Patterns are worse to fold back up than maps are. “Don’t fold the maps. Roll the maps,” I hear one of the sidekicks in the movie Twister sighing. And I picture him standing with a thin pattern-paper hanging from his upraised hand, a puzzled look on his face. I’d like to see him try to roll up a pattern. Mind you, these aren’t tool and die patterns I’m talking about here. I don’t even know what those look like, or if they are flexible. For all I know they’re half-inch-thick steel or something. Anyway, the kind I’m talking about is the so-thin-you-can-almost-see-through-it kind that tells you where to put the seams and the darts. They have numbers, too, and a lot of other information printed on them that I may or may not pay attention to. Last weekend, I decided on a whim to sew one of the patterns I recently bought. Sewing is one of the few entertainment options open to this small-town girl—right up there along with reading, watching a movie, and taking a hike at the nature preserve....

...is at hand! Run for your liiiiives!!! Well, not really. I've just begun (=the beginning) my senior year of college (=the end). I have a very convenient class schedule, and I think I will like all my classes, and my jobs; in addition, I'm helping launch our college student media website... which is going to be mostly the newspaper stuff with some video thrown in. But it'll be really neat to finally have that website. (I've been wanting one for four years.) Also, I got all moved into my new apartment with my new (and familiar) apartmentmates this past weekend. (It was a very hectic weekend.) We finally have a microwave but we're still working on getting the cable to work and acquiring a DVD player. I finally have a little free time to get caught up on little things, and to get crackin' on my big projects. Found out this weekend that my local Wal-Mart still sells fabric!! I might just go there this weekend and buy some to make a medieval dress. What ...

No, really! They're new to me, and I improved them significantly. :) When I got them (from the Salvation Army thrift store), they fit me extremely well--except that they were four inches too long. I wear petite, and these were the tall kind... plus they weren't flared at all, and I much prefer the flare-cut at the hem. Sooo.... I had some fun with them! I first cut off a good two inches, and left the rest for hem. Then I found some fabric I liked--this time it ended up being an old placemat with nothing that matched it. Mom didn't care if I used it since there were no matching pieces at all. So, I cut that in half (roughly) and pinned them into these 13-inch slits I made up the outside of each leg, along the hem. And I sewed them in, and trimmed off the extra fabric on the inside so it looked more like the triangle it was (rather than the rectangle it started as). Then I hemmed up the whole shebang and pranced around taking pictures of myself in my new jeans. I had ...

If you remember, I sewed a cape over spring break for a friend of mine who turned ten. Bee, my little friend, has many siblings--one of them is her older brother, whose Star Wars interests go beyond all bounds. (He owns six lightsabers.) Now, some months ago--I think it was over Christmas break, maybe--I had promised this little boy a homemade Jedi cloak someday. I knew it would be easy, but I wasn't about to spend Christmas break sewing something like that, for no good reason. So I told him he would have to wait quite awhile. When I gave Bee her blueberry cape, her older brother was jealous, of course. After all, I'd promised him a Jedi cloak long before I'd decided to sew a cape for Bee, and first things should come first! Right? So, his birthday was this month, and I fulfilled my promise as soon as ever I got unpacked from moving back home after my sophomore year at college. I dyed the fabric Tuesday; cut it out Wednesday; sewed it yesterday; and delivered the gif...

It's back to classes tomorrow. A full day, but I think I will be happy to be back and busy. Although, the great thing about this break was that I did manage to find a good-sized project to do over break... or rather, two. The curtains were one; if you've been following my Twitter updates, you've seen how I did them in spurts (kinda). I was working on the very last curtain, the one for the door's window (an odd size and made a bit differently, so I saved it for last), yesterday. Unfortunately, when I was about two-thirds done, a gear gave out in my sewing machine--the upper vertical shaft gear, if you're really that interested--so I couldn't finish it. My mom's machine wouldn't even have served, because Mom broke her last needle on it just a few days ago (I think) and hadn't been to Jo-Ann's to get new ones. Sigh. I also filled out... fifteen or so job applications (that's a conservative estimate). It took forever. Hopefully something...

It's lovely to be back at the sewing machine. I haven't had the chance since before fall semester to create anything from yards of simple fabric. And this time? Curtains! And a cape! My young friend Bee turned ten today, so--since capes are almost a trademark of mine--I decided last night to sew up a little cape for her in the morning. And that's just what I did: started after breakfast and finished up just before lunch. I had to wait until three in the afternoon to give it to her, though, because she wasn't home before then. Imagine the agony! I was eager to give it away. She loved it. It's covered in blueberries on one side, but on the other (the inside, kinda) it's plain navy. The fun part? It's reversible; so if she wants (and she does indeed want), she can turn the navy side out and match me (since I wear a navy cape a lot). As for the curtains--I've been meaning to make new curtains for mine and my sister's room for a couple years now,...

It's not even five o'clock, and I've already done quite a lot. I've given two speeches (for the same class, no less!) in which I excelled. I also added to my novel! I helped out with an after-school program that was sewing some simple caps for cancer patients too. Speaking of the novel... I hit 17,000 words today, and am likely to add at least another thousand tonight (whether during my shift at work or afterwards). It's probably at least five times as long as all the fiction I've written in my entire life... already! And I'm not even halfway done yet! (Yeah, it's the twelfth and I should theoretically be at 25,000 by the fifteenth... I doubt it'll happen...)

Yeah..... so I did kinda work on one or two of my projects ... I think... well, let's review. 1. I actually got most of the way through my writing project.... er, the first draft. Still have some to add, then comes editing! 2. I've not touched the book, at least that I remember. AND I have another journalism book (that looks fascinating!) to add to that reading, all of which must be finished in the next two weeks. 3. The special music didn't pan out, so I didn't have to practice for that after all. 4. Don't even ask about the college planning. Zilch. 5. No calligraphy yet either. At least that can wait indefinitely! 6. But I did write a couple days in my journal! However, I did finish shopping for clothes that I needed, and altered one of my new-to-me pairs of jeans this afternoon! Nothing too outlandish (not like my last pair, that's for sure), but something unique just to flare the boot-cut legs. Didn't take too long. All I did was take some denim a...

So I did two remarkable things over break, amongst the many unremarkable things (like finishing a book). #1: I refurbished a hand-me-down pair of sparkly jeans. :-) #2: I finished another journal (my eighth, to be exact). And I finally photographed some maps I drew awhile ago.... For the maps, your best bet is to click on them and find a larger size, especially for that last one (which is my best I'm sure).

You know, it's nice to be home after awhile. I get to keep my sister up telling her all sorts of stuff about college... mostly stories about the events and people there. I daresay most of the people at college have little idea how much I tell stories about them! But I believe I have told the principal characters , and I don't think they mind much. And of course the stories are purely for enjoyment; I don't think they reflect badly upon anyone. I also get to look around for summer jobs... am trying again to get involved with the local paper, and I signed up with a temp agency earlier this week. I liked the lady at the temp place--she was very nice and intrigued by my journalism/Spanish combination of interests. And lastly, I get to fool around on my mother's sewing machine (which actually functions, as opposed to my broken one) and refurbish pairs of hand-me-down jeans... pics coming soon. You won't believe what I've done. :-)

OK... you know what I do when I've got time at college! The latest finished product: More photos... Just standing Held out Held up?

I got some fabric for Christmas, as I may have mentioned. Purple & pink & blue seersucker, perfect for... a new skirt! Of course! I dug a neat pattern out of my pattern drawer... a pattern that ends up looking like it's a double-circular skirt because of all the pieces in it. And those things, combined with the time I had today, yielded just such a purple/pink/blue seersucker skirt! But in the meantime, my poor old sewing machine broke. I warred for half an hour with it before supper, and for a few more minutes afterwards; and the result of all the fussing was my discovery that a little plastic gear in the depths of the machine was responsible for the whole thing turning useless. I was just half a hem away from completely finishing this skirt, and the machine went kaput! I was determined to get this thing done, so I camped out in the dorm lobby for... three hours, maybe? and hand-sewed the rest of the hem. And on what amounts to a double-circular skirt, that is no ...

Can you believe it? It's a new day... a new month... and of course, a new year. But the new month is what always gets me! It snowed finally. No snow for Christmas, but a little for New Year's. That's okay, I suppose. My brother is currently playing some game on his new (but classic, as in old) Pac-Man thingy (I almost want to call it a module or a console, but I'm not sure that would do--it's simply the joystick box plugged into the TV). A racing game, one of five games on there (of which the first is Pac-Man, of course!). The noise is the funniest thing! It reminds me of old Mario Brothers games, a little, but different I guess. I'm not sure what else to write. It may be New Year's Day, but all we're going to do is visit my grandparents. And I will also eat lots of olive & cheese ball!! My grandmother has this incredibly appetizing recipe for a cheese ball which calls for black olives, bleu cheese & cream cheese, and nuts, but all mixe...

I finally have pics! Another here . Anyhow, notice that black stripe down the side? There's one on the other side too; their purpose is mainly to disguise the zipper. (Can you see it? It's in this picture.)

This is what happened this week: ... I enjoyed a concert by the college's instrumental ensembles ... I attended a comedic play put on by the drama department ... I watched "Hero" at a friend's apartment (artsy Chinese film) ... and I will be attending a county orchestra concert tonight. In addition, I just finished that purple skirt that I started awhile back . (No, no pictures yet - but I promise, I will post some very soon!) Now, doesn't that sound like a very artistic week? Anyhow. I really enjoyed the college concert because I knew some people in the bands and they did the theme from "Lawrence of Arabia" among other good pieces. The play was definitely funny, especially since my small group leader played two very different parts quite well. "Hero" was cool, in that it had some interesting special effects and uses of said effects, plus it made excellent use of color in differentiating parts of the story. I have no opinion on tonight...

Yeah, it's midterm break. It doesn't seem like it's been six weeks... but I guess it must have gone by without my permission! Or perhaps simply without my knowledge. I got new shoes today!!!! And I picked out some trim for my purple skirt. Black satin ribbon from my bottomless stash of notions. I'm going to love this skirt, I think. And believe it or not... I'm already making plans for another sewing project. I've had the fabric for months, but now I've finally decided on a pattern and a complementary shirt to make with the remainder of the material. It'll probably end up somewhat stylish too, for a change. Apparently long flared skirts are back in!

Get this... somebody pulled the fire alarm about seven-thirty this morning. So every last girl had to wake up, get up and file out the door in the cold to be counted. A normal prank. What's funny is that the same thing happened about three o'clock this afternoon! Yep. Two fire drills in one day. In other news, I've been aching for a sewing project, and finally came up with a good one! I'm over halfway done with a purple skirt. This skirt has two flounces - if you're not sure what that means, you can look at it on the McCall's website - it's the middle one on the left. I'm using some leftover material from old sheets that I dyed to make my sister's Christmas gift last year. Deep purple.... I didn't pay any sixteen dollars for this pattern; got it for free from the 4-H office a couple years ago. I love sewing. :-) It's a nice break from studying.

It seems so odd, that in a season of holy celebration, we become the most material of men. But enough of the philosophizing. This is a summary of my Christmas gifts, for which I am very thankful: --a pair of silver & green earrings --a battery charger & batteries --Phantom of the Opera soundtrack (with Butler & Rossum) --a pink journal --a pair of blue earrings --a notepad --a pair of cross earrings and a matching cross necklace --Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits CD --a Best Buy $20 gift card --a $100 bill --and a sewing machine . The sewing machine is an old one (my aunt, just shy of fifty, had an identical one in high school), and the cabinet used to be my great-aunt's before she died. The cabinet will have to be altered slightly for the machine to fit in (the machine has an automatic buttonholer which adds a bit of width to it), but that's nothing. I now have my very own sewing machine, which I rather think I will take to college with me.

Alrighty: Christmas break started December 18th for me. I measured, cut, sewed, ripped out seams, re-sewed, and adjusted for four days; then I sketched, wrote, colored and framed for the next day. The weekend was spent finishing up shopping, wrapping presents, and attending the Christmas Eve service. In betweentimes, like one evening when Mom was working, I read a romance I found on her bedside table. (Hey Mom, if you read this, are there any other Georgette Heyer books that I don't know about?) Christmas morning we opened our presents. I GOT PHANTOM OF THE OPERA!!!!! Now Mom and I each have our own set, but hers is the old one (with Crawford and Brightman) while mine is the new one; so we don't duplicate ourselves too much. Christmas afternoon was spent reading, pretty much. I started "How to Read a Book", by Adler/Van Doren. It's actually rather interesting! It sounds silly, as if it's intended for a young child perplexed by all the marks on his pict...