Flibbertygibbet

Back soon!

The thing is, I got sort of kidnapped on my birthday. Twist that rubbery arm of mine.  After a morning opening lots of lovely presents and cards (for once I was grown up and saved most of them from Saturday) lunch at Carluccios with two lovely wonderful friends turned into champagne at Claridges and then onwards for cocktails and there were a couple more pitstops after that and much, much drunken conversation.  Including one with Helen, lucky girl! 

Knitting wasn't one of the stops, whoops, though apparently the new venue worked well.  The important thing is that while I did mislay a couple of things througout the evening, I made it home with my wallet, keys, phone and half a cotton glace cardigan.  Got those priorities intact. 

I've been mostly sleeping while trying to recover.  Tons of freelance jobs now in too which is great but it in some ways just prolongs the agony - can't afford to stay freelance, need a fulltime job - boo.  Anyway, off to do some of that work.  Back soon.  Soonish. 

You're lookin' swell

Dolly has been dressed, even though she's not quite 'fit' for purpose yet - I have to take accurate measurements and adjust her accordingly.  This is the guide I'm using - while it's one thing to have bought a dressform,  it's pointless without making sure that it corresponds exactly to my body shape. So some padding is in order!

I think something that fazes you when you're new to sewing is buying the right sized pattern, and then cutting the correct pieces.  There's some information here and here about how to update patterns - but it's vital to remember the sizing on commercial patterns is usually quite a bit smaller than manufactured retail clothing - so if you normally take a size 10, you might end up cutting out a 14.  Now it's only numbers, don't get hung up.  Besides, if you are going to the trouble of making your own clothes, you might as well take the time to get them to fit perfectly and that can sometimes mean mixing two different pattern sizes.  I need to take that advice to heart - the dress that's on Dolly is one that I started last summer, using fabric I bought in New York.  I was obviously being delusional when I cut it out - the bodice is waaaay too big and the skirt is both too small and poorly joined to the bodice, catching the span of the skirt badly.  And no, you can't see a closer picture.  Or the back. 

Looking at it on Dolly is actually really illuminating because I suspect that I have a long back, and need to either adjust patterns appropriately, or find suitable shapes.  Then when I find that magical pattern, hah, I'll be able to pin the pattern pieces to Dolly to make sure that they are the best sizes.   I want to resurrect this because I'm actually happy with the way that the really-loud pattern falls across the bodice and skirt so it's worth a bit of work.  I should say too that this not working out didn't bother me that much and I did go on to make others, for weddings and for social things..

But first I have to get something ready for the May wedding.  I'm tempted to use 6375 again because it is truly easy and very flattering.  But that seems like a cheat.  However, I have some lovely fabrics that I don't want to bugger up... with Dolly to help, I have a little more faith in myself.

So many possibilities:

Some of the fabric possibilities.  I guess there will be no chance of fading into the wallpaper.  Unless it's Liberty print. 

Lots of fun party and birthday stuff to report, Saturday was wonderfully good fun.  More on that later this week.  The clocks have gone back and it's gloriously light out now - spring really does feel like it's sprung now.

Great goods come in small parcels

Over the past couple of days, many beeyoutiful things have been delivered to me. I've already told you about some of them.  Dolly the dressform arrived.  I've called her Dolly because she sort of is one, plus bizarrely I've taken to saying hello to her everytime I see her, she was quickly constructed and is now taking pride of place in the bedroom. (Best light in the whole house)  I love a company that thinks to actually supply the phillips screwdriver that's required for assembly in the box with her.  That's the sort of service I'm looking for.  Now I just need to figure out what I'm going to use to pad her out to my dimensions - hips and shoulders are ok but the middle - well it just doesn't expand enough!  It's a very peculiar thing to do actually, as you turn her little dials to imitate your own shape and then look, with your head tilted slight to one side and say 'Really??....bugger.'

Yesterday it was a delicious envelope of booty from the lovely Helene - postcards from La Droguerie which is on the list of must-visit places for the next time I go back to Paris. 

Helene's blog has a great tutorial for a little crocheted basket - dear god, this April crochet workshop simply can't come quickly enough! My lovely grandmother sent me some money for my birthday and it's being spend on some more Rowan DK for the blanket that I will be crocheting.  The only dilemma now, as Helen pointed out, is blanket vs granny squares. That's a conundrum for another day.  I've fancied making a pinboard like the one Ali made for ages - and these postcards need a home so I better get on to it!

Helene also mentioned the intrinsic confusion that comes from trying to interpret US measurements - just exactly what is a cup of butter? I did find some sort of conversion, and used my lovely Nigella measuring cups and  spoons to make these:

which are a monster version of AfricanKelli's Chocolate Banana Oat Cookies for Saturday. Not to self - if recipe says it makes three dozen, you probably shouldn't be dropping them out with a tablespoon.    I also tried to get more oats but couldn't (was wondering about using my posh muesli but then thought maybe not - btw their fruity porridge is amazing.  This is coming from a woman who doesn't like porridge) so thought I'd have to make do with what I had, about 2 cups.  And also missed the bit in the recipe about needing to add in a couple of extra cups of oats in addition to the main list of ingredients/or premix.  I added the closest thing I had, which was... chopped apricots.  They came out pretty well!  I may have to ask my neighbour to hold on to them until tomorrow.

In other baking news, I made the old reliable:

Nigella's Dense Damp Chocolate Loaf Cake.  The recipe is below - though paraphrased for quick typing, and minus her wonderful prose - and can I just say that the quantities below are supposed to fill a 2lb loaf tin but in fact, as you can see, they pretty much fill two.  So what I usually do is make one giant 'mushroom cloud' cake where it spills over the edge, and put a baking sheet underneath as she suggests.  So you get a cake plus a free muffin which you eat - cook's privilege.  If you use two tins, then just serve your guests thicker slabs of the not-so-tall cake. It's definitely better after a couple of days, like gingerbread. Or warm each slice in the microwave and serve with a ball of vanilla ice cream.

Today brought more good things from the postman - from Jennifer!  Funky emerald rick rack for my apron, and some delightful ribbons, in 'an ode to spring'.  I know exactly what I'm going to do with them all, too! Plus a beautiful handmade card and even with the perfect stamps - thank you so much.  I've been so utterly spoiled by all you bloggy friends this week - constantly touched by all of you.

Dense Damp Chocolate Loaf Cake
225g soft unsalted butter
375g dark musovado sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100g best dark chocolate, melted
200g plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
250ml boiling water
[23 x 13 x 7 cm loaf tin] - a 2lb tin basically

Preheat oven to 190c/gas mark 5
Put a baking sheet underneath in case of drips (always happens with this cake) and line the tin.  John Lewis does parchment liners.
1.  Cream the butter and sugar
2.  Add eggs and vanilla, beating in well.
3.  Fold in the melted, slightly cooled chocolate, blend but don't overbeat.
4. Add the bicarb to the flour, then add the flour mix spoon by spoon alternately with the boiling water. The batter will be really runny.
5.  Pour into the lined tin, bake for 30 mins.
6. Turn the oven down to 170c/gas mark 3 and cook for about another 15 mins.  The cake will still be a bit squidgy inside so an inserted cake-tester or skewer won't come out clean.
7.  Put loaf tin on a wire rack and let it cool completely before turning out.

It will sink in the middle, and it improves over a couple of days

Assembly Line

**SPOILER ALERT**

It was the first time I've been to a film where the ending credits were the best part of the whole thing - but wait, that's not quite as damning as it sounds.  Not quite. Factory Girl is the story of Edie Sedgwick, a stunning young socialite who met Andy Warhol in the early days of the Factory and was known as his muse, for a time they were inseparable. 

She was a damaged, brittle young woman who, the filmmakers would have you believe, was utterly exploited by Warhol: for her societal influence in selling his work to affluent clients; for her participation in his movies, which she later believed led to her being ostracised from society because she was laughed at for them; and for her money (she inherited a large trust fund but quickly blew through it and Warhol, who was notoriously parsimonious, allegedly refused to pay her or help her when she was bankrupt).  Her father is portrayed as an obnoxious bully who sexually abused her as a child while tormeting her gay brother to suicide.
Her 'look', pale lips and enormous dark eyes, dark dance tights and short dresses became utterly iconic. But she couldn't keep up with the lifestyle and eventually, even after moving out of New York and back to California into rehab, she died of a drug overdose in her late twenties.  She was a tragic figure and Sienna Miller plays it brilliantly (who knew she'd ever turn out to be more than a boho clothes horse?) with a real delicacy and you feel genuinely sympathetic towards her.  That also may be ramped up the the fact that there's not one other positive character in the film.  No, Sid doesn't count because he used her too, setting her up with the-musician-who-we'd-have-to-say-for-legal-reasons-most-certainly-isn't-Bob-Dylan, and the musician-who- dumped her too, though I didn't actually derive that she had been pregnant, which was rumoured to be the reason Dylan was going to sue - over allegations he'd got ES pregnant and insisted she have an abortion?

There's just no heart to this film - a certain amount of style in the costumes and yes, the casting is excellent (though wasn't Mena Suvari a bit underused?) but style doesn't made for substance.  Interestingly, there were about twenty people in the cinema when the lights dimmed, and about half walked out at various points in the movie.  Was it the overuse of faux-documentary style soft focus? Guy Pearce's eerie yet probably acute portrayal of Warhol? Or the fact that it seemed to be seven minutes of material run over and over and over again?  We had three repetitions of the story of abuse - while it may have been crucial, it lost impact. All the dialogue in the final scene was lifted from earlier in the film - and it wasn't that profound the first time around.  It felt like the film had grown out of a drunken afternoon's conversation in the pub - 'hey, lez maka moovie' 'Exslent idea, howbut Edie Sedgwick? Posh bird, soup can bloke, junkie?' and then they wrote that down on a beermat and a motion picture was born!

So this was so heading towards "Give me back those hours of my life" (and apparently it's only ninety minutes long?? Seems like days...) and just as we were reaching for our coats when the end credits rolled, a sincere voice starting talking about Edie:  her brother.  Amazing photographs of her came up on the screen, intercut with talking heads from her brother Jonathan,  Nat Finkelstein, Richie Berlin, George Plimpton and other people who knew her.  It was then that you sat back, entranced and just wished the filmmakers had cut them into the narrative around Miller's great performance instead of somehow ironing all of the interest out of Edie's sad story.  So it gets a reprieve to 'A card movie' simply based on the credits sequence.  For that alone. I'm still considering asking for the other 84 minutes though.

Raspberry Monsters

Hasten over to 'A Year of Softies'  to view all the finalists in the 2007 awards (voting opens at the end of the week) and support this little critter

(copyright belongs to Raspberry)

in the 'Creepy yet cute category - indeed!  Made by the wonderful Raspberry - wishing you lots and lots and lots of luck!

Jade made me cry

There's only one thing that's better than hearing the thdumpth of a package falling through the letterbox and landing squarely on the doormat.
That's when you come home to find a red-and-white notice from the postman to say 'There's something that wouldn't fit in your letterbox tantalisingly awaiting you at the magickal portal that is your local Sorting Office'.

It wouldn't fit in your letterbox because it's so chockfull of beautiful stuff!

This is what first confronted me.  And then, a bit like the old joke of:

~ How did you find the steak, sir?
~ I lifted a chip and there it was.

Look! There's more! Sandwiched in the middle of it all.

The card and 'very special extra package in the groovy paper'...

So to set the story, the lovely Jade emailed me a while ago - we've been having a delightful conversation by cross-commenting on each other's blogs and emailing for a while now - hers is My Art is My Outlet which is a repository of beautiful crafts, newsy observations and original artworks from this very talented lady. We'd worked out that we have birthdays very close to each other, and she told me that she wanted to send me an 'appreciation gift' which would also fortuitiously arrive as a birthday gift.  My normal Irish inclination was - well, I'm reminded of a seminar I went to while I was in college in Dublin, as a pre-cursor to taking off to America for the summer on a J1 visa (which entitles you to work anywhere in the US). The counsellor ran through the normal Irish procedure for accepting or refusing an offer:

American host:  Would you like to come to a barbeque at our house/ trip to the mountains/the Grand Canyon this weekend?
Typical Irish Person: Ah sure no.

At this point the American host wonders what they said that was so heinous and wanders away.  You see, in Ireland the exchange would go something like this:

Person 1:        Would you like to come to the pub/ the pub/the Aran Islands this weekend?
Typical Irish Person:    Ah sure no.
Person 1:        Ah no, go on, sure, come on-
Typical Irish Person:    Ah no, sure you're grand now, no.
Person 1        No seriously, come on
Typical Irish Person:     Ok then, great, I'd love to!

So in contrast to my habitual 'ah no' I said 'oh yes please!' to Jade (and also to the lovely Anna and Jennifer on the rick rack front) and how lucky am I?

I was so overwhelmed by all the beautiful things Jade put together:

A TON of fabric, which, according to the note, "is vintage 1980s originally from Mum's stash - entirely "mined' by me'
I can picture Jade at the cotton face, toiling away, to bring these diamonds to the surface. 

This was in the pink package.  Seriously, will you just *look * *at* *this*?!  My camera - a bad craftswoman always blames her tools rather than her lack of photographic ability - can't capture its full complexity, but it's a beautiful log cabin zippered purse in my most favourite colour, pink, and it's so meticulously crafted.

Here's a shot of the ticking-type fabric on the back,

also showing the most fabulous birdie woodcut magnet,  the 'very special extra package in the groovy paper'.- this is something that will be secreted away for my new house (me and XH have agreed the settlement - I need to get a job and get out of here but moving out will be moving on - though that doesn't mean it's not scary*) and having beautiful things like this to display will be the icing on the cake for my new house/life/future.  Me and the cats, obviously.

And there was a magazine too!  With advice and hints on interiors which will soon be needed too, methinks.  Jade's card said that she hoped she'd find me in good spirits - and  as a result of this I was.  Knitting tonight with lovely folk also raised the spirits, as will the joint birthday party this weekend.  Thank you Jennifer for 'making' me arrange it.

Jade, thank you so, so much.  I am so touched by your generosity. And yes, it made me cry a little.  Good crying though!

* Between 'Miss Match' and that silly cow Gabi on Desperate Housewives on about being thirty-one and divorced - I'm terminally depressed. 

The Pretty Good German

Inspired by Jen, I decided that I'm going to (perhaps not always but occasionally) let you know about the movies I've seen lately - or fillums as they tend to be called where I'm from.

How am I qualified to do this, I hear you ask.  Actually, technically speaking, I have a degree in film theory.  However, I am the person who, memorably, when accosted by Ray D'Arcy  in our local Blockbusters during the first term,  as he shot promo vox pops for the chain's in-house advertisements, stutteringly claimed that her favourite film was "Anything with Tom Cruise in it".  Of course one of the fourth years (seniors) happened to be working at the facility where it was edited - yes, that followed me around for a while.  After that promising start I managed to get through four years of said film theory without, for example, seeing Citizen Kane; or indeed remembering much of what I did see (no, it wasn't a wasted youth, or a lot of partying, I just may not have been paying as much attention as I could have and things just do go in one ear with me).  In fact that's one of the good things about the blog - at least I have some memories stored.  Because my head is just a big old colander.  So these reviews are just completely personal reflections without any shred of credibility at all.  And because they are also aide-memoires for me, they will almost certainly contain **SPOILERS**, revealing bits of the plot that you might sooner discover for yourself in the theatre.  Don't say I didn't warn you.

The other thing to bear in mind is that Jen and I have The Card.  The Card is a magical little device (that you pay £14 per month for) which gives you unlimited entry at one of the major cinema group's screens.  Given that tickets run between £7 and £8.50 normally, you only have to go to the cinema twice in a month for it to more than pay for itself.  Economy, you see!

This economy sometimes rings a little false.  (Isn't it always the way?)  Because you haven't shelled out £8.50, or it artifically feels that way, there's not so much invested in the film, and you might even be tempted - gasp - to walk out if you don't think the movie is worth two-and-a-half hours of your life.  And indeed that's what would have happened with Jen the other day, if I hadn't been in the aisle seat and she's too polite to clamber out over me. 

Because the first ten minutes of The Good German are atrocious (as is the download speed of the official website so I haven't even bothered linking to it but try the trailer). With hindsight, it's a studied and deliberate part of Soderbergh's homage to movies of the post-war period, because there are certain cinematic conventions of that time that now seem archaic and iceberg slow to modern viewers.  So the acting seems incredibly stilted during the first exchanges between Tully (Tobey Maguire) and Jake (George Clooney) and it's only when Tully's 'soft lad' persona is revealed to be a sham, when you realised he's stolen Jake's wallet, that it gets interesting, admittedly that's not too far in but it's after that alarmingly false start.

Cate Blanchett (Lena Brandt) looks stunning, but not a little amusing at times as in a lot of the shots she's in an embrace with some man or other and has her head thrown dramatically back into the light, a la screen sirens of the time - just looks a bit funny to see more of her neck than her face. I mean, she's good, but it's a challenge even for her to emote using her neck only...  The lighting is interesting in that there are times when characters' entire faces are in shadow - I'd be interested to watch it again because I suspect that it's pointedly done, indicating a character is being duplicitous, for example.

It's a sort of whodunit - a whowilldoit - and it's stylish and visually impressive: I love the shot after Lena pulls the gun on Jake and runs out out on him, leaving him standing on the landing of the bombed building with the painted-backdrop sky behind him.  The dresses that Lena and Hannelore are wearing in the first flat are great - no real knitwear to report on, Jen was disappointed - and it was funny how Clooney is frequently shown with a cigarette but never, ever smoking. Neither Jen nor I understood the significance of the serial numbers on the money (I thought it was counterfeited because of Tully's comment on 'running the printing presses for another few hours, but we realised that was a comment on post-war inflation) and there were still unanswered questions at the end - but it's the kind of film where you want to talk about it afterwards and fill in the blanks, even if you wished it could have been a little more accomplished.

As for a rating - well I've decided to classify films as one of the following, in descending order:
I'd even pay to see this / Worth the popcorn / A card movie / Give me back those hours of my life

The Good German is 'Worth the popcorn'. Even if I was getting it a bit confused with The Good Shepherd (anyone for The Good German Shepherd?)

And this is 'A card movie'.  I'm a big Jane Austen fan - that's so uncommon, I know.  I've been subjected to trailers for Becoming Jane for what seems like months now, as they are obviously bundled with chick-flicks like Miss Potter and the like.  I was looking forward to it.

But it's terribly slight and the horribly contrived cinematography just drove me to distraction (interminable match shots and tracking shots: pulling back from Jane's face at Lady Gresham's dining table to the window where raindrops start to fall, nature in harmony with the emotions and all that - but wasn't that at the point of Cassandra's tragedy, not hers?) And perhaps it's my eyesight but lots of it seemed to be in such soft-focus I wondered whether it had been sponsored by Vaseline. 

It suffers from a terrible case of SWFS (Single White Female Syndrome - all the best bits are in the trailer).  Editing was clumsy - like that wedged-in shot of the letter that Lefroy shoves back in his wallet when he meets Jane in the forest, which will prove to be their undoing when Jane finds it later.  The most beautiful composition of the entire film was when they were running to catch the coach and they're tumbling through the forest which looks just like a Klimt painting. It did make me want to reread all the novels but that's not much of a challenge.  Perhaps I should also watch the season on ITV - please tell me I haven't missed the one with Rupert Penry Jones...

You're still reading?  Wow.

Calling all thrifty girls

Just to let you know...

I have been lusting after a dressform since Caroline showed us hers back in January, and Jeanie B revealed that her friend's son (not her son's friend - I think I mistakenly bestowed a third child on her) found a pristine one and passed it on to her - in fact you can see it modelling a rather gorgeous wrap top on her blog right now. 

My lovely parents and brother - mwah, mwah - are sending me some spondulicks for the birthday and I decided that it would be well-spent on a dressform.  Ok, might be better spent on the overdraft but that's not how birthday presents work, ok?  Shamelessly benefitting from Caroline's research, I decided to check out the site she ordered hers from, and found this offer - £99 which seems like a pretty good deal as I think it's the same model that's for sale at John Lewis for £185. This is a Mother's Day special, so it may be withdrawn very shortly, so get on over there!

Don't get me wrong, I love John Lewis - particularly as it's one of the last places you can buy paper patterns in London.  And in my second thrifty tip of the day, Simplicity patterns are 50% off there, and at Peter Jones at the moment.  Go and stock up.

In an earlier attempt to be thrifty, I got a dressform from Freecycle back in the summer. But the whole idea about making a stand for her just wasn't working - plus to be fair, the actual body was knackered.  So I tried.  And now I'm going to be lying in wait for the postman.

* * * * *

As Ann kindly pointed out,  there is of course the option of making your own form.  Which would be infinitely thriftier - have you guessed that my definition of 'thrifty' is somewhat elastic?) -  but as I "justified" to Ann, there are a number of reasons that it would not be a good idea for me:

1. You need a second person ideally, to help wrap you and I can't imagine subjecting any of my friends to taping me up (dammit, where's a husband when you need one?!)
   
2. You need to stand for a long time and with my "foot issues" I can't do that,  so I'd be cranky too
   
3. I decided to go for something that I liked the look of, as well as being a practical thing and the duct tape dollies are just so ugly and
   
4. I already completely failed to find something that could be a stand for Hilary so I despaired of getting one for this. 
   

Even though a custom-fit form would be amazing, I'm not sure I can cope with that reality right now.  Instead I'm going to pretend that I have a perfectly smooth albeit well padded figure - oh, and no head and one tripod leg then too I guess.... um...

For the day that's in it

Happy St Patrick's Day!

One of our dinosaurs is missing

Because I bit his chocolately little head off, and yummy it was too. I tell you, the torture of having large bowls of melted chocolate in the house when you're trying to eat sensibly...

No, they are all still living in the fridge.  Extinction looms tomorrow.

Here's the birthday girl's actual present:  Meet Bronty.

I'm not sure about the button eyes - I might take them off and repurpose his nostrils as eyes.  With a black dot or something.  Plus I'm thinking that I may have mixed him up slightly with a stegasaurus.  Should he have (what is the word? spikes? spines? ridges?  I am losing my capacity for language. Probably after the world's longest post yesterday) bumpy bits?  Mind you, it's not like the brontosaurus ever existed, really, so I figure I'll be ok.  But if any three year old is going to know the difference, it will be his new owner.

Remember the film?