Happy New Year - 2015

Today starts a brand new year! Although most of today will be spend in a state of doing nothing constructive or creative (i.e. lounging on the sofa in my pj's), I have given some thought to what I plan to accomplish in the coming year.

I have set my resolutions up as short term, mid term and year end goals. First, in the short term, I need to clean. I mean, really clean. And purge. I have too much stuff. I need to go through my storage and throw out all the old paint cans from ten years ago. I need to get rid of a lot of old stuff in there like light fixtures that don't work, old shower curtain rods ....useless stuff that once a while back I thought I would need again. Now it's ten years later and I've lived this long without them. They can go.

I need to securely wrap up and move any bolts of fabric that I am not working with into the newly created space in storage. I have too much fabric in my studio. I know, I know....there is no such thing as too much fabric. But it is not a very large studio and it is feeling very cluttered. Cluttered spaces are not productive spaces. So they will need to be relocated. Temporarily, not for ten years.

I have too many mannequins. I have six child and six adult mannequins. I can cut that number down, since I no longer do art shows where I need to display a whole bunch of dresses and such. Twelve mannequins takes up a lot of room. I will photograph them and put them up on craigslist, since they weren't cheap when I bought them and someone can definitely use them.

I will (finally) grout around my fireplace tiles. Doing this will mean I can then give all the tiling equipment and tools back to my parents. The extra grout and supplies can go away (though I will keep a small container of the grout powder for any touch ups I may need to do). This will give me an additional two feet of space along the back of the sofa, where I have been storing these tools and equipment for the past couple years.

I will recover my sectional and either sell it or keep it and sell the sofa. Yes, I have a full sofa plus a full sectional. I live on my own and can seat 12 people in my living room. It's going to be hard to determine which I want to give up, but I do need to choose one or the other. I just want the space back.

This means by April (mid-term goals), I will have my dining room area back. Which means I can host a Birthday Brunch. And diner parties. And Sangria Sundays. I also want to visit Cuba. Or Prague and Vienna. Cuba first, then Prague and Vienna.

I want to redo my kitchen. I would like new counters and will probably need a new refrigerator this year. The one I currently have has started making funny noises with increased frequency. This is not a good thing. I want to remove the dishwasher entirely. The only time I use it is .....never. It leaks, and so about two years ago I stopped using it. I have so few dishes I just do them by hand when I need to. Although, if I start hosting more people, I may reconsider this idea. But it would be nice to turn that area back into a cupboard for baking equipment. I'd keep the hose hook-up for if I ever sell my place and move.

And I need to renovate my main bathroom. Big time. Especially the shower.

So there you have it. I've committed my resolutions by writing them down and making them public.

Have you made any resolutions? Let me know big or small. Remember, start with small steps and build momentum for greater success. The biggest (apparent) reason people fail in keeping their resolutions is that they resolve too much too quickly.

Hope you are having a great start to your new year!

A year of Pretty - January 31, 2104

Well here we are, end of January. One month into the year.

Today's Pretty Post is of this collection of GORGEOUS dresses. No credit was given on the photo, but I believe the collection is by Anna Campbell.

Not Anna Campbell the historical romance novelist. And not Anna Campbell the actress, but Anna Campbell the Australian designer of vintage-inspired evening gowns and bridal dresses.

I'm still working on my Great Gatsby Inspired collection, and the date has been set for the fashion show reveal. Actually, there will be two dates; and both are coming up pretty quick. The first is on February 22nd at Venue in Vancouver. The second will be on February 27th at Performance Works in Vancouver on Granville Island. Both events will be on the smaller side, but both will be a good way to start when it comes to presenting a collection. I'll be able to work out some of the snafus before moving on to a bigger audience.

Luckily, both events have the same theme, so I am able to show the same set of garments. The first show I have chosen my own model. The second show I will have to use the models the even host has chosen. This will be a bit more difficult, as the garments will have already been fitted to the one model in the first show.

In any event (see what I did there?), it should be fun and a great learning experience.

In the meantime, my fabrics and trims are selected, my sketches are near completed (will probably post a couple of these within the next few days), and the technical design wheels are moving around in my head. Building the patterns will begin next week. Super excited to see how it all turns out.

A Year of Pretty - January 28, 2014

I can't believe how fast the first month of the year has gone by. A couple more days and January 2014 will be over and done.

Today's Pretty Post is this simple wreath design found on Pinterest. by clicking on the included link, the result was just another window with the image, so I'm sorry to say I'm at a dead end as to the original source.

The wreath includes snowdrops and Symphoricarpos, also known as "white berry" or "snow berry".

I remember bushes of these berries used to grow begin our grade school. I can clearly remember being about six or seven years old with David Dodd and Scott Smith (the two cutest boys in my class by far) and crushing the berries under our shoes because they made a neat popping sound. I also punched David in the kidney that day (didn't know that's where kidneys were at the time) because he called me a Frizzy Head. It was a great first date.

This would be a nice image to print onto gift tags for a house warming, or if you happen to know someone named January (hey, it happens . . think of January Jones aka Emma Frost in X-Men: First Class . . . and yes, I am a geek for knowing that and yes, I see the irony of Ms January playing a role with the last name Frost).

Anyhow, enjoy the image. February will be here soon enough.

A Year of Pretty - January 16, 2014

Today's Pretty Post was found while searching for images to print and decoupage onto tins for storage. I thought it was such a nice vintage image of "new beginnings", which is what January often means to a lot of people.

How are you doing with your 2014 resolution? Are you still on track, or has time / energy caught you off guard?

I find my biggest downfall is the "I'll do it tomorrow" trap. As in . . . "I'll sew this tomorrow", or "I can do the laundry in the morning". Morning then becomes afternoon and tomorrow becomes two weeks later.

So I leave little notes for myself on the bathroom mirror. "Take down the recycling", or "cut three dresses by Friday afternoon". The notes annoy me, but I can only remove them once the task is done.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still working on my Great Gatsby Fashion Show Challenge. The designs are coming along, the muslins have been cut, my model has been selected and I have the first fitting next week.

But working for yourself is hard. You have to be more conscious of your time and how wisely you spend it. It is so easy to get distracted by the computer or a text message; and the next thing . . . twenty minutes have gone by.

So here's to staying on course with your new beginnings and taking each day to get closer to your goals.

A Year of Pretty - January 10, 2014

A Year of Pretty - January 06, 2014

It's a shoe. It's a boot. It's today's Pretty Post.