VICTORIA SMASH!

Apparently I hulked out at work last week.

You're making me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.

Dang, I've had that shirt since high school! I wore it in my senior class photo. And though the tear is right along the seam, the fabric is in no condition to be made into a new, narrower seam. I think it is simply time to say goodbye to this shirt.

Project delay and other news

Work has been exhaustingly busy and I haven't had much time for recreational activities, so I've been working on "Project Rainbow Collection: Blue" off and on since the start of August.  I finally got to a good point on the project (only buttonholes and buttons remain!), when I became 95% sure that I made it a size too small. So, let's delay that drama, shall we? Here are some other cool things that have been going on.

 My street got bike lanes last Thursday! The City just came out and striped over the course of two days, no re-design necessary because our street was rather wide from the get-go.

 You can still see the shiny reflector stuff all over the street. If anyone is heading to Burning Man, you should come roll on our bike lanes first!

Uncle Mark (Chris's side) brought us some dates back from UAE. They are much sweeter and stickier than the Medjool dates we're used to over here. They are wonderful!

 Forty-five silver bullets lurk in the shadow of our fridge. "Aw," you may say, "that's not that many!"...

 ...except that there are twenty more in the fridge. Thank you, rafting!

 I got these bundles of fabric at the Verge Arts Center Jumble Sale two weeks back for about $3. I washed five of the bundles yesterday all is well. The red and white bundle has some print errors on it (smudgey and confused like a sugar-hyped kindergartener finger-painting), but the others have decent yardage and are in good shape!

And let us mourn the loss of Buttons. Buttons died a violent truck-door death yesterday at 7PM. Buttons, you were a good iTouch and I really enjoyed my time with you. I'm so glad that I won you in that workplace raffle and that we had fun together. I'll miss you.

Correlation or Causality?

While working on this purse,

I broke two needles.

I feel rather confident in my assertion that the purse broke the needles. I will defend this stance in court. But I guess the real question is how did some upcycled suiting and quilting cotton break not one, but TWO sewing machine needles? Anyone?

Christmas crafting continues, though I have been procrastinating like nobody's business on a particularly difficult pattern that has me in over my head. Wish me luck!

Sacramento, get with the program!

Behold! The only fall color that I have seen in Sacramento. What the hell, it is NOVEMBER! I think apple season is over and it is still all Indian Summer out there. Color me (if not the trees) disappointed.
*Sister Theme update: our theme is Decades! The decades selected were 20s, 40s, 50s, and 70s. And I bought a quilt at the Bazaar.

 Eek! (Michelle and Sharon also bought quilts)

The Injustice of It All

Because of the extra night-time hours I've been logging the past few weeks, school was still in session as I ambled home past a nearby elementary school this afternoon. I couldn't help but notice a large cluster of 2nd and 3rd grade boys gathered at the base of a gnarled, mature sycamore. They covered a wide area on the southwest side of the tree, looking up and chattering. The group wielded two weapons: a football and black and red multi-purpose ball, the type claimed for basketball in the absence of a Spalding. These weapons were hurled and kicked at the southwest branches with all of the might of each eight-year-old boy given a chance, which is considerable if you take their size into account. On the eastern side of the woody mammoth, one impetuous boy continually tried to display his undeveloped climbing skills, likely thinking that if he could simply reach that first branch twenty feet of the ground, he could solve this problem.
In spite of their unwavering attempts to free whichever piece of sports equipment was sacrificed earlier, they next lost the football to the substantial branches. The bell rang a minute or two later, signifying their cruel defeat; California Sycamore 2, 2nd Grade Boys 0.
Washington Elementary School could use your extra footballs, or maybe just a large ladder would suffice.

Mens shirt refashions

It might be time for me to throw in the towel and not try any more mens shirt refashions for a stretch. They never quite turn out the way I expect them to and they eat up far too much time. For example, I stumbled upon this refashion in the CraftStylish email and thought it looked pretty cute. 

Not only that, I remembered that Chris had a fun pink striped button-up shirt in the thrift store bag; this all seems like it should make for a really cute summer shirt, yes? Well...

Let me be the first to admit that I didn't follow the instructions to the letter--it simply isn't my style to do so. Maybe I had misplaced expectations, I don't know, but whatever the case that beast shirt is blousey as all get out in the back, making me scrunch my face like you just offered me the headphones blasting your Huey Lewis and the News marathon.

Overall, perhaps the most unflattering thing I've ever created... except for last summer's accidental maternity top. Man, I still shudder to thing of that one.

Stupid mens shirt refashions, wreckin' my day! I think a good number of us can remember the unfortunate tranny-top refashion from last summer, which I'm still trying to make work. Somehow. In spite of the negative shirt energy, I was able to make the necessary alterations to bring two skirts back into the "functioning" section of my life.

No number of refashions will stop me from dancing!

Macarons REQUIRE parchment paper

This is sad, possibly the saddest thing in the world. I wanted to try my hand at good looking macarons. I've made some ugly ones in my time (twice) but I was really going to step it up this time. But after the last bits of powder sugar were sifted and stirred, I realized, "Oh snap, we're out of parchment paper! How did this happen?" Well, surely there must be a way around this.

You might notice how I tried to compensate for the lack of parchment paper by adding another French item to the mix, the silpat sheets. The cookies did look pretty well formed on the sheet, but the sheet was not about to let those cookies go without a fight.

Macarons require parchment paper. There is no way around it.