Airy fairy songs and placemats...

I'll give you a little warning now that this may be a long post. And I still won't get to say everything that I want to say. I'll try to make things a little easier by breaking things up instead of hitting you with a blog blizzard all at once. =)

Christmas

I had a lovely Christmas this year. It was busy, but a lot of fun, full of family and traditions. I got so many awesome gifts, including classic movies, a stack of records (including a 8 record set of Bing Crosby!), candy, an embroidery book, and more. Probably one of my favorite gifts was an "I Love Lucy" steering wheel cover and car sun shade. They're red/pink with the logo and the little stick Lucy and Ricky figures. They're so adorable! Now the Beetle Bug really has some vintage flair. =) I'm actually excited about the warm weather so I can use the visor. My car doesn't have working air right now, and the interior is black, so a sun shade should help a lot this summer.

Sewing

Now that Christmas is over, I can post pictures of Mom's gift. First is a set of coasters, six in all.

They are reversible...just like the matching placemats:

There are four placemats. I wanted to make six, but there wasn't enough fabric. I cheated with the patchwork print. =) I looks quilted but it's not. They are just cotton, with batting in the middle, and bias tape around the edges.

I also made her four pillows for the couch, but I don't have pictures yet. I made a new skirt this past weekend and new gingham scarf this week. Today I started on my new bag, but didn't finish it yet. Hopefully over the next few days I'll have pictures!

Classic Movies
I got some really great old movies on DVD for Christmas. I got "Top Hat," "The Harvey Girls," "The Three Musketeers," "In the Good Old Summertime," "Sleeping Beauty (50th anniversary)," and a 60's "Peanuts" collection.

The first one I watched was "In the Good Old Summertime." I thought the plot sounded cute, but I mostly chose it first because it's a Judy Garland musical. In case you don't know, it has the same basic plot as "The Shop Around the Corner" and "You've Got Mail." Two rival workers argue with one another, not knowing that they also happen to be penpals, falling in love through their letters. "In the Good Old Summertime" is a musical version, starring Judy Garland and Van Johnson. I absolutely loved it! The songs were great, it had some hilarious parts, the plot is cute, and the ending was so sweet. It gave me chills. This movie features an expensive violin, 99 unsellable harps, Judy Garland's lovely voice, and a scene with her young daughter...can I recommend it enough?

Then there was "The Three Musketeers." I mainly got it because Gene Kelly is in it. It wasn't exactly my favorite classic movie ever. I guess I'm not really into the "adventure" type movies, and apparently I'm not into the plot of that famous story. The sword fights were pretty awesome (think "The Princess Bride"), but other than that, the plot was strange and the acting was a little overboard. It was okay, but not one of my favorites. I couldn't keep the characters straight and who was good and bad and so on.

"The Harvey Girls," on the other hand, was quite good. A Judy Garland musical, again, of course. It's about the chain of restaurants (Harvey Houses) that emerged out west, along with the railroad tracks. It had some very funny moments (Judy Garland with two pistols, going after stolen meat), two songs I loved ("On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" and "It's a Great Big World"), and an interesting historical plot. I wasn't paying as much attention to it as I should have been, though, because I was busy picking out threads on the ends of my scarf to fringe it.

Music
I saw a mention on Natalie's blog about a band called Eisley. It was on a comment, and it grabbed my attention because Ashley said that the members of this band were homeschooled and read C.S. Lewis, and had very unique songs. I checked them out, and I love their music! I bought their CD "Combinations" on iTunes and ordered "Room Noises" from Amazon. Their songs are so unusual and light and, to borrow a phrase from one of the "Dancing with the Stars" judges (I believe it was Bruno), sort of "airy fairy." It reminds me of being in the woods in the summer, fireflies, fairy tales, and quirky, indie movies (or maybe just "Penelope"). Their lyrics don't always make sense...in fact, most of the time they don't. But that's okay. The lyrics are completely clean, and the vocals are beautiful...sort of BarlowGirlish. Anyway, I definitely think you guys should check out this band. I've got some of their songs playing here, and you can get a good preview at Amazon or iTunes.

Writing
I had really intended to edit my NaNoWriMo "novel" before I had to go back to school. But I don't think I'll have time. It has to be worked on a little and submitted in a few months, so I can get my free paperback copy. At the time, writing it was a huge task. Now I dread reading through it again and picking it apart. Good grief...what a job that will be. Still, I want it to be better than it is now before it's printed.

Well, I don't think I can write anymore tonight. I really need to be getting to bed. I have a lot of stuff I need to do tomorrow, and the later I stay up, the longer I sleep in the morning. =)

Until next time,
Kristin (missvintagegirl)