Five Favorites: Look What I Made! Edition

Hosted by Jenny this week!

--1--

Ponchik has just discovered object permanence.  The giraffe blew her mind.  I wish I could have captured the first look on her face when I put the giraffe in front of her.  It.was.priceless.

 --2--

I decided to put myself on a clothes shopping moratorium for a few months (for myself only, obvs), so now if I want it, I've got to make it.  I've gotten some serious sewing enabling from Rochelle over at Lucky Lucille, and decided to make a blouse.  She made a great dress using the top half of this pattern (paired with the skirt from the pattern in #3, below), and I thought it would make a great blouse as well.  I'm all about the butterfly collar these days. 

  

I'm making a muslin first because I'm changing the length to be a blouse rather than part of a dress, and making long sleeves, which require math and a small bit of drafting, garshdarnit.  Better safe than sorry.  So my muslin is out of this pretty-but-unwearable-for-me fabric I bought on clearance at Joann about a year ago.  

The front (so far)

 What makes this blouse a great 1940s facsimile (my current favorite word) is the tucks at the yoke on the front and back, plus the butterfly collar and pleating at the waist.  One of the reasons I'm making a serious effort to gear my vintage look to the early 1940s is that the detailing is superb, but the practicality is pretty high.  

The back (so far)

I purchased the actual fabric for this blouse earlier this month (on $4.00/yard clearance at Joann!).  It looks like a feedsack print to me, and the cotton is the type that doesn't wrinkle easily.  I'm going to pair it with some vintage buttons from my grandma's stash.  

--3--

And because I'm also focused on making outfits, rather than individual pieces that don't necessarily go together, I'm also going to make a swing skirt out of some navy blue bottom weight fabric that I have in my stash using this fabulous pattern.  I'm a little concerned about the fit being too big (sometimes modern reissues put in too much ease, and it can be hard to tell until you are done), so I'm going to use the rest of my muslin to make up the skirt just to check fit.  

The most massive pattern evah--blouse, jacket, skirt, pants.  It's a lot of pieces!

--4--

And in other sewing news, I made a dirndl skirt this week, largely without a pattern.  I made a muck of one last week with some stash fabric, but I learned from it, and decided to call the mess a muslin and be done with it.  Maybe I can salvage the fabric for some other home decor project or something.  I love this yellow print--it has a mustardy tone-on-tone floral print that doesn't show in the photo very well, but is very pretty in person.  I bought it after seeing Rochelle's skirt made from a green fabric designed by the same person.  And pretty much copied her whole outfit.  I have to say, once I got the math right for the panels (again with the math!!), it came together pretty quickly.  Just two rectangles, attached to a waistband with a zipper.  I ended up hand sewing the zipper in, mostly because I was too lazy to get out my zipper foot, but I had to hand sew the inside of the waist band anyway, so it was just a little extra sewing.  I used a vintage yellow button on the waist band just for decoration, and used snaps as the fastener.  It ended up about an inch too big in the waist, so I have to take it in (I currently have a safety pin in the back), but it is super comfortable and swingy.  I wish I'd put in pockets, but I just wanted a quick and easy project. Instant-gratification-like.

--5--

I have this mom friend who has lost over 20 pounds in the last five months doing Focus T25 from Beach Body, and she is such a source of inspiration and encouragement to me.  She recently became a coach for the program, and started running challenge groups on Facebook.  When she asked if I wanted to do it this month, I shrugged and said, "why not?"  I'm always hesitant about workout programs, because I find them hard to stick to, and tend to get injured, or burnt out, or just find myself too tired from them.  I don't get a net energy boost from exercising, as a general rule.  I just get...tired.  But I want to firm up from the pregnancy, and my heart could use some extra work, so I decided to take the plunge.  

I'm four days in, and I'm kind of loving it.  It is 25 minutes a day, so very doable, high intensity, and sort of fun?  It is getting me out of bed in the morning at the ungodly hour of 6:15 a.m., so that says something, right?  Oh, and I've been ghastly sick since last Thursday, so it definitely says something that I can do this while sick!  (And it is a work out, let me tell you!  I'm so sweaty by the end!)  And honestly, doing it with the challenge group has been the best--I don't think I would have gotten started otherwise, and it definitely motivates me to keep going with it.

Go see Jenny for more Faves!!

7QT: Plague Edition

hosted by Clan Donaldson this week!

--1--

 We inaugurated the cold and flu season this week.  We've all been nursing mild congestion for a few weeks, but Monday, Piglet woke up with goopy eyes and serious congestion that morphed into a 103 fever by mid-afternoon.  He was coughing his head off by Tuesday and by Wednesday was in the ER with mild respiratory distress (sounds oxy-moronic, but isn't; he was breathing too fast at rest and medicine wasn't helping).  He had a chest x-ray and was diagnosed with pneumonia, sent home with antibiotics and has been home from school all week.  Birdie started coughing a bit on Tuesday, started with the fever on Tuesday evening, and has steadily worsened as the week has worn on.  I'm trying to hold off on oral steroids for her since she has already had a few rounds this year and doctors don't like to do more than three in a calendar year.  Boo came home yesterday after running green goop at the eyes all day, and is home today, looking pretty much as bad as Piglet looked on Monday.  I'm waiting for a fever spike this afternoon.  Ponchik is pretty congested, and nursing poorly.

--2--

I've had a sore throat, mild cough and congestion all week, and I was managing okay until yesterday when I discovered a golf-ball size plugged milk duct.  In the same duct that gave me a fiendish case of mastitis when Piglet was a newborn.  To say I'm nervous is kind of an understatement.  I treated with heat, motrin, and aggressive massage (even though the pain from the massage made me want to throw up), and things seem a bit improved today--probably ping pong ball size now, and the whole area is bruised.  But I think I might be past the worst of the clog for now.  Just trying to keep my lungs clear at this point.

--3--

Of course, this all hit at a terrible point--my sitter wasn't available until today, my husband is in the middle of prepping another Supreme Court case argument, and this week was one of the busiest in the process.  He was gone Monday until late, and again on Wednesday from the wee morning hours until supper time.  He's a bit sick himself, so that just adds another layer of yuck on everything.

--4--

On the upside, I finished my lovely Forties Fashion book, and got tons of ideas for Make Do and Mend type projects.  My first was to deconstruct a brown shirtwaist dress that fits me very well, but the color doesn't suit me.  I had initally thought to put the skirt onto another blouse I made recently, and attach the sleeves to said blouse, but once I had everything apart, it made more sense to just bind off the skirt.  It gives me more options.  I wore it today, and I'm pleased with the project.  I was able to maintain the pockets, so that is good!  It doesn't have a finished waistband, so I'll need to always wear something over top, but I think I could probably fix the waist band problem at some point if it becomes an issue.

--5--

I also pulled out my teapot and made Russian caravan tea this week, Russian-style.  (Tea concentrate in the tea pot, left to sit on the counter, and then diluted with boiling water whenever a fresh cup is desired)  That particular tea is so Proustian for me--I immediately conjure images and sensations of Nizhni Novgorod in October, heavily sugared tea from the Profolactorium stolovaya where we lived, and rectangular tea biscuits that came in crinkly package with vaguely fruity after-flavor.  A friend gave me a package of Whole Foods shortbread cookies on Sunday, and they reminded me very much of those biscuits.   Unfortunately, Ponchik does not love tea, and seemed to get a buzz from it and couldn't sleep much yesterday (strange, since I drink a cup of pretty strong coffee almost every morning, but babies are weird). 

--6--

Another perk to my week?  Starz Outlander posted this photo from the series shoot in Scotland.  I love the books so much, and can't wait for the next Big Book!  I'm so excited for this television adaptation, and so far, the casting has been just spot on.  This is of Sam Heugan as Jamie Fraser, the main male character in the books.

--7--

Made from shirting cotton from Joann's.  Sewed up beautifully.

I'm sure long-time readers of this blog will notice I've not posted a stamping project in a long time.  I'm still a demonstrator with Stampin' Up!, but I'm taking a little break from stamping--it requires too much space in my head and a bigger block of time than I currently have to create stuff, and so I'm just focusing on digital projects right now--mostly Ponchik's baby scrapbook and in a few months, our Christmas cards.  I know I'll get my head and time back in the spring, when Ponchik is a little older, but right now, that is what it is.  I can knit a few row here and there, or sew in dribs and drabs, but for some reason, stamping requires more quiet and focus for me.  I still love it, but need to take some time off for now.   So I'll leave you with a pic of a blouse I made last Saturday.  It is based on a 40s pattern reissue from Simplicity, and I love it.  I did a wearable muslin in Kelly green Country Cotton, and hope to remake the green one in a nicer cotton at some point.  Also: snaps are highly underrated as a blouse closure.

Go see Cari for more Quick Takes!

Yarn Along: Two sweaters and Forties Fashion

I am working on one of the sleeves for the vintage cardigan, and cast on the back of the red pullover I wanted to make.  (It looks much smaller than it is--the ribbing bunches it up a lot, plus I'm planning to block it pretty aggressively).  The second photo is of the "right" side of the pattern; I kind of think I like the "wrong" side better--thoughts?

"right" side

"wrong" side

 And I'm currently inhaling this lovely beauty!

So many lovely dresses, so much great information on fashion history of the 1940s, and other interesting tidbits.  I'm geeking out over here--my inner historian is having a research feast.

I want to recreate this outfit (black out cloth skirt and all!) 

Join Ginny for Yarn Along this week!

Talking Tuesday: Old Icelandic Hymn “Heyr himna smiður”

Not a quote today, but instead a hauntingly beautiful old Icelandic hymn sung in a German train station (the acoustics are amazing!).  Gave me chills.

Talking Tuesday: Bertholt Brecht

"And so we, taken aback, see the curtain closed and all the questions open." 

~Bertholt Brecht

7QT: Rarified Air

--1--

c/o historyinphotos.blogspot.com

I should start this post by noting that my people are two generations off the farm.  We aren't fancy people, we don't move in high circles, we don't know famous or important people.  My husband, on the other hand, has been breathing The Air Up There for a number of years now.  He went to an Ivy League school, got a degree at Oxford, went to Ivy League law school, clerked for the Supreme Court under Justice Kennedy, and generally knows a lot of Important People.  Particularly government types. It is slightly surreal to me that Justice Kennedy and his wife got an invitation to our wedding (they declined to attend, but sent a lovely card), and get our Christmas letter every year (and usually send one in return).  

--2--

About every five years, the former and current clerks put on a big reunion weekend and the Kennedys are in attendance.  There is a black tie dinner at the Court, and various other family-friendly activities the rest of the weekend.  

Clerk Reunion in 2008

We attended when Piglet was a baby, and meeting the Justice was quite an experience.  He and his wife are both lovely, down-to-earth people. 

There was another reunion this summer that my husband attended but I did not because it was less than a month after Ponchik's arrival and I just wasn't up for the trip to DC at that point with a preemie newborn (plus we were having childcare issues then).  

--3--

Later in the summer, the law school invited the Justice to come visit the school and meet with his former clerks (there are three currently teaching there), give a lecture and generally grace the place with his presence.  Mrs. Kennedy also agreed to attend, and an intimate dinner was arranged on October 2 for the former clerks and their spouses plus the dean of the law school.  My husband told me a long time ago that he really wanted me to attend the dinner with him, and that I needed to do whatever it took to sort out childcare for the evening for our three older kids. (Since we let our long-time sitter go this summer, we've not broken anyone else in sufficiently for a nighttime stay).  That left my mother-in-law.

--4--

She graciously agreed to take some time off work and come down for two days to stay with the kids Wednesday night and help me on Thursday so I could give a presentation at my MOPS group and also attend a wives' luncheon with Mrs. Kennedy (talk about two different spheres of life!)  MIL arrived on Wednesday afternoon, and my husband and I took off for the dinner a little after 6:00.  I wore my new eshakti 1940s-inspired black dress with improvised dress clips (1940s rhinestone clip earrings from Austria!) and as an added bonus, it was completely nursing friendly with a sweetheart-style surplice neckline.  My hair cooperated and I felt fairly snazzy.

--5--

The view from my dinner plate on Wednesday.

We arrived ahead of the motorcade, and the U.S. Marshals, which made me glad, as you never want to have to discuss anything with a man holding a big gun whilst holding a baby.  The dinner was lovely (although Ponchik was a little bit of a stinker and refused to sleep and wanted to be bounced and held the.entire.evening).  I was seated next to the Justice, and it felt a bit surreal.

--6--

The next day I gave a talk on meal planning to my MOPS group, and then scrambled off to make it to lunch in time.  It was small and nice, with good food and cloth napkins (at a fancy sit-down restaurant in a local museum), but the other wives were all about 10 years older than me, and Mrs. Kennedy is obviously quite a bit older than me, so I sort of felt like the little kid at the grown-ups table.  But I was flattered to be included.  

--7--

Other than that excitement, I got nothin'!  I finished the other front piece of the vintage cardigan, and cast on for the sleeves, and I also cast on for a red pullover sweater that I'm sort of making up as I go, combining a couple of patterns to get what I want.  (Hopefully it all works out!)  Oh, and I've caught up on Call the Midwife (can't wait for Season 3!!), Bomb Girls, and am mid-season on Scandal (season 2--hoping to finish up and start watching season three as it goes along this year!)

Edited: I forgot to say that I fixed our washer this week!  A quarter got stuck in the pump, and after a mad bout of googling our washer model and DIY fixes, I'm proud to say I fixed it myself!  Just call me Rosie.

Go see Jen and other Quick Takers for more Takes!