The Ducktor is In!

I finished my Donald Duck costume - hooray! I made a whole shirt in about 2 hours - unheard of in this house! Here's my inspiration:


This is the only picture on the internet where his stripes are white instead of yellow, so I'm claiming it since I didn't have fabric to make yellow stripes. I was going to use the very Burda shirt I made a few years ago, but I needed a drape around the neck, and that fabric didn't match, so I just made a whole new shirt. I drafted a little pattern for the drape...


And finished the neckline by sewing those together - that was the hardest part, because it was wrong side to right side - duh!


Obviously didn't make a swayback adjustment, and it hasn't seen an iron yet.


And voila! Complete with duck quacker courtesy of Lucas, who saved it from a Duck Boat tour in Boston - God bless that little hoarder!


I pulled out my beloved but neglected cover stitch to do this shirt, and I even set the shoulders in flat using it. Just pinned it, didn't even baste it on the regular machine, since it's a ribbed knit, which that machine eats. Of course, I'm going to overlook the one pucker I got on each shoulder, and I think Becky can still be proud of me. Now I may redo the hat to make it poofier in the front, but that's if I have time - did I mention I leave Wednesday for a conference in Vegas? (Work related, not sewing - boo.)

Weekend Wrap-Up

Well, I almost have a blister on my right forefinger from felling 6 layers of fabric. I realized I should watch how close my knots are to the seam allowance as I was embroidering the leaves, and sure enough, here are 3 knots right in the path of a seam.


So far I've been able to work around them, but once I went too close to one and the needle did NOT want to go. She does recommend needle nose pliers for those times you have to coax your needle through - yikes! So here's the back sewn together but not all felled yet. Bianca recommended lowering the armholes and shortening the shoulder straps to raise the neckline (thanks, Bianca!), so I'll see if I can make that happen or not. I bet I can finagle the front, since I already cut it a different size than the back, and that didn't mess up the armholes on the tank top, at least.


Oh, but now I have ANOTHER project. My nurses are dressing up as Mickey and Minnie Mouse for Halloween, and I've been advised to be Donald Duck - really popular with the kids right now, I'm told. Uh, they don't sell that costume at Party City, or any other internet business I found in the States, so I'm going to make it myself. Now before you get all excited, I'm just going to do a blue Burda T-shirt like I already made, except make it really big and somehow get a drape around the shoulders with some yellow strips for that and the sleeves.


And I bought this white flannel on sale at Hancock yesterday to make some shorts with an elastic waistband.


I bought some yellow tights at Party City and I'll wear my white walking shoes I wore in Japan. Now to find a hat, or something I can cover with blue fabric. Oh, and I went to Pure Barre today - Sandra (Bullock, not Betzina) inspired me...although now I feel like a limp dishrag - bleh. Hope YOU had a good weekend.

The Sweater is Finished!

But first, here's our Halloween at work. We even got the medical student rotating with us to be a scarecrow - she did her best on short notice.

And now........without further ado.........TA DAAAAAAAA!!!!!

Ooh, that neckline is very ripply, but this is pre-blocking, and amazingly, it disappeared with blocking - who knew?! Here's the back.

And because I'm so proud of that Trinity stitch (or Blueberry stitch)...

And yes, I sewed the button on with 5 minutes to go before Pure Barre, and it was just a little chilly, so I wore that sucker to class! (I had thoughts of them asking me where I got it because they'd love to sell it in their store. They sell all kinds of weird drapey tops to warm up in....yeah, they didn't ask.)

And here it is with a collared shirt and work pants.

And here it is with an untucked shirt and jeans - that's okay, right?

So I'm deliriously happy today, but now it's onto a fuzzy pink hat! Have a great weekend!!!

I'm Sick of Idol

These people are so Bo-ring! Everybody should've gone home except Lee, Mike, and Mama Cass....I mean Janis Joplin....you know who I'm talking about, I forgot her name. Their ensemble songs are boring, their Ford commercials are boring, and I finally made poor little Lucas go to bed at 9:05 when it was obvious they weren't going to give the results till really late. (Drew ran into Lucas's room screaming with joy when Tim got the boot - they'd agreed they'd scream together if he left.).

Two Lucas syntax errors this week - walking in a building with two entrance signs, Lucas says, "Mom, I think we entrance over there." Cute. Then regarding corndogs (or as I think of them, puke on a stick), he says, "Have you ever noticed how they taste horrible when you get close to the stick? Wood plus dog equals horrible." (Clever and good at math, too!)

I'm also sick of trying to fit the Jalie 2909 pants - I stitched them up for good and basted the waistband on, which nearly reached my shoulder blades in the back, so I shall move it lower and try again tomorrow if I have time. These should be long enough the fabric is fabulous, and as long as I'm moving my legs nobody'll notice the wrinkles on the back. I'll just dance constantly - nothing new for me.

That reminds me that at a company party a couple of years ago, an administrator commented to my nurse about my supposed...uh...lack of sobriety, to which my nurse replied, "Oh no, she's not drunk. She acts like that at work all the time." (We have fun at work.)

Halloween at Work

Here's the yearly Halloween crew - it was Fairies this year, so everybody was a different fairy. It's amazing that we all got different wings and were different colors. Some of the pediatric residents and medical students dressed up too - made me want to cry when they walked in to my lecture! One of them had the day off and still dressed up and came to the lecture - now that's a good doctor! And another attending dressed as Road Kill with some kind of wolf mask, but he didn't make it into the picture.

We did have a couple of patients dress up for their appointments, but HIPAA guidelines prevent me from posting their pictures; otherwise I'd have to kill you.

Couple of Questions Answered

1) BOW is rockin'! (Becoming an Outdoor Woman - check it out on outdooralabama.com or something like that.) You can skin a deer then go enjoy cocktails with your cabinmates....and karaoke....but only after lots of cocktails! My sister-in-law introduced me to it (shout out, Elizabeth!) and now we have a contingent from down here as well as friends we've made from all over the state. They have one in every state, by the way.

2) I didn't scare anybody at Halloween, they just weren't sure if their doctor was a man or a woman. We did have to move a little boy out of the Pirate room because he got scared (lots of knives and fat bellies hanging over pants, you get the picture). And I did have to take my sword away from another little boy who was fixing to put my eye out. (I really hate spanking the patients, but that's what the belt is for!)

3) Betty Gillum would most assuredly NOT be proud of me! Although my neighbor's child asked who was REALLY playing the piano, like it sounded good!!!!

Halloween!

Well, here are the initial pictures from Halloween at the office. There should be more later when somebody emails me some pictures, since I forgot my camera. These were made after the patients left. Don't we have fun decorating the rooms!!!!! This year was "Disney movies" in case you didn't get the underlying theme. Don't forget to click on the picture to get the full effect of black nail polish, which I rather enjoyed wearing! I'm thinking about a lip piercing next.....