It’s only taken me about nine months, but I have finally finished my quilt! I am very pleased with it. OK, there’s some dodgy stitching going on in places, but overall it’s lovely and I think I’ve done a good job for my first try. Here are yet more iPhone photos:
It’s now on our bed, since it’s dropped cold these last few days. It doesn’t quite fit the king size bed, but it still looks very nice. So, a successful first attempt!
The quilt I started in January is almost finished. I have pieced the second half together, basted it, quilted it, and now I am making the binding and once that’s done, and sewed, that’s it! I am all kinds of impressed with myself. It is definitely not a perfect quilt, but I’ve done this all by hand and with the help of online tutorials, so I think it’s ok to be a bit impressed. I was expecting lots to go wrong and have to rip out stitches and all sorts, but actually it’s been pretty smooth. I am sure I’m jinxing myself now, but never mind.
Who wants to see bad iPhone photos of the quilt so far?
This was pre-basting.
And during the quilting. I may have stabbed myself a million times doing this.
Here’s an attempt at a close up after quilting.
And another.
And its current state.
So there you go. I think it’s safe to say I’ve got the quilting bug. However, my next attempt will be much smaller. As much as I’ve enjoyed this, it’d be nice to get one finished in less than six months.
On Sunday I went to the filming of a Pet Shop Boys video, which London Rollergirls were starring in. They needed people to be in the crowd while they shot bout scenes. If there are any crowd shots in the video I should definitely be in them as there were only about a dozen of us. We kept having to move around the hall so it looked like there were more people. I’m dressed exactly the same for all shots so I dunno how much we’re going to fool people. I do a very lame cheer, over and over. It got a bit boring after a bit. Sitting with us was a middle aged woman who had come along because she’s a PSB fan (they weren’t on set), so we had to explain derby to her. It was all very surreal.
The video is for ‘Winner’ and features a man dressing up as a woman to play roller derby. I don’t know much else about the ‘story line’, other than at one point his girlfriend was played by one of the rollergirls. Anyway, he couldn’t skate. At all. I’m guessing it’s one of those ‘can you do this?’ moments actors have and they say yes to anything. There were many moments I had to hide my eyes because I was expecting the worst, as one hit would have broken him, but he seemed to come through unscathed.
It was good fun to watch anyway. And then I came home, getting drenched on the way, expecting to eat pizza with Max and watch bad Sunday telly. Instead, a photographer showed up to take pictures of Max for a magazine*. ‘I told you about that,’ Max says. No, you told me they’d asked you to wear chinos and have your photo taken, not that it was happening today. I’d have cleaned up! It took about an hour or so, with furniture moved and 200+ shots taken of him sitting on the sofa and then on the bed. I made a cup of tea (in a very flowery mug, ha) for a prop (Max doesn’t drink tea, the weirdo) and there were discussions about wardrobe and poses. Did I want to be in the shot, even just in the background? No I bloody did not, thank you.
So yeah, very unusual Sunday for me. We’re such a fame hungry couple, clearly.
*He’s in an article about Fifty Shades of Grey, the magazine wanted a man’s perspective. I haven’t read the book, other than the first few pages to see how dreadful the writing was, and don’t intend to.
I had two weeks off recently, but we didn’t go away anywhere. It was a very nice staycation, and I had some much needed rest after having the flu/a virus for two and a half weeks. It also gave me time to get on with my quilt, and I have pieced the rows together and added the material between rows. I managed to get half of it pieced together so that it looks like this:
The other half is also done so all that’s left to do is sew the two together to make the final quilt top. And then of course get the backing sorted, and wadding, and piece that together, and then bind it. So…almost done then.
When I moved in with Max his mum sent me these cute post it note things with text like ‘Looking for this?’ and ‘It’s here!’ written on, with big green arrows. I forgot about them until the umpteenth time Max couldn’t find something that was right in front of his face. He sort of accuses me of moving things without really accusing me, even though I can plainly see what he’s looking for and it hasn’t moved from where he left it. Recently he lost his nail clippers. I hate the things so it’s not surprising he thought I might have ‘accidentally on purpose’ lost them. But I hadn’t. Days and days this went on, ‘I can’t find my nail clippers!’ Too bad, you’ll have to turn into Wolverine or use scissors like the rest of us. But not my sewing scissors!!
Anyway, I was tidying up the other day and I found the clippers. Not hidden anywhere, just sitting on the shelf under the coffee table, minding their own business, as they probably had been doing since the last time Max used them. And then I remembered the post its and this was the perfect time to use them. I stuck them on the mantelpiece like so:
I was really looking forward to the moment he saw them, and then I could laugh at how funny I am. I basically live for those moments. But then he came in and chatted to me and walked past the mantelpiece half a dozen times and he didn’t see them! Why I’m surprised given how this whole thing started I don’t know, but he was robbing me of my moment. So then I had to point out that I was waiting for him to notice something, which sort of defeats the point, and finally he got it. I count it as a victory, even though I wanted more.
And this is how we live, with point scoring and one-upmanship*. Isn’t that how all the great romances lasted?
*To be completely fair to Max, it is more how I live, and he just puts up with it. Because he’s a lovely patient man who lives with a lunatic.
After my last post about the quilt I decided to change things around a little bit (also because I’d aligned the ‘bricks’ the wrong way, and so when I moved them it threw off the layout even more). It will now look like this when put together, with a cream line between each row:
I still think there are probably better ways for it to be arranged, but then I’d be stuck on this part of it forever and it’s time to move on to the actual sewing. I grouped my rows into nicely organised and numbered piles:
And I’ve spent quite a few happy evenings in front of the telly sewing them together. I’ve still got a couple of rows left to do, and then I can move on to adding the long strips that go between the rows. But there are worse ways to spend time than on a comfy sofa with tea (and biscuits) and a bit of sewing. Yeah yeah, I am an old lady, sue me.
I have written some thoroughly exciting posts about my feet. I don’t even like feet and yet I seem to spend an inordinate amount of my time here discussing them. Except for recently, since they seemed to be fixed and my podiatrist had sorted them out with the insoles and the stretches that I never really did. But of course they weren’t done causing me problems, so last week I ended up with this:
It is a ridiculous bandage for what was actually a small procedure. There wasn’t even really a wound to speak of, but this was to keep it from getting more mashed I guess. What happened was, two days before tryouts I had immense pain in my toe. The kind of pain you think can’t really come from a toe because, well, it’s a freaking toe, how much damage can it do you? The answer, my friends, is a quite a goddamn bit. I suspected an ingrowing toenail, one of those things I have irrationally feared all my life (like an appendicitis, but that’s another story) so I finally manned up and went to my podiatrist.
I went in and he had a look at it and said yes, he thought it was in grown and there were a couple of options but what he’d suggest would be to cut it away now. Uh huh. Now you say? Hold up there Mr Podiatrist, I have an important question before you start using those pointy objects you’ve got there. If I do this will I be able to skate on Saturday? He answered in the affirmative. Then have at it mate.
I didn’t look, but it wasn’t that bad at all. I expected excruciating pain and there wasn’t really any to be had. Yay for the podiatrist. I had to keep the dressing on for a week (changing it of course) and when I went back he said it looked fine and so now I have to cross fingers (but maybe not toes) that it stays fine and I don’t have to have it removed entirely.
And because that was far too much talk of feet for one post, here’s a picture of banana bread. It was my first attempt, and it was yummy.
A while ago I decided I wanted to make a quilt. I have a very basic sewing knowledge and had never used a sewing machine, so I took a a class and made some cushions. Apparently I didn’t blog about the cushions, but here’s one:
I am insanely proud of these cushions, made as they are by my own fair hands. But I wanted to do something else too. And clearly I have talked a lot about sewing because for every recent birthday and Christmas I have received sewing related goods. I really need to make good on this new ‘hobby’ of mine.
So…back to making a quilt. I will be attempting (and I do stress the attempting part) to make this quilt. I imagine it will take me quite some time, and I also imagine it won’t look nearly as good as the one I am linking to, but it does say it’s a beginner’s quilt. And I will do my best. I’ve got all the kit now anyway, so…no more excuses.
In the continuing adventures of Living With a Boy, this week sees our heroine overreact slightly to a messy house, bewilder her boyfriend and try to come to terms with the fact that hey, people are different. Some people like bins to be emptied when they are full, and some people can either ignore the fact that they are full or just plain not notice it at all. Some people like washing to be placed in a laundry basket, others are happy to have it spewing all over the place in IKEA bags. Some people like to get the boring and annoying chores out of the way before relaxing, others prefer to play Skyrim. It’s a mad mad world full of opposites, and sometimes you end up living with one.
It’s cool, the meltdown is over, we are back to liking each other again now. He’ll try to do better with the chores, and I’ll try not to care so much. We can all blame my mother for raising a child that cares about a neat and tidy house. Did you hear that Mum? It’s all your fault! (Not really. I love you. Don’t hate me. Thanks for bringing me up right.)
Moving on from domestic (non) bliss, today is my last day at work for THREE WEEKS. I am immensely giddy about this. (So much so that it took me four attempts to spell immensely correctly. Ye gods). Hardly anyone is in the office today and in half an hour I will be the only one left, so work? HAH! I shall eat all my advent calendar chocolate and that is that. I may also drink quite a lot of tea.
I’m really looking forward to Christmas, but then I always do. Time off, good food, surrounded by loved ones…it’s great. I shall be going to Yorkshire next week to spend the festive season with my family. There are two turkeys in the back garden waiting to be eaten. I don’t know which one gets to be ours. Maybe I could pardon one, like they do in the States?
I might post again before the big day but if not, Merry Christmas all!
Months ago the folks over at Pajiba wrote a post about TV love triangles and who we like best…hang on, I can probably find it…here! The comments section mostly degenerated into a ‘who do you like better’ in regards to love interests for the Gilmore Girls. I felt the need to write out my own views in depth in a place that was mine, and not in a comment section filled with ‘Dean is a tool’ and ‘Jess all the way!’ This led to me watching the first season of GG again, and then it carried on so I could cover the whole spectrum of Rory’s love interests, and I watched the entire run. And this, right here, is the definitive account of who was the better boy. In my oh so humble opinion.
Please just love me Rory
Dean
Season one Dean is basically perfect. If you were 16 and a ridiculous tall, sweet, good looking guy started talking to you, skulking in your shrubbery to give you HAND MADE jewellery and noticed what you read and got your obscure references, holy hell you’d love him too. Right? It can’t be just me. They talk about books and bands they like. He kissed her in the market and stood up for her ‘honour’ (it’d be nice if she did that for herself, but if I were 16, I’d love it too). Actually that’s maybe the problem. I relate immensely to Rory in season one. Her quietness and love of reading and not really being noticed by boys. Except I didn’t have a Dean, and so I live vicariously through a fictional character.
Sadly season one Dean disappears as soon as Jess arrives. He forgets how to read, to like music, to have a life of his own, or really do anything other than fret over Rory and mope about her feelings for him. Who wouldn’t feel suffocated? And later still poor Dean is relegated to a hick who will never make it out of Stars Hollow. Didn’t his family come from Chicago? Why does he have to be stuck? Way harsh Amy Sherman-Palladino, way harsh.
(Sidebar: Why did Rory and Dean never have sex? I mean when they’re first together. They’re together for two years and it never really even gets mentioned (except for that misunderstanding about the dance). And then she’s with Jess for about two months and thinking about it. Why? Cos he’s a ‘bad boy’? And Dean was a ‘good boy’? I really shouldn’t analyse this so much. I love the show but I’m starting to wonder about its messages.)
Hey Mary
Tristan
He’s basically the first version of Jess, there to cause friction between Rory and Dean and perhaps be an alternative, but of course Chad Whatsisface left to go play basketball and the show needed a new, troubled, brooding soul to appeal to Rory. Tristan had touches of almost-sweetness, but he was mostly annoying. But of course it was because he liked Rory.
No lie, it took five attempts for my computer to accept a photo of Jess
Jess
Oh god I cannot be objective about this. My hatred for Jess lingers from the first time I watched the show and he broke up Rory and Dean. He is such a whiny, ungrateful douche. I get that he’s supposed to be tormented or whatever, and that all girls allegedly want a a bloke that’s a bit broken so that they can ‘fix’ him and be the only one to understand him (because that’s healthy) but GAH! I want to smack him in his face and tell him that really, in the grand scheme of things, his life isn’t all that hard. So you had to move to a small town and your parents are pretty crap. Boo frickin hoo. Get over it and appreciate the fact that people care about you and want to see you do well.
In contrast to Dean, Jess doesn’t call, he gets into trouble and then he leaves town without even saying goodbye. So they can talk about books, that’s not the only thing to build a relationship on. Hey Rory, my boyfriend hardly ever reads the same books I do, we manage to find other things to talk about it.
I actually do like later seasons Jess, when he comes back and tells Rory to get over herself and get back to Yale. He’s sorted his life out and seems generally ok.
Just what is going on with this shirt?
Logan
I have to say, I kinda liked him on my first viewing. He was smart and funny, and linked to the whole ‘cool/fun’ side of money. But on later viewings I realised I didn’t particularly like Rory when she was with him. She’s all silly and girly – that scene where she gives him her notes in the hopes of getting a date makes me cringe – and that whole weeping on the bathroom floor because he doesn’t like her, it’s really quite pathetic. And then there’s that awful thing where she’s watching Duck Soup with Marty and Logan shows up and they go out for food which Marty can’t afford. He’s humiliated and has to borrow money off Rory and she just doesn’t give a shit really. It’s obvious Marty would rather poke out his eyes than hang out with those people, and she’s just giddy Logan came by and deigned to show her attention. Rory, you are a shitty friend and Marty would have been way better for you. Except for later on when he goes all weird with his other girlfriend.
And I know she has to grow up and change, but she starts using this really annoying voice (and whoever does the wardrobe for season six should be shot. Rory’s outfits are fine enough, but they don’t fit her body shape at all) and just generally bugs me. I don’t like feeling like that about her.
So season one Dean wins, but then he goes off the rails, and Rory never really has another decent match. I like to think she ended up with someone better than all of these guys. Maybe one day we’ll get that Gilmore Girls special and see, eh?
