Once in a Blue Moon...

Oh, dear. Lost again
Wednesday, November 28, 2007

It will not surprise you to hear that I took advantage of the Butterick and McCall 4.99 a pattern sales. The McCall one I stumbled upon by accident...I went to the site to see how much fabric a doublet would need, and found that all their patterns were on sale. The Butterick one day sale I heard about through email.

Today, I receive an email offering all Vogue patterns for 5.99. I thought, "So what? Vogue doesn't do costuming, the patterns are more expensive and they are all faux couture and boring."

Then I found the "Vintage Vogue" section.

This one is has great lines and frames the shoulders perfectly.

This one seems similar, but it doesn't have the princess lines. Princess lines can be problematic to cut - it means your fabric's got to be wide enough in the direction of the pattern and that you can't cheat and cut bits from smaller pieces. But princess lines can be very nice. I also like the fact that, with this, you could make the skirt black, and maybe make the top white with a black floral.

and this one is just sheer glamour. The fabric consumption though...makes some of my Elizabethan dresses look cheap.

Mostly, I'm not in love with the rest of the site's patterns...save....well, this is really lovely.

And this dress has a very vintage cut, very nice, though I don't think I could bear all those danged roses.

You would think that I would love this coat, but I'm not sure. It's...it should be awesome, but there's something off.

If my internet comes back on tonight (I lost power Monday during the storm, and for some reason the stupid net wouldn't connect last night...*sighs*) then I will, perhaps, buy one or two patterns. A-Line dresses are awesome, and I look really good in them. And...it's not really a costume if it's from the 50's or 60's, right?

Labels: costume

Permalink Cindy scribed this at 8:48 AM 0 comments

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Darkness, Light, Joy
Monday, November 19, 2007

Today was notable. When I got to work, the power was out, so I schmoozed with my co-workers, then went to the file room and cleaned. I really liked it; I loved the half dark, the cool and the silence. I wished that the power hadn’t come back on, in some ways. But, neat of neat, got my first royalty statement…huzzah! How did I do? I could buy a paperback book. New-used.

Then I went for lunch with a couple of friends, which was wonderful, partly because I get to spend time with one of them (the husband is one of my faculty members) but never really with the wife, who I think is awesomeness itself. So that was really wondrous. I am lucky that in my job I have met some really fine and brilliant people.

Then I got to leave a half hour early because the power needed to be shut down again.

Then…

My tire went flat. As a pancake. The one time I could go home early, I have to change a tire, with the help of a very nice man. Bah.

Then I realized it was really a blessing. The half hour gave me time to get to the cheap and reliable tire place before it closed. So, thank God. Another example of what seems to be ill luck, but really is a blessing.

Three things that make me happy:

Jean Reno. I just watched a very silly movie called “Just Visiting”, where he plays a 12th century count who gets sent to the year 2000. I could listen to his voice for ages. And he is just…one of those people you love to spend time with.

The fact that I was able to clean out one of my filing cabinets so that I could dedicate it to my patterns – if you’ve ever tried to stuff a used pattern back into an envelope, you know what a pain in the arse that is. Now I will put them in large envelopes and file them when I am done. Bonus – now it’s way easy to find my patterns when I want to refer to them. I do that a lot, if I see a fabric on eBay I think has potential, or if I want to know if I have something, like, if one of my patterns has a close enough equivalent to trunk hose for me to work with.

Getting books in the mail. I love opening a mail box and seeing a jiffy bag, especially this time of year, when I tend to buy tons of books used. I often forget what I’ve ordered, so it’s always a slight surprise. I especially am a sucker for Dorling Kindersley. What’s not to love about huge picture books? Especially since the one I’m getting for the holiday, Weapon is filled with full color, drooly pictures of swords. Yum. Buying books is my vice, my comfort food, my retirement plan.

Labels: happy, work

Permalink Cindy scribed this at 8:50 PM 1 comments

1 Comments:

Congrats on the royalty check. Bigger and better ones are sure to follow.

I like Jean Reno, too. He even managed to make it out "Godzilla" unscathed.

By Anonymous, at 5:48 PM

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Nanowriwhat??
Friday, November 09, 2007

I have hardly been able to get anything accomplished. I am seriously considering withdrawing from the competition...between not having a computer at home and my father's illness I've been seriously crippled.

It's weird, how out of sorts not having the computer has made me in some ways. I guess I like my ruts.

Work is crazed, too...to the point where I go home feeling like a hamster on a wheel. So, no writing during my lunch breaks, either...I need to stop making it a habit to work during my lunch. Especially since during registration...well, to be honest, any time...me sitting at a computer with a plate full of food in front of me doesn't seem to signal the fact that I am unavailable. I took a huge bite out of a sandwich (you know me, my desire for decorum seems to just be part of the best intentions package) yesterday just as a student walked in. They asked me questions, and I was chew, chew, chew, can't you see I'm chewing, damn it, and they kept staring at me, waiting for me to say something. it was mortifying.

Tonight, at least, is heavy weapons practice and Moonlight. Yay on all fronts! Will I actually make it to a sword practice before the end of my days? Tune in!

Fencing is, truly, one of my bright spots right now. With 88 campus people (mostly students) on the mailing list, and 45 attending the first meeting yesterday, everything seems like it's going to work. I have to buy some spiffy fencing gear, now. We’re even planning on having the historical fencers down again, which will be lovely…and good for my motivation. Watching people who are really good tends to make you want to work harder, because you can see what is possible, not just what is?

And now I shall stop faffing about. Why? Because it’s time for me to work? Nay, nay I say…because it is time for me to go home.

Have a lovely weekend, darlings.

Labels: faffing, nanowrimo, ramblings of a madwoman

Permalink Cindy scribed this at 3:59 PM 1 comments

1 Comments:

Hi, I love how you are running this blog. I just started a blog of my own and I was wondering if you would like to do a link exchange with my site. My site can be found at:

Absolutesportsreport.blogspot.com

If you want to do this, just leave a comment on my site, on any post, and I’ll link you later that night.

Thanks,
Dave

By David Stefanini, at 1:31 AM