A newbie's pattern stash

Tanit-Isis' post a few weeks ago got me thinking about stash storage and also left me feeling a tiny bit grateful that I'm not faced with her problem (yet! When we buy a house all bets are off!).

I love seeing pictures and reading posts about other people's stashes, am grateful for them even. THV only muttered once about the size of my cross stitch stash - I promptly showed him some pictures online of other ladies' hoards and he hasn't uttered a peep since. Smart man.

So while it is still adorable and tiny I thought I'd share my pattern stash with you guys:

Yup, thats it for individual patterns! I can fit the entire stack in my purse if I really needed to for some bizarre reason (Armageddon?). Not pictured are some Burda magazines and 2 books have some patterns in them. That subject might be fodder for another quick blog post :)

Lets see whats in the stack...

The "good patterns" aka. the ones I'm seriously interested in making (well aside from that tote bag, it just needed to go somewhere).

The aprons! I went through a phase apparently. Although in my defense two of those were gifts. Number of aprons I've made? 1!

The WTF patterns. Top two were scrounged from my mom's long unused stash. The best of a pile of 1980s patterns. The dog bed pattern I bought right when I started sewing and was terrified to sew a straight line without a pattern holding my hand. Hmmm, well I'm really not much better now, but I can at least figure out how to make pet beds without a pattern!

Randoms. Top two my grandmother bought me at craft shows. The Amy Butler Heather and I bought together at a quilting store with the idea of time-sharing it and I seem to have held it hostage ever since. Ooops. Sorry Heather!

Bottom left is actually one of my favorite patterns of all time. My awesome sewing aunt has made me two muumuus from this pattern. Never to be worn in public, perfect for super hot summer days at the cottage or an un-airconditioned apartment. After the last muumuu she just gave me the pattern to make my own :)

And finally, my newest pattern! A birthday present even! Can't wait to make it, assuming I can ever find 60" wide knit fabric that I: 1. like and 2. can afford

Thats it! All of my patterns. Not many now, but it's a slippery slope I've started down....

Do you collect patterns like candy or slowly and carefully add to your stash? Anyone else have a "wtf was I thinking?" pile?

Birthday bracelet

Spent a lovely day with my longtime friend Bug. She patiently read a magazine while I got my teeth cleaned (living in the boonies + snowstorm = you have to be efficient about your trips into town). We hit up a yarn store where she picked up some Estelle Frill Seeker to knit her very first scarf. Yay Bug! Visited a tea store. Ate an unhealthy lunch. And then back home to sip some new tea, chat and knit. Now that's friendship.

And she gave my an (early) birthday present. A gorgeous Swarovski crystal bracelet she made for me. You can probably tell by the colour :) Beading is one hobby I've managed to not pick up (so far), but Bug does amazing things with it.

Such a delight to be gifted with a beautiful piece of her work.

Check out a closeup:

Of course it had to travel home with her for some adjustments. Totally my fault. When she asked for my wrist measurement I used my second-best measuring tape (my good one appears to have disappeared with those blasted pattern instructions)....and thought my wrist measurement was 8". I thought it seemed rather large, but trusted the tape. Then the made-to-size bracelet turned out to be far too large:

Apparently the 6 and the 8 look very similar on my now-deemed-evil measuring tape.

Doh.

Sorry for the extra work Bug!

So Project: Pajamas has been moving forward at a glacial pace - although I suppose the eulogy I had to write and give last week is a legit reason to not be sewing.

After cutting out the pattern pieces on Saturday night, I left everything carefully laid out on my sewing* table for Sunday. When I went back to it Monday night I couldn't find the pattern instructions! Extremely frustrating since my sewing area** is abnormally clean right now - there are only so many places I even have to look, and I've checked those places multiple times.

I bitched.

I moaned.

I sulked.

I did all three over gmail chat with the ever patient Heather and she didn't disown me as a friend.

In the end I went out and picked up the regular-sized version of the pattern. I was going to buy it any way since the 1X in the Plus version was big on me - and I've lost weight since I bought it. I love this style of pajamas and fully intend on making many more.

I do feel like a bit of a sewing wuss for not just trying to put it all together myself as Heather suggested. This is my first time making a garmet of any type - I've never done sleeves or collars before. At all. So I kinda want the safety net of instructions to keep my perfectionist self from freaking out.

Well, I think that's enough justification, don't you?

Less justifiable, but I will share just the same: these two patterns just happened to come home with me too:

The one on the left looks exactly like a beach cover up I drooled over in Bikini Village last year - and didn't buy because it was $75. The dress/top on the right might not be perfectly in fashion right now, but it's a bit more interesting than other patterns that are suited to my skills, and gives me practice sewing with knits and coming up with creative fabric choices. I like the look of the red variation, the other two with the white banding - not so much.

* also thesis table, board game table, art table, plant care center and to the bunnies: Pedestale On Which The Most Honoured And Glorious Receptacle Of Noms Rests.

** also office, bunny room, games room, storage room, art room, wannabe greenhouse and lounge.

Where Fuss is neither creative nor makes anything

Heather is to blame for this post :)

I wasn't going to post about these new shoes since I didn't have anything to do with their creation. But she reminded me that it's my blog and I can post whatever I please. Or whatever my friend pleases since she wanted to see a pic.

Teal suede heels from Naturalizer - cost me a whopping $30. Regular price: $100. I love sales. I love sales even more when they have my tricky-to-find shoe size. The colour is a bit more green-ish than the picture shows.

I guess this means I should think about sewing some dresses to go with them. I really love them with dress pants, but I really don't think I'm ready to sew any of those. Yet.

Ah, thats my excuse for posting about these - they aren't just a good deal, they are a sewing muse.