project 52: week 6: good idea, uncooperative technology

(Whoops. I meant to post this one a while ago.)

Bill had a great plan for Week 6. Since we were home from our Hawaii vacation, and we had some ridiculous number of unedited digital photos from the trip, he decided we would go to Panera (with their free wi-fi), get dinner, edit and sort photos, and make a big Facebook post about the trip. Great idea -- no cooking and we'd end the evening with a finished album that would make our Facebook friends think we are super cool.

Soup, salad, sandwiches, cold drinks -- check. One camera's worth of photos transferred onto USB drive -- check. Insert photo card from second camera directly into card reader on laptop -- twirling rainbow wheel of death. For 45 minutes. Being impatient, I wanted to immediately force-quit iPhoto and start over, but Bill thought it was just working through the ridiculous number of files and would snap out of it eventually. We'll never know, because when we got home, I restarted the computer and we quickly loaded the photos another way.

It didn't seem so date-like any more, but I did get some of the photos edited in the end. We may decide to lift the Project 52-No Repeat Date rule next week and give this another try -- it's such a good idea. And I want my Facebook friends to think I'm cool.

pattern binge

Did anyone else happen in on the big sale at JoAnn? (No, they're not paying me for the shout-out. I wish.) I was on a research trip to check the prices on some different fabrics. Ok, I did end up buying some stuff, but really just so as not to hurt anyone's feelings. Just a little pile of quarter yards and some pretty plaid oxford-cloth that will make a nice quilt back or binding. But I digress.

McCalls patterns at JoAnn were 70 cents. As in $0.70. Each. If you're not a pattern sewist, you're missing the regular opportunity to be appalled at the notion of paying $19.95 for a pattern for a dress when you could buy the whole dress for $14.99 at H & M. But every once in a while cheapskate sewists like me get a break and they practically give the patterns away. I'm thinking the mark-up on patterns must be like 1000%.

I didn't have a huge amount of time, but I sat down with the pattern book and started listing everything that looked interesting. When I hit the 10-pattern limit I checked out. But I went back on the last day with adjusted standards and found some more.

I found some dresses:

And some tops:

And some other stuff:

This ought to keep me busy for a while! But, wait! Now I need to go fabric shopping...

project 52: week 5: brennecke's

Since it was August Bill took over date planning. We were still on vacation on Kauai. He really went all out -- he gave Frances and Allison some cash and scouted out a place they could walk to at the shopping center across the street for burgers and gelato. Then he took me to Brennecke's Beach Broiler, a restaurant we had fond memories of from two Hawaii trips ago in 1990. It was still a great place to eat with a friendly atmosphere. And it was really nice for the two of us to have a date night alone after a lot of family time on vacation. The food was good too! Fun vacation date!

project 52: week 4: groceries in paradise

Week 4 fell in July so it was still my turn to be in charge of date night. Problem was that Bill was in Hawaii for his conference in Honolulu for most of the week. Frances and I and Frances's friend Allison met him on Kauai on Saturday night to begin our 12-day vacation. We only had Sunday night left but it would have been awkward to ditch the teens on our first full night there, so we had to make do with a morning grocery store run while the girls played at the pool. (One good thing about older children -- you can send them to the pool by themselves with simple instructions. Wear sunscreen. Don't drown.)

It may not have been the most exciting date, but it did give us a chance to catch up after Bill had been gone all the previous week. We were also able to appreciate our relatively inexpensive grocery prices at home and scout the fabric section in the Lihue Walmart. While contemplating the snorkeling gear we got acquainted with a nice couple from Chicago who appeared to be living the dream of vacationing without their children. We bumped into them twice more during our trip!

w.i.p. wednesday

I always enjoy getting to see other crafters' WIPs (Works in Progress). It's inspiring to see their beautiful finished projects, but I like being able to peek in at the process before the product. Here is some of my process!

Here are some purple and lavender ripples on the way to becoming another gingham baby quilt. The top is pieced now and it's awaiting quilting.

This mess is on the way to becoming a red and aqua lap quilt. I have been hoarding collecting reds and aquas for a while now and I'm excited to try this new pattern.

Meet the square ruler and rotary cutter, my new best friends. I have discovered the secret to making perfect HSTs (half-square triangles) -- make really sloppy, messy, imprecise HSTs and cut them down to perfect. It seems like it's going to be tedious and boring, but it actually turns out to be quite satisfying.

I have been slipping away from other things I should be doing to work on this. It's coming along pretty quickly. Good luck with your WIPs until I see you next time!

project 52: week 3: british night

This week's date was a little hard to plan. I had a couple of ideas, but I was trying to work around my daughter's schedule, which kept changing. I suspected that eventually she would end up being gone Friday night but it wasn't until I dropped her and a friend off at Disneyland that I finally had a plan.

First we went to our local British pub, The Olde Ship. We always get the same thing there, Scottish Bridie, beef in sauce wrapped in pastry with vegetables and mashed potatoes and gravy over the whole thing. Divine. Bill gets a Twisted Thistle beer and I have a pot of the best tea in the world. Ok, in Fullerton.

Then we came home for the main event, a movie on Netflix. But wait, before you think that sounds too, too lame, we watched 56 Up, which we have literally been waiting to see for 7 years. It's the latest installment in a documentary series that started in the 1960s following a group of people in England. In the first film, 7 Up, the filmmakers profiled these 7-year-old kids and then they come back to the participants every 7 years. It's quite addicting and we have been eagerly anticipating this movie since 49 Up SEVEN years ago. We were not disappointed. It felt like catching up with old friends.

linen a-line skirt

I followed this tutorial on one of my favorite sites, Crafterhours, and made this linen a-line skirt with a jersey-knit waistband. I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out (way more pleased than I am with this photo -- I'm terrible at taking photos of clothes, I need a class or something).

It fits well, though the linen-blend isn't as drapey as I would like. Maybe it's the cotton that keeps it stiffer, but at $2.79 a yard, it was the perfect fabric to try out a new tutorial with. Maybe I'll try it again with some 100% linen. The jersey waistband is really comfortable --but it does bear a striking resemblance to maternity wear. Or wait! Yoga pants! Not maternity wear!