More Books and Magazines

All right, you enablers, let’s get off the topic of expensive technology and look at books again.

Am I the last person on Earth to read The Hunger Games? Seems like it.

I have one cardinal rule about movies: if the movie is based on a book, inspired by a book, or is an adaptation of a book, I insist on reading the book before seeing the movie. That way, the characters can get firmly established in my mind without some filmmaker imposing his or her interpretation on me.

The movie trailers are everywhere now, so I quickly ordered the books and steadfastly ignored all the advertisements and reviews. I’m halfway through the trilogy now, and at this rate I’ll be done by the end of the week. I’ll be curious to see how the roles were cast for the movie when I watch it, but my vision of them is cemented in my mind, and won’t be affected by the actors.

And may I just say THANK YOU to Suzanne Collins for the character of Katniss, who is as prickly and problematic as any teenager in our world but who instinctively taps into her own intelligence, sense of morality, and physical power when needed.

On a completely different subject, have you ever looked at the Dover books of iron-on transfers? I’ve been tempted by them many times but finally decided to try one when I saw this Art Nouveau collection available for 99 cents.

I just received it, and it is fantastic. It contains 90-plus designs printed in transferable ink on one-sided pages. 

It was published in 1984, and I was concerned that sitting on a shelf for 28 years would affect the transfers.

Apparently not, as my first sample ironed on very nicely:

It looks a bit fuzzy around the edges, because I did not follow the instructions, which say to pin the paper to the fabric to prevent shifting. As soon as I moved the iron from one side of the design to the other, there was a slight shift, so I blurred it a bit and the edges are lighter than the center. No matter, it’s clear enough to stitch.

Next, I need to make a decision about sewing magazines. I’m thinking of canceling my subscriptions to Vogue Pattern Magazine and Burda Style.

source

Vogue usually has a couple of interesting items but I usually flip through it once and file it away.

Burda Style is gorgeous, but in an entire year, I’ve only traced off two patterns, and haven’t sewn either one. All the Burda patterns I’ve made were downloaded from their website.

I understand it’s hypocritical to bemoan the death of the printed word on one hand, and cancel all my print subscriptions on the other, but there still has to be some value for my money. I can’t decide if Threads or Sew News is worth trying. I’ve looked at a few issues in the bookstore, and they were somewhat interesting but fairly expensive.

Are there any magazines that you find especially useful or inspiring?

Finally, Happy Birthday today to my good friend Jonquil!

 source

Yes, she gave herself that pseudonym; even I could not have come up with that one. Jonquil’s a youngster at age 51 this year, and I wish her an excellent day and many happy returns!

Katrina