Twists and Turns

My last blog was about my lovely experience as the only witness to a crime. The blog that I wrote the day before was written when my feelings were raw. At that point, I wasn't ready to share the pictures from the competition. I went into the competition feeling as though I had a good chance of at least placing in the top three, and as I said, I wasn't even in the top six. As the week wore on, and the more I thought about it, I began to feel a little angry, but, determined. Then the final blow came, the judges comments. They said that the garment that I had created fit the criteria of the contest and that the garment was impeccably crafted and fitted. You can see from the picture that this statement is a given. No one in their right mind could say anything negative about the construction or the fit of the garment. The leggings did not have a bump, a gather, nothing. They fit the model as if they had been poured over her body. I actually draped the pants over some pants that I wore that day. The model even said that she has never and will probably never again have a pair of pants that will fit her so well.

But here is the part that I just couldn't believe was said. "We wanted to see the runway or boutique version, not the department store version." First of all, this garment could not be bought at a department store. Anyone who shops at department stores knows that the clothing is a mass of cookie cutter garments, nothing exciting, nothing different, and very little of it has any real style.

The two pictures above were taken at my station. I finished the outfit by 10 o'clock on Saturday morning and then had nothing to do the rest of the day. So I took pictures and then did some shopping. The first picture is a front view of the top and the jacket. From these pictures, it is rather difficult to see the top and how it is made. The piece that you see that is draped across the front is actually attached to the shoulder and side seam of the garment and then wraps around where it is attached to the sleeve and then draped over the shoulder.

The jacket is, I think, very interesting. It's actually two rectangles that have been turned on the bias and then sewn together creating a chevron effect at the center back. To form the "sleeves," I made buttons holes in the back of the piece that a belt slipped through and then tabs were sewn underneath to the front which held everything in place.
As we say in Texas, the best thing to do when you are thrown from the horse, is get back on, so that is what I have done. It took a few day, but at least I got back on. I decided to make some tops for myself. The first is exactly the same top I did for the contest only it is out of a cotton and spandex plaid. I absolutely love this top for a number of reasons. I love the play of the plaid and all the movement. The way the plaid drapes across the back reminds me so much of my celtic heritage. I have a piece of quilted plaid coating that I am going to make to wear with this top. It's going to be a fantastic outfit. I am going to have to be careful as the top goes with so many things, I could wear it out before I get the coat made! Only a joke, with as many clothes as I have, I ratherly wear anything out. By the way, the fabric I used for this top was purchased at the Needle Shop here in Chicago. The store carries great cottons, but they also have a selection of knits and wools. It's not a large selection, but I love the shop so I always like to at least give them a try if I have time.
The top below is the same basic pattern as the top above, just minus the drape. I just wanted to try something out. I made it so that the top can be worn on either side. It's totally reversable. On the blue side is where I did my experient. I made slits all the way down the sleeve, exposing the peach fabric from underneathe. Then I tool a strip of the peach fabric and tied the slits forming little bowties. It's really rather fun when it's on. If you decide to give this a try, test your fabric first and make sure that once you cut it that it won't run. By the way, all three of the tops I am showing you are made from two-way stretch fabric. The blue fabric is a tencel and the peach is a bamboo. I love both of the fabrics and they handle well together. I can't wait for ski season. This top will be great for apres ski evenings.

My final top is the same as the contest top as well as the plaid. The fabric is a wool and spandex blend that I also found at the Needle Shop. The pants I made last year. When I saw the wool, I thought that it would match my pants and it's as if they were thrown in the dye bath together. How lucky can one get? The fabric for the pants was a gift. I originally made the pants to go with a sweater that I made from some wool that I bought on one of our trips to Germany.

The sweater is from a vintage Vogue pattern originally printed in the 40's. Lots and lots of cables. My favorite thing!!

Since I wanted the pants to have a bit of a Bavarian feel, I used pewter
accents. Rather than use a traditional hook at the waist, I found these pewter clasps that work really well.

The back pockets also have pewter buttons. In the center of the button is a stag.

At the hem, I added inverted pleats and then accented them with another pewter clasp. As I walk, the pants have a bit of movement and the pleat pulls the eye down giving the leg a longer feel.

So twists and turns. Life does an awful lot of twisting and turning and sometimes the twisting and turning is very difficult to deal with. When my husband and I married, there was nothing I wanted more than to have a family. But regardless of what we did or the avenues that we took, it just didn't work out. So we took those twists and turns, we felt the pain, we grieved, but then we picked ourselves up and continued down our life road which lead us to hosting 11 exchange students. Some of the experiences were good, some not so good, but in the end, I would do it all over again.

The recent experience has been good in the sense that it made me look at what I really want. I am now determined to get my pattern line out which makes quite a few people very happy. At least two of my patterns will be ready for sale by the first of the year. A great way to begin the new year, a new year and a new focus.

Take the twists and turns as they come. The road will continue on and it may be a better road in the end.

Missing Vera

On Sundays I always make a special breakfast. During the week it's every man for himself, but Sundays are special. This morning I made my grandmother's biscuits. They were wonderful. The key is to use buttermilk and to cook them in a hot cast iron skillet. The recipe is simple;

1 cup flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
a pinch of baking soda
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
enough buttermilk to soften

Put a little extra oil in a small (8 to 10 inch) cast iron skillet and heat on top of the stove. Mix all the ingredients, the dough should be rather moist. Put some extra flour on a board and put dough on top of flour. Fold a little flour into the dough until it can be cut easily with a biscuit cutter. Pat the dough out until it is about a half inch thick. As you put the cut rounds into the skillet, coat one side with the oil and then turn over so both sides are oiled. Bake in a 350 degree oven until done, about 20 minutes. When I take them out of the oven, I put a plate on top of the skillet and turn the biscuits over onto the plate and then slid them back into the pan and put them on a burner on top of the stove so that they will brown and get a little crunchy on top.

My grandmother, "Vera" was such a special lady. She never had any children of her own. She was married to my maternal grandmother's brother. My maternal grandmother and she were best friends and lived across the street from each other. When my mother was 5 months old, my maternal grandmother was diagnosed with colon cancer and died 10 months later. The night before she died, she called Vera who was taking care of my mother, and asked her to make a pan of biscuits and to dress my mother in a dusty rose outfit that Vera had made for her. She did. That night my maternal grandmother told Vera that she was tired and could fight no longer and asked Vera to raise my mother as her own. Vera told me many years later that as she walked out of the hopital that night, she looked down at the sleeping baby in her arms, and thought of how much she had always wanted a child. This child came with a price, the life of her best friend and sisiter-in-law. My maternal grandmother, Lilly, died later that night. Vera became the best grandmother I could have. Not only was she my grandmother, she was my friend.

As I was cleaning up my kitchen this morning I thought of how I wish I could have Vera for just one day. But then I thought of how painful it would be to have to once again give her up as the day would draw to an end. So many nice things are happening in my life that I wish I could share with her. In the next couple of months I will share some of these things on the blog.

Although I can't have her with me to share a cup of tea and some wonderful conversation, Vera is always in my heart. I see her in so many things that I do. She taught me to knit. So when I knit, she's with me. She taught me to tat, crochet, cook, embroider, sew. My life is rich because she was a part of it. All I can say is, Thank You .

The Mouse That Made Cinderella's Dress

I have promised to post pictures of the dress I wore to this years' Zoo Ball. So sorry for the delay. The first picture is yours truly, a.k.a. The Mouse.I had the most wonderful opportunity to attend a Couture Sewing Class with Susan Khaljie this past June in Nashville. I had a blast and I knew it would be the perfect place to make headway on my dress. One of the best things is that for once I didn't have to fit myself. It was such a luxury to have Susan do my fitting for me.
Since last years' ball, I knew exactly what I wanted to make. I have a wonderful little black wool knit dress from the 60's that I wanted to recreate. The original dress is short, sleeveless and has a small stand collar. The ornimentation is what makes the dress a knockout. Around the hips are ovals of gold soutache and around each oval is a row of rhinestones. In the center of each oval is a slit that a belt weaves through. The ovals sit exactly on the hips, so when you move, well, you can guess where the eyes go. I wanted my dress to be white, strapless and have a small trane.
The first challenge was finding the right cording, in gold, to make the ovals. There is a great fabric store in Nashville, Textile Fabrics. From what I understand, it's a favorite among the country music stars. I found the perfect cording. This picture shows the stitching from the backside.

The coding was sewn into ovals. Once I had sewn all my ovals, I stitched them to the dress. This was a bit of a complicated process. In order to make sure that the ovals would lay flat, I had to stitch them to the fabric from the back side and anchor the entire oval.
Once I had the ovals stitched to the dress, I decided that I needed to frame the ovals with a small black cord. Although the gold was a very strong color, I felt that it needed the black in order for it to have some definition.

In the following picture you can see Susan fitting me and the rhinestones around each oval. In the picture it looks a though the rhinestones are pulling, but that is only because the dress was still in the fitting stage.

I brought the hat that I was going to wear with the dress and everyone was very excited to get a glimpse of what the finished look would be. John Koch made the hat. I just happened to be visiting him as he was finishing this hat. He had made it for a client that lives in Florida. I wanted the hat as I knew it would be absolutely perfect with my dress. Since this client lives in Florida, he agreed to make another for me. This began a search for elongated pearl drop beads that are no where to be found. I was heartbroken as John felt that he really needed that particular bead in order to make this hat. But, lucky me, his client didn't like the hat and returned it. She has dark hair and the hat disappeared in her hair. Since my hair is light, it pops. Again, lucky me.
I didn't get the dress finished while I was in Nashville, but made great headway.
Finally, the night of the party arrived. A friend came by to take our picture. I had held up the dress to walk through the garden to get to the fountain. I didn't realize that I had not straightened out my dress, but you can get a good idea of what the dress looked like. There's a bustier under the dress that is like armour. I love it. Susan introduced me to the best metal boning. It's flexible from all directions and gives the most wonderful support. If you are doing any type of garment where you would like to use boning, I HIGHLY recommend getting this boning. Susan sells it on her website, www.susankhaljie.com. The boning comes in lengths from 2" to 16".

In closing I have to say that there is something so very special about attending a special party in a gown that you have made yourself. That evening there were designer gowns galore. There is no better compliment than to be in a sea of designer gowns and have complete strangers come up and tell you how beautiful your dress is. Little did they know, I made it!!

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Pesto Pronto

Todays post will be short and sweet.
My basil is growing like a weed. I went out yesterday and picked a big bunch and made fresh pesto. It was wonderful. For dinner we had a simple pasta of fresh pesto, heirloom tomatoes, and fresh chives.
Pesto is so easy to make. I found this recipe a number of year ago in The Silver Palette cookbook. It's the best recipe that I have found. I think the walnuts give it a very meaty taste. My Italian exchange student said that almonds also make a great pesto, so you may want to experiment a bit.
I grow my basil, tomatoes, and herbs in pots. If I can have a little garden, anyone can. Just make sure your pots get lots of sun.
So here's the recipe. Enjoy!!!

2 cups of fresh basil
1 cup of shelled walnuts
1 cup of very good olive oil
1 cup of parmesan cheese,freshly grated
1/4 cup of romano cheese, freshly grated
4 cloves of fresh garlic
salt and freshly ground peopper to taste

Put all ingredients in a food processor. Process.
Congratulations, you now have pesto.

The Silver Palette Cookbook is a great cookbook to have in your collection. Mine was given to me by a very special friend. This friend had just earned her doctorate and had been offered a one year position at the Field Museum here in Chicago. Rather than rent an apartment, we invited her to stay with us. She introduced me to so many wonderful new things. So now you can reap a little of her generosity with this recipe.
Enjoy.

Dreams and Purpose

I have written a series of children's stories. The stories are sweet stories about the friendship between a little dog and a boat captain. Why on earth I decided to do the illustrations, I don't know, but it is my goal, my dream. Just today I heard something that struck me, "Your dreams are a part of your purpose." So, is this my purpose? Maybe for now it is.

Last year I received a card from the Art Institute of Chicago that listed the classes they would be offering for the summer. To my surprise, they were offering a class on Children's Book Illustration. Just what I had been looking for, so I signed up. It was a bit of a disaster for me. The first day of the class, everyone introduced themselves and talked about their experience and education. I was immediately intimadated and from that moment on, I couldn't draw. I tried and tried and everything I did was horrible. In that class I met a wonderful woman, an artist, and she told me that she was going to have a class at Lurie Gardens in Millineum Park. Here I was, unable to draw and yet I agreed to sign up for the class. Throughout the 4 weeks of the class, I struggled. She then told me that I could take an extention at the Botanical Gardens. Once again, I agreed, while all along I was thinking that I must be crazy. Thankfully, I took the extention because it was then that I had a break through. We were in the greenhouse on a rainy day and I decided to draw the elephant ear leaves in the picture above. I drew, I erased, I drew, I erased, on and on. Michele came by to check on me, looked down and saw my empty paper. I immediately told her that I had been drawing, but I had also been erasing. She sat down and worked through a quick sketch. When I saw what she drew, I thought, "that's what I have been erasing!" She left me to work and when she returned, she couldn't believe what I had done. I too was so proud. The above photo of my drawing is my finished piece. I am so proud.

What I came to realize was that I was dealing with something that has haunted me since I was in the 4th grade. We had just moved to Waynesboro, MS. The school had an art competition. The piece I did was fine, but I didn't think it was all that good. To my surprise, I won 3rd place. My parents were so proud. The following year there was another competition which I also entered. That year I decided to try something a little different. It didn't turn out all that well, but I tried. Needless to say, I didn't receive an award. When my parents saw my piece, they told me that I had embarrassed them. I was devastated. I stopped drawing.

Now here is what is really interesting, my father is an incredible artist. He could have helped me, but what he chose to do was break my spirit.

Why this all came up for me at this point in my life, I don't know. As much as I have struggled over the past nine months, I have to admit that in the end I am so very glad that I have persevered. The end product has been worth the struggle. I am now working on the illustrations for my first story. I'm still struggling, but each drawing is a little easier.

I keep journals where I write down whatever has meaning to me. I may read something in a magazine, see something on a billboard or even overhear something someone says. If it is something that speaks to me, I jot it down on a scrap of paper and then later put it in one of my journals where I can refer back to it as often as I like. There's a saying that I think is rather fitting for what I have just written,

If you no longer have dreams, you no longer have a life.

I want to dream for as long as I can.

All God's Children

This past week I had a wonderful couple of days. On Monday I left Midway and flew down to Joliet where I picked up a beautiful bird dog, Sassy. She had been in the Chicago area receiving medical treatment. From Joliet, Sassy and I flew down to Springfield, IL where she would be able to finish her meds and do some physical therapy and hopefully get ready to be adopted. Such a beautiful dog.

Some very good friends live near Springfield and I am the Godmother to their youngest child. They had time in their schedule to host me for the evening, so I stayed overnight. It was such a delight to spend time with the family.

During the afternoon, we went out and picked fresh aspharagus to have with our dinner. It was incredible. I've never tasted anything so good. Dinner was such fun. I enjoyed listening to the boys as they told about their day at school. Their oldest son invited me to come along to his choir practice at church later that evening. I think children's voices are like the sound of angels. After choir practice, we all went for an evening walk. Everyone talked and shared. After we returned home, I was ready for bed. As soon as I hit the pillow, I was out.

The next morning I got in the plane and flew down to Springfield, MO. It was a beautiful flight, smooth,bright blue skies. When I landed the winds were gusty, but I wasn't worried as the flight there had been so smooth. In Missouri I picked up 6 puppies that needed to go to Appleton, WI. They were just so sweet.

As usual, I wanted all of them. Within 45 minutes, the puppies were loaded, I had fuel and was ready to go. On my climb out the turbulance was horrible, but I wasn't worried as it had been such a smooth flight down. So I climbed, and climbed, no relief. I bounced all the was back to Gary. I've never had a flight quite like this one. It was a matter of just holding on. I am always very diligent about knowing where I am on the charts at any given time, but that day, I just prayed that the GPS would not fail as I didn't want to let go of the yoke to look at my charts. The only thing that I did manage to do was put in the VORs along the way. So at least I had a little back up in case the GPS did go out. The minutes seemed like hours, but finally I was able to get the information for Gary. The winds were very strong and very gusty. Gary was landing runway 20 and the winds were moving from 180 to 250, not directly down the runway. After 3 1/2 hours of bouncing all over the sky, I was so very tired. At that point I said a prayer and asked for a favor, please let the wind be down the runway when I land. I was cleared to land and as I was turning base to final, the controller said that the winds were 200 at 26 gusting to 32. My prayer was answered, the wind was right down the runway. I said a very big "Thank You Lord!!" and landed with ease.

As I pulled up to the Jet Center, the pilot that was meeting me to take the puppies on to Appleton came running out. He had been so worried about me. His first question was, "How are you?" My answer, "I'm tired." He said, "I'm sure you are, you've been kicked for the last 3 1/2 hours."

The puppies had done everything in the cages, peed, pooped and thrown up. I don't blame them, I felt like doing the same thing! Dennis, one of the line guys at Gary brought out some plastic gloves so that we could transfer the puppies. Warren, the pilot who was taking them on to Appleton said that he was flying back to Kenosha and then putting them in the car and driving to Appleton. He called at 7:15 that evening and said that they had made it and all was well. But, my day wasn't over yet as I still had to go to Midway. The winds were every bit as strong there, but were only one degree off the runway heading. No problem.

I have a Harry Chapin CD where he talks about being tired and being good and tired. The days that we are tired are the days that we have spent fulfilling someone else's dream. The days that we are good and tired are the days that we spend fulfilling our own dreams. This was a good and tired day. Yes, I was exhausted, but I had spent my day doing something I love doing, I had made a difference in the lives of some of God's most precious creatures. It's on days like this that I get to be an angel. How could I ask for more?

A Gothic Prarie?

I fell in love with this fabric when I first saw it a year or so ago. The Needle Shop was having a sale to introduce costumers to their new space, so I thought I would go and check it out. I bought the fabric with no idea of what I would like to do with it, I just loved it. Once I got it home, I decided to do a skirt with a pleat down the back that I would lace closed, but leave it open enough for walking ability. The Needle shop was having another sale a month or so ago, so of course I had to check it out. While I was there I found a remnant of the same fabric and this bag pattern from Amy Butler. I put it together earlier this week, and I am in love with this bag.

It's fairly easy to put together. What I do like about the Amy Butler patterns is that she assumes that you know very little about sewing, so every step is explained quite well. What I found is that if you follow the instructions, your bag will turn out just like the picture. I did make a couple of changes, I decided to use an invisible zipper instead of the one that the pattern called for and I omitted the plastic from the bottom of the bag and have decided to attach purse feet instead. I think it gives the bag a much more professional look. I also used chip board inside the bag to give the bottom a much more solid feel. You can get chip board at an art suppy store. It comes in two different weights. I used the lighter weight. Just measure the bottom of your bag, and then cut the chip board and put it in the bottom of your bag.

Until I started working on the fabric, I only new that I liked it, and then I saw the name of the fabric on the selvage edge, "Prarie Gothic." At first I thought, what a strange name and then as I looked at the fabric, I realized why the artist chose this name. All the images in the fabric are from the prarie, spyders, thistles, moths. And then the goth has to do with the colors that were chosen. It's really a great piece of fabric.

If you're interested in some great cottons, take a trip over to the Needle Shop. They are located at 2054 W. Charleston. Charleston is south of Fullerton. Charleston is a one-way street going west off of Damen. There cottons are fun and funky. They also have decorator width fabrics for the home. If you do make the trip over, check out Soutache which is on Damen. She has the most wonderful shop. It's truly a delight, ribbons, ribbons, and ribbons. She is also carrying a great suppy of buttons. I found the absolute perfect vintage buttons for an outfit that I did last year. You can also take a class and learn to make these beautiful flower pins.

I made these last year and I find that they look great on so many things. The orange and yellow one I wear on an orange coat that I made and the pin looks like I have a little bit of sunshine on my chest.

Chicago is such a wonderful place to live and we have such wonderful resources for our creativity, but the only way we are going to continue to have these resources is if we support the retailers. So get out and enjoy the resources we have available to us.