Happy Birthday to my Wonderful, Marvelous Daughter!

Today my baby turns 24... years old! Where does the time go? And today, all 4 members of my family (husband, me, daughter, son), are in 4 different cities, and 3 different states. So I drove down to Macon to celebrate Laura's birthday with Kyle. Well, ok, I was going to Macon anyway to bring him more clothes, but it was a good excuse to go out for cake.

Happy Birthday, Laura!!

photo by Nam Nguyen

photo by Thomas Sands

(who is also her husband)

Weekday Roundup #1 -- Days 5, 6, 7, 8

These last few days have been a bit rainy and gray, and actually cooler than the entire summer. But who am I kidding? It will get hot again!


September 5

Top: Simplicity 2211, blogged here.

  Capris: Ann Taylor, several years old.

Shoes: I don't think I wore shoes all day.

This was the rainiest of the week, as the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee rolled through. My dancing partner is Danny, wearing his "thundershirt". He loves it! But I'm not convinced its helping with his dislike of thunder.


Thoughts:
The top is a twill, so a little bit hot in high summer. Today it was perfect. One weird thing about the top... when I first put it on, it feels a bit constricting, but as the day goes on, I stop noticing the feeling. Weird.




September 6

Raincoat: Amy Butler Raincoat, blogged here.

Top: Vogue 8536, blogged here.

Jeans: from the Gap, and they're at least 10 years old.

Maybe older.

Shoes: Merona from Target.

Thoughts:
The sleeves are a bit short on the raincoat, which is kind of annoying. The top has been in heavy rotation this summer. You may see it again. And the shoes... these are the most uncomfortable shoes I own, or at least in the top 5.


September 7

Top: Vogue 8151, blogged here.

Jeans: the same one's as yesterday. Yep.
Shoes: Liz Claiborne black flats. Better than yesterday's.



Sorry for the horrible picture. It's been gray most of the day, and lightly raining on an off. Blue sky has been spotted.


Thoughts:
You can't really see what the top looks like unless you click through to the original post. But it's one that I do really like.  The coverstitching has some issues, and I'm afraid that it will just start to come out unless I do a bit of repair work.


September 8

Dress: Vogue 2006 (vintage 1960s), blogged here.

Belt: Talbots

Thoughts: This is the first outing of this dress since I did a bit of remodeling. And with the belt, which totally improves the look. Other remodeling included taking off the front pockets, and removing the hand done top stitching that ran down the side seams and pulled them up oddly. Today was delightful weather, in the upper 60s F, and this dress is perfect. I underlined it with tricot, so it's a bit warm for those hotter days. My only other complaint is the too high neckline. Choking!

Wilma on Wednesday -- Butterscotch Slices

Last weekend was the kickoff to college football, and Roland and I are huge fans. "Our" team had an evening game, so I made these yummy cookies to bake during halftime.


Butterscotch Slices


3/4 c. shortening (I used a crisco stick)
1 t. vanilla
1 c. brown sugar (packed)
1 egg


Place in a mixing bowl, beat thoroughly.


Add 1/2 c. chopped nuts and mix. (I used pecans)


Sift together the following ingredients:
2 c. flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. cream of tartar
1/2 t. salt


Add to creamed mixture and mix thoroughly.

Chill dough. Shape into 2 loaves. I (Wilma) freeze these -- it makes slicing easier. Cut into 1/8 inch slices. (Can you tell that she loves to sew... who else would use 1/8!)


Bake at 400 deg. F for 6-8 minutes.

I shaped the loaves before chilling, and then put them both in the freezer. When we were ready for cookies, I pulled out one, and sliced only about 1/2 of it, and put the rest back in the freezer. Homemade slice and bakes! My slices were probably closer to 1/4 inch, but I baked them for the same amount of time. I like my cookies chewier rather than crunchy. Between the 2 of us we ate all those cookies in one sitting!

Planning Overload

I've been reading the sewing blogs, and have become envious of those who can plan their fall sewing, even down to a color palette. I've always been more of a "see a great pattern, find some fabric, and make it" kind of girl. However, it does seem like a good idea, especially so you don't end up with things that don't go with anything else.


So I got really ambitious, and pulled out patterns, fabric from my stash, and even bought new patterns and fabric to fill in some gaps. And then I made a list. All of that listing and planning became something of an embarrassment of riches when a friend pointed me to another blog with a great and simple project.


Homemade Sundresses for Haiti

Project HOPE Art recently visited an orphanage in Port-au-Prince and discovered that the young girls had very little to wear. She came home and started the homemade dress drive for these girls. A very simple project with a free downloadable pattern from oliver + s which you can get here. Before getting caught up in what to make for me, I'm going to add in a little sewing for those less fortunate. I hope you'll visit this website and consider joining in as well. The deadline is December.

Last October, my husband went on a mission trip to Haiti. This is one of his pictures, two adorable Haitian children that were fascinated with the digital cameras and getting their picture taken.

Road Trip: Fantasy World

Have you ever heard of Dragon*Con? If you're into sci-fi and other geekery, you probably have. I, on the other hand, would probably not have given it a second thought had it not taken place here in Atlanta. And frankly, no offense to those who love these sorts of things, I hadn't really thought about attending. It's downtown, and there was a big (and ultimately depressing if you are a UGA fan) football game, a free concert, and probably even more crowd producing events. I was going to stay home and sew. Yep, that's my exciting life.


But, my friend, Lisa, had other ideas. She had been wanting to check out Dragon*Con for several years. It was on her "list". Friday afternoon she called, and ultimately talked me into it. Of course, we had to go in costume, so as not to stand out. She bears a passing resemblance to Susan Sarandon,

You can see it, right?

and decided we should go as Thelma and Louise. I look nothing like Geena Davis, but never mind.


Anyway, we boldly boarded MARTA so we didn't have to worry about parking, and headed downtown. We ended up not really attending Dragon*Con, but did lots of people watching and picture taking.


Here's a little of what we saw. All pictures were taken by me, and I won't even try to identify who they are of, but maybe you'll know.

Weekend #1 Roundup for SSS (days 2, 3, 4)

I haven't quite worked out how I'm going to do my "roundup" posts, so bear with me just a bit. For now, here's what I wore Friday, Saturday and Sunday (the days that get the weekend designation).


Friday, September 2

Probably the self stitched garment that I've worn the most. I made it last year. It's Vogue 8575, and I originally blogged about it here.


Saturday, September 3

I went to Dragon*Con with my friend, Lisa (on the right), and wore the skirt I had just finished making on Friday! We're supposed to be Thelma & Louise... you'll have to use your imagination. Tomorrow I'm going to blog about the Dragon*Con experience, so be sure to check back in for a few crazy pictures! In the meantime, the skirt is Simplicity 2211, and it's so new I haven't even blogged about it yet.


Sunday, September 4

This was supposed to be a "stay in and sew" day for me, and a work on the path for Roland. Unfortunately, that machine on the right had a malfunction, and while Rol valiantly tried to fix it, he was not successful. So there it sits. And I'm still standing in dirt and not on the granite chips that are in Friday's picture.


Anyway, I'm wearing my "muslin" shorts made from Kwik Sew 3614, originally blogged here.


Oh, yeah. I did get a new dress finished. Maybe I'll wear it later this week!

Day 1 in a New Dress -- Vogue 8553

I finished this dress over a week ago, but I wanted to unveil it today on the first day of Self Stitched September... happy September, everyone!

This is a dress that I really should have read the reviews on Pattern Review because I might have made a few different changes. As it is though, I started with the 12 for the shoulders, and then graded out for the front pieces to size "Ellen". The skirt is pleated, so I just made the pleats a little less deep. I didn't make the self-fabric tie. I hadn't planned to anyway, but looking at the pictures on Pattern Review, all the ties just looked a little sad and limp. I made one other addition... you'll see that in a bit.

Why am I standing in the dirt? Well, to make the SSS '11 pictures just a bit more interesting, I thought I'd take the pics here in the space where my hubs is making a new patio/seating space in our backyard. Right in front of me is a huge pile of dirt that he has dug out of some other spot. You can watch the progress with me. Fun! Wearing heels was a bad idea.


So. Several of the other V8553 makers over on PR commented that the "V" in the neckline is really low. Mine was already started, so I thought of a different solution:

Can you see it? You can click on the picture to enlarge it. I made a thread loop on one side, and added a cute button that matches the light blue spots perfectly. Without the button, I get this:

Va-va-voom! Might be a good dress for a date night!


I think this dress will be a great transition into fall piece, changing it up with different belts and shoes, and adding a cardigan or jacket. Even a pullover sweater would be cute.


If you've read this far, fear not! I'm going to post my SSS '11 pictures twice a week, Thursdays and Sundays. New items will be revealed on other days, and Wednesdays will still be Wilma day.