Shoe Lust

I love shoes and own quite a few pair. My husband opened up a whole new shoe wardrobe for me when he introduced me to technically specific outdoor shoes. My shoe lust is compounded by the fact that I own gianormous feet (size 12 M) so cute shoes are hard to find. My favourite budget minded sources are e-bay and Payless. The top photo is my favourite sandals that I got last year from Payless (maybe I can convince my sister to order me the pair of the same in bronze for this summer) The second pic is the fabulous sandals given to me by my sister for Christmas. As she lives in Atlanta, if she can find my size/style she can order them to the store nearby. Unfortunately, they don't have that service in Canada!

Sewing progress: currently in the works is my winter coat, Simplicity 2764, view E in a black and white birdseye mystery wool. I sewed the front tucks, cut out a horsehair shoulder sheild and taped the underarm seam to stablilze it tonight. Tomorrow will tackle the back. I want this to be a combination of construction for stability and a quick project, so I'm adding some stablilizers to the coat as well as lining it. Perhaps also adding a little interlining of some polar fleece in the upper back as well

Items to Lust Over

After a few pleasant window-shopping hours over the holidays browsing e-bay, fashion blogs and Etsy, I found a few lovely jewelery items that appealled to me:

• Oxidized Sterling Silver Thai Silver Kyanite Double Strand Bracelet & Wire Wrapped Oxidized Sterling Silver Earrings from KrisCrossDesigns's shop


• Linear hand forged sterling silver twist-y bar earrings and Aureus II. extra large 14k gold filled hammered hoop earrings from organikx's shop (second two pics) Love their simplicity and the organic closures

Happily and co-incidentally, both of these talented artisans are Canadian! Go Canada!

Happy New Year

Guess it's time for the new years resolutions! Maybe if I take it simple I can actually accomplish a few of them. In no particular order:

1. Sew with a plan whenever possible. I do have a storyboard up in my sewing room to try and keep on plan. I have joined some contests on patternreview for motivation, but sadly lack the time to finish them in the time allocated. I'm pleased with my results when I stick to the plan!
2. Do some decorating/painting in our house. Other than my sewing room, I have not done any decorating since we moved in -- 'nuff said!!
3. Add some trend to my wardrobe. I tend to sew basics to replace things I wear all the time...I would like to dress trendier and perhaps add some designer knock offs as well.
4. Sew a coat. I haven't had a nice winter coat in ages. I think this will be my first project for 2009.
5. Use my Burda Magazines more. This is my most fabulous gift from my husband, but sadly underused.
6. Excercise more. We eat pretty well (both my husband and I love to cook) but I definately need to compensate for the delicious food and wine we enjoy.

I did get to sew today and finished a top that was cut out ages ago -- hopefully I can review it soon!

Best wishes to everyone for a great 2009!!