Enough Said

via: A Pair of Pears

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again

A couple of days a week I buy coffee on my way into work, because the brown colored water and cream colored powder at work are not worthy of being ingested by humans, and I usually don't have time to make my own before I leave in the morning.  Several months ago Corner Bakery got rid of their large coffee size, making the medium the biggest coffee size.  I persisted in ordering a large, because my brain isn't super functional first thing in the morning and I forgot they no longer had it, and also, it just doesn't seem right to still call the medium a medium if it's not in the middle of anything.  At first, every now and then I actually did get a large, which gave me hope that they ran out of large cups or something, but for at least four months straight now I have had to settle for the medium.  I almost gave in this week and actually start ordering mediums, but wonder upon wonder, I got a large this morning!  I know this is probably way more information about my coffee consumption than you ever need, but it's the little things that make me happy, and I need little things these days.  Oh, and one big thing called a house, but that's not happening anytime soon, so I'll just settle for a large coffee instead.

Take A Seat

It's been a weirdly long time since I've done anything interior designy, pretty much since I moved in with Husband and somewhat rearranged things, but it's been static since then.  Mostly because our place is small and there aren't a lot of options, and I've just gotten super busy with the rest of my life, including sewing a lot more.  But back when I was all about being crafty, I had this dream of making a couch, which Husband proceeded to scoff at, and I subsequently abandoned my dream, seeing as how he's the one in the relationship who actually knows how to build things.  I came across a picture of the Nelson Swing Sofa today on the interwebs, and my creative juices started flowing once again (side note: that expressing grosses me out a bit - I'm not going to use it anymore).

While it's not quite my usual style (seeing as how I'm a sucker for a good chesterfield), I'm envisioning it as a chair, and while it might not be strong enough, I'm thinking I can at least do a prototype using the copper pipe I still have leftover from my shelving projects.  Thoughts?  Am I crazy?

Now you see me, now you don't!

So while I keep trying to convince Husband that we can totally handle a 3000 sq. ft. house (who seriously doesn't want a ballroom?), I occasionally think about going back to my roots of small spaces.  Unfortunately, Husband is even less likely to look at a small house, given that one of the main reasons we want to move is that we have majorly outgrown our current place.  Anyway, Apartment Therapy keeps me entertained with creative solutions, one of which is this awesome sliding drawer bed thing.  I'm not going to lie, I think the part I like best about it is that you wouldn't have to make your bed every day, just slide it out of view!

Photos: lakbermagazin.hu via Apartment Therapy

A "Serge" of Productivity - Part 2

The second serging project I completed this weekend was the dress below.  It started out as a super simple project which should have taken no time at all, but as usual morphed into a frustrating project where I kept changing things over and over and over.  You may recognize the fabric as being one of the items from my sewing plan from a few weeks ago, so I am attempting to keep somewhat to the plan. :)

I did my usual self-drafting technique - find something in my closet I like to get the basic shape right and then modify it.  I originally drafted this as a simple shift dress with kimono sleeves with the top half having a one-piece facing to make the neck and sleeve hems simple. After I got it all sewed together though, it was too big and just looked funky to me.  So I proceeded to hack away at the sleeves several times, which was super annoying because of the facing, and I'm still not happy with how the straps came out, but they are functional and don't look terrible.  My first attempt at sizing was overall too big, including the neckline, so I both took in the sides, and added a little gather in the center of the neck.  The one thing I am proud of is the side seam - check out the matching stripes!  

Overall, I think it came out decently, but it wasn't quite what I had in mind originally.  I think it makes me look a little too much like a second grader, especially with the shirt under it.  I'm thinking I might see if there is enough fabric to turn it into a maxi skirt instead, what do you think?

A "Serge" of Productivity - Part 1

First things first - a hilarious post about inappropriate usage of quotation marks:
http://distractify.com/people/the-30-most-unnecessary-uses-of-quotation-marks-in-history/
My personal favorite is the one about the artificial trees, but they are all really good.

Secondly, my delightful pun alludes to the fact I actually learned how to use my serger this weekend, and finished not one, but two projects!  The first was actually just a test t-shirt I made out of leftover fabric, so I didn't ruin anything good figuring it all out.  I just traced one of my favorite tees to get the shape, and sewed it all up!  It actually came out pretty well, despite the fact the neckline got screwed up because I had to take it apart and redo it, but for the first time I've every put on sleeves (I've been avoiding them for a while now), I think I did pretty good.  Check out the stripe-matching in the back, which for some reason did not work on the front, but I'll take halfsies.  Also, if you look closely, you will see it's not hemmed properly, just serged, but since it was a test, I didn't feel like breaking out the other sewing machine to hem it.

Without further ado, I give you the red and white striped tee:

A little magenta in my life

So after coming up with my new sewing plan, I decided to go off course and sew up a dress I had already cut out of a fun and bright magenta polyester fabric I had picked up at a thrift store when I was home in Michigan over the holidays.  I used a Burda pattern, but did not include the pockets because I wanted to do french seams, since the fabric was super ravel-prone and I wasn't feeling confident enough to try out my serger yet.  It came out a bit too much like something from the maternity department, but I was happy with the finishing of it.

Happy Trees!

I just had to share this awesome mug I ran across on Etsy today:

It brought back some good memories of watching Bob Ross painting his happy trees, and who doesn't like to smile on a Friday morning?

Sewing with a plan

I've been doing a lot of wardrobe organization and style planning lately, and have been attempting to tame my schizophrenic color palette a bit. I first tried to figure out my color season, even going so far as to buy the infamous "Color Me Beautiful" book and color swatches, but I am hopeless and cannot tell if I'm cool or warm, dark or light.  It might have helped if I actually knew what my natural hair color was, but oh well.  I'm just going to assume I'm very neutral and everything looks good on me.  Sounds like a good plan, right?  I did try and narrow down the colors I love a bit, and came up with this palette:

With this in mind, I decided to prioritize my sewing list (which is long enough to take me at least a few years), oh, and buy a lot more fabric, of course.  I didn't intend for the vast majority of my purchases to be in the black/white family, but I did need to increase my neutral category quite a bit.  Also, apparently it's impossible to buy a black/white striped tee.  Every striped tee I could find was navy/white, and while navy is in my palette, black is by far my neutral of choice, so I figured might as well sew them instead.  Anyway, below is my current project list, which includes a lot of knits so I can finally get around to learning how to use my serger!  

capri pants     

   knit dress of some sort

knit tee

knit tee

cardigan      

knit tee

             

Jinxed...Yet Again...

So I left everyone hanging the last time with my big news, but it turns out I jinxed myself.  After the inspection, and subsequent negotiations, I just wasn't comfortable with going forward, so we terminated our contract. :(  Back to square one for us.

Househunting is hard.  Especially when you have very very specific requirements, like living in a particular 5 block radius, wanting a big beautiful old house with tons of details and character, but doesn't need much work, you know, like complete rewiring and such.  Oh, and a garage and a nice basement, and a big yard.  Oh, and hubby keeps saying I'm not allowed to buy a 3000 sq. ft house, which is pretty much the only size range that fits all the other requirements (minus the budget).  Pshaw.  I'm a little afraid I've turned into the first time home-buyers on television I like to argue with about how crazy they are behaving, but I'm trying to keep it under control.  I've even gone so far as to email the Philadelphia tax assessor's office to ask why a particular property had such a high property tax (and yes, that involves me looking up property taxes on every house on a particular block).

We've expanded our search to a neighborhood across the river in New Jersey, but since I've been giving hubby a hard time from being from New Jersey pretty much since the day I met him, I'm having a hard time coming to terms with that one.  Also, taxes are insane in New Jersey.  Like, the monthly taxes on the houses we're looking at are approaching the total amount we pay for rent currently.

Anyway, those are my ranting thoughts about househunting at the moment, but who knows, maybe the perfect house will fall into our laps shortly.  Here's hoping!

Big News!

So I've had something up my sleeve for a while now (3 months or 1.5 years, depending on how you look at it), but Husband and I are moving on up - the East Coast that is.  We've been throwing around the idea for quite a while (that's the 1.5 years part) of moving to Philadelphia, for many little reasons, one of which is that we can actually afford to buy a house there, as opposed to DC, which is just ridiculous.  Anyway, our journey started last fall when we decided to go to an open house for what was basically a castle, which we could actually afford.  Anyway, that one didn't work out, but it did start us on some serious internet searching, and we started the official business of looking at houses with a Realtor in September.  We put an offer in on a house after our first day of looking, but that one didn't work out, which overall, was probably for the best.  I think we looked at about 30 houses in total, several that we didn't even go into (husband kept having to talk me down from lofty restoration projects), but nothing was quite what we were looking for.  After narrowing our search down, we finally settled on a neighborhood we really liked (Mount Airy), and over the holidays, we had an offer accepted on a house!  It meets every single thing on our wishlist, with the one exception that it is semi-detached.  Due to our current rowhouse situation, we are not found of being involved in every aspect of our neighbors' lives, but this house has about an 18" thick stone wall in-between, so I think it will be better than our current 50's cardboard walls.

Wishlist:
walkable to shops, restaurants, etc - a little farther from the main drag than I would like, but easily walkable
short commute for Laura - check
single family home - nope
1500 - 2000ish sq. ft - check (just over 2000 sq. ft)
3-4 bedrooms - check (4)
1.5 - 2 bathrooms - actually has 3.5 bathrooms
yard for our soon to be dog - check
garage - check
basement for Husband's workshop - check
improvable (not completely redone, but not a gut job) - check - see note on character
character - it's there, but we have to remove a bit of seventies character first

Right now we are dealing with the appraisal and inspection, but assuming that all goes well, we will be moving the end of March/beginning of April.  Without further ado, I give you the house:

It is the one on the left, and we will also be buying the lot next door (which is basically from the driveway to the rear wheel well of the silver car parked on the street).  It's a bit more colonial than is my style (I'm not going to lie, I'm a sucker for Victorians), but it is very classic Philadelphia, and I think we will be very happy here.  Overall it's in very good shape, as the current owners have lived here for 38 years, and taken very good care of it.  There are definitely some cosmetic things that we will be fixing fairly quickly, as well as some projects to space out over time.  A lot of the timing depends on how quickly we can plan it all out and whether or not Husband has to travel a lot for work.

Projects:

Rip up carpet everywhere (supposedly there are hardwood floors under it all) - before we move in
Give kitchen a temporary face-lift (take out horrible bulkhead, paint cupboards)  - before we move in
Refinish floors if needed - before we move in
Replace solid front door with one that is mostly glass - soon as possible
Do something about the sparkly gold ceiling in dining room - soon as possible
Wall o'closets in the master bedroom - soon as possible
Built-ins around the living room fireplace - 1 month?
Create my sewing studio in the attic room - 1 month?
Expand master bathroom into existing closet - 3 months?
Landscaping/fence - 4 months
Replace stair railing spindles - sometime
Paint everything - over time
Get furniture - over time
And the granddaddy of them all, completely gut kitchen/breakfast room, and add a half-bath on the first floor (which, despite having 3.5 baths, there are none on the first floor) - 6 months to 1 year

Huzzah!

So, as usual, I start off my blog post with apologizing for not posting in like ever. :)  Unfortunately things like work get in the way, and I have too many things competing for my free time.  Like my latest big adventure, the Renaissance Festival.  My friend and fellow fantasy novel lover Dalia introduced me to this wonderful event, and I will forever be in her debt.  We had plans to take off to the festival around noon on Saturday, so Friday night I get home from work, and think, hmmm, maybe target has some flowy shirts or something, because if there is one thing I love it's a good costume.  Husband came along on my Target run, even though he wasn't coming along to the Renn Fest because he had more important things to do (who needs to winterize a cabin?).  Because he loves adventures just as much as I do, he suggested heading into the Goodwill and seeing if we could scrounge up a more elaborate costume than just a flowy shirt.  I came out with a red linen dress, which after cutting it down the middle looked something like this:

Target did not turn up anything promising, so off to JoAnns for several yards of muslin.  After 3 hours of work including modifying the red dress (slicing and dicing and adding grommets) and sewing up a simple blouse and skirt (elastic is always your friend for costume making) which ended with a grumpy Laura at 1:30 a.m., I had a pretty awesome costume if I do say so myself.  

 Me trying to remember how to curtsy

 It mostly just looks wrinkled in this picture, but the wrinkles come from side gathers to make the skirt fuller.

Unfortunately, I didn't take too many photos while there, stupidly.  But trust me, it was really, really cool.  I also made a pointy hat with a floaty veil for Dalia, but forgot to take a picture of that too.

 There were so many amazing things about the Rennasaince Festival, but I think my personal favorite was the fried mac and cheese on a stick.  You just can't beat it.  Well, that and the 3 hours of people watching - I was actually underdressed it turned out, there were some amazing costumes there and I'm going to have to start early on my costume for next year. :)

Being a Busy Bee...

Hubby and I spent the long weekend at our cabin in the woods, which means he does lots of work on the cabin and I get down to business with my sewing machine.  I actually managed to complete four garments, although to be fair three of them had a decent amount of progress done already.

I bought this fabric knowing I wanted to do something cool with matching up the stripes.  It's a cotton/silk blend, and half of the stripes are sheer.  It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do with the lining, but given the fact I started it at 10 pm, I had to go with what I had in my stash, which meant a bright yellow chiffon.  If I had time, I think I would have bought a turquoise lining fabric, so there would be more contrast, but I'm happy with the way it turned out.  The entire shirt is finished with french seams, as I'm trying to be more conscientious about making sure the inside is as pretty as the outside.

How is it that simple projects take forever?

So, this is a super simple shirt that took a really long time.  I originally intended to make a drapey sweater type shirt, but that didn't work out so well.  I wore it once, but wasn't a fan, so I thought I would try to just make a simple tank top that would let the cool texture shine.  It's hard to tell from the picture, but the darker color is actually a little bit sheer and the lighter purple is raised.  The gathered-looking bits are actually gathered, so it's a neat texture.  Anyway, I just used a basic tank top laid on top of the fabric to cut it out, and sewed it up.  I happened to have some petersham ribbon on hand that matched almost perfectly, so I used that to bind the neckline.  I just found out about petersham ribbon, which is a more awesome version of grosgrain ribbon.  Because the edges are looped instead of straight, it curves really nicely.  Anyway, here it is!

Back to the Future of Fashion

So how do we all feel about culottes?  Back in the day (like 2nd grade or so) they made a regular appearance in my wardrobe, but I really haven't given them a thought since then.  But these days I'm all about comfortableness, and seeing a really cute pattern on the interwebs, decided to give them a try.  I've ordered Megan Nielsen's Tania Culotte pattern, so we'll see how it goes.

What are your thoughts - am I crazy?