Cupcakes for the Upgrade; Are you going to SPR weekend Chicago?

This weekend we upgraded software package we use for tracking grants. There are four parts to my job; testing for the upgrade is one of them (documentation, training, and running the help desk for the software in question are the others).  The first release took 18 months; the second 7; this one took a little over 3 months.

I like to celebrate our releases with my coworkers, as many of them help me test. Here's how we celebrated yesterday:

The "picture" is from microsoft.com's free clipart.   I searched for cupcake, then selected "photo" as the type, and the image above was perfect.  I use a program called Snag-It to do annotated screenshots, and I used it to add the text to the invite.  Very easy.  I use microsoft's photos all the time for the covers of the documentation and for my training slides.  I try to add some humor; the last round I had my "small rodent" series (think squirrels, chipmunks); this time it's tropical islands, beaches, and palm trees.  It's a way for me to use my creative self in my work life.

So anyway, I bought 24 cupcakes from House of Cupcakes.  I wish you could smell them; they smell SO GOOD.






I had fun selecting them. Unfortunately, there were 11 left over.  Many are on a diet for new year's resolutions. :(    One of my resolutions is to eat better, but I'm not eliminating a daily treat! 

Hey, SPR weekend is Chicago this year!  Are you going??

All sorts of stuff: sewing, cupcakes, flowers, Hal

Thanks everyone who commented on my vacation posts. I know most folks are here for the sewing, so thanks for coming along on my vacation with me!

So! I'm going to the American Sewing Expo in Novi, Michigan later this month. The seminar registration was kind of overwhelming, having to choose all seminars I want to attend up front, but I finally did my homework and plotted it all out. And because I was doing this so late in the game, many hands on seminars were already sold out, which saved me a little bit on registration. I'm attending Fri-Sat-Sun and am really excited about it!

I'm trying to decide what to sew tomorrow...
Dress A, but in which fabric (The "Superman" blue knit? The subdued gray knit? Or the cherries or the owls? The printed fabrics would be for sleepwear...)


Or make dress B, for the third time, but in which fabric? The navy blue? The brown with embroidered flowers? Or well, I don't know what this fabric is officially called, it's some kind of aqua and brown suiting that frays a lot--with piping?


Or the pink shirt, but in blue jet set? Trena recently made it, in red.


Gosh, it's kind of like house hunters! Which one will I choose??

Ok, so here are some flowers from the Farmer's Market this past Thursday. Green eyed daisies (my favorite) and something called purple millet, that smells like maple syrup. Mmmm...

Do you see the shadows of the flowers on the table? So very cool!

A new bakery opened in town, called "L'affaire Bakery". I bought a brownie, cookie, and a cupcake.


And Hal found my missing pattern piece...it's flickering in the wind (it's not like Hal is moving it in the picture):

Butterick 5101 & LED solar lights: What do you think?

So today I cut out and sewed up Butterick 5101. (oops, originally in this post I said it was McCall's)
Here's the Batman shot:


Here's so you can see the detail of the rouching and the knot. It's purple double knit fabric I've had in stash for 8 months or so.


Let's just say that cutting this out was a squeaker. I had 2 yards and an inch or two of fabric; the pattern calls for 2 and an eighth. The eighth is for the length of the ties. The ties were way too long anyway so I shortened them by about 3 inches. I had to take about an inch and a half off the length of the sleeves, so if I ever make this again, laying out the pattern on the fabric should be easier just with that edit.

Here's the back and a view of those dolman sleeves:


So, I'm not sure if I like this one or not. What do you think? Can I wear it to work? Is it too much like pajamas? Too much like yoga wear?

In other news, my solar LED Christmas lights arrived! Here's what it looked like when there were 50 lights on each tree:


It was too skimpy, so I put both sets on one tree:

Much better! The lights aren't really that bright in real life. In fact, they are much dimmer than regular Christmas lights. They're white but have a bluish tinge. But it is really thrilling for me to have outdoor lights for the first time ever in front of my very own house! It's awesome to not worry about where they will plug in, or timers, or anything like that. It was a beautiful sunny day today so the charger had plenty of sunlight. They came on automatically as it got dark out. I just checked now, almost 5 hours later, and they are still going strong (while my neighbor's solar powered walkway lights are all out)!

I wrapped some presents last night. The red and white ornament wrapping paper was rescued from a trash bin outside a Princetonian's house during the summer of 2008. I would have bought paper like that!


I've given up on curling ribbon and am using some leftover florist ribbon. I'm just knotting it instead of doing bows and I think it looks ok. Easier to transport, too, won't get flattened and no time spent curling!


And how could I not include some cupcakes??? Survey says that one in four cupcakes is in a festive holiday mood.



Good night!

Even more Simplicity 2558

I had lunch with my parents. Mom brought cupcakes she made from scratch! YUM!


I went for a walk again this afternoon (about a 20 degree difference from yesterday). I looked up at one point while doing stretches and thought this looks like a web.


I know it's sophomoric, but this is the pumpkin that I thought was clever:


Birthday card from Debbie; it's all too familiar (and made me laugh out loud):



I've worn my white coat every day since I finished it on Tues night. I realized it needed two things: pockets and a "thing" for hanging it from a hook in my gym locker. The lack of pockets was driving me crazy!!! Tonight I added the pockets, using a pocket pattern from an unrelated New Look pants pattern. First the pockets sort of peeked out from the bottom of the jacket if I shoved my hand in forcefully.



So I fixed that by sewing the bottom of the pocket to near the bottom of the jacket.


I also added the "thing" (what is it called?) so that I can hang it from a hook, but I didn't take pix of that. And you thought I was done with this jacket, ha ha ha ha ha!!

Getting sleepy...good night!!!

More back pain, update on Simplicity 2558, continued

Don't get freaked out! The spider is fake!!


The sunset over the Stop and Shop tonight:


Here's a tree with yellow and green leaves in my backyard:



So my neck still hurt this morning, but I gave myself a neck rub and it felt a bit better. But now my mid right back is hurting, quite a lot, which hasn't happened before (previously it hurt but not this much). It seems to be getting more painful as the night is wearing on, sigh. My right knee started hurting again after more than a week of no pain at all. Am I ever going to have a day without pain again? Whenever I start having thoughts like that, something pops up in the media--tonight on 60 Minutes it was a story about people with epilepsy. Last week it was a story in Esquire about a guy who can't eat food, and a story in the Star Ledger about a teenager who keeps having concussions. It could always be worse. Of course I want to be pain free, but it could always be worse.

Here's my jacket update. I fixed the sleeve width and length, and fixed the back collar with some tacking. I did the hem, though I don't love it, but I don't want to make it any shorter. I sewed on one set of snaps which is cool, but I probably should have sewn the button on first. Hmmm...will have to play with it a bit more.


With one layer underneath:


With two layers underneath (a long sleeved shirt, and a lined jacket):


Back, collar fixed:


Here you can see the dropped sleeve, it's really tight in there.


Oh, my back hurts. Gah. Maybe Len will see me tmw.

Cupcakes, anyone? Happy Friday!

Had dinner with friends tonight, and I brought dessert.

Cupcakes from "The House of Cupcakes" anyone?



Though I think our best dessert will always be this one, an ice cream cake from Thomas Sweet:


My back is doing much better today, thanks! The flare subsided so my pain is back to a 1 or 2, and I'm another day closer to 6 weeks without Aleeve.

Also, I agree, the second cloud picture in yesterday's post is much better than the first.

First half of supersized weekend

I'm having a 4 day weekend. Yeah!!
It started yesterday with the morning in bed, an afternoon of retail therapy and then some cupcakes.

Left to right:
85 cent cupcake from Gina's Pastry Shop
$1.70 cupcake from LaBon
$2.25 (or was it $2.50?) rose cupcake from LaBon



I think La Bon's cupcakes are slightly more delicious but they are definitely a close match. Gina's are certainly cheaper and a bit closer to my home. (I asked the cashier, these are really 85 cents? and she said yes!)

I started sewing again! I know! I shouldn't be sewing but I couldn't help myself. We'll see how I feel tmw. Right now, I don't feel any different than before I started sewing today. I stretched before sewing and took breaks, and set a time limit so didn't sew for as long as I would have liked. But I have been wanting to make this nightgown since I saw it on Kitty Couture! Be sure to check out the last picture in that post--what a hoot!

My new friend piping was along for the ride:

I made a nightgown.

Here's a closeup as it exists now:


Cute, right?

I'm trying to decide how to finish it off.


Three square buttons?


Three round buttons with red flowers?


One round button?

Here's the back:


And here it is with the flash, so you can see the embroidery in the fabric:


Of course, I have a lot to say about the pattern, especially since it had bad reviews on SPR. I actually liked it, and will post a review in the next few days to explain why.

I started my next project. Guess what this will be:



Good night!!