Update

In the latest sewing news chez The Sewing Lawyer ...

The Christmas shirts were well received.  The boy's shirt fits as intended.  I made him a 52 (Burda equivalent to US size 42) which I figured would be a size too big.  Now having measured him, it's 2 sizes too big but just the way he likes it - loose. 

Same for the Trilobite shirt.  I knew exactly how it would fit, having made this pattern gazillions of times before.

In other developments, my husband's legendary shopping skills turned up an astonishing "Hawaiian" print at one of his favorite thrift stores.  There's enough for another Aloha shirt, at least.  Look closely.  Evolution?

I am avoiding working on my coat.  Sometimes this happens.  Often it ends well.  If I persevere, and finish the project, it may defy my worst fears and become a loved and much-worn object.  I pride myself on the fact that I VERY rarely end up with UFOs in the sewing room.  However, keeping at some projects is a serious chore, and I'm afraid this is one of them. 

My last-week-of-2009 resolution is to finish it well before January 1, 2010 so I can start another more fun project.  I had better get on with it!

Next up is this jacket from the January 2009 issue of Burda, which I am going to make in a loud orange plaid.  There.  If I say I'm going to do it to a big enough audience, I'll have to, right?

Surely that will be more fun than my coat...

 

In the non-sewing-related category, this is the closest I'll get to the 2010 Winter Olympics that get underway soon in Vancouver, British Columbia.  At my brother's house, one of his guests had been selected to carry the torch in the Olympic relay.  There are 12,000 people participating in this rather strange exercise which sees the torch carried through more than 1,000 communities over 106 days.  Each participant gets a white track suit, hat, mitts and the torch he or she carried.  The runner I met brought her torch to the Boxing Day party and of course, I had to have my picture taken with it.  (I'm wearing a blouse I made from a sari - reviewed here.)