Looking ahead into 2007

As promised, the to-do list. I reserve the right to change priorities daily. But I am making one resolution: That the very VAST MAJORITY of all sewing in 2007 will be for projects for me (marked with *). I did a lot of obligation sewing in 2006... and while I learned tons and it was very rewarding and I like making things for other people, this year I'm going to enjoy the fruits of my own labors.

Fair/Costuming
--*Master the art of hemp boning. I'm not yet ready to say it hates me. Not yet.
--*Chocolate Brown gamurra
--*Butter yellow giornea/overgown
--*hem gold skirt (it would be hemmed now, but it looks so nice on my dress dummy)
--finish the Mystery Doublet. I can't decide what I want to do with it. Sigh. This one has a deadline: May 15.
--Update "Ren-Friendly Rainwear" dress diary with photos & details
--finish up the black rain cloak (it needs trim & clasps)
--*think about Mama Claus costume
--*think about rainwear project #4 (frock coat?)

Non-Fair/Stitchery/Misc:
--make duvet cover (I have some glorious damask sheets that may get appropriated otherwise)
--Obligation Stitching Piece I (wallhanging for nephew)
--Obligation Stitching Piece II (Spanish Sampler)
--*Finish 2003's "Noel Bellpull" into, well, a bellpull
--*Finish "Blackwork Reindeer" into a bellpull/banner
--*Work on "Old Mill"
--*Make at least 2 ornaments (one to give away and one to keep)
--*work some on "Peacock Tapestry."
--*order the fabric for "Skeleton Crew."

The thing is... I know I'll get distracted and find other things that seize my interest, and some of these will fall by the wayside. I do know that the Butter Yellow Damask gown has been on my radar more than 6 months now (I've had the fabric for that long!), so it stands a very good chance of actually being made. Huzzah! I really should put myself on some kind of quota/wagon/challenge/whatever, to make sure that I get done everything I want done... but does that ever really work, anyway? This list is good enough.

Falling headlong into 2007

I promised a to-do list, didn't I?

Hmmm. Maybe not today. A very quick update: I posted a couple of weeks ago about a recent fabric orgy, but it was eaten (somehow not surprisingly) by Blogger. What I said was I had bought my fabric for my Easy Gown, and it has decided (almost completely) what it wants to be. I bought some chocolate brown linen, to serve as a gamurra/undergown beneath the butter yellow Florentine overgown. Chocolate brown and butter yellow... sounds delicious, doesn't it? Mmmmmm. Anyway, the linen arrived, and it's actually kind of a dark chocolate, instead of my preferred milk chocolate; but it's loverly nonetheless. It's very soft. Almost criminally so. Happy.

After being fairly well convinced that I was over the crafting urges of the last few months and ready to buckle down for more revisions (cough), I found I was wrong. I spent the morning at Hobby Lobby not finding most of what I wanted. Sigh. But I've started a new XS WIP, which is bad, bad, bad, since I have two obligation pieces due this spring and summer. One is overdue. But since I'm under a massive obligation project for work, I'm indulging myself for at least the next week. Maybe I'll put myself on a rotation: one week of fun stitching, one week of Obligation Project the First, one week of Obligation Project the Second. The trouble is, while I was working on Obligation II (Sandra Orton's Spanish Sampler), I was really enjoying it. I should just get it back out, dammit.

Anyway, the thing I've been tinkering with this week is more hemp boning experiments. I'm having a devil of a time with it (getting the boning *into* the channels, which is, you know, a pretty important step), so the gurus recommended I ease off on my channel width a bit. I think I may have eased overmuch (gone from 1/4" to 3/8"ish), but I also suspect that the muslin I've been working with to practice is just too floppy, and the channels keep collapsing before I can get the hemp in. So today at Hobby Lobby I found a 7/8 yard remnant of cotton canvas for $2.00, and I'll give that a try. I also bought some slightly smaller hemp cord (halfway between this and the very, very thin stuff I first bought), on the chance that I actually can't measure as well as I thought I could. I was half planning this for an insane project, but we'll see if anything comes of that.

The further happy news is that I finally got my Blogroll to work! Woot! It's totally thanks to a stitcher pal who actually *did* the work for me. And as soon as I find her blog (pathetic, ain't I?), I'll give her her due credit (thanks, Erin!).

All right. I'll get crackin' on that to-do list. Really.