in the neighborhood

burned house
Originally uploaded by annethelibrarian

Apparently on Thanksgiving Day, while we were away, a house at the end of our street caught fire. I haven't been able to find any information about it in the news. A patron came in asking about it today, but he just had questions - no info. I hope everyone is okay.

sleepy Brodie

sleepy Brodie in the back seat
Originally uploaded by annethelibrarian

Karl snapped this cute shot as we were on the way to Big Rapids for Thanksgiving. Brodie kept falling asleep sitting up in the back seat.

Jones Soda holidays 2007

Jones Soda 2
Originally uploaded by T a k

Every year Jones Soda comes out with new, unusual flavors for their holiday packs. Every year there are flavors I can't comprehend wanting to taste (Christmas Ham is right up there, though Christmas Tree sounds almost as bad). Thankfully, Pop Candy's Whitney Matheson has done the dirty job for us, reviewing both Christmas and Chanukah Packs.

Futureheads

The Futureheads have a new album coming out soon, and they've posted a video for one of the songs, Broke Up the Time. It's not quite as catchy as Area, but I do quite like it (and there's at least one really cool guitar in the video).



via Idolator

Project Runway(ish) by Simplicity

Simplicity has come out with a new line of patterns inspired by Project Runway.





It's a bit of a mystery to me (and others) what exactly about PR inspired the individual garments. There are only six patterns at the moment and I really hope that in the future they offer some more, especially if they were remotely close to some of the very cool designs we've seen on PR.

get ready to vote

ballot boxes
Originally uploaded by Keith Bacongco

The YALSA and ALSC ballots for 2008 have been announced! (I will admit to a little bit of shameless self-promotion here, as I'm on the ballot for the 2001 Wilder committee. What an honor even to be nominated!!)

Cybils last call

Jackie has posted the info so far for the young adult fiction
category (as I may have mentioned, I'm on the nominating committee).

It's not quite too late to submit your nominations, but it will be too
late pretty darn soon - get on over and nominate some great books!

how can you not notice a BT?

Vintage Sewing Patterns Wiki

marian martin dress-apron 9589
Originally uploaded by carbonated

Vintage sewing maven Erin from A Dress A Day has masterminded what promises to become a super resource: the Vintage Sewing Patterns Wiki. You can check out an example of what's started there by looking at this entry for Butterick 6015. I can't wait for this wiki to really get rocking!

Simplicity 3673

Simplicity 3673
Originally uploaded by annethelibrarian

So I had such a successful experience making my Halloween costume that I decided to try another sewing project, this time a regular everyday dress. I've been looking for work dresses for awhile, actually, but haven't found anything that fit in a style I liked (so much of what's out there right now seem to be clingy knits cut way too low for work, or too tight for people with teeny little pot bellies), so I decided to make one. I found Simplicity 3673 and some grey fall suiting fabric (wool with a bit of synthetic which gives it nice drape and give - it's also got a very subtle silver strand in the herringbone pattern) and got to work.

The pattern was pretty easy to use. Like most Simplicity patterns, everything is fairly clearly laid out and you just need to follow directions. I did opt to line the skirt as well as the bodice, which was a simple enough change to make (just made the skirt part of the pattern with lining fabric and attached inside with a shorter hem length).

I'm finding that I'm getting fairly good at figuring out how to alter patterns so that the garment will fit me - in the crazy world of pattern sizes, I'm generally a 16 bust, 18 waist, and 14 hip (this would be equivalent to a 10 or so in store-bought clothing), so it takes a little creative adjusting to make things work, but it's definitely doable. Awhile back I bought a few tailors tools and they've been very helpful with that process.

With this particular dress, I could've done a slightly better job with the adjustments - the waist could've been nipped in more than what I did, but it's still comfortable and very much wearable, so I decided to leave it.

The next project I'm working on will be Vogue 8443 - the longer skirt with the longer sleeve, with a contrast waistband.

Silk Garden Wrap

Silk Garden Wrap
Originally uploaded by annethelibrarian

This scallop patterned wrap is made from premier quality cotton/rayon tape yarn (Colinette Giotto) and is available at AnneArchy.

Edgar Wright speaks up

Tim Plays Scrabble
Originally uploaded by EnKayTee

So many Spaced fans are, to put it mildly, less than enthused at the concept of McG remaking the show for American TV. The creators of the original aren't exactly happy either - check out Edgar Wright's blog for the scoop on what's really going on.