A problem at the launch site has delayed the launch. First it was delayed one day but now it has been delayed again. It might go Tuesday evening but we'll find out for sure tomorrow morning.
Meanwhile, I have some software to write at work and some drapes to hem at home...gotta get some sewing news in there somewhere!
And I haven't forgotten to post more photos from our trip - it just takes so much time to weed through the 1839 photos we took. I've managed to write captions for all of the ones from Berlin, but it takes a lot of time to research the correct names and places. It's sad when you have a picture of a building or scenic view and you have no idea what it is. Even sadder if the photo contains people. I remember my grandmother, who was always snapping pictures on her Instamatic, urged me to identify people in photos. I'm grateful to her and other relatives who took the time to do that on the photos I've inherited. The software I use to catalog my photos (Adobe Elements) makes it very easy to add captions or tag photos with people's names, so there's no excuse not to do it - it just takes time.
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Monday, July 11, 2011
Friday, July 08, 2011
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Closet clean-out
I finally tackled my closet - well, the hanging clothes part at least. I might get to the stacked stuff later today if I have the energy. I tried to channel Stacy, Clinton and Tim* and be honest about what must go. Some people suggest that things not worn in the last year should go, but I'm not that brutal. However, most if not all, of the things I bought in the previous century went into the donation bags. I even parted with a few items I sewed, which was tough, but I had to be honest with myself that the Loes Hinse bouclé jacket was too big and the t-shirt with short kimono sleeves made out of lime green slinky just didn't look right on me. I also never wore and would never in the future wear the one piece wrap around silk blouse I made in a class I took a long time ago.
I removed, but will not permanently get rid of...just yet, a bunch of cute but just-a-bit-too-small blouses. They might be an incentive to lose some weight but I can't have them in my closet along side the few things that do fit. Nothing is worse than pulling out a blouse to wear in the morning and realizing that it's too tight. Actually there is something worse - wearing it out of the house and being uncomfortable and self-conscious the whole day!
Unfortunately now there's not much left in the closet that I'm excited about. You might think I now have a great excuse to go shopping. Actually I may have an even better excuse - I might be going back to work soon. That's one reason I wanted to do the purge, to see what I have to work with and what essentials I should focus on buying.
Tim Gunn has a list of 10 essential items he thinks every woman should have:
*That would be Stacy and Clinton from TLC's What Not to Wear and Tim Gunn of Project Runway and Tim Gunn's Guide to Style.
I removed, but will not permanently get rid of...just yet, a bunch of cute but just-a-bit-too-small blouses. They might be an incentive to lose some weight but I can't have them in my closet along side the few things that do fit. Nothing is worse than pulling out a blouse to wear in the morning and realizing that it's too tight. Actually there is something worse - wearing it out of the house and being uncomfortable and self-conscious the whole day!
Unfortunately now there's not much left in the closet that I'm excited about. You might think I now have a great excuse to go shopping. Actually I may have an even better excuse - I might be going back to work soon. That's one reason I wanted to do the purge, to see what I have to work with and what essentials I should focus on buying.
Tim Gunn has a list of 10 essential items he thinks every woman should have:
- Basic black dress
- Trench coat
- Dress pants
- Classic shirt
- Jeans
- Any occasion top
- Skirt
- Day dress
- Jacket
- Sweatsuit alternative
As much as I'd like to be able to sew my wardrobe, I have to concede that it's just not possible. I'm too slow, for one. I also haven't had enough practice altering patterns to fit and that adds to my slowness. So I'm going to have to face the shopping mall or live with what I have. Last time I attempted a major clothes shopping trip, I got extremely frustrated. Everything seemed too-trendy, didn't fit, or I knew I could sew the same thing with fabric and patterns from my stash. Then I found Ann Taylor Loft and for the last few years it was a joy to shop. They had outfits at reasonable prices and the clothes fit. I must now emphasize that they WERE my favorite store. I stopped by there last Friday and was so disappointed that they've changed and, it seems, greatly reduced their inventory. I guess the latter is due to the economy and the former is an attempt to attract younger buyers. The few jackets they have are really short and adorned with ruffles, and their blouses are all about poofy sleeves and more ruffles. Maybe it's time I graduate to Ann Taylor (and not Loft), but gosh the prices at the Loft were so good!
Well, maybe I'll go tackle the mound of stacked sweater and tops. I know there are a few things that need to go and I'll probably find some things I've forgotten about.
*That would be Stacy and Clinton from TLC's What Not to Wear and Tim Gunn of Project Runway and Tim Gunn's Guide to Style.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
A New Year...again
A few other bloggers are revisiting their resolutions from last year to see how they did, so I thought I'd take a look at mine.
1. Blog more often - In 2007 I posted 64 entries and in 2008 I posted 66, not counting this one. That's not blogging more often. At least it didn't go down! I blame part of it on Facebook. I joined it this year and sometimes updating my status on Facebook trumps updating the blog.
2. Lose weight. Meh. I stayed about the same but I didn't work hard at losing weight. Without a 9-5 job, I really should get to the gym more often. I did go a handful of times in November and December. Maybe I'll make it more of a habit in 2009.
3. Embrace my hobbies. Without that 9-5 job, I certainly am embracing my hobbies. Although I sewed about the same number of garments as last year (8 this year, 9 last year), most were completed in the last few months due to that lack of 9-5 job thing. I did knit a lot more but I still have the problem of not actually finishing the items. Gotta work on that.
4. Think before I buy. I've done relatively well with this one. There's still too much stuff in the house but I think I've done well to keep shopping to a minimum and only buy what's needed. My fabric buying was down this year except for two bouts of travel-fabric buying, one in D.C. with fellow patternreview sewing friends and one in NY because what sewer can resist an opportunity to shop in the NY Garment District? My yarn buying was not so restrained but I knit a lot more things this year so that's good, right?
5. Find the good in my work. Well, the J-0-B ended and I have my sanity back. It was tough in the last few months but I dug my heels in, went to the office every day (instead of hiding out at home and telecommuting), and finished up the work I needed to finish. On my last day my co-workers took me to lunch and the manager even gave me a memento of the project. The lay-off from the contracting company was partly voluntary and I know they would have wanted to keep me if there had been suitable work. So it's all good.
6. Nurture relationships. I think I did ok with this one but I know I could do better. There's always room for improvement here.
I think I'll just repeat these resolutions for 2009, except #5 becomes slightly modified into "Find good work" And I really want to keep the word "good" in there because I don't want to find myself in a difficult situation again.
1. Blog more often - In 2007 I posted 64 entries and in 2008 I posted 66, not counting this one. That's not blogging more often. At least it didn't go down! I blame part of it on Facebook. I joined it this year and sometimes updating my status on Facebook trumps updating the blog.
2. Lose weight. Meh. I stayed about the same but I didn't work hard at losing weight. Without a 9-5 job, I really should get to the gym more often. I did go a handful of times in November and December. Maybe I'll make it more of a habit in 2009.
3. Embrace my hobbies. Without that 9-5 job, I certainly am embracing my hobbies. Although I sewed about the same number of garments as last year (8 this year, 9 last year), most were completed in the last few months due to that lack of 9-5 job thing. I did knit a lot more but I still have the problem of not actually finishing the items. Gotta work on that.
4. Think before I buy. I've done relatively well with this one. There's still too much stuff in the house but I think I've done well to keep shopping to a minimum and only buy what's needed. My fabric buying was down this year except for two bouts of travel-fabric buying, one in D.C. with fellow patternreview sewing friends and one in NY because what sewer can resist an opportunity to shop in the NY Garment District? My yarn buying was not so restrained but I knit a lot more things this year so that's good, right?
5. Find the good in my work. Well, the J-0-B ended and I have my sanity back. It was tough in the last few months but I dug my heels in, went to the office every day (instead of hiding out at home and telecommuting), and finished up the work I needed to finish. On my last day my co-workers took me to lunch and the manager even gave me a memento of the project. The lay-off from the contracting company was partly voluntary and I know they would have wanted to keep me if there had been suitable work. So it's all good.
6. Nurture relationships. I think I did ok with this one but I know I could do better. There's always room for improvement here.
I think I'll just repeat these resolutions for 2009, except #5 becomes slightly modified into "Find good work" And I really want to keep the word "good" in there because I don't want to find myself in a difficult situation again.
Friday, September 19, 2008
I'm on a break!
I'm taking a break from work, not from this blog, although my lack of posts in the last couple weeks sure makes it look that way. And I'm not just on a coffee break while I write this blog entry. I'm talking about a real break. The contract I was working on for over 5 years ended last Friday...successfully, I might add. There isn't other work for me right now and that's ok because I can really use a break. I'm hoping I can have a few months off, nothing more than that and I really hope nothing comes up too soon...like next week or something. I have a gazillion things I want to do in addition to recharging my mental self.
My first week of non-work has been quite busy. Actually I'm using up vacation hours, so I'm not really unemployed yet.
Monday I drove my husband to the airport and stopped by the hardware store afterward. In addition to some grass seed/fertilizer/mulch mix which I plan to use to fix the bare spots in the front yard (plain 'ole grass seed didn't seem to work), I bought a beach chair that was on sale since it's post-season. I hope to spend some time with my feet in the sand, hearing waves crash and the seagulls laugh, smelling the salty air, and relaxing with a book, my knitting, or just watching the ocean. I did get to the beach this week but I didn't get to use my chair - more on that later. Monday night I went to my knitting guild meeting and learned how to read cables (and cable charts) from Cookie A.
Tuesday I stayed at home and it was insightful. I don't believe I've ever taken a vacation day where I just stayed home by myself. An entire day without going anywhere, where I wasn't sick or working from home. It felt odd and I wasn't sure what to do with myself (despite the gazillion things I want to do). That night I dreamed that I found a new contract I was eager to work on. Off work for two days and I'm already dreaming about going back. Pathetic, I know. It was a productive day though. I did a bit of cleaning and some laundry - I've decided that unless I'm out of the house all day I'm going to spend an hour cleaning or fixing something in the house. It'll be fine if the hour turns into a bigger project because sometimes I just need to get started, but if all I can manage is an hour, that'll be fine too. I didn't want to overdo it on Tuesday so after about an hour of cleaning I rewarded myself by sitting down to finish a sweater I've been wanting to get to. I only had to sew up two side seams but it was tedious work and I of course wanted it perfect. The rest of the day was "wasted" on the computer playing games (guilt-free solitaire!), reading blogs, and just surfing.
Wednesday spinnity and I went to San Francisco to the Legion of Honor Museum to see the Women Impressionists Exhibit. The exhibit features works by Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Eva Gonzalès, and Marie Bracquemond. I really enjoyed seeing their paintings and getting a peek at how they viewed the world around them. My favorite style of painting is actually the realism of Flemish 16th century artists, such as Bruegel, but I do enjoy the mood conveyed by Impressionistic art. I'm always amazed at how a few brush strokes can look like paint smears up close but step back and you see so much more, even more than the image the paint is replicating.
Wednesday night was a knitting meetup and I finally had something for "show and tell" - the sweater I finished on Tuesday. I took pictures of it (Bonita, from Rowan magazine #41) this morning and will post them soon...I promise. I'm just too tired tonight to mess with photos and write anything about the sweater or the knitting.
I'm tired because today (Thursday) I drove all over the place to visit yarn stores as part of the Peninsula to Pier LYS Shop Hop. No, I don't need more yarn and yes, it was impossible not to buy any, but I figured that since I wasn't working and it was a nice day, I should give it a go. The idea is to visit each of the 19 shops and get a "passport" book stamped at each store. As an incentive, there's a drawing for a grand prize of $500 if you get all the stamps. While that would be nice to win, I must be practical and look at it more as an incentive to visit stores I have not been to and probably woudn't visit because I have shops closer to me. So today I set my course for the stores located south of here in Carmel, Pacific Grove and Santa Cruz. I did the hop on my own partly because I was on a mission to try to do all 19 stores today and tomorrow and partly because I just wanted some alone time (but not alone in the house) to go and do whatever I please. And I had fun! In Pacific Grove I ate my lunch at a picnic table with a gorgeous view of the ocean and drove the twisty windy road through the redwood trees to visit a store in Felton. I took the long way back via Highway 1 so that I could savor the late afternoon sun over the ocean. I managed to squeeze in three more stores by closing time. Actually the last one was a few minutes after. I saw there were other shoppers (hoppers, actually) in the store and even though the sign said "closed" the door wasn't locked and they happily stamped my book and chatted with me about yarn. Knitters and yarn store owners are, with very few exceptions I've found, very nice people.
On Friday I hope to run around and visit the remaining 10 stores. Fortunately all of them are much closer. I also know where they all are because I've been to all of them before. Another good thing is that because they're closer, I won't feel like I have to buy the gorgeous yarn I see because I know that if I really want it I can get back to the store without driving a great distance. Maybe I'll leave the credit cards at home just to be safe.
My first week of non-work has been quite busy. Actually I'm using up vacation hours, so I'm not really unemployed yet.
Monday I drove my husband to the airport and stopped by the hardware store afterward. In addition to some grass seed/fertilizer/mulch mix which I plan to use to fix the bare spots in the front yard (plain 'ole grass seed didn't seem to work), I bought a beach chair that was on sale since it's post-season. I hope to spend some time with my feet in the sand, hearing waves crash and the seagulls laugh, smelling the salty air, and relaxing with a book, my knitting, or just watching the ocean. I did get to the beach this week but I didn't get to use my chair - more on that later. Monday night I went to my knitting guild meeting and learned how to read cables (and cable charts) from Cookie A.
Tuesday I stayed at home and it was insightful. I don't believe I've ever taken a vacation day where I just stayed home by myself. An entire day without going anywhere, where I wasn't sick or working from home. It felt odd and I wasn't sure what to do with myself (despite the gazillion things I want to do). That night I dreamed that I found a new contract I was eager to work on. Off work for two days and I'm already dreaming about going back. Pathetic, I know. It was a productive day though. I did a bit of cleaning and some laundry - I've decided that unless I'm out of the house all day I'm going to spend an hour cleaning or fixing something in the house. It'll be fine if the hour turns into a bigger project because sometimes I just need to get started, but if all I can manage is an hour, that'll be fine too. I didn't want to overdo it on Tuesday so after about an hour of cleaning I rewarded myself by sitting down to finish a sweater I've been wanting to get to. I only had to sew up two side seams but it was tedious work and I of course wanted it perfect. The rest of the day was "wasted" on the computer playing games (guilt-free solitaire!), reading blogs, and just surfing.
Wednesday spinnity and I went to San Francisco to the Legion of Honor Museum to see the Women Impressionists Exhibit. The exhibit features works by Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Eva Gonzalès, and Marie Bracquemond. I really enjoyed seeing their paintings and getting a peek at how they viewed the world around them. My favorite style of painting is actually the realism of Flemish 16th century artists, such as Bruegel, but I do enjoy the mood conveyed by Impressionistic art. I'm always amazed at how a few brush strokes can look like paint smears up close but step back and you see so much more, even more than the image the paint is replicating.
Wednesday night was a knitting meetup and I finally had something for "show and tell" - the sweater I finished on Tuesday. I took pictures of it (Bonita, from Rowan magazine #41) this morning and will post them soon...I promise. I'm just too tired tonight to mess with photos and write anything about the sweater or the knitting.
I'm tired because today (Thursday) I drove all over the place to visit yarn stores as part of the Peninsula to Pier LYS Shop Hop. No, I don't need more yarn and yes, it was impossible not to buy any, but I figured that since I wasn't working and it was a nice day, I should give it a go. The idea is to visit each of the 19 shops and get a "passport" book stamped at each store. As an incentive, there's a drawing for a grand prize of $500 if you get all the stamps. While that would be nice to win, I must be practical and look at it more as an incentive to visit stores I have not been to and probably woudn't visit because I have shops closer to me. So today I set my course for the stores located south of here in Carmel, Pacific Grove and Santa Cruz. I did the hop on my own partly because I was on a mission to try to do all 19 stores today and tomorrow and partly because I just wanted some alone time (but not alone in the house) to go and do whatever I please. And I had fun! In Pacific Grove I ate my lunch at a picnic table with a gorgeous view of the ocean and drove the twisty windy road through the redwood trees to visit a store in Felton. I took the long way back via Highway 1 so that I could savor the late afternoon sun over the ocean. I managed to squeeze in three more stores by closing time. Actually the last one was a few minutes after. I saw there were other shoppers (hoppers, actually) in the store and even though the sign said "closed" the door wasn't locked and they happily stamped my book and chatted with me about yarn. Knitters and yarn store owners are, with very few exceptions I've found, very nice people.
On Friday I hope to run around and visit the remaining 10 stores. Fortunately all of them are much closer. I also know where they all are because I've been to all of them before. Another good thing is that because they're closer, I won't feel like I have to buy the gorgeous yarn I see because I know that if I really want it I can get back to the store without driving a great distance. Maybe I'll leave the credit cards at home just to be safe.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Too hot!
I'm back from the east coast and my work monitoring the satellite instrument, which is performing perfectly and providing data to scientists. Yay! Click here to see the blog, if you're interested.
Since I worked nearly 120 hours over the last two weeks (not counting the travel to get there and back), I'm taking today off. I had hoped to sew today but it's 107 degrees outside and 82 inside. I think I'll wait until this evening when it cools off a bit! I do really want to get to some sewing though. I need to use some fabric before we're buried by it. I bought more fabric, beyond what I got at the PR gathering at The Fabric Place. I had to stop by G Street Fabrics in Rockville, especially since they had a 30% off holiday sale plus an extra 25% off coupon good on one item. I bought a remnant piece of knit mesh in a purple swirly print and used the coupon on a gorgeous $30/yard white cotton eyelet. But I didn't stop there. While visiting my mom over the 4th, we shopped at the G Street Fabrics in Centerville where I bought 2 yards of green and white silk for a blouse...using the coupon of course. I can't pass up travel fabric and big time savings! Thankfully the weight limit for your first checked bag on Virgin America is 70 lbs and I had a big bag, so I didn't have to ship the fabric. By the way, thumbs up for VA in-flight service but thumbs down for their check-in counter at Dulles. I had checked in via the internet the night before but still had to drop my bag at the counter. It was chaotic, frustrating, and not well planned out. Tempers flared, people cut in line. It was just not good.
What was good was being able to finish my green Rowan sweater on the flight home. I'm naming this one "Gamma Ray" and hope get blocked and sewn up soon so I can wear it.
Since I worked nearly 120 hours over the last two weeks (not counting the travel to get there and back), I'm taking today off. I had hoped to sew today but it's 107 degrees outside and 82 inside. I think I'll wait until this evening when it cools off a bit! I do really want to get to some sewing though. I need to use some fabric before we're buried by it. I bought more fabric, beyond what I got at the PR gathering at The Fabric Place. I had to stop by G Street Fabrics in Rockville, especially since they had a 30% off holiday sale plus an extra 25% off coupon good on one item. I bought a remnant piece of knit mesh in a purple swirly print and used the coupon on a gorgeous $30/yard white cotton eyelet. But I didn't stop there. While visiting my mom over the 4th, we shopped at the G Street Fabrics in Centerville where I bought 2 yards of green and white silk for a blouse...using the coupon of course. I can't pass up travel fabric and big time savings! Thankfully the weight limit for your first checked bag on Virgin America is 70 lbs and I had a big bag, so I didn't have to ship the fabric. By the way, thumbs up for VA in-flight service but thumbs down for their check-in counter at Dulles. I had checked in via the internet the night before but still had to drop my bag at the counter. It was chaotic, frustrating, and not well planned out. Tempers flared, people cut in line. It was just not good.
What was good was being able to finish my green Rowan sweater on the flight home. I'm naming this one "Gamma Ray" and hope get blocked and sewn up soon so I can wear it.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Will we have lift off?
Tune in tomorrow (June 11) at 11:45 EDT to find out: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
GLAST, which is a gamma-ray telescope, is the project I've been working with for the last 5 years.
It was due to launch last week but there were delays with the launch vehicle. Now we only have the weather to worry about.
GLAST, which is a gamma-ray telescope, is the project I've been working with for the last 5 years.
It was due to launch last week but there were delays with the launch vehicle. Now we only have the weather to worry about.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Weekend Update
Lots of stuff over the weekend but I still feel like it slipped by.
In knitting news, I started a new project that should go pretty quickly during some TV watching. It's a scarf for a woman at work, in a ladder-type ribbon yarn from Lion Brand called "Trellis." I made a similar scarf out of Eros four years ago and when I wore it one day and showed it to her she exclaimed about it so much I almost gave my scarf to her right then and there. Maybe I should have, but I'm selfish and like the scarf a lot. But I did decide to surprise her with one of her own. It's not the same yarn but it should look similar. I hope she likes it. The color in the picture doesn't really come out. The yarn is a combination of gold and beige and cream. The colorway on the label is "champagne."
In sewing news...no sewing this weekend but I did visit my fabric in the trailer. :-) The trailer is an enclosed cargo trailer we bought years ago for the purpose of hauling family items across the country and because we don't have a basement or room in our yard for a large storage shed, the trailer has proven to be very useful for storing materials during our remodelling projects...and for storing my fabric. I have a lot of fabric. At least I do know what fabric I have because it's all catalogued on index cards. I recently re-organized the cards by color and fabric type (rather than by the box they're in) because I think it'll be easier to pick out coordinating fabrics without having to look through every single card. Anyway, I ventured to the trailer to get some flannel to back a baby blanket I'm making for my husband's co-worker who is expecting their first baby. I make the blanket out of two 1-yard pieces of flannel. I round the edges using a quilter's template but I'm sure a plate would work fine as a guide. If I'm going to embroider the baby's name and birth information, I do that on one of the pieces first. Then I sew the flannel with right sides together, leaving a small opening for turning it right side out, and then I hand stitch the opening closed. Finally, I stitch along the perimeter of the blanket using a decorative stitch on the sewing machine. I've found that the flannel sticks together pretty well, so I don't need to do any stitching across the center, but I guess you could. That's it. Easy-peasy baby shower or new-baby gift. And personalized too!
As far as the rest of the weekend, we did lots of weeding in the backyard and cleaned it up some more. We haven't yet planted our summer veggies but hope to soon, although the weather forecast for later this week is calling for a high of 101. Yikes. Spring seems to have come and gone already. I ate the first ripe cherry from our tree, which, like the rest of the fruit trees in our yard, are showing signs of a huge harvest. I see lots more plum jam, peach preserves, and canned pears in the future!
After gardening we went for a long, leisurely bike ride of about 15 miles. It was great to get out on the bikes and also to exercise. It was a beautiful, sunny day and not too hot but the shade along the route was still welcome. I was a bit stiff later on but not too bad the next day. Love my bike!
On Sunday we ventured out to look at new cars. We've decided to purchase a Prius to replace the 2003 Saturn Vue we dislike (it's underpowered, loosey-goosey on the turns, big, and had mechanical problems at 50K miles). I know the Prius is a sought after vehicle and may "sell itself" but perhaps Toyota salespeople, at least the ones we encountered...or rather didn't encounter...shouldn't be so lackadaisical towards prospective buyers. Maybe they thought we were Mother's Day looky-loos, but we weren't just looking. We were ready to buy and we had to hunt someone down to talk to us. And when we did find someone, they didn't seem so interested in selling us a car! We went to three different dealerships and have experienced this lack of interest from Toyota in the past. If we weren't sold on the Prius' good gas mileage and interior perks (navigation and bluetooth in particular), we'd be shopping elsewhere. So, we don't have a new car...yet. Maybe later this week.
And finally, although I don't talk much about work here, I will say that my current project should launch (as in a real lift off from Cape Canaveral) next month and I'll be able to move on to the next project. This is good news because I'm ready to finish the old and start the new. Not unlike my knitting and sewing projects.
In knitting news, I started a new project that should go pretty quickly during some TV watching. It's a scarf for a woman at work, in a ladder-type ribbon yarn from Lion Brand called "Trellis." I made a similar scarf out of Eros four years ago and when I wore it one day and showed it to her she exclaimed about it so much I almost gave my scarf to her right then and there. Maybe I should have, but I'm selfish and like the scarf a lot. But I did decide to surprise her with one of her own. It's not the same yarn but it should look similar. I hope she likes it. The color in the picture doesn't really come out. The yarn is a combination of gold and beige and cream. The colorway on the label is "champagne."
In sewing news...no sewing this weekend but I did visit my fabric in the trailer. :-) The trailer is an enclosed cargo trailer we bought years ago for the purpose of hauling family items across the country and because we don't have a basement or room in our yard for a large storage shed, the trailer has proven to be very useful for storing materials during our remodelling projects...and for storing my fabric. I have a lot of fabric. At least I do know what fabric I have because it's all catalogued on index cards. I recently re-organized the cards by color and fabric type (rather than by the box they're in) because I think it'll be easier to pick out coordinating fabrics without having to look through every single card. Anyway, I ventured to the trailer to get some flannel to back a baby blanket I'm making for my husband's co-worker who is expecting their first baby. I make the blanket out of two 1-yard pieces of flannel. I round the edges using a quilter's template but I'm sure a plate would work fine as a guide. If I'm going to embroider the baby's name and birth information, I do that on one of the pieces first. Then I sew the flannel with right sides together, leaving a small opening for turning it right side out, and then I hand stitch the opening closed. Finally, I stitch along the perimeter of the blanket using a decorative stitch on the sewing machine. I've found that the flannel sticks together pretty well, so I don't need to do any stitching across the center, but I guess you could. That's it. Easy-peasy baby shower or new-baby gift. And personalized too!
As far as the rest of the weekend, we did lots of weeding in the backyard and cleaned it up some more. We haven't yet planted our summer veggies but hope to soon, although the weather forecast for later this week is calling for a high of 101. Yikes. Spring seems to have come and gone already. I ate the first ripe cherry from our tree, which, like the rest of the fruit trees in our yard, are showing signs of a huge harvest. I see lots more plum jam, peach preserves, and canned pears in the future!
After gardening we went for a long, leisurely bike ride of about 15 miles. It was great to get out on the bikes and also to exercise. It was a beautiful, sunny day and not too hot but the shade along the route was still welcome. I was a bit stiff later on but not too bad the next day. Love my bike!
On Sunday we ventured out to look at new cars. We've decided to purchase a Prius to replace the 2003 Saturn Vue we dislike (it's underpowered, loosey-goosey on the turns, big, and had mechanical problems at 50K miles). I know the Prius is a sought after vehicle and may "sell itself" but perhaps Toyota salespeople, at least the ones we encountered...or rather didn't encounter...shouldn't be so lackadaisical towards prospective buyers. Maybe they thought we were Mother's Day looky-loos, but we weren't just looking. We were ready to buy and we had to hunt someone down to talk to us. And when we did find someone, they didn't seem so interested in selling us a car! We went to three different dealerships and have experienced this lack of interest from Toyota in the past. If we weren't sold on the Prius' good gas mileage and interior perks (navigation and bluetooth in particular), we'd be shopping elsewhere. So, we don't have a new car...yet. Maybe later this week.
And finally, although I don't talk much about work here, I will say that my current project should launch (as in a real lift off from Cape Canaveral) next month and I'll be able to move on to the next project. This is good news because I'm ready to finish the old and start the new. Not unlike my knitting and sewing projects.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Work, work, work
I hope you all had a nice 4th of July. I had a crazy weekend spent flying across the country for work, but I managed to squeeze in a visit with my mom and sister, do some fabric shopping, and I had lots of time to knit on the plane. Usually my work is not too demanding of my weekends and evenings, but when it is demanding, it can mean long hours and sometimes travel . After a long day of flying, including a 2-hour weather-related delay at the connecting airport, I spent the next two days cooped up in a windowless, over-airconditioned room watching computer monitors while we ran tests on the instrument I'm involved with. The instrument is a telescope that will look at gamma rays in space and it's being launched on a satellite early next year. This past weekend we had to make sure the control center at Goddard Space Flight Center can send commands to the instrument while it's still on the ground. This kind of test is always prone to delays and by Saturday morning it looked like the 36-hour test (of which I worked the first and last 12 hours) that was supposed to end late that night, was threatening to extend into early Sunday morning. Fortunately the problems were resolved and we caught up and only went an hour or so beyond what we'd planned.
It wasn't exactly how I wanted to spend my holiday weekend, but I looked forward to knitting some socks during the long flight and that's exactly what I did. I plugged my noise cancellation headphones into my iPod and knit, knit, knit. I already had the leg of the sock started so I turned the heel and by the end of the last flight, I was about halfway down the foot. I should have stopped and evaluated things after turning the heel because before my flight home I tried the sock on and decided that the heel was awful. So I did what had to be done. I ripped everything back to the heel. Sigh. I knit a different short row heel, one that I've used before, and I liked this one much better. I tried it on this time to make sure.
Whenever I get back to the DC area, which is usually due to a trip for work, I head over to G-Street Fabric. Even though I'm blessed with some great fabric stores in San Francisco and Berkeley, I am obsessed with going to G-Street. By the way, I just heard that we're losing two wonderful fabric stores in the Bay Area: Poppy's in Oakland has lost their lease and is not able to find a suitable location and Satin Moon in San Francisco is also closing. The owners of Satin Moon apparently are retiring from the business and also say the change in the neighborhood is a reason they're closing. I hadn't shopped much at either but I guess I should have. Anyway, back to G-Street Fabrics. It was the last day of a big sale (25% off on most things!) and my mom had printed additional coupons good for 25% off on one item. Woohoo! If I get some time I'll post a picture of what I bought but for now, a description is all I can provide you: I bought a peach and white flower print in a stretch cotton for a dress, a few yards of a subtly-striped brown stretch cotton for some pants, a gorgeous Nichole Miller orange paisley cotton for a summer blouse, and a blue striped stretch cotton from the sale table for a shirt. I guess I like stretch cotton. I also bought a bunch of zippers. They have a nice selection of zippers at G-Street so I brought some swatches with me to find some matches. I didn't find perfect ones for all, but I did pretty well. I could have spent all afternoon there but we needed to get some lunch and then I had to drive back to the airport.
My fabric-buying has been a bit out of control lately. I'm expecting a big box from fabric.com this Wednesday and there's a fabric over at textile studios that would work so beautifully for a pattern I have that I don't think I can resist.
I have been doing some sewing...well, before I went on that trip. After finishing the orange plaid shirt, I needed to work on something simple. Really simple. So I thought I'd whip up a pair of lounge pants from some novelty cotton fabric I'd purchased from fabric.com. What could go wrong? I'll let you know tomorrow.
It wasn't exactly how I wanted to spend my holiday weekend, but I looked forward to knitting some socks during the long flight and that's exactly what I did. I plugged my noise cancellation headphones into my iPod and knit, knit, knit. I already had the leg of the sock started so I turned the heel and by the end of the last flight, I was about halfway down the foot. I should have stopped and evaluated things after turning the heel because before my flight home I tried the sock on and decided that the heel was awful. So I did what had to be done. I ripped everything back to the heel. Sigh. I knit a different short row heel, one that I've used before, and I liked this one much better. I tried it on this time to make sure.
Whenever I get back to the DC area, which is usually due to a trip for work, I head over to G-Street Fabric. Even though I'm blessed with some great fabric stores in San Francisco and Berkeley, I am obsessed with going to G-Street. By the way, I just heard that we're losing two wonderful fabric stores in the Bay Area: Poppy's in Oakland has lost their lease and is not able to find a suitable location and Satin Moon in San Francisco is also closing. The owners of Satin Moon apparently are retiring from the business and also say the change in the neighborhood is a reason they're closing. I hadn't shopped much at either but I guess I should have. Anyway, back to G-Street Fabrics. It was the last day of a big sale (25% off on most things!) and my mom had printed additional coupons good for 25% off on one item. Woohoo! If I get some time I'll post a picture of what I bought but for now, a description is all I can provide you: I bought a peach and white flower print in a stretch cotton for a dress, a few yards of a subtly-striped brown stretch cotton for some pants, a gorgeous Nichole Miller orange paisley cotton for a summer blouse, and a blue striped stretch cotton from the sale table for a shirt. I guess I like stretch cotton. I also bought a bunch of zippers. They have a nice selection of zippers at G-Street so I brought some swatches with me to find some matches. I didn't find perfect ones for all, but I did pretty well. I could have spent all afternoon there but we needed to get some lunch and then I had to drive back to the airport.
My fabric-buying has been a bit out of control lately. I'm expecting a big box from fabric.com this Wednesday and there's a fabric over at textile studios that would work so beautifully for a pattern I have that I don't think I can resist.
I have been doing some sewing...well, before I went on that trip. After finishing the orange plaid shirt, I needed to work on something simple. Really simple. So I thought I'd whip up a pair of lounge pants from some novelty cotton fabric I'd purchased from fabric.com. What could go wrong? I'll let you know tomorrow.
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