Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Sewing Today and First Bible reading

Before I get to the real point of this post, if anyone is interested in seeing our production of Godspell, I posted it on megaupload:
Today was a pretty successful day for me, sewing wise.  I finished cutting out a blouse that will go well with my navy suit, and I started sewing the skirt.  How do people finish there seams, those of you who sew?  I try to stay true to the time periods and stitch two rows of stitching and then use the pinking shears, but as soon as I wash something, it starts to fray something awful.  So I think I am going to start using a three step zig zag to finish the seams, but I want to hear what everyone else does. Spill it!
 When ever I have a skirt, whether it be alone or part of a dress, I always pin all the sides together and then sew instead of pinning each side and sewing the seam separately.  For me, it seems to save time.
I don't usually dress up for work, which I hate, but really, it would be quite silly for me to be dressed to the nines to go to work in a warehouse.  Besides the fact that I am the only girl who works there (at a file shredding company)...yeah. That's all I am going to say on that one.  But today was just one of those rare days that I could not bear to put on pants or shorts again...bleh.  I honestly don't know how people who wear current day style clothes do it.  They always seem so tight and constricting, and very very unfeminine and uncomfortable.  One thing that I still buy new in department stores or chains is skirts.  So that's what I wore today.  I got this skirt, I believe, my freshman year of college, and it has remained a faithful go to for days I want to look semi cute and presentable.  I don't know if it shows up on the picture, but it is like a rainbow bleeding into each other, with this gorgeous black and gold swirl, feathery design throughout the entire thing.  So, yep.  It's a rare, modern look for me today.
Alrighty, and onto my first Bible reading post (a few days later than I had planned).  I didn't get any complaints or protests in my last post, so I am going to go ahead as planned.  Now first, I must say that I have never actually read the entire Bible.  Sure I've heard Bible readings every Sunday from going to church, done Bible studies, especially after going to a Christian University.  But I have never actually made it all the way through to the end.  Therefore, I am using this small space as my accountability.  I know most of you will most likely skip over these posts each time, but for the few of you who are interested, here you go:D
These are my readings from Saturday and Sunday: Exodus 1-15;15-28.  Now, I forgot my page full of notes at work (yes I do get my Bible readings done at work), so this will be very quick, and I will wait to do Monday and Tuesdays readings until Thursday when I get my notes back.  So anyways The Exodus.  Brings reminders of The Prince of Egypt...a childhood favorite movie, I think I will have to watch it this week to see what they got right/wrong, since the book is fresh in my mind.  This week probably won't be too terribly profound, probably just a lot of questions and confusions.  Bear with me.  And just so you know, my Bible is a side by side NIV/Message translation.  So Ex 1: 9-10 says 
 "He said to his people, "Look, the people of Israel now outnumber us and are stronger than we are.10 We must make a plan to keep them from growing even more. If we don't, and if war breaks out, they will join our enemies and fight against us. Then they will escape from the country"
 What I don't understand right off the bat, is that if the Israelites outnumbered the Egyptians, how in the world did the Egyptians have enough force to make them their slaves without a war or uprising.  I'm sure it is as simple, for lack of a better term, as what happened in Hitler Germany, but still.  That is difficult to wrap my mind around. 

Something else I have trouble wrapping my mind around is how little respect the Egyptians had for the sanctity of life.  This is something of a passion of mine.  No, I am not one of those people that think bombing abortion clinics is the right way to go.  Nor do I attend protests.  My fight is more inward, and I tend to be a prayer warrior for the sanctity of life.  So when I read Ex 1:15-17
Then Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, gave this order to the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah:"When you help the Hebrew women as they give birth, watch as they deliver.s If the baby is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, let her live." But because the midwives feared God, they refused to obey the king's orders. They allowed the boys to live, too.
Yeah.  This wasn't new reading to me.  I knew it happened, but still, everytime I read it I am slightly taken aback.  How can one man order the destruction all Israelite male babies and not feel any guilt?  Praise God for the strength of the midwives for refusing to follow his orders, but then we find out later that Pharaoh said in Ex 1:22
"Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: "Throw every newborn Hebrew boy into the Nile River. But you may let the girls live." 
Then Exodus chapter 2 begins the story of Moses we all know.  His mother hid him for 3 months.  I cannot imagine the fear and trepidation she must have felt during that time.  Also, I wonder how many other mother's tried to hide their children from the Egyptians.  And then, she makes a basket for him and lays him in the river.  Pharaoh's daughter finds him and decides to adopt him.  She hires Moses's real mother to nurse him.  Wow.  All I can say is divine intervention.  Moses was destined for greatness, and God intervened in his life to allow him to live. 
Now for questions and thoughts:  Did Moses know he was a Hebrew as he was growing up?  So Moses killed a guard who was beating one of the Hebrews, which if I am to be honest, awful, but he was trying to help his people.  Then the next day he tries to stop two Hebrews fighting each other and this is what he get's thrown in his face: Ex2:14
The man replied, "Who appointed you to be our prince and judge? Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?"
I think this is the beginning of showing the Hebrews in a selfish, whining, and arrogant light.  Yes, they went through a terrible thing being enslaved in Egypt, and having the mass genocide taking place against their newborns,  but Moses was trying to help them and that is what they say to him?  And that just the beginning.  After they are allowed to leave Egypt, it just gets worse. After Moses leaves and witness the burning bush etc., I think he has legitimate fear in Exodus 4:1
But Moses protested again, "What if they won't believe me or listen to me? What if they say, `The Lord never appeared to you'?"
So God tells Moses to go back to Egypt and tells him to perform these miracles, but then he says Ex4:21
And the Lord told Moses, "When you arrive back in Egypt, go to Pharaoh and perform all the miracles I have empowered you to do. But I will harden his heart so he will refuse to let the people go.
 Why?  God really confuses me these next couple of chapters.  I don't understand why he hardens Pharaoh's heart.  Not only the first time Moses pleads with him, but every time after that after every plague, God also hardens his heart. And then, as Moses is making his way back to Egypt, it says in Ex4:24 that Moses and his family had stopped for the night and God was about to kill him until his wife circumcised their son.  Uhh??  Why would God want to kill Moses, who he has chosen to deliver his people? 
After the plagues, which, can you imagine the terror and panic that ensued during that time?, Pharaoh finally let the Israelites go, it says that 600,000 men left during the Exodus....which I am assuming does not include women and children.  That is bigger than most cities.  Can you imagine evacuating a humongous city now?  The last thing I am going to say, since this is turning out longer than I had planned, is come back to writing about the Israelites.  Yes I know I was making fun of them by saying that they whine alot and complain and don't listen (golden calf idol, gathering more manna than they were supposed to comes to mind), but this is the beginning of their persecution that sadly has not ended.  The Jewish people have been one of the most persecuted and prejudiced people in all of history.  3 big things come to mind: Exodus, WWII Hitler Germany, and current day middle east practically hates Israel and the people there.  Thats it.  I know nothing I wrote was terribly profound, but these writings probably won't be.  It is meant for me to get my questions and confusions, and thoughts out there.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Garage Sale

A few days ago I was trolling along on Craigslist and stumbled across a yard sale only about 20 minutes from my house with promises of vintage and retro things.  So obviously, I got very excited and left with my mother as soon as I got home from work.  I found a few good things, but most of the hats and dresses they had, and a Navy jacket from WWII, had obviously not been cared for properly and had tons of moth holes and tears in them.  That made me sad.  But I did find some 50's glasses, a makeup case, 30s/40s shoes, and a knitting pattern book filled with great dress and sweater patterns.  Now if I only knew how to knit....hmmm
I also cut out three things this week that I am going to start working on.  A few weeks ago my mom went to a garage sale and found about 7 yards of this navy blue fabric (unsure of what it is) that has a nice random thread texture to it.  I had enough to cut out a three piece suit from a reproduction pattern from Simplicity

I think that will come in handy when I finally start substitute teaching this year. 

A few weeks ago, I was hanging out with some friends, and one of them took pretty pictures, though I don't technically remember that night very well, I did wear a 60's wrap skirt I made.

I think I am going to start making a list each week of movies I have watched while sewing, cutting out fabric, or doing  tailor tacks, because I am pretty sure that there will be some sort of trend or commonality to them.  Well we'll see.

This week, I watched: Newsies (love love love it), Secret of NIMH (childhood favorite), Beauty and the Beast (one of the best Disney movies ever), Serenity (best sci movie I have seen, but watch the TV show first, you won't regret it), and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (my favorite Harry Potter book and movie).

And lets see.  I am going to get those stupid things listed in my Etsy store tonight if it kills me.  Goodness me, it has taken me forever to get those up, but the past few weeks I have been busy with Godspell that sucked up my life, haha.

And if anyone is interested, I think I am going to make a list of the books I read each week and grade them.  I read a lot, like probably 3 or 4 books a week due to the nature of my job, however, most of the books I read are urban fantasy or sci-fi, so I am not sure how popular those books will be with my readers lol.
First, I finished Frostbitten by Kelley Armstrong.  This is the 10th book in the series Women of the Otherworld.  Whereas I love Kelley Armstrong's young adult series, I only mildly tolerate most of the books in the adult series because almost every book is a different narrator.  The series deals mostly with necromancers, witches, half demons, and werewolves.  The books in the series that deal with the werewolves are my favorite, while the other ones are sort of hit or miss.  Frostbitten does follow the werewolves, but it had so much more sexual content in it than the ones I had read before, I honestly do not know if I will continue the series.  It is common for urban fantasy books to have some sexual content, some more than others, but I can honestly say I have never read it this bad before.  C+

I also started reading the Mortal Instruments series again by Cassandra Clare.  These are young adult books, but they are so well written and take place in this massive environment that reminds me of the feel of Harry Potter.  It is definitely not an intimate story like most YA books are.  The first one is called City of Bones.  I'm a sucker for covers, and I know you aren't supposed to judge a book by a cover, but this one is just so lovely I will admit that I would have read it even if I hadn't known anything about it.  The first one is a little boring at first, some explanations of things that could have been written in about a paragraph took pages and pages to read, but the characterizations are just wonderful.  I guess that is what I focus on most.  Yeah action is fine to read but if there isn't any character development to be seen I don't see the point in reading the book.  The basic plot premise for this is the main character is a 15 year old girl, Clary, who lives with her mom and has surrogate father of sorts, Luke, who is her mom's best friend.  One random night she goes to a dance club and suddenly is able to see this group of three teenagers called shadowhunters that her best friend cannot see. When she follows them further she sees them attacking this seemingly innocent human, but is really a demon.  The three teens figure out that Clary can see them, which is not normal,  and she gets drawn into their world and discovers things about herself that she never knew.  A-

And last but not least, my uncle became a father for the first time, and I could not be more thrilled for him.  She is just the most beautiful thing ever, not that I am biased or anything.  Here's Rachael Jane:
Oh, and I finally started a plan to read the Bible in 90 days.  If all goes according to plan, I will be done just before Thanksgiving.  I hope it won't offend my readers, but I sort of would like to post a little something each day about what I read.  Not anything too deep or anything, unless I am led to, but just something new that I didn't know or random thoughts I had while reading.  Unless I get major protest about this, I plan on starting to write a post tomorrow.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Final Godspell Post

Well, Godspell has finally come and gone.  Whew!  After 3 full months of daily acting and music practices, weekend rehearsals, frustrations, joys, tears, and laughter, it is actually over.  How lovely it will be to have free time in the evenings now, and not have to worry about how late I stay out on Friday nights.  This was my first experience with a musical, so I was not sure what to expect at all, but I can say without a doubt I loved it and could see myself doing something like this in the future.  And also, this finally means I can actually get back to a regular sewing schedule.  If this tells you anything, I can even say I slightly miss handsewing all those long skirt hems.  Yikes!  I must be desperate to get back to sewing if I can say that without a smirk.  And I just remembered I never actually got around to posting a picture of the outfit I made for Godspell.  I based it on a 50's diner outfit, but used a 1940's pattern to start with and then completely altered it to fit my liking.  However, if you know Godspell at all, you know it is a very colorful, very random sort of musical, so keep that in mind when you see the pictures.  Now I have to work on degodspelling my outfit and make it wearable:D
Man sakes alive.  How tired do I look in these last two pictures with best friend and mom?  Wow.  No wonder I have been taking 4 hour naps in the afternoon the last 2 days.  Ha.  Well, I am now going to work on getting the video up on youtube hopefully within the next 2 weeks, and I am applying to be a substitute teacher!  yay.  I am pretty excited about this. 







Thursday, August 12, 2010

Purchases and Godspell

Well its crunch time for Godspell.  Everyone is scrambling to remember where we all go, which parable/lesson comes after which song, blah blah blah.  What am I worried about most you might ask? Well, thanks for asking.  It's my costume.  And what might my costume be.  I'll give you a sneak preview:

Can anyone guess what my costume is going to be based on with those colors?  That should be a dead give away.  Although, I am altering the pattern a bit...for example, much poofier skirt, a notched collar, I am going to be making a hot pink petticoat, and adding patches to the dress randomly so it doesn't look too clean or cute.  Also, I found this awesome hat that is in kinda poor shape that I think will work quite nicely:D
I also went to a garage/estate sale on my road.  For it being a 5 family sale, it sure was small.  But they had one thing that was really awesome.  I vintage bed jacket from Hong Kong.  I honestly can't tell what decade it is from, but it is beautifully made, and the detailed stitching is gorgeous.

I also found this cute compact and lipstick case.  And it still has the puff. Awesome!
I found these 1950's sunglasses on ebay.  They have yellow tinted plastic lenses and a marble like finish on the frames.  I thought they were cute and interesting.
And, today I got my package from fabgabs etsy store.  She always has the most beautiful things, but sadly, way out of my price range.  But she had that awesome 10, 15, and 20 dollar sale.  Yay sales!  Is there any better way to shop?  I don't think so. So I bought a 50's skirt with a kick pleat, and then I bought this gorgeous 1950's dress that is going to be my baby for the next few weeks after Godspell.  It needs some work.  The biggest thing is it needs to be dry cleaned, and I will probably get that antique restoration done to see if some of the light stains will go away.  They aren't obnoxious or anything, but I would like to see if any of them will come out.  Also, the velvet self binding is obviously missing on the one arm, and I just happen to have some extra black velvet lying around, so that will be an easy fix.
Isn't it just gorgeous?  The print is so cute, and it is a really nice quality fabric.  I am surprised at how heavy it is, but it fits so nicely, this dress is going to be just the best when I finish with it:D