And I'm Back

Welcome to the happiness that is Day 1.  I woke up to find out that my period has arrived.  YAY!

I'm so glad that didn't drag on.  First because I don't like the side effects of Provera (amazing how much more awake I feel today) but also because now the FUN STUFF begins!  YAY!

So what's next?  I'm in for blood work and ultrasound on Friday (Day 3, full bladder appointment).  That appointment (if not sooner) I'll be told exactly when to start other drugs etc.  My third dose of Humira is tomorrow and I've got all the drugs for the rest of the cycle at home.  It was a rather sizable bag they handed over the counter.

Good times, good times.

Oh, except the cramping.  I swear I get 2 hours of being happy that my period has arrived and then it's onto the Advil train.  Let's have one more YAY! before that sets in.

YAY!

Nearing the end of the crazies

Victoria Day weekend was lovely, warm afternoons, relatively warm nights...  Perfect for camping.  It really feels like summer is here and winter isn't going to sneak back and screw things up.  Until May long, you can't be sure that we won't have a killing frost here, so it's safe to put tender annuals in the ground now.

Being away has helped me deal with Provera.  When I posted on Friday, I thought I was doing pretty well - no tears or hot flashes, just this brain fog.  I guess because I have to work harder through the fog, when I got home on Friday, it was like I melted.  I didn't leave work as early as I hoped, things came up for my client and I couldn't abandon them.  I felt rushed, stupid and tired.  When I got home, Mr. Lina was grumpy and said something that set me off.  I was about to go bat shit crazy on him, it would have made our worst fight look like a happy family moment.  But I knew that I was going to say things I would regret, once I started there would be no filter and I couldn't sort out what was real emotions and what was Provera induced fury.  So I bit my tongue and let him leave for camping (we needed to take both cars anyhow).  He knew I was mad, but I told him that he really didn't want to hear it.  I don't think he made it to the end of the street before I fell apart.  I cried so hard and so loud that it's probably a good thing that no one lives in the other side of the semi at the moment.

And I felt better.

Oh sure, I still wasn't thrilled with him, but the blind rage of every unspent emotion was not sitting at the surface like a powder keg with a short fuse. 

And when I got to the camp ground (ah, more 2 hours after him), he was happy.  And he knew that he needed to pull out the kid gloves and make things right with me.  I found over the weekend that  I did not have the patience that I usually do, or the ability to see humour in things that are annoying, but nothing I couldn't walk away from.

I took my last dose on Sunday night, now I'm just waiting for my period to arrive.  As "okay" as I feel, I know I'm going to feel much better the moment it arrives.  The sooner the better because then all the good stuff happens.  I'm picking up all of the drugs tonight on my way home from work.

I need to get back to Alma.  Every morning is a reminder that my summer closet is not very work appropriate.  Version two of the front has been cut out...

Victoria Day List

Provera is making my head rather fuzzy, paragraphs are challenging so let's go for a list...

• It's actually Friday, not Tuesday!
• 4 of 7 pills have been taken of Provera
• No hot flashes, no tears, no apathy
• Horrible brain fog.
• Grocery shopping with brain fog is not very efficient or effective.
• I wanted to buy non-paper tape for wrapping up my toe (it still aches with some motions) and Mr. Lina's hand.
• I am sure I looked at cloth tape
• I am sure I priced out that the roll was cheaper than the tape dispenser.
• I bought paper tape.
• It's a long weekend - Victoria Day.
• We have an unofficial early close, if nothing is due, you can leave early.
• Like I should be trusted to get anything done without errors when I can't buy cloth bandages.
• I am 7lbs down from my high weight and feeling rather happy about that.
• The strategy to make better choices is working and one good choice reinforces wanting to make the next good choice.
• My pants fit better, I don't feel bloated, it's good.tr
• I think I felt a small earthquake this morning.
• The Pattern Pyramid has arrived, post and contest to come soon.
• It's almost time to go!
• Yay!

Weekend Reboot

• I woke up and hit snooze
• I don't have to wash my hair this morning, I can sleep a little longer.
• I hit snooze again because it's Friday, meh.
• My drive is predictable on Friday, snooze a 4th time won't hurt.
• I finally got up and turn the radio off. 
• It's Friday, no need to reset it for tomorrow.
• I brushed my teeth and thought about the upcoming long weekend.
• I'm not ready for camping, so it must be next week.
• 'Cause, you know, it's Friday.
• I got into the shower and start to wake up.
• And realised it's Tuesday.
• Tuesday.
• 3 days to get through before it's Friday.
• That's a whole lot of time.
• It's like my brain wants a reboot, restarting from May 10th.
• Sigh.

I mentioned we did a lot of visiting over the weekend.  On my quest to make better decisions for my health, I think I get a shiny gold star.  Twice chips (a serious weakness for me) were around and I ate a grand total of one handful of chips.  It did help that at the second party they didn't refill when the first chips were gone.  I had lots of fruit, vegetables, small piece of birthday cake, was the DD for both events so no additional alcohol calories.  Actually, I did such a good job of having normal portions, my stomach was grumbling at 1am both Friday and Saturday night.  We stopped for late night food both nights but I aimed for smaller portions, cheese quesadilla (LOTS of salsa and cilantro) that I shared with Mr. Lina and a small chicken wrap at Wendy's.  I managed to weigh a little less this morning (I didn't weight myself Monday, I needed a full bladder at 8am for the ultrasound, I start drinking the second I wake up) than Friday, so again, a weekend win.  Tonight I'm going for a walk with a friend I carpool with to bowling.  We both want to get moving and it's more fun to do it together when schedules allow.

I've just confirmed we'll be hosting with Home Routes again in the fall/winter.  I don't know all of the artists that we'll be hosting, but I'm super happy to have Bill Bourne coming to my house in November.  He's from Alberta, has a very wide range of styles (so hearing one song is not really representative of everything), and a great stage presence.  I get the impression he's kind of quiet, we'll see if that's true.

Need a weekend from the weekend

I drove well over 400km from 9pm Friday night to 8pm Sunday night.  That's a lot of time in my car.  And where did I go?

• 40th birthday party
• 3 year old birthday party
• "Old friend passing through town" party
• Visit with my high school friend (who now lives in Manitoba) and her baby
• Mother's Day with my parents

Busy, busy, busy.  I did manage to sleep in there somewhere.  I'm looking forward to more sleep tonight.  I survived Mother's Day (typically a sore spot for me and as we found out last year, I'm not alone), no tears at all but I did flip the radio a few times to avoid overly sappy content.

Owing to the above schedule, time in my sewing room has been limited.  The Leafs making it to Game 7 has cut into some evenings.  In theory, I could sew, but it's been a really exciting series that sadly came to an end tonight.  I have cut a new front to the Alma blouse.  I have lots of fabric and I'd like to see how that works prior to removing the pins and changing Alma #1 for comparison. 

I was into the clinic this morning for a check if I ovulated.  Not surprisingly, my ovaries are not cooperating.  I took my first dose of Provera when I got home from work.  This drug (for me, every person is different) is the one most likely to make me crazy - moody, depressed, hot flashes, apathy, fun stuff.  On the plus side, the weekend approaching is Victoria Day weekend and I have the Monday off and I'm going camping.  This will help me cope.

Forms are signed, FET is paid for (and costs less than the two doses of Humira, you know how many air miles I'm getting out of this?), prescriptions (6) have all been sent to the pharmacy, all that is left to do pre-cycle is get Mr. Lina in for the screening bloodwork.  I am got a little more information today on two aspects of the protocol for this FET.

1. I won't be taking Lupron - the drug that stops my brain from telling my body to make hormones.  I'm not sure why but it seems that he's changed his protocol for everyone so there must be some research to back this up.  It sounds like my dosage of Estrace (estrogen) will also be different from before.
2. Two forms of progesterone - Prometrium are pills that I have used most cycles and makes me sleepy.  They are adding a vaginal cream product.  Last time I used two forms of progesterone I took the pills during the day and cream at night.  Apparently this time it's the flip - cream 3x per day (so, um, one of those times is going to be at work) and pills at night. 
• I'm not suppose to have sex a week after transfer, if I'm using vaginal cream 3 times a day it's going to be a lot longer than a week before Mr. Lina wants to visit. 
• I stay on progesterone supplements until the end of the first trimester. 
• Progesterone supplements start around Day 14, so 10 weeks of vaginal cream (assuming all goes well).
• I am going to be sooooo grumpy.  I like sex.  It's good stress relief.
• After Mr. Lina had his vasectomy reversed, he couldn't be aroused (never mind sex) for 6 weeks.  The longest 6 weeks of my life 
• Near the end of the 6 weeks, I blew up at him for wrapping cheese the wrong way. 
• On the plus side, I'd have a baby to keep me happy and a reason not to lift anything where post reversal, all the lifting had to be done by me. 

I won't be into the clinic again until my period arrives and I have my Day 3 appointment.  We'll just have to see how I manage from now until Day 1.

Humira #2 - Check

The deck is about as sanded as it's going to get.  Mr. Lina has had enough of this step, next up will be staining.  We have to let the weather/schedules coordinate for that.  They are calling for a bit of rain over the next few days, we'll need a day of it being dry before we can move forward with staining.  Here he is hard at work on Monday night.

I took my second Humira dose today.  It's weird how the medication hurts.  The needle is very fine, but the medication kind of stings.  On the plus side, it doesn't hurt for long and it's all fine now.

At 6:40 this morning the phone rang.  My alarm doesn't go off until 6:50 so this was literally a wake up call.  It was the receptionist at the clinic booking my appointment on Monday.  She asked when I wanted it and I said about 8:00, my usual time, if it was available.  She said "For you, honey, I would do anything and I mean that".  Seriously, people take my lack of success pretty personally there.  So full bladder at 8am on Monday.

I was not very productive at work yesterday.  I just couldn't get my head nor heart into it.  At least today I am going out to a client site to do a little lunch & learn (sans lunch, so just a learn?) session that will make me focus.  I was reading through my own blog, reviewing the FET last year.  Seeing what I wrote about, reminders to myself, what I might have glossed over (not much).  I realized I have been saying I've been pregnant 6 times since last year and it's actually 7.  Who the fuck forgets these kinds of numbers?  I am all for willful ignorance, but I didn't think I let myself go that far.  Let me recount (apparently for my sake, not yours).

1. IVF #1 - negative on first pregnancy test, the only cycle this happened.
2. FET #1 - embryos from first IVF, chemical pregnancy.  Devastating because I had no coping skills but it lead us to a great therapist.
3. IVF #2 - miscarriage - passed both pregnancy tests, nothing was there for my 6 week ultrasound.  Horrible, horrible day.
4. FET #2 - chemical pregnancy
5. FET #3 - chemical pregnancy, pretty sure the failed test was Thanksgiving.  A handful of people were in the know, the glass of wine in my hand was the signal not to ask.
6. IVF #3 - Passed first test, declining on 2nd test, failed 3rd test. 
7. Natural pregnancy - Figured out I was pregnant December 27th, test on the 28th with HCG well over 600, ultrasound dated me at 7 weeks 5 days, miscarriage at 8 weeks 1 day, Jan 10.  Fucking nightmare.
8. FET #4 - last cycle I blogged about, great pregnancy tests, bleeding day after second test (Sunday) and through that week my HCG levels slowly declined, gave up on Friday.

It really is 7.  Amazing how our mind hides crap from us, isn't it?

It's going to be a good day

Blood work and ultrasounds are generally done quickly at my fertility clinic.  I mentioned I need to get some blood tests done that aren't done in-house by the clinic.  There is a Life Lab near my home, the web site says it opens at 8 (sign on the door says 7:30), I figured I could get to work for 9:30 without too much of a problem.

Sign #1 this was going to be a problem:  Line up out the door at 8:03.  That's the line to hand over the paperwork.

Sign #2:  Giving up my seat not once, but twice to people I felt needed it more than me.

The staff were great and doing what they could, but it was just more people than they could really handle in a short amount of time.  I felt so bad for elderly people with canes (and some of them fasting for the blood work) having to stand in line just to check in.  There was no way I was going to let them stand after waiting so long.  4 little vials of blood and I got back to my car at 9:40 and it was about 10:15 by the time I was at my desk.  So while not a great start to the day, it reminds me I have a pretty flexible employer.  This is something to appreciate.

I was the lucky winner of the Pattern Pyramid over at Country Girl Couture.  How cool is that?  It put a smile on my flustered face this morning.  I suck at getting things in the mail but I'm going to try my best to make this give away work.  Get ready to sign up!

Seriously someone is looking out for me.  I have two client sessions coming up, sort of light training/lunch & learn kind of things, I'm looking forward to them.  Both have been in planning stages since the end of March.  I don't know how it happened, but both were scheduled for Thursday at 1pm.  I was trying to find the words to postpone one of them when an email showed up cancelling the one I wanted to move.  The client feels schedules are too busy and want to push back to June.  That's twice with this client I have had moments of "oh no...." (in October I accidentally copied over my presentation the day before I was to give it) only for them to cancel (last time a key person was in the hospital, I felt bad for celebrating).  Now I can seem accommodating, not an idiot who let Outlook schedule two things at the same time.  A thousand thank yous to whoever is looking out for me. 

Here is hoping this good streak continues through June...

Weekend Review - Bras & Decks

All in all, it was a really good weekend.  Super productive, lots of fun, worked my ass off.  It's like Ontario finally decided winter is over and skipped right to summer - lots of sunshine, warmth, the city just greened up overnight.

Our back yard has a two tiered deck.  We've had it painted twice and while the fence and vertical boards still look good, the horizontal boards flake by the end of the summer it's painted.  It was looking pretty awful this spring.  Our patio furniture is plastic that was given as a wedding present and while it's still functional, the time outdoors has not been overly kind.  The past two years we've said we'd get a new set and reached August without buying anything. 

I should have taken pictures on the weekend, but this is all I seem to have of the back yard, me in a Renfrew (and self made rather pointy Elan bra) and snow covered.



2012 - from upper part of deck.
 

Winter view looking over the upper part down to the lower part.

Mr. Lina decided enough was enough.  He sent me a link to patio furniture on Thursday afternoon, as soon as I said it looked good he bought it.  New furniture means our deck needs some TLC.  He worked from home on Friday and he started on that too.  Many, many, MANY 4 letter word were in the texts and emails I got from him.  Paint stripper did nothing, the paint peeler was only effective where it was peeling, the neighbour saw him struggling and loaned him a sander.  Well he couldn't find the right weight of sandpaper, each visit to Home Depot making him more frustrated than the last... it went on and on.  It didn't matter what I said to try and keep this in perspective, it just made him angry.  Saturday he tackled it again and I was very happy to have plans that removed me from the house.

I went into Toronto to see Kristin at K-Line.  We had a lovely afternoon comparing bra supplies, bras (I bought a new one, Suzanna by Fantasie), I put on Alma and she pinned the back and made suggestions for me.  It was a really awesome day and time just flew by.  I did have a dyslexic moment where I wrote down her address inverted (i.e. I wrote 121 not 212) and the wrong number didn't have a house and I didn't write her cell number on the map I printed like I thought I did...  So I phoned home and Mr. Lina was particularly grumpy.  He looked up her email for me but I can't say I enjoyed that brief conversation.  I knew it wasn't ME that was the problem, but I had enough of being in the line of fire.

I went home to a husband who was full of aches from being hunched over a sander all day and too tired to be angry.  We watched the third period of the hockey game (Toronto vs Boston), an Italian zombie movie, I made dinner, rubbed a few sore muscles and we split a bottle of wine... Very calm evening and early to bed (well, for me at least).   I spent Sunday by his side sanding the deck and I got my old husband back.  He appreciated my assistance (and massages) and while it's not totally done, we're down to the last quarter, maybe less.  It's good to have him back.

So no sewing but a very busy weekend.  I'm eager to transfer those changes from the blouse to paper. 

Thanks for the comments and support in the last email.  I will post about my efforts to make better food choices as a way to be accountable to more than just myself.  I did relatively well this weekend.  Today is a Monday where I weight pretty much the same as Friday (possibly 0.2lbs less, I can't remember the decimal from Friday) and I call that a win.  Friday night we were playing board games with friends and chips came out.  I tried to hold off, but once I cracked and ate one...  it was hard to stop.  Not a wise choice there, but all my other food choices were good on Friday.  On Saturday, I split a margherita pizza with Kristin and a salad, dinner was fairly healthy but what I'm more pleased about was a reasonable portion size and stopping when I was full.  With all that sanding, we stopped for a quick lunch of tuna sandwiches and I was too tired to make dinner.  We ordered take out sushi and edamame (rather fishy day now that I think about it).  So, a win in a healthier choice than other delivery options.

And FET updates... nothing going on but more communication from the clinic as to what's going on next cycle.  I wrote exactly that last post, but I got another email with a reminder that I'll be taking Fragmen (injectable blood thinner), Prednisone and the endometrial scratch (a small cut in the lining of my uterus).  I am really far down this path and my treatment is pretty far from standard.  But... they still try to use "standard" forms for me to outline treatment.  It seems like it's more work for them to cross out all the things that don't apply (or answer my questions when I raise an eyebrow) and write in the extras than to just start from scratch.  It's good they are writing things out in a document, and it did say I'm taking a brand of progesterone I haven't used before, but missed:  Fragmen, intralipids, prednisone, Provera, Humira, endometrial scratch, Lupron-Depot (which I still have not had conformation on) and Femara (again, no confirmation yet).  Kind of defeats the purpose of putting it into a document, no?  Emails are filling in the blanks but now I have details in multiple spots.  This doesn't stress me out, but I think it makes the whole cycle seem more overwhelming.

In the next 10 days or so, I need to:

1. Get Mr. Lina in for his screening blood work.
2. Sign all the permission forms.
3. Blood work that the clinic can't do, pretty sure it's testing for lupus and other auto-immune, I did this two years ago maybe (and not covered by OHIP if I remember right). 
4. Take Humira #2 on Thursday.
5. Check with the pharmacy on all the other drugs that are being called in, particularly Humira #3 since they will need to order it in again and Provera/Lupron that will be for Day 21 (May 13).
6. Send off all the forms to the drug company to claim Humira.  I'd like my $1,730 back.
7. Pay for the FET.
8. Actually do some work I'm being paid for.  My interest is waning as I'm looking forward to the cycle ahead.

WIP - Alma

What a week.  It's flown by so fast it's hard to catch my breath.  I have made some progress with my Sewaholic Alma, I have a few WIP pictures to share.  Not very flattering pictures, but that's what WIP and (hopefully) wearable muslin is all about.  Mr. Lina took these on Wednesday night but I didn't have a chance to post.  I made a little more progress last night but let's see where I was on Wednesday...

You'll notice the left and right don't look the same.  I (clearly) am not a small busted Sewaholic pear shaped model, a rather sizable FBA was needed.  Based on high bust measurements I cut a 16, but thinking about Myrna cutting a different size for front and back, I actually cut the size 14 for the back to see how that worked.  I added my FBA (can't remember how much, 1.5" maybe?  I think I needed about 3").  The thing is, I did a crappy job of lining up my darts.

What a mess.  My darts are way too low, there is extra fabric to pinch out and the lower darts aren't lining up with my bust.  I was rather disappointed but I could at least see where to start. 

So I marked my bust apex, redrew my darts and moved the waist darts to under my bust point.  (Side vent, after the terrible shaping above, I wanted to verify the right angle for bust darts and reference after reference would just say "and redraw darts to the correct place", and that correct place would be...?).

Don't I look perkier?  Not perfect but so much better.

Coming back to the top picture again...

On the right side I've pinned where I want the new dart to go under my bust (purple circle that looked far more noticeable when I added it).  The arrow points where the dart is.  When I did the FBA, I didn't think about how the lower darts would also need adjusting.

Last night, I fixed up both sides - tweaked the darts, gave them a better press and I based on the little sleeves to get a better sense of it without pins.  I didn't want to take it off.  I think I'm going to like this pattern. 

One question for those who have made it.  When I basted the side seams to check the fit, I started by leaving the zipper side open, but it seemed loose enough so I sewed it shut.  I don't need a zipper to get it off and on.  Am I leaving too much ease?  Is this normal?  Or is the zipper more important for the full sleeve options (I'm doing cap sleeves)?  I'm going to sew up the sides but I'd like to hear if there is a reason to add the zipper I'm not seeing.

So not much left to do.  I have not looked at the back with a critical eye, but it is not the obvious disaster that the front is.  There is space between my lower back and the blouse but I think it suits the style.  I think the most I'd want to do is end the back darts a little higher.  The sleeves need to be added on permanently and finish the side seams properly.  A quick hem and I believe this will be a truly wearable muslin, possibly even this weekend.  I don't think the pattern pieces will be going away prior to cutting out another one.

Is it the weekend yet?

Oh and not much to update on the FET.  I had some communication with the clinic about medications etc.  I will have 3 doses of Humira prior to transfer (so May 9th AND May 23rd - I'm going to need to buy more, $1,730 was for 2 pens not 3).  May 13th (Day 21) I'm in for blood work & ultrasound to see if I ovulate (doubt it) because that determines if I take Evil Provera or not.  Until then, I'm doing really well at taking my metformin, vitamins, (even flossing!) etc and making wiser choices eating.  I had some pretty bad PMS bloat going on with that period, I've lost 6lbs this week and I am quite certain that is not fat.  It's a good start that I'm aiming to build on in a very healthy way. 

You must read Falling Through Your Clothes today, it's exactly what I'm thinking about right now.  I'm not counting calories or following any stupid restriction (I am consulting a nutritionist, good timing for my work to offer up free access to a nutritionist for 6 months, no?).  I am simply paying attention to being hungry (which I have not been this week) and picking foods that are good for me.  I'm not happy at this weight, it does not feel comfortable.  My comfortable weight is higher than most charts, but it's a spot I can (generally) maintain and feel good.  That's what I want.

Weekend Review - Creativ Festival

Kay at Gently Down the Seam (side note, I think this is my favourite sewing pun for a blog) sent out a little note to people who participated in the Toronto meet up that she was going to both days of the Creativ Festival, was anyone else going?  I didn't even know about it but it seemed my Saturday was free and I welcomed the opportunity to strengthen some online ties in person. Kay, Adrienne, and Debbie have already posted about it.

Picture from Debbie, myself, Kay, Debbie and Adrienne.

I have to say that without Kay pointing it out, I wouldn't have thought twice about it.  So often the focus is on crafts I find interesting but not me.  Like quilting, scrap booking or beading.  I was pleasantly surprised by the titles of the workshops, there did seem to be garment sewing content.

The  web site was a little challenging to find what I wanted.  At one point I thought I was on their web site but it was really the blog.  I read something about advanced group tickets and the cut off for that was Monday and this was Thursday, I assumed that was the same for advanced tickets.  I was busy at work and not looking too carefully, I thought I would just buy my ticket at the door.

One session I was really keen on was at 9:30 - Make Bra.  Sounds right up my alley.  Imagine the frustration when Debbie and I got there at 9:15 (she with e-ticket in hand) that the door sales didn't start until 9:30 and I couldn't get in until 10.  Their reasoning was that it was incentive to buy in advance.  I get that, there was a draw for $900 to spend at the festival open to Debbie and not me, that's a good incentive.  Letting people in to shop the booths early, also incentive.  But starting seminars before it opens for everyone?  It felt like punishment to me, not incentive to them.

Debbie is interested in tatting and I've always been a little curious about how it's done so we went to a free intro-to-tatting lesson.  Half an hour is not enough time to learn much of anything but I got the concept of what was involved so I'll appreciate the work that went into tatting I see in the future.

The main stage had two sessions that were a blur of clothing and sales pitches (and lunch for us).  Some of it was kind of interesting, but I found them a bit of a whirlwind.  The focus seemed to be:

1. It's okay to eat cookies, just sew with elastic (that session was titled .Comfortable Clothes that Camouflage, but I could have used more camouflage and less "insert elastic here!")
2. Sewing is easy, cut a circle in a square and you have a skirt.
3. When in doubt, add embellishment (jewels, metallic, etc) but not the sleeves, you don't want to overdo it.

Now as my weight has changed, I appreciate knits and elastics, but some of it seemed beyond slapdash and into magic wand territory.  I am not a couture sewer at all, I'm just not in that stage of my sewing career.  Let's focus on me getting one thing done rather than soaking 30 hours of sewing into a winter coat.  But even I found this a little much.  You would think that if you went to the festival and you chose to join that session,  you have some knowledge of sewing already.  So why focus so much on making sewing look like magic because it's so easy?  And from a fashion perspective, well, it wasn't overly inspiring either.  I'm not interested in bejewelling my clothing and when I did see something I liked (lightly padding a lapel on a jacket that was puckering at the seams) it was so fast I didn't really have a chance to absorb what she did to make it work. 

Interesting though, I have found myself thinking about these two sessions a lot and what it means in the wider sewing world, so maybe my review is sounding harsher than it should.  This was like the opposite of Myrna Giesbrecht who will muslin many time to get what she wants and savours the process of getting there.  Or K-Line with her many muslined Spring Suit project.  But, there were times when I thought Myrna would like some of the embellishments (maybe not the Cirque du Soleil foiling).  I seem to remember a comment about using threads to add detail, something I know she would like.

As others have noted, the fitting session with Lorraine Henry was really awesome.  Half an hour was not nearly enough time.  I had traced out the Alma blouse prior to the show and done a FBA but still feeling a little insecure with it.  After sewing a few tents and potato sacks lately, I'm feeling hesitant.  It was great to see her discussing a FBA specifically, it really made me feel more confident that I'd put the extra space in the right spot. 

And while the session on sewing machine & serger maintenance with Joanne Brousseau sounds pretty dry, I spent a good 45 minutes cleaning my machine on Sunday.  Clearly it was inspiring.  Looking at the machine closely, I noticed the arm is a little pink.  I think the red ponte for Tiramisu has rubbed off.  I'll have to be careful when I wash it, maybe put one of the dye catchers in the wash.

If I had gone on my own, I'm not sure I would have enjoyed it.  I would have sat through a few sessions (probably skipped the machine maintenance), felt overwhelmed by the people and the frequent sales pitches (I was starting to expect the as seen on TV kind of lines of "but wait, there's more!" or "with three easy payments of...") and left.  But with the ladies, I was open to any of the sessions, it was lovely to talk (and laugh) and break up the knowledge soaking that went on.  My brain felt full when I got home.

Both pre-washed, striped shirting on the right has been cut.

Sunday I ended up with a bit of a hang over (oops) and Mr. Lina had people over to record voice work so I had to be quiet, the microphone will pick up the sewing machine and foot steps two floors up.  But I felt the itch and interest returning through my headache.  As well as the machine cleaning session, I pre-washed fabric above, ironed 3m of one of the shirtings, cut out the Alma and started sewing the darts/stay stitching.  This morning I popped into my sewing room to get something and noticed one point from the V cut in (I'm doing View A) was curling a little and I started ironing and adding a little strip of interfacing to the seam allowance.  I never sew in the morning.  Never.

I take this as a very good sign.