Sewing

This post will pretty much be interesting only to people who like to sew or would like to get into it. But this post qualifies as uplifting--well, because sewing makes me happy (which you may have guessed if you noticed my username).

Yes, it really, really does. A lot of people who don't sew consider it old-fashioned or the like. But you know what? If I were to look at the choices I've made in my life and pinpoint the one that made me feel most empowered, choosing to learn more about sewing would be really high up there.

Think about it. How much of your life do you spend merely choosing from a variety of pre-fabricated objects available to you? Houses, foods, furniture, cars, even office supplies, and clothes. In all these instances--except clothes and food--I am limited to the ones that already exist. I don't know how to build houses, furniture, or cars, and the paper I've made in my life would hardly suit my everyday needs. So when I pick vegetables from my garden, and when I make my own clothes, I relish the opportunity to choose exactly what suits me.

So much of the fashion industry is based on image and "standard" body types. Which aren't even standard. If you've got a long waist, a belly that expands when you eat, or long arms, finding clothes gets a little trickier. And that's not even talking about taste. What if the prints, colors, and cuts just aren't your style?

Well, if you're me, you take out some fabric, take your measurements, and begin sewing away.

All that is meant as introduction to the below. Here are my favorite blogs and books about sewing.

Blogs

• Posy Gets Cozy--This is the lovely blog of Alicia Paulson. She's written one book, called Stitched in Time, about memory crafts, and I believe she has a new one coming out soon about embroidery. I just love her voice on the blog. Gentle and introspective.
  
  
• Angry Chicken--Amy Karol's blog is a very fun place to visit. She used to be a painter, then got into quilting when her first child was born, as a way to express herself without exposing her daughter to toxic fumes. On the site, she talks about clothes she's made for herself and her daughters, craft projects, and anything she's come across and liked. Amy's also the author of two books on sewing, Bend-the-Rules Sewing and Bend the Rules with Fabric.
  
  
• Dress a Day--This blog by the lexicographer (writer of dictionaries) Erin McKeen is always a delight to visit. She blogs about vintage dresses and vintage patterns, and she often puts a fun twist on her posts by imagining scenarios for the illustrated women on pattern envelopes. Very amusing.

Books

• Generation T by Megan Nicolay--This is the book that reintroduced me to sewing. I've always sewn. I can't remember not knowing how to sew. But it was always so commonplace in my family that I never thought to be passionate about it. Often, I'd feel bogged down by the rules and just never get started with projects because of them. This book changed that. It's all about cutting up t-shirts making completely different fashions from them. I was just in the bookstore this weekend as saw that she has a new book on t-shirt revamping out: Generation T: Beyond Fashion.
  
  
• 99 Ways to Cut, Sew, Trim, and Tie Your T-Shirt into Something Special by Faith Blakeney, Justina Blakeney, Anka Livakovic, and Ellen Schultz--Ditto to the above. I bought this at the same time as Generation T when they came out a few years ago.
  
  
• Sew U: The Built by Wendy Guide to Making Your Own Wardrobe by Wendy Mullin--This book was the perfect next step for me, after I'd had my fun refashioning t-shirts, I wanted a litte more challenge, but I wasn't ready to go back to making ill-fitting clothes from commercial patterns. The book includes three patterns (for a shirt, pants, and A-line skirt) that fit beautifully. The book really excels in showing you how to customize patterns for yourself. Sew U is also the book that taught me how to (painlessly) make a zip fly. There's a sequel of sorts, which is also excellent: Sew U Home Stretch: The Built by Wendy Guide to Sewing Knit Fabrics
  
  
• Sew What! Skirts: 16 Simple Styles You Can Make with Fabulous Fabrics by Francesca DenHartog--I love how this book shows you how to make your own skirt patterns from your measurements. It walks you through A-line, straight, circle, and peasant skirts (and maybe more; I can't remember). Very, very helpful.

That's not even the beginning. There are still more sewing books that I hold dear, and I haven't even mentioned the sewing websites (not blogs, websites) that have helped me along on my sewing self-teaching. They'll just have to wait for another day.

Happy sewing.

Oh, Canada

I'm not Canadian, but sometimes I wish I were. Several visits there have confirmed that it is a truly great country. It's been a long time since I've gotten to stay there for any extended period, so I get my Canadian fix these days with books and DVDs. Here are some of my favorites.

• Anne of Green Gables--The book series by L.M. Montgomery and the movie versions with Megan Follows. My deep, abiding love for L.M. Montgomery as a girl inspired not one but two trips to Prince Edward Island, where the author is from and where the books take place. The sands are red there and the landscape just as enchanting as the books describe.
  
  
  
  
  
• Road to Avonlea--A TV series from the '90s based loosely on L.M. Montgomery writing. This aired in the US on the Disney channel for awhile. Admittedly, the Disney involvement did alter the show, making it a bit, well, Disney-fied. Still, this is a great series for kids, if you edit out the couple violent-action-movie-type episodes. The show has beautiful natural scenery--it takes place on Prince Edward Island, too, though some of it was filmed in Ontario. As far as the cast, it includes the inimitable Jackie Burroughs, Mag Ruffman, and Sarah Polley as regulars. Also, there are a number of cameos, including ones by Christopher Reeve and Stockard Channing.
  
  
  
  
  
• Slings and Arrows--This is another TV series, but it began in 2003, and it's definitely not children's entertainmnet. It lasted three seasons, and apparently it aired on some American station like Bravo, but I didn't find out about it until all three seasons were on DVD and my father received them as a gift. This is a great series! It's all about a Shakespearean theater company in the fictional town New Burbage, and it's very smart. Each season follows them as they put on a different Shakespearean play--Hamlet, Macbeth, and then King Lear. The drama of a drama company is at once hilarious and fascinating. Oh yeah, did I mention that the main character, played by Paul Gross, is haunted by the late company director? So yes, where there's a ghost there's usually a dark element. But my criterion for something to be uplifting is what it does with potential darkness--it has to turn it around somehow. And this series does that for me, mostly with humor. It has such a great, quirky cast, too, including Rachel McAdams in Season 1 and Sarah Polley in Season 2 (as well as her father Michael Polley throughout the whole series).
  
  
  
  
  
• Corner Gas--This is a half-hour sitcom that takes place in Saskatchewan, mostly at a corner gas station and the attached diner. It stars Brent Butt, who has apparently been described as the Drew Carey of Canada. I like this show much better than I did The Drew Carey Show, though. It's not crude, it's just funny. I've heard that this show is very popular in Canada. If the number of cameos, including the Canadian Prime Minister, are any indication, this must be true. I haven't seen all the seasons yet. I think it just finished its sixth and final season this year.
  
  
  
  
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  Robson Arms--Another half-hour TV show, though not as kid-friendly as Corner Gas is. I admit, I'm not a fan of every episode of this one. Some are just downers, other are a bit crude. But other episodes are great. The reason for the discrepancy between episodes is the format, which is actually clever. The show takes place in an apartment building in Vancouver, and each episode profiles a different resident of the building. So the subject matter is vastly different each time. Sometimes it's the family that runs the small convenience store on the first floor, sometimes it's the gay couple, sometimes it's the young techie guy, sometimes it's the roommates who deal pot. The list goes on. The only constant in each episode is the Super Intendent, Yuri. As for cast, this features two of the same actors from Corner Gas, Gabrielle Miller and Fred Ewanuick, as well as Mark McKinney (from Slings and Arrows) and Megan Follows (from Anne of Green Gables) in Season 1. There's also a cameo by Leslie Nielsen in Season 2. Apparently Dave Foley from NewsRadio appears as the new building owner in Season 3.

So, looking at this list, it becomes apparent how little I've mentioned Canadian books. That's because I haven't read many by Canadian authors--or at least I haven't known they were Canadian. Anne of Green Gables is the only one up there. So, I sense a new mission. To sniff out Canadian literature.

Poems

Here are some good poems.

• "Kindness" by Naomi Shihab Nye
  
  
• "Eagle Poem" by Joy Harjo
  
  
• "Little Summer Poem Touching the Subject of Faith," "The Journey," and "Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver
  

Dakota Skye

So I watched this movie yesterday, Dakota Skye. It was kind of fun. Maybe not high art, but definitely unique. The main character, Dakota, is a high schooler who can see lies. She calls it her "super power." No else knows about it, though. She just goes through life fairly miserably with her slightly cocky boyfriend and her nagging but well-meaning friends, seeing through every fib and falsehood. (Mind you, this doesn't make her stop lying.) Then one day someone new shows up in town, and he doesn't lie. Ever. And that's pretty refreshing, but it also means Dakota's got a lot of thinking to do.

I liked the way this film showed you Dakota's insight into lies. Every time someone tells a whopper, subtitles appear onscreen with the truth. There are two great scenes when Dakota's in history class, and for every statement the teacher makes about American history, there's a subtitle with what really happened. That would have been so helpful to have in school.

The concept behind this whole movie was intelligent. It brought to light how much lying is part of our social interactions--from saying that the embarrassing story you just told was only a joke to insisting that you're not angry with someone when you really are. It really made me put on my thinking cap. Well done.

A Watched Pot Boils

It does! It does! You know how people are always bandying about that supposed piece of folk wisdom, "A watched pot never boils?" (Wait, where does the question mark go there? After the quotes? I can't remember. Bear with me, though.) The truth is, a watched pot does boil. I've watched before. It can actually be a very Zen experience, hanging in there with patience as you watch a pot of water transform from still and cool to rolling and steaming.

Okay, so how does this apply to life? Easily! How many times have you been so anxiously waiting for something to happen, and you just can't get your mind off it? Maybe you're a teenager waiting to turn whatever age you have to be to get a driver's license in your state. Or maybe your a working fella or lady, oh-so-excited for the launch of your new business. It's all you can think about, all the time staring at this future you can't have in the present moment. People tell you to distract yourself, think about something else for awhile, and sometimes this is very good advice.

Sometimes, though, it's impossible to follow. I'll tell you what example made me think of this in the first place. I was sick, and it was taking a long time to get better. Lying on the sofa all day, all I could think about was what I should be doing to get better, what I would do when I was better. Then I'd realize that that was all I could think about, and I'd throw myself into a tizzy for not being able to shift my focus. I got worried that I'd never get better if I obsessed about it, but I saw no way to stop obsessing, because ill health brings your attention to it ALL THE TIME.

So you know what? I gave myself permission to watch my pot boil. Whether or not I thought about it all the time, I was going to get better. Eventually, I did. And with much less angst than if I'd kept on worrying about not being able to think about something else while I recuperated.

Peace out, y'all.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society

This book is so good! I read this in the spring, and, along with ten million other people am such a big fan. If you don't know the premise, here it is:

World War II has just ended. The protagonist, Juliet, had become somewhat famous during the war for a regular newspaper column, and an anthology of her columns has just been published. She's looking for a new project. By happenstance, she comes into correspondence with the titular Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, becomes fascinated by their experience of the war on their isolated but German-occupied island, and finds her inspiration. The novel, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (aunt and niece), is completely in letters, a form that works very well for the story. It's uplifting while dealing with the very difficult subject matter of war. Definitely an accomplishment.

Enjoy. Peace out.

Through Closed Eyes

Today I was lying down, trying to nap. I've just come back from a whirlwind road trip that involved much visiting of family, many late nights, and hours upon hours of driving. I was wiped. I needed the rest.

But it was bright out. Even with the blinds down, summertime light was pouring in through the gaps in the slats. I couldn't just drop off to sleep with the light still apparent through my closed eyelids. So my mind wandered, too tired to get up and do anything, too awake to doze off in slumber.

This is what I thought: Even when we try to shut out the light, we can't. I mean this in the metaphysical sense. (NB: I'm not trying to be religious or particularly New Age, either. Although if either of those apply to you, I'm not dissing them. By all means, if what I'm saying speaks to you, no matter what you consider yourself, let it speak to you. I'm just explaining in terms of my own life. I don't consider myself religious or New Age. Rather, I'm just a person seeking meaning. And sometimes the words that describe this meaning for me--light, faith, grace--overlap with the terms used by other institutions and communities. Side note over.) So back to the light. The metaphysical kind. In my life, I've tried to shut it out before. I'm not sure exactly why. It hurt to see the truths light made evident, maybe, the cobwebs it exposed.

The point, though, is that I couldn't shut it out. My metaphysical eyelids, if you will, could keep me from seeing, but they couldn't keep me from knowing the light was still there. So I always ended up opening my eyes again, like I did today when I couldn't sleep, and greeting the light and all it had to show me with grudging respect.

(For the purposes of full disclosure, I do realize that there are other methods of blocking the sunlight when you're trying to sleep in the day--sleep masks, a pillow over the eyes, blackout curtains. None of those are equipment we're born with, though. For this metaphor, let's go with that as a criteria both physical and spiritual. Your means for light-blocking must be something you're born with. Is that fair?)

Metaphors

Now, over the past few months, I've been thinking a lot about metaphors. Good, old metaphors that help us get through the days. Do you know the kind I mean? Maybe not--I'm not coming right out and explaining them. So I will.

Here's an example. I looked down at my knee one day and saw a bruise. I had no idea how I'd gotten it. I had to think back. Oh yeah, I finally remembered, I did bang my knee a few days ago. I guess it just takes a while for bruises to form. That phrase--"it takes a while for bruises to form"--starting echoing through my head.

It's something true of life, too, I realized. We get hurt, and it can take a while to sink in. We're in the middle of something else days later, talking to a friend maybe, and suddenly something in the conversation bumps into us where we were hurt. Ouch, we think. Why does it hurt when she tells a joke about someone making a mistake? It hurts because a few days before, maybe someone yelled at you for a mistake you made. And it's taken a little while for the bruise to form. The emotional bruise will fade, though, just as the one on my knee did.

Metaphors like this help me. I have something physical to relate to something unseen. In this case, it's the reminder that that some out-of-nowhere emotional bump isn't anything to get all worried about. I don't have to analyze it, worry about how I'll get over a neurosis, it's just somewhere I've been recently bruised. And it will go away.

An Abundance of Recommendations

It's been--hmm, months--since my last post. Not that anyone is reading this, which is perhaps why I went away. Of course, why would anyone be reading an unadvertised blog after three posts? But I'm posting again, because hey, someday people might read this, right? And then they'd go back and read old posts?

I didn't run out of uplifting material. No, I still read wonderful books and rent Netflix movies that I'd like to recommend. Let's see what I can think of off the top of my head as examples.

Books: Paper Towns, An Abundance of Katherines, and Looking for Alaska by John Green. All these books had dark elements, but they weren't written in a way that glorified the darkness, and that I appreciated. My favorite of the three? I don't have one. The order they're listed in is the order I read them. Paper Towns has a great mystery component that keeps you turning the pages. An Abundance of Katherines is humorous--the main character spends his time coming up with a mathematical formula to explain why he's always been dumped by his girlfriends. Looking for Alaska is sad and vivid in its portrayal of boarding school life (something with which I have experience). John Green is definitely one of my new favorite authors. I heart deep young adult fiction. (I'm on a YA bender, apparently. Honestly, I've never outgrown the joys of young adult fiction. So fresh, so honest.)

Website: Vlog Brothers' You Tube Channel. This I found through John Green's website. He and his brother Hank Green set out to communicate every weekday without the written word for a year, and this is what it became. Video blogs back and forth, and they're hilarious. That year ended a while ago, but they're still at it just for the fun of it. Watching their old videos got me through days of lying on the couch feeling under the weather. I laughed out loud, all by myself in the room. I really don't know how to describe these at all, besides hilarious. Here's some of my favorites: July 18: Accio Deathly Hallows and Peanut Butter Face. This one's just interesting because haven't you always wondered how audiobooks are made?

Movies: The Singles Ward, The Singles 2nd Ward, and God's Army. I don't happen to be Mormon, nor have I ever been, nor do I ever plan to be. However, these three films were made by Mormons about Mormons. And you know what? It's really cool to see into their world. I rented the first one by accident--hazily noticed that the description of Singles Ward mentioned a Mormon character, but figured that was just the one character. And then the whole movie was about Latter-Day Saints doing Latter-Day stuff. It was a good movie, too. In a normal movie, many of the laughs come from people getting drunk and doing stupid stuff when they're drunk. The Mormons don't drink, though, nor do they even consume caffeine. The humor is tame, but good. I will say this: Singles Ward is cheesy. There are sound effects and the un-ironic wearing of a metallic silver shirt. But it's entertaining and all around fascinating to see how a whole world of people with whom I've had very little contact live their lives. So much so that I sought out the next two films knowing full well they were Mormon productions.

So listing examples took up some room. I didn't realize how much I had stored up in my head. Have fun reading or web surfing or watching. The world has good stuff in it. It's our job to find it and make more of it.