New Orleans - part 2

So after waking up Friday morning, I headed down to the gas station a couple of blocks down Canal St. and bought bread, cheese, muffins and milk. Yup, we ate a lot of bread, cheese, muffins and milk for breakfast during our trip. Had I walked down 2 more blocks, I would have found Betsy's Pancake House, which had the best blueberry pancakes I've ever had. But, we didn't find it until Monday, so toasted cheese sandwiches it was.

I then walked down to the Mom's hotel to do some fittings and alterations (and a swim!). 5 of the girls had a fitting, and all but 1 of those needed alterations of some sort. So, of course I procrastinated, thinking that I had lots of time after the Jazz Festival that night to get down to business. I went back to the hotel and met Chris, Brian and Julia and we got a cab ride to the festival from a cabbie who lives in the guest house! He gave us a great deal :)

The festival was great. The weather was hot, but not too hot, and the only lineup that was long was for drinks.





We saw Keb Mo and Bob Dylan on the main stage, but by far the highlight of Friday for me was absolutely Ani Difranco. Her setlist was GREAT!!!:

Shy
Manhole
Studying Stones
Two Little Girls
As Is
Sunday Morning
Untouchable Face
Names And Dates And Times
Spoken Word: IQ
Swim
Red Letter Year
Fuel
Gravel
78% Water
Swandive
Recoil
Shameless
Little Plastic Castle
Evolve

So, we went back to the hotel and I got cleaned up to go sew all night. I started walking to the hotel (the buses and streetcars were free, but never seemed to come when I needed them!), then a cab pulled over and gave me a free cab ride since it was on his way! He wouldn't even take a tip when I got out.

So, I had Mom's key from earlier in the day, but apparently this hotel had serious problems with keys deactivating, so I couldn't get into the room. So I waited in the lobby for a bit, tried calling everyone's cellphones, then waited a bit more. Finally, Gill and Grant got to the hotel, but they didn't know where Mom or Dad were. So, I waited in their room for a bit, then they were leaving, so I went back to the lobby just as Mom was arriving back with everyone else. It was now almost 10 PM, and I just plain don't do a good job working after 10. I start to make mistakes, and have to redo things over again, so it's just not a good idea. I started working on the dress that needed the most work, but Dad came up to the room to go to bed, so I figured I'd be better off waiting until the next morning. Nobody's fault (except maybe the hotel's faulty keying system ;) ), it just sucked that I barely got anything done the one night when I had no other plans!

Part 3 coming up!

The ultimate crafty adventure in New Orleans - part 1

Well, I'm back from New Orleans, and, sewing aside, what an adventure in itself! The city was wonderful, and I can't believe the hospitality we received. Although the city isn't fully back up and running, everyone we came in contact with made such a huge effort to make our stay memorable, and it most definitely was. From the JazzFest to our guesthouse to the wedding, everything was perfect, and we couldn't have asked for a better vacation.
If you don't feel like reading my entire entry (warning - it'll be long!), here's a link to my photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/blueandyou/sets/72057594127445012/

So, why is this a crafty adventure, you may ask? Well, with 10 bridesmaids, none of who live within 1400 kms of me, most of who live over 6000 kms away, there were bound to be some last minute alterations. And, man, were there alterations!

Our arrival in New Orleans was greeted with a band playing in the airport! Unfortunately, I didn't pull out my camera, but, I promise, that was the only time during the trip that I didn't take a picture when I wanted to :)

We arrived at the Canal Street Guesthouse, and were greeted by Cathey, one of the owners. She gave us the tour, which included showing us where Julia and Brian's room was, and sure enough, there they were, playing Scrabble on the balcony! The guest house was awesome, it had everything we needed (plus wireless internet in our room!), and it was so comfortable we felt like we were staying with family. Here are some pictures of our room, the "Cowboy Room".







The other owner, Mr. Sam, came over while we were on the balcony and told us some VERY colourful stories about the guest house's former life. Apparently, there was a bar downstairs that attracted all kinds of junkies and hookers, and the guest house was a rooming house that was in cahoots with the bar. Needless to say, it was pretty shady. Luckily, this was 10 years ago, before Cathey and Sam bought it, and the bar is now closed, and the guest house is now AWESOME. I would absolutely recommend it to anyone going to New Orleans.

So after checking in, the Mom called me to bring over my sewing machine. So, I brought it to her hotel, where her and Dad had a suite, and set up what was to be sewing central for the next 3 days.

Friday night was pretty tame for me...Chris and I went out to dinner, then met up for drinks with Julia and Brian at a courtyard pub that had a flaming fountain in the center. Yup, a fountain with running water and flames coming up from the top. Cool. Then I went back to the guest house to go to bed (we'd been up since 4:30 in the morning!), and Chris, Julia and Brian went to see Galactic.

Stay tuned for part two!

Phew!

Hear that big sigh of relief coming from over here? That's the sound of me finally finishing the bridesmaids dresses for Gill's wedding! I only leave on Thursday, I had plenty of time left :)

The last five dresses:


Ten little flower pins:


One of ten little purses (I plan on embroidering everyone's initials on them so we can tell them apart...something to do on the plane ride!):


My favorite part...the strap detail on my dress! Hate strapless bras? Here's my solution: the strap for the dress has 2 little hooks on it, one hooks to the dress, the other to my strapless bra, thus making it not strapless anymore! The one strap holds up everything, and it works so much better than I had imagined, I want to make all my strappy dresses and shirts work like this!:


Only 3 more workdays to go!

always a bridesmaid...

1 down, 8 to go! I can't believe how well this dress fits me, and it's for Rebecca! I've decided that if I don't get my own done in time, she's out and I'm wearing this one! I almost wore it down to the basement to change over my laundry, then I felt a bit like Monica in the wedding dress episode of Friends!
I'm wasting precious sewing time by posting this, so I'll just say I'm terribly sorry for how disgustingly dirty my mirror is. Ew...
Also, check out the shoes! They're from Payless!
flower 1:

flower 2:

mittens!

Here's my first try at mittens! It was promptly followed by my second try, since when Bernat says "one-size ladies" they actually mean for gargantuan ladies with man hands. No offense to any ladies with large hands, but they fit Chris! So, I started my second pair, which may turn out to be kid-sized, since I'm not too sure yet if I got the hang of altering patterns. Won't we be cute with our matching mittens...

I learned to crochet this weekend!

Well, I was in the magazine section getting my Jane fix for the month, and I noticed a little booklet magazine titled "Learn to Crochet". It looked similar to my "Learn to Knit" booklet, so I thought it might work.
Saturday morning I took the plunge, and it was easy! I made a headband, because that's how wide my crocheting ended up. About 3/4 of the way through, I realized I was doing it wrong, since he picture in the book didn't have horizontal lines. I figured out what I was doing wrong, but I kind of like the lines, so I kept them. Maybe I made up a new stich, maybe it's just wrong...
Who wants one!

all about maui

I know, I know, this is supposed to be about crafts...but for anyone who hasn't seen this girlie in a while, here's a big dose of Maui!

wet dog:

upside-down dog:

action shot!

mean face!

snow dog (at St. Paul's dog park):

just one of the lovely shots taken while trying to capture "mean face":

mad wet dog:

"Stay away from my bone!":

cute dog:

a new necker!

Well, I've been pretty tied up since Christmas with the bridesmaid's dresses for Gill's wedding, but I've found a little time for some knitting!
This is a new necker I made with the yarn Gill gave me for Christmas (Crystal Palace Musique - colour Heath) (pardon the redeye and the bamboo growing out of my head!):

close up:

I made these wristwarmers over Christmas, my first try at cabling!:


That's all for now, back to the dresses for me!

what did you get?

Finally, I can post everyone's gifts!

Bonnie and Maureen got embroidered pillow cases:




My cousin Audrey got a super-soft scarf:



Mom got a jewellery hanger:



Christine got the necker from a few pages back, as well as a stecilled modest mouse tee:



Grant got a tiled tray:



And finally, Gill got a biz-start-kit with stencilled tee and stencil to make more, stamp, stationary, and tags:





This was the most fun I've had making presents by far!

funny toque

It's so frustrating, so much of what I'm making right now is for gifts, so I don't want to put up the pics and give away the surprises! So, for me, I made a toque. It was really easy and only took 2 days. Now I'm working on a sweater that I'm pretty sure won't get finished until my 12 hour drive home for the holidays. I need to be patient!