Back in the Studio Again

I've been doing a much better job getting to the studio (even though I have a sweater pattern to write, patent papers to review and a couple websites to get together). The new machine has helped, as has recently watching a few episodes of "The Great British Sewing Bee".

The yellow girls hangin' on the porch.

My husband walked into my studio the other day and said "this place is a wreck!" (He seldom enters my studio due to my successfully instilling in him both a great respect for my workspace and a healthy fear of my wrath should he damage anything.) Of course my response was "I've been cleaning and organizing. You should have seen it before I left for conference."
I like how my dear friend Rae Cumbie puts it: "This is a working studio and I am VERY creative."
Truthfully, it has gotten past my personal comfort level of chaos, but I prefer to work through the piles of projects to clean up rather than put everything away, then turn around and pull it out again.

One project I'd been meaning to do is a pattern that was included in the goody bag for the Pattern Review weekend in Austin earlier this year: Have It All Wallet. Whenever I get a new machine I like to do a project to get a sense of what it can do, so I did this project on Melly.
I'm still not used to the default far-left needle position, but I understand the reasoning (you get better control by having the fabric entirely on both feed dogs and under the presser foot.)

Melly with our first completed project together.

Yesterday was the first day of the Pattern Review Surprise Sewing Bee, so I also did that project on Melly. I did cheat a little by using my Bernina 350PE(Madeline) for the zipper and hem, but only because I don't have an invisible zipper or edge stitch foot for Melly.
I also did some machine embroidery (on Mathilde, Bernina 830) which is outside Melly's skill set.
I'll post a link to the review and photos as soon as I'm done.





And in spite of spending more time in the sewing studio, I am making progress on the pattern for the Gabrielle Cardigan. This is my first original design and first attempt at writing a knitting pattern, so I am going very slowly. Thankfully I already have a very experienced knitter who has agreed to review the pattern, and quite a few folks willing to be test knitters.






One of the piles I mentioned earlier is fabric and partially done knitting bags for a couple of my mom's sewing buddies. Her instructor sent me a huge number of vintage sewing magazines, books and patterns, and a fellow student sent me back issues of Threads Magazine.
The fabric is cotton and laminated cotton that I purchased at France Duval-Stella in Paris when shopping with my friend, Ségolène. This is her favorite fabric shop in Paris, and one I would have never found on my own.
The two bags are based on ones I picked up at Papa Pique et Maman Coud in Lyon. The round one is my own design--a holder for a ball of yarn.

And finally, I've been planning my next DeskAway. I'll be on my own for most of the trip, and I'll only be going to London and Paris. I loved the apartment in Knightsbridge, but would like to check out a different neighborhood, so this time I'm staying here: WEST END STUDIO LONDON COVENT GARDEN
I'll be staying in the same apartment in Paris: AMAZING TERRACE EIFFEL TOWER VIEW
This time I'll be staying there for a little over 2 weeks since I've invited my mom to spend a week with me. Since she took her first transatlantic flight earlier this year, I decided it is time to share my favorite city with her.

Back to my studio...
Juliette