Saturday, March 31, 2012

Modern Technology

It just goes to show that true friends are always together in spirit.

And now on skype!


Dear Diana and I are now able to share a cup of tea in person, though we're miles apart!
(She was ranting about the Hunger Games movie, so I snuck a pic! :D

My dad first saw this in the 1960's at the world's fair, though it was a regular old phone line, and a tv camera.

Who would have thought that this James Bond-like technology would be available to the masses with the click of a button! (if you have a webcam)

Friday, March 30, 2012

First photoshoot posted from home!

So guess what folks? I'm Back! truly!




No more post dating a dozen half done posts once a week.




No more being tired of the latter and not posting at all!




I have internet at home again, and I'm ready and raring to go!




So, first off is this dream dress of mine!




This pink (not sure of material...) Organdy-type, Gauzy material, caught my eye on the Jo-Anne's sale rack months ago. Recently I took a notion and bought it. :D Three whole yards at my disposal.
My new rose bush, fully flowered. :D




I was rather worried about working with it. I was afraid that, number one, I hadn't gotten enough material. The pattern called for five yards! (I can make a nice civil war dress on that much.) The other concern was working with this type of material, would it drive me nuts?




My hair was a youtube tutorial inspired by "Lady Mary" from Downton
So instead of the usual two days I usually give myself to make a dress, I gave myself all week, and took my time. I had rented "Downton Abbey: Season Two" from the library so I had pleanty of time on my hands.




The pattern was the Rocking Horse Farm; New Empire Day Dress. I had made it twice before (pictures to come) so I was quite confident in it.




Being able to take my time was wonderful, everything came together beautifully!





The collar is a piece of vintage lace that a lady at church gave me. It's probably later in date, but it works. Enjoy these pictures!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

A Rose, is a Rose, is a Rose


Have you ever had one of those, terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days?



I had one this week...



or it was until I came down to find this on my kitchen table. :D










Thanks mom!!!



Now I just have to figure out where to put it. :D






Tuesday, March 20, 2012

A Flower Garden





Look here!!


I'm so excited!


My one little Dafodil bloomed!



And see those little green seedlings? Those will be widflowers!




I bought a box at the doller store for $2 not expecting anything to come of it, and just look here!




*Mini squee*



Ain't it awesome!


I've been working like a trojan out there pulling and burning, trying to make it beautiful. and I think it's really coming along!

Saturday, March 17, 2012

My New Style



Lately I have found my wardrobe drifting into the teens. The NINETEEN teens, that is.


Yes... that's right.. I have Downton fever...




But to be wholy honest, my obsession with this era came long before that in "Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story"



Since then I've grabbed up whatever I could find on that decade that I could possibly grab. And lately it's been patterns. :D


And with patterns comes outfits.



And once I had those outfits I just couldn't help wearing them to church!



(Luckily my little "family" knows I'm crazy)






I find that I'm much more comfortable in those clothes now (Yes corset and all) and I just can't help wearing them on a more regular basis.


I promised a photoshoot a while back, and here is what Marmee and I came up with. :D Enjoy!










The top is Past Patterns #5068 and the skirt is Past Patterns #5462.


The top was a bit trickish, but the skirt was simply a dream to put together! And turned out lovely!



Stay tuned for more 1910's posts. I'll be making more, and having more shoots!

Monday, March 12, 2012

Spring has Sprung!!





I know I keep showing pictures of these little cucumbers, but I'm always so amazed by the changes I see each week! But also, I walked out into my little garden, and found that the dafodils I planted two years ago have begun to bloom!!! Nature never ceaces to amaze me! Just when I think something is dead, it grabs hold of me with this life! Have a lovely week!

Meggie


Saturday, March 10, 2012

Well, meet the newest members of our farm family!

There are Rhode island Reds, Buff Oringtons, And Black and Gold Wyandotts.



Copper just didn't know what to think! Not only was he IN THE HOUSE, he was staring at miniature versions of the punks that have been eating his food!



Aren't they cute though??





Happy Spring everyone!!!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Garden update



Well, we got things worked up a bit yesterday, and I thought I'd let you see how my little seedlings are coming along.






I did end up transplanting the cucumbers, and everything is doing a lot better now that I've been putting it in the natural sunlight, and not under the 100 watt light I had before.






Anyways, enjoy!

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Movie Review: Sweet Land





Okay, I'm going to try this again. This comes with a slight caution. I watched this on our local movie channel, so there may be some parts I haven't seen, and I know at one point they fuzzed out a naked bum. (though I do know it had to do with cleanliness and not other things) But with these movies you can alwayys tell if they bleeped or fuzzed things out, and There was no bleeping and no other scenes that I noticed. Though they didn't put subtitles when the characters spoke German, so if any of you do and they say something that isn't very nice, I do appologise, I only know english. :D
Anyways, other than that it was perfectly clean, so on to the synopsis.
There's a bit of jumping around in the beginning and at the end. The movie starts with a man's struggles to sell his grandparent's farm, upon the death of his grandmother. It then jumps to scenes of his grandfather's death in the sixties. An finally starts in on the meat of the movie. His grandparent's story.
Around the time of WW1 Inga Otenburg came to America with a suitcase and a gramaphone, her worldly posessions, in hand. Inga was a mail order bride from Germany. She meets her soon to be husband and heads to the church, where the whole community is waiting to wittness the wedding. They step up to the alter and take a deep breath, but upon discovering that Inga is German, the pastor refuses to marry them without special papers.
This movie, in my opinion, is just like it's title, Sweet! Watching Inga and Olaf as they struggled against the government, the animosities of a post WW1 community, and sometimes their growing attachment to each other was in my opinion a joy
.
Inga is a fiery woman, who intends to have things like she planned, despite what others may tell her. Olaf on the other hand is a quiet gentle man, but throughout the movie we find that he is full of hidden spunk and courage, even a bit of stubborness himself at times.
Now, this is one of those movies that if you try to take it to heart and analyze every moment, you're going to hate it. But if you just sit back and enjoy a simply sweet story, you'll have a wonderful evening's enjoyment.
I can highly reccomend Sweet Land.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

A mini vacation



Last Monday, Dad came in to lunch with an idea. He had just heard from the man we buy bags from, that he also delivered to some Amish mills in Kentucky. These feed mills were powered by horses, and needless to say, dad was raring to go.
So Thursday, we headed out.
Now, this, we found, was nothing like Ohio or even out local Muddy Pond in Crossville. This was in the tiny little Pho-dunk town of Scottsville. Not much bigger than a wink.
After we visited the little community, and located the mills which were to grind the next day, we returned to town to find a motel. Upon asking for directions, we were told that there were three in town. Two were really bad, and one was good. The two story Spanish style building we were directed to seemed to be entirely deserted. But no, we acquired a room. And it appeared to be clean and tidy. It had Internet, and cable, and a closed outdoor pool.


At this point, dad reached for the phone. No service. Now, we use straight talk, and I'm pretty sure we're on Verizon towers, but alas, nothing. He told me to keep an eye on it.
We spent a few hours just relaxing, and I enjoyed the free wifi. But all too soon our road snacks seemed to be hours away, and it was time to locate supper.
Downtown was a quaint little place, with a modified roundabout square, and one red light. We circled and circled, but found no place to go. You see with Dad's Gluten intolerance our choices are limited. We passed a Sonic,a Pizza Hut, and a McDonalds and finally stopped at a Dollar Store to ask. (okay and mom needed eye drops)
The Lady we spoke to had an accent just like Reba MacEntire! No joke. She told us there were three other places that we had missed. "Thars a place 'cross the street thar, makes the best burgers. Now, I An't sayin they don't make nuthin else, they're burgers is just good. Then thar's that, oh what's the name, sumthin bout dumplins. But me n' my husband got got mad at 'em. Went down there a'fore work to eat breakfast an they wouldn't serve us. Course then thar's that place up the road that makes great catfish." Now that got Dad's attention. Catfish is his middle name. ;D "You go out a town an up a hill an it sorter drops off beside the road and down in a holler."
So we took that advise and drove out of town. We drove and drove, and then turned back around and around again, before we found it. Down in a holler just like she said.
It looked like a hole-in-the-wall. Not much more that a glorified double-wide. Everything had a 1970's decor with wood panel walls, and everything else was a mustard yellow. Now here in Tennessee, they passed a law that you could no longer smoke in restaurants. It's been a blessing to me, who gets terrible migraines around cigarette smoke. But here that obviously wasn't the case. The restaurant was separated into several rooms, one in the front by the register, one hallway type place with a salad bar in it, and a large room in the back with larger tables for evening. Now to me it was odd to see ashtrays on tables again, especially in the main parts of the restaurant. As we passed the salad bar, to the left was a tiny room with a small basement window. Taped to the open door was a cardboard sign "Non Smoking"
Needless to say we walked into the larger open dining area. For some people this could have been a nightmare. Like a city slicker in Mayberry. But luckily, I like Mayberry, and this place was a blast! I was glad to find that only a few people were smoking and they were on the far side of the room. Watching the people in this place was so fun! In this small town, everybody knew everybody, and it was a jovial atmosphere. We loved it!
Food came, and the waitress had advised us to go for the child's portion, Hooweee were we glad! The plate was HEAPED with catfish and the biggest potato I think I've ever seen! Even then I had to take some with me.
Then it was back to the motel where I got to watch all the production video blogs from the upcoming "Hobbit" movie! (Hooray!!) And finished my dress for the next day (Pictures coming soon)
Sadly I didn't get any pictures of all this... the only time I had my camera was at the mills. And then I was limited because of the Amish beliefs on photos.
The next morning early we went out to watch the grind. Ten big Belgian horses pulled it, walking in circles and turning gears. It was pretty neat to watch. Here's the pictures of that.
 
 
 
And after a little bit we went on, not wanting to be a nuisance.
We drove home on back highways and it was a good thing we did. We got on top of the mountains halfway home and one of my truck tires flattened. (Dry rot :(
But we were so glad we had elected to go that way, and it hadn't happened on the interstate.
So here we are, We had an absolutely lovely time! All of us just chatting in the car, or listening to audiobooks (Louis lamour... tradition. :D) And despite the flaws, I do believe I'll be going back to Scottsville again sometime. :D And if you want a getaway where you don't have to worry about the phone, or fast food joints, I highly recommend it. :D

Friday, March 2, 2012

A New Hat











"Anyways I shall pull it to pieces as soon as we get home, and see if I can't make it up any better"~Lydia Bennet (1995)



Val from "Time Traveling in Costume" has created a new facebook page Called "Costume Pattern Reviews" This has been an excellent resource so far! It's chock full of people just waiting to give you advise, and they are using patterns from the smaller companies as well as "The big three" (Simplicity, Butterick, McCalls)


Anyways, to get an invite, simply request one from Val, there's a link on the Facebook page.
So what does this have to do with a hat?


Well a lot actually. I've been in a quandary for a long time trying to get my hands on a 1910's Downton Abbey style hat at any kind of a reasonable price. So I asked over there if anyone knew of any. Bot did I ever get an answer!! Link after link! Patterns AND ready made. They reccomended This one, a ready made from a millinery shop. It was exactly what I had been looking for... or so I thought...
When it arrived this is what it looked like.

No exaggerating. This is exactly how it fit.
The look on my dad's face was hilarious when he saw me "Pull it to pieces" :D
I took the brim off and shortened the hat by a good two inches, and the brim nearly the same. I made the brim uneven to give it a bit of that wild teens flair. But something still wasn't right. So I pulled one side up and tacked it in place. I think it looks really good, though maybe not perfect. Any advise on what else it needs? Thanks!!

Well what do you think?
Much love
Meggie

Ps. Please ignore the cornmeal in my coat, it has since been beaten and brushed within an inch of it's life....