Shawn L. Bird

Original poetry, commentary, and fiction. All copyrights reserved.

ironing hell November 20, 2011

Filed under: Commentary — Shawn L. Bird @ 9:50 pm
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I hate ironing. When I first got married, I told my husband that. I buy no-iron clothing. If he wants his clothes ironed, then he has to iron them. Luckily, one of his jobs as a kid was earning cash for ironing his father’s shirts. University professors wore ironed shirts back then. He irons his shirts in front of the TV.

I don’t iron. My clothes either are the kind that don’t wrinkle or they look slightly rumpled.

So what was I thinking when I took on a kilt for a sewing project? 31 pleats (in the final version. There were several more I’d put in that I had to iron out…)

iron, iron,iron, iron,iron, iron, steam, iron, iron,iron, iron,iron, iron, steam, iron, iron,iron, iron,iron, iron, steam, iron, iron,iron, iron,iron, iron, steam, iron, iron,iron, iron,iron, iron, steam, iron, iron,iron, iron,iron, iron, steam, iron, iron,iron, iron,iron, iron, steam, iron, iron,iron, iron,iron, iron, steam,

 

kilt progress November 19, 2011

Filed under: projects — Shawn L. Bird @ 2:27 am
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I don’t think I have ever ironed more in my whole life.

I’m making progress on the kilt.  Today I re-measured for the length, waist and hips, and made the first cut of the fabric,   serged all the edges and then hemmed all 7 metres.

Then began the pleating!  The DH wanted it pleated to the sett, and so it is.  Because he’s a big guy, I went with 1″ pleats.  After all the pleats were done at hip level and below, I shaped the waist edge.  The same edges were brought closer, into about 5/8″.  They were pinned and basted down.

And then the rest of the basting was done, measuring, ironing, and fiddling.  I’ve decided to stop for the night since it’s 2 a.m.  The DH will have to try on what I’ve got, and then I’ll actually get sewing down all those pleats, one at a time.  At last count there were 32 of them, but I think I may have added a couple.

With only pins and basting holding it together, here is the front apron:

Here is the back view. I’m really quite proud of my pleating to the sett.  I think it came out wonderfully.  When it’s sewn down, it should be quite impressive, fitting neatly over the hips!  It’s hard to tell there are any pleats at all, at first glance- but they’re there!  Trust me! (or click on the photo below and ‘control +’ to enlarge it and see for yourself.)

A good evening’s work, I think.  I’m looking forward to the first fitting tomorrow!

 

do November 18, 2011

Filed under: Commentary,Pondering — Shawn L. Bird @ 6:52 pm
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Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.

~John Wooden

Worth some pondering, this one.  So often we focus on the complications, that we forget to take advantage of the possible components of any problems

 

lonnnnnnnnng walk November 17, 2011

Filed under: book reviews — Shawn L. Bird @ 12:16 am
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I’m reading The Long Walk for my book club.

I’ve decided I don’t like expository biographies that don’t use dialogue or skillfully develop suspense or tension.

I suspect the movie is actually going to be better than the book.

That’s saying something, but it’d be hard to be worse.

 

the latest obsessive project November 16, 2011

Filed under: projects — Shawn L. Bird @ 7:27 pm
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I have decided that my husband needs a kilt.  Never mind that he ‘doesn’t feel all that connected’ to his Scottish heritage,  that he has some concerns about the (ech hem) free movement beneath a kilt, or that he has maintained, “I’m not going to wear a kilt, Shawn” whenever I asked him.

I tend to be persistent when I’ve got a notion in my mind.

So I’m sewing him a kilt.    I’m not inclined to go too crazy with this, I don’t need to spend several hundred dollars, or anything.  But I think he’d suit a kilt, and I mean to get him into one.  I don’t expect him to wear it in public necessarily, but if he is going to change out of his work pants anyway, why not change into a kilt rather than ugly sweat pants?  The pressure is subtle.  “Women like kilts darling.”  “You’d be gorgeous in a kilt.”  “Ooooh.  Look at how great this guy looks in a kilt…”

I was able to find some official Canadian provincial tartans at the local fabric store, and after considerable deliberation, ended up with a Saskatchewan tartan.  I would have prefered a British Columbia or Maple Leaf tartan*, but those were not available.  I thought he’d suit the tones of the Saskatchewan tartan, and while theoretically, you’re not supposed to wear family name tartans unless you’re part of the family (I read on the Clan MacKenzie website, “no one should wear a tartan to which he is not by name or descent entitled. To do so is foolish and ill-mannered, invites scorn…”  Yikes!), anyone is allowed to wear  “the “District”, “Caledonia” and “Jacobite” tartans.”  Provincial tartans count as District tartans.

At present, I’m debating the pleating pattern.  From the research I’ve been doing, it seems there are two main ways to pleat: a traditional pleating to the sett, which keeps the whole pattern (sett) of the tartan visible through the pleats, and Regimental pleating, to a stripe.  Here is my fabric, roughly pinned to help decide this question.  My friends on Facebook were unanimous that they preferred the Regimental, but my husband (who is now apparently resigned to the idea that I’m making him a kilt, whether he wants to wear it or not) has pronounced that he likes the traditional pleat to the sett.

It’s interesting to compare the choices.  Traditional is pinned on the left.  The centre and right Regimental pleats are centred on different stripes.  Isn’t it interesting how different each result is, although they’re all made from the same fabric?

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Saskatchewan tartan- pleated to the sett, or 2 Regimental pleating options

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The genuine, expensive (aka $60+ per meter) tartan wools are made with a finished selvage edge, and when made to measure, they don’t need to be hemmed.  Unfortunately, inexpensive polyester based tartan fabric (on sale half price at $7/m) has a rough selvage, so the first task is to hem the fabric.  There are two options: machine hem or hand hem.  There will be 7 metres of fabric, and I’m not particularly inclined to hand hem all that when my machine should make a perfectly respectable job of it.

Stay tuned for more progress reports!  Goals for this week:

1. hem the approximately 8 yards of fabric

2. set the lining

3. pin the pleats according to hubby’s preference

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The next steps (at least as far as I figured them out so far):

4. press the pleats

5. manipulate the pleats from the fit at the hip to the narrower waist

6. hand stitch the 7-8 yards of hip pleats into position

7. baste pleats onto the lining

8. hand stitch the waist pleats

9. add apron fringe fabric

10. add waistband

11. pull threads to make fringe

12. add buckle closures (2)

13. figure out inner closure…

14.  add hanging loops

15. sigh dramatically as spouse models completed kilt!

I’ve based these steps on this very helpful article!

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* April 8, 2012- I have since learned that I should be thankful I didn’t start with a Maple Leaf tartan.  It is not a symmetrical pattern, and therefore requires quite clever engineering to pleat.  So! That’s a hint: be sure your first kilt has a symmetrical tartan.
 

wanna be happy? November 15, 2011

Filed under: Commentary — Shawn L. Bird @ 4:02 pm
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“People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be.”
― Abraham Lincoln

True isn’t it? It’s all in the state of mind. If you look for the blessings and good things in your life, that’s what you’re going to see. If your focus on the negative, that’s what you’ll see. Choose what to look at, and enjoy a happier life.

 

audio reading November 14, 2011

Filed under: Grace Awakening,OUTLANDERishness,Reading — Shawn L. Bird @ 2:01 pm
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My father is legally blind, and as a result he has been receiving books on tape from the Canadian National Institute for the Blind and the regional library for several years.  I have really only listened previously to one audio book, a copy of The Golden Compass that we took out to listen to as a family on a long driving holiday.  I guess it’s because I read so quickly, or because you could only get them out from the library unless you were visually disabled, but I haven’t gotten onto the listening bandwagon.

Recently a friend suggested that I should listen to The Outlander series (even though I had just read the whole series) because narrator Davina Porter is so wonderful.  I bought a couple books, and have been listening, and I am enthralled with Porter’s melodious voice.  The Outlander series is full of long books- the first one is 33 hours and the second is 35 hours.  I think I saw one comes in at 55 hours (A Breath of Snow and Ashes is almost 1400 pages, I recall).  I’ve managed to knit much more efficiently while someone else reads to me, than when I was reading print and knitting simultaneously!

I made an audio recording of Grace Awakening the summer of 2009 for my dad.  I know how long it takes to do it, and how tricky it is to read expressively with slightly different voices for the various characters, etc.  Porter is amazing at that, with a breadth of accents, pacings, and intonations for the various characters.  I think I would listen to her read the phone book.

Here is an interesting pair of videos Porter and he husband did, wherein Davina Porter discusses her job as an audio reader.  Quite interesting, and you can enjoy her beautiful voice.

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PART ONE

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PART TWO

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music & time November 12, 2011

Filed under: Commentary,Grace Awakening — Shawn L. Bird @ 1:47 pm
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 “To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself, incredible and inconceivable.”
-Aaron Copland

I feel like I should be overflowing with thoughts on this one, but it’s just sitting here, resonance humming in my head.

Yes,  Aaron.

 

lest we forget November 11, 2011

Filed under: Pondering — Shawn L. Bird @ 12:15 am

At our school Remembrance Day assembly this year, our special guest was a former student of mine who served two terms in Afghanistan. In assemblies while he was on active duty overseas, he was always forefront of my mind, and I  prayed that we were not going to hear his name on the news. On this Remembrance Day, I’m thankful for the safe return of our many young men and women who are working to protect those who need them in war ravaged countries, as well as those serving to help the citizenry in Canada during disasters.

War is stupid and nasty and I wish it wasn’t sometimes necessary. Sometimes someone has to stand up for those who need help. We can’t close our eyes to ‘man’s inhumanity to his fellow man.’ I’m thankful for folks like Drew who are willing to answer the call, and even more thankful that they come home safely.

My favorite song for this time of the year is Eric Vogel’s “Green Fields of France.”  It’s an anti-war song, but it’s a beautiful one.  This is quite a nice version.  I don’t know anything about the duet, but she sounds Irish to me, or at least she sings with a lovely Irish lilt!  Enjoy…

 

healthy onion rings November 10, 2011

Filed under: Commentary,Recipes — Shawn L. Bird @ 5:40 pm
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I have been asked for my onion ring recipe. I love onion rings. A&W’s are my favorite, but the fat quantity is too excessive for me to enjoy this treat more than once or twice a year.

I did not make up this recipe, but it is really wonderful, so I will provide the link to the original website. These are crisp and tasty, as well as very easy to make.

You can find the recipe HERE.  They’re called “Simply the Best Onion Rings” and they really are fantastic.  I didn’t bother making mine as rings- just sliced them.  It was simple.  Give them a try!