Monthly Archives: June 2008

June 28, 2008 · 11:13 am

Almost there!

I am finishing up the painting in my new studio today and then The Boyfriend is coming over later to help me move the machines back. My son hates, hates, hates moving machines with me because he says he always stubs his toes on the stand (true, it happens to me too). I am giddy with anticipation!

Here’s a pic from Animal Kingdom – me with the wonderful man in my life. It rained all day and we were soaked to the skin before we broke down and bought those stylish ponchos. I’m so glad I thought to bring my lucky Red Sox hat so I didn’t have to walk around with really bad hair all day. Take a good look, you’ll probably never see me this dressed down again. 😉

gigibryan

Speaking of my son, he closed on his house this past Thursday and is moving out on Monday. When he first told me he was buying a house (and leaving me!) I was very upset. Now? Well, I’m very ashamed to say that I’m looking forward to not having to clean up after him, not having any comings and goings at all hours of the night and not having my son and his friends drink all of my beer and liquor. Because when a girl wants a martini she doesn’t want to have to go out to the liquor store to replace the bottle she bought three days ago! Yes, I do feel like a terrible mother and very guilty but I guess that comes with the territory. I’ll wait a few days before I do the Happy Dance.

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Filed under This and that

June 17, 2008 · 2:22 pm

DIY Paper Dispenser

After two years I thought it was finally time to get my roll of manilla pattern paper out of it’s box on the floor and into a dispenser. I looked online and the least expensive single-roll wall-mounted dispenser I could find was around $100, the most expensive around $200. Thrift is certainly not one of my strong suits but I had a problem paying that kind of money for something to hold a roll of paper.

On Sunday, I headed to Home Depot with the hope that I would find something that I could repurpose. My original thought was a pair of curtain rod brackets with a metal plumbing pipe but they were not deep enough for the roll of paper. Then I found the perfect thing: closet brackets designed to hold a rod and shelf! The metal closet rod was available in 4′, 6′ and 8′ lengths. Since my paper is 48″ wide, my boyfriend cut the 6′ rod down to 5′ for me – it is perfect! Although the brackets are rated for 125 pounds (my paper roll weighs 67 lbs) I opted to double them up and tie-wrap them together for extra stability. The brackets on the right are attached to a stud. On the left I used four 75lb EZ-Anchors.

paper1

paper2

Supplies needed:

* 6′ Rod $9.79
* 4 Brackets $13.16
* End caps $1.79

Grand total: $24.74. And it looks nice! Now I am getting ready to paint my garage floor with epoxy paint, ugh. I was going to lay a nice floor down but now that my son is buying a house and moving out next month (!) I’m thinking I’ll probably sell as soon as the market improves and don’t want to invest in anything expensive. While I certainly can fill up a 4/3 house with sewing stuff, the maintenance is just too much for one person. I’d rather spend my free time sewing! Let’s hope I can find a large enough town- or patio home to house all of my sewing equipment…

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Filed under Sewing Studio, This and that

June 13, 2008 · 4:49 pm

I finished it!

My dress is finally finished and I am so happy with the way it turned out. It was a lot of fun working everything out with this print! You can see my final post HERE (hit the back button to return here).

cosmofront

Again, the pattern is Hot Patterns Cosmopolitan Dress with the scoop neck and scarf sleeve. The fabric is Bold Boho Chic Jersey from Gorgeous Fabrics.com. Ann must have received a new shipment because I notice she has 25 yards in stock again. There are so many interesting things that can be done with this print! Next up, I’m going to make a top using all of my large scraps. I’m planning on cutting it randomly for a completely different look and using the bordeaux rayon/lycra as a binding.

But, first, I’ll be making a shirt for my father-in-law for Father’s Day tomorrow. That’ll take up the better part of the day by the time I select the fabric and get everything cut out. I’ve been talking about this for two weeks but procrastinated as usual. 🙂

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Filed under Fabric, Hot Patterns