sewing,

Happy Cello,

Happy following your passion(s),

Ophelia