Fashion

Over the course of my life to date, I've made many things.  Several memorable ventures stick out in my mind such as:

• Glitter Play-Doh earrings with needles sticking out of them that I expected my mother to wear
• The classic I Love You Mom alphabet necklace--white round alphabet beads strung on hot pink flimsy thread as the "necklace" portion)
• A yellow gingham curtain for what I called the "playhouse," which in reality was a pig house with a flat metal roof that sat on the other side of the fence in my backyard.  Don't worry, there were no pigs in there.  Oh, and I wanted blue, teal and fuchsia sequin trim on it...
• Candles shaped and scented like desserts, such as cupcakes and chocolate chip cookies
• Glycerin soaps--once I made my grandmother a bar of cinnamon and oatmeal soap, in which all the contents sunk to the bottom of the bar.  :(

My days of craft have since improved and look more handmade in what I hope is an aesthetic way and not in a my-ten-year-old-made-this-for-you way.  I've become totally addicted to sewing apparel.  It's turning into my thing...Sewing clothing is great for me because I really enjoy sewing (so I'm going to spend the time and money on it anyway), and if I can wear what I sew then I don't have to buy as many clothes (not that I really have to buy clothes, but what girl doesn't like a new shirt every once in a while?). 

I have a suggestion for beginning apparel seamstresses:  start with a simple, A-line skirt, maybe even a wrap skirt (that was my first apparel project).  Skirts are more forgiving than shirts, as I learned when making my second piece of apparel, this white shirt.  And also, it is a good idea to become familiar with garment construction in general, as it will save you a lot of time.

If you're a super seamstress and/or thinking of opening a sweatshop to produce your fabulous designs (or you feel like doing something silly), you should play this game.  Fashion Incubator wrote a little review for it if you're interested in reading it. 

Yesterday, I ran across a craft that I'd never heard of or even considered.  It involves violently shaking a printer.  Check it out.

For dinner the other night, I fashioned a chicken parmigiana casserole.  I love casseroles for two reasons, deliciousness and longevity.  Hip hip hooray for casseroles! 

 Here's the recipe:

1/2 box thin spaghetti cooked al dente

2-3 cooked chicken breasts, cubed (I used a Rotisserie chicken)

1 1/2 jars red spaghetti sauce of your choice (I used 1 jar of Classico tomato and basil sauce and it was not enough because I like it super saucy)

fresh whole-milk Mozzarella, sliced

breadcrumbs (I used semi-stale sourdough bread made into crouton-sized toasted pieces)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  In a casserole dish, layer the ingredients in the following order: spaghetti, chicken, spaghetti sauce, Mozzarella, breadcrumbs.  Cover top with foil and bake for 30 minutes; remove foil and bake for another 5-10 minutes until breadcrumbs are golden.  Obviously, if you want to get gourmet, you could make your own sauce or add some fresh herbs, but I was in the mood for quick...if you try it out, tell me how it goes!

Friday, I'm in Love (even though it's Saturday)

...with this red cabbage plant that my dad and mom are growing in their garden!  It looks like a giant flower, yeah?

...with this quilt my great grandmother made out of fabric from which my grandmother sewed clothes for my mom and her three sisters when they were young girls.

Look at the fan quilting she did by hand.  I loved seeing this quilt; I'd love to hand-quilt sometime.

Have a great weekend, friends!

This Ole House

Friends, I introduce you to the cottage.  Below are just a few photos to give you a sneak peek before coming to visit!

I am obsessed with these double doors and am trying to decide what kind of wreath/door hanging to put together for it...any ideas?

This is the living room (My dad made the coffee table, isn't it awesome!  He made an extra special table that is sitting beside my bed in my bedroom, which I'll show you at a later date.).

This is the mantle in my bedroom.  My great aunt gave me those vintage wooden spools of thread from her sewing stash, along with two gorgeous framed needlepoint canvases that she made in 1967, which are hanging on both sides of the turquoise mirror.  Those little white bud vases were my grandmother's and they match a lamp that is on the far left side of the mantle, which you cannot see in this photo.

I like to remind myself that most things are a work in progress (unless it's a finished sewing or knitting project, hehe), so while the new house isn't perfect, it's good for right now.  :)

H.'s mom gave me four tomato plants that needed reviving, two pink Germans and two Mr. Stripeys (my favorite tomato ever), so I replanted them and will hopefully have fresh tomatoes by the end of August!  It's my first potted tomato garden, so we'll see how it goes.  Happy Monday!

Friday, I'm in Love

...with my green toes!  I got my second ever pedicure yesterday after work, and to follow the summer 2011 trend, I went with a bold, non-conventional color.  China Glaze's Four Leaf Clover.  I kind of love it.  What do you think, too much?

Below is a long-awaited photo of the first shirt I ever made:  the Amy Butler Anna Tunic.  To new apparel seamstresses, I would not recommend sewing a shirt for your first project; I kind of had a tiny meltdown, which included H. telling me that I turned into an R. monster.  I would not recommend trying an Amy Butler pattern for your first piece of homesewn clothing either.  While they have a very professional and finished look, I got really frustrated by my amateurness and not knowing exactly how to do everything the pattern asked me to do.  The instructions were very thorough, but as my second apparel project, I did not enjoy making it, which defeats the purpose in my opinion.  However, I learned a lot on this project and I do love wearing it!

The red fabric used for the brooch matches the fabric-covered buttons

on the back of the blouse, my favorite part of the shirt.

Also, check out this sweet link for 52 free dress patterns! 

Dear Journal

I opened my journal up this morning and it flipped to an earlier entry dated February 22, 2008.  This is the only thing I wrote that day:

When I hear the word "scholar," I think of chocolate chip waffles.

That's the stuff journal entries are made of...

Friday, I'm in Love

...with my red skirt with white polka dots!  Get ready for me, July 4 because it's soooo on!  I may take a bite out of history on Monday and hit up the "the great birthday of our republic" celebration at Monticello.  Gotta do TJ proud by rocking the red skirt!

  

...with the below image I spotted on A Cup of Jo.  It's in Norway; wouldn't you kill to be there right now?

...with Clementine Izze!  There's nothing like a big slab of chocolate cake and one of these babies in the middle of summer.  Fruit juice + sparkling water.  Get some.

In love with anything this Friday?  Have a wonderful weekend!

Friday, I'm in Love

...with my new house!  It's sooo cute, y'all; I can't wait to show some pictures of it.  A. and I are finishing up the kitchen tonight.  It's been really hard for us to cook at the new place (and eat, really) because we've been doing prep work for food/meals on the kitchen table.  Therefore, we picked up a totally sweet stainless steel worktable for counter space.  Sam's Club, you rock.  It was the cheapest one around, and it holds up to 1000 pounds.  I don't know why I got really excited about the weight capacity because we're not planning on putting anything remotely that heavy onto the table, but the point is, we could if we wanted to...

On Tuesday night, I christened the oven with my chocolate chip pear yogurt cake, and it did a very fine job.   As of tomorrow morning, though, kitchen activity should be LIVE in the sense of, routines will be formed, serving dishes and fondue pots will have found their permanent homes and normal operations can take place with ease.  Yessssss.  

I've decided to do a series on Fridays called Friday, I'm in Love (Rock it, The Cure!).  It may be a summer 2011 trend, or it may become a permanent staple on R. in the Real World.  Maybe we'll have a vote at the end of August?  In such postings you may read about a fabric, a flavor, a trend, a funny story, a person, a color, an R. kitchen staple, a picture, etc.  So for today I have two:  my new cottage and the organic blueberries I got at the Pen Park Farmer's Market on Tuesday. I used to hate blueberries because I thought they tasted super grainy, but then I discovered that I was eating all the wrong blueberries.  Sheesh.  Have a wonderful weekend!

At Last

...Niknak got married on Saturday!  I can't say enough wonderful things about the wedding; Niknak and Al rocked, the people rocked, the event rocked, the food rocked, and the list goes on and on.  You can see a sneak preview of one of her wedding photos here by Katelyn James, who is an awesome photographer and such a sweet person.

What else is new...

I have officially moved!  Did I tell you about my awesome new cottage?  I can't remember.  It was built as a bed and breakfast in the 1930's, it has a working fire place in every room except the two bathrooms (aka, a mantle to decorate in every room), it has hardwood floors, and it has laundry machines (Thank You, Jesus.)!  It's in a really cute neighborhood in Charlottesville and I'm excited to share some pictures, as I'm sure most of you think I've completely quit snapping photos these days.  Oh, and all the walls are white, which I think is nothing short of classic in an old house.  My new roomie A. and I are in the process of moving stuff in, and I have some cleaning to do at my old apartment, but I'm just so happy my big move is out of the way.  It's kind of hard to have a big move when you're just going a few miles down the road, versus across the country, because you get in this mindset with all the little things:  Well, I'll just leave that here for now and take it over to the new place.  And then you end up driving back and forth until you get nauseated.  Anyone with me on this one?

Oh, and I made Julia Child's French onion soup recently.  It was so delicious I couldn't believe I made it.  Seriously, make it, it's one of the cheapest meals you can fix.  It got me out of my cooking strike, even though I've been wanting to go to Chipotle every night for dinner. 

Great Balls of Fire

Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire, it's been forever since I posted.  I mean, I just went to Design*Sponge and didn't even know that they'd given their website a whole new facelift.  What's become of me?

I like posting in lists because that's what my life has consisted of lately:

• The lease on the cottage my friend A. and I are renting starts TODAY, praise the Lord.  I've been fighting sewing curtains until I get moved in.

• The Crafterdinner girls and I are having a jumbo YARD SALE this coming Saturday in Charlottesville.  I'm literally up to ears in boxes at my current apartment.  There's hardly room to walk.  

• Thank you, Lord, for linen.  I just ordered some linen trousers for this 95 degree summer weather so I can look semi-professional at work and not be miserable in the attire.

• Happy anniversary to my mom and dad; they've been married for 31 years today.  They are awesome.  Speaking of weddings, Niknak is getting married in less than two weeks.  Zomg.

• It's June.  Does this blow anyone else's mind?

Here's to celebrating slacker bloggers (that's me)!  This slogan should read more like, "Here's to bloggers who have real lives and live them!"  :)  Sorry for the sarcasm.  Tootles for now.

Tie Dye on the Highway

I'd like to tell you that this post is about a lovely sunset while driving down the highway,but it is not.  It is, however, about a dyeing experience I had yesterday morning.  I've been getting up earlier than usual and doing productive things before going to work like cutting fabric, sewing and laundering.  It's a new thing I've begun doing (getting out of bed earlier) because well, who doesn't like being productive?  Yesterday's morning project was dyeing.

Let me rewind and give you a brief view of my April (I'm making excuses for not blogging, obviously).  H. was sworn in at the U.S. Supreme Court, then his birthday was the same week (then a birthday party where we made 13.5 pounds of barbecue), and then I finished my white shirt I told you guys about (pictures later).  Oh, and I designed and sewed a skirt last week, which was really fun (pictures later).  I'm kind of obsessed with fabric-covered buttons right now (as evidenced by the buttons on the back of my white shirt I'm going to show later), so that's how I wanted the skirt to close in the back; the only problem was that I didn't leave the opening large enough, meaning that I must put the skirt on over my head to wear it.  How do mistakes help us?  They force us to learn and grow.  Moving on now.

I am making a brooch to sit atop my newly sewn and flawed white shirt.  The buttons I used on the shirt were covered with a lovely red floral print fabric, from which I cut pieces for my brooch.  The little flowers are slightly pink, so for the center of my brooch I wanted to use some slightly pink fabric.  This is what led me to dyeing.

I had some leftover white Swiss dot fabric from my shirt, so I cut a couple of swatches of it to dye.  Keep in mind that what I'm getting ready to describe happened in about 15 minutes and that I have no experience with dyeing other than with tea.  I filled a bowl with Ocean Spray 100%, no sugar added, cranberry juice, put two little pieces of fabric in the bowl and stirred.  I vaguely remembered reading somewhere that adding vinegar during one of the dyeing steps helps to set the color, so I added a little bit of vinegar (no measuring involved).  Once the color was a tidbit darker than I wanted it, I took the fabric pieces out of the cranberry juice and rinsed them with water.  

My concern with using the Ocean Spray juice to dye the fabric was that I wanted to make sure to get any sugar from the juice rinsed out of the fabric.  What happened next still puzzles me, in a, I-haven't-really-looked-into-the-situation-any-further, kind of way:  I put a dab of Arm & Hammer's perfume-and-dye-free laundry detergent on the fabric pieces and ran them under some cold water.  I don't remember the exact moment at which this happened, but when I put the detergent on the fabric and ran it under cold water, both pieces of fabric turned a gross, greenish gray, snot color!  I needed to leave for work in less than five minutes, so I was a little peeved about the unexpected color change; therefore, I rinsed the green color out of the fabric, dipped it in more cranberry juice for about one minute and then rinsed it off with water.  I thought, to heck with getting the sugar out, then I hung it up to dry.  When I got home, I was able to use the fabric for the center of my new brooch, and it was the perfect color, yay!  Feel free to laugh at my amateur dyeing, but it got the job done in the long run.  And the project was for me, which is different than if I would have been selling the thing.  As with the many things in life, it's about the journey, not the arrival, yeah?