Cooler than You: Stupid Things I Say and Do

137.  137 is the number of items I made this year. I know. Want to know the real number? 177.  I know! 137 is the base number, 177 includes, well, baby pants, a handful of plaintain tees (as in the ones of cotton and not my wool knit on that I love), panties (the "test" run ones and the patterns that work oh so well), those Mabels of summer and fall that got a wee bit smaller as the swimming and running laps toned me, a few run of the mill renfrews, and many briars. Dude. Let's just say I knew that number was up there, but when I went through my notebooks and made the final tally (pawing through the pages three times to make sure I wasn't over counting) my mouth fell open.  Yea, I know. Though, I ran my fifth half marathon this year, went to five countries, finished three articles, taught an unholy amount of courses . . . just so many, presented about six conference papers (which two more are being converted to articles and book chapters these days), wro...

Two weeks ago, my bestie Tanfer and I did our annual day in Port Jefferson/ Stony Brook Village.  Meandering, lunch at Tiger Lilly (our now stand by, as it never lets down), coffee, and lots of window shopping is always a nice way to spend a summer day.  She's pre-approved the photo of her modeling the Cosmo I made her, with a zipper.  Apparently it is making it's international debut in Canada next week, as we jaunt for another conference.  Yes, I know.  Woe, woe, woe.   A conference requiring a passport.  Aside from needing more funding, I do love a good write.   And, yea, her bag was filled with briars and other things.  On Monday, as we meet at an airport, I've got a hoodie for her . . . what? You can't go to Prince Edward Island and not have a sand colored hoodie to look like a capture from a movie scene.   In the course of writing galore, and never completing enough, one hell of a Lupus attack that--well, if you li...

Friends of mine had a baby, well . . . one of my oldest friends to be precise.  Yes, that old Yankees game buddy of mine.  Ava came about two weeks ago, and they have a baby and a box from me.  Finally . . . a blog de review. So, when we grow up and he has kids--ahem now--and I still refuse to go into a baby department as pregnant women laugh at me . . . yea, I sew.   The baby loot, so to speak. First up, Erika wanted a grey baby bag . . . she's fond of grey, and the long standing joke was we needed a color Bur would carry too (and, not, ya know melt). So, I used a handful of Parson Grey prints on the Amy Butler Cosmo Pattern .  Though . . . after five versions of this one I can say I have it down to an art.  Indeed. So, on the outside, I left one pocket pattern stated size.  The other . . . I expanded it three inches, threaded 1/4" elastic through the top (but to original pattern piece size), gathered the bottom, and sewed it on as no...