finishing

It feels like I have crossed some sort of finish line, and there are prizes.

Last week was a crazy, crazy week at work. Many long hours, many late nights, many piles of paper strewn about my office. But since crossing that finish line Friday morning, there have been many rewards, including a Friday afternoon nap to make up for some of the sleep deprivation.

More prizes:



The pullover is finished! This is just a quick peek, because it needs blocking, but hopefully soon you'll see it on me!




Finally finished, a little baby sweater that I started before christmas and then forgot about. I'll be posting the pattern for this guy on Friday.

I had time to finish it in the car during a trip to...



...Mary Jo's, the Mecca of fabrics.

In the photo above, you see just a tiny smattering of the many fine faux furs available at Mary Jo's. This place is such a treat. I don't sew much, but I sure do appreciate the aisles and aisles of gabardines and linens, walls of buttons, whole sections of different kinds of interfacing. My mom must have bought ten pounds of serger thread (we made the pilgrimage in honor of her birthday). She bought gabardine to make herself a blazer, and I bought some beautiful green Italian linen from which she will make me a Donna Karan suit (see, more prizes).



One of my favorite things about Mary Jo's is all the hand-lettered signs. There are no computers to be seen anywhere in this place, and if you ask a salesperson for help, trust me, they'll know what they're talking about. This is no big-box store, this is the real deal, a throwback to an earlier era when mothers taught their daughters how to sew perfect inverted pleats. I know there are a few other Mary Jo's admirers out there who are going to chime in with their stories... the place is a wonder.

To top it off, on Sunday while listening to my most favorite radio show, Geet Bazaar, I won tickets to see Anoushka Shankar! Really! I was the eighth caller! This was the second time I have ever called a radio station to win anything, and the second time I have won the tickets (the first time was to see the Butchies, which I won from WXYC). There are real advantages to college radio, among them no commercials and less competition for fabulous prizes.

And then came sew green. Will the parade of prizes never end?