When’s that Channing-Tatum-with-the-wolf-ears movie coming out?

I was thinking it was this weekend, but the Internet made me laugh arguing with itself.  The top search result plainly states July 18, 2014, but the picture next to that information says February 2015.
Phooey.  That was one of my five approved movies to see in the theater this summer. In happier news, this means I can sub in Boyhood  which I stupidly forgot to put on the list and which I’m dying to see.  Boyhood is going to be a better movie anyway.

Colette Patterns Moneta: 90% finished!

So fast!  So satisfying!
My main thing I learned with the Mabel and the Moneta is how awesome Wonder Tape is.  Here I have marked where the tape should go.

And here I have affixed the tape. Next I pulled off the top layer, pressed the edge to the tape et voila!  Sleeve hem is held securley in place (no pins!) while I sew the hem.

I’m wasn’t really sure what was going on here.  My guess is that I could have used a bit more ease at the waist (these patterns have negative ease, because of the stretch of the knit fabric).  It also might be a case of my serger not being properly adjusted for tension.  I solved this problem by reinforcing the seam with my regular sewing machine.

Look at this dress!  It still needs a hem, but it came out really well.

Side view. There are pockets!

Closeup of my neckline hemming.  That’s done with a twin needle.  The Wonder Tape, aside from holding the hem in place, also stabilizes it, so it doesn’t stretch.

I made notes of things to remember for the pattern.  I’ve decided to make this year’s uniform dresses with this same pattern, so I’ll go over these notes in the construction of those dresses.

Waiting for a hem.

One thing the dress needs is a tag, or other such thing to indicate which side is the back.  I’ve sewn in a little flower I pulled off my bra during my teenage years.

Colette Patterns Moneta: Cutting and bodice.

Here’s my layout.  I tried to make intelligent decisions about where colors of stripes would fall.  This time I traced around the pattern with a marking pen, then removed the pattern and cut out the materiel. My scissors are so dull!

And here is the bodice. 

They weren’t kidding about it coming together quickly.

Colette Patterns Moneta. Testing the waist.

After the Mabel disaster, I began my Moneta project by tracing a few inches of waist from the front and back bodice in both L and XL sizes.  
As usual, I fall right between L an XL on the size chart (why is there a gap?) except for my waist which skewed all the way to the top edge of XL.  After tracing my mini-test pattern, I then cut strips of material from my main material, after first checking that it was an area of “extra” material.  Then it was a matter of sewing them together and trying them on to see which one fit.  Knowing that the XL was a much better fit than L gave me the confidence to continue on with the project.

Three sentence movie reviews: Bringing Up Baby.

Part of the Ruby Oliver Film Festival.

Amusing throughout, but I couldn’t help but feel annoyed at Katherine Hepburn’s character.  Full of lots of zany hijinks that make this a good family-friendly film.  I think my favorite line came from Aunt Elizabeth:  “I’ve always wanted a leopard!”*

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/1938/bringing_up_baby.html

*Really?  Times sure have changed.

Thursday walk to work. sneaky edition.

I love me an alley in the daylight.  Here are some discarded flowers to add to that alley sense.

Blackberries looming.

Blackberries getting their close-up.

There are still a goodly amount of unpaved streets in Portland.  Will that ever get fixed?

Greenery and laundry.

For a long time there were skinny houses being built everywhere.  Now?  Tall apartment complexes.

Across the street from the soon-to-be tall apartment complex, we find the typical mid-century apartment complex.

Squirrel feeder.

Interesting roof.

I wonder if Karen and Simone love each other?  Or maybe Karen or Simone’s significant others were into a sort of one-up thing?

I’ve always wondered what’s up with this business on Interstate. Not enough to do any research, though.

I stared at this for a long time before I figured out that it was broken glass with cardboard blocking the hole. It sort of looked like the mirror surface had peeled off the window.  

Because I’m a child of the 80s, my first thought upon seeing this poster was, “Corey Haim?”

Nice beetle.

I’ve noticed this punk look a lot this summer.  Shaved for a mohawk, brightly colored, not in stand-up mohawk form.

Three sentence movie reviews: How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.

Part of the Ruby Oliver Film Festival

This looked dumb, but it was on the list and so I watched it.  I’m a fan of both of the leads in this motion picture, so I had that going for me, but even so, I was pleasantly surprised to greatly enjoy this movie.  It had a good blend of comic and tender moments.

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2003/how_to_lose_a_guy_in_ten_days.html

Postcard from China

Aside from the fact that this is a Christian Church, I can’t tell much about this postcard and the descriptors on the back are all in Chinese. 

Look at these stamps!  (Placed in the lower left-hand corner.  The address was on the left side too.)

My observation of the many postcards I’ve received from countries with character-type (as opposed to letter-type) languages is that the handwriting is beautiful, not at all like the scrawl that comes out the the US and Europe.  I wonder if languages with characters require a greater attention to detail?
One postcrosser even wrote in her profile a plea to please write neatly.