Ta Da..... or Whew! It is finally finished!

Yes, I did it!  I finally finished the artistic top that turned out not so artistic, but finished.  That is okay because it makes me happy when I wear it, which I did today.  It  definitely isn't boring. 

Wonderfully artistic isn't it? (Said with tongue in cheek so it sounds more like "Wunrfrll lrtk id ni")  I tried. I did get the green color in it and the pinks near my face. All that strip piecing is much too time consuming for someone that works 40 hours a week and comes home to three kids, a husband, and a very dirty house.  Not to mention all the laundry and the cooking and dishes. So, I minimized it and through in a bit of the Tilton sisters with the different fabrics I used. But Joy Joy loved it and I got several compliments on it at work, so it can't be too bad.

The fit could use some work and so, I think I will be working on this pattern with my SFD blue print.  That is another story.  I love using SFD, but every time I've tried to use it with a pattern I get scared and go back to Palmer-Plestching it.  I know that isn't a verb, but Joy and I have turned it into one, although we usually abbreviate it to P&P it.  If you saw my size F bust dart and what it looks like next to a commercial pattern, you would understand my fear.  Especially  after I change that size F bust dart to a princess seam. The top of the shoulder looks like it would be on the side of my arm.  I look at that weird thing and then look at the commercial pattern and say, "How the heck is that normal looking thing (the commercial pattern) going to be changed into something that looks like my weird bust pattern.  Then I stuff SFD ( Sure-Fit Design) back into its envelope.  Joy has made it work so well, that I really feel I ought to be able to do it to.  After all, we have to do everything together! ;-)

Next, I think I am going to do a shrug to go with a purple outfit that I have.  I bought the fabrics at Cloth Merchants in Tulsa with the idea of making a top and pants.  Instead, I managed to get a top and pants out of the first fabric, so I'm thinking that the sheer fabric I had planned to be used for a lined top will become a sheer shrug to wear over the others.  That third piece makes such a difference in what I look like.

This is totally off the subject of sewing, but I consider this my journal, too.  I need to say something here that I think is important.  It is about character and decision making.

I'm sixty years old and a good portion of my life I have spent working in credit unions.  I've done everything from working the teller line to being the President/CEO of a credit union in the DC area.  However, most of my time was spent in the loan department as a loan officer or an underwriter.  This is back when the loan officers actually made a decision and didn't rely on the computer to tell them if the loan was good or not. (Sorry, but in my opinion it takes a person to make that decision, which is probably a reason I don't work at credit unions any more.)  In other words, loan officers were hired for their judgement and underwriters not only had good judgement, they were the pickiest of the nit-pickers.Working in loans you develop instincts about what makes a good loan and what makes a bad loan.  You had to be able to back it up with facts, but I could usually tell within ten minutes of meeting the person if it was going to be a good loan or not.

The facts you need to back up your decision came from the "3 C's", Collateral, Capacity, and Character.  Collateral was what was offered to secure a loan, a car, a house, or a signature. Capacity is the ability to re-pay the loan; does the borrower have sufficient income compared to debts to pay the loan.  Those are both important, but to me, the most important thing is Character.  For character, I looked not only at the interview and the application, but the discussion over the credit report.  What I found over the years was that you saw patterns of behaviour from that discussion.  If the borrower had flawless credit and a reasonably low level of credit, that was an easy loan.  If there were one or two 30 day late pays and they could explain, ("The baby came two weeks early and in all the excitement, I forgot to make my payment.") then as long as the capacity was there it was probably a good loan.  But if there were more or bigger problems on the credit report then the discussion became really important.  If I asked about a problem and the response was something to the effect, "it was somebody else's fault" and I felt the explanation made sense, I went on to the next problem.  If the answer was again "it was somebody else's fault" I became concerned.  The pattern that was emerging was one of bad decisions and blaming others or bad luck for those decisions.  If that was the end of the bad credit I would ask for documentation to prove their version of those two things.  However, if there was still more credit problems and it always came down to "it wasn't my fault" they weren't going to get the loan, because I realized that their next bad decision could mean my loan wouldn't be paid.

I see so many young people now that are like that.  They don't realize that it is their own bad decisions that are causing their problems in life.  Everyone has bad things happen to them, but again, it is the way you handle those problems and the decisions that you make that will make the difference in your life.

$100,000 in student loans to get a degree that will earn you $30,000 a year is a bad decision.

Getting pregnant before you are married is a stupid thing to do.  Okay, in my opinion having sex outside of marriage is stupid, not to mention it is a sin. But having a baby that you can't support is equally stupid.  Killing that unborn child is murder, plain and simple.  From the time that child is conceived it is a human being and has rights to life every bit as strong as the mother's right to life.  So, if you fall into sin and do get pregnant, at least give that child a chance and give him/her up for adoption.  You will have a better life and so will that child.  For Pete's sake, don't get married just because you are pregnant.  Which brings me to the next thing.

Marrying the wrong person is the biggest mistake you can make in your life and will make the biggest difference in the life you lead.  Don't marry someone that is not ethical or trustworthy.  If he/she lies to you now, you better believe he/she will lie to you later. 

Stay out of debt!  Yes, this is the former loan officer saying, "Stay out of Debt".  As the Bible says and Dave Ramsey repeats so often, "The borrower is slave to the lender."  Don't enslave yourself for a new car.

Just think and make smart decisions.  Be honest with yourself and others.Maybe someone reading this will be helped by it.  I hope so.

I think Blogger is telling me it is time to stop and I still have the pictures to post. 
Hugs, Phylly