AWOL, but Not Entirely Idle

The reason I neglected to post last week (on the off chance any of my Gentle Readers wondered) was that I took a little trip down Memory Lane to reconnect with an old friend.

Tintin and Snowy on yet another exciting adventure!

I am speaking, of course, of the animated TV series (circa 1991-3) based on Hergé's graphic novels, The Adventures of Tintin, which Peter and I used to watch when Nickelodeon ran the show.

While the animation was jerkier, and Snowy's barking/growling less convincing, than I remembered (the picture was blurry, too, but that's probably because Mister Laptop isn't meant to play movies like the Roku-box)...I say, despite those slight flaws, on the whole it was fun to watch an old favorite again, and I was surprised how interesting and entertaining a less-than-half-hour flick could be. Also , it was so refreshing to see something where the worst thing out of anyone's mouth was, “you fool!” (although of course that still isn't very nice). OK, so there are some shots fired, punches thrown, people knocked out and an explosion or two. But being in cartoon format, it's not frightening at all, and no one is seriously hurt (no blood, nor even a bruise to be seen). This is a kids' show, after all, and made back when people still understood how to make good kids' shows, on the whole.

But lest you think I've done nothing but watch old cartoons, let me show you some pictures of what else I've been doing....

Black Mary-Janes: Thrifted; Black Sweater-tights: Hand-me-down from Mom; Red Coral Choker : Wild Rose Designs

At long last, I was able to wear “Jubilee” and have my long-suffering brother do a photo shoot. It happened to be Resurrection Sunday, actually, when this dress made its debut—and a loverly, sunny(ish) Resurrection Sunday, at that! Please excuse the uncomfortable expression on my face; it was chilly out, and the wind was drying out my eyes! Not fun. But at least y'all can see what this dress looks like on me.

I was going to make the sleeves puffed, but when I gathered them, they were so restrictive I could hardly lift my arms above my head! My theory is that it's because the armholes ended up a wee bit low from adding to the shoulders. For this year, though, I'll just live with it...but I intend to tweak it some more next year, after (Lord willing) I've gotten caught up with my other sewing. I've decided I want to get a lot of things to the Wearable stage, rather than spending the whole year tweaking a few things to death. :-P

On the up-side, though, it's one of the more comfortable dresses I've made myself (despite the armhole-thing); in fact, I wore it pretty much all day on Sunday, and I usually don't do that. I have a feeling this will be one of my favorite dresses once I can get it to my satisfaction. :-)

CU of embroidery and holes

So now that “Jubilee” is finished, I'm on to the next project: A Bodiced Petticoat! I got the idea from the ones worn back in Regency days—basically like a modern slip, only made in cotton or linen rather than (yech!) nylon. Regency petticoats were of course high-waisted, and I was going to make mine that way, too, until the Lord gave me this pretty sleeveless blouse. Because of a couple small holes in the front (see close-up) and stains here and there (eeeew), it ended up in the Green Cross barrel at work. But of course I couldn't let such a pretty thing be made into rag rugs or whatever it is they do with our “rejects,” now could I? ;-) So I decided to make this the bodice of my petticoat, adding a slightly Victorian/Edwardian feel to it. The stains didn't come out, and the bodice is definitely less white than the skirt, but I plan to throw the whole thing in a pot of Color Remover when it's finished and see what happens.

The first pictures show what the blouse looked like last week. This one shows the changes Mom and I made to it. Since the blouse was a bit too big for me, and I wanted it fairly snug (not skin-tight, but enough not to be bulky under a dress, especially in Summer), I planned to put a couple Darts of Doom* in front and possibly the back if needed, with maybe French darts in the sides. But when Mom fitted it on me, we found a false princess-seam worked better. In order to get the back to fit smoothly, we had to take “some...uh...*creative* darts” (quoth Mom), which I daresay aren't like any darts you ever saw. Whatever works, wot?

* Darts of Doom = Usually refers to tightly-fitted, boat-shaped vertical darts (also called “banana-darts”) taken in the front of a bodice.

~Tom's Dictionary of Whacked-out Terms and Old Family Sayings

I also removed the front button-overlap, as I plan to put a side-zipper in it (that way there won't be button-impressions in the fronts of my dresses, nor two back-zippers on top of each other). To pretty it up, I sewed a bit of vintage entredeaux (no, I don't know how to pronounce it, either), which belonged to either my grandmother or great-grandmother, in the center-front seam. I had to take out a bit of the trim and binding in the neck to open up the overlaps, and I may end up removing the trim altogether, as I need to lower the back neckline so it doesn't show above those of my dresses.

For the skirt, I cut up a cotton twill curtain panel purchased at Value Village...um...last year. :-P I used McCall's 8796, View B, making it long enough to be about mid-calf-length when finished (including the lace to be added), then cutting off about 10” from the bottom. The reason is that I have a couple dresses that are just-below-knee-length, so I need my petticoat to be above the knee so it won't show below the hems of these dresses. The 10” portion will later be made into a detachable extension for longer dresses.

Today, but God's aid, I was able to meet my goal of getting the bodice and skirt sewn together. Yay! I tried to take a picture of it in its current state, but Bro had to play with the adjustments on my camera for the photo shoot, and I don't know how to change them back! So y'all'll just have to wait until next week. Perhaps by then it'll be finished. :-)

D'y'all remember “Wild Irish Rose”? Well, Cousin Laurie informed me yesterday that it's finished. Interchangeable stones and all. And it's due to arrive tomorrow morning, according to the message from FedEx. PTL!

Copyright © 2011 Wild Rose Designs

Because of the complexity of the design, it didn't turn out exactly like my “sketch,” but I kind of expected that. Instead, it ended up looking like my original concept, shown at left. I'll be sure to get a photo of it when it arrives.

In other news—

Aw, you sound like an anchorman. :-P

Ahem. In other news....

KELLIE WILL BE HOME SOON!!! :-D

Until next time, Gentle Readers,

God bless,

~“Tom”~

Sneak Peek

With "Jubilee" finished (for the present, anyhow), I can now move on to other projects. Yesterday Mom and I sorted through our boxes again and prioritized our projects. We've set goals for ourselves for when we want to get them all finished...with a nice little reward for our diligence--lunch at Top of China, a buffet in CdA we've been wanting to try, and possibly a trip to Top This! for frozen yogurt afterwards. :-D Pray for us--we really need to get sewing!

It's been too cold out to wear a short-sleeved cotton dress, much less do a photo-shoot, but here's a sneak peek at "Jubilee" in its semi-final form:

Mirror pix--ugh

I just *had* to snap a pic after sewing the last stitch! Hopefully once the weather gets warmer, I can have Bro take some decent pix (or show me how to work the delayed shutter-thingie).

Until next time, Gentle Readers,

God bless, 

~"Tom"~

Silver Screen Blog Party!

Miss Tasha of Day by Day is hosting a Blog Party honoring classic films of the '30s, '40s and so on, the one-year anniversary of her Etsy store, Wool and What-not, and her own birthday. Whee! Quite the celebration, wot? Head on over, fill out the questions and link up! That's what I'm about to do right now.

But first, I want to share some good news with y'all.

Remember last week, when I shared how God had provided wood for our new woodstove? Well, this week we ran out of wood again, and of course the house got cold. Once again, I tried not to doubt the Lord's goodness, but at the same time I had to admit that I didn't understand what He was doing (or rather, not doing).

At noon today, our pastor and another fellow from church came over so that Mr. R could look at Mom's very noisy bathroom vent. Mom showed them the new stove and mentioned that we were out of wood and would need to go look for some. Next thing we know, Pastor switches on his cell phone and calls up a guy from church who “has a barn full of wood” and told him we needed some. The man said he'd deliver it tomorrow initially, but he ended up bringing it this afternoon! That's what I love about this church—they truly look out for one another. And now, thanks to God's incredible provision through the Christian generosity of others, we have a truckload of tamarack to keep us toasty again! PTL!

And now, without further ado, the Blog Party!

Here goes....

t h e q u e s t i o n s

{1}It seems to be standard procedure for blog party questionnaires to begin by asking you to introduce yourself to the rest of the party goers. Far be it from me to be remiss in my duty, therefore, do tell us a bit about yourself, in as many or few words as you wish.

Hello, my name is Tom (on the Internet, anyway), and I'm a chocoholic. Dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate—it's all good in my book. :-)

I also enjoy working with my hands—jewelry making, embroidery, knitting and crochet, and sculpting (polymer clay). I love miniatures and hope one day to build my own roomboxes to display them in.

I like fairy tales and fantasy, as well as old classics like Little Women, Robinson Crusoe, Jane Eyre, and many others, including Jane Austen's works. My brother and I could talk for hours about movie trivia if we were allowed, :-P and I learn my history through fashion. I mayn't be able to tell you who was president in 1798, but I could give you a general idea of what they wore!

I enjoy designing my own clothes (and jewelry to match!) and hope one day to have a wardrobe that is God-honoring, “modest, decent and proper,” that flatters the coloring, figure and personality He's given me, expresses my creativity without being flashy, and that is versatile and fun!

I love cats best of all pets, but wouldn't mind a dog or two, and I have a weak spot for teddy bears.

{2} What are a few of your favorite classic films?

• The Adventures of Robin Hood (Errol Flynn & Olivia deHaviland)
• The Mark of Zorro (Tyrone Power)
• The Wizard of Oz (Judy Garland)
• The Naughty Ninties (Bud Abbott & Lou Costello)
• Charlie Chan movies (Werner Oland/Sidney Toller)
• It's a Wonderful Life (Jimmy Stewart & Donna Reid)
• You Can't Take It With You (Jimmy Stewart & Jean Arthur)

And several others I can't remember right now....

{3} Out of those films, who are your favorite characters (not actor, character)?

• The Scarecrow (Ray Bolger) from Wizard of Oz. Ever since I was a kid, I've loved the clumsy yet cheerful Scarecrow. I even named one of my teddy bears after him!
• George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) and Mary Hatch-Bailey (Donna Reid) from It's a Wonderful Life. While George is at times a bit cocky and headstrong, he stands by his family and friends when they need him...even though it means sacrificing his own dreams. And I just love how, no matter how George behaves, Mary sticks to her childhood vow, “George Bailey, I'll love you till the day I die!” You can just hear her saying that in her heart as she goes through pivotal moments in George's life along with him. And after he has been particularly abusive and moody and storms out of the house, Mary doesn't collapse into tears and badmouth him to the children. No, instead she determines to find out why George is so angry and do everything in her power to make it right. I only wish they'd made George less disbelieving and reactionary, and more teachable, after Clarence shows up.
• Don Diego Vega (Tyrone Power) from The Mark of Zorro. At first he is greatly put out at having to leave Spain and return to California at his father's request, but once he sees how his home has taken a turn for the worse under the rule of a new Alcalde, Diego squares his shoulders and sets out to make life good again for the peons of Los Angeles. Rather like a Spanish Robin Hood or Scarlet Pimpernel, really.

{4} Share one of your favorite movie lines...

Just one?! ;-)

“Old Chinese proverb: Genius twin brother to Insanity, and sometimes one mistaken for other.” (Paraphrased because I can't remember exactly how it goes.) ~Charlie Chan at the Opera

{5} What is your opinion on remaking classic films?

If it's done with sensitivity to the origina'ls heart and tone, then I think it could be a good thing to bring a little color (literally!) and more modern cinematography to an old favorite.

But it usually doesn't happen that way. :-(

{6} How about colorizing black and white films?

Um...ick. It usually ends up looking fake and washed-out, and sometimes they don't even colorize the whole picture. People's skin often looks pasty and opaque, and I'll never forget Shirley Temple's gray teeth!

And on the opposite extreme, you have the Laurel and Hardy version of Babes in Toyland, where everything is colorized in fluorescent pinks and purples and greens!!!

{7} Name a few of your favorite silver screen actresses.

• Judy Garland
• Audrey Hepburn
• Shirley Temple

{8} Now a few of your favorite actors.

• Donald O'Connor!
• Bud Abbot & Lou Costello
• Errol Flynn
• Tyrone Power
• Larry “Buster” Crabbe

{9} Why are they your favorites?

Because they can act well, without it seeming like acting. In the case of Donald O'Conner, he could not only act, but he was an excellent dancer and had a good singing voice and hilarious, energetic acting style. That adorable boyish grin didn't hurt, neither. :-D

And about Buster Crabbe—he was the best actor in the whole Flash Gordon serials...and he wasn't even a trained actor! He was actually an Olympic swimmer and had never been to acting school, yet he brought more life and energy into his role than the whole rest of the cast combined (although, to be fair, the supporting cast of Conquers the Universe was much improved from the first serial).

{10} Do you enjoy westerns? Why or why not?

Not really. Calamity Jane is about the only “western” I enjoy, because the focus is more on the characters than to “keep on shootin' till there's no one left to kill,” as so many westerns tend to do sooner or later. The Indians are almost always the bad guys, and they end up in a long, drawn-out shooting match with the “cowboys” (or whomever), and it just gets tiring. I think the only “western” I've ever seen where the Indians are treated with respect is Annie Get Your Gun.

Sorry, folks.

{11} Are you a purist when it comes to adapting a book you love to the screen?

To some degree, yes. I do prefer a movie based on a book to be as accurate as possible, although I realize there are things you can do in a book that don't translate well to the screen. But huge digressions from the book's plot, or an adaptation with no sensitivity to the heart of the story—that I can't stand!
 
{12} Are there any film adaptations that you enjoyed more than the original book?

Yes, actually:

• Pinocchio. Bro and I grew up with both the Disney version and the made-for-TV play starring Sandy Duncan and Danny Kaye. Both presented Pinocchio as innocent, cheerful and loving. His “badness” is more out of naiveté than anything else. The book's Pinocchio is truly naughty, mocking Gippetto when he (Pinocchio) is still a log (!), running away, deliberately defying any kind of authority...and smashing the cricket who warns him to mend his ways. Yeah.
• Mary Poppins. If you thought Disney's finger-snapping, umbrella-riding nanny was rather uppity in the movie, don't read the books. Not only is she uppity and crabby, she's also so conceited that she stops whenever she sees a mirror in the shop windows and admires her own reflection (then scolds Jane and Michael for dawdling). Mind you, she wasn't all prickles, but one can't imagine the books' Mary Poppins smiling sweetly or speaking tenderly like Julie Andrews' portrayal of her.
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I didn't even get through the first chapter of this so-called classic because the author had a twelve-year-old boy spouting the H-word, (with a couple other profanities thrown in elsewhere), and some imagery that had no place in a children's book. However, the movie is squeaky-clean in that regard, and the story heartwarming and timeless. Bravo, Hollywood; you actually did something right!   
  • [EDIT] Hans Brinker. *Ducks under Everything-proof Shield* I know, I know, it's a classic children's story, and parts of it are very sweet and enjoyable. However, when our family read it together, we felt it was more like a textbook on the history and culture of Holland, with a bit of plot thrown in for good measure. The movie we grew up watching (circa 1970's) stuck fairly close to the book, but the plot was much more interesting. The other "children" were a lot nicer to Hans and Gretel, and Hans was actually invited to skate to Amsterdam with "Captain Peter" and the other boys, whereas in the book he was left behind.
  • Peter Pan. Having grown up with the Mary Martin made-for-TV screenplay didn't prepare me to discover that Never Land isn't some sort of happy Fairyland where life is all fun and games...if you're not careful, you'll either be shot by pirates or scalped by Indians. Nor did I expect Wendy to be a bit of a cat by spells, and I found out Peter's conceit had been toned down a couple notches in the movie. 

  Yessir, there are times when the movies are better than the books!
  
  {13} There are a lot of wonderful classic TV shows, but which one is your favorite?
  Aw, come on, you can't pick just one! ;-) Probably Andy Griffith is one of the highest on my list, though, because of its “Small Town America” feel and old-fashioned common sense paired with ingenuity (the older seasons, that is. The newer ones embrace the “question authority” mentality too much and make Andy out to be an old fuddy-duddy.)
  
  {14} After watching a musical, do you hum and singing snatches of the songs as you go about your day?
  Inevitably. Which is somewhat maddening, as I usually don't remember all the words!
  
  {15}Assuming the answer to the above is "yes", which song, without fail, gets stuck in your head?
  The peppy, fun songs with catchy tunes and clever lines, usually, although a well-done sappy love song (such as “The Street Where You Live”) occasionally stays in my head for days afterward. :-P
  
  {16)What's the corniest film you've ever seen?

Probably either My Favorite Wife or Arsenic and Old Lace. *Ducks under Anything-proof Shield* I can never take Carey Grant seriously now. He seems to have been stuck in the role of some poor guy who runs about like a chicken with his head cut off, while his whole world happily falls down around his ears. And in MFW, his first wife is such a cat, and he isn't man enough to tell his new wife the truth for fear of hurting her feelings. No offense to those of you who actually like these flicks, but I just couldn't stand them. YECH!

In other news, “Jubilee” now has a front insert! Yay! No more shocking necklines! I also installed the invisible zipper this past week and turned the neck-edge under. Sorry, no pix—I forgot my camera again. I'll try to get some pictures in my next entry—maybe even modeling the dress!

Until next time, Gentle Readers,

God bless,

~“Tom”~

“Prest-logs Roasting in a Kuma Fire....”

WOW. The Lord has certainly blessed us of late!

It all started about a month ago, when one of the elders at our church walked up to my brother and told him to start looking for firewood because “we're going to give you a woodstove”! The church was going to pay for the piping and what-not, and he and his sons would install it. And not just any woodstove, mind you—a Kuma! From what I've heard, Kumas are very efficient—they actually burn the smoke!—and keep a place toasty on less wood than other stoves. Mr. F, I should mention, developed them and owns the company, therefore he was able to just give us one. :-D

Cozy....

Last Friday when Peter brought me home, there it was, sitting in the corner of the living room all cozy and home-y. The place looks...I dunno...more complete with a wood stove in it. Guess I'm a country gal after all! ;-) But then, we grew up with woodstoves.

Lemme tell ya, that little stove keeps our house roasty-toasty; in fact, it went from freezing (despite the thermostat being set at 65°F) to almost too hot! But it's all good, as we can now open the windows (or even the door!) in the Winter (when it's not blowing or snowing or raining) and still be toasty-warm! Whoo!

Funny thing about the hearth they put in—apparently it was a discontinued color...one which matches our new countertops and our living room carpet perfectly! Is God in the details, or what?

Mr. F gave us a box of pallet-scraps to burn, and they lasted through Sunday night. Monday morning Mom and I took off in search of more wood, as it got cold very quickly after the fire died down. We bought 25 of those Prest-logs for a buck apiece at a place in Post Falls, and then Mom noticed some pallets in front of a pallet factory a little ways down the road. The pallets she saw weren't for sale, but the friendly forklift operator we talked to (the owner was off that day) pulled out a big metal bin on wheels from under one of their cutting machines, all full of trimmings, and said we could take whatever we wanted! So now we have enough to get us at least through the next week, maybe two. PTL! Hopefully there isn't much more cold weather left, anyway.

This stove has been such a blessing already—I'd forgotten what it was like to be warm—actually warm, not just tolerable un-cold, if you follow me. :-P It's meant some adjustments to our routine, sure, but it's worth it. And the best part? At present, I'm wearing a cotton blouse and NO SOCKS! and I'm not the least bit cold! Hurrah for Bare Feet!

Speaking of clothes, here are the promised photos of the alterations I made to “Jubilee” last week:

Underarm/side seam gusset

Second Underarm gusset--much smaller. Don't know how that happened!

Shoulder extension

I had to mark where the seams are because this fabric eats them alive! A good thing, too, as that'll help keep it from looking slap-dash. :-P

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to do anything more on it, as I found out I needed a zipper that wasn't black, purple, aqua or lime green! Those were the only invisible zippers we had, and while the whole purpose of an invisible zip is not to be seen, I still felt a blue zipper would be best with a blue dress. So Thursday Mom and I went out to Wal*Mart in search of one—no dice. But on the way home, Mom “just had a feeling” we should pop into the Hospice thrift store where I volunteer...and there, in the zipper-box in the fabric area, was a blue invisible zipper! A bit longer than I really need, but I wasn't going to kick a gift-bear in the mouth*...especially since the sale for that day was sewing notions 25% off. :-D Is that a God thing, or what?

...but I'm always nervous about putting in zippers (shoot, I'm nervous about the whole process!), so I've kinda put it off. Bad Tom! And then Mom and I ended up going to CdA today, so needless to say I didn't get any sewing done today, either. 

* Kick a gift-bear in the mouth: Complain about something received or purchased that was obtained through somewhat miraculous circumstances.

Reference: Taken from a line of the F Troop episode, “Too Many Cooks Spoil the Troop,” where Captain Wilton Parmenter, in frustration with a rank-pulling situation, kicks the bearskin rug given him by Chief Wild Eagle of the Hikawi Indians, and gets his foot stuck in its mouth. While helping him to extract his foot, Corporal Randolf Agarn remarks, “There's an old Hikawi saying: Never kick a gift-bear in the mouth.”

The phrase was then turned into a family saying in the early 2000s.

~Tom's Dictionary of Whacked-out Terms and Old Family Sayings

I did, however, snag this loverly letter-knife at an estate sale/antique store in Hayden. They'd lost their lease and had to get everything out of the store by March 15^th. Now, the Lord has put a nice wad of cash in my purse of late, and I've been needing a letter-knife (left mine in California! D'oh!), so I bravely asked the nice lady how much she wanted for this one. Quoth she, “How about fifty cents?” Sold! (And here I was, fully expecting to pay ten or twenty bucks!) The knife is the same on both sides and quite beautiful. I don't know what the symbol on the handle is, but I figure I can always epoxy a nice metal stamping over it—I'm thinking a rose-blossom to match the tiny ones in the handle. ;-)

Quotes of the Week:

Peter: (regarding the cheesy patch-job on Mom's bedroom sub-floor): “Well, this is bonkers sauce.”

(During a family discussion about some nasty shrew lady who chewed Mom out on the telephone...)

Mom: I've half a mind to call her back....

Peter: Don't call her back. Don't feed the Trolls.

Leave it to my brother to lighten up a tense situation! <3

Until next time, Gentle Readers (when hopefully I'll have made better use of my time),

God bless,

~“Tom”~

“There is Springtime in my soul today....”

Who would have thought that just last week there was over two inches of snow on the ground? Today the sun was shining (despite a couple attempts by the lurking clouds to put it out), and the lawns are looking twice as green as they did the last time the sun was out—Sunday. It would seem that the plant-life up here, once it gets even a little bit of sunshine, grabs it and makes as much of it as possible. Seems like one can practically watch things grow up here—so different from the slow, gradual change from dead, ugly Winter to vibrant, living Spring back in Northern California. Amazing!

What with Mom and Bro off to orchestra rehearsals once again, I now have Tuesday evenings free to update my blog! Yay! So while you probably won't see me posting here much during the week, I will endeavor to post regularly on Tuesdays. I know, I know; I always say I'm going to do something, and then I never do it. I beg your forgiveness, and crave your indulgence this once more. God helping me, I intend to follow through this time! *Halo*

Today being Sewing Day, I devoted it, with God's aid, to working on my newest project—“Jubilee.” Last week I took it apart, so it looked like this:

Mom has graciously been helping fit the bodice...which, it turns out, didn't need as much extending as we'd thought. Just a couple gussets in the sides, plus the almost three inches we put in the shoulders to get the Empire seam down in the proper place. And by a miracle of God, it's only taken a small part of one of the pressed-out ties to do it! 

Former tie/sash, all opened out and pressed flat

 As I said before, the ties ended up about four inches wide once opened out and pressed flat, and being nearly 18” long didn't hurt, neither. :-D

We ended up taking 9” off the skirt back panels and 8” off the front panels (the front was shorter than the back at the top because of the way the bodice was originally cut). This ended up being too wide to fit the new bodice, so I got to take up over an inch at the tops of the skirt seams...which I wasn't too happy about because I don't want to waste any more fabric than can be helped, and I want it fairly long. However, since the thing was nearly floor-length to begin with, and I was able to repair the honking-great hole in the hem instead of cutting it off, the dress will still be well below knee-length. More like mid-calf (“tea-length”?), which is where I like it best anyway. :-) Long enough to look elegant and modest, but short enough that it won't get tripped or trodden on or dragged in the mud. :-P

I apologize for the lack of pictures, but I forgot to take my camera out to the studio, and I was determined to get the dress finished today. That didn't happen, but at least we have progress, Houston! I'll try to get some pix of the alterations for next week's post, though.

In the meantime, allow me to introduce you to a couple of pet projects waiting in the wings, as it were:

See the snaps for attaching to a hood?

Meet Wesley, the FauxWeasel (although Peter informed me that he “looks more like coyote fur”). I know he's not much to look at now, but by the time I'm finished with him, I hope he'll look something like this (scroll down).

Wesley (named after Charles and Samuel Wesley, who wrote several old hymns) began his life as a piece of detachable “fur” trim on a coat hood. I found the hood in the Green Cross barrel at work sometime last month while emptying out the barrel. I expect the hood was in there because there was no coat to go with it. So I brought the trim home and gave it a bath...by hand. See, I've had bad experiences with artificial plush and washing/drying by machine (still kicking myself for what happened to Lucy Bear), so of course I didn't want to risk my little “weasel” having his long, soft fur get all shrunken and frizzled. So I washed him in the sink and let him air-dry, and as you can see from the pictures, his fur is as long and fluffy as ever (and now smells like Kiwi-Lime shampoo, LOL).

CU of Wesley's very soft fur

I must confess to a secret fondness for stone martens and the like, such as Jenny-Rose's adorable “Fred” (used very cleverly as a hat decoration!) and Alisa's zibellini or “flea-fur.” And Kellie's “Petrov” is simply too cute. :-) However, at the same time, I felt I couldn't ever justify buying/wearing something like that myself because, after all, some poor animal had to die in order for us humans to have its beautiful skin. Yes, I am a walking paradox, thank-you-very-much. No autographs, please. :-P So I put the idea out of my mind...and next thing I know, there's this fake-fur trim in the Green Cross barrel! I took it as God's solution to my inner conflict—the girlie part(s) of my psyche can have her (their?) fur collar/hat-trim/whatever, while my inner animal lover can rest easy that no animals were harmed in the making of this project. :-P

I removed the black binding and snaps, which, God be praised, weren't attached to the fur much at all, and opened the “fur” out flat. Wesley's original stuffing ended up in the trash, as it looked a wee bit grungy, but we do have more fiberfill if I decide to re-stuff him. Eventually I want to model a head and feet out of polymer clay (a gift from Uncle Dave last year), and trim down one end of the “fur” to look like a tail. I had thought of then chopping up the pile from the cut-off bits (plus what came off the edges when I opened it up) into fine fuzz and carefully gluing it over the clay parts to make him look more realistic. However, I'm thinking now that this might only end up looking like a mess, so we'll see about that one.

This silver filigree is what I plan to use on Wesley's head once it's made. It's been in my stash for several years (a hand-me-down from Cousin Laurie), and it's actually what this project was based on in the first place. After I saw Alisa's “zibellini” the first time, I came across this stamping and thought it'd be perfect for my own little “flea-fur” project. As for the rest of the embellishments...well, perhaps something will come to mind when I actually get this fake fur looking more like a weasel. :-P

*EDIT* Please don't think that I look down on people who wear real furs. That's not what I meant at all. It's just not something I'm personally comfortable with. That's why I'm so thankful to have Wesley. Thank you. /EDIT

  

Pet Project #2 is, at present, a dress that belonged to my Aunt Kathy, who died before I was even born. Grandma gave us her dress over a decade ago to use for the costumes in a play Mom directed for her homeschool choir, but I took a fancy to the dress and tried to alter it to fit me instead. I wore it for about a year before outgrowing it, and ever since then I've been pickling my brain trying to find a way to make a dress out of it that will fit me. But the Lord has finally gotten it through my thick skull that it's just not possible. 

CU of front. You can still see where the original (gaudy!) trim was

As-is, the dress is way too small (Aunt Kathy was TINY!), and it won't work to use it piecemeal with something else because, while I have enough velvets (collectively) in my stash for two or three dresses, they don't all go together that well. Plus this fabric—vintage rayon velvet—is too delicate to be washed every time I wear it. The solution? Make a hat out of it (and you thought that “dream hat” description was just made up for Kellie's Blog Party :-P)! I don't know exactly how big a hat this fabric will yield; I'll need to do some measuring....

It's actually dark royal purple with a bit more red in the mix

Here's a close-up of the embroidery on one sleeve. Imagine the purple chain-stitch as metallic gold picot-braid, and the little holes/circles as riveted-on sequins, and that's what it looked like originally. Yeek. This motif is the one I plan to use on all the triangular crown-sections, Lord willing there's enough fabric in the rest of the dress. The top loops will be in the center, where I plan to attach a tassel of some kind.

...but they'll both have to wait a while until I get my more practical (but still pretty!) projects finished. Considering I have NO SUMMER DRESSES and only one pair of capris, a zibellini and a velvet tam o'shanter are hardly Priority One projects, wot? ;-)

Until next time, Gentle Readers,

God bless you all and grant you success with your own endeavors!

~“Tom”~

Birthdayness...belated

A conversation with Miss Kellie a couple weeks ago made me realize I'd left my Gentle Readers kinda hanging as to my injured hip. Oops! A thousand pardons; that was rather sloppy, aye? So below is the blog entry I'd started shortly after my birthday...and finished just tonight. Better late than never, wot? ;-)

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Twenty-seven. Such a strange number. Seemingly so much older than twenty-five, yet a bit younger than thirty.
But I really don't feel any older than I did last year—not drastically so, anyway. Not like the change from 19 to 20...but that's another story. Actually, I've been telling myself that I'm “practically thirty,” so twenty-seven doesn't seem so very old. :-P


The celebrations began on Friday, January 27^th. Friday night is Movie Night at our house (meaning we watch something longer than an episode of Star Trek or Murder, She Wrote during supper), so we decided to start my movie marathon then and go clear through the next Friday. So we began with the BBC's miniseries of Wives and Daughters, which we haven't seen in almost a year. I'd forgotten how much I love that movie. Almost as much as P&P (1995). We watched Parts 1 and 2 that night and finished with Parts 3 and 4 Saturday night.
On Sunday night we watched Emma (circa 1970's). Not the best version, but it tells the story more fully than the Miramax one (although that one is livelier). I think my favorite Emma is the 2009 (or was it 2010?) miniseries starring Ramola Garai, but we don't have that one...yet.

Monday night we had to settle for something shorter, as we had Bible study that night at our pastor's house...and that's how I came to be lame on my own birthday.

Monday had been a bad day anyhow, as I *think* that might have been the day I had my new dress all sewn up and put it on so Mom could take the hem...and found out the lower sleeves were so tight I couldn't bend my arms! It's been like that all through the sewing process—every time I try it on, we discover some new issue. Now you know why the thing has earned such epithets as “The Purple Monster,” “GownZilla” and “LavenDiva”...when I don't just call it, “That Infernal Dress!!!” :-P

So, erm, yeah, Tom was not in a good mood that day.

We had arrived at our pastor's house for Bible study, and Peter pulled into the driveway so as to be closer to the house, as there was still some ice and snow on the roads. For some reason I decided to walk round the back of the car, perhaps because we were parked too close to Pastor's rather prickly-looking barberry hedge. I don't know. All I do know is that, one minute I'm sulking my way around the car, and the next half-second I'm on all fours in a patch of crunchy ice. Normally I'm pretty good at walking on ice, but it was so dark the wretched stuff was invisible. Nothing hurt, and nothing broke, God be praised, although I landed with my left leg at a funny angle. And apart from adding to the “stick-a-blowtorch-in-my-ear-and-we'll-call-it-the-end-of-a-perfect-day” factor, and a bit of stiffness, I was fine all the rest of the evening. It wasn't till Tuesday that the trouble began. It was as much as I could do to limp my way about the house! Very probably I spent most of the day reading or napping. And my knees were still purple and yellow for several weeks afterward. Not fun.
However, by a miracle of God, my hip was so much better Wednesday (my birthday) that I could hobble about much easier than before. So I was able to move about better while Mom and I attempted to make truffles. I say “attempted” because it's harder than it looks to roll flavored cream cheese in melted chocolate and not use too much. Especially when the chocolate decides it wants to re-solidify fairly quickly. Even when it's still in the double-boiler with hot water under it! (Plus the strawberry flavor ended up runny because we didn't thicken the berries like we did with the raspberry filling. Oops.) I daresay our confectionery endeavors wouldn't make Better Homes and Gardens, but overall they were still pretty tasty.

It's been a sort of tradition the past few years for Mom and me to go thrift-shopping on my birthdays, but this year I just didn't feel like it (and this was before my injury), so we planned a quiet day at home. I hadn't expected any presents this year, but by Wednesday there were several on the little tray-table we set up in the living room!

Birthday Basket from the R family, with the lovely card it came with

The R family (who live just down the street from us) brought over this loverly little basket of goodies the day before, since they were going out of town and wouldn't be able to deliver it on my actual birthday. Notice how nearly everything in it is purple? Apparently Kayla (who takes sewing lessons from Mom) was asking at her last lesson when all our birthdays are, and our favorite colors, etc. Hee!

 
The first thing I noticed was this dainty china pitcher, painted with violets—one of my favorite flowers...and my birth-flower! (Although I notice violets don't bloom until March or April up here.)

Next came a box of Wild Berry Zinger tea, a pretty candle, an adorable kittens calender, a lavender-scented sachet (currently keeping one of my new dresses smelling pretty) and a package of Good & Plenty candy.

A Barbie-pink envelope from my Aunt B and loving Cousin Brenda contained a beautiful picture which Cousin drew just for me! I'll try and get a pic of it later. Eventually I want to have it framed to protect it from yellowing and dust...and dirty little kitty feet. :-P

Lastly, Mom and Peter gave me my very own copy of Nourishing Traditions, a fascinating (and sometimes alarming!) cookbook that challenges what the Powers That Be tell us is healthy, and educates the reader on the practices of our ancestors and how to emulate them in today's world...or try to, anyway. We had a copy once, but a couple years ago I went to take it off the shelf it was sitting on, and discovered it to be soaking wet! The shelf was under another, and the ceiling was dry. There was no water on the shelf, and none of the other cookbooks were wet (although the one directly next to it was a bit damp). And it wasn't the cats, neither, because it didn't smell at all (until it started getting moldy from being wet, that is). We tried to dry it out, but in the end we had to give it a decent burial*...$25 down the drain. :-(

So it was nice to get another copy—for less!

* Give [something] a decent burial = Throw it in the outside trash can. This treatment is given to particularly nasty and potentially smelly garbage, such as moldy cheese and packages that held raw meat.
~Tom's Dictionary of Whacked-out Terms and Old Family Sayings

The rest of the day we watched the A&E version of Pride and Prejudice (which is fast becoming a tradition) and made ravioli (courtesy of Costco) and meatballs with Alfredo-marinara sauce. Yum!

The rest of the week we watched a few more special movies, but I don't remember exactly what they were now. I do recall us giving Ivanhoe a try...and then switching it off because it was too graphic. O.O

Now I know that some of my Gentle Readers really like this movie, and I am not in any way putting you or your tastes down. Not at all. But seeing poor Wilfred—shirtless and bloody-nosed—being whipped because he won't tell where King Richard is (what a way to open a movie!), a dog being caught in a net, roughly-handled, having a spear thrown at him (it missed) and then licking his bloody paws (those who've read the book know why), and then...oh my gosh...a bunch of Normans on horseback chasing and trapping a pig—a sow who looked like she'd had piglets recently, to boot—and then spearing her for dinner (off-screen, but still...!)--all in the space of about five minutes...well, Mom and I just couldn't stomach it. Like Peter said, it was quite different from the Jane Austen flicks we'd been watching all week. I know things were gritty back then, but do they have to rub it in our faces?? Eesh.

It was all I could do not to think of those poor motherless piglets...and tell myself that it wasn't real. Editor's note: Too much information, Stupid! :-P

Oh. My.

So we watched something else instead. And more Jane Austen-type things the rest of the week.

So that was my birthday.

Fast-forward to the present.

CU of the print

I brought this little number home last Friday from work.

I call it "Jubilee" because the print is so cheery! :-D It looks vintage-y to me, just because you don't see prints like this much anymore, and the pattern used to make it was popular in the '70s (although the upward-pointed Empire waist and flared skirt look seems to be making a comeback). And the little piece of white sticky-tape on the neck facing--the writing all but gone now--makes me think it might have been a stage costume at one point. What fun!

Because the zipper was broken, and the back seam had ripped several inches (if not a whole foot) below it, and the insides of the collar and cuffs were stained (eeeew), and there was a good-sized hole in the hem...well, had it come in any other day, it probably would have been thrown in the Green Cross bin with all our other “rejects.” But the Lord had other plans for this cheery cotton print—He wanted me to have it! So I adopted it...and as soon as I got home, I threw it in the wash with a generous splash of white vinegar because it REEKED of mildew. That helped, but it still has a faint odor to it, so I plan to give it another wash later.

When I tried it on Friday night, I came to the conclusion that it probably would have fit just about perfectly ten years ago...back when I was 17 and under 100 pounds. :-P So yesterday and today I spent my sewing time happily ripping it apart, with evil plans to alter it. (Incidentally, it seems to be more relaxing to dismantle things than to sew them up...bizarre-o.)

Anyway, I noticed that the sash/ties were cut on the fold and fairly wide, so I opened them up and pressed them flat. That gave me two roughly 18” strips of fabric about 4-5” wide. I sewed one of them into the former back seam (having disposed of the busted zipper), trimmed off the excess and am preparing to use it to add some length to the shoulders (so the upward-pointing Empire seam hits me in the right place; it was too high before). Then I need to:

• Add 1” to the bodice front side seams, as it's a bit tight still
• Shorten the skirt (taking off fabric from the top) till it fits comfortably when zipped up
• Re-do hem to remove hole (which of course is right smack in front)
  
• Make front insert, because the neckline on this thing is shocking! :-O

...Oh yeah, and sew it all back together. :-P

And since this post is already over three pages long in Open Office, methinks I'll stop now and let you all rest your poor eyes. ;-)

Until next time, Gentle Readers,

God bless,

~“Tom”~