GeoGreeting uses Google Earth images as a typeface. This is even cooler than Spell with Flickr.
So I have just uploaded a scanned copy of a children’s book I found at the 2nd hand shop. At first glance, it is a charming book, full of Kate Greenaway illustrations. But it’s actually the sordid tale of an alien invasion. Look for the UFO Pies and the large ceremonial knives…
Anyways, I think that I’ll have a contest. Go to the Flickr set of the book’s pages, and add a comment underneath the page of your choice with your caption. The one that makes me laugh the hardest will win, and prestige and fame will be theirs. Really.
I decided to start sharing the occasional book review, but to keep it a bit unusual, the reviews will only be of books I find at the 2nd hand store. I am not going to suggest that this will be a regular feature, as I don’t even post regularly, but there may be more than one, for I have bought more than one second hand book recently!
The 2nd hand find which I finished today is Alexander McCall Smith’s ‘The 2 1/2 Pillars of Wisdom‘, which is actually a compilation of 3 books of stories about Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld (’Portugese Irregular Verbs’, ‘The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs’, and ‘At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances’).
Von Igelfed comes across at first as a purely comic figure, but as I read on I began to sympathize with him, and in a few of the stories, he is a genuine hero, of sorts. I laughed a lot as I read this book- it’s not fast moving or adventurous in a swashbuckling sort of way, but the good professor does find himself in some tight spots, and the conclusion of the stories is often surprising. I highly recommend reading these stories as one set of tales- if you get the individual books from your library, I suggest getting them all out at once and having a bit of a marathon. Not that they’re long, because they’re not.
Alexander McCall Smith is best known for his No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, and ‘The 2 1/2 Pillars of Wisdom’ retain much of the gentleness that is so appealing in those stories, but with lots that is new and different. This is a good book for reading when you need a lift, with a cup of tea and some good chocolate, and a purring cat at your feet.
Cost: $1 at the Sally Ann, $23 if you purchase it new.
Anyone who has known me for a while soon learns that I like to make things. I wouldn’t quite go so far as to say that I’m an artist, but I am usually in the middle of this project or that. Sometimes the projects actually get made, others they are just imagined (and some are only started, though perhaps not as many as the Badger might like you to believe).
Right now, I am wanting to sew a couple of nice dresses- not the sort for wearing to weddings or anything, just nice ones that I could wear to work, with a cardigan. It’s a bit hard to find what I want in the store- current trends are often too sleazy, or 100% polyester. So I think that I will sew. But patterns are not much better. Few dresses have sleeves anymore - have you noticed that? And I live in a place where 3 weeks of 22 degree centigrade weather passes for summer. Anyhow, my search has turned to vintage patterns, and thus to eBay.
Yikes. I don’t know if I can handle the stress of this much longer. Getting sniped, what should I bid… Anyhow, I won a couple of things, but the gem is this pattern, which is even very nearly in my size, even though it’s not at all what I was looking for in any way, but it only cost$2.86, so who cares.
Circa early 1920, if the hemline is any indication, this pattern pre-dates the flappers themselves, but sports much of the boyish, casual charm of the roaring 20s. (Did you know that hemlines reached the knee in 1926 and not a bit earlier, hovered there until 1928, and then descended again for a few decades?) I especially like the belt-like bits on the side that, if the drawing is any indication, are for hanging your teatowel on while you putter in the kitchen, maybe making poached eggs and toast.
I would look a bit like a (vintage) tent in these dresses, but I think that this pattern would make for wonderful bumming-around-the-house-on-a -weekend wear. Kinda like a muu-muu, only not horrible. Now, to find the perfect fabric…
Spring is here. I don’t care about calendars, and we’re putting Thing One on the plane this morning at what is the end of ’spring’ break, but it didn’t arrive until this weekend. How do I know? Well, it’s not spring until I can do this:
And I got 4 loads of laundry dry on (my really short) clothesline this weekend, so I’m a happy person. Hooray!
I was talking to Thing One on the phone last night, and she asked me what we were up to. I told here that I was sitting on the couch embroidering while her dad was outside throwing the ball for the dog. Pretty domestic, I said.
After a short pause, she replied “Mom, I think that your embroidering is geeky, not domestic.”
Compliment accepted, I guess.
Thing One and I have been having a great time lately, watching for neat clothing re-cycling projects and dreaming up ones for ourselves. There are a few fun projects in the ‘if only I can just find the perfect ___ ‘ pile, including a couple based on the amazing work at ANTI-FACTORY.
Here is a recent finished project, just in time to dream of summer. I used Amy Butler’s Cabo Halter pattern, purchased off of Etsy, of course, and this amazing shirt I found at the Sally Ann. It was unused- of course. I mean, aside from the ever obliging Badger, what self-respecting man would wear this in Northern BC? (Puerto Rico, maybe, or Salt-Spring Island)
The pattern was great to use- I did make a mock-up using a thrifted sheet, but only minor alterations were needed. It was easy to sew up, although if any seamstresses are reading, I don’t recommend doing the zipper their way- it was too complicated. I (and more importantly, the Badger) am pretty happy with the way it turned out. Not bad for a 3$ shirt!
So you must all be tired of hearing about the apron I made last summer. But it’s my blog. (thbbt.) I made it from a thrifted tablecloth, and I love it. I use it all the time- if you stop in at our house on the weekend, I’m usually in an apron, and it’s often this one. (If you’re not an apron convert, well, that’s sad. An apron is a pretty accessory and if you wipe your flour-y hands on your butt, you don’t have to change your jeans before you go to town.)
You may recall that I won a little contest that CRAFT magazine ran, and a few weeks ago, I got my book in the mail- a copy of ‘The Prairie Girl’s Guide to Life’. It’s a cute read, although I’ve already made most of the things in it. It may feature in a giveaway someday, if I ever think of a good contest.
Anyways, last weekend I went looking for a copy of CRAFT, hoping to see my favourite apron in print. I found a new issue, but no aprons. I was sad. Then on Monday, the Badger brought the mail to me- the kind folks at O’Reilly had mailed me a copy of the magazine- I guess that the newstands here in the frozen north are 3 mos. out of date! Not only is it fun to see my apron in technicolor, but CRAFT is a marvelous magazine- so fun, and really quirky. This issue tells how to make a teddy bear tv remote, crazy stuffies, use duct tape to make an ipod case… it goes on!
All in all, it was a great way to cure the Monday blahs!
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