I was way too late

Guess what? I missed out on getting another Ipanema tablecloth from Target. Why oh why did I keep putting it off?

I checked the clearance shelves at two stores and NONE of that line was to be found, not even a table napkin. The tablecloth was never even offered through the website. So that's that.

So I have a little under three yards of this 60 inch fabric. The dress I had decided on calls for 1 5/8 yards of 60 inch fabric, so it is still a go. In addition, I want to make a matching purse and another Heather Bailey headband to go with it. The headband could come from the scraps easily and the clutch purse would only take half a yard.


However, it most definitely will not be finished by the end of the month for the SewRetro group. I just finished my last test today and now I have to study for my final written and oral exams in Spanish on Friday. (Don't you just love the accelerated schedule of a 5-week long semester course?) Later on that day I will be on my way to sunny Miami for a much needed vacation until Monday. So I will have to catch up with the group on the August project.

What do you think I should do?

I picked this tablecloth up two months ago at Target because I loved the pattern from their almost-gone Ipanema line. But now that I have it at home, I'm not sure what to do with it. I thought about:

1. using it for my first reupholstering experiment on the loveseat...sooo needs something
2. making napkins from it by adding trim and other fabrics like these at Anthropologie
3. making a dress from the fabric, maybe something like McCall's 4502
4. or buying more fabric and making Butterick 4790? But how much more, since the dress wants 4 yards just for the contrast part?
5. or just using it as a table cloth for the small dining table.

I'm still not sure. Any ideas?

What I do know is that today I'm running out to buy another one, just in case I do figure it out.

Here are some more views of the print and the Ipanema line. If you want some though you better hurry!

Who knew our president could sing?

Sunday Bloody Sunday George W. Bush*.


Brilliant.



*Created by Speedracer77, now on YouTube.

So Sweet Savannah

A month ago I looked into schools with Graduate or Certificate programs in Historic Preservation.

Whoa...just a thought, just a thought.

Yes, I still have a year and a half in my BA program.

But since I also want to move somewhere new after I finish my degree the goal was to find programs in cities that I would not mind moving to whether I chose to further my education or not. Then grad school could always be an option if I did choose to go.

Last week I received my copy of the Savannah College of Art and Design catalog. I mean, what better city is there to study historic preservation?

And then today I found this post on Entre Nous, one of the blogs I had just started checking out.

So it seems I will be able to follow her adventures long before I have to make up my mind about moving or applying.

Hurrah.

Thank you, thank you Sara Kate!

I just saw this recipe on Apartment Therapy: The Kitchen

Sweet Morning Potato

1 sweet potato, cooked
1/4 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts (or other nut)

Warm the potato. Open it across the top, pushing the flesh slightly to rise out of the skin. Spoon on the yogurt, then the syrup. Sprinkle with nuts, and serve.

- Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan

Yummy, YuM, YUM

All I can say is this site is food porn, so beware.

This woman in San Francisco makes the most incredible cupcakes with names such as:

Samoas^® Cupcake
Rich Chocolate Cupcakes Filled with Chocolate-Mint Ganache with Topped with Mint Buttercream
Coconut Rice Pudding Stuffed Cupcakes with Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting & Fruit
Ricotta Raspberry Almond Cupcakes with Citrus Meringue Frosting
Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache



I will just show you the mouth-watering pictures (she takes them herself) and command you to go to Chockylit's Cupcake Bakeshop.






If you feel adventurous, the recipes are on the site too. William and Sonoma just started selling this which will make those last cupcakes even cooler.

Enjoy

I know, I lied

The real Amy Sedaris.

I said that there would be no more posts until August, but there are some great things afoot that I just could not ignore.

Like the fact that one of the most twisted* shows ever, Strangers with Candy, is coming to a major movie theater near you. Paul Dinello, Stephen Colbert, and the great Amy Sedaris have written the film to complement their brilliant Comedy Central series from 1999-2000. The show was written and presented using language and music cues ripped from those corny After School Specials that ran on TV throughout my childhood.

"Hello, I'm Jerri Blank and I'm a 46-year-old high school freshman. For 32 years I was a teenage runaway. I was a boozer, a user, and a loser. My friends were dealers, cons, and 18 karat pimps. But now I'm out of jail, picking up my life exactly where I left off. I'm back in high school, living at home, and discovering all sorts of things about my body. I'm finding out that though the faces have changed, the hassles are just the same."

This is how every episode started and that paragraph pretty much summed up the irreverence of the show and probably the movie too.

*Beware, the beginning of the movie's website has some imagery that might be upsetting for a few people. The movie; like the show, is very much an acquired taste.

Robbie Fulks, alt-country god.

I love this guy!

A friend* introduced me to his music. We saw him at this utterly cool smoke-free (!!!!) venue in VA, Ashland Coffee & Tea and well...I developed me a little crush.

He's funny (ha-ha funny), goofy-looking, in need of a good meal, full of spastic energy (hence the skinniness) and his voice is amazing. And even though he has to be in his forties, sometimes he looks like a smart-aleck kid in pants too big for him.

Known as an alt-country musician, Robbie takes good ole country music (similar to the song stylin's of Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, and Patsy Cline) and mixes them up with skewed hilarious or overly kitsch lyrics.

Sample song titles:

Sleepin' On The Job Of Love
I Push Right Over
We'll Burn Together
Tears Only Run One Way
She Took A Lot of Pills (& Died)

You won't find soundbytes on his site; you'll have to go somewhere else for those, but if you check out the lyrics section you can find fan cover versions of his songs. Definitely check out the lyrics to Let's Kill Saturday Night for five different takes on that song and the lyrics of She Took A Lot Of Pills (& Died) for an instrumental version.


* Thanks, Rick!