This is the bottom half of the vintage dress with no instructions that obviously did not work out as a dress. It makes a pretty dashing skirt, though; the plaid and the big pockets make me think it would be something the boss lady would change into if she got her dress dirty rounding up the cows.
In other sewing news, my new favorite tool is the rotary cutter
which means I can roll-cut on a mat at counter height rather than kneel on the floor with scissors. If you put a pinking blade on said cutter you don’t have to worry about finishing any raw edges, either.Although if you drop the pinking blade on your foot you get a zig-zag shaped cut. I speak from experience.
Karen
Posts by Karen Kaminski:
What Wallace Thinks Of It
Last night I was trying to find the attribution for a Wallace Stevens quote (“God is in me or else is not at all,” quoted in The Little Zen Companion) (oh yes, I succumbed to the mid-90’s trend for miniature inspirational books)(and just don’t ask why I was reading The Little Zen Companion again)–anyway, I looked up the attribution for that quote and found this quotes from his letters, as well.
They talk so beautifully about work and having a family and a home (and I do, too, sometimes) — but it’s all worry and head-aches and respectable poverty and forced gushing…. Telling people how nice it is, when, in reality, you would give all of your last thirty years for one of your first thirty. Old people are tremendous frauds.
So much for encouragement and inspiration! Where’s my mini book…
Friday Unrelated Information
1. Have you ever thought, “It just takes too long to cut out all those newspaper letters for my ransom note?” Then you’ll be delighted to hear about the ransom note generator, with choice of white or yellow paper background.
2. Similarly, are you stuck coming up with a title for your literary work? Go to the title generator!(Warning: seizure-inducing website. But still fun! Seizures are fun!)
3. What your food cravings really mean. I don’t know if this is really based on science, but it temporarily made me want to eat better.
4. Also, take your vitamins this weekend.
Better Living Through Nursery Rhymes. Also: Pumpkins.
Yesterday a request for someone to recite a poem came up, and I was the kid saying “Pick me! Pick me!”—until I realized the only thing I have memorized in its entirety is “The Owl and the Pussycat.” (I do have big pieces of a lot of real poems, but it just spoils a dramatic recitation to fill in the gaps with “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…something, something…”) So much for being so literary.
But why devote your life to memorizing poems when you can do THIS: www.extremepumpkins.com. You kind of know what you’re getting with a URL like that, but I was still surprised. Especially by the one that uses kerosene-soaked toilet paper.
He’s Old! (Officially)
My dad turns 60 today, after another year of building furniture, making model ships, raising barns (no, really), remodeling bathrooms, reading books, putting in fences, helping with moves, wearing Hawaiian shirts, and overall continuing to be tough and handy, all while singing songs from the Golden Age of Broadway. And Dad, I hope you know I’m planning on writing one of these for the next twenty years, so keep it up.
Tuesday Project Roundup: Invisible Project Edition
Monday Unrelated Information
I missed a post on Friday, so here’s some things to think about this morning:
1. My friend’s wedding dress pwned the County Fair
2. Watching “Picnic” with a gay man who’s been prescribed Percoset is mighty entertaining.
3. Remember my favorite Robert Hass poem, “Meditation at Lagunitas,” which ends “There are moments when the body is as/ numinous as words, days that are the good flesh continuing./ Such tenderness, those afternoons and evenings,/ saying blackberry, blackberry, blackberry.“? I had that sort of day on Saturday, and while there was Betos instead of actual blackberries, it was really close to perfect.
4. Another baby at Blue Moon Ranch–Hamilton! (He’s the grey one.)
Introducing Captain Morgan
It’s 100 Degrees. Guess What I Want To Make Next?
1. Bulky wool cardigan
2. Flannel skirt
3. Wool jacket
4. Slippers
Yeah. Wasn’t the heat supposed to be over?