what i've been focusing on

"I break up my days into tasks I know I want to get done (i.e. finishing a chapter, hemming a dress, writing a post)."
(from gertie's new blog for better sewing)

i spent the weekend really trying to plan and then execute my "platonic ideal" of a sewing schedule. friday night i ended up doing....nothing, but i did clean up and set up some space for work the rest of the weekend, so i woke up saturday feeling energized and ready. i went up to paron's at 9:30 and had a fabulous experience there, picking up a lot of helpful fabrics for projects this spring, and popped in at B&J to splurge on some liberty tana that i didn't need for a project i don't really have time for...but with focus can probably knock out in a day anyway. i skipped Mood, for the time being, and headed back home to drop of my booty and treat myself to a pizza at cosi.

after cosi, it was warm enough that i finally had the energy to go down to container store and get myself a gigantic cork board for all of my pictures and swatches. i finished my mccall's sweetheart dress and went back out to Mood to get organza swatches for my "macaron" dress and ended up with two yards of pucci that have amazingly already told me what pattnerns they want. they have been added to the "silk cutting day" pile that i am planning for good friday weekend in april. then i went back to work finishing my mccall's and then i started putting together the pieces for my new liberty dress. i got the entire thing put together, minus the shoulder ties and the facings, which still need to be cut and interfaced and finished.

to wind down, i spent some happy time watching television and working on my inspiration board and went to bed after midnight feeling very satisfied. ended up not watching downton abbey as planned, though, because i didn't want it to degrade so quickly into "something i watch while doing something else."

sunday i set myself up for some serious pattern tracing. i've been noticing on my most recent cutting days that i was losing a lot of time and energy to pattern tracing and modifications, so i determined to get a jump on my spring wish list by tracing (if not modifying) the major pieces i knew i'd want to work on--mostly the vintage pieces of the silk dresses i have my eye on, and then i did two extra dresses and a pair of shorts. with judicious break-taking for breakfast and lunch, i even managed to cut two new dresses--my "freebie" from glassoffashion, which i used with the last of my liberty purple chris and also managed to squeeze some elements for a shirt out of; and another version of my favorite simplicity/project runway dress with the new liberty lawn i didn't need!

since the weekend, and i am sure this is because it's finally getting late enough in the winter that the days are noticeably longer, i have had enough energy to set and execute goals each night--monday night i measured the hem for my cashmere dress, and yesterday i made up another version of my favorite 30s mail order top in addition to marking the hem on my latest advance 3929. i also prepped and laid out fabric for the neck tie on my glassoffashion freebie and got out the interfacing for a host of small bits i hope to take care of tonight.