during my annual home for the holidays visit i made some solid progress, surely aided by this year's extended stay (ten whole days!) i thought one of the biggest undertakings of this list would be to sew myself a dress (#52), but luckily i've got a mom who's a whiz with the stitch and eager to pass the skills on to me. from start to finish, including picking out the pattern and fabric, i would guess this project took somewhere between five and six hours.
the pattern - easy peasy
the beast. this thing is HEAVY.
the design was pretty simple (i actually ended up making two dresses, it was so straightforward) and my mom's sewing machine is super easy-to-use, except when i was trying to thread the bobbin. seriously, it's like i'm cursed with this. the last time i sat down in front of a machine was during a "backstage theater" lab class during my sophomore year at uw-madison. i was under the impression i'd be executing set designs, but instead i found myself frantically repairing the actors' ripped seams during intermission. and the bobbin was the bane of my existence then, as it apparently is now. my frustration with these dresses got pretty severe towards the end, but i'm glad i stuck with it, and with my mom's help the new year will be kicked off in homemade style.
c-o-n-c-e-n-t-r-a-t-i-n-g
this must've been right around my fifth or sixth failed bobbin-thread attempt...
last stitch on the dress - home stretch!
it felt really, really good to be done
finished product!
fashion show in my mom's kitchen!
my visit home also gave me the chance to begin work on the dog-walking goal with my mom and stepdad's pet, joey (#96). it was really, really cold in chicago (huh?) and since moving to seattle i've gotten rid of my long, down coat that used to get me through the midwest winters, so i could only stand to be outside for fifteen or twenty minutes. but that was enough to make joey the canaan dog happy!
out for a short stroll along the giant snow plowed banks. good-lookin' dog, no?
chicago's got some great museums. last year i went to the field museum to accomplish my history museum goal, and this year i took a trip to the museum of science and industry with the lovely vanessa (#3). i hadn't been there since high school, and the exhibits that i remembered of course seemed so much bigger then. but nevertheless, here are some choice moments:
the main entrance all decked out for christmas
the old-timey exhibit. this photo is deceiving in that a) these facades are only about seven feet tall, and b) this is the extent of it. i could've sworn that when i was a kid this area was at least as big as a modern-day city block... and i still don't totally get what this has to do with science OR industry. but it's sweet.
vanessa tries to create a tornado... WITH HER HANDS. we couldn't get it to work as well as the teenager next to us.
whaaaaaaat. an entire human digestive tract, from tongue (which got cut off in this picture) to uhh... well, to the end.
ok, so my favorite part of the museum was this room filled with preserved fetuses that chronicled several stages of development inside the womb, from a cluster of cells the size of a pea all the way through full-term. this one in particular is just... wow. the twins are sharing a placenta. these little ones were only about four inches tall, if i remember correctly. it was so fascinating to look at, and to read about which features show up when. when i first walked into the room, not anticipating any of it, my political side tried to prevent me from enjoying this exhibit. something about how proving that a fetus can have fingerprints at eight weeks hurts the pro-choice cause. but then i was like, SHUT UP LIZ this is just SCIENCE and it can be interesting without being politically charged. i think. i mean, it's not like they tried to tell me that a fetus's personality is totally determined by ten weeks.
my mom's favorite movie is it's a wonderful life, and i've never seen it all the way through. that's blasphemy in our house, since i'm pretty sure she has tried to watch it every holiday season. so i sat down with her to see it, and i gotta say, i loved it as much as she does (#34). my stepdad complains that too much of the movie is boring build-up, and i get that. but for me, it was like a hefty dose of nostalgia for a time that wasn't even my own, and i ate it up. more, the ending just makes you feel so damn good. i cried. not like i cried at toy story three (seriously why wasn't i warned about that one) but it was a pleasant little weep that my mom and i shared. good times. oh, and i think i have a crush on jimmy stewart.
the pattern - easy peasy
the beast. this thing is HEAVY.the design was pretty simple (i actually ended up making two dresses, it was so straightforward) and my mom's sewing machine is super easy-to-use, except when i was trying to thread the bobbin. seriously, it's like i'm cursed with this. the last time i sat down in front of a machine was during a "backstage theater" lab class during my sophomore year at uw-madison. i was under the impression i'd be executing set designs, but instead i found myself frantically repairing the actors' ripped seams during intermission. and the bobbin was the bane of my existence then, as it apparently is now. my frustration with these dresses got pretty severe towards the end, but i'm glad i stuck with it, and with my mom's help the new year will be kicked off in homemade style.
c-o-n-c-e-n-t-r-a-t-i-n-g
this must've been right around my fifth or sixth failed bobbin-thread attempt...
last stitch on the dress - home stretch!
it felt really, really good to be done
finished product!
fashion show in my mom's kitchen!__________
my visit home also gave me the chance to begin work on the dog-walking goal with my mom and stepdad's pet, joey (#96). it was really, really cold in chicago (huh?) and since moving to seattle i've gotten rid of my long, down coat that used to get me through the midwest winters, so i could only stand to be outside for fifteen or twenty minutes. but that was enough to make joey the canaan dog happy!
out for a short stroll along the giant snow plowed banks. good-lookin' dog, no?__________
chicago's got some great museums. last year i went to the field museum to accomplish my history museum goal, and this year i took a trip to the museum of science and industry with the lovely vanessa (#3). i hadn't been there since high school, and the exhibits that i remembered of course seemed so much bigger then. but nevertheless, here are some choice moments:
the main entrance all decked out for christmas
the old-timey exhibit. this photo is deceiving in that a) these facades are only about seven feet tall, and b) this is the extent of it. i could've sworn that when i was a kid this area was at least as big as a modern-day city block... and i still don't totally get what this has to do with science OR industry. but it's sweet.
vanessa tries to create a tornado... WITH HER HANDS. we couldn't get it to work as well as the teenager next to us.
whaaaaaaat. an entire human digestive tract, from tongue (which got cut off in this picture) to uhh... well, to the end.
ok, so my favorite part of the museum was this room filled with preserved fetuses that chronicled several stages of development inside the womb, from a cluster of cells the size of a pea all the way through full-term. this one in particular is just... wow. the twins are sharing a placenta. these little ones were only about four inches tall, if i remember correctly. it was so fascinating to look at, and to read about which features show up when. when i first walked into the room, not anticipating any of it, my political side tried to prevent me from enjoying this exhibit. something about how proving that a fetus can have fingerprints at eight weeks hurts the pro-choice cause. but then i was like, SHUT UP LIZ this is just SCIENCE and it can be interesting without being politically charged. i think. i mean, it's not like they tried to tell me that a fetus's personality is totally determined by ten weeks.__________
my mom's favorite movie is it's a wonderful life, and i've never seen it all the way through. that's blasphemy in our house, since i'm pretty sure she has tried to watch it every holiday season. so i sat down with her to see it, and i gotta say, i loved it as much as she does (#34). my stepdad complains that too much of the movie is boring build-up, and i get that. but for me, it was like a hefty dose of nostalgia for a time that wasn't even my own, and i ate it up. more, the ending just makes you feel so damn good. i cried. not like i cried at toy story three (seriously why wasn't i warned about that one) but it was a pleasant little weep that my mom and i shared. good times. oh, and i think i have a crush on jimmy stewart.__________
7 comments:
I adore that movie. Dave-o didn't let me watch it this year, though, because he shares your stepdad's sentiments :( It just didn't feel like Christmas...
And I am so glad to know that I was not the only one bawling at the end of Toy Story 3. I'm choking up now thinking about it
aaaaaand, i love the dress.
The dress is awesome! Also, I adore Jimmy Stewart. Have you seen Mr. Smith Goes to Washington? *drool*
wow, so much awesome in this post. so much, in fact, i need to make a list.
a) love, love the dress. i have a sewing machine that i have no idea how to use. maybe we could make a date to play with it?
b) i love joey the dog! he looks like mike's parent's dog, lucy!
c) i loveeeeeee it's a wonderful life! (but i bet you could tell that about me.) jimmy stewert is so dreamy. have you ever seen mr. smith goes to washington? it will appeal to your inner political nerd, i promise.
to all - i have not seen mr. smith goes to washington but my mom had the same recommendation :) to mina - yes, we can have a sewing date for sure. i need to hem a couple dress lines (super easy).
the dress is awsome!
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