Just got back from my knitting class, and things are getting rather exciting, as my project is actually starting to resemble a garment! I have achieved armholes! (Or at least half of one.) Hurray!
Now, if my right index finger would just hurry the heck up and develop a callus already, life would be perfect.
Read for the Book to Movie Challenge.
Interesting little book.
The story centers around Mirabelle, a shop girl in the LA Neimans, and her relationship with Ray Porter, a much older man. At its heart, the book is about transitions. It’s clear from the beginning that this is a relationship that was never meant to last, and Mirabelle and Ray both become different people by the time their relationship ends.
It was interesting reading this book, knowing that it was written by Steve Martin, because it’s not a book I would have expected to come from him. This book is not a laugh a minute comedy. In addition, the subject is superficially one that would be handled in a chick lit book, though it was immediately clear it was written from a masculine perspective.
I definitely liked this book. There was something very wistful about the tone, and I was very interested in seeing how Mirabelle would progress through the story. She was definitely the most real character – everyone else was simply there to help her move through to the next stage of her life.
I’m very interested in seeing the movie version of this novella, to see how it translates to the screen. There’s something tenuous about everyone’s existence in the novella; they’re only partially formed (an important point to the story, for various reasons), and I’d be interested to see what a screenwriter and director would make of this material.
My boyfriend heard of this place in his work travels, and was advised that it had lovely gardens. It definitely didn’t disappoint. There are three separate garden areas, as well as lovely views of the Salmon Falls River. Unfortunately, the house wasn’t open for tours when we got there, but we’ll definitely have to go back some time to check that out, as from the little I saw in their brochure, it looks like it’s stunning inside. Definitely a great way to end our long Labor Day weekend.
I finished the top of my celestial postage stamp quilt. Hurray! I think I’ve only been sitting on this since 2002. It’s definitely been a lesson in humility re-cutting all the squares and sewing half of the quilt back together. It still didn’t come together quite perfectly, but will make a perfectly good throw for the couch. So, all I have to do now is get some batting and a backing. I haven’t decided yet if I’ll be ambitious enough to actually quilt it, or just tie it. I’m leaning towards tying, simply because this has been going on so long that it seems like a good idea to finish it as soon as possible.
Since I was still feeling motivated when the celestial quilt was done, I started to sew together the squares I’d cut for the split rail quilt. I’m a little disappointed in how this is coming out. I measured and pressed this what seemed like very carefully, but the squares aren’t matching up. Not sure where I went wrong. I’ve done split rail before with success, but never with squares this small, so I don’t know if that has anything to do with it. I’ll still sew it together, but it’s definitely going to come out rectangularly skewed. Oh well. At least I’m actually completing the dang thing in more or less the same season I started it. I’ll give myself points for that.
And finally, I’ve been sitting on a pattern for a regency style dress for a while now. A friend of mine has an annual Halloween party – costumes required – and I’d really wanted to make the dress for that (I made a cloak for it a few years ago, which was fun). However, I just priced out fabric today online (as the local apparel fabric selection sucks), and I can’t get it any lower than a price I don’t even pay for an individual piece of my normal wardrobe. Now, I’m perfectly willing to admit I’ve paid well over this price probably many, many times over for the fabric I currently have hanging around this place, but never in one fell swoop. If I didn’t have to register my car this month, I think I’d entertain the notion of spending the money, but that’s definitely put a crimp in my spending for the month, and I know if I don’t get it started in September, there’s no way I’ll get it done for the party. So I guess I need to remember this at some point in the winter when I have some money kicking around, because I always have to register my car in September, so it’s pretty clear I’ll need to make this dress well before the party if I ever actually want to make it.
The North Wind and the Sea 