Gotta Be Start'in Somethin'

And she's off, doing a whole bunch of new things this week.

First we have the ISC, Iress Supper Club (Iress is the name of my wonderful place of employment) where 5 of us went out for dinner in an attempt to create a monthly culinary trip around the world, in Toronto. This week we went to Hanoi 3 Seasons , a Vietnamese restaurant in Leslieville, the current hot spot for restos in the city. What a fabulous restaurant. It's decorated in greens and dark wood, with tons of Asian artifacts around the room. We had great service, I believe a member of the family that owns the restaurant came to take care of our table. He regaled us with stories of his family, Vietnam and the food he had the pleasure of eating while growing up. And with that came some wonderful recommendations. My ISC partners like their food spicy, REALLY spicy...I myself have a much blander palate and made sure to let our disappointed host know so. I got this wonderful garlic chicken and bok choy dish over Vermicelli noodles. Wouldn't you know, would have been perfect if I just let them add some spice! With wine, our shared apps and my delish main dish, the cost came to a cool $25! That was a wonderful surprise! I highly recommend, for those of you in the GTA of course.

Then today, oh lord today. Today was the dreaded class...sewing class. T and I signed up for a 3 hour tour...oh sorry...a 3 hour workshop on how to use a sewing machine and create an envelope pillowcase. My mother and grandmother are major quilters and they both sew a lot. I think I've always made my mother a little sad because I don't sew, especially since we've always had a sewing machine in our house. I've just never taken to it. In Home Ec way back when we had a project to create a pillowcase (yes another one) and I decided on an elephant pattern....a damn huge elephant that was WAY overstuffed. My mother took one look at my pathetic project and insisted on tightening it up, all over. I believe I got a good mark on the project, but I haven't attempting sewing since.

As I've mentioned many times on the blog I am trying to be open to new things in 2009. So when T told me she wanted to take the class I thought, why not, what harm will it do....well there was no harm per-se, but there was a lot of panic and sweating and self-doubt.

Our class begun at 11am. T and I aimed to meet for a quick breakfast at the swanky Drake hotel then we walked quickly through Parkdale (not the nicest of areas, but actually very interesting....during the day) to the workroom the workroom - our workshop location. The class was held in a store that had 8 sewing machines set-up along one wall, and the most beautiful fabric you've ever seen lining the other. The cutting tables were in the middle of the room, a little kitchen in the back and the cutest, sweetest dog wandered the store and peeked in all our bags throughout the workshop. Our instructor was the owner of the store and she was a very good teacher, except for the fact that she talked a lot about what we would be doing rather then showing us while we sat at the machines. You really needed to pay attention, and I tried, but it just wasn't sinking in, you know? I learned how to load up a bobbin (I still have no idea how much is enough) and thread the machine - ya it took me like 4 times, but I did it. I learned how to pin and cut along a pattern. And I learned, the most important thing of all, how to undo stitches - which you are seeing here:

I undid many, many stitches. I actually had to change machines because I caused one to squawk and squeak for reasons unknown. I had to undo and redo and undo and redo, over and over and over again. One of the other workshop participants, Michel, and I were in a competition to see if one of us would be the first people to ever fail the class. We both came close. I took around 45 minutes longer then everyone else to finish my project. I nearly broke my second machine. I almost gave up completely the entire thing, but I persevered, with lots of help and kind words from T. And you know what, when you flip your project right side out, you can't see any of your mistakes! All in all, I am incredibly exhausted from all the mental and physical stress, but I think its kinda cool that I made something....that hopefully won't unravel if I lay my head on it....voila the proof, my beautiful shimmery pillow.