I love some vintage sewing

I’ve been working on a pretty ambitious Halloween costume for the past few weeks (pics to follow this weekend!) and as a result have been doing some browsing online of costume sewing and vintage sewing.  I’m especially interested in Regency and Elizabethan costuming, but I’m also drawn to 50’s vintage patterns.  Maybe it’s the idea that if I were to sew these patterns I could actually wear them in public places and feel well-dressed.  Either way, I’ve found some really great websites in the process and I felt like it was my duty to share, here are the latest and greatest in no particular order:

Gertie’s New Blog for Better Sewing - The title is a play on words, Gertie is working her way Julie and Julia style through the 14 sewing patterns in a 1952 learn-as-you-go book “Vogue’s New Book for Better Sewing” and her daily posts are not only witty, but her sewing is downright impressive.

The Historical Sewing Blog - These two ladies are master costumers and tend to focus on Victorian and Civil War era dress-making.  There are tons of pictures of their personal costumes as well as from Costume College, which I would love to attend someday.  Just think, you get to dress in period clothing every day and learn about sewing!

The Period Movie Review - I cannot say enough good things about this website, tons and tons of popular movies and tv series (lots of BBC!) are reviewed on historical accuracy and costuming from old black and white favorites to the most recent Austen films and even several sci-fi/fantasy films.  If there is a period movie you really like it’s probably here and many have in depth costume photos as well as production photos taken during filming but never seen on screen.  It’s very interesting to read about which movies were more accurate than others in terms of what people would have actually worn and general costuming details that help develop characters.  Definitely worth checking out, it’s probably my favorite new blog of the moment.

Ok, well enjoy checking these out and let me know if you see anything you like!

Houses and Puppies and Crafts… Oh My!

I’ve been on hiatus from the blogging world for most of this year and the guilt has finally gotten the best of me.  I do have some good excuses though: getting used to married life, going on an awesome Costa Rica honeymoon, holidays, BUYING OUR FIRST HOUSE (yay!), moving in February, decorating – which is a perpetual work in progress, and on top of all that in April we adopted a boxer-lab mix puppy who we named Maggie. 

Zip Lines in Costa Rica!

Shiny New House!

Maggie Moo!

 
It’s actually Magpie, but we call her Maggie or Maggie Moo most of the time.  She has the sweetest disposition in the world and is learning her manners very quickly; we’re already done with our first puppy class.  So we are officially a happy little family now.
 
Since things are starting to calm down, or I’m starting to get better at time management, I want to try to return to the blogmosphere and start sewing and crafting again.  I never completely stopped but I did get sidetracked and I definitely fell into blog silence.  I hosted a scrapbook party with my Creative Memories rep Mindy in June and had several friends who were interested in starting an album.  The party inspired me to host a scrapbook day for some friends a couple weekends ago.  We listened to music and had snacks and got to be crafty for a whole Sunday afternoon, it was a lot of fun and will definitely be happening again in the near future. 
 
I’ve also been working on a crate cover for Maggie.  Right now we are using one of Adam’s old blankets on top of her crate and I do NOT love it.  So I found some cute black fabric with little paw prints all over it and decided to attempt to appliqué her name on the top in a lime swiss dot print.  I’ve never appliquéd before so I’m using a tutorial that I found on the Sew Mama Sew blog and things are going well so far, everything has been cut out and fused, now it’s time to start stitching down the letters so I can sew the whole cover together and figure out how I want to finish the edges – wish me luck!
 
That’s all I know today, ciao for now!

say I’m the only bee in your bonnet…

I heard a lovely song by They Might Be Giants for the first time at a friend’s wedding recently and danced around and sang with my girlfriends wondering how I could have made it thus far without encountering said song.  It was awesome and fully of hippy-dippy happy and I had to have it.  I had to run home and download it before I forgot about it lost it forever and I embarked on yet another $20 itunes shopping spree.  Have you ever noticed that you can never download just one song on itunes?  I blame the links on the right, “you might also like” and “other listeners bought”, and while I should probably be mad at itunes for their manipulation of my love of music, I can’t be perturbed when I download a great new song that I’ve never heard before or yet another oldie but goodie from the 80’s and early 90’s.  Music makes me happy.

married life is sweet :-)

I haven’t been on here in a while, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been here in spirit!  Important things have been going on!

Me and my Monky

We are officially married now and back from our honeymoon in Costa Rica (which was AWESOME) and the general craziness of October 2008.  Married life is pretty sweet, I have the pleasure of saying “my husband” instead of “that guy” or “my boyfriend” and pretty soon I get to change my name and be all “Mr. and Mrs.” with my sweetie.  I’m kind of glad I didn’t do it right away, aside from lack of time off work in which to do it, it will be a nice extra bit of happiness after things have settled down a bit for us.  We’re working on picking out pictures from the photographer for our awesome modern wedding album, I’m really excited to see how it turns out, which means I need to get my butt in gear and pick out some pictures already!  I was really happy with how everything at the wedding turned out and really don’t have any complaints.  We had a great time and were surrounded by people we love – we couldn’t be luckier in the friends and family department.

In other news, our good friends Jim and Jenness got married this past weekend, which was a blast.  They are perfectly suited for each other and had a beautiful wedding.  It was fun to see the whole wedding show from a different side so soon after ours and get to play the guest role, I definitely got to eat and dance a lot more than at my wedding!  I know they’ll be very happy together and can’t wait to see them grow old together (*cough* andhavebabies *cough*).

So funny!

Bon Qui Qui at the King Burger

It’s better than LaSarah, and you know how much I love LaSarah.

Halfway to 50!

Hehe, as many of you know, today is my birthday… yay happy cake dance!  All in all it’s been a good one, I’m now 25 years old (halfway to fifty) and I have some lovely flowers on my desk at work thanks to Adam.  We went and celebrated my birthday and our friends Sarah and Mike’s first wedding anniversary with a dinner at the Melting Pot this past Saturday.  Let me just say that fondue is always fun to do.   Corny jokes aside, I had never been there before and it was a lovely experience, I highly recommend it as something different to try.   We’re also going to my parents’ house for dinner this coming Saturday with a few friends (considering the wedding planning we’re not exactly throwing any huge birthday celebrations around here) and that will give some local people a chance to get to meet each other before the wedding shenanigans begin.

I also have to give a shout-out to Mel who made a delicious cake for Tuesday dinner in honor of my birthday, it was super yummy and awesome of her to do!

To make things even better, our friend Sharla will be in town tomorrow to bring her baby Jackson in for a fitting for our Spring 2009 catalog at work.  We went to Adam’s mom’s beach house in Pawley’s Island with Josh and Sharla a couple weekends ago and I’ve been delinquent in posting about it due to the lack of free moments in my day.  I don’t know why I decided to start my first blog in the middle of wedding planning, but regardless, I will definitely be posting some pics from that trip soon!

the un-post

This is not really a post… it is a brief late night shout to remind all of my lovely blog friends that I’m still alive over here.

It seems that the wedding planning that seemed to be so seriously easy and non-time consuming seemed so because A) I had been delaying starting some things at the appropriate wedding-planning-bible instructed times and B) I was blissfully ignorant of the fact that I was rapidly approaching the “LESS THAN 3 MONTHS LEFT” mark. I have now said hello to the 3 month milestone, I waved at it as it whooshed by a week or so ago. I must say things are still very under control and not at all insane, but I do have some decisions to make and projects to work on in the next few weeks. I think that for me, having a deadline that is actually visible on the calendar makes it easier to complete things without getting so easily distracted. Shocking, I know. I should also point out that this timeline is also mostly driven by my mother who, to use her own words “doesn’t want to be doing everything in August”. Take note that the wedding is at the end of September so there will definitely be things done in August, and probably September too. Being the good daughter that I am, I’m trying to do as much as possible early to ease my mother’s mind and come September I’m sure I’ll be looking back and thanking myself for it, so everyone wins.

Hmmm, other than that I have a couple crafty things in the works… to be posted when I actually complete some/one of them… I also have been seriously busy at work, reading my blogroll, watching reality tv and finishing my latest book. Gotta love those crazy Europeans.

On that note, it seems like time for bed again. Goodnight moon.

scooby snacks…

The title of this post is a song by fun lovin criminals… I would not know it but Adam included it on a road trip mix that I recently stole and have been listening to on the way home from work.  I do love a mixed cd.   Unfortunately for me, once I hear a song – especially one with a catchy chorus – I pretty much remember the words forever… and they get stuck in my head like whoa.  And this is not really a song that you can sing along to except for the chorus, so I’ve been singing the only 10 words from it I know.  Yes, for the better part of the last few days I’ve been running around robbing banks all wacked off of scooby snacks, thanks Adam.

The point of the this post, however, is not to whine about the songs stuck in my head, but to share my recent crafty escapades.  First, I had a free night the other weekend, so at 9pm I started some pajama pants for Adam which had been cut out and were waiting to be sewn in my project bucket:

I think that for my first Adam sewing project they turned out pretty well.  He wanted them even longer but I had to stop the insanity at some point… if he really wants them to cover his feet I could always bust out some super-size footed pajama pants one day.

Next, I made a reversible tote bag from a pattern I found online at Loula Louise, I used some Alexander Henry fabric that I had won on Ebay and I have to say I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, being my official first bag and all:

Thanks for holding it up for the picture babe!  I took it home to show my mom and she thought it was cute, so I went ahead and passed it on to her, I hope she uses it!  Up next I’m going to draft my own pattern for some cushions for the chairs around our table (they’re a weird shape and nothing commercial fits).  I’m going to use some Ginger Blossom Fabric that I just bought and I think that when they’re done they will look lovely around the table.  After that, I’m going to work on the small version of Amy Butler’s Frenchy Bag before moving on to the bigger version and also work on my first dress for summer, out of a simple little New Look pattern I found at Joanne’s the other day.  Wish me luck!

At home for a weekend!

I have been busy and I haven’t posted anything here in a long time, so today is catch-up blog day. The past few weekends have been crazy busy, we’ve been to Gastonia, Jacksonville, all over Raleigh, etc. It’s nice to be at home for a weekend with no big travel plans to get in the way of my internet surfing or crafty time.

So anyway, in April we went to Gastonia for Adam’s step-mom’s 40th birthday and we got to stay with our friends Josh and Sharla and their new baby Jackson.

He is adorable, of course, and Josh and Sharla are awesome parents, of course. We had a lot of fun playing with him and hanging out with the new parents… I still think Josh needs a baby daddy shirt though! We also went to Applebee’s for lunch – where they not only do not offer the lunch special on weekends that we all wanted to order, they also didn’t offer what I ordered on Saturdays and so instead of asking what I wanted instead, the waitress handed me a plate of food and literally said to me “We don’t have what you ordered on weekends, this is the closest thing.” Seriously. It was not close. I still love going to see Josh and Sharla and in all honesty we’ll probably end up at Applebees next time we visit – it’s a love/hate relationship and we’re optimists about it.

Last weekend we drove to Cullowhee for Mikey’s college graduation – yay for Adam and his brother both being done with school!!

We had a good time, walked around Sylva Saturday afternoon before the graduation and shopped a bit with Adam’s dad and step-mom Diana, and went out to dinner afterwards with the whole family (Adam’s mom, step-dad, grandma, grandma’s husband Wayne, dad, and step-mom – his family is kinda large, but more about that later). Mikey seemed relieved to be done with school finally and seemed to be excited about the camping pack that we got him as a graduation gift. We had to drive home after dinner since we didn’t have a hotel room on Saturday night, and we ended up getting in around 2am. Needless to say we waited to do Mother’s Day until Wednesday when we wouldn’t be tired and grumpy.

Ohh, I was just handed scrambled eggs and bacon by my wonderful fiance… I’ll be back in a bit!

We booked our Honeymoon! :-)

We finally made a decision about our itinerary and got a quote we were really happy with, and a few days after our wedding Adam and I are headed to Costa Rica!! I’m just about to burst with excitement, not to mention the fact that it’s one more thing checked off the list which is always a plus in the world of wedding planning.

Wednesday we paid the deposit and officially booked our honeymoon with Cecilia at the AAA in Raleigh, who is really sweet and patient, I would definitely recommend her if anyone is looking to book a vacation in the future.

So now the fun part… details! We’re going to fly into San Jose and spend the night there in a luxury hotel, then transfer to Arenal (the site of one of the 10 most active volcanos in the world) and stay for four nights at the Arenal Kioro and then head to the west coast to the Guanacaste Province and stay for four nights at the Paradisus Playa Conchal, an all-inclusive resort on the beach. The picture above is actually from the restaurant at our hotel in Arenal, all of the rooms have panoramic views of the volcano! We have transfers and drivers arranged between all the locations and won’t have to rent a car and drive ourselves (apparently driving in Costa Rica is not the most relaxing experience in the world). While we are staying in Arenal we have already booked a Hanging Bridges tour and a Zip line tour, so we should have plenty of chances to explore the rain forest surrounding the volcano. Part of the reason that I like Costa Rica is that it hasn’t been completely engulfed by tourists yet and they’re doing a good job of enforcing sustainable tourism to preserve their natural beauty. It also doesn’t hurt that the dollar is strong there and they are famous for their hospitality. There’s still more research to do on side trips and restaurants, but we’ve got a lot done already and I think it’s going to be amazing. I just wish it was less than 5 months away!

We’ve also been working on the registry and we still have to pick out our formal china, which Adam graciously told me that I could pick out and if I need to I can just show him the two options I need help deciding between. Who saw that coming? He’s been awesome with all the other stuff and doing his hold the scanner job very well, so I have no problem taking care of that one on my own, especially since he recently told me that all flatware and china look the same to him. They’re all so different and it feels like there are at least 500 different choices! Men, gotta love ‘em.

This weekend is Adam’s stepmother Diana’s 40th birthday so we’re going to Gastonia for her birthday party and we’re going to stay with our friends Josh and Sharla and their newest addition to the family, baby Jackson! I’ve been reading all the updates on their blog but this will be the first time we see Jackson in person, and Adam and I are very excited to meet him. Don’t worry though, I will not be catching the baby bug until we have at least gotten married, have a house, and have maybe gone to Europe, haha. I might catch the Pottery Barn Bug though, Sharla has the best decorating skills of anyone I’ve ever met, her house is like stepping into a Pottery Barn catalogue and everytime we visit I come home wanting to buy all new furniture. This is where the house we’re buying next spring will come in handy, wink wink. Speaking of Gastonia and it’s natives, we’re leaving right after work tomorrow, so I suppose it would be smart to get my stuff together now… goodnight folks!