読書 Ender's Game

先月見た映画「エンダーのゲーム」の原作本を読みました。

やっぱりいつものことだけど、原作本の方が映画よりいいです。奥が深いです。
主人公のエンダーが地球に帰ると（普段は宇宙船に住んでいます）湖に行くんだけど、その湖が私が以前住んでたとこにある湖で、親近感倍増。なんだ、あたし、この本の作者が住んでいる街に住んでいたのね！

ちなみに私はこの、映画を見てから原作を読む、というパターンが好きです。
2度おいしいし、本でイメージしづらい場面も、映画見てるからわかりやすいし。（とくにこの本は宇宙船の中だし、無重力の中で生徒たちが「ゲーム」をする様子は映画見ておいたおかげで想像しやすかった）

逆に原作を読んでから映画を見てしまうと、どんなに良くできた映画でも、原作ほど細かく描写されないし、テンポ速いし、話はしょるし、大抵がっかりしちゃうから映画にたいしてアンフェアな評価をしてしまうので注意です。
あ、でもハリーポッターの1作目の映画は、まさに本のまんまでよく出来てたな。

どうでもいいけど、図書館の貸し出し期間が1冊につき3週間なのね。
私、3週間で1冊読めないし（泣）（延長も出来ます）
読むの遅すぎ。

Finished Ender's Game. Better than the movie, as usual.

Earlier in the book, there was a mention of Guilford County, and I was so excited because we used to live there. So I told the Man of the House:

Me (excited): "Oh, Orson Scott Card must live in Guilford County because he's mentioning Guilford County in the book!"

MOTH (as a matter of factly): "Yeah, he lives in Greensboro, you didn't know that?"
---Of course he knew... (But he did not know that Card is a great-great-grandson of Brigham Young. Ha!)

Anyway, so we actually lived in the same town that Orson Scott Card lived!
He's still in Greensboro.
Yeah, I checked. He owns a house there. Kind of surprised that a celebrity like him would own a property on his own name. Too easy to track him down.
I even Google-mapped his house, well, I used Google Earth for that. Am I a cyber stalker?
That is the power of the Internet and public records.

WIP: Jalie 2921 Scarf Collar Knit Top

先日のワンピースを作ったあまり布で、もうひとつノースリーブのトップを作ることにしました。
ノースリーブばっかりね、最近。
またしても、ミシンのセッティングや糸や針を変えるのが面倒なので、セッティングが出来てるうちにこの布使い切ってしまおうということで。
型紙入るかな～、と思ったけど、長さがやっぱり足りなかった。2センチぐらい。
だから無理やり型紙短くした。
首周りがスカーフ状なデザインなんだけど、スカーフにするだけの長さ全くなしなので、スカーフはかなり短くなる予定。

Again, I am so lazy to change my sewing machine/serger settings, I decided to use up all the left over fabric from my D2N Skater Dress and this is all I have left.

I have decided to make Jalie 2921 Scarf Collar Knit Top, since it only requires 3 pattern pieces.
I thought I had enough length, but I did not. Solution? Shorten my pattern by 3/4 inch for both front and back bodice. Not enough fabric for sleeves so it will be a sleeveless top. As to the scarf that goes around the neck and dangles below the length of the bodice (according to the pattern photos) will be about 8 inches short.

Dental bill

オットが歯医者に行って奥歯を一本抜いてきた。請求書、1097ドル。十万円ぐらい？

何が怖いって、義歯を入れるのにこの後また20万円ぐらいかかるらしいよ。
幸い歯の保険には加入しているので、実際に支払うのは義歯を合わせても20万円弱ぐらいみたいだけど。

医者慣れしてないオットはびっくりしてるけど、私は仕事で毎日他人の医療請求書を山ほど見てるので、歯科でこのぐらいは普通かな、と思えてしまうようになってしまったね。
腕の骨折って外来で手術して、入院もしないのに病院の請求書が300万円とかさ、健康保険に加入してなくて病気になって、医療費が払えなくて破産してしまう人が多いのもうなずけます。

ちなみに私は来月の半ばに仕事を一日休んで「医者の日」を作りました。
午前中にかかりつけの医者で定期健診に行って、午後歯医者の定期クリーニングという予定です。
どちらも1年に一度の定期健診は負担額無しなので、心おきなく医者にかかれます。
・・・でもどんなにただの定期健診でも、本当は行きたくないのでわざわざ同じ日に予約を入れて嫌なことはまとめて済ませてしうのです。

健康でいるのがいかに大事か、請求書を見ると思い知らされるね。

Totoro Shirt!

ネットサーフィン中に、手作りトトロシャツ発見！！

Totoro Shirt by Cation Designs

ものすごくシンプルなのに、しっかりトトロ。私の胸ぐら、がつっとつかまれました。
私は妊婦じゃないけど、作ってしまいたいかも、トトロシャツ。
中年になっても、時々見てしまうよ、トトロ。

My all-time favorite of Miyazaki movie is of course Nausicaa, but Totoro is something I will just love forever. It's nostalgia and the thought of there's no evil in humanity kind of way. Totoro would just give you the goodness in this world. Oh how I wish I could have a house on that property with a creek and big trees.

I actually like the English dubbed version too. The Fanning sisters (Dakota & Elle) did Satsuki and Mei and I think the true sisterhoodness worked great.

Anyway, the Totoro shirt is sooooo cute that I want to make one too.
Can a shrinking middle age woman still wear a Totoro shirt?

Now I can't get rid of the Totoro theme song from my head.

Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings

ウクレレ演奏者ジェイク・シマブクロのドキュメンタリーを見ました。

日本では有名なのか？なんか今まさに苗場でやってるフジロックに出演中だし（それももう3回目とからしい？）、日本ツアーもあるのね。やっぱり日系だから日本はおいしいマーケットでしょうか。
私は2年ぐらい前にラジオで彼が演奏するクィーンのボヘミアンラプソディーを聞いたのが初めてす。

今年はおらが街にもツアーで来てたみたいだけど、残念ながら見逃しました。
会社の人が見に行って、絶賛してた。

ウクレレというものすごく小さな楽器の中で、そんな限界を感じさせない演奏が出来るってすごいね。
速弾きしてるのを見ていたオットが、イングヴェイ・マルムスティーン（ものすごい速弾きギターで有名）と一緒にやったら面白いね、なんて言ってたけど、面白そう。

Watched PBS documentary, Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings.

I first heard him playing Bohemian Rhapsody on the radio a few years ago. I was kind of surprised how young he was watching this documentary.
During the documentary, it showed a snippet of him playing on TED Talk. Was he even on TED Talk? How did I miss it? (Both the Man of the House and I are sort of TED Talk junkies)
And he is even playing at Fuji Rock right now too.

I know nothing about ukulele or music in general for that matter, but I like his music a lot. I like how expressive he is with his music and his nice-guyness shows through his music.

映画 The Delta Force

Watched The Delta Force. Don't ask me why.
★★★

This might have been my very first Chuck Norris movie. I guess he like the round kick.
I had only known him as a joke (in very honorable way) and I actually kind of enjoyed watching actual movie to see how over the top he is. I mean, he does not over act, his character itself is a joke. I had a good laugh at many parts of the movie (like when he shoots a missile from his motorcycle but not only from the ones on the front but also uses the one on the back).
Well, I guess 80's movies are all over the top and joke.

FO: D2N Skater Dress

ワンピースできました。

かな～りお腹引っ込めております。見えづらいけど、首周りは前回のタンクトップと同じです。

D2N Skater Dress

Finished D2N Skater Dress.

The bodice pattern is Maria Denmark Day to Night Drape Top, and the skirt pattern is Kitschy Coo Lady Skater Dress.

My last D2N top was a bit tight around shoulder so I went up a size and cut Small this time. Used the neck, shoulder, and the armhole from the D2N top and merged with Skater Dress bodice waist. 

I noted myself to shorten the bodice by 1 inch in my previous Lady Skater Dress, and I completely ignored it, thinking that I must have been wrong, or it must have been the fabric I used and my bodice was again 1 inch too long. I need to trust myself sometimes.

The fabric was ITY jersey and very thin and flimsy. It actually shows my belly bump too much that I can kind of see the skin color a bit so I have to wear a full slip underneath.

Just like my last D2N top, I used the FOE for back neck and arm hole. I did not have a matching navy FOE and did not have a patience to go out and buy one, or find one, so I just used white one thinking that it would match the white of the dots.

Well, I may need a white belt to balance out the bright white arm hole edges.

I finished the hem with my very first ever rolled hem. It took me a while to get the right tension but it was worth it. Hind sight is that maybe I could have use a bright white rolled hem to go with the white FOE. But again, I did not have any white decorative serger thread (I used Bulky Nylon for the navy rolled hem) so I wouldn't have had the patience to go and get white thread anyway.

I am very happy with the result, other than my poor fabric choice. Fabric is thin, but the dress itself is totally wearable with a slip, which is not too bad. 

Then, I somehow came across DKNY design Vogue V1351. 

V1351

Well, isn't that what I just made? 

D2N Drape Top + Skater Dress = DKNY. Not bad, huh?

Cycleball

サイクルサッカーという競技が存在することを初めて知りました。

何なんですか、この競技！！！日本では有名なの？
二人で自転車に乗って、自転車でボールをけったりシュートしたりするんだけど、その自転車さばきが素晴らしい。

I had never heard of cycleball before, and it looks like a cool sport. I mean, it doesn't look quite as cool as regular soccer but the bike-riding skill looks incredible.

WIP: D2N Skater Dress

先日作ったカウルネックのタンクトップの型紙に、別の型紙のスカートを足してワンピース作成中。

As I planned before starting the plastic bag holder, I am making a dress out of Maria Denmark Day to Night Drape Top pattern and Kitchy Coo Lady Skater Dress pattern.

映画 Alan Partridge

Watched Alan Partridge.
★★

Maybe it is because I had no knowledge of Alan Partridge before and that I had never seen Coogan doing Partridge before.
It was disappointing.
It was not just it wasn't funny, but the whole movie did not have the right tempo, right dialogue, and right chemical. Nothing worked.
IMDB had 7 starts. Really?

映画: The Battered Basters of Baseball

Watched Battered Bastards of Baseball.
★★★★

It is a Netflix original documentary about a single-A independent professional baseball team, Portland Mavericks, created by Kurt Russell's father, Bing Russell.

It is a short film, just over an hour, but it was well made and the story is very interesting. I'm surprised no one has made it into a "based on a true story" movie yet.
It is a typical David and Goliath story, but it's in real life, with American dream in this very American institution of baseball. The team lasted only a few years but even how the team ends is a story in and of itself.
It is worth watching.

Sewing Machine Maintenance

ワンピース、タンクトップ、キャミソール、雑巾、ゴミ袋入れ、とたて続けに裁縫に取り組んだのがひと段落したところで、埃だらけになったミシンの掃除をしました。
掃除機で綿ぼこりを吸い取り、まじめに油まで差しました。

私のミシンは私と同い年なかなりのお古だけど、まだまだ私の大雑把な裁縫にも快く応じてくれるすごいやつです。
最近のコンピューター搭載な、いろんな機能満載なミシンを見るとうらやましくなるけど、このミシンが元気すぎて新しいミシン買ういい訳ないしね。

Now that I have recently completed several sewing projects, namely my M6713 knit dress, Maria Denmark Day to Night Drape Top, So Zo's cami, rags, and plastic bag holder, I decided to clean up my sewing machine. Yes, I know I probably should clean after every project. Better late than never.

So I vacuumed the sewing machine (with a regular vacuum; I don't have one of those fancy tiny hand-held vacuum) and oiled it. I actually did it both my sewing machine and my serger.

My sewing machine is a 37-years-old, old fashion mechanic sewing machine, it still runs great and accommodates my rough sewing. I get envy of those new fancy computerized sewing machine that cuts thread, can adjust needle position, and can set up to stop needle up or down, but as long as this guy is working fine, I don't have a good excuse to spend big bucks to buy a new machine.
It's OK though; I like my guy and he does what I need to do. Maybe if I become more seasoned, advanced sewer, I may upgrade my machine.

Anyway, while I was oiling this guy, I could not stop comparing sewing machine to a car. The Man of the House is a big car guy who can pretty much assemble a car from scratch, and his saying is that it's much easier to fix and maintain an old stick shift car than a new fancy automatic car. Looking at my all metal sewing machine, I can totally understand that. I can open top and bottom and probably if I want to, I can unscrew other parts to open more. It's all mechanic and it's all there. Very simply made.

Compare this guy to my Brother 1034D serger, which is not a computerized machine but still a newer production and all plastic, the difference is stark. Maybe it's just the 1034D is a lower end cheap serger, but are all recently made machines like that too? There is only so much you can open without breaking the plastic and how am I supposed to clean and oil other than the little area you can see when you open the threading channels? Don't get me wrong, I have no complaint of my 1034D in any functional way; it's just too plasticky compare to my sewing machine.

Anyway, now my machine is cleaned and oiled, it's time to start my skater dress.

Gift Certificate

上司からレストランのギフト券をもらった。ボーナスの少ない会社なので、上司なりの気配り。

これで今週はリッチな外食に行けるわ～。

FO: Plastic Bag Holder

ゴミ袋入れ、完成。満足の出来。自画自賛。

ちょうど良く色のあう布が水玉模様しかなかったので、少々柄がうるさめですが、ご容赦。
ゴミ袋取り出し口はこんな感じ。

Completed the plastic bag holder.
I wanted to use a solid fabric as a contrast for the top and bottom band but did not have any that matches with the flannel chevron so went for the dots. It's visually a bit too match but oh well.

Chair and a half

この国は肥満大国。
人口の3分の１は肥満度１（肥満度指数が25から30）、そして別の3分の１は肥満度2以上の病的肥満（肥満度指数が30以上）。
体重が標準な人は希少価値。
だから病院に行くと肥満な人用の大きな椅子が普通にある。

そんな巨大な椅子に普通に座っている肥満な人々にに羞恥心はあまりない。
そんな国に住む私は現在過激に体重が上昇中。肥満大国な国のせいにしておこう。

ちなみにOECD加盟国の世界肥満国ランキング（2012年）はこちら：

WIP: Plastic Bag Holder #2

先日の試作品で、筒部分は形を保てる素材で作ったほうがいいということがわかったので、今度は表と裏の布の間に綿バッティングをはさんで縫い合わせることにしました。

直線縫いなだけだけど、結構面倒くさいのよね。だからここで一旦終了。

FO: Coasters

ゴミ袋入れの試作品、捨てるのがもったいなかったので切り開いてコースターを作りました。

コースター、出来たはいいけど、三つだけってものすごい中途半端なのよね。
こうして我が家にはいろんな柄のコースターが家中に放置されるのでした。

Since I did not want to waste my prototype plastic bag holder, I made some coasters out of it.
Well, a few, well, three to be exact.
This is how I get all sorts of different fabric coasters all around the house.

Flower Crown

サボテンの頭にぐるっと冠のように花が咲きました。

WIP: Plastic Bag Holder

スーパーのビニール袋を入れるのを作ろうと思っています。
試作品はこれ。

上からビニール袋をじゃんじゃん入れて、必要な時は下から引き抜く仕組み。
大きさ的にはこんな感じかな、と思うんだけど、筒部分がなよなよしてるので、もっと形を保つ素材を使わないと、ビニール袋を詰め込んだ時ぼこぼこして見た目悪いな。

I wanted to make a plastic bag holder and made a prototype with stash fabric and bias tape.
I think the size is good, but I don't like that the tube portion is not stiff enough. The tube is made with cotton twill (outside) underlined with flannel. I sort of "quilted" the twill and flannel together without the batting, but it was obviously not sturdy enough that the tube shows the shape of the contents. I may have to actually quilt with betting to make it more substantial or use interface.

映画 TV Junkie

Watched TV Junkie.

★★★
The movie is made out of Inside Edition reporter Rick Kirkham's video diary from the 90's.
It was interesting because it's like watching a reality TV show but it's really real and not rehearsed or scripted, and the video was taken by Rick Kirkcham himself (or sometimes by his wife).

What kind of person videotapes this long period of time and talks about such personal issues like drug addiction? But to think of, I guess blogging is not so different, is it?

The movie kind of tells how drama queen he is. Not in a way that he exaggerate the situation, but how he is always almost acting in front of a camera. But I guess he is probably always like that that he does not even thinks himself acting in front of a camera or off camera for that matter.

The movie also tells how drug addicts think and act: says one thing, oh I'm going to clean up, I love my family so much, I know how bad using drugs can be blah blah blah, but in the end they still end up using drugs.

It wasn't too intellectually interesting or fascinating, but it wasn't bad either.

FO: Rag x 22

雑巾、完成。
バスタオル2枚から、手のひらサイズの雑巾が22枚できました。

Made 22 palm-sized rags out of 2 bath towels.

Egg Rolls

久しぶりに春巻き。

今回は具に焼きそば入れてみた。ついてた焼きそばソースの粉も使った。
挽肉450グラムにモヤシ一袋と焼きそばが入って、春巻き20個できました。
日本の春巻きとは完全に違う物体です。というか春巻きの皮を使って揚げてあるだけで、かなり具はなんちゃってですね、いつもながら。
春巻きの皮が20枚入りのパックだったのでちょうど使いきれてすっきり。
なべの中の白い物体はもちろんご飯だよ。
春巻きは具を作ってから油で揚げるのが面倒くさいけど、翌日も同じメニューで夕ご飯になるし、それでも残る分は小分けしてお弁当にできるのでよし。

Made egg rolls for dinner.
A pound of ground beef, a bag of bean sprouts, a bag of yakisoba noodle (with the sauce mix) and a can of water chestnuts made 20 rolls.
5 rolls for today, 5 rolls for tomorrow, then the rest is vacuum packed to be frozen for later day.
It seems a lot of work to make egg rolls from scratch but one cooking makes 2 meals for 2 people and a few lunches so it's not too bad. Besides I made the filling yesterday when I didn't have to cook dinner, so it evened out.

WIP: Rags

台風の影響で大雨みたいだけど大丈夫？

台所の床が木の床になったことで、メンテ必要度が上がりました。
っていうか、水が飛んだり油が飛んだりするのを常に心配しなくちゃいけなくなるから、台所は木の床じゃなくてタイルが良かったんだよね。（そこで意見の相違が生じ、2年間ほっぽってあったわけです）
そんなわけで、こぼした水をささっと拭くのにペーパータオルばっかり使いたくないので、使い古しのバスタオルを小さく切って、手のひらサイズの雑巾を大量生産することにしました。
1枚のバスタオルから小さい雑巾が16個できます。

10個出来上がったとこ。
タオルの端が重なるとかなり分厚くなるのでジーンズ用のミシン針を使っているんだけど、すでに針1本折っております。（タオルのせいではなく、どちらかというと完成度を期待していないからものすごく適当に作っているせいです）
以前のプロジェクトで作ったバイアステープの残りが大活躍さ。
幼稚園とか小学校の子供が雑巾を持参しなくちゃいけなくて新学期前にせっせと雑巾を縫うお母さんの気持ちってこんな感じ？（あれ？いまどきは雑巾持って来いとか言われないの？）

Now that my kitchen floor is hardwood, I have to keep it clean.
To be honest, that was why I wanted the kitchen floor to be tiled, instead of hardwood, so that I don't have to be spartan about water spills and the like, and that is why we had postponed to finish the kitchen floor for 2 years.

I don't want to be wasting paper towels for wiping off the floor all the time, so decided to make small, palm-size rags out of an old bath towel.
One bath towel makes 16 small ones.
I am using the left over bias tapes I made for various previous projects.

映画 Major League

なつかしい映画「メジャーリーグ」を見ました。

星三つ。
多分20年以上前に見たときはもっと面白いと思ったと思う。
さすがに80年代のこの手の頑張って報われるコメディは、ミレニアムも過ぎるとありがちすぎてどうでも良くなるね。
トンネルズの石橋さんはいつ出てくるんだろうと思ってたら、彼が出てくるのは続編のほうだった。

Watched Major League.
★★★.
Sheen family sequel (since I just watched Apocalypse Now). Should I watch Breakfast Club next?
I'm sure when I watched it over 20 something years ago, I liked it better than three stars.
So what happened to some of these 80/90's movie stars? Well, we all know the demise of Charlie Sheen's career, but Tom Berenger? Rene Russo?

Netflix needs to add more good movies.

Did I break my thermometer?

雨季で蒸し暑いです。
冷たい飲み物の入ったコップが汗かくと、雨季だなって思う。
（普段は乾燥してるから暑くてもコップは汗かかないのだよ。コースターいらず）

裏庭に犬を放している間に、ふと体温計で気温は測れるのかな、って思ったらすごく気になってむずむずしたので、測ってみた。

測れるものだね。
日陰でこれだけあるんだから、日なたは一体どれぐらい熱いんだろうと思って、体温計の先っちょが日なたに出るようにしたら、42度で止まっていきなり0度に戻ってしまった。
・・・どうも体温計の限界だったみたいよ、42度が。
一回電源切って測りなおそうと思ったけど、デジタルのとこ、88.88度の表示で動かなくなったよ。
体温計、壊れた？

Monsoon season has come.
When a glass of cold drink is sweating, that's monsoon there, I don't need to see rain.

While I was in the backyard watching the dogs sniffing around, I got curious whether I could measure air temperature with my human thermometer, so I brought my thermometer out and tried.

Well, a thermometer is a thermometer regardless of what it's meant for.
It was 103 degrees in the shade.

How hot could it be in the sun? I asked myself. So I poked the tip of my thermometer out in the sun while I was still standing in the shade.
It went up to 107 and then it turned to 0.
...I guess the digital thermometer meant for human body does not go higher than that.
I turned it off and tried again but it showed 88.88 and stopped doing anything.
I might have broken my thermometer.

Redoing Floor #4 Finished

台所の床完成。

Done with the kitchen.
Not just with the floor but I think we are done with the kitchen renovation for now.
Since the purchase of this house, we:
-bought a new fridge
-painted the walls (originally chocolate brown) and pantry door and door frame
-peeled off the vinyl and put new hardwood floor
-put better baseboards
-put new kick plates
-added shoe molding
-bought new micro & oven.

Of course we can put a new cabinet, granite counter top, and new sink/faucet in, but we will leave that for the next owner of this house (unless we end up staying in this house for another 10 years).

I am truly happy with how everything turned out especially when I think that we did it all ourselves.
Yeah, I know, I only helped the Man of the House do it for the most part. I will give him a pat.

New Oven & Microwave!!!!

うぉ～、新しいレンジとオーブン買ってもらった～～～～っ！
すげ～豪華～～～～っ。リッチな人になった気分～～～～っ。（普通に中流ブランドだけど今までがボロすぎたのね）

うちのレンジ、もうプラスチックが完全に疲労していてドア前面のガラスを支えていた縁がパキパキ剥げ落ち、おかげで危険なのでガラスははずさなくちゃいけなくなり（2枚ガラスの外側のみ）、その後ドアの取っ手がひび割れてもう面の皮一枚でつながってるような、とても悲惨な状態だったのです。
それで、床が終わったらレンジを買おう、とは言っていたんだけど、オーブンも買うなんて知らなかったし、勝手にオーダーされていたのでどんなレンジが届くのか知らなかったので驚き倍増です。
（なんかオーブンとレンジと一緒に買うとお安くなるお店の罠にはまったようだ）
オーブンの扉を開くと自動的に電気がつくという、それだけのことで大感激です。
なんかもう、うちの台所、うちの台所じゃないみたい。

The Man of the House surprised me with a new microwave and a oven.
I knew he was getting a new microwave but I did not know we were getting a new oven too.
Looks so fancy. Especially after living with a disintegrating microwave for so many years. I mean, the oven even has a griddle and turns on light automatically when I open the door. That's fancy to me.
Yeah, my kitchen does not look like my kitchen anymore.

FO: So Zo Vest

使いのこしの布を見るともったいなくなるのと、ミシンの糸や針や縫い目のセッティングがすでにできてるうちに同じ布を使い切ってしまいたいので、どうしてもこの布から逃げられません（笑）
先日のタンクトップでいい気になって、今度はキャミソールを作ってみました。

ちょ、超簡単だったよ！
どのくらい簡単だったかというと、巾着袋作るのと変わらないレベルで簡単だった。縫うとこ少ないし。
それもこの型紙、フリーダウンロードだし。
なんだ、今後もうキャミソール買う必要ないな。
サイズがイマイチわかんなくて一番小さいサイズで作ったら、ちょっとやっぱり小さかったかな。布が良く伸びるので着れるけど、次作るときは一つ上のサイズで作ろう。

After my wrap dress and a tank, I still had this tiny bit of the fabric left. Being a lazy person, I wanted to finish using this fabric while my sewing machine and the serger had the right thread, needle, and setting, so I made this free downloadable cami from So Zo... What Do You Know?

Cut size 8.
Fabric is the left-over ITY knit.
Used FOE for strap and neck/back trim, and twin-needle finish at hem.

I LOVE this pattern. Only 2 pieces to cut, and super simple. A true stash-buster. Plus it's so practical.
Just like my Maria Denmark D2N Drape Top, I really liked using FOE. So easy to do and such a nice clean finish.
I think size 8 was a bit small for me. I can totally wear this (and have worn it perfectly comfortably) because the fabric is stretchy, but if I make it with more stable knit or fabric with less spandex, I will have to go up a size.
I won't be buying camis anymore.

映画 Apocalypse Now

クラシックの傑作？映画「地獄の黙示録」を見ました。

これを作り出せる表現力に星４つ。個人的に好きかって聞かれたら星三つ。
長いよ、2時間半だよ。2時間半ずっと戦争の狂気だよ。それも戦場の狂気ではなく、ベトナム戦争という、無意味に長引く、常にどこも最前線みたいな戦場にいるサイケデリックあふれる精神状態な戦士の狂気が2時間半、延々と続くわけよ。
よくできてるけど、私はやっぱりハッピーな映画が好きです。予告編はこれ：

主人公はマーティン・シーンなんだけど、どっから見てもエミリオ・エステベスだった。
私の中ではこの映画はマーティン・シーンの映画とういより、エミリオ・エシテベスの映画だと思えるくらい。（マーティン・シーンはエミリオ・エステベスのお父さんね。チャーリー・シーンのお父さんでもあるけど）

I finally watched the entire Apocalypse Now.
★★★★ for artistic impression, but if I was asked if I liked the movie, I would say ★★★.

I just can't take that psychological craziness. Same reason I just cannot like The Big Lebowski. The weirdness just seeps into me like dissonance. I would have to salute Coppola for achieving that effect, but I prefer a happy story.

Martin Sheen looks just like Emilio Estevez. I know it's the other way around, but I only knew Martin Sheen as an old man, that's how I see it. It almost felt like this is Emilio Estevez's movie.

WIP: D2N Skater Dress

あれ作りたい、これ作りたい、と色々アイデアは浮かぶものの、そんなに裁縫ばっかりしてるわけでもないので夢のリストは長くなるばかり。
タンクトップ作りながらも、次は何を作ろうか、そんなことばっかり考えてしまうのね。
で、次の裁縫プロジェクトはカットソーワンピースの予定。
レディ・スケーター・ドレスというワンピースを前に作ったんだけど、それのスカートの型紙と、この前作ったカウルネックのタンクトップを合体させようかと思っております。

My next project is a pattern mash of Maria Denmark Day to Night Drape Top and Kitchy Coo Lady Skater Dress.
I have made a Lady Skater Dress before; that was my very first dress I had ever made. But I sort of looked plain in it. Since I do not wear a lot of accessories usually, me in the skater dress looked a bit too naked.
When I made the Day to Night Drape top the other day, I really liked how the simple cowl neck adds a lot of texture to the shirt.
Anyway, so that is my plan: mash up of D2N Drape Top and the Skater skirt.
We will see....

Redoing Floor #3

床、敷き終わりました。

写真は途中経過だけどね。
ちなみに緑と青のテープはマスキングテープで、接着剤が固定するまで板が動かないように張ってあるだけで、あとでちゃんとはがすよ。

結局残っていた床材が足らなくて、食料庫の中の床はまたしても据え置きになりました。
床材が足りるか足りないか、超ぎりぎりのところだったので、ハギレを最小限に抑えるように長さの違う材木を並べて、残ったのは90センチの板1枚だけというちょっとドキドキものでした。

我が家はコンクリの上に建っているので、板を釘で打ちつけるのではなく、コンクリに接着剤を塗って（左官屋さんみたいにね）その上に板をはめ込んでいくので、接着剤が乾かないように休憩なしなのよ。さすがに疲れた。

Oh my goodness, I am beat.

Done with the kitchen floor. Since it it was a tight space and needed to cut the wood a lot to fit, we did a dry run the entire kitchen. It was good, because we found out that we were so close to running out of the boards.

We actually thought we did not have enough to finish, but it was my oversight and the Man of the House found the pile of boards I missed. So the worst situation of not being able to finish was averted but we barely made it. We did not have enough to finish the pantry floor so we decided to do the pantry floor with some other type of floor material.
Even without the pantry floor, though, we were really close; we only had one 3-foot board to spare.

I think we had a good teamwork today and I am really happy that we actually finished it all.
The Man of the House can do the pantry floor later on his own since he's off the entire week this week.
Phew, I am really beat.