Back in the Saddle Again (or rather in the rolling chair in front of my sewing machine)

I woke up this morning to find out that I’m the featured member on the Sewing Pattern Review. That was exciting and immediately made me aware of the fact that I haven’t blogged in a long time. I have a good excuse.  I started a new teaching job at a rural high school at the end of August and had book deadlines on September 30 and November 1.  Note to self—don’t do this again.

The job is working out well. I love working at a school with only 40 kids in the high school. I teach six different subjects, but my big classes have twelve kids in them.  Our football field is interesting—the north goal post is in Oregon and the south goal post is in Nevada.  I took the student council to a regional conference. We rode on a school bus for seventeen hours round trip for a five hour conference. Good thing I love my kids, eh? They were excellent, but had to eat every hundred miles. I found as long as I fed them on schedule, peace reigned.

The writing went well, too, as in I survived the deadlines and I like the story. All for a Cowboy will be released next June. I also received the cover for my January 2014 release, Cowgirl in High Heels.  Nice, eh?

And the sewing…I haven’t been able to sew for two months and it killed me. I just started a project last weekend—a Dicken’s Fair dress for my son’s lovely girlfriend, Rachel using Simplicity 1818. I should have the dress finished within a week now that I’m in the job groove and have no pressing book deadlines. I also have to make my husband a new pair of wool slacks for the event, which means searching through the wool stash to see if I have anything suitable. I don’t think I have time to order new fabric.

 

Rachel’s dress is a gorgeous burgundy/cinnamon taffeta. (It is so difficult to photograph taffeta, since it reflects light, but trust me, it's a gorgeous color.)

She’s decided to leave it

untrimmed for now, because the color is so rich and lovely.  I’m currently working on the skirt and I’m quite happy that I’ve made this pattern two previous times, so there are no surprises. That doesn’t mean I won’t screw up…it just means I won’t be surprised when I do it.

I have a three-day weekend ahead of me, so will pop back in a day or two from now with a Victorian dress update and some photos of my next vintage project.

Take care and glad to see you here,

Jeannie