finished! mostly

This photo is from June of 2010 when I was seriously underway on this afghan.

I traveled through time in the slow, regular calendar way to January 2013 and now it's finished! No photos of it done yet, but maybe tomorrow. Hooray!!! Today was seriously bumming me out because every single thing I did felt like I had weights on all my limbs and the atmosphere had turned to thick invisible molasses which made the day s l o w and annoying. Except I'm not annoyed anymore, because THIS IS DONE.

cabin fever correction

I've been doing a lot of indoor projects lately I'm rapidly approaching cabin fever mode. I need to get outside. I've needed to get outside for months. The hard part is that I'm ALMOST DONE with so many of these projects so my inclination is to just stay put and work on them until they're finished, but I think I'm getting slower and slower (and crabbier and crabbier). Something must be done!

My modest Sunday ambition is to be outside for at least a half hour. Doable! even if it's pouring down rain.

it surprised me too

I finished the quilt! I bought the fabric just after Christmas and finished it 2.5 weeks later, which is a record for me.  It was a simple pattern (simple in the good way) and not that big (perfect for reading on the couch), but DUDE: I got it done!

I used the Wonky Simple Math instructions provided by Elizabeth at Oh, Fransson. She writes very clear instructions and also  often has cat helpers in her pictures. I feel a certain kitty sympatico.


For example? Here Busby waiting for me to move so he could help in the crucial quilt sandwich stage.


Of course once it was done, I noticed squares that I would move, but that would have happened no matter how long I'd taken to do it. I'm so pleased I got it done!


I love the backing fabric, which is a little more olive and a little less brown than it looks in this photo. It was on SALE, which made it even cheaper than the solid fabric I'd chosen to begin with.


Front, back, binding  - I'd never machine quilted something this much before. (I'd only machine quilted one other time!) It was so fun! I'll definitely try it again.


This photo is a little washed out (especially on the bottom), but I wanted to get this up tonight. Because WOO HOOO!

In other news, I've got to get outside more. I had to run to the grocery store this afternoon and the sun was low and bouncing off the dark clouds onto the fir trees and it was AMAZING. They looked like they were lit from within. Then I was sitting in the parking lot (not scenic at all) looking over the gas station, and a flock of gulls flew through that same light and it just made me so glad to see. It enlarged my tiny little winter heart. I don't know what it was, but I felt lucky to witness it.

project list

I was thinking just the other night that I was all out of sewing/craft projects and WHAT SHOULD I DO NEXT? But then I got over my temporary euphoria/amnesia, and remembered that I had these projects still to do:

1. finish the binding on the quilt I made my sister. (which I did finish since the other night. If I were standing in front of you now, the quilt would be described with handwaving and maybe a thought bubble showing me sewing the binding by hand wearing clothes from three days ago that indicate this task is already completed.)

2. purge supplies. I know this doesn't sound like a project, but when you have a box full of nothing but different kinds of glue (mostly dried up) IT IS. I'm about 1/2 done with this and hope to finish it before the weekend.

3. make new bag. I need a work bag. Since I go from branch to branch I don't have a locker, so my regular purse-bag is not enough. For a long time I thought I just needed a purse that satisfied every eventual need, with many pockets and flaps and whatnot. I was planning on making one (waiting for that never available IKEA fabric!), but in the meantime I started using one of those reusable shopping bags (from powells -- it has a squirrel on it) and discovered that this humble bag was just about the perfect size. I can drop my purse into it, and carry around water bottles and notebooks and whatever, plus it fits over my shoulder. The downside is they get ratty pretty fast, especially when a person drags home a lot of heavy pointy books. I bought some groovy canvas weight fabric last week and hope to make a replacement. I could have just gotten another squirrel bag for .99, but this other fabric makes me really happy so we'll see how it goes. I think I'm going to start this tomorrow.

4. Finish crocheting babette blanket! I need to get busy and finish this before it gets hot and I don't care anymore. There's no more room in the "it's too hot/cold, I don't care anymore" cupboard.

5. I really want to do some embroidered something on something, but I don't know what and I don't know where. Or when. #5 is an embroidered tale of frustrated longing, is what it is.

There's more, but five is respectable, so I'm going to go answer some email and go to sleep! (notice how I have gone one whole week of posting every day and not whining until right now about how it is hard.)

LIST BONUS: Here's a lovely Blitzen Trapper video for the song Furr. I saw it all over the internet today, but all roads seemed to lead to Pitchfork.tv. I love so much about it, but especially the bears, the woods, and the stop motion paper animation.

it drove the women of my family insane

BEST quote without context from today: "I experienced only one hour of menopause. It's a good thing, too, because historically it drove the women of my family insane."
everyone else in the room: "..."
reply: "No, really."

BEST thing to wear on July 31st, 2008: RADISH SKIRT! I hadn't worn it in forever, and it cracked me up all day! It also seemed cheering to other people, which made it even better. "Are those radishes?" (this picture is weirdly distorting -- the skirt comes just below my knees, which is not two inches above my ankles like it looks in the photo.)

BEST place to eat lunch today, even though the trees were having some sort of tree pollen confetti party: Laurelhurst park, where I noticed that someone has started a bizarre collection of lawn creatures on the little island in the middle of the pond. There is a plastic chicken, a flamingo and an assortment of garden gnomes. Where do they come from? How do they get there? Do they move around at night when nobody's looking? Are the turtles that live on the log in the pond somehow involved? (I feel certain that they are...)

BEST bicycle seen today: one of those crazy welded together two-story bicycles ridden by a guy who I'm pretty sure walks around in stilts when he's not on his bike. Someone who eats fire for breakfast and swallows swords for snacks. In my imagination he would be a charming but tedious neighbor: "I get it! you're a fire eater! Yes, you've mentioned you're going to ride your weird tall bike all the way to Burning Man. Neat. Do you think you could you maybe stop with the arc welder and carnival techno after midnight? THANK YOU. p.s. your chickens got loose and crapped in my rain barrel again." (in imaginary reality he probably works in a bank, is still going to ride his weird tall bike to Burning Man, but doesn't weld after 10pm out of thoughtfulness for me, his imaginary neighbor. his imaginary chickens are too well behaved to crap in my imaginary rain barrel.)

BEST change in weather: this morning it was overcast and hazy, but after about 10AM it started getting sunny, sunnier, sunniest. Then it took a turn back to clouds and will probably rain tomorrow, but those 8 hours of sun were really sweet!

and now I'd BEST get to bed because I'm really freaking tired! I was going to have some blah la la about how this month went (mostly good, with a few pinches of misery for old times sake), but I'm tired and well aware that it's not exactly breaking news.

... and because I uploaded it so why not, here's a picture of what my unfinished project I found in a box looks like when I lay it out on the floor:

everything crooked and wonderful

I have finished painting! Mostly. I mean, I still have to do boring parts like put all the faceplates on and stuff like that, but the part where I'm in danger of backing into a wall of wet paint is OVER. huzzah! It looks really good -- say what you will about painting as a method of cleaning, but it does the job! I was going to compose a list of helpful painting hints, but I find that I don't want to think about it anymore. Maybe sometime soon. (they were really helpful!)

In other project news, I had a visit today from Weird Cousin Bonnie -- she's actually my mom's cousin, and she's not really weird in a pejorative sense. She marches to her own drum; at the time the "weird" was applied to her name, the drum insisted on a pantaloon jumpsuit. (what can I say? I think I was fifteen when I first met her and if I could have taken a pill to be invisible I would have. A pantaloon jumpsuit was faaar from my comfort zone.)

She's just started quilting and brought over what she's been working on. It was very nice -- much nicer than my first quilting projects, which were extremely boring because it hadn't quite occurred to me yet that they didn't have to be. I really liked what she was doing -- she has a great sense of color, but it was fairly rigid and from a pattern (her mother in law is a very precise pattern quilter). I had to make sure that she knew there were other Accepted Methods! (it's a delicate balance between being helpful and supportive and being obnoxiously bossy in craftland.) So I told her to do a google image search on Gee's Bend quilts (source of the photo in this post) -- I did it as I was telling her about it, and I forgot how much I love those quilts. I get the same wobbly legged feeling I get when looking at certain paintings. Everything is crooked and wonderful.

Anyway, a lovely side effect of the visit (beyond the Gee's Bend google) is that she caused me to run all around and assemble my recent(ish) quilting projects. I realized that I have finished more than I thought. This is a rare feeling!

I found one that I had started in the one and only quilting class I ever took. My former employer used to offer remarkable classes until they cancelled their education program, went bankrupt then insane. I continued to work for them for six more years. But I digress! I took one quilting class. Long story short, my quilt was never finished. Looking at it now, I can see that it is the antithesis of my natural quilting style -- lots of fussy little pieces, and HUGE. But today I had an epiphany -- I still really love the fabric and I have a bunch of squares already put together. If I just make 9 more, I'll have enough for a good sized lap/bed quilt (it would lay on top of the bed, but not hang over) and that would be fine with me. I think it's a much more versatile size, not to mention the joy of finishing a project bleepety years old! Updates as warranted.

In the meantime, here's a video I came across via d.Sharp. (I came across d.Sharp via angry chicken, who I came across via Posie Gets Cozy, who I came across because I really liked her shop. What do these three blogs have in common? Well, besides being well written by funny craft goddesses, they are also all from Portland!)

But back to the video! I hadn't heard of this song or Thao and the Get Down Stay Down until this turned up in my feed reader. I love the rambly shambly charms of the song (it turns out I like singing the words "bag of hammers"), but I also really dig the 8 panel photo collage effect in the video. BONUS: there is a claymation video for the same song, if you'd like to see it with brightly colored clay-people with little clay guitars.

found it!

The library book that was lost now is found. Hooray! It was right in plain sight, of course. (in my own defense, "in plain sight" is a visually confusing place right now due to moving everything out of one room and into another in order to paint.

I'm up to my elbows in wet paint (I wish this was an exaggeration) and have to get back to it, but here's a video that made me laugh. ("Mailbox!! Mailbox!")

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

broom shaking is an option

I have had a crazybusy week, but now things should be settling down so I can do crazy things of my own choosing. (hooray!)

Big projects are tempting me. If the weather cooperates (and I think it will) I'm anticipating some major work in the garden. It's scary out there, but it's only going to get wilder and woolier if I don't do something. (you're probably thinking "gardens can't get wooly. she clearly needs a vacation!" to which I would reply: yes they can! but you're right about the other thing.) It's my hope that a bit of concentrated effort will at least get it out of the Scary House On The Corner zone. (You kids get off of my lawn!) Or maybe I should just practice cackling and broom shaking and go with it. Hmmmm.

I'm also itching to paint (a room, not the great american abstract), and I think this will happen soon as well. Blondie always says "it's only paint!" and that it's the fastest way to change a room. She's right! I need some new vistas, a change of view; I need to think about things in a different way. This is starting to sound sort of TV talk show faux-empowering, so I had better back slowly away from the keyboard before I stir up my some-say-irrational-but-they-are-wrong Dr. Phil antipathy. I need to go buy paint anyway.

tune in next time to find out if my mysterious itchy-eye allergy is to TIME (my initial self-diagnosis: "I think my eyes are allergic to time. nothing else makes sense!!") or to cat dander (my aunt's counter-diagnosis: "you are not allergic to time! You are allergic to cat dander"). Please note that she is not a doctor, but she is bossy.

eight pages in one

Thursday some friends came over for crafty night and we made zines. Kinda. I really don't know what the hell I'm doing, so I hesitate to say we actually made them, but we did glue stuff in little books made from a single sheet of paper that could then be photocopied. I've been mildly obsessed with the idea since attending a zine workshop during staff day about a month ago. (exactly a month ago!) I have been fooling around with some collage type stuff for a while now, but the idea of using only ONE sheet of 8.5 x 11 paper to make an 8 page booklet really piqued my interest. I think there are two reasons why this spoke to me: 1) I'm cheap 2) I work better creatively when I have some limits in place. one sheet of paper is a good limit.



I also love that they can be about whatever floats your boat! Stories, drawings, recipes, poems, photos only -- one of the most fun things about Thursday night's experiment is that we were all working out of the same pile of supplies, yet all came up with completely different finished projects. Mine doesn't really make any narrative sense or have a point -- it was more like 8 little mini-collage pages (some of which I will work on further, but I wanted to see how the color would look when photocopied.) Anyway, good times! I will be fooling around with this further I think. It's an awful lot of fun.


In other news, Everything is green like crazy right now. I love this tree!

monday, sunny tree day

I have been such a blog slacker! Not that there is a specific number of posts to which I aspire, but my intention was to do more and I have in fact done less. Why do I hold myself to impossible standards on some things and write myself a million free passes on others? A QUESTION FOR THE AGES. Or, you know, just something for me to think about since the ages are probably busy with more important matters.

Maybe it's because we're having a few days of lovely spring-like weather right now, but it feels like things (vague enough for you?) are shifting ever so slightly in a positive direction. But who knows -- mostly it's a bunch of stuff that starts off sounding good ("we'll pay you!" or "would you like a temporary regular assignment here at your most favorite branch in the entire system?") that may or may not ever manifest into something more. Just starting with something that sounds good is a pleasant change, so I'm going to continue going about my business and hope for the best without obsessing. (ha! well, I am going to try to do those things -- complete success is unlikely.)

ANYWAY. Here are some pictures.


this is the horse chestnut in front of my house. All the branches that have been stick straight and dormant all winter long are starting to gear up for spring. I can only imagine that waking up from an entire winter asleep is quite the process -- no coffee or tea if you're a tree! Maybe this early thickening limb stage is analogous to shuffling down the hallway to the room with the caffeine.


I wish I had more zoom on my camera so I could capture some of the more delicate details. The finer branches look like lace.


here's some love for the evergreen trees!


this one has a power line in it, but I like how the sun looks against the white bark of the tree.

....and on a completely different topic, here's proof that I finished that quilt project. Woo hoo! It's not perfect (there were some 'dealing with bias stretch' issues), but I like it! Most importantly: it's finished!

buzz me, buzz me baby

I finished my quilt! It even folds up more or less evenly! (... believe it or not, this has been an issue with past quilts due to my 'measure once and hope for the best' sewing philosophy.) photos to follow, no doubt. Now, since it has been ONE MILLION YEARS (aka 1 day) since my last post, here are some things on my mind:

super tuesday: have fun, all you people who get to vote in the primary tomorrow! Guess when Oregon's primary is? MAY FREAKING TWENTIETH. And when we do finally get to vote (and they do let us vote, despite our generally communist ways), we have to do it by mail! I know it saves a bunch of money and more people vote, blah blah, but I don't feel like I'm getting my democracy fix! I need aged volunteers giving me the squinty look as they scrutinize my voter card! I like trying to guess stealth republicans standing in line! I like trying to find the correct door in a musty church basement! Dropping off an already completed ballot into a box at the library is simply not the same, although I do wait until ELECTION DAY to heighten the drama. (sometimes you have to make your own fun.) Maybe this year I'll make my own "I voted" sticker, too.

valentine cards: I think I figured them out today! There are only about 2000 tiny parts that require gluing, but hardly any sewing. It's a victory though, since it's less complicated than my original idea. I will have to finish one completely and look at it in the morning and see if my reaction is one of hooray or creative despair.

January Experiment: My decision to jump onto Martina's post-a-day in January bandwagon was last minute -- when she first mentioned her plan, I didn't think I'd do it because a) I blog pretty regularly already b) I write every day in some form or another c) my innate laziness. But then, in a rare moment of clarity, I realized that these weren't reasons why I shouldn't do it, these were reasons why I SHOULD do it. I am too complacent by far. It was fun! There were many days when I had no idea what I would end up posting, but some of those days were my favorites. Posting every day isn't something I can sustain indefinitely (although I'll probably be posting more often) but I figured I should try to roll that energy into some kind of ...

February Project: I decided that the 365 days project (self portrait every day for a year) was way beyond my scope or interest, but adapting that project to one month might work; particularly a short month like February. I don't want to take the same picture over and over again, so it's forcing me to think outside of what I would normally consider "a portrait." (the group pool is a good source of inspiration -- plenty of MySpace style phone portraits, but some people get really creative.) I don't love taking pictures of myself, but I figure it's a good exercise and a possible neuroses buster. (or builder! talk to me in March.) Let's just say that it has been SO MUCH FUN (not really) while I've been sick. But it all fits with my larger goal of taking more pictures, period, which I am attempting this month. (digital makes it so easy to experiment -- witness the photo at the top of this post which was achieved by cramming my camera into a kaleidoscope.)

random notes from my stereo: Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons' version of Love Hurts on the Sacred Hearts and Fallen Angels Anthology is fantastic. The song Buzz Me by Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five (from Blowing the Fuse: 27 R&B Classics that rocked the jukebox in 1946) is SO FUN and, when you have a cat named Busby, conveniently lends itself to singing "Busby, Busby Baby." Ooh! god bless youtube, because here's the video of Louis Jordan doing Buzz Me:

things I did and did not do

I did post once a day for the entire month of January! more or less. 31 days, 31 posts. I have some thoughts about the value of this experiment (I did receive benefit from it) which I will write up SOON, but not tonight. If I've learned anything, it's that I don't have to put Every Single Thing in one post. It's okay to spread it around.

I did not finish my quilt! but I got it pinned and mostly tied so I should be able to finish it tomorrow. I wasn't able to work on it much tonight because of the television. (nevermind that I worked on it the entire duration of crafty and still didn't finish...)

First, the debate: it was rather refreshing to hear candidates talk policy instead of insinuating that their opponent smokes crack and eats babies for breakfast. (they're saving it for the general election, I know!) Some pundits called it boring, but that's because without any name calling or chair throwing they think they don't have much to talk about. Chris Matthews probably had a coronary. (I don't know because comcast took away MSNBC. I kind of miss his barking laugh, irrational shouting and weirdly inappropriate segues. "I think you'd look good on the back of my motorcycle," etc. Wolf Blitzer just isn't the same. sigh.) p.s. I miss John Edwards.

Second, Lost: Holy Shit! I missed the first 20 minutes or so (have recorded it but not watched it yet) and I have only a very small idea of what's going on, but it was pretty exciting. Lost almost lost me somewhere in the middle of season 2, but I'm glad I stuck it out.

Third, Eli Stone: Is this where I admit that I think Jonny Lee Miller is A-Dorable? Because I do and I will! The lawyery part of this show was pretty stupid (except I'm always happy to see Spy Daddy from Alias and that guy who played the other doctor from Everwood), but I liked the idea of the spiritual and the scientific being the same thing, or two sides of the same thing. Other plusses for the show: George Michael makes me laugh! Jonny Lee Miller! Did I mention him already? (sickboy goes to law school!) (he also played Edmund in the 1999 version of Mansfield Park, which I thought was superior to the somewhat drippy one that was on Masterpiece Classic last week.)

Good night and happy January!

hold list acrobatics, etc.

I have two spots available on my library hold list and it is freaking me out! Each card gets fifteen slots for placing things on hold (unless you're an educator, then you get something like FORTY) and mine is usually maxed out at all times. Right now is tricky because everything I'm waiting for is a little ways away -- on the one hand I like to have the flexibility of an available spot, but on the other hand, two empty spots feels like I'm wasting one. The stuff I have on hold will undoubtedly all arrive at once, but this is a happy kind of problem.

I recognize fellow hold-list obsessives when they come in -- they are always just as pleased about the now available space on their list as they are about the item they are picking up. One woman even said we fifteen-items people should form a club to share enthusiasms and strategies (she was going to use her newly available space for a Helen Mirren film festival), but we couldn't come up with a good name so that beautiful idea died right there. I was shelving holds the other day and noticed that someone was using her kids' cards to put stuff on hold since she had maxed out her own. Unfair! I don't actually need more spots -- I have more stuff than I can deal with checked out right now; having even more things instantly available is probably not The Answer. Even so... people have had kids for dumber reasons. (kidding!)

Quilt news: I think I'm going to finish it this month, which also freaks me out. this post could be called "jen freaks out over inconsequential things" but then almost every post could be called that, so whatever. (sometimes when I type whatever, the v doesn't show so it's whateer, which makes me want to put an apostrophe in it to become "and then she spake whate'er and flounced away.") ANYWAY -- thinking of it, finding/ adapting a pattern, getting fabric and getting it all done in the same 30 day period is unheard of for me, so we'll see if it happens. It's definitely possible! I sewed the borders on tonight and it's looking pretty fabulous, I have to admit. (as long as you are not obsessed with perfect points, which, thank god, I am not.) I was also thinking that it might be fun to do a very similar one in much more subdued colors, just to prove to myself that I CAN -- maybe blue-grey/green with little pops of red. And now I shall spake whate'er and flounce off to bed as it is VERY LATE and I am so tired.

stitching and swearing

A lot of swearing.

More tomorrow. I'm not going to sleep until I get the top of this thing (quilt) put together.

cold feet, stitching, Dave Rygalski

according to my blogger dashboard, this is my 601st post on this blog. I think there are probably a couple of ones in draft stage that I never deleted, so it's probably not really 600, but still! I feel like I should somehow mark the occasion with a better post than this, but I am brain dead from a day at the sewing machine so it's not going to happen. sorry. here are some things I learned today:

1) I hate ironing. A lot. Especially in the early stages of a sewing project. Alas, that is when ironing makes the most difference so it must be done! I brought the ironing board out to where I was sewing so I didn't have to walk very far.

2) I am lazy.

3) I think I cut way too much fabric -- it's okay since whatever I don't use on the front I can use on the back, but still. I don't love cutting fabric either. So that's no love for ironing, no love for cutting -- is there anything in this endeavor that is worth it? Fortunately, yes.

4) I like sewing things together. I have even been contemplating actually quilting this quilt instead of just tying it, but I think that feeling may pass.

5) Busby is not as helpful as he thinks he is.



This doesn't quite fall into the category of a lesson learned, so I'll just say that my feet have been cold all day and it's driving me crazy.

I ended up watching neither Indiana Jones nor Jane Austen but a couple discs worth of Season 3 of the Gilmore Girls, which I had forgotten that I had from the library. I still really like that show yet acknowledge that its Capital Q Quirky is not for everyone. (I have a theory about the town of Stars Hollow, but I'll save it until I've seen more episodes.) I think 6 eps in one day might be too many. Actually, I think six in one day is just the wrong amount -- the right amount is either fewer or a lot more. Anyway -- my thoughts after today's episodes boil down to one question: were we ever supposed to like Dean? I know he's the good boy who loved Rory, etc. etc. but he's also a passive aggressive JERK. I know Jess got a lot of flack at the time, but looking back on it now he doesn't seem so bad -- especially when compared to whatshisname Logan that came later. Ugh.

Other thoughts that missed boiling down:
+why did they put Jackson in a toupee?
+Awww-- it's Dave Rygalski aka Seth Cohen aka Adam Brody!
+Why hasn't someone killed Taylor? There could be a whole town conspiracy to cover it up! It would be the best episode EVER.
+Emily Gilmore reminds me so much of my aunt it is not even funny.
+I feel bad that the character of Lane got the shaft as the series went on -- I wonder what would have happened if Dave Rygalski hadn't moved to The O.C.?

in a galaxie not far away

I was just looking at this picture last night (flickr is my post-a-day savior) and then drove by a turquoise blue Galaxie 500 on my way to the Crazy Lady Job today! It might have even been the same one. What makes it really weird is that two days ago I found a Galaxie 500 CD at the library. (I am always reading about this band but had never heard them, so I picked it up.) Ha! to be filed under: kinda weird but just one of those things.

I am in a really good mood -- it might not last through the morning, but right now I'm feeling pretty damn fabulous. I don't have to work ANYWHERE tomorrow, which is lovely. I plan on starting my quilt and watching either Indiana Jones movies or Jane Austen movies. (If I watch the 95 Persuasion, maybe I can make a Persuasion post tomorrow. or maybe I'll watch something else, I'll have to see how the spirit moves me. all I know is it has to be something I'm familiar with or I won't get any work done.) Anyway, I found the rest of the fabric I'm going to use on my quilt out of stuff already on hand. Woo hoo! I hope it turns out the way I want and not in a way that causes seizures or retinal bleeding. (time will tell.)

Speaking of sewing and really flimsy segues, I brought home a box of vintage patterns from the CLJ. She is prepping to mount a major ebay/etsy campaign to unload a MOUNTAIN OF CRAP, except not all of it is crap. Actually, we argue about what's crap and what's not all of the time. First on the list is checking out these patterns to make sure they have all of their pieces, etc. etc. I wanted to bring them home so I can upload some info to the wonderful Vintage Sewing Pattern Wiki if I happen to find a pattern that's not already in there.

I was going to tell the tale of the psychotic on-call sub I worked with yesterday, but I think I will save his paranoid close-talking adventures for another day and go read for a while.

I think Ms. Productive is a figment of my imagination

I stayed up way too late last night. I keep thinking that I'm going to go to bed earlier so I can get up earlier and be Ms. Productive (I am an optimist), but it keeps not happening. Why can't I be tired at 11pm??? I guess I'm just going to have to be sneakier with myself and try to be more efficient when I am awake. (why I have to be sneaky instead of just deciding like a rational adult is a good question, but it is not one I am prepared to tackle just now.)

Speaking of things I want to do, I want to make a new quilt. Do I need one? No. But my friend Blondie has been doing some amazing quilt studies in color and texture and shape that have me all jazzed to make a new one for myself. I don't want to do anything too complicated -- just a simple pattern with crazy fabric. (the fabric will make it look more difficult than it is; I'm perfectly willing to let the fabric do the work.) Of course I have to decide on colors and whatnot, but that's the fun part. There are a bunch of other projects I want to do, but they're still in Blob On Brain stage, so I need to do some thinking. But right now I'm going to do some reading and then some sleeping. (Behold the miracle of my new powers of organization! ha.)

coconut woman (september girl)

(these pictures are from the past couple weeks or so -- most during my bookcase project, which explains the high Cherry Ames/Peggy Lane ratio.)

I have been trying to figure out the best way to continue celebrating summer even after the artificial season ender of Labor Day Weekend. (Today calypso music and Big Star have been effective.) I get that it is back to school and in a lot of practical ways summer is over. HOWEVER, (I do love me a good however), the earth is still tipped in the summer direction for the northern hemisphere! Summer's not really over until September 23rd and the autumnal equinox. Take that, local sad-sack-labor-day-end-of-summer apologist-newscaster! Oh, who cares? I'm taking summery September since Portland is always cheated out of a summery June.

So far, this month has been pretty good: I finally have a date for an interview (which I technically found out in August, but the hooray of it is still upon me) and I started Project Color-Coordinate Bookshelf which has brought me MUCH HAPPINESS. Well, the one big bookshelf has been pretty fun. The others, where size is a big part of why the books are where they are, have been slightly less fun -- but the project is enjoyable nevertheless. It's like a party on the shelves! Strange bedfellows, as a friend remarked. Personally, I love it. I think my big hesitation at doing this before was that I thought it would make it impossible to find anything, but I realized I look AT my bookshelves every single day, and I look FOR something on them much less often -- and it's not like my previous system was comprehensible outside my own brain anyway. Plus, things are getting a much needed dusting. (it is possible that my desire for practical order is being met at the library, so I am free to get crazy on my own shelves. Alternatively, it is possible that I don't have that much desire for practical order.) If I've learned one thing, it's that I really need to stop buying Penguin Classics from the 50's-60's at estate sales. On the other hand, I must find more of the Fernand Hazan Petite Encyclopédie de l'Art books, for they are adorable! (Oooh, speaking of groovy book covers, I currently have wallpaper #3 from here (go to downloads) as my desktop. via How About Orange)

There is a downside, and that downside is that straightening all these books has made me realize that something must be done with my out of control art supplies. (did I come across a book titled Something Must Be Done With Your Out of Control Art Supplies? No, but that would be funny.) The supplies are encroaching! It starts with paper items. Since books are made of paper, I think it's okay to shove other paper on the shelf -- which is fine for a while, but quickly degenerates to the mess I find myself looking at today. I suspect that if the earth opened up and swallowed half of this non-book stuff I would be secretly relieved. Anyway, it's a good project too, although it won't be as fun as the shelves. I suppose it's the sloggy, responsible part of September, but slogging that must be done. (my concession to the eventual IN ONE MONTH arrival of fall.)

Okay, now for some fun links since it seems like a summery-type thing to do, and as everyone knows summer goes on for weeks and weeks yet:

+++I love this post at La Coquette about watching Godard's Breathless for the first time. Not only did I also recently watch Breathless for the first time, but I, too, grew up in Florida reading magazines at the 7-11! (except in my town it was the Stop & Go.) I don't speak French or have exciting Parisian adventures (much to my sorrow), but Coquette does and she writes about them with wit and flair.

+++Posie goes to the Oregon State Fair. I love the state fair (although I haven't been in a while), and I love this blog. I'm so happy she's writing and photographing a craft book, but I also wish that she were writing a novel or a collection of stories so I could read more, more, more. What I especially love about this post (aside from the pictures and the goat hilarity) is the part about the horse arena. When I was there several years ago, I had a really strong reaction to that building -- it has such an atmosphere. It was freaky; I swore that if I closed my eyes and thought really hard, I would open them up and it would be 1919. (this MAY HAVE BEEN right after I read Time and Again by Jack Finney, but even so!) Oh! this post also reminds me of the time the National Square Dance Convention was in Portland; it was glorious and completely surreal. There were giant poofy skirts EVERYWHERE, like the city was poised for some huge civic musical.

+++Answer Girl has returned from her August hiatus with a new blog format. This year's daily posts will focus on books she's kept for a long time. I enjoy this blog very much, and not just because she sometimes posts pictures of her dog, Dizzy. (I am a Dizzy fan.)

gnome directed weekend project

Over this past weekend my sister had the brilliant idea that we should do something (beyond endlessly bitching) about the miserable upholstery on these Heywood Wakefield chairs. I love the set itself, but it was covered in dreadful 80's plaid fabric that was starting to give me eyeball seizures. EYEBALL SEIZURES. Clearly, measures had to be taken immediately! We set upon this task with the determination of people avoiding other projects, even though it meant walking backwards through the Not Yet Two Weeks Old and Therefore Full of Crazy People Ikea to get to the fabric department. We had measurements, but no real zeal for figuring out exactly how much we needed. Educated/wild-ass guesses were made. ("why not six yards?" "why not!")

here are some photos to document the project. (which, astonishingly, is FINISHED.)


Here's the nasty old fabric with the original groovy 40's fabric underneath. Photos really don't do it justice. You might be thinking that's not so bad... but trust me. It was! There was no salvaging the original fabric. Only two of the eight cushions had it to start, and it was pretty well coming apart. We took off the hideous plaid husk and left the bark cloth, but wrapped it up in batting before putting the new fabric on.


I liked this fabric because I thought the black would look good and loved that it looked nothing like the previous fabric. (bonus: it sort of looks like poppies and giant squid having a decorative battle.)


Busby helped, as is his habit. This is his contribution to the whip stitch.


I'll move when I feel like it.


The gnome candle kept us on task under constant threat of a cudgel beating. (actually, the gnome is unrelated to this project, but was on my camera. I believe he is part of a musical set -- he's the conductor for the Gnome Orchestra from HELL.)


six yards was a good guess! this is how much fabric was left over.


ta-da! Not perfect, but so much better than before!


Dash demonstrated immediately how much better the new fabric is for showing orange cat hair. (What is up with his legs? doesn't he look like he's put together backwards, like some mad-scientist experiment gone awry?)

under the wire

Today was lovely -- I took the crocus picture this morning by the driveway.

I finished the quilt! I wanted to have it done by today because I found a receipt for the batting dated 3/6/06. It seems like so long but also no time at all. I tried to get pictures, but I was foiled by cats at every turn. So, this cat-filled not-smooth picture will have to do for now. I realized when I was sewing the binding on that this is the first quilt I've finished for myself. I've finished others (and started even MORE), but all for other people.



In other news, a 3 year old pirate tried to murder me three times at the park today (he was brandishing a twig with an adorably shy attempt at piratical menace), and a gaggle of 4 year olds was overcome by the Spirit of Spring; they ran away from their minders as a group and whipped off their shirts while cackling maniacally (or in some cases just pulling it over their heads and leaving it there, because honestly they weren't very coordinated). That's what sunlight will do to you when you are deprived for too long! (I believe they were all eventually retrieved and re-clothed.)