Etsy and Pattern Textbook

I opened my Etsy shop.  I actually started an etsy account quite a while back planning to make quilts and other items but never got around to it.  It probably wasn't that good an idea to try to do this when Darth baby was a newborn and the bear cub was just starting school.  Now is a better time.  So far I only have two of the reversible bags that I made as teacher appreciation gifts up.  I chose these bags because I have gotten so many comments on them when people see them.  When delivering one to the nerdlet's speech therapist I actually had multiple teachers ask to buy the bag off of me before the teacher came to get the nerdlet for her session.  I figured that was probably a sign.  Also, I've been using my dragon one to cart library and other books around and I know that it probably is sturdy enough to regularly cart around 30 pounds.  I plan on adding Star Wars and Star Trek bags up before the end of the week.

The other thing I've been doing is reading through my new drafting textbook, Building Patterns The Architecture of Woman's Clothing, which I got through Apparel Arts.  Shams of Communing with Fabric posted recently about having wanted this book for a while and discovering that it was being reprinted.  I read through her post and very quickly ordered my own copy.  Her post is here.

The first chapter is pretty basic and just outlines what you need to start.  The second chapter is on skirts.  It starts with proper measurements and then goes into detail on how to take those measurements and turn them into first a basic blocker and then go from that to various designs of skirt.  I went ahead and tried as best I could to take my measurements as listed.  Then after you have your measurements, it has you add ease and calculate the skirt pattern measurements.  I'm a little skeptical that this is going to work for me as it is assuming that as you gain weight that you do so rather evenly across the front and back with only slightly more in front and that you mostly get wider instead of deeper, neither of which I think is as true for me as the average person.  I plan on following the instructions as read and then adjusting from there.  I'm actually really excited to follow through with this.  For quite some time, I sort of feel that even with trying new things, they aren't really new enough for me to feel like my sewing is moving drastically forward.  I'm hoping that this will give me the jump in knowledge and ability that I'm looking for.  I have flipped through the entire book and I do feel like it's a good investment and will add to what I do, even if I don't glean as much from it as I'm hoping.

Anyone planning on watching this season of Project Runway starting this Thursday?

The Lottery - the review

The premise is intriguing - a young man with an intellectual disability wins the state lottery. I wouldn't call the writing impressive and there are a lot of similarities to Forrest Gump. It was however a quick enjoyable read that I recommended for people to read.

It's a heartwarming story and although the characters are not deep, they are lovable. I would like to think that people reading this story would end with the knowledge that having a lesser intellect does not make you worth less than anyone else. I would also like to think that it would give the reader an appreciation of how to treat an individual with an intellectual or other disability (or at least how not to treat them). These pieces are in the book, but the simplicity of the novel and the way it is written may easily allow readers to overlook the need to carry this further than to the protagonist.

The first thing that I did when I checked out this book was to read the negative reviews. It is something that I often do, but there weren't many for this one. Most of the negatives point to the fact that characters are one-dimensional and the story seemed ready made for television. I really don't feel that this is a fair representation of the book. It is written in the first person by the main character. I think it highly likely that the world might appear to be more black and white to this character than to other individuals. The author has extensively studied people with various disabilities and I don't think that this effect was so much a result of poor writing but an intentional view of the character.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was a quick read and easy to put down and pick up where you left off, which is important when you have two babies. I would recommend this book especially to younger people still in public school and hope it has the intended effect on the audience. I would recommend it to the rest of you, too.

Earlier in this blog I wrote that I intend to write a book about a hero with Ds. If my story even comes close to the way this one came out I would be pleased with it.

Best Book and Movie of 2009

The best book I read in 2009 was Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill. This book was published in Canada under the name The Book of Negroes. I learned about this book from an online friend who happens to be the best book reviewer out there. I don’t always agree with the reviews, but in this case I definitely do, and as she has already written a review of this amazing book, I’m just going to link to her review http://aurillia.livejournal.com/120856.html. I will comment to say that I think the name it was published under in the USA is just as if not more apt than the original. I will definitely be looking for more of Hill’s books in the future.

Now I don't watch as many movies as I read books so you have to take my favorite movie that I've seen with a grain of salt. I usually only watch children's and superhero movies. I always intend to watch more, but I rarely get around to it. I even belong to Netflix, but I joined relatively recently and have mostly watched tv series (I'm about halfway through Charmed).

Of the 13 movies I've seen this year, I'm going to say that my favorite was Up. I found it charming and adorable. Every Pixar movie I see captivates me and this one was no exception. It made me laugh and cry (though I was pretty pregnant when I watched it). It was definitely worth watching.