Friday Links

By in Friday Unrelated Information No Comments

1. Me when I realize it’s December 1 and I have 2-3 weeks to sew the gifts I’d planned out in the past and then put off for kitchen stuff and work:

 

2. This is from 2021 so I’m sure the newest iteration of GPT would be a little less absurd, but please enjoy these deeply ominous “Christmas entities” it spit out after being fed tales of the Krampus, Rudolph, and the Yule Cat:

 

3. It’s not Christmas music so Lights Out won’t get you, plus it’s pretty mesmerizing: Please enjoy a live performance of Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan.

Wednesday Poem

By in poems No Comments

I found this on The Baffler, in a 2022 feature Poems From Palestine. It’s worth a click to see the art that accompanies the poems and to read them all. This one, though–by Zakaria Mohammed, translated by Lena Tuffaha–stood out. Again, this wasn’t written recently, but “the lying ceremony of peace” sure seems current.

PS, you can use the 5 Calls app/site to call your representatives to ask for a permanent cease fire in Gaza.

IV.

He was crying, so I took his hand to steady him and to wipe away his tears.

I told him as sorrow choked me: I promise you that justice

will prevail in the end, and that peace will come soon.

I was lying to him, of course. I know that justice won’t prevail

and peace won’t come soon, but I had to stop his tears.

I had this false notion that says, if we can, by some sleight of hand, stop

the river of tears, everything would proceed in a reasonable manner.

Then, things would be accepted as they are. Cruelty and justice would graze

together in the field, god would be satan’s brother, and the victim would be

his killer’s beloved.

But there is no way to stop the tears. They constantly pour out like a flood

and ruin the lying ceremony of peace.

And for this, for tears’ bitter obstinance, let the eye be consecrated as the truest saint

on the face of the earth.

It is not poetry’s job to wipe away tears.

Poetry should dig a trench where they can overflow and drown the universe.

                                     —from A Date for the Crow

Tuesday Project Roundup: Sweater Blazer

By in sewing, Tuesday Project Roundup No Comments

On Thanksgiving I put off prepping for tile and got in a chunk of sewing time, enough to mostly finish a jacket I’d cut out a week earlier. This is the Pona Jacket from Helen’s Closet and, because it’s a pretty basic unlined jacket, I got it done over the weekend:

It’s hard to get modeled shots when you don’t leave the house, but this is slouchy and cozy and 100% like wearing an afghan.

That fabric is the real star–a poly/acrylic sweater knit I found at L’Oiseau Fabrics (now sold out). It’s low stretch so it did fine in a pattern meant for wovens; I skipped all interfacing because 1) that fabric wasn’t going to fuse and 2) I wanted it to be slouchy.

It was nice warm armor against a crazy Monday after a long weekend and it got lots of comments on Zoom. Success!

Mostly Tile

By in home improvement, weekend report No Comments

Two out of the four days of the long weekend were tile days–it took a lot longer than I thought it would, but it’s looking really good–snd it’s staying on the wall, even better! (I had my doubts about that accent tile.)

I’m so pleased with myself that I remembered most of the tips Dad taught me when we did the bathroom together–this was my first big project without him physically there helping/doing most of it. He was definitely consulted beforehand and I have a feeling he was waiting by the phone Friday in case of trouble, but Doc and I got it done on our own. I even ran the tile saw and remembered how to make cutouts for outlets! (Still have a lot of practice before I can cut curves like Dad, though.)

I might have been pleased with my retained knowledge and how everything looks, but Toby was VERY UPSET we were doing something out of the routine:

But we got it all put back together and had a normal Sunday with a hike, so Prince Toby could relax.

I have to grout this week but the hardest part is over! Now to move on to Xmas decorating and gift sewing and birthday cake making.

Thanksgiving Vibes

By in gram time

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and Friday is Tile Day, so I’ll be back Monday. This is me, prepped to start the tile project:

 

I thought this would be me but this week kind of blew up:

 

This is wonderful. “Uh oh, that’s an inside thought!”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by frazz (@mrs.frazzled)

Tuesday Project Roundup: More Fleece

By in sewing, Tuesday Project Roundup

I love it when an indie pattern company releases a dupe of a fast fashion piece–we all save money and also garments get made by people who want to, who are earning more than $6/day.

Petite Stitchery wasn’t on my radar but they came up on Instagram and I saw their Mikal Jacket was pretty much an exact copy of the Free People Hit the Slopes Jacket (the one change was pocket flaps instead of zippers).

I’d impulse bought some neon sherpa fleece at Joann and it all came together:

This was a pretty easy sew, even with making my own bias binding out of supplex to match the trim (it looks like Free People uses foldover elastic, but I didn’t have enough). The collar construction is clever–everything is bound so you can just sandwich the seam allowance at the neck and boom, a nice finish:

The pattern didn’t give finished measurements so I made a large based on body measurements, but it’s definitely an oversized fit. If I make it again, I’ll size down, but it works for layering/being cozy.

And I definitely could make this again–look at all the solid sherpa colors at Joann right now!

Here We Go

By in home improvement

Kitchen Week is upon us and it started Saturday with my dad coming up to hang an extra cabinet. The existing cabinets here stopped a foot shy of the counter; that gap was going to look even weirder once we added a backsplash.

At first I wanted my dad to teach me how to build a shelf/cabinet, but he did the research and offered an unfinished, pre-built option. It came with a door, so he had the idea to put the door on the side, and blammo! A place for cookbooks, which freed up a cubby in the credenza, which let me move things around on the counter, which made a lot more space. (If you give a mouse a cookie…)

Dad also primed and painted the unfinished cabinet (we went with paint because there was no way we were going to match the finish). I remember him offering to paint, but he says I asked him to. 😆 Either way, I got a pretty good deal: a hundred dollar cabinet and minimal effort on my part. (And, to be fair, definitely less  effort on my dad’s part than if he taught me to build one from scratch.)

The plan is for Doc and me to tile on our own on Friday. I’ve been relentlessly tracking the accent tile and it might arrive in time for that; if not, we’ll finish up on the next weekend.

Friday Links

By in Friday Unrelated Information

1. Bring back the term mink brigade:  “The phrase was used … to describe women [strike supporters] whose dress and social status would give police pause in arresting them”

 

2. The phrasology in this article about the new Jack Reacher series! Now I need to watch this show.

Ritchson, already gigantic, put on 30 pounds to play the role properly and the result is a man who looks like someone took the four Hollywood Chrises, stacked two of them on top of one another, then stacked the remaining two on top of one another, and, finally, placed the two Chris-columns beside each other, wrapped the whole humongous cube up in a trench coat, and gave them Thanksgiving turkeys for hands.

 

3. It’s felt a little like this the last couple weeks–mostly work, but also the Christmas mental lists and kitchen stuff and fitting in the gym. Good thing the crafts will always be there.

 

If You Give A Mouse A Cookie

By in home improvement

If you buy a new stove, you’ll want a new microwave, too:

If you get a new stove and microwave, you’ll think, “Why not do a cheap and easy subway tile backsplash, too?”

But then you’ll see the new stove and microwave installed and–because you don’t want to deal with removing the existing granite backsplash–you’ll think, “Wow that space between the new appliances would be ideal for a tile accent.”

Then you’ll badly mock things up and wonder how much waiting for the fancy tile will throw off your proposed schedule to tile over Thanksgiving weekend.

But I think it would look good! It’s almost giving a modern “Tuscan kitchen” vibe (the 90s are in!) and it works with the cabinets and counters. (This whole project came about because we want to sell in a couple years, so don’t want to rip out the upper cabinets and get lighter counters, so how can we do some updates that don’t involve demo.) (Also, the front burner on the old stove was going out.)

We do have the wallpaper accent in the same room, plus a bunch of textile patterns, but I think the tile accent would blend pretty well. No such thing as too much pattern–just ask the Bloomsbury Group.

1 2 3 4›»