You Were Incredible (You’re So Big Edit)

So I did go up to Blackhawk last night and had a really good time. It felt like it would have been a waste not to and I discovered I had a $40 coupon for food at the cafe at the hotel, so the “having to spend money on food” argument dissolved pretty quickly. I also had coupons for $40 worth of free cash, so that was convenient. I spent about $30 on slot machines (the same one I liked so much last time, which wasn’t that enthralling this time and I think that’s a good sign), which did not yield anything. I really wanted to play the Wizard of Oz slot machines, just for the kitschiness of it, but there weren’t any free this morning before I left. I spent last night lounging in the room for a bit and then playing poker for a couple of hours. I bought in with $150 worth of chips ($50 the first time, which I ran out of and then $100 the next) and ended up walking away with $270 in chips. That was pretty sweet. There were a few guys at the table that were pissed because I kept lucking out with some awesome hole cards, but whatever. It’s not just about skill sometimes.

I think I would like to go again sometime. I’ve got two more coupons for $30 in free cash and two coupons for complimentary rooms for a 2 night stay. I’m not sure if I care about the complimentary room so much as the beds aren’t terribly comfortable. But it is nice to have a “base camp” of sorts, I guess. Playing live poker was definitely the right strategy for me, though, so I’d have to do that again. And maybe next time I’d be able to squeeze in a few plays on the Wizard of Oz slot machine.

The cupcakes went over pretty well at work by the way. It feels like I’ve got a ton left, but only because I know I won’t eat them. I’ll take the rest down to my mom’s tomorrow when I finish dealing with my stupid storage unit.

Today I’m planning on doing nothing. Kerri at work asked what I was doing for the Fourth of July and I told her nothing and she kind of sat there, gawking. “No plans to watch fireworks or anything?” I told her it really wasn’t my thing. Maria stepped in and said, “I bet you can watch some from your house though.” This was funny because Maria has really no idea where I live or if it would be good for fireworks watching, but she stepped in because she knows that I get uncomfortable when Kerri asks stuff like that. I said that was true and that I’d probably try to see what fireworks I could watch from my patio. That seemed to mollify Kerri. She’s just really doesn’t understand preferences that aren’t “the norm.” It’s kind of annoying.

I do think I want to do some sewing today. You know, in honor of Betsy Ross or something cheesy like that. 😉 Actually, I’ve got a diaper bag for my niece/sister that is about 18 months overdue, so I should work on that. And now that my sewing machine and fabrics are not in storage anymore, I can do that. I will also try to finish knitting my vest, but we’ll see how that goes, the sewing is more enticing to me at the moment. I was thinking as I was baking my cupcake army that there really isn’t anything that I’ve tried before that I’m not good at, except for sewing. I have no confidence in my sewing abilities whatsoever, but that’s just because I don’t do it often enough and the last project I did, a nightgown, was with weird fabric and very complicated so it didn’t come out perfectly, though it is pretty darn good for my level. So I think I shall work on my sewing (level my tailoring? haha!) a little bit and hopefully have a diaper bag to give to my sister tomorrow so she can stop harassing me, even if it is in a friendly way. It’ll be good to have it marked off my To Do list after it being at the bottom of it for so long.

To warm up, I think I will sew some rectangular shaped something or others. Pouches? Pillows? I don’t know. I will be back later to post an edit with pictures of whatever progress I’ve made on my projects, of course.

(Oooh, Flight of the Conchords) You’re So Big Edit

I’m good at a lot of things because they just come to me. I can look at a knitted garment and start unraveling the stitches in my head and have a basic idea of what I’d have to do to create a pattern to make that garment. I don’t usually follow through to actually knitting a copycat of the psychically-unravelled-garment, because I’m lazy, but I know that I could do it if I needed or really wanted to.

Sewing, however? So not intuitive to me. Not at all. I’m not sure why it’s not because it’s got so many of the same aspects as knitting, but seriously, sewing throws me for a loop at least once (if not several times) between the initial concept stage and the end product because I have a hard time visualizing the project along the way. Following instructions is good, but sometimes you have to understand why you’re doing Step C to do it correctly and sometimes that requires knowing what will come later (even if you haven’t looked ahead or done this before) or having some intuitive knowledge about the process.

I started by going through my fabric, looking through something suitable to mess with and re-familiarize myself with my sewing machine. I found this stained glass fabric that I had bought 4 years ago and haven’t done anything with. So I had my fabric (and found some thread to match it) and just needed to figure out something to do with it. I couldn’t think of a practical use for a pouch or a pillow case or anything, but I have been wanting waste basket liners. I’ve got wicker waste baskets which usually shred the plastic trash bags to pieces. I don’t mind so much with the basket in my room because it’s just paper and whatnot, but the basket in my bathroom really ought to have the bag come out of it intact. I usually just put the shredded bag in another bag, but that seems like such a big waste (hardeeharhar). I didn’t do anything fancy, just cut off some of the fabric and sewed the edges together into a cylinder. It’s a little big for the basket, but it doesn’t have to be snug, so I’m cool with that. I did not sew a bottom on it because a) the bottom doesn’t snag the plastic bags and b) this was just a warm up – I had no desire to learn how to sew a circular bottom to a cylinder.

This is one of those things where I feel like I should be able to easily visualize it, but I can’t. I’m sure if I had a circle and a cylinder I could physically arrange them to the point where I could visualize them sewn together well, but I just cannot do it in my head. My spatial acuity has always been lacking I think. Maybe that’s why sewing is harder for me – it’s a spatial thing. You’d think knitting would be too, but I actually think of knitting more in terms of simple arithmetic than three-dimensional spaces.

Anyway, the waste basket liner! I will knit an i-cord to use as the drawstring (like on hoodies and things) but for now it’s just a piece of yarn, which works fine for modelling purposes.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/langwidere/2638626670/&#8221; title=”Waste Basket Liner by Langwidere, on Flickr”>

The buttonholes gave me a problem when I was slicing through them. (I don’t even know if that makes sense to anyone who hasn’t made a buttonhole before.) I couldn’t find my seam ripper, so I just used my scissors. The blade of the scissors of course was too big so I totally sliced through the stitching instead of keeping it nicely inside. I had to do some creative zig-zag stitching to ensure that the whole thing wouldn’t come undone. It should work. As a side note, I have a TON of this fabric. I’m not sure what I had originally intended to use it for, but someone with better seamstressing skills than I possess could probably make a kick ass dress with it. I love this fabric. I have another stained glass type fabric that is blues yellows and greens and has flower-y shapes in it. It’s pretty awesome too. I bought it at the same time and have no idea what I intended to do with it at first either. Oh well.

So, onto my sister’s diaper bag! Except it turned out so ginormous, it could be a baby carrier. Seriously, she could just plop Kendra in here and go on her merry way. Probably for the next two or three years, even, it’s so damn big. I’m not at all sure if she’s going to use it because it’s so large, but I don’t know. This, again, is due to my lack of spatial acuity. I should have made the medium size instead of the X-Large size, but I don’t think these things through well enough, evidently.

It is cute, even though it’s huge. She picked out good fabrics.

For spatial reference, it’s hanging on the back of my bathroom door. HUGE!

There’s a pocket like this on the front and back. There were several places where the stitching ended up looking pretty shitty, particularly with the straps, but there were some places that were really well done, too.

I had to run to Target before I started because I couldn’t find my pin cushion, which is worrisome. I have no idea where my pin cushion could be since it’s not in my sewing basket. And of course my pin cushion has all of my pins in it. So I bought more pins at Target and picked up a seam ripper for good measure. I thought about getting a new pin cushion but either mine will turn up or I can make myself one. I’ve seen some cute ones that don’t require much sewing or anything, so that’d be neat. I also picked up orange juice, Coke, soymilk, and stuff to make mini pizzas (sauce, cheese, English muffins, sliced mushrooms) and a thing of sushi.

I did not expect that the bag would take so long to sew. I am evidently lacking in temporal acuity as well. Though I guess that makes sense with the whole space-time continuum and all. I’m exhausted, even though I took a four hour nap (on accident) when I got home this morning. Sewing takes a lot out of me, evidently. But the Diaper Bag that ate Manhattan is completed. If Heather wants it smaller, I can take in the seams at the side, but that won’t do anything about the depth. We’ll see what she says about it tomorrow, I guess.

Oh, I totally forgot – I broke one of my roommate’s dining room chairs in this whole process, too. In my defense, it was already broken and wobbly, but I knew that and shouldn’t have sat on it anyway, but I was concentrating on cutting the fabric for the waste basket lining and I just sat down and *crash* two of the legs broke at the joints – where they meet the seat, and also the cross bar between them. It won’t even stand on its own anymore, which it did do before, even if it was wobbly. I’m hoping that she comes home while I’m here so I can explain it to her instead of her just coming home to a note or something. We’ll see. I tried to find a similar chair at Target while I was there to no avail. She probably got them at a furniture store or something. I’ll give her money for it or offer to go pick up a new one, depending on her preference. I feel like a complete ass for it, in any case.

Now, I’m off to clean up the mess I’ve made and do some puzzles before bed I think.