> > Also, I do like to sew.
> >
> > Ticia
>
> Hey Ticia, I love to sew, too! I spend, on the average day, from 9am-4pm sewing. And from 5 to 10pm I am the department manager of the fabric at the fabric store. Sometimes after work I sew a little, and on my days off I sew until I can't anymore. Sometimes I think I'll just get sick of it, but I haven't yet. Right now I am working on my 4th fashion show. This is my final fashion show in the area that I've grown up. In September I am moving far far away to work and gain residency, and when that has happened I hope to go to design school. In 2 of the fashion shows I did, I sewed only 10 outfits, and in the other I accessorized a 12 outfit line (hats, scarves, purses, purses, purses. . .), this time, I'm going for major impact. My goal is to have 30 outfits completed. So far, I am about 14 into it, with some bits are pieces strewn about. The fashion show is on July 31st, and I am confident I can get everything finished. That is, unless I keep getting "great ideas". Usually, a "great idea" is something extremely cool. . .and very time consuming. I've spent 10 hours over the past few days cutting pieces of courduroy, denim, and velvet into weird pieces, then sewing them together and chopping them up again, then sewing....making this huge kaliedescope of fabric. Hopefully, I can make something cool out of it.
>
> Doing this all day is very enjoyable. It's nice to have the leisure to do something I feel so passionate about, and I get to listen to NPR all day. I keep hearing very interesting interviews with intersting people who do very world changing, or creative, or brilliant things. It makes me think about how my passion for creating clothing fits in to all of this. I think a lot about two opposing forces. One side says looks aren't important, another says they are extremely important, in fact the MOST important thing. I think about our image based culured and it's effects on women. I think about all the pressures to be one way, and all the pressures to rebel against that, etc. I think about how despite all this confusion, everyone likes to wear something that makes them feel good about themselves, whatever it may be. Be it comfortable, or sexy, or flattering or what they've always worn. I also think about clothing as an art form, or as a form of expression. I also think about why I can't devote this energy I spend on learning to spell properly, and be grammaticly correct, and all the millions of different abilities and weaknesses that I neglect to work on this.
>
> I think a lot. I guess that's what happens when you look at a sewing machine all day, and when your main companion is an eight year old (who looks at me like I'm very weird when I ask her serious questions.) I haven't formed any major conclusions, but I do know that I enjoy doing what I'm doing and I think I should continue. And, hey, if you're going to be in the Utah area on July 31st you are more than welcome to come. We're having refreshments if that helps :)
>
> Thanks for listening (reading) this rambling. It's good to get some of this off my chest.
>
> How's that for a tangent, Howard?
>
> Tess

I also like to sew. Rarely clothes. Mostly quilts, toys and stuff-stuff. I want to make hats, I want to make dolls. but lately I've done more of my own Batik. I have a batik entered in the state fair this year. It's my first juried show. I've only done exhibits so far. It seems so remote, you just mail your thing in and find out later if the judges placed it or not.

I've done lots of horse shows that are judged. That's different, you are in there, in real life, performing whatever it is, with your horse. Seems like more at stake.

The batik dyeing is hard on my back. I have to learn the ziplock bag method. That may be hard too.

My main companion is also eight. He does very well with serious questions. A common argument I hear is between Daddy and eight years old; he wants to watch the news, Daddy wants to watch Wheel Of Fortune.

Right now I have a big plastic tote bin, 25 gallons, I think, of scraps. All less than 4 inches in one dimension, though some are long strips. I am cutting them into 2 inch squares to make Irish chains. So far, I have hundreds of squares and no dent in the bin. I listen to audio books from the library.

I have a Juki that does 1500 stitches a minute, a Viking that I am not especially fond of, and a Juki serger that I have not learned to use in about 2 1/2 years. I bought it for doll clothes, which I have not gotten around to.

Cara