May 2nd, day 1: Dress the way you want to feel

It's been one of those very strange weeks that cause you to step back and take notice of the things that are important in your life.  Maybe worrying about the way I look is a bit silly, but after some thought and a great book club discussion a couple of weeks back you've got to act the way you want to feel to be happy somedays.  It really does work where you might force a smile or throw on your latest internet cat to get a chuckle in.  Some days though it's harder than others to act happy, so dressing happy is a must.  A big pair of earrings, a bright red blouse, your favorite $10 blue skinnies, a wild paint job on your nails.

And this is what you get.  Remember to be more awkward for the next photo mmkay?

This top was made from about a yard-ish of a super awesome cotton silk woven that's shinyish on one side and matte on the other.  I think I made it in 2010? about the time that the sorbetto pattern came out, but I used a simplicity Cynthia Rowley pattern I had laying around.  Just a few gathers to shape the neckline and self facing with the matte side showing. 

Overall this one fits alright.  The armholes are a tad tight making it a bit uncomfortable, but a few pounds here and it'll probably fit differently.  Although that does seem to be a particular problem area with my sewing.

Me-Made-May '13!

Alright folks, it's time to get serious, serious about sewing!  I follow a few, incredibly inspirational sewing blogs.  Everytime I read a post I think about hopping behind my machine and tackling those UFOs and stacks of uncut, undetermined fabric so that I can really enjoy getting dressed in the morning and toot my "I made this!" horn. 

I've got a small stack of me made, hand made (usually by my mom), and a small number of refashioned items.  Some of these items fit better than others or are worn much more often (Here's looking at you slouchy black tee!).  In this process it'd be rad to document all of my self made wardrobe so I can figure out what's me, what's working and not, and what I should focus on making in the future.  Without doing the sewn wardrobe evaluation I know there are gaps! And some amazing yardage waiting to be thrown into the mix.  

So! With all of that said...
I, Jenna of nudibranchs and toast, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '13. I endeavor to wear one sewn garment on average 5 days a week for the duration of May 2013 so I may wear each finished sewn item I have at least once. In addition I aspire to finish 3 more garments by the end of the month and work down my UFOs.

This will come as a challenge as I'm busy busy this month with many school programs in the mud or on the trails, going out of town for a week or so for work, and have not had a good track record on finishing things lately.  If it gets me back on the path to a custom fitted wardrobe I'll be a happy nudibranch :)

In addition to highlighting my sewn items why not throw some other useful crafts into the mix?  I've been knitting regularly for about two and a half years now and have a good assortment of things on Ravely.  I'm even tackling my very first sweater!  If it's cold enough I'll try to utilize as many of these things that I can.  

I also have been dabbling in making jewelry for a long, long time.  I like to focus on items with beads, glass mostly and the gems that I can afford/justify, and now am loving items with more metal in them.  My mom and I were at Ben Franklin in Eugene and got some amazing advice on a few things here and there.  I'm borrowing my mom's steel block and hammer and am ready to tackle some fun and hopefully quick projects.  Already today I completed a long sought after noodle wrap bracelet!  Happiness.

lately...

Snowshoeing at Diamond Lake on Presidents Day weekend...


From Winter...

To Spring!

Creative Persuits Lately

Just a few:

Attempting to recycle knitted things a.k.a. yarn barf


Granola! Maybe not creative, but certainly tasty!


Limpets!!!


Knitted and felted bag


Rad merino cowls


tape to help package these things


And traveling gnomes!

The weekend in review

Holy cats... SUN! - Bandon, OR




Nereocystis luetkeanna


Various highlights- Anthropleura elegantissima, Semibalanus cariosus, Balanus glandula, Mytilus californiaus, and oodles of tinnie tiny Littorina sp. Did you know that barnacles boast a world record? Yep, gets the high school boys looking at their quadrats very very closely.


Handmade basket weave MAN hat - CurtiP's christmas present :)


Lost?


Specialized alga that are tolerant of consistent sand scouring






Along with washing the dishes I arrived home to find these! We did a little lesson on trimming stems & leaves and choosing the proper sized vessel.


Monday morning post puff pancake special

Snoop & Puffy Pancakes

I'm starting off the week properly:

Oven puff pancake? yes yes please! David Eyre's Pancake. No photos, sorry I will get them next time.

While baking said puff pancake you must set the mood for consumption and a productive day (it is after all my sunday):



I finally snagged a copy from CurtiP. Life is now complete!

Happy November!

ahhhh November, nice to see you again... I think.


Fall at the beach! (Early October)


Low sun & plenty of beach combing



November has historically (in my lifetime) been one of the best months due to the many days off from school, Thanksgiving (who doesn't love a holiday centered around food/family/friends?) and my birthday! woot! Not that I have anything exciting planned, at all really, but I'm allowed to be excited. Also, I do kind of groove on "falling back" It's much too dark at 7am lately and it's starting to ruin my mornings a bit.


A boat seen in the Redondo Beach Harbor. I especially love the long tentacle! More on that in a later post...

Halloween was more of a "let's see what I can get done" type day. I brought a hammer. Who knew that would allow me to get so much done! Curtains were put up, art was hung, certain wibbly wobbly kleen kanteens were fixed. Well wishes were also sent to my brother for his birthday!

While these are not the best shots ever of my apartment I wanted to highlight the awesomeness of the turquoise room! I guess I just tend to gravitate towards it. My mom had the famed robin's egg blue custom mixed at Fred Meyers forever ago and since then it has been creeping into my life. It's quite lovely isn't it? Design is mine post on aqua. We can expand on some dream living here. This house was also featured in the April/May 2010 issue of ReadyMade. Yes, Charlie Harper really is that awesome, and this explains why the displays in Fossil always get me a bit. If I had it my way I would paint, but really the latte is pretty pleasant .


Next on the list, fixing the lighting in the other half of my living room. But here is a (terrible) shot of my brothers art, framed and displayed! It was done on wood veneers, with (I think) various papers, masking tapes, the beloved sharpies and probably mod podge.


More beaching! this time in November




Wind party! & a new, messed up hair cut (thanks gusting wind). I promise my bangs look much better than the above displayed and I'm pretty pleased with the look. Gone are the days of my grown out bob mullet and in with the straight bangs and clean sleek long bob! I should really invest in getting my hair cut more than every 6 months. I'll attribute it to my bad combo of busy busy work stuff and laziness in my off time.