Project Southwest Shirt
I haven't really done any sewing in more than a year, and I was recently in a fabric store when they were having a sale on polyester fleece, so, inspired by our recent vacation in the Southwest, I decided to make a new shirt.
Southwest Shirt
In the winter, I'll often wear a large shirt over a long sleeve T-shirt of some kind. I used the pyjama pattern that I've had some success with in the past. It makes a nice loose shirt, and leaves out a lot of the detail that my favorite dress shirt pattern has. The pyjama pattern has a solid cuff with no buttons or placket, and a one-piece collar that's meant to lie open.
The shirt came out well, and should be a nice loud addition to my usually somber winter wardrobe. I'm particularly proud of how well I got the fabric pattern to match on the pocket. I'm thinking of sewing on some of the patches I bought at the grand canyon to decorate it.
It was really great to sit down in front of the sewing machine again after so much time. Making this shirt took me most of Saturday, but getting it all done in one day was very fulfilling. I have three or four other sewing projects on my list, so maybe I'll actually get them done before summer.
2010.02.01 at 12:00am EST
Sometimes
Sometimes, before I post something to my blog, I search the web for that thing (and variations on that thing) just to make sure that all my ideas seem fresh and unique to my Internet readers.
2010.01.30 at 9:15am EST
Starting a New Contract
I'm starting a new contract today. Today is just a half day, starting in the afternoon, so that's why this is being posted after 10am. Anyway, it's just a short term (two or maybe three months) contract through an agency, but the rate is good, and it's at what I'm told is a very good company. The commute is not my favorite, out in Robinson Township, but I've worked out that way many times before and know some tricks to avoid traffic.
So wish me luck! It's a fun task they have planned for me, and I want to do a good job.
2010.01.26 at 10:10am EST
Late Night TV
I don't watch much TV these days, let alone late night TV, but if it comes to choosing sides in the whole NBC debacle, just let point out that "Conan" is middle name. Really. I'm not kidding. The "C." stands for "Conan". I pronounce it like kah-nen, not like ko-nen or ko-nan, but there it is.
2010.01.20 at 12:00am EST
Dear Mr. Sam Worthington
Now that you're a great big Hollywood star, and a certified genre actor with real box office draw, I'd like you to consider portraying Prince Corwin in a film adaptation of Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber.
I'm just some guy on the Internet, but I think it could be great. Please talk to your agent about it.
2010.01.19 at 7:20am EST
Avatar
We saw it; it's pretty good. I concur with the recommendation we were given, that you want to see this in IMAX 3D or not at all. The movie is intended to be big and dimensional, so that's how you should see it. Part of the point of the film is that you really have to experience something from the ground to understand it.
Anyway, the movie itself is pretty good, too. The script is good, with no dialog I thought was dumb. The story is good; it's not the most original story, as many have pointed out, but it's good. James Cameron continues to be very good at presenting stories. A key to his story telling style is the way he introduces concepts and key objects way before they are used in the plot. Even if the plot relies on a deus ex machina, at least he shows you the machine and its DEUS button when the characters are getting their tour earlier in the film. If a magician is going to pull a rabbit from a hat, he shows you the hat and tells you about the rabbit before he does so. That's called performance. Cameron is good at it.
This is a good movie. It's not the most surprising or dramatically innovative, but it's very good, and it's totally worth seeing in the best theater you can. You will find it profoundly disappointing to see on video.
2010.01.18 at 10:00am EST
Pittsburgh is Like This
On the cab ride back to the hotel after dinner, the cab driver says, "Where are you folks from?" (Cab drivers can always tell who's from out of town, and this line is ANSI standard dialog.) When we say "Pittsburgh", he responds with the response you get about 60% of the time to that, "You're kidding!" It turns out he only lives in Tuscon 7 or 8 months out of the year. He grew up outside of Pittsburgh and lives there when it's warm. Pittsburgh is like this. You bump into Pittsburghers all over, at the most unexpected times.
2010.01.13 at 12:00am EST
Walking
Back in High School, I was in the Boy Scouts, and we did a lot of hiking and backpacking. We even did a couple of 50 mile backpacking treks. When the weather's nice, I like to walk in the park. If I'm in good shape, and walking without a pack, I can basically walk all day.
A couple of times, this has been handy. If your car breaks, it's good to know you can just walk to your destination. It's great when on vacation, since I think you experience much more on foot than you can from a vehicle. Personally though, when I'm out "for a good walk", I stride pretty quickly and don't stop. This can exhaust companions if I'm not careful.
Also, sometimes it gets you into trouble. When we were in Tuscon, I picked out a restaurant for dinner, and on the map it looked close enough to walk to. We somehow beglected to ask at the front desk if this was a good idea. Forunately, Tuscon is a nice place so it's not that the route was dodgy. Unfortunately, Tuscon is a big place so it's not as if the route was short. The map we were looking at only showed major streets, so the complete distance was probably about four miles. Sharon was pretty upset after we'd been walking 45 minutes and seemed likely to be late for our reservation. We wound up calling a cab, being late, but having a wonderful dinner anyway. The cab ride there turned out to only be about another mile. We probably could have walked it in the time we spent waiting for the cab, but those are the breaks.
2010.01.12 at 12:00am EST
Project Poplar Marudai
I completed this project back in November, and actually gave it to Sharon back then, but I didn't want to post about it until the holiday for which I officially gave it to her had passed. (Got that?)
It's a roughly 24" tall marudai made entirely of poplar, with a linseed oil finish. It also has the same hardware as marudai #3, so it can be taken apart for travel. I managed to find a poplar board with some great grain in it, and the angles around the hole and base edges do wonderful things with that grain. The oil finish is great. I also tried using a router to cut the circle and bevel the hole, which worked pretty well.
2010.01.11 at 12:00am EST
Friday Catblogging
A textual cat blogging!
Sharon's cat Mischa is 14 years old, and the oldest of the current batch. He's a siamese, so he's naturally skinny, but he's been getting skinnier and skinnier the past year or two. We've started to give him wet food a couple times a day to supplement the dry food that sits out all day. Trouble is, now we don't see him at the dry food bowls at all any more. We know he's hungry, because he wolfs down the wet food when we put it out, and yells at us if we walk past the wet food bowls without filling them.
The other day, he yelled at me for wet food, so I grabbed some dry food from the dry food bowl and put it in the wet food bowl. He ate it! He just doesn't want to eat like a normal cat any more, and wants to be treated as special. Now, every time he yells for food, we give him a dozen or so pieces of dry food. A couple times a day we give him wet food. He could eat as much dry food as he wants if he'd just go to the main food bowls. Silly Mischa.
2010.01.08 at 12:00am EST
"This blogging business. LJs and what-not. Over-rated, if you ask me. Silly stuff. Nothing in it."
All text and graphics copyright © 2010 Elliott C. Evans except where otherwise noted.
