Getting ahead of myself

I am SO close to finishing up the fall purse I'm working on. The machine work is done now, and I just need to hand-stitch the lining bottom shut and it's done. I'm really excited about how it turned out, too--this just might turn into one of my go-to bag patterns! (Pictures will come after it's actually finished.)

And of course, now that I'm so close, my brain has already moved on to the next several projects! I'm hoping to get several things cut out this weekend....

First on the menu, this cardigan, which I cut out last night. I lengthened it a bit, since the pattern makes it look like it would hit at my hips and I thought it would look much better/more me/less like a granny sweater if I brought it to about mid-thigh. I'm expecting this to be a pretty quick one, actually--if I play my cards right, I won't even have to hem it! The selvedges turn up in a natural zig-zag, and it's a really nice finished look. So I'm thinking I'm going to unfold it for serging purposes, and then tack it down by hand, and I should be done.

I'd also like to get the pattern traced out and a muslin cut out for this jacket, since I've been drooling over it for more than a year now. It's going to need some tweaking, because I can't see it looking right over top of anything else as an actual jacket. Not with that neckline. So I'm planning on making this more of a blouse, and will have to raise the neckline accordingly. It won't look right longer, but with that length I'll feel much better if I can wear a cami underneath, and I don't particularly want that showing above the jacket neckline.

One project that I forgot to mention in my fall planning post is revisiting the pattern that I made my "Green and Gray" dress from. I had this one in mind anyway, since the main print fabric has been sitting around since the same Christmas that the jacket fabric came from (also part of my fabric gift pack from Mom). But it's getting bumped up in the queue because one of my cousins is getting married in October and I need something to wear. (And there is no way that I am pulling out that dress from my brother's wedding again, unless it's to chop it into a skirt!) I figured this one would be perfect, since it's nice fallish colors, and it's a knit fabric. So it'll be really comfortable for the drive, too. Which is good, because the wedding is in his fiancee's hometown, which is 4 1/2 hours away (one way), and it's looking like my immediate family is going to drive there and back again on the same day. Anyway, I'm going to alter it so that it's long-sleeved instead of 3/4, just because the weather in that part of Pennsylvania in October could be pretty chilly. And even if it's not, this is for the ice queen that is me.

I'm also going to be sewing a little bit of the fiancee's shower gift (teaming up with my sis-in-law for the rest of it), but that may not get cut out this weekend since we're going shopping for said shower and wedding gifts later this morning. That, and I have to work on getting some music together for the band I teach, which starts up again on Wednesday. And cook some food so I actually have something to eat--my freezer stash is starting to run a little low, and all insanity (aka my fall work schedule) breaks loose on Monday! I'm hoping that I can at least find a little bit of time to keep sewing in there--I'd like to get something new done during Self-Stitched September! I've also been reconstructing a sweater, so maybe I can at least stitch on that in the evenings or something....