Sew Distracted

Fun in Chicago

I was incredibly fortunate to be able to spend this past weekend in the company of a group of fabulous women who all share a love of sewing, fiber, and for some knitting as well.  Barbara,  Diane, Patty and I all converged on Chicago to join Patti and share laughter, food, fun and fabric shopping.

I love this picture of Diane because it captures all the fun, laughter, and friendship that filled the weekend.

 

Here are Barbara and Patty perusing the remnant tables at Vogue Fabrics Saturday morning.  It was fun fabric shopping with fellow fiber fiends, and although there was some enabling going on, there was also considerable thoughtful advice and clear-thinking discussions of what works, what doesn't, and why we should be discriminating in what we buy.

We were fortunate to be able to meet Cennetta at Vogue and she joined us in a tiny booth for lunch which was fabulous primarily because we were all were able to share so many ideas with enthusiasm and laughter.   You should go check out Cennetta's blog as she is a far more organized and thinking photographer than I, as I managed to carry my camera around but mostly forget to take pictures.

I'm working on that, although perhaps far too slowly.

I did, of course, do some shopping.  For me that meant more at Fishman's  than at Vogue, although I found some lovely things at both.  Luckily Fishman's had the perfect coordinates for a grouping that has been haunting my thoughts for some time now.  I had shopped my stash but had not found just the right compliments.  I found one piece at Vogue and the rest at Fishman's and you will be seeing it all as it arrives and evolves.

Don't expect the evolution right away.  The Fishman's order is being held for one piece which was not in stock, and although I was initially disappointed not to have the fabric immediately, I also realized that I will be away for about 10 -12 days the beginning of May and wouldn't have gotten to it before the trip regardless.  It is so nice to have something that I have been fretting over finally begin to take shape and evolve into a coherent collection.

The only sad part of the weekend was that Carolyn  and Marji  couldn't join us.  They were missed.

It's Back!

Stitcher's Guild is back online!! Click the link on the sidebar.

I'm buried in my own little version of renovation hell and will back as soon as I can clear the dust out of my eyes.

Any good ideas on ways to store trims?  I haven't found a solution I am happy with but that could be due to exhaustion and excessive inhalation of fine particulate matter (otherwise known as concrete dust).

Stitcher's Guild Announcement

I am experiencing severe withdrawal symptoms.....The newly founded and beloved Stitcher's Guild is experiencing a few problems.

After floundering around aimlessly I found some information at SewingWorld and a wonderful e-mail from Kathryn which I will quote here:

Artisan's Square and Stitcher's Guild has run into problems with its host. 

In a nutshell, the host has pulled the plug on the forum because the membership exceeded 100 people.

DragonLady is in negotiations with that host and is also searching for another host site to move us all to.  So sit tight and keep working on those sewing projects, so you'll have a lot to post about when the site comes back up!

Keep checking in here on this 'blog or at SewingWorld  in the SW Feedback section, SW Refuge Announcement topic for further updates.

Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope that everythign is resolved soon.  I will keep you informed.

This is one addiction I hope not to have to live without.

SW Refuge

Hi, I've been asked by my friends at Sewing World to post the following message concerning a contingency plan should Sewing World fail.  I know that Sewing World has become a very important part of my life, and when it is not up or I cannot access it, I feel a little frazzled and paranoid, driven by a mad urge to keep checking and checking until it comes back.

So if you love Sewing World, here is a copy of a message posted on the Sharing and Inpsiration folder. 

Dear Sewing World Friend,

Kathryn (fzxdoc) and I have been among the ever-widening circle of Sewing World’s users who are worried that it seems to be teetering ever closer to the brink of disappearance. I don’t know how familiar you are with the history of SW, but we have been concerned that there is an increasing likelihood that SW will just grind to a halt. Threads can now only go 1/3 of their former length, they disappear without warning, many features, such as Search, no longer work at all, and many of us have gotten the dreaded white screen more and more often.

Since we have come to cherish SW and the Sharing, Inspiration and Project Photos (SIPP) thread especially, we put our heads together to come up with somewhere to go in case of a crash or just a continuing spiral down. As you know, we looked at the PatternReview and FabricMart boards as well as exploring some other avenues.

We are very pleased that a SW poster called DragonLady has come to our rescue! Perhaps you remember her from SW; she did not post on SIPP. During one of the flurries of posts on the Feedback topic (which is supposed to get action by Scott and Krista) people were lamenting the many problems besetting SW. She has run and runs several boards, and explained a little about why SW was unstable, etc. and offered to do or help do an upgrade on the SW board. No response from those in charge and nothing happened.

DragonLady has now put up a board we can use if needed and anytime, actually. For the time being, SWRefuge. (The name will probably change eventually, and suggestions are being solicited on the site.) Kathryn and I have been helping to test it, and we like what we see. It has wonderful, modern features, and we hope you will like it.

We hope you will bookmark this site’s address, and check it out at your leisure. There will also be links to the SWRefuge site on the sidebars of Liana, Mardel, and Carolyn’s blogs, in case you need the address later, and so that everyone can move seamlessly to the new site should it become necessary.

We hope you will not think that we have been precipitate, or that we or DragonLady are trying to usurp SW. It is simply our wish not to lose all of our wonderful friends and relationships that have been forged on SIPP that has galvanized us to take action.

I hope you will register at the new board.

Here is the link:  http://wickenburgarea.com/sw/index.php

A link has also been placed on my sidebar, where it will remain in case of emergency.