hey world, you might as well not exist anymore-

because the greatest dog who ever roamed the earth is gone.

 yesterday we had to put down master splinter, and my heart could not be more broken.

 he lived a long life, and spent his last years spoiled rotten and couldn't have been more loved.

we came into each other's lives at just the right time, just we we needed each other most.

words can't express how crushed i am, but i'm so glad i had the opportunity to adopt him and show him the love he deserved.

 yeah, he was kind of an asshole, and maybe wasn't the most handsome dog in the universe....

 but he was mine and he meant the world to me.

 hopefully there are no hernias in dog heaven....

kid's dress, shmid's shmresh

have you seen that episode of glee where kurt describes rachel as
"she somehow manages to dress like a grandmother and a toddler at the same time"well, as soon as that episode aired, my sister declared that as the best description for me ever. try as i might to deny it.... i always end up proving her right... like last week when i made this dress to sell, but ended up keeping it for myself--

it could be my back to school dress... except i'm a bum and am not back to school....

technically, it is a child's dress pattern.... but its not my fault if it came out super cute and *happen* to fit me perfectly! geeze!

i don't think i bought this... i much have inherited it

right? its a real cute dress! i made it without taking in or adding inches anywhere. all i did was enlarge the armholes and shorten the darts so the boobs wouldn't come out shaped like waffle cones. i don't know what sort of bizarro measurement this pattern was taken in, but it came out fitting me perfectly... me, who is not a girl's size 12, but is actually a 37-27-37 adult... whatever simplicity. whatever.

 
this actually probably makes people dizzy against all of my freckles

i got the fabric from an estate sale, which means the sweet scent of mothballs filled the air every time the fabric moved for the first few washes... either i finally got the smell out, or i have become immune to it (which would take the grandma part in this ensemble i suppose) tyler helped my pick out the perfect buttons. i used to have my sister for that, but since we moved in together tyler has become my official fashion consultant! i'm preeeeeeeeety sure he hates it. 
he usually looks at me like i'm crazy or shrugs his shoulders and says something like "i don't know! why do you keep asking me?" he did good this time though. also, check out that belt! i usually dip into my own belt collection and stay away from covered belts or belt kits... but i figured since i HAVE the belt stuff... why not use it for once! god knows i don't want to become a hoarder. oh hell no.  


also since my last post, i ended my month with yet another stupid, stupid sewing injury. 

chomp!

god DAMN those rotary cutters! i pinked the shit out of my finger! luckily, i was able to play it off... 

 SHARK WEEK!

cashing in my good karma

i must have been really, and i mean REALLY good in my past life.
i get some of the COOLEST STUFF for free! today-- no exception! this evening tyler and i went to a family dinner at his aunt and uncle's house where were greeted at the door by his uncle steve who first apologized to tyler for what he was about to say, and then informed me that there had been an old sewing machine in front of a neighbor's house all day long with a "free- take me" sign taped to it.
we hauled ass and there it was... my beautiful new singer 301.

aaaaahhhhhhhhhhh.........

why is that photo yellow? my walls in there are blue! weird. anwho, its soooo pretty! i checked the serial numbers on it and it dates to 1950, when they first came out. it is in incredible shape, runs impeccably, and came with a bunch of goodies!

buttonholer, hem feet, gathering foot, bobbins, tracing paper, blah, blah, blah...

 look at the cool case the button holer is in--

cuuuuuuuuute

according to the ol' interweb this machine is 'the best straight stitch machine ever made' and i have to say, so far it seems like that might be accurate! as soon as i plugged this in and threaded the needle and bobbin, it ran flawlessly.

the pink and green thread were already there. i promise im not making
anything that bizarre right now.

so it's totally safe to say i am blown away by this sewing machine. i've been prancing around the house all night singing show-tune type songs to tyler about how much i love this sewing machine. (now that i mention it, this is probably why he turned off the lights and went to bed early...) not only is the machine awesome, but so is the desk it came in. i read online that this was the first sewing machine that could go from portable machine to desk, and i was like, "'the hell do they mean? this beezee is stuck in this desk!" which was understandable to assume, this is the view looking down--

i dont know if this makes sense... those are my knees poking 

out from my grey dress... use your imagination or something.

then i fiddled around and found out the foot pedal is just in this little nook and i could take it out with ease, making this a portable machine. dur. 

once again, i am an idiot

the way it is set up, to sew you slightly push in a lever hanging from the desk bottom with you right knee. i like this, and would probably keep it this way, except my consew has a lever like this to raise the foot and after last week's accident, i dont need to confuse stopping and going on that machine! so, pedal to the ground. 

so it looks like ive got my weekend planned out. i will be playing with this while i finish up a big project ive been working on for the next few days!

it hurts....

but i've started phase 2 of narrowing down my pattern stash...
so, if you're lookin' to spend some dough on some pretty patterns from the 30's and 40's, help a sista out and bid on this

there's some real cool stuff....

 see?

 

so get busy bidding!

christine