Weekend: Making Stuff

We spent much of the weekend in our "extra" room.  Without a lot of extra space (this is New York City after all), we often find ourselves overlapping.  My sewing patterns across his boards, sawdust sprinkling my cutting board, sewing tools intermingling with woodworking tools.  Someday, when we have a house, we imagine that I'll have a sewing room (which I will probably snobbily refer to as my studio), and the garage will be his domain.  Then his feet won't be pricked with stray sewing pins, and scraps of wood won't be discarded on my ironing board.  But for now, when all we have is this tiny apartment, it's nice to be creating things like this.  Over and across and between each other.

Books I Read in March

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I finally got around to reading this book after Scott's aunt lent it to me at Christmas!  If for some strange reason you haven't ever heard of this book or the movie version (could that be anyone in the whole world?), it follows two black house maids and a white woman, who is an aspiring writer, living in Mississippi in 1962.  Perhaps my favorite thing about this novel was Stockett's incredible telling of the story through all three of their voices - each one distinct and unique, humorous and heartbreaking.  Minny, Aibileen, and Skeeter are all fighting to break the boundaries that unjustly surround them in their daily lives, and the story is quite moving (again, which I'm sure you know by now due to both this book and the movie!).  I very much enjoyed this book, but did anyone else feel like the ending wasn't quite the walking-across-the-football-field-fist-pumping moment you wanted it to be?  I'm sure in reality, the triumphs made by the people in this movement were gradual and small at first, but I felt so invested in these women, I wanted their victories to be even bigger!

 Sweethearts by Sara Zarr
I loved this book as a 27-year-old woman, but if you know of any teenager who is struggling with being true to him/herself, or finding real friends who love them the way that they are, or standing up for things they know are right, recommend this book to them.  Our two main characters, Jennifer and Cameron, have a shared (and traumatic) past from their early childhood, and are forced to deal with these mutual memories years later in their late teens.  At its heart, this is a story about what it's like to be a genuine friend to someone, no matter what either of you have gone through separately or together, and how to love yourself as who you were born to be, not who you think you should be.  I read it all in one day, and I laughed and cried in mostly equal measure.  Fabulous.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

If you are a female between the ages of 22 and 34, and you feel any connection whatsoever to any of the following chapter titles:
 
I Forget Nothing:  A Sensitive Kid Looks Back
I Love New York and It Likes Me Okay
The Exact Level of Fame That I Want
Someone Explain One-Night Stands to Me
Non-Traumatic Things That Have Made Me Cry
These Are the Narcissistic Photos in My Blackberry

...just go read this book this weekend.

Pleated Pink Top

(Aside from my recently-made flannel vest) It has been a very long time since I've sewn something from an actual pattern.  I've been doing much more designing and figuring out patterns on my own (especially for my shop!).  I started to miss sewing from a pattern--the sizing already figured out for you, laying everything out to be cut, following precise instructions--but I also realized it had been so long because I hadn't found any patterns that really seemed like my style.  Until now!

Salme Patterns is an independent pattern company on Etsy.  Her patterns are modern and simple, and I snatched up five of them!  The first one I whipped up is the Loose Fitted Pleated T-shirt.

 

My version turned out with a little bit of a retro/old lady vibe.  It's boxy and bright and I really love it!  The pleats take it to an extra-ordinary level beyond just a normal T-shirt.

I used an Anna Marie Horner cotton voile from Fabric.com.  It isn't available anymore, but here is another that is very similar.

Close-up of the print and pleats:

F.U.N.!

Lots of Meaning in One Tiny Necklace

I wear very little jewelry on a day-to-day basis, but when I saw the necklace my friend Kendra had given another of our friends for Christmas, I knew I wanted one just like it.  She told me it was from the Etsy shop Burnish, which is filled with beautifully simple handmade jewelry (and for some reason, the fact that the shop owner lives in Alaska just makes it seem exotic, doesn't it?).

I chose a personalized monogram necklace.  When I placed the order, the shop owner asked me which initial I wanted in silver and which I wanted in gold.  I immediately answered "V" in silver, "S" in gold, though at the time I put no thought into it.  It wasn't until after the necklace arrived and I put it on for the first time that I realized the significance of it!

I wear these two (three, if you count the wedding band and engagement ring!) everyday:

This silver diamond ring was an 18th birthday present from my Dad, the most special birthday present I've ever received.  It's silver, like the "V" - in a way, they both represent myself, my upbringing, my family, everything that was special to me in my childhood.  Then Scott came along, and that's when I added some gold into my life:  his initial stamped in gold, to be forever linked with mine, and the gold of my wedding ring, a part of his history, that's now a part of mine.

It's almost as if my entire life is contained in these two metals, these two rings, and these tiny monogrammed discs.  What a precious thing to have around my neck to carry with me each and every day.

Out of Season Vest That Is Now Back In Season

I got this pattern for a zip-up, outdoorsy style vest for Christmas, and had been hoarding the flannel fabric I wanted to use for it for about 8 months before that. I finally got around to sewing this guy up last week...when we had this crazy surge of warm weather and it was nearing 80 degrees. In March. In New York. 80 degrees in March in New York!  Thankfully, for this vest's sake (but not for all other New Yorkers), as I type this, it is 30 degrees, windy and chilly, and again the perfect weather for a flannel vest!

The pattern is Simplicity 2480, and came together pretty easily, though there were a lot of steps.  It's been so long since I sewed from a pattern!  I have no recollection of where I got the flannel, but it's fairly heavyweight, and I'm sure it will be toasty!

The one not-so-good thing about it (and my mother is cringing over this right now), is that the plaids don't match.  But!  But!  I didn't try to make them match!  I just cut the pieces out haphazardly and assumed they would be off enough that it would be obviously that I didn't try to match them.  INSTEAD, they are just like an inch off, so it totally looks like I attempted to match them and just failed!

Ha!  Oh well.  I'm not going for construction points on this one, just for warmth.  And that I got - just in time for round 2 of winter.  Arggggghhhh....

Weekend: HUNGER GAMES

I started off the weekend watching The Hunger Games around the time that Thursday night met Friday morning (with my midnight movie companions Brittany and Brian), and then spent the next 72 hours doing one of the following things:  thinking about which tribute was my favorite, dreaming about Effie's outfits, wondering if Jennifer Lawrence would ever want to be my friend, or talking about the movie, to everyone from my parents and sister, to friends, to one of Scott's classmates (who had just finished reading it, and so I lent him my Catching Fire and Mockingjay).  It's the kind of completely obsessive fanatic behavior that I should probably be embarrassed of, but I'm not (let's be honest, I get like this a lot)!!!

So, here's to a weekend completely consumed by The Hunger Games and all things related to it!

P.S.  This blurry picture right below is Cameron Mathison interviewing people in line around 11:00 PM.  Seeing things like that really make me love living in New York.

Stuff I Like: When Bob Dylan Sings Gospel

In the time of my confession,
in the hour of my deepest need
When the pool of tears beneath my feet
flood every newborn seed
There's a dyin' voice within me
reaching out somewhere,
Toiling in the danger and in
the morals of despair.
...
In the fury of the moment
I can see the Master's hand
In every leaf that trembles,
in every grain of sand.