darkness comes on standard time

As I did at exactly this time last year, I have taken the refashion pledge:

I pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of “new” manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 months. I pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovated, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thriftiness brings!

So I will probably be doing most of my sewing blog posts over there, but I will try and link them here when they go up.

I made Thai green curry for dinner to stave off the depression of the first Standard time early sunset. Spicy, wonderful nom nom noms!  And hopefully to help me feel better.

The past two months of house guests, lots of running around, plenty of work and then, most recently, being sick, have left me feeling broke down and worn out.  I have need-to-do projects stacked knee-high around the house. I feel the need to just catch up on my life.  Like not even the projects, just you know, being me who isn’t hosting guests or sick or at work.  Ugh.  Lots of sewing will surely help. I should get started on that.

This weekend I spent a bunch of time fantasizing about a lovely, relaxing summer holiday here.  My mom is just now flying back from here, which also seems about right for where I’d rather be right now.  I did, after many false starts, finally book my tickets to Seattle for the winter holidays.  Dec 20-28.  I’m very much looking forward to that too.

I didn’t do anything for Halloween, but come home and put on pajamas. Lame, maybe, but so relaxing.  I’ve been thinking about my Gramma Marge and my Grampa Ray a lot today. El Día de los Muertos means honoring them.  For a while now I’ve been wanting to make a standing El Día de los Muertos altar for them in miniature.  I should perhaps take some time today to put down my plans for it so that I can start making the little pieces of it over the coming year.  I will light a candle for them tonight.

Picture today is my dining room fireplace “altar” for honoring the dead.

 

kind of whiny.

Would I be happier if I lived here?

- Yesterday I waited 7 or 8 minutes at a train crossing.  Too long. At least too long for 2pm.  Maybe in the middle of the night, but not the middle of the day.

- I am in between perfumes.  That seems weird, I guess.  But the summer scent I was wearing just isn’t appropriate for cooler weather.  The winter scent I wore last year now seems cloying and strange to me.  I’ve found one I like but it’s prohibitively expensive and the lasting power on it isn’t great.  I want my perfume to last if it’s going to be expensive. My most favorite scent ever was discontinued a couple years back and I’ve been only temporarily satisfied ever since.  I feel like I’m settling with the scents I’ve used in recent years.  I need to find one.  Or two (summer/winter).  Just some scent I love, rather than something I can live with.  In search of this obviously I need to go to the store and smell lots of stuff, but also I’ve seen reading perfume sites for reviews and to get a basic idea of which perfumes contain the notes I want (vanilla, lavender and grapefruit/blood orange–any or any combination of these).  I think I’ve narrowed it down.  Wish me luck.  Also if you see me and I smell good, tell me.  It’ll help me choose.

- Some one needs to come up with books I don’t have to hold up to read. I like to read in bed. But my hands always get cold being outside the covers.  Why can’t the book just hang in front of me at the angle I want?

- My sinues hurt so badly, and I ache all over.  Stuffy and sore throat and yuck.  The kind of yuck where you wish your mom would bring you soup while you watch movies. Or maybe your boyfriend could bring you spicy thai chicken soup and rub your neck and feel sorry for you.  Alas, I have no access to this kind of comfort.  So instead I will watch episodes of Fringe and whine to you guys.  Whine whine whine whine.

I should be sewing, or working, or doing something but mostly I am too pathetic.  Am drinking gallons of fresh ginger tea which should fix me right up.  Was going to make green chicken curry today but I am too pathetic to even go to the store.  Instead I will take a hot shower and a nap until I have to go to work.  Is there some sort of sinus removal operation? What do I really need them for anyway?

 

 

can’t make the proverbs come true

Momma love

I was going to make a post.  Then I decided I was too lazy.  Then I was reading someone else’s blog and they posted the following:

“The lazier the man is, the more he plans to do tomorrow.” -Norwegian proverb

So, yeah.  I’m effing lazy.  Seriously.  I’ve kind fo been on vacation for the last week while my stedad and cousin were visiting.  I think they had a great time.  I had a good time.  We did a side trip to Chattanooga, which I’ll post pictures from as soon as I get them off loaded from the camera.  We saw lots of good music.  Ate lots of good food.  Drank lots of good wine.  I sort of feel like I need to eat raw vegetables and brown rice for the next week to recover.

I have a list of like 700 projects to finish. Am overwhelmed.  Will start tomorrow.  In the meantime I made myself new pajamas today.  And went to the grocery store.  And caught up on the best show ever, Modern Family.  Small achievements, but better, I guess than spending the whole day watching TV, which I was tempted to do.

Oh, and now, as I type this, we are having a classic WTF Nashville? moment.  Fireworks.  Randomly.  On a Thursday at 9:30 pm.  I’m not joking when I say this happens all the time.  Better yet, I just checked all the local news sources and there’s no comment on what event coulld be happening to cause this.  Libelle also was asleep.  Alas our cool E.Nash location means the fireworks always sound like the start of a new war.  *sigh*

It seemed the fireworks were over, but now low flying helicopters.  Nashville is definitely not the place to live if you have PTSD from being a war zone.  Or if you want to sleep on a week night.

Um, I can’t even remember what I was going to write about now. We will assume the fireworks are because it’s my momma’s birthday today. She deserves at least that much celebration.

 

(but not a real green dress, that’s cruel)

Final autumn dress (the previous ones are here and here).

This is the before:

Rhinestone buttons, ill-fitting bodice, awkward sleeves. But gorgeous fabric.

And after, with a few adjustments:

Took in side seams and bust darts, removed and re-set sleeves, shortened sleeves and skirt length, changed buttons and belt. I actually won’t wear this with fancy stockings and shoes, but rather with a flats and boots.  The angle is weird here too, camera low and tilting up, the dress looks shorter here than it appears when looking at it straight on.

I need to find a halfway decent photographer who wants to pad out their portfolio taking pictures of things I’ve sewn.  I am a really crummy photographer.  Although I suppose setting up the camera and using the self timer like this doesn’t really work out for anyone.

 

and you in your autumn sweater

I just ate a very healthy dinner.  I slept for 10 hours last night.  Now I need to take my vitamins and drink about 3 more glasses of water, sleep 8 more hours and hopefully be all back to normal.  Rock star weekend seriously took it’s toll on me.

I did manage to finish a few projects and take a couple pictures.  First up is my new winter coat.

It’s wool, and new with the tags on.  Apparently from Italy and cost 119 euros.  I got it for $15 at a thrift store.  I am very pleased with this.  It’s purple!   (Also how cute are my boots?)  I do need to shorten the sleeves on it a bit, but otherwise, seriously, how awesome, right?

I also finished a couple dresses.  This one is a midweight blend, shirred at the waist, with pockets.  It’s designed, hopefully, to work under a cardigan in the fall and maybe over a turtleneck in the winter.  It only barely resembles what I had imagined when I started shopping for the fabric, but I’m pretty darn happy with it.

I have one more dress finished, though not yet photographed.  I made a lined jacket for a friend.  Which really was just me taking his jean jacket and one of his sweatshirts and sewing them together, but it came out pretty well I think (we’ll see when I give it back to him tomorrow).  I did most all of my mending over the wekend as well (just have a pair of pjs that need a little altering left to finish).  So I’m all ready.  I have a VERY ambitious list of new projects to start, many of which are already cut out.  I am feeling ready to get started now that I’ve finished my fall wardrobe.  Although I am pining for a pair of grey boots like these.  I know, I know, I really do already have enough pairs of boots, but look how pretty!!  And affordable.  Unlike these, which are my dream boots (in green, so impractical, price and reviews also make them impractical, but so GORGEOUS).

 

weekend mash up

Gmail is advertising to me: “Learn How To Kiss A Girl In A Way That Makes Her Melt In Your Arms” presumably because I was quoting Cory Branan lyrics back and forth with TimmyMac? Hard to say. Also I’m pretty sure you can’t learn how to kiss on the internet. I’ve often wondered if it’s something that one just inherently does right. I mean, can it be learned at all?

I might consider trying to make something like this. I’m not actually sure I would wear this, but it’s called “Willamette” and something about the fabric and cut makes me think of summers at the beach with my Gramma Marge (who lived in the Willamette Valley–Mid-Valley– for those of you not in the know). I actually can’t decide if I like it or if just calls to me in some nostalgic way.

I stumbled on this posting the other day and am now actively fantasizing about winning the lottery and buying a this gorgeous riad in Marrakech. I mean check it out, it’s a steal. We should all just pool our money and go. I know things can’t make me happy, that I have to find it in myself. But I bet it’s WAY easier to look inside yourself when you live in a place that looks like that.

I know I’ve been in absentia for a while. I did post my pictures of my Seattle trip. I don’t know have much to say about it. It really was a grand and lovely trip. The weather was gorgeous. The company was fantastic. The food was great, as was the beer. I’ve been a little homesick since I got back and I keep dreaming about the ocean. Also I’m pretty proud of the pictures I took on this trip, though I think they are an unrealistic portrayal of the city. It’s that beautiful, just not that beautiful every day.

 

Thinky thoughts

I am freaking exhausted.  Staying up until 4 am pretending to be a cool rock chick will do that, I guess. Fun night, better day (despite the hangover) showing the PNW boys Nashberg.

Fall still seems to be raining it’s way in.  I’ve gotten pretty used to Indian summers here. I guess it’s still possible.  It’s just been so overwhelmingly grey and insanely wet for the last week.  The air tastes like despair.  I have been here, in the sun, for so long now that apparently it takes only a week of grey for SAD to set in.  Luckily a good day of bright Southern sunlight can knock it out.  Now if only the sun would come out.

Libelle and I went shopping yesterday and I got an amazing wool coat, Italian, with the tags still on at the new Goodwill for $15.  I am smitten with it. It’s purple, but not too purple.  I like autumn all right, though I lament the loss of summer.  The coat is so wonderful that I think I might actually make it through winter.  I will try to take pictures tomorrow.

I lost my evening reading random personal blogs that Google Reader recommended me.  Usually it recs me sewing blogs or something clearly related to other blogs I read (like music or local news) but I got these two random ones.  One a girl who seems lonely and sad, but maybe doesn’t realize how pathetic she comes across (lots of writing about the boyfriend she misses, even though they broke up a year ago and she hasn’t spoken to him in seven months, ugh, so sad).  And another is a sort of hipstery dude in Brooklyn, but he posts kind of interesting art, and these hilarious (possibly unintentionally so) one line movie reviews, so I might follow him for a while.

Then I was thinking about how these blogs are nothing but weird windows into people’s lives so I went back and read my own entries from the last three Septembers.  And I guess since this blog is sort of about nothing, it is also a weird little window into my life.  I was reminded that I get really homesick every September, so it is excellent that I am going out to visit this week (omg, I need to pack).  And there’s odd little entries like this one that make my life seem interesting.  I guess my life is interesting.

I was contemplating some meme where you put all your past addresses into Google Earth and post the pictures of them, but then it seemed oddly morbid. Still, here is the house I grew up in.  It is part of what makes me interesting.  This pictures makes me happy.  Maybe it is because it seems so sunny.

The Placebo version of this song was on the premiere of Vampire Diaries (which so far doesn’t suck) and reminded me of how much I love it.  I have probably listened to it six times tonight.  It makes me feel lonely and happy at the same time.  This video is clearly dated though still incredibly lovely.

Kate Bush – Running up that Hill
Uploaded by scopitones. – Explore more music videos.

This live performance is also dated, but the emotion in it is fantastic.

I am covered in mosquito bites from walking around Spring Hill cemetery this morning.  I hate the word “upcycle.”  I am tired and achy.  I should be in bed.  Instead I am scrunched up on the love seat eating a sandwich consists of wheat bread (the cheap, crappy kind that is like brown white bread), tartar sauce (better than mayo on sandwiches) and havarti.  It is kind of trashy and incredibly delicious.

 

Reminder

Hey all my lovely PNW pals,

I will be in town next week (ack, I need to pack!) and although I am very booked (busy jetsetter’s lifestyle) I would love to see you.  To this end there will be a party to compact all my socializing.

When: Friday, Sept 25, 2009, 7pm-ish
Where: my Folk’s house
Why: because I’ll be in town

Email me if you need directions or anything (if you don’t have my email then send me a msg on facebook and I’ll get the info to you).  There will be food and drink.  Feel free to bring something, but not required (if you do bring something, opt for gluten-free if you can).  Please RSVP if possible, just so we know how much liquor to buy.   I can’t wait to see you!

 

Fall 2009 wardrobe

Here are the promised pictures of recent sewing projects:

Autumn plaid blouse.  Made from a reproduction vintage cotton, that has a lovely weight to it.  Grey/black/cream/brown plaid that hopefully will go with everything.

White blouse.  The first thing I made on the new machine.  Shown here with my fantastic shoes and purple handbag.  (Vanity pics of shoes and handbag because my mom asked to see both.)

Rainy day dress!!  In cotton that looks like PNW drizzle to me.  Ribbon detail on neckline. Dress is fairly structured, fully lined and was definitely harder to make than I thought.

Up close of the ribbon detail and the fabric.  It’s “homespun” quilting cotton, made as reproduction fabric from 100 years ago or so.  Lovely uneven grey stripes.  The ribbon is just pleated grey grosgrain ribbon.

I have one more dress to make for Fall/Winter (f only I can find the fabric) and one more blouse (if only I can find a pattern).  And more pictures coming soon of things I made for someone other than me.

 

toys, of a sort

So my new machine has 7 of these 10 must have features.  I’m not sure I’d need the other 3.  Of course I didn’t know I needed the 7 I have until I had them.  I have to confess, sewing is MUCH easier with the new machine.  The speed adjustment really keeps me from rushing things so I can make much straighter lines and much smoother curves.  Although I should probably break out some scrap fabric and spend some time drilling myself on curves though.  Slow definitely helps but I imagine practice will help the most.

I have a few things finished that I really need to photograph, I don’t know why I’ve been unable to do that as it doesn’t really take that much time.  I did get one of these.    Which is like the coolest toy ever for a camera.  I can’t believe how well it works.  Who ever though of this is a genius! So, yes, pictures sooner than later.

After playing with someone else’s I am dying for an iPod Touch.  I actually don’t desire an iPhone.  I’m fine with a little Samsung flip phone.  I really kind of only want it to be a phone.  I’m not sure I’m comfortable combining everything.  But the iPod Touch?  WAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNT.  It looks amazingly perfect for travel. Music and movies?  Games?  Wi-fi web browsing?  I do wish there was non-Apple equivalent (I’d buy it right now), but I’m seriously considering socking away $5 a day for a few weeks and just getting one.  My iPod is coming up on 4 years now, it might actually be time for a replacement.  And fancy, shiny, fun step up.  It can be the reward I set for myself for finishing my next series of projects.

Picture from vincentchow.net

 

a thousand more words

The picture above is from one of my favorite photoblogs, Simple Things.  I feel like it perfectly captures this short hanging moment between seasons, when the light has changed but the leaves have not turned yet. When you know winter melancholy is coming but summer isn’t truly over.

Corbis has an incredible series of pictures up with stories about each one.  Definitely worth taking a trip through thier site to see each pic.

I love this picture.  It feels like the future of the world starts and ends right here.

And something about the gap-toothed smile here just warms my crusty old heart.

 

desperation

(I’ve posted this to a few sewing sites, but it can’t hurt to put it here too.)

Help me, internet, I am desperate. I am trying to find fabric like this:

I have found similar upholstery silk dupioni, but ideally I’d like cotton or cotton blend for apparel (I’d take silk too, or a really lightweight wool). The plaid is large, squares maybe 3″ on a side. I’d take a different colorway as long as it wasn’t like pastels or something, something similarly autumn like would be nice.

I’ve search for plaids at every online fabric store I can think of, I’ve searched Google for madras plaids, cotton plaids. I’ve lost hours to searching through “swatches” online. I feel like I could be doing a more efficient job but I’m at a loss where to start.

Any ideas? or has anyone seen anything like this?

 

Sometimes it’s just like that

At the fabric store yesterday there’s two older women sitting across the pattern book carrel from me.

L1: “How about this one?”
L2 “Mmmm.”
L1: “You don’t like it.”
L2: “I didn’t say that.”
L1: “I can tell by the look on your face, mom.”

At this point, I couldn’t help but laugh a little.

L1: “See even that lady over there is smiling because she knows you don’t like it.”
Me: “No, I’m only smiling because I have a mom too.”
*everyone laughs*

I don’t know why the exchange amused me so much, probably because I also have a mom (pictured here, without her permission, but I love this picture so much, so I don’t care).

I need to take and post picures of my finished projects.  I need to make a storyboad post or something of my upcoming projects.  Mostly, now that I’m finally caught up on Mad Men, I need to spend some time sewing so I can get more intimate with my new machine.  Or maybe I need to put on pants and go get me some fried pickles for lunch.

 

lost weekend

“You’re so profoundly sad.”
“No, it’s just my people are Nordic.”

AHAHAHAHAHAH!  Okay, I’m catching up on Mad Men finally (and yes that means means I’m barely into the second season), but wow, if that isn’t the best line ever. If only because it’s true.  And because it’s much like a conversation I recently had.  I wonder if there has been research about Scandinavian people being more inclined to melancholy.  Or do people just assume it’s the cold and lack of light somehow infusing our genetics.

The only bad thing about being so far behind on Mad Men is that I don’t really have any one to talk to about it.  I can’t be like, “Oh, can you believe that episode!?!” because everyone else saw it a year ago.  *sigh*  Oh well, I’m almost up to the new season, then I can be all cool and in the know.

So far this weekend I have watched way too much TV (though all of it Mad Men), spend a lovely day day chatting with my own Birdy about sewing and boys and TV and friends. I also tailored all my jeans so they fit better after all the weight I’ve lost.  I guess this is inclination to keep eating healthy and maybe exercise, since now none of my pants will fit if I gain the weight back. I also tore up some of our  ugly, raggedy throw pillows and made some shiny, new ones, which are, uh, very bright.  And maybe tacky, but definitely more comfortable than ones we had.

Today I need to cut out some of the next projects on my lists, work on some web stuff and take a bunch of pictures of stuff I have finished.  I was going to get a pedicure too, but I slept all morning (after staying up half the night watching MM) so  maybe that will have to happen tomorrow.

Now, I need to put on pants so I’m not embarassing myself when the neighbor boys come over to help me fix the broken coffee table.

 

SEATTLE PEOPLE:

When: Sept 25, 2009, 7pm-ish
Where: my Folk’s house
Why: because I’ll be in town

Most of you know the drill.  Email me if you need directions or anything.  There will be food and drink.  Feel free to bring something, but not required.  I can’t wait to see you!

 

tiny dresses!

Here are the dresses I made for my new cousin, Faith Alma!  She’s a farmer’s daughter and needed some tough clothes for hanging out with her daddy and her two brothers.

This dress is for picking vegetables in the garden and riding ATVs, but hopefully not through the garden.

This dress was originally truck themed, but alas, I had to hand draw the truck and it just didn’t turn out.  So I’ve covered it with a horse.  It’s like reverse progress.  The human race moves from horses to gas vehicles.  I move us back to horses.

Blue Tractor dress!  Again the original image didn’t work but this time I figured out to just redo it onto a patch and sew that on.

I’m pretty happy with how all of these turned out. The only thing I’d do differently would be to make a truck patch for the truck dress, instead of a horse patch.  But alas I didn’t think of it until I was done.  Over all though I think it worked out.

(If you can’t see the pictures, you can get them on my Flickr or just click through to the original post.)

 

just blather, sewing related

I can’t decide what to do about the Burda World of Fashion pattern.  I’m disappointed that you can’t just go to their site and easily order a back issue.  It seems like a major failing on their part. Also all I want from the issue is the skirt pattern.  If I devoted an hour to it I could probably hunt down a similar pattern somewhere else?  Or I could just keep an Ebay search watch for the issue and hope I get one?  I have the fabric for the skirt already. Hmm….

In other sewing related news I will post pics today of my latest finished stuff.  In the meantime I am obsessing over fabric (and obviously the pattern above).  I stumbled on this fabric.  I NEED it.  At that width I could do with only a yard.  I mean you wouldn’t want to do a whole top out of it or anything.  Although, hmm, lined as an a-line skirt, just above the knee, I bet it would be pretty fantastic too.  I searched around for something similar that wasn’t $20 a yard and this is the closest thing I found. Not good enough.  But hey, $20 isn’t so much, so I will probably break down by the end of the day and buy the pretty blue medallions.  I actually have a little money I was setting aside for a jacket, but you know, I have half a dozen jackets, so maybe I’ll buy the fabric and make something lovely with it.

I found the sewing class I want to take locally.  It’s $380, but it’s 12 – 3 hours classes, so completely worth it, as that’s like $11 a class.  However my schedule really doesn’t work with it right now (plus my current travel plans would have me missing 3 of the 12 classes), so I’m going to keep my fingers crossed that they will offer it again in the session starting in January.  Which would be perfect because it would give me something to occupy myself with in the dead of winter.  YAY!

I’m having a bunch of trouble shirring with elastic thread.  It’s extra frustrating because I do this all the time.  It’s usually so easy.  I guess I need to re-wrap all the bobbins and check the tension on my machine, top and bottom.  And then do a bunch of test runs.  And then carefully pick all the stitches out of my last two projects (or maybe one, I really might just sacrifice one of them).  And then resew once I make sure it all works. Blarg.

I think I’m going to work on my master list of sewing projects today.  Not sewing, just planning.  Since I’ve finished a bunch and abandoned a couple, I guess it needs updating.  I should probably clean my sewing table too, since maybe that will help me feel better when I attack the elastic thread problem.

—

Today’s picture doesn’t have jack to do with sewing, but I had a dirty dream about Alex Skarsgård last night, so I thought I’d post a picture, just to keep it fresh in my mind.  The picture also makes me want to sew a lot of fall clothes, so I guess that’s something sewing related.

 

watched over

Last night I had a dream that I was at a huge funeral with all my cousins. There was something I was supposed to do, or present at the end that I was like a minute late for and the Church Basement Ladies had already found someone else when I showed.  My Aunt Ina was there and she was whispering funny, embarrasing stories about all the Church Basement Ladies in my ear to make me feel better.

Things this dream tells me: I miss my family.  Which I knew.  I am supper sad to be missing my cousin’s baby shower this weekend.  And my Aunt Ina is looking out for me from the Hereafter.  Which is, uh, actually kind of weird.

I am mostly recovered from yesterday’s dramatic meltdown.  Although I have to say, 2009 has just been kind of an awful year.  It’s definitely had it’s good points, but I couldn’t say with any authority that those have outweighed the bad.  Ugh.

Here’s something nice:

Macedonian Apron Designs.  So bright and pretty!

(Picture from a geneaology website, captioned “with her aunt Ina.”)

 

day of fail

Now, I generally don’t generally give any credence to horoscopes other than Freewill Astrology, but I read them some times.  Today mine said:

When you’re feeling this positive, it’s easy to see how those good feelings might be contagious. Go ahead and spend some time with the people you love. Make them laugh, pass out a whole bunch of hugs and be sure that they all understand that you’d do anything to make them feel good now. Oh, and don’t be surprised if the person you love most teases you into doing their bidding — not that you’ll mind, of course. In all, it’s going to be a romantic, happy day.

How my day actually went:

I stayed up way too late last night.  This morning I was unceremoniously woken up by an unnecessary text message.  Libelle and I had planned to go to breakfast, and we had to go right away (because part of my current miserable oral care routine means I can’t put anything in my mouth for an hour after brushing, so I need coffee and food ASAP in the morning, then brush). So she’s calling me “grumpy bear” and we stumble off to the Biscuit House, get food and coffee and as I wake up I end spending an hour ranting about something upsetting that is only frustrating me more because I have no control over it.

At home, Libelle is getting ready for her fun road trip to Atlanta with Jedlet.  I start work on a couple sewing projects that are almost done.  Libelle leaves and I spend a little bit of time sewing and a lot of time ripping out stitches, and then resewing.  And then ripping out some more stitches.  I gave up for a bit, looked for a skirt pattern and found the PERFECT one.  But it’s in a past Burda World of Fashion magazine, which means I can’t get it with out spending days/weeks/months searching for a copy on Ebay.  Arg!

I had some other errands to run.  I did not run them because I thought it was Saturday. At some point I realized it was not Saturday but also too late in the day to do the things I’d needed to do on Friday. Went straight from cursing myself for not doing them earlier, to cursing myself for , well, not doing them earlier, but in a different way.

And then it was time to get ready for work. Mother Nature thought this would actually be a great time to start my monthlies. Fantastic. (I should also add, though I haven’t spoken of it here, I’ve been having some serious, incredibly painful complications with my teeth.  In addition to everything else, I’ve had just really a lot of pain for the past week. And I’ve been working very hard to ignore it, part of which means not talking about it.)

At the beginning of my shift a friend really pressed me on how I was feeling and I just cracked.  Like actually ran to the bathroom crying.  I don’t think I’ve ever done that before.  Certainly not at work. Effing embarassing.

At the end of the night I’m relaying this to a lovely friend of mine and she wonders why guys don’t get it.  When we (girls) say, “I’m okay” or “I’m fine” in response to “How are you?” and we don’t elaborate that’s code.  It means just drop it and move on. It means we don’t want to talk.  Think about it, every other time you’ve asked how we are, we’ve told you about the tomatoes in our gardens, and our Aunt Edna’s lupus, and the cat scratch on our shin, and the argument we had with our mom, and the dress we are wearing next week to a wedding and which yoga class we just came from.  “I’m fine,” is a conversation ender.  Don’t press it.  Or you might be the one to send a girl running off crying, and hey, no one wants that.

Anyway, I made it through the night.  I feel better (except the mouth pain). I will write it off as a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.  I will continue not to give any weight to my horoscopes.  Hey, horoscope, I got your romantic right here, come closer so I can whack you in the nose with it.

(P.S. I made a cranky baby smile tonight, I had a hilarious text conversation with my cousin, I made decent tips tonight, I had bacon for breakfast with Libelle, and the new Oxford American came in the mail.  Silver lining, yeah.)

 

mechanical joy

Here is my new sewing machine!!  It’s a digital Brother, factory refurbished, so I got it for about 55% off (including the same 25 year warranty the new machines come with).  To buy it I sold one of my manual machines and pair of cowboy boots (I will surely get more use out of this machine than my 8th pair of boots).  I have only played with it a little.  It has so many stitches!! Here’s a tiny few:

What I noticed most so far is that they few things I’m still good at as a seamstress, this machine appears to fix for me.  I have always had trouble regulating speed, especially when I need to go slowly.  This machine has speed settings, so when I need to go slow, I can just set it for slow! Also the needle always ends in a perfect down position, which is great for appliques.  And it has a fancy button that raises or lowers the needle to perfect up or perfect down.  These probably seem like such simple things to more advanced seamstresses (or people who already have fancy machines) but I can see that this is going to make many things much easier for me.

I kept the heavier duty of my two Kenmores.  Partly because I think a back-up is always a good idea and partly because I do a lot of shirring with elastic bobbin and I think that probably is guaranteed to go smoother on a manual machine (plus I can just keep the machine set up with elastic thread, so I don’t have to keep switching).  And all the fancy presser feet I bought in the last year also fit this machine, so I can switch them between machines!

I am very excited about this.  I guess I better get cracking on my big list of projects.  In the past 18 months I have gone from a 14-stitch machine to a 25-stitch manchine, to this fancy, digital 60 stitch machine.  I can’t wait to start making better utton holes!  The next step in my sewing evolution (in a few years) is an embroidery machine.  Then I will have to go entirely to children’s sewing because I will want to embroider hippos on everything!