Make something now!

So, I was in the middle of a project when i thought, "boy, I could use some pattern weights." So guess what I did?

Ta daaaaa!!!!

 Now, I can't say I am solely responsible for this idea. I am pretty sure I got the idea somewhere, but I have no idea where. If it is yours, please let me know and I'll cite you!

Take four washers of about an inch diameter, and put them in the center of a 3" by 3" square of pinked cloth. 

Bunch the cloth up into the middle. 

Tie with a tiny rubber hair band (I used the clear ones).

And they held the pattern and the fabric down well. I wanted to try using a rotary cutter, which is much easier if your corners are all secure. 

 Gold Star to ADD crafters.

Hey look, an abandoned train car!

Let's take pictures!

I had a few dresses I finished recently, and when I saw this on my run I called a friend for a little photo shoot. We got through two of them before any awkward encounters. 

The first is a simple princess-seamed shift I made out of some blue and white striped cotton I found. Its a nice fabric with an almost sateen finish. I spruced it up a bit with a scalloped hem and a lapped zipper. I really must write about lapped zippers. They're wonderful. 

This one went together fairly easily. The way I cut the pattern made the stripes not line quite the way I wanted (on the other side from this picture, conveniently enough.) But it looks fine, if not quite what I intended. I've been using this method for doing scalloped hems, and it has always worked well for me. I also had to add a pleat in the neckline. I often have too much fabric in the necklines -- anyone have any thoughts on how to fix this?

But really though, don't I look like a right proper bird off for a rail adventure? I had a little sweater, and some prim gloves too. 

The second dress is one I finished a while ago, and I immediately broke the zipper. I finally got it replaced. Again, a fairly simple pattern, Simplicity 2444 to be exact, but I added a lace overlay to the skirt and some lace details at the waist and neck.

Honestly, I don't remember much about this construction, which means It was probably fairly normal. It does have pockets, which always makes a dress better. 

I definitely want to try this pattern again. It has some interesting angled front darts, which are really flattering. I will lengthen the waist though. I like a little higher waist for such a dolly-like dress, but generally I cater to my long torso. 

Little secret: I love this picture. Its not often a little lacy dress looks kind of badass.

Gold Star to the seekers of rail adventure. Also to MOC for taking the pictures. 

Things you didn't know about me

1. I'm missing a tooth, I  won't tell you which one. 

2. I didn't have a blankie until last year. I mean, I had blankets when I was little but I was never emotionally attached to them. Then I went to China and me and two of my cohorts spent forever looking for these hooded blankets of the Shanghai Expo's mascot Hai-Bao. He's wonderful and fluffy and comes with me everywhere.

3. I was probably a cranky jewish woman from the Bronx in a past life. I have no paranormal proof of this, however, I'm pretty sure its true. Also its true of MOC.

4. I wish I watched more Bollywood movies. 

5. I always have to listen to music when I'm driving. However, I hate the radio. Thank god for Ipods.

6. However, I think the thing I hate the most is getting cold. And I really do hate very few things, by the way. 

7. I organize things in rainbow order. Yes, I'm that guy. 

8. I use the term "ginger" a lot, but always in love.

9. Before my Cannon, my favorite camera was a point-and-shoot I got in Cambodia for 50 dollars. The charger flashes rainbow lights while the battery is charging. It's fantastic.

10. I grow more and more like my mother as I grow up. 

11. As aforementioned, I hate very few things. I get the righteous fury in me sometimes, and I do dislike some people, but I'm a very grey-area type of person.

12. I love airports. A lot of people think they're  boring, but I find them fascinating. There's always a sense of going somewhere, which is a very vague term, but its good.

13. I do still watch anime, not as much as I used to in high school and early college, but I still watch it. Theres nowhere else you're going to find gun-slinging super-vampire priests from the Vatican. 

14. I got to touch Hugh Jackman's bicep. Granted, it was with my face, but it still counts. He was filming a part of the movie Real Steel in my hometown.

The Fever

I want to go somewhere. I can't help it. The urge for foreign adventure strikes me at least once biennially. Unfortunately, my finances are ...well...  I'm in my "living in a box" phase of being a writer. So trans-oceanic travel is out of my reach.

So, I'll travel like a poor person, in  "vacation in your own backyard" kind of way. If one ganks a state parks sticker (because you can't go anywhere in Michigan without tripping over a state park) and pack a tent/ find a friend with a couch, we can travel for the price of gas and whatever weird resturants we feel like trying. So here are the contenders for mini-adventure.


1.Grand River adventure part A
 -- meet in Lansing, drive down Grand River into Detroit, stopping wherever I feel like, explore some part of Detroit, like Hammtramack or Greektown, and drive back however I feel like.

2.Grand River Adventure part B
 -- meet in Lansing, drive all the way down Grand River East, stopping wherever I feel like, explore Grand Rapids, and take the scenic route home.

Grand River Avenue is a non-expressway road that traverses mid-Michigan. It's everywhere. It's also been a weird life goal of mine to drive the whole thing.

4. Travel the entirety of MI-12.
 --All I know is we went down it once to get to Coldwater from Ann Arbor, and we ran across a mexican town and at least two dinosaur parks. Definitely worth a second look.

4. Explore Kalamazoo

5. Go to a Cherry Festival in Traverse City
 -- and do a wine tour. they have wineries up there.

7. Mackinaw Island!
 -- Act like a crazy tourist on a bike, then get dressed up with lace gloves and funny hats and go to tea at the Grand Hotel.

8. Go to the Soo Locks.
 -- stay in Uncle's Tribe's casino. Also, go to Canada for funsies.

Oh my God there is a Pancake Bay provincial park in that part of Canada. SOLD.

9. Find that upper-lower penninsula pastry shop. It's within an hour's drive of Petosky.
 -- while you're at it, go to Harbor Springs and Petosky and browse the boutiques like you're a rich person. Also like you know Richard Gere.

10. Drive around the thumb.

Goals of these trips

-- write an article about each one and get it published somewhere
-- find a cute and or delicious bakery in every town we visit
-- swim in all the Great Lakes attached to Michigan at least once
-- be in Canada (hey, its technically foreign travel)


Gold Star to the raging travel-holics

Making running tolerable

I am certainly no expert on fitness. I know as much as I need to know as it pertains to me, and that knowledge is fairly recent. So is any kind of stamina. But I have taken up running, and its an experience I want to share.

I used to hate any kind of running. I was the chubby kid in gym class who struggled to finish the mile. I danced all through my youth, so I had some degree of fitness, but not the endurance for long distance. Plus I just had general a hatred of running (ahem, like MGBF). Four years of college marching band is what changed that. To do what I love, I had to get endurance. So I did. And I was able to keep my lowest weight. Until winter semester, when I got some back. Rinse and repeat. But now that I am out of school, I actually have time for exercise.

I didn't use that time for exercise for a long time, and I reached one of my highest weights (and temporarily lost my waist). So I tried running. Thanks to stamina, it wasn't as unbearable as I remembered. As as I've continued, here's what worked for me. As with any tips list, feel free to pick and choose, or totally ignore, as you will.

1. Music. Sometimes I run just to have some alone time with my music. Plus it has always been a motivator for me. Certain songs just help me keep pace, but mixed in are songs that really just motivate me to run. Or bust out dancing. Either way, I'm burning calories. Plus, on the fitness side, having a playlist of consistent tempo keeps your strides in an even rhythm, which benefits your workout.

2. Pick a route. I like my running route, which helps more than I thought it would. I run through a weird little road that doesn't have much traffic, and its mostly woodsy. So I get some time in nature, which is really motivating, now that its starting to act a little like spring. However, it also has regular streetlights -- another feature I didn't foresee as being useful. But it really helps me pace myself. I don't run constantly on my route, but i can time my running -- ie. I run for two lights, walk for two, etc. I also run whenever I reach a stoplight. Little goals like this help me push myself.

3. Be comfortable. There is a difference between discomfort and pain. Discomfort happens when you push yourself. Pain only succeeds in overshadowing all those wonderful endorphins. I did a lot of walking at first. I still do. But every time I run I run a little more. Even if I just cut a few seconds each time I run, that's still an acheivement. And its satisfying just to know I conquered high school gym.

Gold Star to the reformed chubby kids.

"she'd only love two things. The first was her long dark hair. The second was how easily she could cut it off and not feel a thing"

ie, the chronicles of my hair

I heard this quote in 500 days of Summer and thought "well that's emo." But it stuck with me. Because I totally get this. I love my hair when its long and wavy and I can braid it and try whatever hairstyles I feel like. But I also love that I have no guilty conscience in chopping it up. Part of this is due to the fact that my hair grows quickly, so I know that it will grow out soon enough if I don't like it short. But I do actually like that I have gotten over my sentimental attachments to my hair. 

I always had long hair. One time when I was six, I cut it shoulder length, and after that it was always long. I'd freak out about a trim, and I had my stylist well-trained to never cut it any more than was necessary. (A trait he keeps to this day) Because I had beautiful long hair -- it was one of my key defining qualities. My senior year in high school was the first time I cut it relatively short -- and even then it was mid length at best.  But it  broke the cycle for me. 

I've grown to like it short. So for the past three or four years I've been in a cycle of chop my hair short, grow it out, rinse and repeat. And each time it gets a little shorter. This time I didn't even want to wait for it to grow out, combined with the fact that it was a stage in growing out where it did literally nothing. It wouldn't go curly, wavy or straight. I ended up piling it on top of my head most days. And I was curious as to how it would look chin length. Add in some new year's desire to reinvent oneself and you've got a haircut. So I did it, and did not feel any sentimental pains at watching inches of hair hit the salon floor.

a little Louise Brooks, if I do say so myself.

Gold Star to the Summer's of hairstyles

Being busy

I love how being busy makes me do more things.

Let me clarify this statement. I learned in college, that the more commitments I have occupying my time, the more I do. Not just with the time I dedicate to said commitments, but I make a lot more progress on personal goals, and feel more fulfilled with how I spend my time. I now have two jobs, and with less free time, I value and prioritize my free time better. Which is good timing. New year's resolutions, anyone?

Anyway, this means I'm going to finally keep up with the resolutions I made -- what, mid-December? I have been sewing, let me assert. I have finished two dresses, which will be photographed and up soon, and I actually have a tutorial on the way.

This week's resolution: to get through and sort all my photos.  Yes, all of them.

Gold star to the busy bees :)