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SCORE and a RAVE

I checked out a sale I found Craig’s List. Local designer Linda Asaf was selling off some of her fabric. I could not have been more pleased and impressed. Asaf was so welcoming and her creations were gorgeous and beautifully stitched. She even talked to me about a project they were draping while I dug through her stash. It was an insane design. INSANE. SICK. Like twenty irregular shapes cut on the bias in silk. I find sewing so anxiety provoking and I can be very hot/ cold on it, but a half hour in her studio and I was ready to beg her to just let me hem in corner somewhere and watch for minimum wage. Sigh. Anyway. If you live in the area and she ever has a sale like that again, OMG-go!. And if you need a special occasion dress, she is fantastic. Her website does not do her work justice. Here is what I got:

fabric1

From left to right: a cobalt habitai, cotton sateen with a tulip design, turquoise cotton jersey, emerald charmeuse, lavender challis (?), creme cotton sateen

fabric2

From left to right:
Fine black cotton with little white flowers you can’t see, sea green chiffon, teal charmeuse, painted chiffon (sewn already), Fassett cotton print, another cotton print and some velvet

The cuts were irregular on quite a bit. I think I am looking at a few dresses, a skirt and some blouses. This is an insane amount of silk and I feel lucky lucky lucky.

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I am a feminist, and I believe PMS sucks.

I have no trouble at all owning up to PMS. It sucks. I have it. I also think men (and women) who are all “what if hillary were prez and she had to decide if she should use the red button while it was her time” are morons.

I think women are actually lucky on this front. My husband and most men I know have as many “moody” days as I do, but they arrive unpredictably and linger for unspecified amounts of time. I have the advantage of knowing what’s coming so I can get extra sleep and eat right and all that stuff. And I know that when I am uber pissed that my husband will not get up and bring me my coffee in bed, I am just being irrational because of highly fluctuating estrogen levels. So I zip it and get my coffee and in 3 minutes I have forgotten it. Men, not being so easily able to determine the source of their irrational behavior, often just give into the grumps. Poor men.

Granted, I did not have to work so I kind let this round go…Last night I went out and had some wine. Which I am not used to because of the diet. Then I came home and fried a Kielbasa. Eh. I got up today, did yardwork and passed out. So no silk, nada trabajo. I am on the couch watching crappy tv. Then going out for Mexican.

Because I can.

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Review – Sort of – Joann

I was going to write this bitterly nasty review of Joann and my search for natural fibers today, but I am not really feeling bitterly nasty. I guess I am a little out of sorts since I started the exercise/reduced eating thing.

All I wanted was an emerald green linen, but there were none to be had. What I really want is the glory days of my mom’s Hancock Fabrics in San Antonio. The way I remember, the fabric was all displayed on those round cascading thingies and every table was a single kind of fabric in an array of solids. There was a magic quarter of the store that was all wedding fabric. I was not allowed to set foot in that part of the store. In my recollection, all the fabric was wonderful natural fibers in gorgeous colors, but it was the 70s, so I am probably engaged in revisionist history. Whatever. That’s what I want. And I want all the fabric to be 3 yards for a nickel.

Anyway, I was in Joann all pissed and storming past the giant isle of silky prints and the giant isle of team fleece and the giant isle of flannel, when it occurred to me that I could just dye my own linen. So I picked out a midweight linen and a packet of dye. The good dye. Not RIT. I am bummed because the fabric probably won’t end up with the sheen I was looking for, but I got the color I wanted, and there’s always spray starch. I am on this kick where I am obsessed with the colors that were in a crayola 8 pack. Bright green, bright blue, yellow, orange. Yummy.

Sorry to any readers. No pics makes a boring post. This is mostly for me anyway.