-- How pleased am I about summer fruits? Peaches are really coming into their own already. I guess I forget every year, but May seems early for peaches as good as the ones I've had recently. I also picked up a few tiny 'red flesh' apricots, which taste more like pluots to me (actually, they taste like plums, but they have fuzzy skin like an apricot and are the same size).
-- Beany is currently fetching me the rolly yarn ball that my friend Cara made for her. It rolls, it rattles, and it's easy for a cat to pick up; what could be better? Sometimes I have to hide it from Beany because she loves it so much (and so wants to play with it all night). Cara, you're a cat toy genius (in addition to your other, more traditional sorts of genius).
-- I've picked out a pattern to try from my Japanese dress book. It seems to be the most straight forward and simplest of the dresses I really like, so I'm looking forward to figuring it out. I'm going to use tissue paper to trace the pattern pieces on; is this how other Japanese-book-crafters do it?
-- A trip to Half Price Books yesterday yielded a $5 CD (Elvis Costello's My Flame Burns Blue, which is all jazzy and good); a $4 graphic novel (Three Shadows, which I've been keeping an eye out for ever since I saw it here, so I was VERY pleased to find it for so cheap!); a $4 book of New York Times crosswords; and a $5 blank journal which is nothing special except that the spine isn't bound very well, so the pages lie perfectly flat, making it ideal for zine/comic drawing.
-- Will we get rain today? My lawn looks like it's the middle of July, not late May. Very disappointing. I love the look of a lush spread of turf, but I don't really hold with manually watering and fertilizing it. At least the most problematic areas have now been covered and mulched over. Maybe what I should have, instead of a nice lawn, is a thick carpet of dandelions. I'd keep them mowed, of course.
Tissue paper will work for tracing patterns but I use Strathmore tracing sheets, mostly because I already had them but also because they don't rip as easily, the sheets lie flat, and sharpies don't leak through them as easily. Good luck and don't forget to add the seam allowances!
P.S. We're tough love with our lawn too. Well, with the veggies and flowers too. Or maybe we're just lazy :)
Summer fruits are still hellishly expensive and rock hard here. It'll be a few weeks yet.
And my Japanese patternd get thaced onto see through PVC with a permanent marker. It's easy to trace and easy to cut and lasts really well for multiple tries at the same pattern!
I use tracing paper from dickblick.com, it's pretty sturdy, but there's frequently a discussion in the burda world of fashion yahoo group about what to use. I haven't made a japanese pattern yet (but may have chosen my first!) - but remember to add seam allowances.
The 2009 One Local Summer challenge begins on June 1 - I hope you'll join us again this year!
I'm so pleased to hear that Beany is still loving the yarn ball. Emily tends to ignore most of her yarn toys, including the ones I made her. I think I need to invest in some elastic as bouncy toys seem to be the way to her heart!
I'm with you about the lawn problem - ours is mostly made of grasses and weeds that I don't really think qualify as 'lawn' but part of me thinks if they've stuck it out this far with no care at all maybe they deserve to stay!
Aren't used book stores great?
But new lil books are good too...I got your wee 'zine about your garden, and it is an absolute delight!