Embrace the winter!

So if it's -4º outside what do you do? …craft I think, hence the title "embrace winter!" The other morning as I was walking into work I was ready to throw in the towel and get the heck out of dodge but I have regrouped with a new attitude.

I consider this medication for my attention deficit disorder, I have limited activities during the winter which is actually really good. I can make a list and complete it because there really is no other distractions. I am not going outside and playing in -4º weather, I'm just not…call me a wimp!

You could try dressing your dog up and going outside but it's still really cold! And they'll tell you they just don't like it although they look really cute all dressed up!

Here's the first project of the year. I've made this shirt before and really liked the fit. I found this lovely fabric at Treadle. It's a cotton wool blend with a really nice retro weave (details in other images).

If you know me and see me often you would say I'm having an affair with gray, which I am. All values of gray with a hint of another color. With this shirt I used a deep red thread as my accent. Just enough pop to be modest, I'm not one to call attention to myself.

Sadly at the end of making this shirt I realized Bernina was spent and needed to go to the shop for some care. Earlier she had dropped a rather large spring, half of a rather large spring which means the other half has gone rogue in her body. I noticed the usual lovely hum had changed to a crunchy sound and at closer examination her stitches looked a bit off, shall I say funky and not so clean. It's time for her spa day…actually she's gone for two weeks…gasp! Whatever shall I do…?!

I went into a store that I had mentally dismissed because of the name. I thought it was a place where I could get my name embroidered on a patch which I would hand sew to my uniform. Don't get me wrong, I secretly envy anyone who wears a uniform. You know what you are going to wear every day of the work week, you don't have to spend a ton of money on professional clothes and much like schools that require uniforms it takes the visual judgement out of the mix.

Back to the store, it turned out to be full of all kind of interesting things including this craft called punch needle. I had to give it a whirl. It reminded me of when I was a kid and made a hook rug but with a punch needle you have a lot more control. I'm going to investigate this further…you know, I'm always looking for a new hobby! HA I say to that!