Wooooooooo, scary!

Happy Halloween! Last night I had a panicky dream that we didn't have any of our Christmas decorations up yet. (I must secretly be a department store -- oh, snap!) And I came home and the husb was taping Happy Birthday streamers to multicolored balloons. At least he was trying.

I made myself a really simple skirt yesterday out of Halloween fabric, but this morning I have to tackle Winston's costume. I don't know what to make him. Last year we were both Dalmatians.

I've been letting the book sit for a few days while I decompress... I have to jump back in soon, probably this weekend. I'm sure I'll find tons of stuff to change. That's just the way it is. The thing is, I get it in the best shape possible before I send it in -- I really do ask myself, "Would you want it published exactly the way it is?" And by the time I send it off to an editor, the answer is, "Yes, if it had to be." Because while it would be wonderful to hear that I am a perfect writer and got everything right the first try, I like feedback and I like having the input of an editor. So far, between the Lovely Editor and the Delightful Editor, I don't feel that the book has been led astray at any point.

So that's good. And that means editors' notes aren't scary to me... But yesterday I did take a peek back at the first couple of chapters of the WIP -- now that's scary. Both the prospect of finishing it AND the prospect of revising it.

Have a good day! Anybody dressing up?

Multitasking schmultitasking.

I went back to work this week.

It wasn't as bad as I feared. In fact, due to the facts (1) that my job is pretty cool, (2) my co-workers are pretty cool, and (3) I get PAID for going to work, unlike sitting at home during hiatus, I have had a good week.

It does cut down on one's free time, but since it's not making me miserable I won't even bother whining about that.

In actual writing news (imagine that!), I continued a three-week morning-noon-night revisions effort this week, using fewer noons and more mornings and nights to finish up the revisions and send them to the Delightful Editor on the day I promised them to her many weeks ago. I sat back feeling extremely accomplished and very relieved, and then she immediately sent an email saying she might not get to it for a couple of weeks and if I continue to revise just send it on over.

All right. I will continue to revise. I have a horrible sinking feeling, in fact, that somewhere in the manuscript is a paragrah that ends with an unfinished sentence. I couldn't find it yesterday for the life of me, so that will be something I can continue to look for.

In reading news, I am loving A.J. Jacobs' The Year of Living Biblically. I have read some books lately that felt so effortless and conversational, and this is one of them. It's a fun read.

In life news, five years ago yesterday...

Oh, dear.

It has been brought to my attention by a committee of concerned... uh... Robin that I have been a blogging slacker. And it's so true! The reason, of course, is that I finally stopped being a slacker in some other areas of my life, such as (1) going on cruises, (2) going to Ohio, (3) revising my manuscript, and (4) going to... (insert scary Halloween music) work.

Revisions are due at the end of this week, so until then, I'm up early to take care of that.

So I promise I will blog more soon! And I promise the fires haven't gotten us. We are actually quite far away from them, last time I checked, although we have friends in a few of the afflicted areas. None of them has lost any property or been injured or in danger or anything as of yesterday.

One of my uncles in Ohio was telling me about his long-ago trip to Los Angeles, where he was warned against mudslides, earthquakes, gangs, carjacking, smog, etc., and I laughed and said, "Oh, it's not so bad." I'm afraid I damaged my credibility the next day by spending so much time on the phone asking my friends if their houses were on fire.

Hope you are all well!

Little happies

I have to spend the whoooooole day writing, so I thought I'd do a little post while I finish my coffee... just a few things that are making me happy these days.

Heat-sensitive wallpaper, via CRAFT magazine... I guess this is still in the experimental stages, but I love the idea of sitting down to hang out with friends and a flower garden blooming on the wall behind us! Oh well, just feeling whimsical.

This idea resonated with me immediately and deeply and I can't imagine why it's not a bigger deal -- birthday stockings!!! I mean, come on! Imagine how fun it would have been as a kid to wake up on your birthday and have a stocking of little stuff waiting for you. I'm all about family traditions and I think someday I'm going to have to make these for my (someday) kids.

This skirt at "knick knacks & ric rac"... something about the neutral tones with all that color just sort of grabs me. Of course, I'm still on Wardrobe Refashion, so I would have to make my own.

We finally (after two years!) got a spark arrester on our chimney, so we can use our fireplace without worrying about burning down the neighborhood! Hurrah! We live in the hills, so wildfires are a huge concern... everyone in our neighborhood has their own firehose and we have a special sensor in our house that alerts the fire department if any smoke or steam molecules are detected in the air (and there's no calling them off if they decide to come... the guy we bought our house from left the bedroom and bathroom doors open one day while taking a steam shower, and when he came out, wrapped in his towel, there were firemen in the house... whoops!). The weather is perfect for a cozy fire and I'm so glad to be able to have one (and so glad Winston is past his "eating the rocks from the fireplace" phase)!

Also fixed, our dishwasher! Six months of handwashing come to an end. And the best part is, as I was showing the handyman all of the things around our house that needed fixing, I explained that the dishwasher drain thingy just drained all over the counter instead of into the sink, and he pulled the cap off and tightened the inside part and that was that. Fixed. I heart our handyman.

**EDITED TO ADD: D'oh! How could I forget the Brainmonster hat? This is enough to make me want to learn to knit.

Okay, I have to put this nose to the grindstone, but I hope you're all finding little happies everywhere around you!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Confession time!

I owe my editor a revised draft of my manuscript next week, so in the meantime, I'm crazy busy.

In sewing news, last week I busted out Butterick 4919 because, and this is not the kind of thing you can really announce in advance on the internet, we went on the husb's company cruise this weekend! I finished the approximately 12 feet of hem Friday morning an hour before we left to catch the boat. The dress was great except that it was soooo low cut in front, especially compared to the illustration on the pattern. Before I wear it again, I'll definitely tack that closed. The result is that the photos are going to require a lot of Photoshopping, because not only is my bra showing in most of them (just the tiniest bit), but that tiny bit of bra has a weird little tuft of thread on it, so it looks like I'm just wearing the most ghetto support garments ever. (Tim Gunn would faint dead away.)

Oh well! The dress was kind of a statement -- the fabric is crazy bright colors that reflect the husb's company colors (what can I say, I love a theme!), and it looked especially bright compared with everyone else's sedate blacks and blues and dark greens. But it was very fun to wear, and I would definitely make the pattern again. I'll post a review over at Pattern Review within a week. I don't have any photos of myself on my camera, or I'd post one.

Okay, off to write! Duty calls!

Neglect

I owe my editor a revised draft of my manuscript next week, so in the meantime, I'm crazy busy.

In sewing news, last week I busted out Butterick 4919 because, and this is not the kind of thing you can really announce in advance on the internet, we went on the husb's company cruise this weekend! I finished the approximately 12 feet of hem Friday morning an hour before we left to catch the boat. The dress was great except that it was soooo low cut in front, especially compared to the illustration on the pattern. Before I wear it again, I'll definitely tack that closed. The result is that the photos are going to require a lot of Photoshopping, because not only is my bra showing in most of them (just the tiniest bit), but that tiny bit of bra has a weird little tuft of thread on it, so it looks like I'm just wearing the most ghetto support garments ever. (Tim Gunn would faint dead away.)

Oh well! The dress was kind of a statement -- the fabric is crazy bright colors that reflect the husb's company colors (what can I say, I love a theme!), and it looked especially bright compared with everyone else's sedate blacks and blues and dark greens. But it was very fun to wear, and I would definitely make the pattern again. I'll post a review over at Pattern Review within a week. I don't have any photos of myself on my camera, or I'd post one.

Okay, off to write! Duty calls!

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!

I had to look through all of my RSS feeds for this post at "bits & bobbins" because I couldn't remember where I'd seen it, but it's been on my mind since Friday. I just think it's really important and she says it well.

I really enjoy looking at street fashion blogs (like The Sartorialist and Fashionist), but at the same time, I can't help but think that these blogs are a lot like glossy women's magazines, just on a bit of a different level. It feels like being presented with a look to imitate, rather than be inspired by.

I especially feel a pinch when someone says, "My inspiration is Prada" and they're wearing... Prada. Is that inspiration? Or is that slapping down a credit card? I much prefer when people wear things they've made themselves. But maybe I'm biased.

(If I were ever going to change the name of my sewing blog, I would definitely call it "Maybe I'm Biased". Or how about, "Darn, Maybe I'm Biased" or "I'm Sew Biased".)

Sort of a one-off of the street blogs is Wardrobe Remix, a Flickr group started, in fact, by Tricia of the aforementioned "bits & bobbins". This is a little different because this is people taking photos of themselves and their own creations. It's not limited to one POV, one gatekeeper, and I like the fact that the folks who submit pictures of their ensembles feel good about what they've concocted that day -- regardless of whether they're a size two or a size 20.

Here's a great image from Ivana Clobber -- sewn by her own little self:



Regardless of how crafty and indie we feel, there is a real sort of unification of the craft movement happening online, and if we don't check ourselves, soon we'll all be striving to be "different... just like everyone else."

I don't mean any criticism of the street fashion blogs. I think Fashionist, especially, celebrates quirkiness and inventiveness, and you can't fault someone for having a POV on her own blog. The Sartorialist is a little different -- lots of pics of Beautiful People Wearing Clothes You Could Never Afford Even If You Started Selling Off Body Parts. But still fun to check out.

I just want to make sure that now that we've come this one step from the industrial fashion machine (half step? baby step?), we don't immediately create its replacement and then fail to look behind the quirkiness curtain and fail to see that it's still just the same old wizard back there.

PS - I actually refashioned some clothes yesterday! So look for my post on Wardrobe Refashion later.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!

I had to look through all of my RSS feeds for this post at "bits & bobbins" because I couldn't remember where I'd seen it, but it's been on my mind since Friday. I just think it's really important and she says it well.

I really enjoy looking at street fashion blogs (like The Sartorialist and Fashionist), but at the same time, I can't help but think that these blogs are a lot like glossy women's magazines, just on a bit of a different level. It feels like being presented with a look to imitate, rather than be inspired by.

I especially feel a pinch when someone says, "My inspiration is Prada" and they're wearing... Prada. Is that inspiration? Or is that slapping down a credit card? I much prefer when people wear things they've made themselves. But maybe I'm biased.

Sort of a one-off of the street blogs is Wardrobe Remix, a Flickr group started, in fact, by Tricia of the aforementioned "bits & bobbins". This is a little different because this is people taking photos of themselves and their own creations. It's not limited to one POV, one gatekeeper, and I like the fact that the folks who submit pictures of their ensembles feel good about what they've concocted that day -- regardless of whether they're a size two or a size 20.

Here's a great image from Ivana Clobber -- sewn by her own little self:



Regardless of how crafty and indie we feel, there is a real sort of unification of the craft movement happening online, and if we don't check ourselves, soon we'll all be striving to be "different... just like everyone else."

I don't mean any criticism of the street fashion blogs. I think Fashionist, especially, celebrates quirkiness and inventiveness, and you can't fault someone for having a POV on her own blog. The Sartorialist is a little different -- lots of pics of Beautiful People Wearing Clothes You Could Never Afford Even If You Started Selling Off Body Parts. But still fun to check out.

I just want to make sure that now that we've come this one step from the industrial fashion machine (half step? baby step?), we don't immediately create its replacement and then fail to look behind the quirkiness curtain and fail to see that it's still just the same old wizard back there.

PS - I actually refashioned some clothes yesterday! So look for my post on Wardrobe Refashion later.

Cloth napkins: the sordid truth.

No, just kidding. I just thought "Cloth napkins" by itself was kind of a boring name for a post.

A few months ago, I decided that I was tired of wasting paper towels. When we ate at the table, we'd grab one each, just to kind of have, and 90% of the time, it would go into the recycle bin with maybe a smudgy fingerprint on it. We use the kind that are cut into smaller sizes, so you can get a half a paper towel, but it still felt wasteful.

So next time I was at the fabric store, I found two gingham remnants (with different size checks, though you can't see it in the photo) and brought them home. Gradually, I sewed them all into cloth napkins, which I then stuck in a napkin holder and set next to the paper towels, like so:



The bin to the left is for dirty napkins, although the nice lady who cleans my house every two weeks thinks it is just a place to stash whatever weird stuff happens to be on the counter. Any time I'm doing a load of laundry (except whites), I grab the dirty napkins and toss them in.

I've found that we definitely use a lot fewer paper towels this way.

There's quite a variety of shapes and styles. At first, I ironed every hem, all the way around each napkin, but that got old really fast. Then I tried making a double-layered napkin, but that burned through the fabric too quickly (and now, using those as well as the single-layer ones, it's a level of protection I really don't need). Then I decided just to fold them hems as I sewed. Voila!

The sizes are varied, ranging from about 9" square, to the about 13" square (I like the bigger ones better). I just keep them all folded together and don't try to match up sizes or gingham square size when I pull them out to use.

Here's a top view:


Even though it's a napkin no-no, my gingham fabric is 100% polyester. Cotton would be more absorbent, to be sure, but for my casual crumb-catching use, the polyester works fine. Also, it doesn't wrinkle (like the single 100% cotton napkin I did make, which I always feel like I want to iron), and it doesn't attract lint in the dryer. Plus, it was half-price.

The husb and I are trying to take stock of our lifestyle and make little changes that we hope will add up. I recommend cloth napkins to anyone who finds themselves using a lot of paper goods and throwing them away barely-used.

Happy Tuesday!

PS - Stephanie contacted me and we really do think we want to start a "One Project From Every Book" mini-movement. So start browsing those pages! More info soon.

I mean, really really dark.

Saturday night, we went to Opaque. It's called a "dining experience", not a restaurant, because it's hosted in the ballroom of a hotel on the Sunset strip. The basic idea is that you eat a meal in pitch blackness. This is supposed to challenge the rest of your senses and also help you realize how much we rely on visual cues when we eat.

Also, it's supposed to be fun (and it was!).

I had read a couple of articles and reviews, and the idea of it made me kind of nervous and giggly. Thinking about it gave me butterflies in my stomach. I just didn't know what to expect.

What's funny is that I had pictured, in my mind, what I thought it would be like... right down to how the place would look. Now, obviously, I have really no idea whether I was close or not, because I didn't get a look at the dining room. You do get a sense of the size and geography of the room, though.

We were introduced to our server, Michael, in the lobby. He was, as the website says will be the case, blind. Our party of four lined up behind him, right hands on right shoulders, and started our little choo-choo procession into the darkness. The entrance is a series of turns that eventually block any trace of light. There's a wall you can touch with your left hand, and fortunately, our table was right at the end of that wall.

It was dark. Darker than dark. But your eyes don't believe it, at first. You keep getting the vague feeling that you can see shapes and shadows articulated out of the blackness, and then you realize that you're just seeing the shapes and shadows of your own vision. I do think there were two really faint lights across the room, but they didn't do anything for our table! And they were behind me, so I didn't fixate on them.

We'd ordered in the lobby, so they brought the drinks in, along with a basket of bread and a cup of butter for each side of the table (somehow the girls ended up on the same side, and so did the boys). N, the girl next to me, kept saying, "Oops, I just touched the butter with my fingers!" and eventually we decided that we're good enough friends just to scoop the butter directly out of the cup using our bread. The boys, more stubborn, tried to use their knives. K, across from me, ended up actually slathering a large amount of butter directly on the tablecloth. We know this because over the course of the evening, he kept sticking his hand in new butter.

Drinking wasn't very hard, but it was anxiety-inducing suddenly to have something on the table that could be knocked over (when we first got there, I couldn't get over the feeling that there was an invisible candle that I would somehow burn myself on). It seems, however, that my many years of pouring drinks for myself have paid off in the ability to blindly pour wine without looking.

When you're in the darkness with people, you find yourself wanting to interact with them by touch. The husb, to get his refill, would set his glass down "by the bread basket". First of all, there were two bread baskets. Second of all, I hated the feeling that I was reaching out for something and that it wasn't reaching out for me... does that make sense? I liked the brush of fingers, knowing that someone was actively grabbing something out of my hand or setting it in my hand.

At first, everyone said they felt more comfortable with their eyes closed, but after a minute, you just relax into it. And after maybe an hour, the swirling, muted colors and shapes in my "vision" seemed to calm down.

Eating in the dark is rather interesting, as well. The salads were great, and I muddled along with my fork as long as I could. Finally, I broke down and used a fork-finger combination. When it came time for the entree, I pretty much gave up immediately. The food was very good, except for what I assume were carrots, which I don't really like (unless they're covered in peanut butter or ranch dressing). I kept finding new food on my plate... while digging around for another piece of macaroni, I'd happen upon a large slice of chicken. I took to giving my extra chicken to K because I wasn't hungry enough. But I used the, "Hold out your hand" technique, because I thought it was Highly Amusing to just stick a piece of chicken in someone's hand.

Dessert was good, but very rich, so I didn't finish it. Finally, we choo-choo trained our way back to the lobby, where we found that for a few minutes, we didn't really look directly at each other. We'd be talking and all kind of staring off in different directions.

I really, really enjoyed myself. The folks I was with were glad they went but said they didn't need to go back, but I kind of want to. I kept trying to think of ways to do something like that at home, but I honestly don't think it's possible (in the first place, who would serve the food?).

So I have to say, if you ever have the chance to experience this kind of dining, go for it. It's a little pricey (although N and K paid for us -- nice friends!), but it's such an interesting little push out of one's comfort zone.

Happy Monday!

Fall cleaning

...of the blogroll, that is.

Maybe due to the tireless efforts of Miss Snark, or the fact that I have an agent of my own and a book deal of my own (and therefore have learned firsthand the brutal, brutal realities of publishing... no, I'm kidding), but suddenly I've noticed that the RSS "new post" counts of certain blogs have gone way up. Meaning I don't check them very often. Meaning, I guess, I've kind of let them go.

So in the interest of keeping my bookmarks obsessively organized in a way that of course doesn't carry over into real life, I've removed them from my many RSS feed folders (especially "pub" and "grogs", and most especially the folder "not sure", which contained blogs I was never really sure I found interesting at all).

The good news is, these people probably never knew I read and probably will never know I no longer read. As per usual (I wish there were a way to spell "yoozh", so I could say "as per yoozh"), anybody who reads and comments here or who actually responds to comments on their own blog is nowhere near that category.

It's just amazing to me how indifferent you can come to feel about blogs that only serve to advertise new book releases, or only serve as the author's sounding-off board and never feature any interactivity.

Am I kvetching again? Oh well. Sorry.

The bad news is that I'm sure I'll still miss some good info that would have been useful to me, by cutting agents and editors off my to-read list (I'll leave the links in the sidebar and on my Publishing Resources page). A few of them, like Nathan Bransford and Kristin Nelson, routinely prove not only informative but also entertaining, so they get to stay. And of course the many fabulous blogs focused on YA and children's publishing aren't going anywhere.

In other news, I'm just writing, writing, writing. Some interesting developments project-wise (nothing actually related to publishing), and tomorrow I'm going to this restaurant that seems AMAZING -- called Opaque, where you eat your entire meal in pitch-black darkness , served by a literally blind waitstaff. The very thought of it makes me feel all fluttery and kind of nervous. I just think it's going to be so cool. I'll definitely blog about it. (If I can't be at Robin Brande's Kidlitosphere Conference, I might as well do something cool in my hometown.

Happy Friday, everyone! Have a great weekend.

Just for fun, here's a picture of Winston in his cone. Who can resist a dog in a cone? (This is from a day a couple of weeks ago when his eye was bothering him and he wouldn't leave it alone.)



PS - 30 Rock was sooooooo good last night! And so was The Office. NBC, you should be so proud of yourself.

Don't try this at home.

Foibles, a list.

Home remedies. Okay, so when I walked Winston yesterday, he somehow managed to pick up and carry home a seedpod from some palm tree, in addition to his rawhide stick that he has to carry when we go out in public. Then he ate the seedpod. I know from past experience that these are not digestible. I know also from past experence that you have approximately three hours to get something before it passes out of the stomach (unless, of course, it just bonks around in there for a week and eventually gets thrown up... in the lobby of a bank... while a little deaf girl is having a really good experience interacting with the nice lady and her puppy... until the puppy vomits all over the place). So, on the advice of a fellow Cavalier owner, I went to the store, bought some hydrogen peroxide, and spoonfed two teaspoons to Winston. He licked the air for a minute, then sat down, then laid down, at which point I thought, "Oh, great, I have the only dog who doesn't throw up from hydrogen peroxide, and now I have to take him to the vet, and they're going to tell me I should have just brought him in --" when suddenly, fireworks. A few unpleasant minutes for both Winston and myself (worse for him, I'm sure), and then the seedpod made its return to the world.

(Note: this technique should NEVER, NEVER, NEVER be used when the object is potentially caustic, like a chemical, or damaging, or sharp, or otherwise suspect.)

Consumer rights. Back in August, when I ordered The Year of Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs (author of The Know-It-All, and who, by the way, claims to be an obsessive Googler of his own name, let's see if we reel him in), I also ordered some other books from Barnes & Noble online. Their shipping solution was to hold them all for two months, until the AJ Jacobs -- this should really turn up some good hits -- book released. Yesterday I got an email saying the books had shipped -- MINUS one of the bargain books in my order. So this morning I fired off a disgruntled email accusing them of all sorts of shenanigans and saying that they should hold the books out of the stock if they're going to sit on the order for two months blah blah blah, and what is waiting in my inbox for me a minute ago? An email saying that last book has shipped.

Let me point out that since it's two separate shipments ANYWAY, they could have shipped the rest of the books in August, but let's let bygones be bygones. Meanwhile, I'm waiting for my reply from customer service, which is sure to be something along the lines of, "Hey, moron, what was that about a missing book???"

Hiatus high jinks. Bosslady called me the other day and said they wanted to push my start date back a week and I was all, "Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!" because to be honest, I love my hiatus with a fiery passion. It was cool for Bosslady because she thought I might be mad. So then as the conversation winds down, she says, "So we'll see you on the 22nd?" and I'm like, "No, the 29th!" and she's like, "I had your start date as the 15th!" and I'm like, "WHY GOD WHY?"

So after all that happiness and excitement I'm right back where I started.

Don't get me wrong. I love my job.

But I looooooooooooooooove my hiatus.

Happy Thursday! Doesn't 30 Rock debut tonight? Yeehaw!

PS - Just in case, let's punctuate: A.J. Jacobs

PPS - AJ Jacobs, if you're reading this, I'm excited about your new book.

One project from every book...

I own quite a few craft books, and I keep buying more (kind of like the fabric and patterns situation). My new goal, which goes hand-in-hand with the concept of Wardrobe Refashion, is to create one project from every book before I go out and buy more.

*pause*

Wow, I just went downstairs to get my sewing books, and the stack was so heavy I could barely carry it. Whoops. So maybe I'll break this into multiple days. On today's roster...

Amy Butler's In Stitches "Kitty Tunnel" -- this cool lined burrito-thing that cats can crawl into and feel safe. Unless someone steps on them. Note to self: find someone with cats. Also, "Document Duvet", which is a cool fabric envelope that you can carry papers around in and everyone will think you're sophisticated. I'm thinking about making this for my editor.

Denyse Schmidt Quilts Definitely "Three Faces of Steve", this really cute stuffed cat pattern. Oh, and "A Muff Is a Muff", because when we were in New York, I hated wearing gloves but also hated having freezing hands.

Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing The Yoga Mat Tote in this book looks pretty doable. Also, the Doorstop is on my list. I even bought a ten-pound bag of dried pinto beans from Costco (yech!) in anticipation. I keep the door to my sewing room open with a boring old plastic doorstop right now, so I think it would be nice to use something handmade.

Amy Karol's Bend-the-Rules Sewing (Amy blogs at Angry Chicken.) I really like the Sugar-Sweet Curtains, and I especially like the idea of using curtains on a blank patch of windowless wall. The Simple Tote also looks worth trying, and the Charming Handbag.

(Oh, ha ha ha, can I just say, there are short-term renters in the house across the street, and I know for a fact that they were up very late (because I could hear them), and I can only imagine how thrilled they are by the SUPER loud construction going on today?)

Okay, back to business:

Celine Dupuy's Simple Sewing with a French Twist I really need to make the Bourgeois Bag Organizer, because our plastic bag situation is getting a little out of control. I even have a fabric in mind, although I think when it comes time to cut, I won't be able to use that piece. I might modify this to have an addition "shelf" for folded paper bags, which are also taking over our kitchen. I also like the Ballerina Drawstring Bag. (This book is probably the least "accessible" of all the contemporary craft books I have experience with. Some of the projects seem a little far-fetched... but maybe I'm narrow-minded.)

Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts In fact, I have already made something from this book! I made one of the little birds on the cover, and I like it so much I'm going to make a whole tree of them as a Christmas decoration, although if Winston ever sees them he might assume they're dog toys.

(See? You can't say I never use my treadmill!)

Cynthia Treen's Last-Minute Fabric Gifts I really love the idea of the Wrapping Cloths, reusable cloth wraping paper that you embellish more and more over time. (This would require saying to the gift getter, "Hey, I'm going to need that back.") And the garden play mat is pretty priceless, as are the Recycled Sweater Hats, for which I've been collecting felted sweaters (and felting a few of my own)... because apparently I want a LOT of hats, even though it never gets cold enough for them here... Hmm. Oh well.

"Tomorrow" (there's that word again!), I'll go over my quilting and apparel books...

In the meantime, what's on your project list? Anyone have any questions about any of these books? Because if I have to be a shopaholic, I might as well use my flaws for the greater good.

Wow, this one is about writing!

Yeah, for real. Only because things are going well and today I had a little mini-breakthrough that I really like.

I was thinking about this yesterday, because sometimes I stop to think that (with the pushed pub date), when this book comes out, it will have been seven years since I started it.

Yeah.

That's a lot of years, isn't it? Seems that way to me, anyway.

But what I realized is this: you always read agent blogs or authors' blogs where they talk about having your two first books hiding in a box under the bed, or in a drawer, and I realized: Bad Girls Don't Die -- it IS my first two books. This especially hits me anytime I reach a passage that I know has been rewritten multiple times, getting better each time. I can recite the original, or the v. 2, even while staring at a page that contains a completely new version.

I basically think of this book as "Book-Writing Class". I've learned so much about structure, pacing, characters and their motivations etc.

Of course there's plenty more to learn, isn't there?

I guess I'd better get back to work. Although I have to say, the construction next door (going on month... 16...? To build one house...?) is especially horribly loud today.

Also, in the "huh?" category, our mailman last week asked if we could move our trash cans -- or our mailbox, which, by the way, is a slot in the wall of the garage -- because our trash smelled. In the first place, it's, what, four feet of trash cans that he has to pass? In the second place, maybe -- just maaaaaaaybe -- the smell is coming from the port-o-potty just over the property line? To which he said, "Maybe they can move the port-o-potty."

Yeeeeeah, I don't know. These are the "why on earth can't we park in front of your driveway as we chuck our chocolate milkshakes at the house across the street?" type of construction workers, not the Boy Scout kind.

Baby quilt: "Adelaide's Birds"

Once again, displaying my creative use of the word "tomorrow"... here's part 2 of baby Adelaide's gifts, the quilt.

Birds!


My inspiration for this was a tablecloth pattern from The Big Book of Quick Rotary Cutter Quilts, by Pam Bono Designs. The tablecloth was just blackbirds gathered around cornstalks, but instantly I started imagining a scrappy quilt of colorful birds. Eventually I decided to set them on a tree, and the rest is history.

The birds themselves were pieced using a method that mimics foundation piecing, mixed with the traditional flying geese piecing method. In short, put the little piece of fabric on the big piece and sew a diagonal line Then unfold, cut off the excess seam allowance, and voila. You gradually combine your pieces and eventually you get a bird. Or sixteen (although four didn't make the final cut).



In this photo, you can see the details of construction. I quilted this by outlining the birds and then using variegated thread to make "bark" on the tree, and a zigzag stitch for the grass.

I played with all sorts of color combinations to get my sixteen birds. Eventually it became obvious that they turn out MUCH better if you use the lighter fabric on the wing and the darker fabric on the body. All of the rejects were light body/dark wing. They just didn't look quite right. Thus we were left with 12, which I think works better for the size of the quilt anyway.

I used 100% cotton batting, which I don't always do. For the non-quilters, cotton batting, unlike polyester, shrinks (some say 5%, though I don't believe it) when you wash it in warm water. So if you sew everything together first and wash later, there's a chance the shrinkage will look wonky. Ideally when you do this, you will get a sort of rumply-wrinkly antique effect. All of the quilts I make should stand up to warm-water washings (how could they not, when they're for babies and dogs?).

Luckily, this quilt did not disappoint. Here's a closeup after the washing:



So you can definitely see where the texture is a little different. I also used this batting in Ida Millie's pig quilt in June:



I've heard that some very hardcore quilters don't even preshrink their quilting fabric in order to amplify the shrinkage effect. I'm not that brave yet. Nor do I have any unshrunk fabric, since it all goes right into the washer when I get home from the store.

I handed this quilt over last week with the sushi dress, although why I didn't bother to get an in-focus picture of the whole thing I'll never know.

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