Top 5 of 2014 - Reflections and Goals

This is my last Top5 list, in case you didn't see them, I previously talked about my hits, misses and non-sewing highlights for 2014. The last two lists that Gillian suggested were reflections and goals. I have decided to combine these, as when I started thinking of my reflections, they generally were things I wanted to improve on, and therefore went hand in hand with the goals.

Top 5 Reflections and/or Goals

• Keep working on improving fit - I'm getting there but there's still room for improvement and learning. In particular I want to learn about fitting less fitted garments.
• Don't get stuck in a pattern rut - Recently I have been following the easier path of making garments by altering my bodice block. While this is awesome, and generally gives me a good result, it also means that I've been making things with similar shapes and silhouettes rather than branching out.
• It's ok to do other stuff - I did less sewing in 2014 than other years, often because I was busy doing other things. I need to remind myself that this is ok, I should do what I enjoy and not feel guilty for either sewing too little or too much.
• It's ok to fail - Most of the projects I've done in the last year were things where I knew what I was doing and I was unlikely to fail. However, the project I was most proud of, my Frocktails dress, was a massive risk. It was a style risk, and a techniques risk, and heaps of work went into it. I need to do more projects like this. If I fail, that's ok, as I will likely have learnt something anyway. One thing I would like to do under this theme is to make a jacket. I bought fabric for two potential jackets in Vancouver, I would like to make at least one of them this year.
• Blog more - Blog posts last year were few and far between, partly because I did less sewing and partly because the posts were primarily finished garment posts. I would like to get back to talking about plans and in-progress projects more often rather than just focusing on the finished garments.

Top 5 of 2014 - (Non-Sewing) Highlights

This is the third post for my top 5 lists for 2014, I have previously posted my hits and misses. Gillian describes this section as "non-sewing highlights", so here they are...

1- Involvement with ingress community - This year I haven't had as much time for sewing as I normally would have as I have been heavily involved in the Ingress community.
Ingress is an "augmented reality" game that you play on your phone, and you can play anywhere in the world. It uses google maps and the GPS in your phone to work out where you are, and to interact with "portals" in the game you have to actually go there. There are two teams and I'm a member of the resistance, or blue, team. While you can play on your own, the game is best played as part of the team, which has led to a very strong community surrounding the game.

As part of the game there are events held in particular locations globally; Melbourne got one of those events in May. This is certainly a highlight of the game this year for me. I was heavily involved in the planning and organisation for our team for that event, which was both challenging and rewarding in equal measure, considering as about 400 people turned up on the day across both teams.

Another thing I have been involved in this year for the Ingress community has been getting some keyrings made. With help from Darren we made a design to represent the Australian Resistance (which you've seen already when I shared my  screen printing), and then I opened up pre-orders to the Australian (and global) Resistance community.

I needed to get 300 orders to make the keyring manufacture viable; I had 300 orders within the first 24 hours! I ended up getting a bit over 500 keyrings made.

I specifically chose a supplier that manufactured the keyrings in Melbourne, and am thrilled with how they turned out, both in quality and design,

2- Trips within Australia - I've been on quite a few trips within Australia this year; a trip to Sydney, two to Brisbane, two to northern Tassie, to Euroa (with a very long detour home through rural Victoria), and a trip to Warrnambool and the Great Ocean Road. Some of the trips were to see family, others to see friends, and others just because (and pretty much all of the trips involved some ingressing). It's been great to see more of my adopted country.

The tassie trips were particularly amazing. Early in the year we went to Burnie to visit Darren's aunt and also spent a couple of nights at Cradle Mountain (pictured above).  We then went back in the middle of the year, where the spectacular highlight was getting to go up in Darren's uncle's little 4 seater plane and see the north west Tasmania coastline from the air. AND, even more exciting, I got to fly the plane!!! (pictured below).

 

Another standout trip was a road trip to Warrnambool, where we stayed with a friend's parents and then came home along the great ocean road. The first pic below is us at a place called Tower Hill, near Warrnambool, and the second pic is us at one of the (very windy) lookouts on the great ocean road.

 

3- Our trip to Canada - Darren and I went on a two week holiday in October/November to Canada (and a tiny bit of the US). The trip was a whirlwind tour of Toronto, Montreal, Seattle and Vancouver and we had an amazing time.

The trip was triggered by the decision to have a group meet-up in Toronto with some of the Ingressers we know, mostly from around North America. Meeting some awesome people in person, many that I'd been chatting with online for up to a year, and spending the weekend exploring Toronto with them was an amazing experience (most of us pictured above). We also made a day trip to Niagara Falls, which really was spectacular, just the scale and the amount of water is overwhelming.

 

After the weekend in Toronto, Darren and I went on with the rest of our trip. According to my fitbit, we walked a whopping 200km while we were away. We walked and walked and walked (and ingressed while we did it) seeing heaps of the cities we were exploring. (Picture below is from the lookout at the top of Mont Royal in Montreal.

 

4- Sewing Friends - The friends I've made through the sewing community really are amazing, and their impact on my life is even moreso. From texts and emails for help, to our monthly social sewing days, to the advice, support and encouragement given through instagram, twitter and in comments on my blog, these interactions certainly enrich my life.

Some sub-highlights for this highlight would have to be the honour of attending Melanie's wedding (pic above), everyone I got to meet and spend time with at Sydney Frocktails (below, pic stolen from Nic), and the sewers (and knitters) that I met up with on my trip to Canada, in particular getting the opportunity to meet Tasia and get a sneak peek at SewaholicHQ.

 

5- Darren - Last, and certainly not least, the highest and lightest highlight of this year is Darren (also known as "The Boy"). Darren and I moved in with each other this year, and there is no better word to describe him as than my partner. He has been at my side and supporting me through all the other 4 highlights and many other times besides.

I'll be back tomorrow with my last of these top5 list posts, with my goals and reflections.

Top 5 of 2014 - Misses

After sharing my top 5 hits yesterday, today I will share my top 5 misses. My misses aren't massive sewing fails, as while there have been a few of those they haven't made them onto the blog. Instead, they're items that have disappointed me in other ways...

  

1. Wool Hollyburn Skirt - While there's nothing particularly wrong with this skirt, I don't find myself reaching for it over other options. For some reason it doesn't feel flattering, and I have no idea why. Perhaps it's just the fabric? I'm still ambivalent about the dress I made with this fabric too. And to top it off, the zip has recently broken in this skirt, so it's been sat in a pile of broken zippered items waiting for me to unpick the zip and replace it.
2. Grey Pleated Dress - I'm still sad about the fabric that I used for this dress. Sad and disappointed. I love the dress. It's comfortable, it's warm... and it's unrealistically delicate. Snags appear in the fabric almost as easily as just looking at it. I'll likely still wear the dress (once the weather cools down again), but not as much as I would if the fabric wasn't so snagged and likely to become more so every time it's worn.
3. Lysa Sweater - another slight disappointment, mostly due to the yarn. I have worn this sweater twice so far and it's started pilling and it's already looking more worn than knits that I've worn more times than I could count and have had for over a year. For this reason I'm cautious about knitting with the same yarn again, so returned the balls that I had in another colourway that were destined to be my next project in favour of a different type of yarn,
4. Peacock Eyes Cardigan - got some fingering weight yarn and started a version of "peacock eyes" in February... and I got a decent way into it but I'm just not loving it. I don't know if it's the pattern, or the yarn, or the combinations, but the love isn't there. So it's been pushed into the corner for now. I'm thinking that because I'm not loving it I will likely unravel it and do something else with the yarn, as there's no point continuing with a knitting project I'm not loving.
5. Black ponte shorts - I don't have a picture of these yet, and they've barely been worn. It was possibly a bad omen that the first zip broke as I was making them (I've not had much luck with zips this year). I don't know if it's the fabric choice, the fit or just that my lifestyle has changed. The lifestyle thought is a reasonable one, as I haven't been wearing my other winter shorts as much as I used to (my thurlows here and here).

Top 5 of 2014 - Hits

Today I'm going to join in with Gillian's Top 5 list again. I was intending on posting it as one post, but it got a bit long, so I'm splitting it up.

I've been pondering my 'hits' since Gillian first posted about this years lists. I spent some time this week organising and updating the pages for my blog where I've catalogued my makes, I now have pages for my sewn garments, my knits, my quilts, and my other finished items, which are also all linked near the top of the page.

It took me a little while, but I've settled on my top 5 as:

     

1. My Sydney Frocktails Dress - many many many hours went into the construction of this dress. I tried new techniques, and new types of fabric. The final dress was a triumph and I hope to find other opportunities to wear it.
2. Laura Skirt - worn very regularly to work since making it, the pairing of fabric and pattern were spot on with this skirt. The skirt is smart but really comfy, and the little flounce at the back is a great alternative to a slit. 
3. Bouncing Birthday Shorts - worn very frequently throughout the summer, a great go-to garment for hot days. The stretch in the sateen I think is the key aspect to what has made them so comfortable, which I should remember for future iterations.
4. Aiken Jumper - I've finished three knitted garments this year, and this one is hands down the most comfortable of them. It has just the right amount of ease and lovely and is cosy in cold air-conditioned offices.
5. Shhh, it's a secret - the last of my hits for the year is a project that I've been working on that I can't quite tell you about yet as it's a gift that hasn't been gifted yet. I promise just as soon as it is gifted I'll show you.

I'll be back tomorrow with my misses...