My 200th post! Work on Vogue 8654 by Katherine Tilton and other stuff!

Happy 200th post to me!! I was hoping to be organized enough to do something fun for my 200 th post, Like a giveaway or something fun. But it will have to wait a couple weeks!

Another busy week has slipped on by! I wanted to do a quick post update since most likely one will not get done this weekend. We are headed out tonight to go camping for the weekend. Perfect last camping trip of the season and the fall colors will be spectacular. I am also excited because it is just a small family affair, we are bring the dogs with us. Keeping my fingers crossed that they enjoy the weekend and behave like champs.

I have been working on Vogue 8654 by Katherine Tilton, a misses jacket. Fashion fabric is a grey wool crepe from my stash, lining is a silk charmeuse with a print that was also in my stash. It has of course taken me slightly longer than would be do to all the changes. The pattern is for an unlined jacket.... I think putting good fabric and time into making a quality garment calls for a lining. Just my preference.



Almost finished jacket!


I also ran into another issue... I decided to use a knit fusible interfacing on the entire garment, it gave the fabric a better hand for this pattern. The pattern has asymmetric fronts. Manning both front pieces and both front facings are different. I agonized over how to cut the facings properly to be fused with the interfacing and then to properly match the correct front pieces. I drew it out, I did a mini mock up, since the facings were interfaced in the original pattern I followed there directions quite carefully and I STILL ended up with them cut and fused wrong! UGHHHHHH.



You can see here the fused knit interfacing and the fact that the front facings DO NOT line up properly to the asymmetric front pieces. Duh.


I did not have enough fashion fabric to re-cut the larger facing correctly so I had to piece it. The smaller facing was easily re-cut using the wrong bigger facing. In Tim Gunn's words it was a total 'Make it work' moment. I was not wadding this project! I love the jacket and the lining and it except for the facings it was a dream to put together and the fabric is great.


So, I still have to hand finish the lining and decide on buttons.



Silk lining, I love the pop of color!


This week I also spent a large number of hours working on wedding stuff for my DD wedding next year. Probably spent 20 hours on this project and it is about half done. (And no, it is not the wedding dress!) Here is a little sneak peak of me hard at work at my Evolution serger.



And another random thought. Has anyone done a reader entry challenge for Quilting Arts Magazine? The latest one is titled Coffee or Tea and needs to be an 8x10 quilt submission. I think I may play a bit!

I'm off to get the groceries for our fall camping weekend!

- Posted by Steph from my iPad

Location:Lisle, IL

International Sculpture Conference 2012: Part 2 The Outdoor Exhibit

In conjunction with the conference there is an outdoor sculpture exhibition. The exhibition in Chicago is held in part with the Chicago Parks district and has 53 sculptures that are along the lake. This outdoor exhibit will be set-up for an entire year! So you have through fall of 2013 to view the works. http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/assets/1/17/Chicago_Sculpture_Internationa_Final1.pdf

There are about 18 that run from the museum campus up to Navy Pier and then the rest are located along the west side of Lincoln Park Zoo and up through Belmont Harbor. There is also a small group down by the Museum of Science and industry.

I got to see about 2/3 rds of them. I only missed the most northern group up by Belmont Harbor and the small group down by the Museum of Science and industry.

Here are some of my favorites!






























- Posted by Steph from my iPad

Location:Chicago, IL

International Sculpture Conference 2012: Part 1

This past week I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the International Sculpture Conference in Chicago as a guest to my sister. My guest pass got me into all the fun stuff at the conference like the parties, the gallery openings, the studio tours and the information on the 50+ outdoor sculptures.

The very best part of the 3 nights pent downtown was that I got to spend it all with my sister!


Me and my sister

I spent several days walking around the city, I made a trip over to vogue fabrics on Roosevelt Street, spent time checking out the outdoor sculptures, rode the 'L' and generally had a great time. The last evening my darling daughter came down after work and spent the night with my sister and I. It was a super fun sleepover :)



The gardens in Millennium Park



The pedestrian 'snake' bridge and Pritzker pavilion in Millennium park. The Pritzker Pavilion had an amazing sound installation playing, it was quite amazing to listen to. Downtown loop in background.



The Cloud Gate. Aka The Bean.




The Chicago River with the Trump tower in center.




Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park.




Millennium Park. The gardens and the pavilion.




The Chicago river from the Roosevelt Street Bridge looking at the Sears Tower.




Me, my sister Jennifer and my daughter Melissa

- Posted by Steph from my iPad

Location:Chicago, Illinois