It can sometimes be challenging finding a movie that's both appropriate for children and enjoyable by adults. So, when I saw The Complete Gidget Collection at my local library, and noticed that two out of the three movies were rated G, and the third PG, I decided to borrow it. I remembered Gidget as being silly and funny and thought it would make for some light-hearted entertainment, though I was puzzled by the PG rating on one of the movies. I was also puzzled by it being called "complete collection" as I knew there were more movies than these three.
A 'G' rating, in my books means it's appropriate for my Grandson to watch. He's not yet 4-years-old. Gidget was definitely not appropriate for a child of that age. Later, when I looked carefully at the back, I noticed that 'G' is the Canadian rating. The US rating is PG. My daughter has pointed out to me before that the US ratings tend to be stricter than the Canadian ones. Good point to remember for next time. However, neither my daughter nor I found it appropriate for us, either. It was very sexist, protraying the teenage girls, with the exception of Gidget, as boy crazy, that having a boyfriend is the be-all and end-all of a girl's existence, and the sole purpose of summer vacation is to chase boys. Okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but it wasn't long into the movie before the girls were sashaying down the beach in their bathing suits, directly in front of the surfer boys' shack, just to attract their attention (with the exception of Gidget, who at first appears to be the only level-headed one). I actually remember having fun at the beach, even as a teenager, without feeling the need to attract a male's attention. And I resent it when women, even teenage ones, are portrayed as mindless ninnies.
Another concern was the witless parents. Sure, I'd be happy to have my teenage daughter spend her summer vacation hanging out with a bunch of older, male surfer bums that I don't even know, without any other females present. NOT!!! And when Gidget comes home from the luau, whining that she's still "pure as the driven snow" to her MOTHER, no less, her mother fails to pounce on that and give the requisite talk about saving yourself, if not for marriage, at least for a committed relationship. Seriously, maybe I'm old-fashioned (yes, I am old-fashioned), but what kind of parent wants their daughter to engage in casual sex? And even if the parents did not believe in "saving yourself for marriage," how about the talk about birth control and safe sex? Yes, we might not have been using the term "safe sex" back then, but STDs did exist in 1959. And so did unplanned pregnancies. Neither of which is a joking matter.
And then there was the luau itself, which portrayed multiple couples lying on the beach "making out" in the middle of the party. "Get a room," as my daughter would say. Definitely not what I want my grandson seeing and nothing my daughter or I wanted to see either.
The scene where Moon-Doggie pushes Gidget under the water, while all the other guys are laughing, until Gidget doesn't come back up again, is infuriating. This is abuse, and there's nothing laughable about it. The idea that manhandling a woman is humourous is a frightening concept that has evolved into the rape culture prevalent today. That scene was especially offensive. The fact that Gidget went on to "fall in love" with the perpetrator of this abuse is very troublesome. There are too many women involved in dysfunctional relationships with abusive partners. We should never be portraying this situation as amusing entertainment, nor that the perpetrator turns out to be a "nice guy" after all. They never do and we should not be encouraging young women in the delusion that "he will change."
Four thumbs down for this movie, mine and Sophia's, and we definitely did not watch the other two movies in the set.
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Sunday, 24 July 2016
Monday, 18 July 2016
24-Hour Quilting Projects - A Book Review
I have to admit that doing book reviews for craft or cookbooks when you receive a free digital copy can be challenging. In order to review them, I like to actually cook from the cookbook, or make something from the craft book. Kindle is not the most friendly way to do this. It's a little more cumbersome to "flip" back and forth between pages on a Kindle, and pictures don't always appear to their best advantage and if you need to print anything out, or copy it, like a template, that's just not possible. Occasionally, I receive an Adobe Digital Edition of a book, rather than a Kindle edition. The pictures might appear better on my PC monitor than on the Kindle greyscale, but it definitely isn't as portable. And it's still not printable. Plus these editions have a time limit (54 days), so I've got a limited time to read and create.
I received this particular book as an Adobe Digital Edition from Net Galley. One of the things I found challenging was that the fabric measurements - especially the fractions - were very difficult to decipher in this edition. I tried zooming, but they just became blurred. However, I could still guestimate and I bought sufficient fabric to make the Fractured Pinwheels quilt from this book. Unfortunately, before I had a chance to work on it, my copy expired. However, I did a little research and discovered that this isn't a new book at all. It's a reissue of this one:
I borrowed the older one from the library so I could make the quilt and finish the review. Once I got the hard copy, I could understand why the fractions were so challenging to read in the digital edition. They're not even that easy to read in the actual book - quite tiny. There is plenty of white space on each page, so the publisher really should increase the font size, so that it's easier to read.
The "24 hours" in the title does not include quilting and binding. But most of the quilt projects have a substantially smaller time allotment than 24 hours. However, I did find that my project took a good deal longer than the suggested 5 hours, but it still was a relatively quick quilt top. And I didn't follow the directions exactly. I did some things out of order because I wanted to work up a few blocks so that I could get an idea of what it was going to look like.
Here's the finished quilt top:
The lighter squares are face down in this picture. This is the direction you need to lay all of them out if you want to do it this way.
I received this particular book as an Adobe Digital Edition from Net Galley. One of the things I found challenging was that the fabric measurements - especially the fractions - were very difficult to decipher in this edition. I tried zooming, but they just became blurred. However, I could still guestimate and I bought sufficient fabric to make the Fractured Pinwheels quilt from this book. Unfortunately, before I had a chance to work on it, my copy expired. However, I did a little research and discovered that this isn't a new book at all. It's a reissue of this one:
I borrowed the older one from the library so I could make the quilt and finish the review. Once I got the hard copy, I could understand why the fractions were so challenging to read in the digital edition. They're not even that easy to read in the actual book - quite tiny. There is plenty of white space on each page, so the publisher really should increase the font size, so that it's easier to read.
The "24 hours" in the title does not include quilting and binding. But most of the quilt projects have a substantially smaller time allotment than 24 hours. However, I did find that my project took a good deal longer than the suggested 5 hours, but it still was a relatively quick quilt top. And I didn't follow the directions exactly. I did some things out of order because I wanted to work up a few blocks so that I could get an idea of what it was going to look like.
Here's the finished quilt top:
I think it's a pretty amazing looking quilt that appears more complicated than it is to construct. After cutting strips, you sew the light strips together and the dark strips together, then cut the strip sets into 6-1/2" squares. Then you cut the squares on the diagonal. But you have to ensure that you cut all of the dark squares and all of the light squares the same way. That's the tricky part. But you just have to follow the diagrams in the book. I wondered why the author wasn't using the half square triangle technique where you draw a diagonal line on the back of one square, sew a quarter inch on each side of the line, then cut on the line. But I assume it's because it would make it a little complicated keeping all the squares going in the right direction. I followed the instructions for the first square, but I hate cutting and sewing on the diagonal. I have enough trouble keeping my squares square. So I decided to try the half-square triangle technique - and it worked. I had at least one square that I sewed together incorrectly, but I checked before cutting and was able to remedy it. And I finally got a system where I had the squares laid out correctly preparatory to drawing the lines.
Sorry, the line is rather faint in this picture, but this is the direction you need to draw the line, then place it directly over the darker square.
One other thing I noticed in the cutting directions is that the author has you cutting more pieces than you need for the borders and binding. The first border said to cut 5 and I only used four. For the second border, I decided to cut what I figured I would need, which was 5 whereas the instructions called for 6, and I had plenty. Ditto for the binding, though I haven't bound it yet, so it remains to be seen if I will need the 6th one. I doubt it.
Overall, I found the directions pretty straightforward and easy to follow. A few of the quilts look rather boring to me, but the majority of them are ones I would be happy to make. As a matter of fact, I liked this book well enough that I ordered my own copy. But I ordered the older copy for $2.96 plus shipping!
Sunday, 17 July 2016
Back to Work on the Bluenose II
I had been laboriously working on the Bluenose II pixel quilt since some time in 2014. It was supposed to have been my sister Cindy's 50th birthday gift, and she's now 52. But this is a very tedious technique, involving many 1" squares of fabric, all of which have to be sewn with the correct colour in exactly the right place. I chose to work in mostly 10" blocks, with the exception of the topmost row, which is 13" deep and the rightmost column, which is 12" wide. To aid in working on the blocks, I drew a grid of 1-1/2" squares (unfinished size of the squares) 20 wide and 10 deep on one of my design walls, to accomodate working on two blocks at once. When I commenced the renovations on my basement sewing studio, all of my sewing/crafting supplies had to find a temporary home elsewhere, including the design wall with 2 blocks in progress. Trying to find a place for everything was not easy, and this design wall ended up being tossed on the bed in the basement bedroom with various and sundry other items. Not exactly the best way to store it. As a result, some of the squares fell off the design wall. So, when I finally got around to working on this project again, I not only had to find as many missing squares as I could, but I also had to make sure everything was where it belonged. That took me a number of hours, plus adding the remaining squares to complete the blocks.
Sewing the squares together is about as tedious as assembling them on the design wall in the first place as I still had to ensure that each square remained in the correct place. I finally managed to finish these two blocks.
It had been so long since I had worked on this quilt top that I didn't realize these were the last two blocks I needed to complete for row 5. I had blocks 1 through 4 and 7 completed. I'm not sure why I had skipped blocks 5 & 6 and completed block 7, but these two blocks were now done, I joined the whole row together and then added it to the bottom of the quilt. You can see the results in the top picture, and below.
As you can see by comparing the top picture with the one immediately above, pixel quilts look best from a distance. The closer you get, the more it looks just like a random bunch of different coloured squares of fabric.
It appears the boat is finished, I just have to add more water: one more row of 10" blocks. These last two rows are the most tedious part of the quilt as there is much greater colour change amongst the squares - not too many solid blocks of colour like in the sky and the sails. So it will likely still take me awhile, especially since this quilt requires full focus. I don't like to work on it if I'm tired or preoccupied.
You can find my previous posts on this quilt here:
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