Project Runway

Another team challenge....ugh...it is SO HARD to get excited about a team challenge. Either it ends up being about who's the bigger bully (Elena) -- or everybody on the team tries so hard to compromise and get along that the end result is a big old bowl of tasteless beige oatmeal...

My biggest problem with a "team challenge" for a design show is that they are forced to think strategically. So they are more worried about how to play the game than about what they might actually CREATE.

It becomes all about covering your own butt and who you can blame if things go badly.

The show actually started off hot for me. The designers were given some t-shirts and told they have to sell them on the street.

AWESOME....

You know how much I love t-shirts!! And they can do whatever they want, right? Paint them, dye them, sew them together, braid them, fringe them...

THERE IS NO FABRIC MORE VERSATILE than t-shirt fabric. Universal. Indestructible... It will NOT wrinkle...it makes for a very forgiving fit...awesome...

And -- wait -- there's more. They can actually SELL their own design services to make money.

I WOULD HAVE BEEN SO EXCITED...

Here's the plan, people.

1. Make some kick-ass t-shirt dresses...fringe them, write pithy words in the front...or create a team "logo"or cartoon...sign them with your names -- you are the PROJECT RUNWAY contestants for crying out loud...
2. Then make a BIG ASS SIGN -- saying, "THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO BE ON Season Ten PROJECT RUNWAY" -- and set up a make-shift table on the corner OUTSIDE OF MOOD FABRICS...(where all the fans go to shop when they are in the city)...let's remember -- you ARE BEING FOLLOWED BY A CAMERA CREW for crying out loud...
3. Every member of the team should be WEARING one of the shirts -- DUH!!
4. If you can't get $50 per shirt -- throw in a free "fashion consultation"...

Call me if you need ideas about the words to write on the shirts (just use a marker, people!)...

Of course -- nobody did ANY OF THAT!! From the little bit we saw of the t-shirts they supposedly sold "on the streets"-- they were not modified even a little bit -- they were completely butt-ugly -- yet they sold hundreds of dollars??

WHA??

Their amounts made no sense and it all felt totally bogus....and who's to say they didn't throw their own money into the bucket at the end of the day?

That t-shirt challenge SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE CHALLENGE. But NO0OOOO. Instead -- the money they raised ended up being their fabric budget for the REAL challenge -- to create two "looks" for Fall...(somebody -- please bring me a NoDoze)...

It all felt so disconnected and random....

Best line of the night was when Christopher said Dmitry and Elena were like Boris and Natasha from the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon...

I KNEW THEY REMINDED ME OF SOMEBODY...

No surprise that dreadlock girl went home. Her name was Alicia and she obviously WANTED to go home. What else could possibly explain that horrible outfit she herself wore on the runway. She can't blame Boris and Natasha for that faded, worn out shapeless mechanic's jumpsuit with the rolled up pants...

Hey -- maybe we haven't seen the last of dreadlock girl in coveralls...

"Pimp My Ride" could be looking for a mechanic..

Another ROAD TRIP

This is a picture of the passenger seat in my car. Recognize the zebra car seats?? And if you see a thermos -- maybe you're thinking it's full of coffee...and is that a fast food bag?? This can only mean one thing...

ROAD TRIP!!


My special gift is turning a 3 hour drive into an all-day-saga. For one thing -- I have to check out every single rest stop...(in Dickeyville, Wisconsin -- the bathroom was spotless)...

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE stopping in small towns. And in Mineral Point, Wisconsin -- there was A LOT to see and do...

Although, as you can imagine -- I am very easily entertained!!
By the time I arrived in Madison (8 hours later) for my meeting -- my car was alarmingly full. There was just SO MUCH TREASURE...holy cow....I have NO IDEA how I'm going to sneak it all into the house...

Wisconsin Quilt Expo

I am sitting in a lovely hotel in Madison, Wisconsin. I'm on my way to have breakfast with Deanna Springer! She is the Show Manager for the Wisconsin Quilt Expo -- and believe me -- that's a BIG JOB...

If you are in the midwest -- you have today and tomorrow to get yourself to Madison!!

Quilt Expo is a fabulous show! Jam packed with teachers and vendors and the best of the best. I couldn't do it all in one day -- so I'm headed back over there for my second day of stimulating excitement.

Yes -- THIS IS WHAT WOMEN DO. For entertainment, we get together. We congregate. We sew. We create. We talk. We laugh. We learn something new.

No bulls here, ladies....

Running with the Bulls

I told my husband he cannot send me any political stories...so he sent me this.

It's about how men define "fun".

Please note -- there are no women in the video.

Read a Book

I just read Home Safe by Elizabeth Berg. One of my favorite authors, she writes that life is like picking berries, but using an apron that has a hole in the bottom...

I thought that was brilliant. As you go through life -- you want to pick the fresh new delicious berries -- but as you put the new berries into your apron -- some of your older berries are falling out.

When it comes to life, philosophy and books -- I'm grateful for my clubbers. Here we are -- at a recent luncheon at Aunt Ada's house...

Ada is the mother to Linda K. and Jackie -- and Aunt to the rest of us. Once a week, we get together to share whatever berries we picked that week...and to lament those that fell away.

With Linda -- her juciest, favorite berries are about art. The clothes she wears, the house she lives in, the books she reads...For crying out loud -- she made an end table out of wine bottles...


You never know what you'll find at Linda's house. Like this wire mobile...wearing the perfect sparkly accessory...

As sewing sisters -- we enjoy our "sew and tell" berry moments. On this day, Jackie is sharing her latest totebag -- her current obsession...


Whatever we are dealing with -- into our aprons or out the bottom -- we look forward to sharing it. And maybe that's actually the point...


...maybe it's not really about the berries at all...

QUOTES and Pinterest

The other day, I got a couple of emails about my "Pinterest quotes". If you are NOT on Pinterest -- here's the deal. It is ALL ABOUT THE PICTURES. So every quote has some kind of pithy little graphic to go with it. And whatever YOU ARE interested in -- that's what your boards are about.

It's like having all your "favorites"-- categorized and pinned on your own master bulletin boards. Some of my boards are: Sewing, Food, Kid's ideas, Maxi dresses, Recycled T-shirt ideas, The Power of Words, Laugh Out Loud...well -- you get the idea.

I never really got that involved with Facebook. For one thing -- there are WAAAYYY TOO MANY people pushing their own agenda, ranting and raving - like you are ALL WRONG if you don't agree with them. It is exhausting and judgemental...and I can't remember the last time I logged into Facebook. Mostly -- I use it for my job -- and as Sew Expo gets closer -- Facebook is a great way to share information with a large group.

But Pinterest is totally different. It's all about the pictures -- and sharing the things you love. So -- that said -- here's my first quote:
************

Pinterest makes me like people I've never met. Facebook makes me scared of the people I know in real life...

You are always responsible for how you act, no matter how you feel. Remember that.

Don't believe everything you think.

It's late. You are standing in front of the refrigerator. You are not hungry -- you are bored. Drink a glass of water and learn the difference.

She loved life and it loved her right back.

The things you take for granted are the things someone else is praying for.

Find something you're passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it. (Julia Child)

Sometimes the wrong choices bring us to the right places.

Be so good they can't ignore you. (Steve Martin)




Yóu don't have to attend every argument you're invited to.

You are only given one little spark of madness -- you mustn't lose it. (Robin Williams)

Whether you think you can, or you think you can't -- you're right. (Henry Ford)

Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.

I myself am entirely made of flaws, stitched together by good intentions.


Note to self: You are enough; You have enough; You do enough.

Let the refining and improving of your own life keep you so busy that you have little time to criticize others.

Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it.


Finally -- To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong. (Einstein)

Project Runway

Last night's challenge should have been called "The Little Black Dress".

Holy Cow. Just when I thought it was not possible for them to do more short boring dresses -- they came up with the "Lord & Taylor" Project Runway collection?

THEN -- demanded that they all create -- wait for it --

A DRESS...

Ugh.

When I saw the names of the other Project Runway designers -- Jay McCarroll, Chris March, Mondo, Nick Verros -- I was again struck by their memorable garments.

So -- okay -- I am not a fan of this challenge. MORE DRESSES...

But I always turn this show on with an open mind. Maybe tonight one of them will create something inspired -- something amazing...

Ugh. You know where I'm going with this, don't you??

The only thing that was impressive tonight was the complete across-the-board "Can't Do" attitude from the women. WHAT A BUNCH OF WHINERS!!

The mean spirited Russian woman (Elena?) started crying right off the bat because she is SO DAMN CREATIVE -- SHE cannot possibly dumb down her designs to fit into the Lord & Taylor aesthetic. OH MY GOD...ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? This is episode 7 and nobody I know can remember a single thing you've made!!

The mousy blonde woman -- Melissa? -- was making a sheath dress with a stand up bodice and an asymetrical hemline. She was behind the 8-ball from the first moment, and had to completely start over because of the puckery, ill-fitting mess she made. Bronze brocade reads "black" on the runway, hon.

Moments before the runway show -- Sonji realized her model couldn't wiggle into her skin tight sheath dress -- and she was cutting the hem with a scissors and sobbing at the same time. Who said these designers couldn't multi-task?

Her dress was black, too...so it fit in with THIS DEAD BORING style show....one mediocre little black dress after another.

Dreadlock girl (sorry -- I keep thinking she's going home soon, so there's no point in learning her name) actually stood on the runway with her BLACK hot mess and told the judges she's just not capable of making a tasteful feminine dress.

MAYBE YOU SHOULD HAVE REALIZED THAT BEFORE YOU GAVE UP YOUR GREAT JOB AT STARBUCKS AND AUDITIONED FOR THIS SHOW, HONEY...

I woke up just in time to see that Gunner did black lace and Ven did a black folded flower...

I thought it was a terrible show. But maybe I'm not being fair. I'm also a fan of America's Got Talent -- and this week they eliminated the BEST ACT -- DITTELMAN. I cannot believe he won't be in the Finale....