new day, new week

I've completed the first week of my new schedule and for the most part, I've stuck pretty close to it. Still trying to juggle things like replying to emails and still getting in that eight-hour work day. It's hard, let me tell you. I keep switching things around. I thought I could reply to emails after work, but I'm finding I'm too tired to think after work and thus it's very hard to concentrate. Most of the emails I get are from people wanting an estimate on a dress, or asking me for advice on a particular style. So it takes some brain storming and after sewing for eight hours, my brain is pretty much fried. I'm sure with time I will get used to this strict schedule I've given myself. I'm only on the second week and I'm beginning to drag my feet. Oh, boy...

My new favorite tea is Black Cherry Pomegranate. I was over at my friend Jared's house a few weeks ago and that's when I discovered my love for pomegranate tea. His version was an herbal tea, but I couldn't find that in the stores. This version is better anyway, because it has caffeine in it! And we all know how much I love caffeine....... For some reason right now I am obsessed with this beautiful fruit. I love the scent, the flavor and its deep red color. Burt's Bees even has some pomegranate shampoo/conditioner. Must try. The lip balm they have is fabulous as well.



The other day I was thinking how I could use all the old button cards I have. I hate to throw them away. They have so much character and charm. So I thought about using them for the earrings I've been making. These I gave to my friend Laura as a late Christmas present. I should have used pen + ink to inscribe her name on the card, but I didn't think about it until it was too late. Oh, well. I'm still thinking of ways to perfect how I attach the earrings to the card. If you have any ideas for me, I'd love to hear them!



This is what my friends and I do on the weekend. Goof off.

Alrighty, back to that schedule of mine. I may post some inspirational flickr images later today or this evening. I've happened upon quite a few these days.

...the dot and the line...

::jane austen::

For those of you who are not aware, this Sunday begins the Jane Austen series. I've been a fan of these film adaptations (and Masterpiece Theatre) ever since I got my hands on the long 6 hour version of Pride and Prejudice years and years ago. I haven't been the same since then. :) You might also check the schedule as they're airing a few other film adaptations that may be of interest to you. Namely, Cranford and A Room with a View. I don't watch very much TV and most of the time not too many movies, but I do get pretty excited for a few programs and this one I'll definitely watch.

songs for 2007

I'm attempting to post some of my top songs for 2007 on here, though they may not all have been released in the last year. In some cases they may not even be the most amazing songs you've ever heard. But they stand out to me for one reason or another. I'm probably leaving out a great deal of music that should be included in this list, but this is all I have time for. I'm already late in the game. So we'll try this out. I will probably delete the mp3 files soon. But I'll leave them up here awhile. Enjoy the music!

::in no particular order::

Los Campesinos! - You! Me! Dancing!
Dance party at the beginning of the summer. I say no more. This pretty much says it all.

Wilco - Either Way
Wilco - Hate It Here
(sorry, couldn't just pick one.)
My sister gave me their album for my birthday last year. Many thoughts flow through my mind when I listen to this.

Lily Allen - Littlest Things
This song I'm actually a little ashamed to put on my list. It's not that she's the worst singer ever, just not someone I can see lasting for very long. She's like my guilty pleasure. "It's like eating a full bag of m&m's. You know it's bad for you, but you do it anyway." (I probably butchered that quote.) She's not a GREAT musician, but not bad. And people could probably argue with me on this one. I'm just not sure I can say she's the most talented artist out there. But I still listen to her. And admittedly, sing along. :)

Of Montreal - Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse
There's something about this band that makes me happy every single time I hear them play. And you gotta love their lyrics...
"Chemicals, don't flatten my mind
Chemicals, don't mess me up this time
Know you bait me way more than you should
And it's just like you to hurt me when I'm feeling good."

Just makes me smile. Even my little brother gets into them.

Devendra Banhart - Cristobal
He came out with a new album this year ('07), which was surprising to me. He's the kind of artist you never really know what he'll come up with or when it will happen. They call his music "freak folk," which is a bit of a new genre starting to become pretty popular in the past few years. Or perhaps it has been around for a long time and I've been out of the loop. Anyways, I don't care what they call it, he's wonderful. There is something about this man that brings me back to his music every time. I can't stop listening to him.

LCD Soundsystem - North American Scum
Not too much to say about this one. I like it.

Regina - Minua Ollaan Vastassa (Tiger Baby Remix)
Makes The perfect dance song. It's absolutely the best. In my humble opinion. :) I really like the group Regina, but this remix I actually like better than the original version. Anyways, awesome band from Helsinki, Finland. I don't even know when this song came out. I heard about it early last summer and pretty much listened to it throughout most of the year.

Gentle Touch - Memories (2006)
Another dance song. I love how "New Wave" it sounds. I feel like I'm back in 1980-something. It's so sappy, but I love it. Besides, they're from Sweden. And that just makes them pretty cool.

Cat Power - The Greatest
Even though this is not a song that came out in the year 2007, I re-discovered it last year. And I listened to this song over and over and over and over again. I guess I really liked it. :) So I'm adding it in my list.

Nico - These Days
I know, another song that definitely did NOT come out in '07. I think it's from 1966. I sure gave this one a work-out last year! I adore this song so very much.

Antony & The Johnsons
This one is for you Annie and Rachel. You know what it means. :)

Daniel Johnston - Worried Shoes
I think this was one of my greatest discoveries of 2007. I had never heard of Daniel Johnston before stumbling upon several tracks on a random music blog. I feel as if I should have known about him long before. Anyway, it was great to find such an interesting and talented artist as this man. My particular favorite is "Worried Shoes" and I love the version sung by Sufjan Stevens and Daniel Smith. Sounds like Daniel Johnston is quite the interesting guy. There's even a documentary about his life. Need to get that on netflix...

I also listened to a lot of Gillian Welch last year, though she hasn't come out with a new album for awhile. Went to see her live and she blew me away. I love her cds, but seeing her live was even better than I imagined.

Old Crow Medicine Show - Wagon Wheel
How could I go without mentioning these guys?? This is an older track, but I love it so much. I don't know anyone who dislikes this song. This reminds me so much of my reenacting life. As silly and crazy as that sounds, all of my reenactor friends dig this song. It's hilarious. You go on their myspace pages and they all have this song on their profile. It's either a good thing or a really bad thing. But whatever it is, I dig it too... On a side note, I believe this song is a Bob Dylan cover, which makes me like it even more than I already do. :)


Last, but not least, a few music videos that stood out to me:

Justice - D.A.N.C.E.

Peter Bjorn & John - Young Folks

another sunday afternoon

I've been told I look 16, 18 and "a lot younger" than my age quite often in the last few weeks. Every time I order an alcoholic beverage the person who is serving me makes some outrageous comment about how much younger I look. This happens every single time. And it's not that I mind they ask for my ID. It's just that nasty little comment about how I look so much younger that kind of gets on my nerves. Most of the time it's a girl who can't believe I'm over 21, asks for my ID and then exclaims that I'm older than she is! Then in an attempt to make me feel better, they tell me I'll be happy when I'm older. I'm not yet convinced I'll still look young when I hit an old age. Oh, well. It's not the worst thing in the world. Perhaps one day I will look over 21...maybe.



Today is Margaret's birthday. She turned 8 years old. Awhile back her dad came up to me to see if I'd be interested in making her a dress after he had heard I sew for a living. Apparently it's hard to find longer dresses for little girls. He said his daughter is very picky when it comes to clothing and that she loves longer dresses. He was telling me it's fine that she likes them long, but boy it is hard to find a dress that she approves of that is the right length. So I agreed to take on the project, although it's not something I do very often (making little girl's dresses). For the pattern, I was able to borrow Margaret's favorite dress and trace a pattern from it. I asked her what color she wanted it made in and she said pink. (Of course every little girl wants a pink dress.) She's so adorable and I really did enjoy making her a new dress. When I dropped it off her mom told me she usually wears hand-me-downs, so she'll be happy to have one specially made for her. Today she came up to me and thanked me for her new dress. What a sweetheart! These are the times I appreciate my job the most.



Another day for wardrobe re-mix. I don't post pictures on there too often. Mostly because I am not always happy with my outfit. Even when I do post, I'm not always happy. But it is kinda fun putting together an outfit, even if I do change it about a dozen times. Here's what I came up with today...







Here's my new design wire. I was inspired by port2port's pictures on flickr. I love this idea. Most of the pictures are from Anthropologie magazines, but I also added a few random pictures in the bunch.





Last, but not least, here are the quilted coasters I made for my grandma for Christmas. I also gave her a set of four green glass juice cups. You can find the pattern (not that you really need one, but it helps) from the Japanese Craft book, "Machine Made Patchworks 02." I really love this book. It's probably my favorite so far, though there are so so so many Japanese craft/sewing books out there. I could probably spend a fortune on these books. I want them all! On that topic, has anyone ever seen their knitting and crochet books? I'd like to get my hands on a few of those, even if it's impossible for me to read the patterns. I'm sure it's worth it just for the beautiful and inspiring images.

article for you to read :)

Just wanted to link to this article by cookie magazine. Thought it was a very nice read.

Lots more cleaning to do and need to finish a little girl's dress today (her birthday is Saturday!) I've decided to get back on schedule and be more productive starting next Monday. And this isn't just a New Year's resolution. It's a lifestyle change. It's about time I kick my life back into order. Sometimes I think it's just the fact that I'm in my twenties and life can just be plain ole depressing at times and un-motivational. But I've decided to put all the twenties-blas behind me and look to the future. There's so so so much I can be doing with my life and I've just got to get myself together and go DO it. This is the first step. Get up at a reasonable time, exercise three times a week, eat better, work without stopping every five to fifteen minutes, drink more water, drink more coffee (yes, you read that correctly), smile often and laugh even more.

Also in the next several months I'll be looking around for a couch to reupholster. I also have a 1950s chair that needs new cushions. Perhaps I will do a little section on how I go about recovering the couch and chair. I've never done it before, so it shall be an interesting experience. I'm excited!

out with the old

Here I am on blogger once again, sitting down with a bowl of homemade vegetable soup and a glass of milk. Life is good. Today I've taken up the task of cleaning my bedroom. It's a spot that often gets overlooked, as it's not a room I spend much time in. I sleep there, dress and put my face on, but other than that I don't spend more than maybe 15 minutes looking at its surroundings. I've gotten in the habit of just plopping things on the floor that are meant to be dealt with at a later date. The problem is I never get around to actually dealing with them. I know the key to a clean house is to put things where they go right away, so you don't have to run into this problem. Well this is just how my life is. I don't always do everything the "right" way. Perhaps one day I will learn...

My goal is to get rid of anything I don't use right away or that doesn't fit into my small space. I'm not sure if this is possible, but I'm going to try. I'm also clearing a space for my yoga mat so I can do some much needed exercise in the morning. Yeah, that's part of my New Year's resolutions for next year. I don't usually do New Year's resolutions, but I figure it's a good time to reevaluate my life. Although I feel like there shouldn't be just one time in your life when you make goals for yourself. I figure I should be making goals throughout the year. It helps me actually accomplish my goals instead of having a long list of things that might happen, but more than likely won't because they are so overwhelming. So I have written down just a few major goals that I know I've been putting off for a long time. This year I'm going to make an effort.

On to other and more fun things to talk about...



I started a new knitting project and decided to make the James Coviello jacket from Vogue magazine (Holiday 2005 issue). I went with the creamy white wool from brown sheep co and it is glorious to work with. I'm glad I chose the cream. I usually tend to go for browns, but I have so many brown in my wardrobe and this will add a little flavor. I'm also making the bobbles slightly smaller than what they directed. I just felt like the ones in the pattern are waaaay too big. I think I'll probably omit the velvet ribbon as well. Oh how I love chunky yarn.

I hope everyone enjoys their New Year's Eve tonight! I'm not exactly sure what my plans are yet. Most likely get together with some friends to drink wine and eat food. Everyone go out and have some fun tonight!

what to knit

I always seem to get back into knitting around this time of year. I think it has a lot to do with the cold weather and the desire to have more wool knitted items in my wardrobe. I love historical knitting and I'll do that year round, but at the moment I am interested in a lot of modern chunky wool garments. I love the feel of the smooth chunky yarns available right now. The alpaca/wool blend is pretty glorious, but unfortunately slightly out of my price range. That is, if I want to make a sweater or cardigan. So I've been pricing what it would cost to use the Burly Spun wool yarns from Brown Sheep Co. I used it to make my neck warmer and it's really wonderful. Not as soft as alpaca, but I don't mind that.

Alright, here are a few sweaters I've been looking to make. Only I can't decide which one to start with.


I think this is the one I'll probably go with, but I'm still not positive about it. It's from Vogue Knitting 2005. I'd make some changes, like remove the bobbles and possibly even the velvet ribbon. I'm not going for too much "froof." I'd probably make it in something earth tone, like brown, tan, grey or maybe I'll stick with the original creamy white. That way it will go with most of my outfits. If I'm going to spend this much time on a project I had better wear it a lot! :) I think without the ribbon and bobbles it would still have quite a lot of texture and design.

When I was first thinking of knitting something with chunky yarn, I thought of this from the current issue of VK.


It looks simple enough and I think I would actually wear it, probably with a long sleeved top underneath. But I don't know...Perhaps if I made it in some inexpensive yarn that maybe has 50% wool in it instead of 100%. It wouldn't be as nice, but at least it wouldn't break my budget. This sweater requires a lot of yarn.



My friend is knitting up this one right now, only she said she's making it shorter and leaving off the hanging threads (which is what I'd do also if I made it). I wonder if I could make it with chunky yarn? Of course that means more math for me. heh.

I also think this would be cool to make. Only I'm wondering how much work it would be. I still consider myself a beginner after all! Sorry I couldn't find the actual image from VK, but I do love how she made it in red. Only thing is I'm not sure I'd find myself putting this on and snuggling up somewhere. The length of the sleeves are pretty, but not so practical if you get what I mean. :)

Alrighty, I better cut this short. I have to finish a few Christmas presents still! Cheers everyone!