Tuesday, October 11, 2011

The Fine Print: Give Away Winners, Mailbag and Scattered Thoughts

After the Columbus Day holiday, today feels like a Monday. So, it's a good time to get to some "to do list" items.

Give Away Winners
The competition for these patterns was not so fierce; I guess the need for party dresses is not as great as my pattern collection would have me believe. But the winners are:
Debi - Vogue 1162 Belleville Sassoon dress  
Rachel - Vogue 8280 Galaxy Dress knock off pattern
Ladies, let me know where to send 'em - email me at Clio[dot]Phineas[at]gmail[dot]com - and have fun sewing them up!   

Mailbag
Just to answer a few questions that came my way in comments:
ThreadHeaven - What is it? What's it for?  - Essentially, you are supposed to use it to coat your thread for handsewing, as you would use bees wax. It reduces drag and tangles, and conditions the thread against fraying. Unlike beeswax it is non-organic, and it is also non-toxic, UV repellent, retards mold and mildew, and a host of other things you can read about here
Thimble - Did I cosy up to mine with all the hand sewing? - In a word, no. Sewing on silk fabric with silk thread coated in ThreadHeaven really was easy - the needle just glided on thru. Using a thimble actually became cumbersome. So, I am still a thimble deadbeat. C'est la vie. 
Scattered thoughts
Finally, it was really great to have a weekend that was completely free - no sewing for a deadline! It was a weekend of dabbling - very scattered. I worked a bit on boxer shorts for Phineas and a single seam skirt for me. Neither is done. I baked peach coffee cake and apple cinnamon muffins, which are half eaten now. I went for a long run, since I signed up for the Vegas Half Marathon (Dec 4) last week and have some serious training ahead.


(OK, the embedded video was starting to drive me bonkers every time I visited my blog. So, I've changed it to a link. CLICK HERE to see how cool the Vegas Half Marathon is.)


Seriously, how fun does this look?? And all I have to do is run 13.1 miles. It almost makes me think this was a good idea. Ha!

Oh and I took a knitting class, which is a first for me. So there are lots of balls in the air at the moment but nothing finished to show just yet. Stay tuned.

6 comments:

Karin said...

Sounds like you are enjoying a well earned "rest". I'd be interested in your baking recipes if you have the time and inclination to post them!

Debi said...

OMG. I am so. excited!!! Thank you so much!!!

Clio said...

The Peach Coffee Cake is here: http://fivemuses.blogspot.com/2009/08/peachy-keen.html

I look forward to making it every year - it's delicious! The apple muffins I haven't posted yet, but will if I can get them perfect (there are one or two things I'd do differently).

Eugenia said...

Your peach cake looks delicious! I was interested to read that you preferred to measure in weight not volume - as you probably know, here in the UK recipes are always given in weight measures. I do have a lot of American recipe books so I am familiar with cup measurements and usually get on with them fine but I read recently in the New York Times that a lot of Americans are now preferring to go by weight measurements, especially for baking, because it is considered to be more accurate. But back to your lovely cake recipe - only 145 calories a slice, it contains fruit and whole wheat flour - hurrah - it's a healthy cake! :)

Clio said...

Eugenia - The peach coffee cake is practically virtuous! It really feels decadent, yet no guilt!!

Yes, I prefer to bake by weight - it's more accurate, quicker and less messy, too! Once I started doing it that way, there was no going back to the cup measures!

Anonymous said...

You use a thimble to protect the nerves in your fingertips. It becomes second nature. If you sew a thicker fabric like wool, you should give it a try again.