Alive but addled
Hi! I'm still alive, although sometimes I have to check my pulse to make sure. It's the end of the academic term, which means that my life now revolves around grading and miscellaneous student presentations that I'm obligated to attend.
In this middle of all that fun, Trent and I did our annual volunteering for the Seattle International Randonneurs. So, last weekend involved driving to Elma, WA and staying up for a huge part of the night checking in riders, feeding them, and assigning them to rooms. This year went more smoothly than last year because we had plenty of rooms, and the Elma Microtel was nice enough to let us use their conference center as a check in, food, and bike storage area. Most importantly, I won a bet with Trent. I made about 5 quarts of chicken stew on Friday night to take with us. Trent argued that long distance cyclists are so neurotic that they'd prefer to eat cup o' noodles rather than home cooked food. The soup was gone by 11:45. Ha! I made him admit out loud, in front of witnesses, that I was right. (Trent and I never bet money - we just bet for the right to be right.) So the night went smoothly, but I didn't go to bed until after 4:00 am because I felt compelled to stay up until most the riders had come through. I'm way too old to stay up all night. I got back up at about 9, and felt like holy hell.
Back in the real world, I've sewn a set of placemats and napkins as a wedding gift for a coworker:
These are made (more or less) from the pattern in Amy Butler's In Stitches. The placemats are the stripes on the back, and hence reversible. They're honkin' huge, too. Butler called for something like 22" square napkins, which seemed outrageously big, so I made mine 18" square. There was a wee mishap with the rotary cutter which resulted in the supposedly 18" square solid blue pieces turning into 18 x 9" rectangles, so I decided to make it a design feature, which is why the napkins are pieced.
I've also finished a skirt.
This is McCall's M5390, out of a linen/rayon blend I bought at Joann's because I liked the color. This skirt is super-skinny-fying on. The sewn-down pleats mean that one looks sleek through the waist and stomach, and then it poofs out, balancing everything out. The linen blend is a bit heavy for the style. I might make another one out of cotton. Right now, I'm in love with this Kaffe Fassett print.
RIP
Our dishwasher started leaking last week. We called an appliance repairman (Trent and I are NOT handy). Repair guy came Friday. When I got home from work, Trent has posted this helpful sign on the dishwasher.
We bought a new dishwasher over the weekend, but of course it was out of stock, so it's not going to get to us until probably early next week. Life is very, very bleak without our dishwasher.
In this middle of all that fun, Trent and I did our annual volunteering for the Seattle International Randonneurs. So, last weekend involved driving to Elma, WA and staying up for a huge part of the night checking in riders, feeding them, and assigning them to rooms. This year went more smoothly than last year because we had plenty of rooms, and the Elma Microtel was nice enough to let us use their conference center as a check in, food, and bike storage area. Most importantly, I won a bet with Trent. I made about 5 quarts of chicken stew on Friday night to take with us. Trent argued that long distance cyclists are so neurotic that they'd prefer to eat cup o' noodles rather than home cooked food. The soup was gone by 11:45. Ha! I made him admit out loud, in front of witnesses, that I was right. (Trent and I never bet money - we just bet for the right to be right.) So the night went smoothly, but I didn't go to bed until after 4:00 am because I felt compelled to stay up until most the riders had come through. I'm way too old to stay up all night. I got back up at about 9, and felt like holy hell.
Back in the real world, I've sewn a set of placemats and napkins as a wedding gift for a coworker:
These are made (more or less) from the pattern in Amy Butler's In Stitches. The placemats are the stripes on the back, and hence reversible. They're honkin' huge, too. Butler called for something like 22" square napkins, which seemed outrageously big, so I made mine 18" square. There was a wee mishap with the rotary cutter which resulted in the supposedly 18" square solid blue pieces turning into 18 x 9" rectangles, so I decided to make it a design feature, which is why the napkins are pieced.
I've also finished a skirt.
This is McCall's M5390, out of a linen/rayon blend I bought at Joann's because I liked the color. This skirt is super-skinny-fying on. The sewn-down pleats mean that one looks sleek through the waist and stomach, and then it poofs out, balancing everything out. The linen blend is a bit heavy for the style. I might make another one out of cotton. Right now, I'm in love with this Kaffe Fassett print.
RIP
Our dishwasher started leaking last week. We called an appliance repairman (Trent and I are NOT handy). Repair guy came Friday. When I got home from work, Trent has posted this helpful sign on the dishwasher.
We bought a new dishwasher over the weekend, but of course it was out of stock, so it's not going to get to us until probably early next week. Life is very, very bleak without our dishwasher.
posted by Melinda at 10:13 AM
4 Comments:
i want you to teach me how to sew so i can have cool stuff and clothes that fit! i love the colors/pattern on the placemats and might just be bold enough to wear a skirt of the busy one. matches the happy green shoes and that's always fun. glad you're craftin' your heart out!
Ummmm! What does Trent's sign say?
The dishwasher speaks French, for some strange reason:
"Je suis morte!! Ne m'employez pas! Je 'suck big-time'!" It has been my observation that, no matter where you are in Europe, people swear in English, and it must be true for dishwashers as well.
Love the sign -- your Trent is way cool. A day without a dishwasher is barely worth chewing through the straps for (paraphrased from Emo Philips).
Post a Comment
<< Home