Cheerfulness, Chipmunks, Cars

Heather and I saw The Chipmunks' "Squeakquel" movie this afternoon. Heather gave the movie a thumbs up and I gave it double thumbs down. She got a kick out of the Chip-ettes singing Beyonce's "All the Single Ladies" and Theodore trying to escape from the confines of the blanket when Toby (David's cousin) cut the cheese. It's a cute movie, but I prefer the original from 2007. It seemed that Jason Lee's ("My Name is Earl" star) diminished role in the sequel contributed a lot to the movie's senselessness. Wendy Malick who played the principal of the high school that the chipmunks attended is wonderful and somehow redeemed the movie, despite the constraints of her role.


Heather's serious look after enjoying the silly movie.


Both of us still smiling after the movie, popcorn and Hi-C.

Heather wore her new Jalie 2804 top in a poly knit fabric from GorgeousFabrics. It is fairly easy to sew. My only gripe is that is more fitted in the upper bodice than what I usually expect from Jalie. Instead of using elastic on the upper edge of the "modesty" panel, I cut a small rectangular strip about an inch shorter than the edge, sewed its right side to the wrong side of the modesty panel, turned it to the outside, turned under the raw edge, and topstitched it. I also finished the edges of the sleeves with very close zig zag stitches. A rolled hem foot would be perfect for lettuced edge sleeves.


Me being a copycat used the same fabric for my top. Being a retro freak, I used this 1973 Simplicity pattern, suitable for wovens and knits. I skipped the zipper since I used a knit. The back darts were necessary to eliminate the top from flaring outwards. The construction of this top is similar to Vogue 8451 in terms of sewing a neckline facing and short sleeves with sleeve bands.

Vogue 8541. According to the Voguepatterns website, it is already out of print.




Two nights ago, we went to the yearly auto show. I did not see anything spectacular and I noticed that Heather was not enthusiastic, as in the previous two that she attended, to get into the cars to "pretend drive" and have her pictures taken. Last year we saw a R2D2 looking robot (controlled by somebody) talk and dance in front of many eager spectators in the Ford section.


One of the highlights for Heather in the 2010 show was seeing the huge inflatable Geico Gecko. I was trying to figure out the reason for Geico's presence in a car show. When I saw the words "more than just a CAR insurance" printed on the promotional booth, the light bulb went on. Duhhh..

For the fashion conscious, Heather's corduroy jacket is made from McCall's 5312 "Sassy" girl coordinates.


The other highlight was discovering two children's passenger seats in a Ford Ranger truck. Don't judge me as driver with our seat belts law transgression and leaving the car doors open.

Some "cool" vehicles:

From Lexus

Promotions, promotions, promotions

It's "electric".

Interesting trike.

From Porsche

Donny Osmond would like this one.


From Hyundai

"Wee" versions