Blogger Help? Non-sewy post...

I'm having some trouble making my gadgets show up - they'll show up when viewing individual posts, but are all mooshed towards the bottom when viewing the main page(s).

Does anyone have a suggestion of what I can do to fix this?

Some thoughts RE: Body & Costuming

1) Sewing can be physically demanding - bending, sitting, then standing repeatedly, folding, crouching....I had forgotten how hard it can sometimes be. (Especially after a year-long sabbatical -- I am positively aching right now.  But that also could be due to the fact that my body has decided that I have ridden the 20's train for far too long, and it is high time for me to start to feel my age.)

2) I almost always feel better about my body when I am in garb/costume - it makes a world of difference wearing things that are tailored.  This is a lesson I ought to bring into my every day wardrobe, but thus far, have been too afraid to do.

3) Conversely, most of my body issues are wrapped up in costuming, rather than every-day clothing.  Yeah, I hate my arms, but with my daily standbys of stretchy cotton wraps and cardigans and hoodies, who cares?  Fitted, non-stretch silk sleeves.....another matter altogether.  Flabby tummy and fitted cotehardie?  Only  when desperately cold/muddy/lazy.

4)Yet all the while, most of my (sporadic) weight loss*  has been at least indirectly related to wanting to look better in costume or being thin enough to be able to 'pull off' a particular thing without looking hideous and/or laughable.

*and eventual re-gain, plus more

My Favorite Toffee Recipe

1 lb Butter
1 c.  Water
2 c.  Sugar
1/4 c. Karo Syrup
OPT. 1 Tbs. Vanilla
(this recipe scales up really well. One batch will make a roughly 11x17" sheet of toffee)
Boil all ingredients in a heavy pan on med-high heat. Stir *gently* with a wooden spoon. As the consistancy changes, test by dripping into glass of ice water; toffee will be ready to pour out when hot toffee makes brittle strands in icewater.
There are temperatures you can track for readiness, but I prefer the old fashioned icewater method. After making toffee a couple of times, you'll be able to guess fairly accurately when the toffee is done, the color and consistancy changes quite dramatically when the toffee is ready.
Pour onto parchment paper lined pan.  (I like to pour mine on my parchment paper covered marble counter.... The thickness is perfect by just letting it pool) After cool, dab the top with a paper towel to soak up excess oil.
OPT: melt chocolate while boiling toffee. Pour over cooling toffee. Add toasted nuts, or whatever sounds delicioso.
When completely cool (factor in at least a couple of hours!) break into chunks, eat, and enjoy!

Turkey Hangover

Thanksgiving dinner was quite a success! It was so fun to host various family members, and get the kids together. I am so thankful the family pitched in on side dishes and setup, you guys are lifesavers!
My stuffing didn't turn out nearly as well as it has previously, but oh well, the turkey turned out fabulous, if I do say so myself, and the cheesecake, pumpkin and apple pies turned out better than I could have hoped. I somehow missed the mark on my pecan pies, but still edible.
As soon as I can get the dishes under control, it'll be time for turkey noodle soup.....one of my favorite things about leftovers!

Wow!

I certainly don’t deserve it, since I’ve been a Very Bad Blogger over the last few months, but woohoo!  I am now at 50 followers!
I’ll have to think of some appropriately seamstressy give-away to celebrate.  (I am open to suggestions…..)
With that in mind, I hereby swear that I will be a better blogger in future! (And I have the perfect opportunity coming up, since Other Noelle will be here to sew for a week….)

More Progress (sort of), and even more drama in the household

And the hits just keep coming......Last night Holly and I were concerned about the hollowed, skeletal look developing on one side of Tiny's face. I made an appointment with the vet first thing in the morning.
Basically, he (probably) has an auto immune muscle wasting disease that attacks facial muscles. At the worst, it could give him a kind of lockjaw in which would make it impossible to open his mouth. It could also make it painful to chew. Right now, he seems to not have any side effects at all, other than the cosmetic wasting. We are hoping that with steroids, it will halt (and hopefully reverse, even a little bit) the damage.
Anyway, after all that drama subsided a bit, I was able to continue to work on Holly's gown, albeit more slowly than I had intended.
I am hoping to get the skirt fully attached before I pass out tonight!
(Ummm.....my SD card is not playing nice for some reasoon! Argh! Pics forthcoming....)

Long time, no post!

It’s been a really, really long couple of months, but the short version is Hubby has been in the hospital for 8 days for necrotic pancreatitis, and had surgery to remove a portion of his pancreas and remove his gallbladder. 

Shortly after he came home from the hospital, my little Momo fell off the bed and broke his leg in two places.  For a couple of weeks, they thought it would heal in a cast, but eventually, it was decided that the leg had to come off, as the bone was not knitting.

Pepper in other various and sundry ‘crappy life stuff’, and I’ve not had a single thought put towards sewing for what feels like forever.
Now that things are settling down, I am hoping that I will be able to get back into the swing of ‘doing things’; especially sewing things!
The current project is to help my sister get my two older nephews suited up in doublets for their respective birthdays!
So far, we have all the bits cut out, and the peplums sewn.  A couple more serious sewing sessions, and we should be done.  Hooray!

I’ve officially withdrawn from the ACC, but if things continue to look up, I’ll probably try to play along anyway.
Also of semi-related note, I’m in charge of scheduling the upcoming Collegium, and I am breathing a heavy sigh of relief that I’ve actually had time to devote to it, and things seem to be in place.
I’m also co-teaching a couple of classes at Collegium, so it’ll be a long day!
I apologize to any readers I still have out there…..I promise I’ll be gearing back up to a regular posting schedule!

Long time, no post!

I feel I had better give an 'official' notice - "Adventures of a Wannabe Seamstress" is on hiatus for a little while.

I'm hoping to be back and blogging within a couple of months, but until then, feel free to browse through my blog.......I've added a bunch of stuff from my Livejournal blog if you get bored and want to look at some of my old projects.

Noelle/Serafina

Update

I've been posting to Facebook (a bit) and google+ (a lot) but have neglected to post here. Hubby has been in the hospital all week, and this morning, finally got a diagnosis of necrotic pancreatitis.
It's been a long haul, and surgery is still forthcoming. Anyway, hit up google+ if you want more of a bow by blow, or FB for general updates.
I return you to your regularly scheduled blogging!

Another informative posty post

This website, "Old and Interesting" is a font of information!

"Antique household equipment, furnishings, utensils - housekeeping as part of social history. Domestic life, household management - how people organised their homes and did the daily chores. Yesterday's everyday objects are today's antiques or museum pieces, and we may view them with nostalgia or curiosity about past ways of life. Old & Interesting takes a look at how these everyday things were actually used, how people managed their home life - and more."

I have an addiction to rose-flavoured sweets….

……and it is imperative that I try out this recipe! And even more awesomely, apparently it’s adapted from a recipe in '”The Accomplisht Cook” by Robert May (1660)

Rose Cream*

1/2 liter double cream

3 tablespoons rose water

2 tablespoons caster sugar

5 leaves gelatin

Directions:

1. Soak the leaves of gelatin for 5 minutes, then squeeze out and dissolve in rosewater in a cup, placed in a pan of boiling water.

2. Gently heat a quarter of the cream, dissolve the sugar and then stir in the gelatin.

3. When it has dissolved, remove from the heat and add the rest of the cream.

4. Pour into a wetted mould and chill until it sets.

5. Tip from the mould and decorate with petals or fruit.

~

I found this recipe when I went searching for something comparable to these delicious little guys:

I haven’t found anything yet, but really all it is, is chocolate-dipped rose fondant, so really, it shouldn’t be all that hard!

And while searching for a picture online for the Beech’s Rose Creams, I found out that there was such a thing as Violet Creams. (!!!)

I want to try these so bad…..Yum!

* I didn’t look too hard, but there are a few different recipes that call for cream & rose in some sort of boiled pottage pudding, the first more of a custardy pudding, and the second more of a gelatiny pudding. (Which is the one I would assume the modern interpretations above is taken from) I would actually like to try both of them at some point!

A boil’d Pudding.

Beat the yolks of three eggs, with rose-water, and half a pint of cream, warm it with a piece of butter as big as a walnut, and when it is melted mix the eggs and that together, and season it with nutmeg, sugar, and salt; then put in as much bread as will make it as thick as batter, and lay on as much flour as will lie on a shilling, then take a double cloth, wet it, and flour it, tie it fast, and put it in the pot; when it is boil’d, serve it up in a dish with butter, verjuice, and sugar. (pg.177)

To make other white Jelly.

Boil two capons being cleansed, the fat and lungs taken out, truss them and soak them well in clean water three of four hours; then boil them in a pipkin, or pot of two gallons or less, put to them a gallon or five quarts of white wine, scum them, and boil them to a jelly, next strain the broth from the grounds and blow off the fat clean; then take a quart of sweet cream, a quart of the jelly broth, a pound and half of refined sugar, and a quarter of a pint of rose water, mingle them all together, and give them a warm on the fire with half an ounce of fine searsed ginger; then set it a cooling, dish it, or cast it in lemon or orange-peels, or in any fashion of the other jellies, in moulds or glasses, or turn it into colours; for sick folks in place of cream use stamped almonds. (pg. 206)

Incommunicado

So, my phone decided it needed a dunk, and took a header into what what supposed to be a relaxing foot bath.  I have a replacement phone on the way in the next few days, but until then, if you need to contact me, email/google talk are the best methods.     :|

Oh! I forgot to tell y’all!

TinyMan is the very first UKC Altered Italian Greyhound Champion!!!!!
*SQUEEEEEEEEEE!*

“It’s hard work to be this cute”

(Also, that’s Old Man Mo sleeping on top of Tiny!)

In Which I Tell What I’m Gonna Post About Later:

1) American Duchess “Georgiana” shoes - After having them in my possession for almost a full week, I finally pulled them out and tried 'em on. I'll talk in detail about them later. (Probably)
2) Plan A B C D for Barons War Dress. Yes. I have found a solution to partlet woes, sleeve worries, and veil angst. Tis a cunning plan. (I’m going to pretend I meant to go this direction the whole time, no really.)
3) Awesomeness that I received today yesterday for Barons War
4) Ancient Greek "chopines". Awesome, right? Right.

My new car!

No, not really, I wish! (it was for sale though.......)
On the way home from spending time with Astrid, Holly and Gypsy, I saw this beauty on the side of the road and had to get a pic!

TinyMan FTW!!!! (non sewing post, sorry!)

Even though Tiny was an absolute terror in the ring, he managed to beat out his gramps for "Best Male", "Best of Breed" and "Best in Show"!
Way to go, Mr. Tiny!!!

It’s the little things that keep one going….

Recently, a couple of interactions have really buoyed my confidence and made me feel really, really good.

At Laurels Prize Tourney, one of the other entrants came up to me and said “Oh! You’re the one who taught buttons!” I was a bit taken back since I didn’t recognize this lady at all, but replied that I had, in fact taught about fabric buttons at Kingdom Collegium last year. She went on to tell me about the outfits that she had made for herself and her husband using my technique, how well it worked, and had even taught a lady in her group that very same morning about the magic that is fabric buttons.

It seems like such a little thing, but she was so excited about it all that I was walking on air for the rest of the day. I felt reinvigorated to teach even more classes, and to get back to some sewing.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the presence of mind to exchange contact information, and I for the life of me cannot remember her name, but mystery lady from the North…..you MMD. Seriously.

I also had a chance to catch up with Beatricia. I tried to explain to her just how much she has influenced me over the years, but she tutted and said “Me? No – you were already well on the right path”.

But seriously, this woman has guided my every costuming thought*, though I only saw her but once or twice a year. She has always been so kind and supportive, giving gentle criticism when due, and praising the positive at every opportunity.

She certainly doesn’t only treat me in this manner, but has always been this kind to everyone. I truly aspire to be at least a little like her one day, she is my hero, both in costuming and in deportment. I love this woman so very much, she has given me an ideal to aspire to.

*I kid you not, when I’m waffling about something or thinking about taking a shortcut, I think to myself, “What would Beatricia say?”

“Oh for heavens sake” Uprising Edition

I’m starting to panic about getting ready for Uprising, but feel better after digging through boxes and setting out outfits.  I’m kind of pleasantly surprised;  I have plenty to wear without digging too far into the ‘embarrassed to wear’ pile, or use the new green gown, so I’m pretty excited.  I went through and emptied enough tubs to (hopefully) carry all my crap. 

Right now the only thing I’m missing that I’m really freaked out about is my pulled work coif.  (there’s plenty of other stuff I would like to find….like…….where the heck did all my drawers and stockings go, really?!)  I wore my coif at Southern Regional Collegium, then I took it off to show how I had done it, then……………?

I’m completely blanked on what happened to it after that.  Grrr!  I cannot keep that thing in my possession for more than one event, I swear! 

I have a whole ton of stuff (garb, mundanes, bedclothes etc) to wash over the next couple of days, and yes, another shopping trip to stock up on batteries, baby wipes, hand sanitizer.  (You know, the necessities for camping!)

I also need to clean out my car and get an oil change, pick up the trailer and start packing for reals.

It doesn’t sound like a whole lot, but since I got out of the camping groove a few years ago, it seems harder and harder to get it all done!

Radio Silence Apologies & Barons War Update

Sorry folks, it’s been a weird, weird weekend, interspersed with not feeling too swell….makes for a bad time for posting!

On a brighter note, I’ve been hand-sewing the hem of the red dress, and the hem is now done.  (I never thought it would end…..I ended going around the hem four times in different spots to make sure the felt stayed where it ought to be.)

Some awesome new developments have come up RE: Barons War.  Jaquelinne has offered up her  black work strip for the red dress!  It will either become the inside band of a partlet collar or the front band of a camacia – either way, I’m SO excited!  You can see her work over here….go look!

Praksedys has offered up her skills to create lacing for the red dress, and that is quite a weight off my shoulders.  She’s an amazing woman!

Also, my brother in law has agreed to arrange the dinner.  He has been going above and beyond, and I am so excited what he comes up with, because right now we may need to invite the entire Kingdom to eat all the nommy dishes that he’s cooking up. 

Dressed pheasant via “of food great and small”

I told him that I had wanted Cornish game hens and spinach & goat cheese salad, but he was free to add to that menu; and he has completely run with the whole “game bird” idea.  (I *heart* wildfowl.  Like, seriously.)

Peacock served at a feast via  “History Undressed”

From what I hear, there is going to be a whole spread of game birds (game hens, quail, pheasant, potentially duck or goose), a couple of rabbits, and the crowning glory……….a roast peacock*.  YES.  I will have a peacock!  Instead of stuffing the poor bird back into its skin after roasting**, I’m thinking of arranging clean tail feathers at the back, and gilding the bird.  I need to do some more research on that, but that’s my initial plan.

Peacock served at a feast via “Larsdatter”

 

 

 

*For those totally grodied out by game bird and/or rabbit, there will be plenty of other (less weird) foodstuffs available.  I’m not sure, but I may be taking reservations to the extent of finding out how many people would need/want meats other than fowl & coney.

**I’m not entirely sure it’s hygienic, even if the skin is cooked (which may actually destroy the feathers anyway)….birds tend to be kind of dirty little critters.

Some people have feline sewing companions….mine are canine!

 

“mai sunbeam.  u can not haz!”  (Cozmo/Momo)  This one technically isn’t sewing-related, but he rarely goes upstairs these days, so he gets reprieve from the theme.

“mai kayoot iz too helpz you!” (Demitri/Meaty)  This is his favorite spot in the sewing room….under my desk cuddled up to my laptop bag, stack of bolt cores & bag-O-hoops

“best. nap. EVAR.” (Tiny Barsky)  View by my feet while cartridge pleating the other day.

“wat u mean ‘get off’’?! iz goggie bed!”  (Precious & Tiny Barsky)  I finally threw a towel over my cabbage bin so I could keep it somewhat dog-free.  Geez, the things I do for my goggies.

“we r helpin u hand sew!”  Yes, that is every dog in the house on my lap. *sigh*  I was trying to sew on buttons, but took a nap instead. (All of ‘em)