Farewell, Friends (plus new beginnings!)

Friends,

The time has come for us to bury the dead. After about a year of slow decline, we—the gals of 2137—have decided that this blog has served its purpose. So, without further ado, this is our last post!

Part of this is because we don’t have time to contribute equally anymore. Another part is that 2137 will soon be vacant (thanks to Catherine’s recent home purchase!), leaving us with a lot of happy memories but no physical place to tie us together. We’re keeping up with each other across the country, thanks to G-chat; so we’re not worried about staying connected on the blog.

Another part is that Jocelyn wants to keep writing, but on a more regular basis. She’s acquired the provocative (and of course, ironic!) new URL, thebookhooker.wordpress.com, where she will carry on with her nonsense. If you want to keep reading her gibberish, update your bookmarks.

We love you all and hope you’ve laughed a little. And don’t worry; the site will stay up in case you misplace Jennifer’s pavlova recipe.

Love,

Catherine, Joce, & Jen

Sewing Instead of Superbowling (Plus a Giveaway!)

Hi, ya’ll!

It’s Superbowl Sunday, and—I’m sorry—I just couldn’t give a hoot about the game OR the commercials. I’ve pretended that I cared about the NFL in the past, but I guess I’m at the point in life that I can just admit when things bore me. (*Give yourself a moment to judge me here, because I’m a strange person who doesn’t care about professional football and maybe ought to.*) Or perhaps I’m finally understanding that life’s too short to spend 4-5 hours watching something that I never learned to appreciate. That said—while ya’ll are enjoying yourselves, gorging on bean dip and hot wings—I’ve been sewing with my machine and counting down the minutes until Downton Abbey comes on.

Previously I’ve posted about my goal of learning how to sew and, as part of my 30-before-30 list, becoming good enough at it to sew myself a dress that I will actually wear. Though I’m not there yet, I’ve been going through my 1-2-3 Sew book a little at a time, systematically picking up new, small skills along the way. Some of the projects under my belt include:

Square dinner napkins for Jennifer, including mitered corners (and I also made some green ones for Catherine and Trone):

A table runner for our Razorback party, including a pocket for silverware:

A short curtain (that turned out to be too short) for my friend’s window:

And an “abstract skyline” linen pillowcase for Jen to rest her booty on while she’s practicing gueee-tar for hours upon hours:

It’s definitely getting easier to sew in a straight line, though a little bit of work on my sister’s machine during Christmas break confirmed for me that MY machine is a bit junky. I did buy it from an extremely sketchy Craigslist ordeal, after all, so I guess I got what I paid for.

Part of the fun of sewing is buying your fabrics, though you run the risk of overbuying and running out of storage room. So since I’m officially OUT of room, I thought I’d give away a yard of something pretty to one of you.

Isn’t that a great pattern? (I’m sure I thought so while I was spending my entire paycheck on more fabric than I could use at one of Joann’s many holiday sales).

OK! For a chance to win one yard of fabric, a set of heart-shaped straight pins, a mini tailor’s tape-measure, and two spools of coordinating thread, leave your answer to the following question in the comments:

What would you make with this?

I’ll randomly choose a winner after 2:00 PM on Friday, February 10. Though it’s mostly friends and acquaintances who read this low-traffic blog, ANYONE is free to enter. And to whoever wins: I hope you’ll check back in to show me what you’ve made!

Folks, the entries are closed. And the winner is . . . 

Molly W.! I’ll shoot you an email for contact info. 

Love love,

Joce