Listening to the voices in my fingers

Well, seems I’m a little sicker than I thought. This sore throat I was all whiny and complaining about the other day, and every day since then? Well, all those words that were creating a traffic jam trying to get out of my mouth have now been channeled through my fingers. Can y’all hear me OK?? Yup, gotta rest the voice for a day or so and see if I can talk again. Look out when I finally can!! Shutting my mouth is like trying to dam up Niagara Falls. Ain’t gonna happen. I hope.

Friday I was feelin’ kinda puny, so I came home early from work and rested. I just couldn’t deal with the idea of driving that 15.5 miles in the dark, and boy howdy, am I glad I did come home! Our first snowfall wasn’t really anything to write home about, but it was enough to make me nervous. The roads were actually OK until about 600 feet from my front door. By then I was down to about 15 mph. I slowed it down to a crawl when I saw the car crawling in front of me do a little slip ‘n slide to the curb. My car did the same dance when I got to that point, but I just kind of eased it along, turning the front wheels gently in the direction the back ones were sliding, and not stopping. Ya stop, yer dead on that kind of icy road. I did a lot of praying and sneaking up on my street at about 5 mph, and praising the LORD when I finally eased into the driveway. I would’ve sung if my throat hadn’t been so scratchy.

A sore throat couldn’t keep me from starting on the next sewing project, as soon as my heart returned to normal speed, and I had a little sustenance. I actually got all 4 patterns cut out for the two dresses and the two vests my friend wants me to make for her grandkids.

Y’know, it really pays to cruise the sewing category on WordPress! I found a tip on La Cartera that for me was a DUH moment. Why didn’t I think of that?? I’d been studying up some way to copy those patterns for days, so I could give the intact originals back to my friend. I’d even thought (for about a nanosecond) about buying a newspaper. My better sense took over there. I let the thought simmer on the back burner for another day, and went cruisin’ through Blogovia.

OK, I admit it. I’m a veteran copycat. When I found this idea of using paper dropcloths for cutting out my patterns, it was like a glaze came off my inner eyeball. You know, the one every crafter keeps peeled for great crafting ideas. Yeah, that one.

I’m using Simplicity 2237 for the dresses and Burda 9990 for the vests. Sure hope they come out well. This will be the first time I’ve sewn this type of stuff, and the first time I’ve made a muslin. Naturally, I had to choose Big Boy’s favorite for the muslin – “Cars.” My original idea was to make him a little zip pouch from this material to save his money in. His mom assures me he already has a savings started – at age 6, he holds onto all the money he gets, and even advises his sisters that he can keep their money for them too. I don’t think he’s quite got them convinced yet.

Here’s the first draft on this. I’ve only gotten the tabs on the back of the vest so far, and the darts in. I got a feeling this is as far as it’s gonna get for awhile, though. I seem to be getting worse by the hour. Even my fingers are feeling it! No, no – not that!! Not my last contact with humanity! If I can’t speak and I can’t write, how will I communicate???

outer vest pieces

lining pieces

My fingers are still quite chatty for tonight, but my throat and nose are not interested in conversing at all.  I am not a fan of stuffy noses, especially in combination with a throat that’s on strike from all normal activities. Even eating isn’t fun. When it gets to that point, I’M SICK!

Bye for now. I’m going to silence the voices in my fingers for awhile and see if I can convince my nose to clear up so I can sleep. If that doesn’t happen, these fingers might be back to chatting over the blog fence again.