TGIF!

Yay, it's Friday! I can't wait to do some sewing. Last weekend was all blogging, all the time. Last night I did my taxes. I've cleared the decks!

BMV Sale

Just a few things. First, since going to Puyallup I was waiting for a really good BMV sale on patterns. There was a $5.99 sale earlier this week, but I decided to wait it out. This morning, they announced a $3.99 sale on Vogue, $2.29 on McCalls and Butterick, and $5.99 on Kwik Sew. I fear that the $3.99 sales may be going the way of the Dodo bird, so I jumped on it. (The sale is through March 10th.)

I wasn't the only person who jumped online to take advantage of the sale. As I was perusing patterns, in happy abandon, response time became slower and slower. Then we collectively broke the BMV website for 15-20 minutes. During that time, the site stopped serving up photos, like this:

I envision some IT person in fire-drill mode as the sewists who had attended Puyallup (with new inspiration) ran to fill their carts.

PJs!

Second, my youngest daughter is returning from her year abroad in about one week!

She is returning to Washington D.C. and will be there for another month. The students will debrief, re-orient themselves to life here, go on a retreat to process the experience, meet with politicians at the White House and leaders from the World Bank. They will be preparing final presentations about the experience and they are even given classes on public speaking. Finally, there is a gala weekend with presentations, parties, food, and a graduation.

I won't be there.

But I am sending a very thoughtfully selected care package for my daughter's return. The clothing they have been wearing is pretty shot, I hear. So I am sending her things like underwear, socks, some tee shirts, stretch jeans. The items I've purchased are either from Uniqlo or the Google store. She has also filled 8 journals, so I'm sending her a new journal. Oh, and one of the most critical things I'm sending is Girl Scout cookies.

I hear they missed Girl Scout cookies.

When I last skyped with her several weeks ago, I asked her what she needed. Underwear? Shoes? What? She replied, "Mom, what I really need is a one-terrabyte external hard drive. Other than that, I'm good. I don't need much." My little geeklet. I sent her a TWO terabyte hard drive, as well as some dress shoes.

This has been quite the year for my daughter. She worked with Aids patients in South Africa. She bungee jumped off the highest bridge in the world. She taught students in India. She toured the Taj Mahal and she rode camels. She lived in Ecuador with a village Shaman. I saw photos of a snake wrapped around her shoulders - and this is a girl who hates creepie crawlies. She hiked the Inca Trail. While in a remote village in Ecuador, she planted trees and washed her clothes in a river. She saw the Killing Fields in Cambodia. She also experienced digestive issues and, in fact, she ended up in the ER twice in India and once in Ecuador - or Thailand - I can't remember, as well as a clinic in South Africa.

I can't wait to hear all about it.

Also in her care package, I included a pair of mommy-made PJ bottoms.

Of course.

I found this rainbow-colored cheetah print flannel at JoAnns. I machine washed and dried it twice. I would have done so a third time to remove more shrinkage, but I was in a rush.

And it (mostly) goes with the tee shirts. I used Burda 3217 - a long out of print pattern. The pattern says it's designed for 5'6" women, and she's about 5'3", so I removed 3" from the leg (in two places, since the leg is tapered). Hopefully these will fit her, but if not, I can use them. ;)

I love this "I Am Here" tee-shirt from the Google store. How perfect for a recent world traveler.
Of course
It doesn't go as well with the grey tee sporting the Google Doodle of the Cookie Monster, but I couldn't resist

If you are interested in learning more about the excellent organization who runs these gap year programs, check out Thinking Beyond Borders.

Great British American Sewing Bee

It's all over the blogosphere, but maybe you haven't heard. They are casting in the New Jersey area for a pilot of the Great American Sewing Bee. I know of several folks who have applied.

I haven't talked about this show, mostly because I just haven't been gobsmacked by it.

I don't care for most of the challenges and am not inspired by most of the sewing.

However, I just finished watching episode 2 of season 2 of the GBSB, and what I do really like (and maybe this is why, in part, the show is so popular) is the humanity displayed by the contestants, the judges, the host, the production people, and the editors.

People are nice. They support each other. They view their wins with self deprecation (and surprise) and they view their failures with humor. They do not build up the suspense of the winner or loser, or subject them to extreme degradation.

THAT is what I like about the show.

I just hope that the U.S. version doesn't eject all of the charm, especially as some of my friends may be on it.

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I'm off to work and then, looking forward to a weekend of sewing. Spring has definitely arrived here in SF, so we'll see what project(s) I end up working on. I'm not sure yet and it could go either way.

I hope your weekend is great!