Category: To Occupy my Time

Photo from August 1994

In my digression, I found this photo, which I’d been looking for now and then for the past few months.  This is boyfriend #4 and myself, shortly before I went back for my second year of college.
We both loved our hair, that boyfriend and I, and I think it was hard to tell if we loved the other’s hair any more than we loved our own.  I’d had a fantastic summer with him, the kind of romance that everyone should have at least once in their lives.  I really didn’t want to leave to go back to college, but I didn’t really want to stay either.  So I had my friend Cindy take our picture, us sitting on the back deck at my house, squinting into the sun while she framed the photo.  This is the first photo of me as part of a couple that I have in my possession.  I wasn’t the type of  high school girl who handed off her camera to her friends saying, “Take a picture of us!” while I snuggled into an embrace.
I’m very tan, because I was a lifeguard three days a week, working as a cook at Pizza Hut the other four days.  I had 24 hours off between the end of work on Saturday (6pm) and the start of work on Sunday (6pm).  I’m wearing Tevas (my first pair) which I wore while lifeguarding and gave me a wicked Teva tan.   My baggy t-shirt says something witty and I’m betting I have on the plaid shorts I stole from boyfriend #3.
Boyfriend #4 is 17–there was almost a two-year age difference between us–has just graduated from high school and spent the summer doing this and that.  He didn’t have a job, which bugged me, but in hindsight it was convenient, because we only had to plan around one person’s work schedule.  He is not tan, because he didn’t do much outside stuff, and is wearing socks and sneakers, despite the heat.  He wasn’t a sandals type of guy.
Like most of the relationships from that time period, I managed to mess up the breaking up part and spent a good year incredibly angry at him, for which I’m very sorry now, as I realize he was doing what he needed to do.  But at the moment when this picture was taken, I was happy, and some part of me realized this summer was one to be remembered.

A bit of a digression.

I assumed that I had run out of the material I was using to make the bias tape for the Laurel dresses, but after (it’s always after) I finished the dresses using a different bias tape for the neckline for one of them, what should I discover but a whole bunch more of said material.

This led to a massive overhaul of the closet, when I was supposed to be doing other things.

Which led to peeking into bins, which led to the discovery of this box, which was a gift from my high school friend, sent to me during college.

It even included fun pictures, of me with her nephew (who is now in his 20s) and a picture of the jazz band my senior year.
I rearranged the closet and even organized my material and patterns.  So that was a good thing.

Colette Patterns Mabel

I walked to Modern Domestic to get the Moneta pattern not Wonder Tape, now that I think about it.  While there I was overcome and bought not just the Monea pattern, but also the Mabel pattern and a yard of material to make me a skirt.  My solemn vow to only have one project at a time on hand seems to have gone by the wayside and I’ve driven to another state.

Tracing the pattern, using my handy “pattern weights” aka cans of food.

Cutting the waistband.

Cutting out the skirt.  My sewing scissors are incredibly dull and I ended up getting out my rotary cutter and 12″x 12″ cutting mat, which made for some tough repositioning.

Laurel finished. And my eye is already on other projects.

This picture makes me think I’m a midgit.  But it’s just a weird hanging height.  I’ll take some pictures wearing said Laurels later.  I can’t believe it took me almost a year to finish this project.  Too many things going on.  But let me say, these dresses are COMFORTABLE!  I really like them a lot, though their length means I have to squat like a lady while at work.

But yeah.  The projects have stacked up.  In addition to materials bought to make another apron (I kind of want to do a new one every summer) I also succumbed to the siren song of knits that Colette patterns has been sounding of late.  The material on the left is so I can make a Moneta of my very own and, if the pattern is as simple and flattering as people say, I may make three more uniform dresses so I can have a new uniform this year.  The material on the right is for curtains for the bedroom window.  I bought them on sale at Lowe’s and I have plans to make them work better than they do now.  

And, of course, I bought material to make a roller shade for the door-with-window in my bedroom ages ago. The colorful fabric is from Ikea.  The border/backing fabric might look familiar to you, it’s the leftover fabric from the uniform project. I’ve layered the two together with a picture of said roller shade so you can get the effect.  The not-quite-blue curtains I purchased at Lowe’s will be integrated with the room by cutting out birds from the excess Ikea fabric (I have enough, I checked) and sewing them on triangles of the uniform fabric and sewing those on the curtains.  I also have plans to run a red ribbon across the curtains, (and possibly on the back of the shade?) to tie it into the red of the comforter.
As you can see, Sentinel is quite excited by this project.

Quoted on Filmspotting. About Channing Tatum, of course.

Filmspotting is a recent discovery, I stumbled across it last fall and really look forward to the weekly podcast, as well as dipping into the archives.  The hosts, Adam and Josh, spend a good 20+ minutes chewing over the movie they’ve chosen to review every week and there is always a top-5 list.  One of the other features is a reader poll.  Every other week they announce the results and read comments.  I’m excited to say I’ve been quoted twice before (both times talking about women and movies!) but the poll for this week was about Channing Tatum.  So you know I had stuff to say about that.  They even linked to my Channing Tatum Personal Film Festival blog post.

http://www.filmspotting.net/reviews/1180-496-top-5-films-of-2014-so-far-the-rover.html

If you would like to listen, click on the above link and then move along to the 25:40 minute mark.

Thanks Filmspotting for making my to-see movie list long, giving me something to listen to when I clean the house and also making me famous!  You know, in that internet way.

Author Reading: Brian Benson at Powell’s

C. and I took in another reading at Powell’s.  C. took a class from Brian Benson through The Attic Institute (which is where the two of us met, though in a different class) and so we were happy to go to his book reading of his first published book.

It was a well attended reading, we were happy to have seats.  Benson’s sister owns a bike shop and coordinated a ride from her shop to the reading, so there were lots of bike-y people in attendance, which is fitting as the memoir is about Benson’s ride from Wisconsin to Portland with his then-girlfriend.

Baby blanket finished!

Nothing like the baby actually being born to motivate the knitting process.
This was made for Mya Rose, Matt’s brand new niece.

I was nearly done with it in March, having knitted most of it while watching Downton Abby this season.  But then I didn’t have any other shows to watch, so nearly done it stayed, until the birth spurred me onward.