Saturday, March 03, 2007
Posted at 5:59:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Aaah! Smead has reached the ceiling.
Just got back from a flight to Stewart. It was snowing a little bit, part of the time, which was really cool looking. You could see the snow sort of streaking down from the clouds below us. Then when we landed at Stewart, it was raining, and the rain was zipping along the windows. I've always loved that, since I was little.
As promised, here are the photos of my new bag: front view, looking in, and with Zi in the Zi pocket. It's very pillowy and soft.
The fabric already had the horizontal stitches on it, which of course gave me the idea for the quilted effect. I'm pretty sure this is actually the back side of the material, because the other side had a filmy sheer chiffon-ish layer with little sequins on it (??!); it looked like it was meant for a prom dress or something. Anyway, I hated the other side, but I couldn't resist the back because of the color and the ripply ocean look of it. I layered two pieces, both with the "back" side facing out, and sandwiched a leftover piece of fleece in between them, then stitched over the top of the pre-existing stitches, to make it quilted like a down jacket. This gave the very soft, delicate fabric a lot more body.
For the lining, I used a pale lime version of the same fabric, again with the "back" showing and the weird fancy front hidden. The lining fabric isn't quilted; it's just a single layer, but it has the matching quilty looking horizontal stitches since it came that way. Both zippers were from my Zipper Queen collection, natch.
The Zi pocket doesn't go all the way to the bottom; it's just deep enough to fit my Zi, and suspends it a bit to protect it. (The bottom of the bag is also kind of cushiony just from the extra material inside, because I didn't trim the bottom seam.)
Kind of a weird bag... looks good with the squid button addition, though. Oh, and it's extremely comfortable and fits me perfectly. I'll have to see how much I actually use it.
Wow, I finished the bag. Just now. It turned out pretty much exactly as I intended, but I'm still not sure if I actually like it. The Zi pocket is perfect, though (and despite using two zippers, I didn't have any zipper Suders!). I'll post a photo in the morning. I think this is my first bag with no hand sewing on it, since I actually constructed it in a logical order. Weird.
Posted at 2:05:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Posted at 5:06:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I started working on my ocean-colored bag (still not sure if I will end up liking it or throwing it away, but all the ingredients only cost $10, so won't be a tragedy if it doesn't work out). I am trying to put it together in a linear order, which of course is pretty difficult for me. So far I've done the front panel, which is the most complicated part. It's sort of quilted and has a zipper which leads to a Zi pocket. The outside is aqua/turquoise and the pocket and lining pale lime. I think I'm using the fabric inside out. (Intentionally. The material is pretty bizarre.)
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Here's my landing video from Sunday at the ice runway on Lake Winnapasaukee in eastern New Hampshire, close to the tail of Maine. The whole trip was really great; it felt like such a fun adventure to be on together. Landing on the frozen lake was so cool (Dean's landing was brilliant), hearing the rumble of the wheels on the ice and watching the glassy surface roll by--thick ice, dark, steely grey, criss-crossed with thick white crystalline cracks and beautiful milky patterns. It had such depth to it. I used to ice skate on our pond when I lived on Puddin Lane, but this just seemed unbelievable, to be driving on a huge lake, in an airplane. Out in the middle, walking, on the water. Surrounded by docks and vacation cottages. It was like the lake, but huge, and we were landing on part of it and taxiing on it and parking on it beside lots of other planes who were landing and taking off and parking, too. And there were tons of people gathered there--pilots, snowmobilers buzzing around, spectators just there to watch all the planes, taking pictures and videos, out in the brisk, walking on the ice, having fun.
Posted at 1:11:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Two additional things made it especially memorable. First, after a perfect landing, we got stuck in the snow turning onto the taxiway. The propeller was revving and revving but we weren't moving and we had to turn off the engine and jump out. Instead of being plowed smooth like the runway and the taxiway, that one spot had snow heaped up on it! We later figured out it was because the thoughtless irresponsible snowmobilers had been racing planes as they zoomed along to take off, crossing over that spot and spreading snow over the entrance to the taxiway. We madly dug out the snow from under Tango's tires with our hands, and three really nice people came over and asked if they could help (they made a comment about how the snowmobilers were just standing around watching, not helping, although I didn't realise the significance of that at the time), so one woman and I pushed one wing and Dean and the man pushed the other, which did the trick. That was all very exciting of course, especially since there were other planes waiting to land and we had to get out of the way! It was all sort of a thrill--an adventure, a problem that we worked together and solved, and, thanking our helpers (who obviously loved being there at the right time to be caught up in it), we climbed back in Tango, quickly went through the checklist, and started the engine. I didn't put my headset back on, so the sounds of the wheels on the ice as we taxied, the rumbles and the loud squeaks, the patterns flashing by, were all heightened.
The second cool thing was that the restaurant, Shibley's At the Pier, which was lakeside right behind the parking area, had closed at three, so we couldn't eat there. After taking a bunch of photos, we were going to leave and have dinner on the way back at Parlin, but we ran into the people who had helped us, who were extremely friendly, and they asked us all sort of questions about flying and told us about a cool place to visit in Maine, and recommended the bakery and general store in town, as well as a few restaurants within walking distance that they said might or might not be open. So we decided not to leave just yet, but instead to take a walk into town, which was very fun--flying somewhere and then walking, exploring this little lakeside town, outside in the cold, noses and ears, loving my coat and my warm sheep shoes, happy and a little giddy. All the restaurants were closed, but the old fashioned bakery/market was open, so we decided to get something small and eat it to add to the Alton Bay adventure, then have our real dinner in Parlin. They had the exact thing I said they should have: homemade donuts and hot chocolate, although we got coffee and chai instead of the h.c. Dean picked out a soft homemade cookie (chocolate chip), and I picked a delicious looking bulgy sugared jelly donut. It was delicious. It was the best jelly donut I have ever had. Lots of red jelly, soft, moist, perfect. We walked back to the lake and ate and drank sitting on the floating dock (which was frozen in the middle of the ice, of course). It was the best.
Parlin was fantastic, too. Everything seemed to taste extra-good. We didn't get home until late.
Here are a few more photos: my favorite ice fishing shack (I told Dean there'd be ice fishing, but I was only half serious--thinking of "Acadian Driftwood," of course); my feet on the ice; Dean checking the fuel before we left; fuel check on the other wing (cool perspective); and my favorite picture of Dean. Also, here's another picture of the ice (I loved the ice) and of a Piper Cub landing. There's also a larger view of my landing video at YouTube if you want to see the details better.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Now it all makes sense. Today at Rocky, I was sitting in my blue velvet chair looking at the newspaper and imbibing my gorgeously dry cappuccino (made by Caitlyn, and I wish she was on duty all the time) when I noticed that creepy child molestor-esque customer walk in. I hid behind the newspaper so he wouldn't talk to me. Whilst hiding, I eavesdropped on his conversation with the barista and cashier; after telling three blonde jokes, he started talking about how he misses Lorena, the store manager, and Caitlyn said she misses her, too. This explains everything. I am sad.
Posted at 7:01:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Recent little things I haven't posted about but should've:
Posted at 3:04:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Posted at 1:26:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
I have a really bad headache (it feels like my brain is rattling around inside my skull) but today was fantastic. We went on an Icy Adventure!
Posted at 10:33:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
