Well, not completely about sewing, how's that?  Tommy's coat continues apace, and I should be able to go to bed on time Friday night.  That will be nice...  *daydreams of a full night's sleep*  I had to make a few minor adjustments in the pattern last night and let it out a wee bit at the shoulders.  He chose a sort of funky style that doesn't fit quite like other coats, and I think he's unhappy with the pattern choice he made.  Guess I'll be making another next year...*sigh*

Tommy did have a lovely surprise for me when I came home last night, though.  He had cleaned the studio!  And in just the right way!  He got all the snips and bits of fabric and thread off the floor, but didn't disturb any of my project pieces or fabric lying about that might possibly be in use for something!  Since I have a bunch of fabric out that is not actually in use, I still consider it a wreck, but it's so much better, and I really appreciate him not touching any of the fabric lying around, in case I was using it!  Also, he made baked hot wings, which were yummy AND on my diet!

We also had one of our usual, bizarre "Role Reversal Blues" conversations.  I was asking him, "Honey, do you REALLY need to big froofy skirts?" and he was demanding I take him out and buy him dinner.   DAMN that coat has a lot of fabric.  My arms feel like I was lifting weights all last night, and Tommy says it looked like I was wrestling a red and blue octopus!  It was sort of like fighting a living thing, except it didn't fight back, it just flopped around and was obnoxious.  Tommy's coat was passively resisting arrest!

I'm very much looking forward to seeing Michelle and Jack this weekend.  So we can spend some more time with them, we're staying at a hotel near the festival again.  My pocket book and gas tank appreciate it.  I've already started doing the math on how much I'll probably be paying a week in gas when I go back to stage managing this fall, and it's not pretty, folks.  I could rent a room for that much!

And more photos!

Esperanza de la Noche sings us a show tune about kilts.  However...

...the judgment goes against her and she gets flogged, anyway.

And, Joni Minstrel has a new admirer!  But I don't think she's quite sure about him.  Look in the background.  Bret Blackshear isn't quite sure about the wee kilted lad, either!

More sewing last night.  Tommy and Phouka helped.  Well, Tommy helped.  Phouka passed out in the middle of the studio floor in a pile of scraps. 

Despite his anxiety when it comes to all things sewing, I made Tommy pin the interlining to the outer fabric pieces while I finished the edges.  He did just fine and was a big help.  I actually managed to get just a little into the construction process last night; the coat now has one pocket.  None of it's put together, yet, but it has a pocket!

The order in which you have to do things while sewing always amuses me.  A pocket would seem to be a finishing detail, but it's actually he first step in these coats.  I'm used to the strange order, but I still find it interesting, and probably one of the more difficult things for non-sewers to grasp.  Tommy looked at me a little funny when I said I was starting with his pockets!

I just finished reading my LJ post for this date last year; yikes!  I had managed to block out from my memory the misery that was the Drama Queens New Play Festival.  While I wish I hadn't re-read that, it casts the sewing marathon in a whole new, rosier light.

On the diet front, I have reached a goal!  I have lost six pounds since I really buckled down: twenty pounds to go.  I've decided that this time 'round I'm rewarding myself with something concrete every time I hit a five pound goal at about the cost of $5 per pound lost.  For my five pound reward, I'm getting a Flickr Pro account.  For my twenty pound reward, I'm planning on getting the Brigantine bodice from Odd Bodkin. 

Anyone got any good ideas for 10 lb/$50 and 15 lb/$75 dollar rewards?  I'm so used to denying myself anything I want that costs more than about five dollars that I'm having trouble coming up with something I want that will motivate me!

And, more pictures for last weekend.  I wanted to get the camre last night and get a picture of Phouka asleep in the scraps, as well as the disaster the studio has become, but I knew if I went for my camrea, Phouka would wake up.

Mom and Ik, her favorite person at the faire.

And the Nickle Shakespeare girls doing...Midsummer Night's Dream, I believe.

This week will be a repeat of last week as far as the mad amount of time at the sewing machine goes.  Tommy really wants his coat done for this weekend, so Jack and Mish can see it when they come down this weekend. 
I don't mind terribly much.  I learned a lot from doing my coat; his will go faster and be the better for it.  We've also decided against the decorative top stitching for his coat, since I can't think of a color that would go well with the colors already in the jacket.
But it's still a lot of sewing, so he better keep me happy while I'm in the slave pen studio and feed me rum and chocolate.  Or at least plenty of tea and back rubs.
Still on the sewing list, in order of importance:

I swear, someday I'll blog about something other than sewing, again.

Two more pictures from last weekend!

My Mom's always so happy around the men in kilts!

 

A rather shoddy picture of Tio singing "Johnny Jump Up."  I cleaned it up as best I could, but this is the best of a bad lot.  I was just in a bad location for photography!

More sewing last night, as well as finally fixing that poor, stained chemise.  It's not back to it's original bright whiteness, but now, at least, it's a wearable color for a red-head.  Just have to reconstruct it.  In all my mind-numbingly expansive spare time!

Coat number one would be done by now if I didn't insist on making all my garb as sturdy and quality as sixteen years of sewing experience has taught me how.  There was a time period where I just threw stuff together.  I no longer have any of those pieces; they wore out, or I was just never happy with them.

I have also determined that I HATE sewing items with linings.  Just when you think you're done, Oh, look!  You've got to do it all over again!  And then you have to put the two together!  BAH!

Coat number one WILL be done by Saturday.  I may be up until 3 in the morning or so Friday night, but I am determined to finish it's construction.  Decoration can wait.  I'm not QUITE feeling what I want to do with buttons, trim and so forth.  Yet.  I figure I'll wear it a few times, get some ideas and go from there.  Trimmings can always be added later.  And added.  And some more added again!

My pirate coat will be rather like my pirate hat, in that respect. . . which is more fun, anyway!

List of sewing projects on my plate, for my own organization of mind:

I wish I had something I could be working on in between patrons at work, today.  But everything still on my plate requires a sewing machine.  Oh, trust me, I was tempted to bring it in!  But, I decided I didn't really want to haul it the multiple blocks from the train station to the theatre.

After spending two hours at work yesterday ripping apart that chemise, I got it home, and it had a bad reaction to the bleach.  In it's current state, it is an unwearable yellowish color.  I've used my Google-fu and discovered a few possible solutions to this problem, so I'm stopping at the store on the way home.  I hope it's not permanently ruined.  I really liked that fabric and I don't have any more of it or an easy way to get it.  AND, it'd be really annoying to have to make another chemise when this one should be just fine, damnit!
I finished all the sewing on my new shirt last night and brought it to work this morning to put on the finishing touches.  The house tech was looking at my funny as I grommeted.  I guess hammer and fabric just don't go together in his head.  I'm rather pleased with this shirt.  If it wears comfortable, I'll make two more in different colors!
Tonight, I finally get settled in to work on my coat.  I LOVE my fabric.  It is the most beautiful blue color and such a yummy texture.  It's a little heavier than I would have liked, but I'll deal with a little extra heat for my exact favorite color.  Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't interline it; the linen is sturdy enough to hold up on it's own.  I hate the thought of wasting all that fabric already cut (as well as wasting the time I spent on interlining two pieces last night, but I think I'll be happier in the end without interlining it.  *sigh*  Out comes the trusty seam ripper.  Again.