Geek ramble. Skip to "in other news" if bored.
Okay, some/many of you know this. I am a total vampire fiction geek. I will consume pretty much any vampire themed story/film/book with some enjoyment and truly adore the 'good stuff'.
I've been reading the Twilight series of novels (like many, many people, since its on the best seller lists).
And I just got back from the film. This is not a review. I am in no way a 'balanced' review of such things. (There are those who will gleefully point out that I really enjoyed both Underworld 1 and 2 at this point.)
But I loved it. I loved that the photography was lovely and helped me fill out all the gaps in my knowledge - like exactly what the kind of wet wilderness it is set in actually looks like. My imagination and experience was a little sketchy since I have seen snow twice ever and grew up/live in a place that is pretty much sunny year round. So that was great.
The casting was (in my opinion) very true to the book. The characters all looked/behaved like I imagined.
The whole thing is very teen drama/soap opera. And I gorged myself on every moment. Like eating a whole box of Christmas chocolates because they are there, and someone gave them to you and they just taste so so good. (I may have also done that recently, but I digress).
I do believe it probably helped having read the book, but still. Wonderful.
And in other news...
I have one partially completed project and one done. And another book discussion.
Firstly. the partially completed project.
I have made up most of the Butterick 50s retro dress. Shown here. The actually pattern and
instructions were quite clear, and easy to follow. The biggest problem with it that I had was with the sizing. The envelope sizing did not match the size of the finished garment. For example, some sections had huge amount ease. Like about 5+ inches in some cases.So when I matched the recommended size for my measurements it varied from a 14 to an 18! (I normally wear a 12). However, the finished measurements on the printed pattern itself (not the envelope) were just fine. So I ended up making a 14 which is really too big. I need to get some help to take it all in (and will do so when I corner Bibnbub at some point...) it's also really really long. Ankle length. Which I refuse to believe is because I am short. At any rate it needs to be shortened drastically to around just below the knee I think. I added straps rather than just the spagetti type straps it was designed for so I can wear a bra with it. Otherwise, on my actual sewing front I am happy with it - its a dress, I didn't stuff anything up and I quite like it.
I also made another toy from the More Softies book.
I even unintentionally bought exactly the same fabric as the pattern used! I am really happy with it. My man found the fact I was making a toy car & caravan pretty amusing, but it actually made me feel happy to make it and makes me happy to see it sitting on my shelf. The second photo shows the other side of the caravan. There is quite a lot of hand sewing on this, 
which i am still getting used to. That Instructibles embroidery tutorial is quite handy. Possibly the fact that it was made on my last day of holidays might be my subconscious trying to hold on the 'holiday' vibe as long as possible but that's too much psych for this hot a day.Finally, I finished my copy of The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman.
Like Twilight, it's classed as a young adult (YA) fiction.
It is, quite simply, wonderful. Neil Gaiman is a brilliant writer, and this shows this off yet again. I commented to someone today- all of his stuff is great, but you can tell the difference between is teen/kid stuff and his adult stuff becuase the former has violence or dark stuff implied of happening off scene, where as the adult ones display it. But thy are all great.
Any way enough from me, next week I'm back to my usual programming. Happy New Year all.
