The New Style

I found a pink, gigantic men's t shirt in size 4X at Marshall's today. It cost a whopping $3.00. You could easily fit four of me in one of those t shirts. I bought the shirt with the intentions of restyling it into something else, like a skirt. There's plenty of fabric. I might be able to make two garments out of it. I also can't fathom a guy wearing this particular pink t-shirt, especially a 4x kind of guy. I guess that's why it was on the clearance rack. By the way, that's my daughter holding up the shirt. We're about the same height and size, just so you can get an idea of how big the shirt is.

Yesterday's song:
Spiders - Systems of a Down - Barbie2be

PEACE

Seek And Ye Shall Find

I had received an e-mail from Runner's World Magazine and the San Diego Track Club about another trial shoe event. We wear the shoes for a few weeks then give our two cents on how the shoe fits, performs and wears. The event was over at the bay, at the runner's bathroom. It's along Mission Bay just south of the visitor's center. I arrived a little early, but it was already crowded with people waiting for running shoes. I'd venture to guess that there were about 100 people there. They gave priority to people who had tested shoes before, like I did, but they had so many shoes that I doubt any one was left out. I came away with a pair of Adidas Adistar Rides. So far I'm really liking this pair of shoes and I'd actually pay for a pair. The last trial shoe I had left my feet hot and sweaty, then blisters happened. These Adidas fit like my Asics do, and I love my Asics. I also tried on a pair of Brooks, but the Adidas fit better. I also did something I wasn't supposed to do. I ran. They needed to make sure the shoe was the best choice, and they had an expert there to test us. I got the OK for the shoe, but then the guy wanted to talk to me. He noticed that one leg seemed shorter than the other and that I should see someone for that. Oops. Then I had to explain the injury, surgery, and physical therapy. I only ran about 50 feet, but it felt good, mentally. I know, I KNOW -- I'm not supposed to be running yet, so stop looking at me like that. I promise not to do any more running at any distance until I get the green light to do so.

My daughter found the sewing machine in the storage shed. Why am I not surprised? She found it while she was looking for something else. My poor machine was not covered. My machine was rather dusty and gunky. I thought it might just need a dusting off and some oil, but it was needing much more. I had to use carburetor cleaner to get it going, then I had to fiddle around with the tension settings, which required busting out the tool set. After a two hours of performing surgery on my sewing machine, I got it running. I think it took longer to get the machine going than it did to assemble the running skirt. Oh yeah, the skirt is done! I knew it wouldn't take long to assemble. Since this is sort of my prototype skirt, I'll tweak the next one, as far as fit goes. It came out OK, considering I used two mens x-tra large tech t-shirts. As my son said, I went all MacGyver on the skirt. Heh. I also had to use a scrap piece of black stretch material I had because one of the shirts had a lot of detail on it, rendering parts of it useless for my skirt. I'll post pictures tomorrow.

Yesterday's song:
Failure - Martin Sexton

PEACE

Simple Kind Of Life

This will be a hot*, quick post. We're re-doing a few things on our computer, so it's down. I'm using the old computer that has almost nothing on it, and is slow, but at least I have internet access.

I hemmed that dress (the one from yesterday) and finally cut out the pattern and fabric from that running skirt pattern I bought months ago. Remember? It was this one:



It would be complete already, but family life happens. The skirt should be finished by tomorrow, provided there are no further interruptions. I'll post pictures of it somtimes this week.

Yesterday's song:
As Ugly As I Seem - White Stripes - Barbie2be

PEACE

* I had to fit in the word HOT somewhere, Heh...

As Ugly As I Seem

Activity: Walk
Date: 08/02/08 12:19 PM
Distance: 2.13 miles
Time: 0:46:47
Speed: 2.7 mph
Pace: 22' 13 min/mile
Calories: 200

It's not like I haven't walked, but today we went out purposely to walk. Sans cane, my husband and I walked slightly further and slightly faster than last time. Next time I'd like to see 3.0 MPH or better and walk 3 or more miles. I'm also walking less like a one year old with feet far apart and hands and arms up or out for balance. My stride is becoming more normal, with my feet closer together, arms swinging back and forth near my side, and limping is now at a minimum. It's not pretty but it's getting there. Progress.

I sort of started sewing something. Well, not really sewing in the sense of making something, but hemming. I bought a cotton jersey sun dress last year, but it's too long for short me. I never got around to hemming the dress until now. I cut about 5 inches off the bottom, now I just need to hem it. This one will be hemmed by hand. I don't have serger thread the color of the dress, otherwise I'd be all over that serger for hem practice. I'm slowly getting into the sewing thing. Progress.

Earlier this year I made a list of things I wanted to do for 2008. I, for obvious reasons, didn't get to PR my marathon and it's unlikely I'll get a 5k PR, but I did get to do other things like volunteer and train with the track club. Another item on my list was to learn how to play the guitar the right way. I had my son restring my guitar, so it's ready to go. Now that the incision on my right leg no longer hurts, I can sit and attempt playing the guitar. Uh, progress... Sort of. I still need to take the guitar out of the case and practice some chords.

This summer, so far, hasn't been very hot. Last year was so toasty that it burned the leaves and buds on some of the fruit trees in our yard. This year has been rather mild in my 'hood, but I'm sure everything will change, just because I'm talking about it.

Yesterday's song:
Love Don't Cost A Thing - Jennifer Lopez

PEACE

Fashion

I'm a Project Runway geek. On Bluefly.com they're featuring last season's winner Christian Siriano's new collection. I thought I'd take a peek. I would LOVE to own the jacket pictured above. (I tried to get a close-up of it, but it didn't work -- computer issues.) Just for fun I checked if there was availability in my size. Bluefly.com had it retailed for $600.00, but "discounted" it, but not by much. It's still pricey. While I copied the above picture and posted it to my blog, the jacket sold out. I would never buy a singular jacket for that much money. I just can't afford to buy one piece of clothing for that much money. I can't justify it. I can see spending that much on a high quality purse that I would use for years, but not for a blazer that I'd probably wear a few times. Now I have a new project in mind, and that's to duplicate the jacket as closely as possible, and you can be sure it's not going to cost me as much as the one above. Heck, I have made a pirate coat, a prom dress, American Girl doll clothes,
and other clothes and items for the house, then I can certainly make myself a blazer. Sure, it will be labor intensive, but it's not totally impossible. This all remains to be seen, though. I have a running skirt pattern that I have yet to figure out and a serger that I've yet to use. Yeah. I'm getting ahead of myself. The words "what am I getting myself into" are going through my head, too. A part of sewing is sitting, and for a while it was difficult to sit for a long period of time. Now that I'm past that, I supppose I have no more legitimate excuses and I should get myself in gear and sew SOMETHING. Hold me to it. OK?

July is just about over, which means my daily babbling about food is almost up, too. I thought I was going to do more with the food thing but the food topics just didn't carry me like I thought they would. I had lost momentum, especially when dealing with a few of the medications I was taking.

Speaking about food...
I know I've mentioned before, but peas have to be my least favorite food. I can't think of any food I dislike more. The intense dislike of peas happened sometimes in childhood. There was no trauma associated with peas. Peas just smelled and tasted awful to me, and bring about that gag reflex. Blech. I must point out that I'm OK with snow peas and raw peas right out of the pod. It's cooked peas that are just so wrong to me, and canned peas have to be the worst. I've tried a lot of exotic foods that many people wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole, so I'm open to try new things -- meaning, I'm not a picky eater. I might eat cooked peas if I was paid to eat them, just like when they make contestants eat bugs on Fear Factor, but there's no guarantee the peas would stay down.



Yesterday's song:
No More Drama - Mary J. Blige - Katiefeldmom

PEACE

Photos from Bluefly.com, American Girl, Wikipedia.org, and me.

The Grand Finale

I've followed season 4 of Bravo's Project Runway continuously this time around. It was no surprise to me that Christian won.



The guy is only 21 and talented beyond his years. I didn't always agree with his point of view, but he remained consistent through out the competition, with outstanding work.


I enjoyed this show because of the creative process, and because I grew up with a mother who sewed to perfection. I know I've said this before, but my mom grew up handling a lot of the finishing work for her mother who was the town seamstress/tailor. My mom was very anal and precise about her sewing and would have been all over Project Runway. Too bad a show like that wasn't around when she was alive.

I pretty much agreed with the top three finalist, but I really enjoyed a few of the contestants who just fell short of the top 3, such as Chris March, known for his outrageous costumes.


I also enjoyed seeing what the other top contestants had, such as Rami's great attention to detail with his passion for draping and pleating,

and Jillian's intricate styles and fabulous coat designs.


This show was the only one I currently paid attention to. I didn't follow any TV dramas or sit-coms, and the most TV I had watched was the morning news. This was my little escape for the evening when it was on, and if I happened to miss an episode, there was no worry. Bravo rebroadcasts their shows a gazillion times. I enjoy the creative process, even if it's me watching someone else be creative. I must add that I did get inspired, but I might make a simple pair of shorts that will take me a good part of the day to complete, and not an entire formal outfit. Now that season 4 of Project Runway is over, I'll be catching the next season of Top Chef.



Yesterday's Song:
The New Transmission - Lost Prophets - Barbie2be


Peace

Ghosts In My Machine

I've invested in a serger machine this week. I've been pricing them, but I didn't want to spend a ton of money on one either. This one wasn't overly expensive and the reviews were decent. I've never used a serger before BUT my daughter is currently taking a costume design class for collge credits and she knows how to use a serger. I'm hoping she'll teach me some tricks. I already have a few projects lined up! This machine will be awesome for stretch fabrics, especially when I attempt to make athletic garb. My mother sewed stretch fabric for YEARS without a serger. I wonder what she'd be thinking about this?


It sort of figures that my work schedule this week is rather busy, and I won't be able to play around with the serger until next week.

Having this machine is all tied into getting back into the creative side of my head.

Yesterday's Song:
How Great Thou Art - Elvis Presley - Barbie2be

Peace