New Project Fails

Oh, I never change. My new "Julie and Julia" type project is pretty much a failure. I did drag out all my unfinished projects and make a list of them. I then took apart a lot of the unfinished knitting projects because I didn't like them or was so stuck that I couldn't imagine moving forward. The sewing projects are a little more complicated because you can't simply unsew them and roll the fabric back onto the bolt. But there are several that just don't appeal to me in the least. Grandma style dress pants for example. The only reason to finish some of these projects would be to donate them to a shelter or some such. So that begs the question, do I want to spend time working on dead end projects when I could be working on my quilt or any of the multitude of things I want to dig my teeth into? With my horrendous time management skills, I think not. So back to the closet they go. I had a photo of all my projects piled on my work table but I can't find it. Probably for the best.

I am currently working on this dress for the Respite Care Holiday Ball. It's gorgeous. The fabric is a fabulous french lace (Alencon for you fabric buffs) its a dark green re-embroidered with an even darker green. The underdress is a black silk charmeuse. Unfortunately I sewed a dart in the lace on the wrong side of the fabric and I'm having a heck of a time getting it out. Curses to thread that matches too well. The sun is shining today so hopefully I'll be able to see the threads good enough to get it undone. The past two days have been snowy and overcast. If I can't see them today I'm going to have to get Jill over here to be my "ripper". (Update: Sun = Vision = stitches out. yeah!) I'm trying to get the lace part of the dress finished before Oct 5th so I can take it with me on my Thelma & Louise trip. All the scallops need to be sewn back on by hand. There's about 300 inches of scalloped edge on this dress so I figure a month should be long enough to get it all done. I still don't know what I'm going to do for that strategically placed bauble. You can rest assured it won't be a giant peony! Maybe a neon flashing arrow pointing down. Whatever I decide on, it will have to be low profile and subtle.

Have I mentioned that I've been hiking the Colorado Trail this summer? Wow, what an endeavor. By Oct 2nd I will have done 303 of the 485 miles. There are 7 of us doing it and we're called "The Magnificent Seven" or "M7's" for short. I'm the youngest and the oldest is 68. If you want to have your Burly Mountain Woman ego challenged, go hiking with some 60+ year olds. These women rock! Mary Ellen is our fearless leader and has done all the work getting us organized. Marilyn did the trail about 10 years ago so she's our sage. Weezie keeps the whole thing FUN, Pat is trying to single handedly fertilize the National Forests, Sherrie is our scribe and Sue is the negotiator. Me? Well, I have the best damned bruise so far. I was trying to run down a 3 mile section that was..... downhill. It's less painful to run than walk so I decided to get in a tempo run. I was doing great until about 200 yards from the trail head. Then, of course, I caught the toe I'm in the habit of catching and went flying. I landed on my arm and it left one helluva bruise. Even two weeks later it's still many lovely shades of purple and yellow as you can see.

LILY UPDATE

My granddaughter loves me. I get the most beautiful gummy smile whenever she looks at me. This girl is no fool. She's knows a happy grammy if a gifty grammy. She's growing way too fast and is so interactive these days. She a fabulous maker of bubbles and loves to give you the raspberries. We drove all the way to Utah and back in a 3 day span and she was perfect. She is trying so hard to talk. Sometimes when you're talking to her she's just staring at your face and is concentrating so hard. Then she starts trying to imitate you. It's just amazing to watch.