Male Pattern Boldness is proud to be the world's most popular men's sewing blog!



Aug 29, 2010

Vacation, schmacation - Peter Comes Home



Friends, it is good to be home.  Oh, not Manhattan (though that's nice too) -- I mean here with you at Male Pattern Boldness!

Let's face it: my life as a blogging male home sewist is a lot more glamorous than my real life, where -- I can conceal it no longer -- I am actually Gertie's book agent.

By the way, there is a strong possibility that MPB is going to be turned into a Lifetime movie-of-the-week.  OK, would you believe a slight possibility?

A dim possibility?

I'm pushing for a fantastic all-star cast, headed by Jason Batemen in the role of Yours Truly and sister Justine as cousin Cathy.   If they're not available I'll settle for Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Tiffani Thiessen or just Mario Lopez in a dazzling dual-role star turn -- a shoe-in for an Emmy nomination!

I welcome your suggestions and/or contacts as it really helps to get a commitment from a star first, or so I've heard.

Oh, and do you read In Touch?  Esther Williams is making a comeback (finally!) in a sequel to that 1949 MGM hit, Neptune's Daughter.  Working title: Million Dollar Mer-crone.  (I know, not my best material...)

But enough silliness; let's get back to sewing.

When I got home I was so excited to see that this had arrived at long last and it's very attractive:



Can't wait to get started on the Burda A-line dress.  And then the suit; I haven't forgotten the suit.

My friend Johanna recommended this book to me and I finally read it on my vacation:



It's a collection of essays about one man's discovery of the joys of sewing one's own clothes with vintage sewing machines, interspersed with thoughts about Peak Oil, reducing one's carbon footprint, and the consequences of outsourcing jobs to low-wage countries -- all my favorite topics!  A great read and very thought provoking.  Author is John-Paul Flintoff, btw, a British journalist.

What else?

Readers, it rained for the first four days of our vacation.  And I know this is going to sound perverse, but I think I actually preferred it.  I'm not much of a fun-in-the-sun type, despite rumors to the contrary.  I hate slathering my skin with sunscreen, traipsing out to the beach and baking in the heat, or sipping daiquiris out of cheap plastic cups poolside to the throb of Nineties house music.

 

I much prefer a long run on a cool, overcast morning and then reading, listening to music, and cooking.



I hope that doesn't sound insensitive to those who never got to sip a daiquiri this summer.  It just gives you a headache.

More vacation pics here:



In closing, readers, it's so nice to be surrounded by my sewing machines and sewists once again!

Many of you have written to say that you chose five things from among my eleven recommendations and completed your assignment.  Others seem to have cheated a bit, settling on one or two of the easier ones and calling it a day.

As for the rest of you...I hope you're taking this Pass/Fail is all I can say.

Seriously, what have you been up to all week?  Did it rain where you live for days and days?



What have I missed in the blogosphere, if anything?  Give me all the gossip!

Have a great Sunday, everybody!

28 comments:

  1. I have to take a Fail, having completed (or even started) none of my assignments.

    Welcome back!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Debbie, would you like an extension perhaps?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Welcome back! I am reading the Meme book - tell me, are capes a Meme? Because I've found myself making a lilac one as if in a trance.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yes, yes, capes are meme; think how long they've been around. YOU can make it a stronger meme by telling everyone you know about it!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well I watched my first Esther Williams movie while you were away. LOVED it. It did in fact rain for days and days here. I liked it too. It gave me a chance to do nothing...and that is what I did. Nothing! No sewing, a bit of blogging, but that's about it. Dullsville. I must have been depressed without MPB to cheer me up each day.

    ReplyDelete
  6. OK, I confess, I read the assignment, but didn't really pick any specifically to do. In looking back on it, I actually get a PASS! I did #6 (gave away way more than 3 things, AND convinced my pack rat son to do the same), #8, #9, #11, and finally, made plans to do #10 (i.e., made reservations) so I think that must count.

    But really, I must watch Gaslight again.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh Peter, it's good to have you back. :)

    Now how are you doing with selling the film rights to my blog??? I'd like to be played by Zooey Deschanel. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  8. There's some big news over at Selfish Seamstress . . .
    So glad to have you back. I completed 6 out of 11 and feel so much better for it. Looks like there were many delicious meals on your holiday . . . I have cuisine envy. And looking forward to Burda and more . . . you've been missed.

    ReplyDelete
  9. ok - I missed the entire deal. This past week was totally nuts: I finished a grey/plum brocade vest for my husband to spiff up his tuxedo. I went on a road trip for fabrics for a pregnancy wardrobe for my eldest daughter (and when I say wardrobe, we are not just talking a SWAP - pant suits, tops, blouses, a couple of extra jackets to go with the pants in the suits AND a topper than she can wear during and post pregnancy. See you in February...
    Plus on Friday, we took the lambs to Pepperoniville to (well, you get the picture - when we go to do the pick up, I've got shrinkwrap in my future, let me say that), the DH and I went to New York (I waved at you, Peter, but you didn't see me..)where on Saturday I (as they say in the media) 'took a meeting' and took a cooking class.

    ReplyDelete
  10. So nice to have you back. I missed you! You add humor and lightness to my day. I think I get a Pass as completed a summer tunic for myself and started on a craft project from "Plush-o-rama: Curious Creatures for Immature Adults". Photos to come!

    ReplyDelete
  11. So nice to see you again! Well, I've had an insanely exciting week. I bought a Babylock Imagine serger. And it's all that. Of course, the sticker shock is giving me anxiety and, alas, it doesn't actually know how to sew the clothes, but it does a great job when you show it the way. I just completed my 1st project an hour ago - yoga pants. They're not bad.

    This week I intend to sew a) another bra , from new pattern,(please goddess, let this one fit me) b) a pencil skirt from Vogue pattern and c) a cowl, vintage inspired dress in navy polyester ponte double knit.

    That's the theory, anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  12. It rained here most the the time, including the weekend when we could have been out on the motorcycle. Dreary weather all week, not at all conducive to creativity.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oh, that's funny, Mary. You must have missed that typo -- "motorcycle." Can you imagine?

    Glad to hear you're all keeping busy even if it's just bringing farm animals to the slaughterhouse. Somebody has to do it.

    Gertie, how would you feel about Chloe Sevigny? Too old?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Good to have you back. I did #5, 6, 8 & 9 ... and I'm leaving for Australia on Thursday night so that's #10 covered too. I'm going to miss all your blogs while I am gone for 3 weeks. (Who am I kidding?)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Welcome back to the blog world! looking forward to see more of your creations.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Welcome home! I think I have failed comprehensively in all aspects of the assignment (... though judging by the way I have been feeling I may have eaten something green ... and possibly pathogenic. Does this count?)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Liesl, when I said eat green food I meant food that was intended to be green. It may be time to visit the vomitorium.

    Feel better! A little ginger ale may help.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I'll take a fail. RL has gotten the best of me. The only sewing I've done is to put up the hem on a pair of secondhand knit jammies for the baby and I haven't had time for movies. My grandmother moved in with us last week because she had a stroke and I've been busy with all of that stuff. We had to clean out the bonus room, get an electrician to fix it (lightening strike made the power go out in there) and arrange it into a combo bedroom/sitting room for her. She'll be here for at least a month. After that, well, it's to be a playroom combined with a sewing room for me.

    Until then, we're dealing with having Grandma (who is hard to deal with due to being unmedicated bipolar) and her bird (which everyone is allergic to) in the house and her treatment regimen, which she refuses to follow.

    Sewing isn't happening at the moment. The only thing I've managed to do is recut the jacket sleeves on Vogue 8060, because Evie grew since I cut them out and regular size 2 sleeves are too short now.

    ReplyDelete
  19. A BLONDE, Peter???? Way to cut right to the heart.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hi Peter! So Happy to have you back... I might get a pass on your assignment. You will have to be the judge..

    1. I bought several vintage patterns.
    2. Enjoyed getting aquainted with Deanna Durbin
    3. Just before you left had sewing machine cleaned/serviced. A 189 dollers worth of cleaning.. would this count even if it was before you gave the assgnment..?
    4. Gave a three garbage bags and several boxes to chairity
    5. Number 9 was well worth the expense.. :)

    oh.. and maybe a little extra credit with Yoplait Key Lime Pie...


    Ps.. you had only four day of rain on your vacation...? Peter, it has rained all summer here.. So much so, we broke a record.. http://www.newsminer.com/view/full_story/9154568/article-Rain-and-more-rain-in-Anchorage?instance=alaska_news That was 14 days ago and.. you guess it... still more rain!!!

    ReplyDelete
  21. No rain here in the Pacific Northwest. (I never! get to say that)

    As far as assignments go, I confess I pretty much phoned it in. Bought some children’s vintage dress patterns at a church rummage sale even though I have none (children) simply because of the cutsie illustrations on the pattern envelopes. Did not purchase new underwear as my rural location only offers only an unacceptable Walgreens/Hanes option. Fail.

    Nice to have you back.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Unfortunately I didn't manage to do any of the items on your list. However, I did just manage to print out my PhD thesis, ready for submission tomorrow. And once that's out of the way, I can really get cracking on your list.
    woop!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Welcome back! Love all the photos. Your vacation spot is wonderful. Also enjoying the Esther Williams video since I was born the year she debuted in movies. I love her and Fernando Lamas both! They were performing when I was a little girl and kids walked to the movie theater all the time by themselves. There were no "ratings" so we saw everything.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I was going to say pass but Cactus Flower is one word in Swedish, Kaktusblomman.

    Welcome back!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Welcome back! The blogosphere has missed you. :)

    ReplyDelete
  26. You and Michael always have the yummiest looking meals!

    ReplyDelete
  27. They don't make movies like they used to. The costumes...

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Related Posts with Thumbnails