angry chicken

a long heavy skirt.

The skirt is done. Just in time for Halloween. Not that I have adult costume plans, I might throw on a wig when we go out, but we have no party plans this year, just good ol' trick or treating, which is certainly enough. Pete is threatening to go as Dorf, which I find horrific and disturbing.

This skirt came together pretty easily, but it did get a bit ridiculous getting it all through the machine while stitching the ruffles. I used no pattern, it has a drop waist yoke with a side zipper. Below the yoke there is a full skirt with a ruffle at the hem, and four more rows of ruffles on the back. The hem rises about 3" in the front. I wanted it to the floor all the way around, but it really would be a safety hazard—so I made it higher in front and am really happy I did. It's very wearable this way, albeit a bit over the top. I really do like clothes a bit on the more dramatic side, especially while going grocery shopping and stuff, cause why the heck not?

some info:

• It's cotton flannel and I don't need a slip, surprisingly. It's not clingy with tights (as long as they are mircofiber) and it's crazy warm and cozy. It's like wearing a huge blanket.

• It's heavy. I used up the whole 3 yards I bought. Because of this I added a side zipper to the orginal elastic waist because it was slipping down.

• The ruffles are serged in black on top and bottom edges and then sewn to the right side of the fabric, dig? So there is a mini-ruffle along the top and this detail along with the exposed serged edge adds a bit of deconstructed fun.

Speaking of dramatic clothes and since costumes are afoot this weekend—check out the lovely work at Brielle's Costume Wardrobe. Outstanding!

And I was struck by these lovely quilts over at A.P.C. and was reminded of my own recent vintage acquisition and felt quilt lucky (again) to have it.

**update! thanks all and the boots are here, they are Miz Mooz—Seine Slouch Bootie.

Bone Digger Part II—The Curse of 3 Ghouls

I was thrilled with the project, Plaster Bones, again from the Martha magazine pages, and can't wait to do more with newspaper and plaster wrap. It was so fun and so easy! The direcitons are a bit vague, but really, it's pretty much just make a plaster bone by, um making a plaster bone. We rolled up newspaper tight into a tube. Added a bit of masking tape. Then made the ends by wadding up newspaper into a sort of heart shape, added a bit more tape, and then wrapped it all with the wet plaster wrap, which is the coolest material. I got a big roll (Activa Rigid Wrap) at Michaels with a 40% off coupon from the newspaper, so the whole project cost $4.99 and I have a ton of plaster wrap left for more projects.

The girls loved it. I pre-made some of the bones for them and they made some—they all loved the plaster wrapping part and smoothing it on. These took two days to be completely dry. They are so Flintstones funny, we can't stop playing with them. The whacking potential is tempting and dangerous, just a warning.

Unrelated: I have a new fall banner and some fresh links, too.

Bone Digger Part I—The Hungry

We have been up to a lot of Halloween badness around here.

I had been eyeing these meringue bones in an older October Martha issue. I pull all my back Martha's each month. I have a ton to look through when I get a chance. It's amazing how much I find that I had forgotten about, or how much more is suitable to my life now. (Unlike when I was in my early 20s reading the magazine with no house, kids, a garden, or a dining table. You know what I mean.) Anyhoo, I had a feeling these would be fun to make and tasty to eat (I added vanila extract) and they are. But I don't recommend eating 3 in a row unless you want a fierce sugar headache. I was thinking it woud be fun to make these into an Eton Mess dessert with crushed red berrires to look like blood and bones coming out.

These are not to be confused with her very similar marshmallow bones, a recipe I also found, and then wondered if I was having a senior moment or was experiencing a split duality in time a space. I was thinking, I could have sworn they were meringue, but now they seem to be marshmallow, my brain hurts—wait there are two recipes! The meringue won out. And now I have 6 egg yolks to deal with. Did someone say lemon curd? Or maybe pudding.

sadie's coat

 



Sadie has a new coat. I sewed this in August. I like to start early. It was pretty cold then (not cold enough for her to wear it, but cold enough for me to want to sew a coat) and now it's been warm—so she actually hasn't worn it yet. Delia is now wearing an amazing red plaid coat that was Sadie's (sewn by Grammie) so she is very happy, especially because it comes with a matching small coat for her doll. I was kind of relieved to not have to sew another one this year. Although Delia can still fit into her's from last year with the cuffs rolled down. Here's Sadies from last year.

This is made using this pattern from Delia's jacket with a different collar. Simplicity 2534. This is a rock solid pattern. I love it. I lined it with cotton flannel and serged a matching shawl/headscarf witch is worn with much drama. The coat is a dark purple brushed velveteen which I got on sale at Joann's, so this project was really quite affordable, especially since I was comparing it to the lovely coats at mini boden and garnet hill. I didn't go with wool this year—these are a bit more flexible and srunchable and easier to run around in. This one I sewed her 2 years ago still gets worn, I wish I had one for me.

I have given much thought to sewing coats/jackets for the girls each fall. I have felt at times it was too much work (I think I have made about 6 now over the years for the girls) but now I really look forward to it. It's because they wear them so much, I enjoy seeing them almost daily. I also have a better sense now what they like, what is comfortable for them, and what styles will work. I love watching them run and play in them and finding them on the floor and used and crumpled full of rocks and pinecones. And it warms my heart when they are so sad when they get too small. I get a jolt when they get handed down to the next sister, remembering when I first sewed them and then calling them the wrong name (which I do anyway). It just feels so good and I realize these are the reasons I sew for them.

I have on the boards for myself a skirt inspired by this one, only it's different, with ruffles. Kind of a gothic Deadwood thing. It's going super long in a most impractical way.

comfort granola

I just like making it. I know I have said this before. I make it a bit different every time—here's a link to the recipe. With a weird cosmic force, even though I don't measure, I always make just enough it fit in the great glass jar that grammie got me. I have a few sizes of these and love them to death. They are from crate and barrel and the biggest one I use for flour and find it thrilling to be able to dump 2 bags of flour in there. I just like looking at them all lined up—just like I like looking at everything in the Etsy shop, hindsvik. Okay, really—it's all so lovely and pleasing! Minimal photostyling is a good thing.

**update and mildy random—I am looking for a cast iron waffle maker. I have a waffle maker, but it's way old and has teflon on it and I want to replace it with one that has no teflon. I see one here, is anyone using one like this? Are you swearing at it? What say you? Thanks!

rose petal drawings

What they did with the pressed rose petals from the Rose Garden sketching trip. I'm going to make these into thank you notes for them, which are needed for their birthdays. They asked if they could sell cards of these images in an etsy shop they want to open and I am thinking yes.

 

vintage top with machine stitching

This outstanding vintage quilt top was given to me as a gift recently (from one of the most thoughtful gift givers I know) and Tillie Studio provided the stellar machine stitching, backing, batting and binding—turning a loved but unfinished quilt top into a usable finished quilt of pure beauty.

I snatch up vintage quilt tops whenever I see them if I can afford them, they are just waiting to be made into quilts and you just can't get that authentic vintage look when you make a new one. They are so often hand pieced, they make me very emotional. Especially the little mistakes and random sections.

Thank you Sarah and thank you Grammie!

 

corn fritters

Here are some corn fritters. They are pretty popular in our house and I forget how easy they are to make. I used the recipe here (from everyday food) but then added green onions, some spices, and other things, but I don't remember what, this was a while ago and I make them different everytime. I have also made them with frozen corn just fine.Why are these so fun to make? They just are. It seems like the batter will be too thin and that there is no way to flip them, but it works out just fine. I make them on our big flat griddle, with no extra oil—I'm not sure if this makes them a fritter. Whatever. There is salsa and chipotle sour cream on the side there. I want to try something like this with quinoa. Look out!

Related to food, but with no photo, I made a brown betty (minus the currants which I couldn't find) from the Rustic Fruit Desserts books recently when I found myself up to my eyes in apples. I had a huge bag of homemade breadcrumbs in the freezer I made from our heels of bread and just don't use them. Ever. I usually make croutons, but thought I'd get all crazy and make a batch of breadcrumbs last time. So I did and it was thrilling. The big tip that made this a non-swearing activity was to make the crumbs in the food processor before I bake them because you just can't pulverize baked croutons into crumbs. At least I can't. I was happy when I read this and it confirmed my own frustrating experiences. But then I had a lot of crumbs and realized I just don't use bread crumbs that much. Not the way I use croutons. Enter the brown betty, which was a perfect solution.

Anyhoo, brown bettys are baked apple with  a lot breadcrumbs (instead of a pie crust or topping) and usually a lot of butter and sugar. That's it. Awesome and lovely.

some halloween goodies-

We are doing some Halloween decorating and busted out the Halloween Garland from emailorder #4. What a handy time to remind you it's available right here, as a PDF, and it comes with an adorable hat pattern, only for a mere $8!

And a free PDF is over here, I made this last year—it's a fun craft project making mildly disturbing pumpkin faces. Fun for all ages! Enjoy!

mona lisa style self portraits

The inspiration—for our projects involving Leonardo da Vinci

Mona Sadie (8 years old)

Mona Delia (almost 6 years old)

Mona Liddy (3 1/2 years old)

So, this ended up being one of the most popular projects we have done. They used canvases—big enough to feel impressive. The 2 big girls worked on 16" x 20" and Liddy's was 11" x 14". They used acrylic paint and did sketching first. We talked about the original and how it was proportioned on the canvas, and they worked on these in about 5 sessions, waiting for the paint to dry in between and working in layers. Then details were added with sharpie. They are up in the living room and they are so proud of them. It's pretty awesome.

The frames were picked up on super sale at Michael's and the canvases are just taped in back, so we can swap out other canvases as they do more. I was freaking out when they were painting these—trying not to talk at all. The personalities coming through are so wonderful. Delia is holding a purse and ice cream cone, Sade is holding a book and has a cardigan on and baby—what can I say? Brilliant.

she is now 8.

My newly turned 8 year old had a lovely birthday, complete with a new pogo stick, a fishing pole, and comics. She requested this dress a bit back and I finished it a few weeks ago. She wanted me to sew an "acting dress" for her and this was the pattern she decided on that was the most like her sketch. The sleeves were the most important part. I used McCalls 6141 and she chose the colors. I pushed her a bit to try and move away from pink, but she insisted, as she should, and I figure I can make one for myself if I want a different color, you know?

This pose was 100% her. She just went into character. It killed me. Especially seeing her 5 minutes later at the breakfast table, reading comics and eating her peanutbutter toast still dressed up—veil and all.

After she tried it on she declared it her Guinevere Dress and asked if she could be Queen Guinevere for Halloween. Be still my beating heart.

Here's some additional info:

• This was really fun to make. It took a while and I worked on it at a very slow pace. Both the fabrics and the trim I got at Fabric Depot.
• I love the iridescent pink fabric. It's woven with gold, making it a sort of warm peachy-pink. Neither fabrics are at all itchy—which is the top complaint of store bought costumes.
• The white fabric has these tiny pleats, which was wonderful for texture, but a horrible fabric to sew with. I was lazy and didn't stay stitch and it stretched like crazy. I'd say avoid it, or be committed to stay stitching every piece, and even then it will grow on you.
• It runs big making it nice to grow into, but it can gt a bit shifty. I use some safety pins to draw up the shoulders in the back sometimes.
• The veil was really easy, just the trim ribbon and some soft tulle. The ribbon is stitched on top of elastic so there is a bit of give and the tulle is stitched on top of that . No finishing is needed on the tulle.
• The belt and tassel were added for drama. You know, how can I not use gold cording? I also gathered the bodice front because it was too big and I ditched the eyelets in the back and used 3 gold buttons instead that look like coins, and they ended up being a favorite detail of hers.
• In the past I have shopped at thrift shops for costumes like this—ones that had a ton of yardage and multiple layers, because they cost a lot to make and require a lot of fabric. But, they itch, are badly made, and just don't feel good to play in for more than 10 minutes. Plus, the girls are into designing what they want to wear and like choosing the fabrics and seeing the patterns, so it seems like a good transition into sewing these ourselves. This wasn't terribly expensive to make, about $45 all said and done, and it's lined on the bodice and sleeves (with a cotton flannel from a bed sheet) and lovely and totally worth it to me.