There was a very good article about making men’s ties posted on Fashion-Incubator. Ties used to be part of my sewing adventures, but I haven’t made them since I started globe trotting. Recently a fascination with them has resurfaced.
I’m not planning on making any more ties, but I’m really getting interested in making garments and accessories from the ready made ones. I have a lot of neckties that were my dad’s. Mother planned on making them into pillows for all the grandkids as mementos, but didn’t have a chance to complete the project. I want to make them into crazy quilt squares and from there, pillows.
One of the most common garments made from ties seems to be a skirt. You can see how to make a necktie skirt at Rick Rack Ruby. You can see another skirt at Recycled Crafts.
Another popular item to make from neckties are pillows. You can see a tutorial making a gorgeous pillow at Carol Sews. Here’s a Dresden Plate pillow from Pfaff. Another home accessory made from ties by Carol Duvall is a picture frame. You can go here for a video on making holiday decorations.
There are even blogs dedicated to sewing with ties. Artful Ties is one. Here is a precious little girl’s dress tutorial by Rockerchic. You can find a tutorial for making a school bag at Craft Bits. The photos all come at the end of the instructions. Sonya Style has a cute purse.
I have some photos to show you, but that will have to wait as I’m a novice at getting them from my camera to my computer. I have all the cords and goodies, but can’t find the user manual at the present. Hopefully, that will happen before next week as I have some lovely things made by members of my sewing guild to show you. Do you have any necktie sites to share with us?
It’s the 15th, time for the Non~FIRST blog tour!(Join our alliance! Click the button!) Every 15th, we will featuring an author and his/her latest non~fiction book’s FIRST chapter!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Charles Marshall began his career onstage as a singer/songwriter. When his singing voice gave out, he turned to stand-up comedy and was much more successful. He is now a nationally syndicated Christian humor columnist and has contributed to Focus on the Family magazine. He is the author of Shattering the Glass Slipper: Destroying Fairy Tale Thinking Before It Destroys You and has filmed two stand-up comedy videos, I’m Just Sayin’ and Fully Animated.
Product Details
List Price: $12.99
Paperback: 144 pages
Publisher: Kregel Publications (April 17, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 082543419X
ISBN-13: 978-0825434198
AND NOW…THE FIRST CHAPTER:
Chapter 1 Going to the Dogs
My wife and I have been thinking about getting a dog, lately, and discussing what type we might get. For me, there is really only one possibility—and that, of course, is a real dog.
For the uninitiated, there are three basic types of dogs:
1] Real dogs. These are dogs as God originally made them—monstrous, made-for-the-outdoors hunting machines that are perfect for intimidating neighbors and attracting lawsuits.
The ownership rule for guys and dogs is simple: the bigger the dog, the cooler you look. Walk down the street with a Pekingese and you might as well be wearing a tutu.
When you observe a man walking down the street with a massive real-dog, his message to you is clear. “Yes, I’m overcompensating for my insecurities and lack of masculinity but I’ve got a really big dog.”
Now that’s the kind of attitude I can get behind.
2] Mutant rat-dogs, otherwise known as Chihuahuas. These poor creatures are the unintentional result of secret experiments conducted by the Mexican army in a failed attempt to create the ultimate weapon by cross-breeding bats and Great Danes. The only surviving result of these experiments is a group of nervous, angry little rat-dogs that decided to take their revenge on humanity by being annoying on just about every level known to mankind.
If you are approached by one of these aberrations of nature, know that it despises you with a hatred rarely seen outside the Middle East, and that it won’t hesitate to tear your ankles to shreds. These dogs are the piranhas of the canine world and would nuke
mankind tomorrow if they thought they could get away with it. Under no circumstance should one of these animals be allowed to run for public office.
3] Kitty-dogs, which is every kind of dog that does not fall into one of the first two categories. I’m all in favor of this type of dog because, hey, girls have to have dogs, too.
The curse of the kitty-dog is that there are those who take a warped delight in dressing them up like people. Most dogs would rather be subjected to Mexican weapons experiments than go through this type of torture.
I cannot say this in strong enough terms: You should never, ever dress up your dog for any reason whatsoever. Take it from me—even if it were thirty below outside, your dog would rather die with dignity in his own fur coat than live while being seen in a little poochie parka.
If you dress your dog, you need to know two things:
1] The rest of us are making fun of you behind your back.
2] Every day your dog prays for a heaven where he gets to dress you up in humiliating costumes while he and his doggie friends point at you and laugh for all eternity.
If you feel you absolutely must dress an animal, go dress one that at least has a chance of defending itself like a cougar or a wolverine or a Chihuahua.
One of the most amazing things about the three dog types is that for every one of them, there is someone that likes that kind of dog. At this very moment, there are people risking the loss of fingers and eyes while they stroke their vicious little rat-dogs, all for the sake of love.
That’s a mysterious kind of love, isn’t it—the kind that embraces the unlovely, that sees through the imperfect and loves without regard?
Let’s face it, the human heart isn’t very attractive either. Every thought we have is consumed with self. If you peel away the layers of even our most noble deeds and acts of kindness, you will find thoughts that circle back to ourselves like homing pigeons. In our hearts, we are all mutant rat-dogs.
And yet God loves us.
In the Bible, you find that same theme of an indefatigable, undefeatable love reaching out to a vicious, ungrateful humanity over and over again. I’ve found it’s a love well worth pursuing.
And so the great dog debate rages in my household, and I think my wife is coming around to my point of view. But, if by chance, you happen to see me in the neighborhood walking a Pekingese that is wearing a teeny hat and sundress, you may safely assume things did not go my way.
The reality TV series, Colonial House, takes us back to 1628. Last week, I had just begun watching this particular “house” series. The settlement toiled and struggled as they moved from the 21st century into the seventeenth. The group consisted of men, women, children and a couple dogs that traveled back in time. By the end of the series, these people were a community. Some still had difficulties in the change over from modern day way of thinking to that of colonial New England. Imagine losing all your freedom and individuality as a woman or a free person. Not all of the people who traveled to the new world to start life fresh were free men. Many were arriving as household servants or those who were indentured and would work for their freedom. That’s the price some paid to in order to afford to travel to their new settlement. These settlements were sponsored and expected to produce revenue for the businesses who did the sponsoring of the venture. Provisions, minimal live stock, basic household goods and the like were provided. From there on out, the settlers had to figure out how to provide for themselves and to send back goods to England. A man was sent over by the company to assist the struggling colony. This was another time of adjustment as this was essentially a notice by the company that they weren’t doing a good enough job of fulfilling their obligations. If a colony was not profitable, did not pull together as a community and were not going to have enough to survive the winter, the settlement was deemed a failure. I suppose these people were all carted off back to England to work out their debts over there. That information was not provided. Our small group managed to pass the final inspection, but with the condition that the company would appoint a different governor.
This group of people from various walks of life managed to pull together in spite of their differences. They did an incredible job of handling a life of hardship. Our ancestors had so much to overcome to start this nation of ours. Not everything they did was for the best. This was brought out when Native Americans entered the picture and the settlement. There was some difficulty on both sides as they struggled to overcome some of the negative aspects of our history.
As the series ended, these very different people did indeed become a community over the months of their lives in colonial America. There were some tears as they left to return back to their modern life. I couldn’t help by hear the words to a Teddy Pendergast song as I watched. “So sad the song that says goodbye.”
Go to PBS to meet the colonists and go behind the scenes.
First we have a swimmer exposing himself during his victory celebration of sorts. Now it’s Spain’s NBA team posing for an advertising photo as they make fun of Asians. You can read more about it here, here and here.
We also have the perfect little girlwith the perfect voice serenading us in the opening ceremonies. But she isn’t perfect. She doesn’t have the perfect voice. Her looks were deemed better than the girl who actually sang on the recording we heard. The perfect singer didn’t have the look China wanted to project, therefore, the carefully orchestrated deception. Another deception. China was unable to come up with the real deal. The use of computer generated “fireworks” is not shameful unless you try to pass them off as actual fireworks.
It appears that morality and ethical standards take a back seat in the Olympics this year.
Interesting title for an interesting read. Trouble Up Finny’s Nose by Dana Mentink is a mystery which begins with it’s title. Who is Finny and how did he end up with trouble up his nose? Finny is not a person, but rather a place. Finny is a town built around and above a steep bluff that looked like a tremendous nose. The trouble in Finny is all over that nose. Ruth Budge takes on more adventure in her life than she really would like. It all starts with the mysterious manuscript of a novel that her husband was secretly writing before his death. Ruth’s adventures include finding a dead body in the Central Park fountain and proceeds through a big event at the Finny Art Gallery along with a marijuana farm, secret artist, affairs and an amorous caterer tossed in the mix.
I’m not sure how all that trouble got stuffed up Finny’s Nose, but it certainly is interesting to see how it all gets blown out into the open. Fix a nice pot of tea, curl up in a big comfy chair and prepare to be entertained by this Christian fiction. I’ll be looking for more of Ms Mentink’s works.
The oldest man on the U.S. swim team is still on course for eight gold medals, but we question his judgment. Our local newspaper showed a picture of Michael Phelps and Garrett Weber-Gale, a team mate, as they let out a victory cry. The younger of the two displayed much more maturity than Phelps, who chose to peel down his swim wear to expose his pubic area . Is this “old man” of the team in the midst of a mid-life crisis and trying to prove he’s still got what it takes? He can prove that by his swim record. Should he not be interested in being a positive role model? We don’t watch the Olympics with our children and grandchildren in order to view the depths to which our athletes can sink. We watch to see the heights to which they can soar. We don’t want to have to make excuses to our young people or the rest of the world for the behavior of our athletes.
I read an article in in the July/August issue of Science Illustrated that indicates that the mystery of why 2,000 to 3,000 babies between the age of two months and one year die yearly with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Until lately this has been a mystery, but researchers at Seattle Children’s Hospital suspect that it may be the result of inner ear injury. Sounds a bit weird, doesn’t it, that a hearing problem related to damage of the ear could cause a baby to stop breathing?
The hypothesis is the child’s blood pressure short-circuits the breathing reflex. This is a three part theory. First, the umbilical cord straightens at birth and a surge of blood enters the baby’s body through his veins and reaches his inner ear. Secondly, this pressure can burst tiny blood vessels located in the inner ear which damages delicate cell tissue including tiny hair cells. Thirdly, the damaged hair cells which would normally alert the brain to adjust breathing if carbon dioxide levels are too high, don’t do their job. Thus the CO2 builds up and causes the baby to suffocate while asleep.
If research confirms this theory, we will know the why, but when will we know the what and how? What do we do to identify the babies most at risk and how can we prevent these deaths?
I found some interesting DVDs about a reality house series. PBS recruited real families from modern times to spend a month living in an authenticly recreated and furnished home of a different era. The first one I watched was 1940s House. This takes us back to 1940 England during WWII. It gives us a look into the challenges of living with rationing, black out curtains and bomb shelters. 1900 House gives us a look into a turn of the century household including gas lights, laundry without electricity and tightly laced corsets but no shampoo. Of the two, I felt as if the 1940s family did the best job of managing and making the most of a hard life. The 1900 family seemed to have a harder time wrapping their minds around the period. I have to admit that I saw them as being a whiny lot.
Now I’m journeying back in time to 1628 and the Colonial House. These people are going to be living in a “new world” settlement for five months. Seventeen people are transported to a desolate stretch of coastal Maine via ship. I’m just into the beginning of this venture. They’ve only been out in their little settlement two days. I’ll follow up on this time travel next week. I encourage you to check out these amazing reality shows. After Colonial House, which is on two disks, I’ll be traveling to Frontier House. I’m going to miss my reality shows when these all end.
“Each of us is responsible for how we feel, what we wish for, and how we decide to approach life’s challenges.”
“Happiness is something that we look for, strive for, perhaps even struggle for. Happiness is something that we try to find, or, more likely, something that we try to buy. Joy is something that we are.”
“It is your destiny to play an infinity of roles, but these roles are not yourself.”
“Desires kept in the heart come true faster than those we constantly broadcast by talking about them or putting demands on others.”
“Real spiritual growth changes a person in a paradoxical way. It brings understanding at the same time as it preserves innocence.”
“You can see as far as your vision permits.”
“Be very careful what you set your heart upon, for you will surely have it.”
“No one is a success who doesn’t feel successful in his or her heart of hearts.”
