Hodgepodge.

{Not to be confused with ModPodge. That stuff is awesome, but I have the worst luck with it! Every time I open the container I have some sort of disaster. The first time I knocked it over and Modgepodged a large portion of the carpet. I didn't touch it again until a couple of weeks ago, when I managed to get it in my hair and on my shirt. Good grief.}

Just some random things that were too small to write about separately, so I'm just putting them all together in a hodgepodge of a post. :)

First of all, thanks for all of the sweet comments on my last post. Not five minutes after I published it, I was doubting it. Thanks for letting me know I'm not alone. :)

1. I finished watching through The Dick Van Dyke Show again last week (I had forgotten how hilarious and spoofy the last "real" episode, The Gunslinger, is), and now I'm starting through The Andy Griffith Show again. I always watch an episode or two of my favorite TV shows while I eat supper (lunch, instead of supper, is my family's big meal together).

{We don't have satellite TV service anymore. We did away with it months ago, and it's so nice. The only thing I miss is PBS. Masterpiece Theater and such. :) We still have our TVs to watch movies and things, and I have my favorite classic TV shows on DVD. I don't really watch any modern shows...I was watching Pan Am and Once Upon a Time on Hulu, but I missed episodes and then just didn't continue with them.}

I love old TV shows like The Dick Van Dyke Show, I Love Lucy, and The Andy Griffith Show. I love that you can depend on them to be hilarious and charming and clean. What a relief not to have to worry about any profanity or inappropriate stuff. :)

The Andy Griffith Show is especially likable because it doesn't take place in New York City or a NY suburb. Mayberry is modeled after Andy Griffith's hometown of Mt. Airy, North Carolina. That's not awfully far from here (we've visited a couple of times), so the whole show and characters feel sort of homey and familiar. :) I can relate to the setting much more than Lucy living in New York. It's so neat to be watching a show and hear real Carolina places mentioned (the real Pilot Mountain is called Mount Pilot in the show).

And Opie is too cute. :) Ron Howard was a truly talented child actor. Even in the first season episodes when he's this tiny little boy, he's still good. {Especially compared to the little boy who played Ritchie in The Dick Van Dyke show. I'm sorry, but I sort of cringe when he comes on the screen. He always sounds like he's shouting and/or reading his lines.}

The first season feels a little different from the rest of the show, though. It was like they were still trying to figure out how things should work out. Andy and Barney are both sort of goofy, unlike in the later seasons when Andy becomes the straight man to Barney's silliness. And sometimes Andy's accent feels a bit put on. I do love his retelling of Romeo and Juliet to Opie, though.

2. I started working on my first ever Colette Pattern this week- the Crepe dress. I traced out the pattern (no way can I bring myself to cut into a $20 pattern!) and made the muslin. It actually fit with no adjustments! I'm so happy with that. I didn't even have to lengthen the skirt, which is something I always have to do.

I'm making the dress for a special occasion in April, though it will likely be my Easter dress, too. I found this unusual seersucker at Joann's today that I'm going to use.

I'm so used to seersucker being white striped with something else, but I really love this fabric. :) It's sort of beachy and summery feeling.

Now I've just got to decide whether to underline the dress. I'm going to have to at least underline the bodice, because this dress has some crazy facings and they keep flipping out. If I underline it, then I can hand-stitch the facings to the lining fabric without the stitches showing on the outside. I don't especially want to underline the whole dress, but I don't know how it will be to do just the bodice.

I also got a tiny bit of this fabric- it's from the Lisette line that Joann's carries. It was on clearance, and I got all they had left. Which was less than a yard and a half. I'm hoping I can squeeze a blouse out of it.

As for embroidery, I've been working on a series of tiny crafting characters for the sewing room. They're from this Wild Olive pattern.

3. Hunger Games! I haven't seen the film yet- I think I'm going on Tuesday. Which means that I have time to reread the first book before then. :) I avoided the hype for as long as I could, but finally read the books last fall. They were amazing. Read my vague reviews of the series here: 1, 2, and 3.

I have been listening to the CD nonstop, though. I love it. I am so happy with the bluegrassy/country/mountain music feel they went for with the songs. Because that's pretty much my favorite kind of "modern" music. :)  I almost would have bought it for The Secret Sisters and The Civil Wars alone.  There's definitely an urgency and a survivor theme to the songs.

The only songs on the album that I don't like? The Ruler and the Killer and Take the Heartland. Ugh. And I could have done with a little less Taylor Swift, but I don't mind Safe and Sound at all, because she seems to channeling some Civil Wars there, which is definitely an improvement over her usual fare. :) {I know they're "featured" in that song, but I don't think there's enough of them.} There are a couple more that I'm not too crazy about but have grown on me after a couple of listens.

Until next time,