July All Gone

Yes, July is over and I never wrote even one blog post.  First I was busy with things, then one evening my computer worked fine and the next day it was'toast'.  Buying a new one had not been on my to do list.  Then I was thrilled to have a party in my honor and have my out-of-state children here visiting.

I would love to share photos of my wonderful party, but there are none.  We were all having such a good time no one thought to take any.   Here are some others to give you a hint as to what the gathering was all about.

When she was a baby, she loved to take off her clothes. Patiently her mother would put them on again.

She loved her Easter basket and gave it to her daughter.

You can tell she liked to get dressed up for Easter with gloves and even a little hat.  Her suit was pink and grey.

She went to a New Year's costume party in 1964.  Dress sewn by her mom, hoop skirt borrowed.

                                                                    

 Her next important occasion. 1967

Years later, the family all together in 1999 at home. A special photo.

That's her in the middle with her beloved family.

           She is not

            Always

                 Herself.

But now that she has reached the age of   70, she's happy, contented and thankful.  She praises God every day for this life He has given her and for the life to come.

  

And she is me.

The Costume

Last year at this time I was doing our local production of Les Miserables.  I made and worked on many costumes for that show. This is one of the posts from that time.  I have mentioned before that I like making costumes.  If you are interested you can read other posts about costumes by looking at the labels on the right.

My choice of fabric for costumes had been mainly cottons and cotton blends.  Even for fancier clothes. When my older kids were in Christian school in San Jose, they didn't have Halloween there.  They had Famous Americans Day which was celebrated the day before Thanksgiving.  The children wrote a report about a famous American and then dressed as that person.  There was a contest for the reports and for the costumes, per each class.  I thought it was great idea and the girls loved it.  Maybe not the report writing, though both won the essay contest at least once.

Alex, (L) was Helen Keller that year.

Elizabeth was Elizabeth Blackwell.

But once years before that, I made Elizabeth a clown costume using satin.  That was tricky.  Satin is slippery and it ravels terribly.

This is Alex wearing the hand-me-down clown costume.

After that experience I didn't sew shiny, slippery fabrics again until this year.

When Elizabeth got married, I made 2 of her 3 bridesmaid dresses.  It was May so we found lovely fine cotton floral fabric.  I'm sorry I don't have a photo of those dresses.  They turned out nice. Though not of silk or satin.

This Fall, a friend of mine asked me to make a costume for her granddaughter.  Helen had planned to make it herself but fire intervened and she asked me.  She had purchased nearly everything that was needed so all I had to do was get sewing.

Three fabrics (all slippery and shiny) thread, a zipper, braided trims and the pattern.  She even brought pins.

The sliver dotted fabric and the lovely heavy satin-type knit for the under dress.

The organza over cape attached, it still needs the sleeves.

A close-up of the braid at the waist.

All done. So happy.

I was going to take it over to Helen so I sent a text asking what day was best. There was still 10 days until Christmas.  She replied that she was already in Arizona with her family and could I mail it.  I did.

I hear the little one is loving her present from her Grandma.

And once more let me wish everyone a wonderful Christmas. A time to remember the greatest gift of all. God's gift to us, His Son, Jesus.

O Holy Night

Sung by the King's College Choir, Cambridge

I Really Needed a Zipper

Howdy

It's true, I did need a zipper.  That is all I have left to do on my sister's vest.  Oh, I bought a zipper when I bought the fabric, but I altered the pattern and the zipper I bought is too long.  When it comes to separating zippers, I'm a novice.  But I was being bold, yes, me, I was being bold.  I thought perhaps there was a way to shorten a separating zipper.  YouTube to the rescue. Number one and number two.  Both good.  So I tried.  No luck.  I could not pull the teeth off like both presenters said.

You must believe me,  I tried because I didn't want to go to Joann. (Secretly, I always want to go where there is fabric for sale). I really needed the zipper.  I contemplated going to Walmart (closer, but I dislike it intensely) for about 5 seconds.  So I gave myself a talking to and left.

You know what's coming, don't you?  Yes, I did get my zipper. And, I confess, that zipper cost me $51. That's not including gasoline.

See the finished vest very soon.  I'd like to get a picture of it on my sister, but I may not be able to do that for ages.  I'll get a model.  Ahem, me.

                                                          

My grandson is going to a party in October where costumes are desired. He's going to be 'The Dread Pirate, Roberts' and for this year's pirate costume, he's going to make it himself with help from his mom.

He was much younger in photo above.

Stay tuned.

Bag done

I am not happy with the bag.  The handles, although not hard to make, were tricky to sew together to form the loop.   See the finished item below.  Since there were four fabric on the outside I show two views outside and just a peek at the inner.

The color is bad again, but for reference the handles are a bright lime green.

Side one

Side two

Inside.  I really like that inner fabric.  It would like a nice summery top.  Instead it's where it will be seldom seen. Alas.

That's really all for now.  I have a skirt to sew (Not another one?) and after that a 1850's period correct dress for my volunteering at Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park.    I've been working on my corset. More later on all of that.

 

Zorro contemplates the edge of the world.

And I thought I was done

When the show closed on December 30th, a sold-out performance, I knew there was one more day.  On January 4th, we had to strike the set.  That means putting the theatre back to it's former self.  Everyone involved with the production was supposed to participate.  I joined in, but being unfamiliar with tools such as hammers, drills, etc. I helped with organizing the costumes for storage and return to costumes rental places.

Aack! Is she still talking about that show?  Where's the challenge?

I heard that.  I know, I promised and it will happen. Believe me.  So, at the strike I volunteered to take home some of the costumes for wash and repair. Thankfully there were only a few minor repairs, but oh, the washing.

These are the clean factory aprons. Twenty-one draped ;on my loom.

This is my car loaded with some of the bags of costumes I brought home. I'd already done the aprons.

 Clean costumes on the loom. Shirts, aprons and bloomers.

On the loveseat.
Lots of burgundy and gold gloves from the wedding scene.

Is there a loom there? And what's that on the chair?  Cindy's huge nightdress. It is so big she couldn't find her way out.


And ta-dah! My whole living room full of clean stuff.  Except the dog.  See the video tour.

 

And the loom has completely disappeared.

Next time, the red blouse returns for it's final performance.

Costumes finished

Just stopping by to say I'll soon be writing a real post.  The costumes are finished, that is, my part of  it.   I am relieved.  I have taken my poor hard working machine to the shop for tender care and fixing the reverse.    I have my other older machine which is a wonderful one though in doesn't have as many decorative stitches as the newer one.

I was thinking about getting a serger.  I'm not thinking about it any more.  The one I thought would work for me was the BabyLock Imagine.  Oh, goodness it's $2900 and I'm just not going there.  I realize there are less expensive sergers but they are not self-threading.  At my age with my vision I would need the self-threading type.

 Sometimes I do some mixed-media fun projects.

This a piece I did for my daughter.  On the From side there's a map of the area I live in as the base while on the To side the base is a map if her town.


It was meant as a tag, but also some that could be hung on a plant or hook.  Fun

I made some other labels to stick into the holder on the front.

Please come on back and see what I'm up to next.  Remember January I'll return to my challenge.  Ta Ta.

IS SHE BACK OR JUST . . .

Passing through? I can hardly believe it's been ten days since my last post.  Yikes!  For those of you who may be checking on my progress in my challenge, thank you.  Come back in January, please.  I think finishing the unfinished items in my home will be my first and perhaps only New Year's resolution.

For everyone: there are only two weeks until the costumes for the show have to been done.  Last Saturday, the costume queen and I went to Mad Hatter Costumes in Auburn, California.  (There isn't a web site or I would have linked it.)   We were there about 3 hours.  No, I mean that.  Here are a couple of photos.

                                                  The wig and checkout counter.

y

This was one of the smaller rooms, but they were all stuffed full like this.

           The back of my car full of  costumes including shoes and hats.

                    More of the same.  Hoho.

The costume queen trying on a potential outfit for Mme. Thenardier when she goes to the wedding.

For those of you who wonder why the centering of captions under my photos is so off-center,  I can say this. When I type them out they are centered, when it publishes this is what you get..  That's my bit of rant for now.

After the costume shop, we went to the Salvation Army Thrift Shop. I saw this wonderful chair.  I did not buy it.  Isn't it grand?

 

And it is comfortable too.  I have a friend with a Victorian house and a love of dragonflies.  She may drive up there and get it.  Go, Jill.

Though I have been sewing and sewing and sewing,  I have failed to take any more photos of what I've made before taking them to the theatre.  Why don't you come see the show in December? It'll be worth it just to see the costumes.  It's only $15 unless you want to come to the gala premiere on November 23. Then it's $75, but you get a wonderful array of appetizers and wine before the show.  Then at intermission there will be fabulous desserts and coffee.  But best of all,  you will be greeted by Victor Hugo himself.

Before closing I have a little tip for those of you who might be trying to do a bit more exercise.

Happy days.

Finished my first week of rowing

Yes, it's true.  I did manage to do all three of this week's lessons..  Big deal you say?  Wait a minute.  Two of those were at 5AM and 50 miles away.  Tuesday morning it was very chilly.  The wind off the river was cold a rather nice change from 95 degrees during the day.  Today not so much wind and we really rowed for a long ways down the river.  Eight row people and a coxswain (instructor) in each boat.  And another coach in a launch watching our technique from a distance.

Just before dawn. Waiting on the dock.  Waiting to be assigned a position.  What a lovely start to the day.

Notice how choppy the water is?  That was Tuesday with all the wind.  Today the water was smooth, but I was too busy rowing. seat 2 in the bow, to get a photo. But I did take one after we got ashore.

We carried it out in the dark, but thank goodness it was light when we had to put it back.  You should see us lifting it out of the river.  Maybe I can get a photo of that on Saturday.  

My class is a mixed group. Young working people and retirees, fit folks getting fitter and not so fit and chubby,. ( This would be me.)  Our instructor is wonderful, informative, caring, and positive.


THE CHALLENGE:   I have been working on my knitting and sewing projects this week and making progress.  I'll have the scrub top done by next post and I've already picked out which one to do next.  The knit hoodie will easily take me the full month to finish.

Here are a couple of finished items from my past so you can see that I do get things done.

Going to church on Easter in their "Little House on the Prairie" dresses.   I used a Hollie Hobbie pattern which had a knee-length or long version.  I just shortened the long one to make it more like Laura's and Mary's.

Ninja Boy AKA my grandson.  His mom is the little one in yellow above.  Making costumes is lots of fun.  That's one of the reasons I volunteered to help at the theatre.



I love to knit socks.  Here's a pair knitted with Noro Kureyon.   I am mad about this yarn  How I love hand knit socks,  the fit is excellent and they look so cool when wearing Birkenstocks.



I close for this time, but I will be back.  To quote a song from Heart, "That's a promise and a threat." Bye

What list?

You've heard of people making a list of things they want to do before they die.  Some call it a bucket list.  I 'm not wild about that term.  Remember the book "1000 Places to See Before You Die"?   There's one called, "1000 Books to Read Before You Die."   Well, I say what about the things you want to do before you're too old?  Ill or infirm?.  Of course no one knows for sure the hour of their death nor do we know for sure when something we always dreamed of doing becomes too hard to even attempt.

No that's not me on the river though perhaps in the future. She is sculling.  Today at 0830 PDT, yours truly began to learn to row with the hope of someday doing that.  Think opening sequence of "The River Wild" with Meryl Streep.  Meryl is sculling on the Charles River in Boston.  I love that scene. So I had a 2 hour lesson and the only thing I had trouble with was getting out of the boat.  More about much much later.  Or never.  The lesson was wonderful.

And then . . . . 

I picked up my viola.  What did she say?  I thought this was about sewing and knitting and baskets and finishing, not boats and fiddles and starting.   Okay,  you are right.  And I fully intend to finish my rowing lessons and to finish my viola lessons unless pain interferes.  I have arthritis in my hands.

And then . . . . 

I went to the theater for rehearsals (because I always wanted to be in a musical) and while there got another handful of  costume items to work on.

But here's the good news
.  I finished my first basket.  Even though I didn't finish it exactly as it was supposed to be,  I am happy with it.  There's another one to do, but it's a kit and I have permission to start it in a few months. There will be no other basket making until that kit is finished.  Here's my basket.  I'm calling it Molly.

Hooray!

Thanks to Joan Soth and Pam Crause of the Hangtown Fibers Guild Basket Group.


That's all and that's enough.  Please come again.

Another Project?

A couple of months ago, I volunteered to help with the costumes for a local production of Les Miserables.

Last night, the wardrobe mistress gave me some clothing to alter.  Just a few little things and they are now done.  Sewing costumes is fun.  There are 70 cast members. The show is opening November 29th.  The costuming part will pick up speed I'm sure, but I am still planning on keeping on with my challenge.

The hoodie I'm knitting is at a difficult part for my hands.  There are 284 stitches on the needle right now.  One round is taking me about 30 minutes.  Every other round I increase 8 times, but I'm nearly to the number of stitches I need to put the sleeves onto holders while I finish the rest of the body.  That should go a bit faster.  I got a cramp in my left had during one round today,  so I tried to stopp every few minutes and stretch out my fingers.

Here's the sweater.  The yarn is cotton from Halcyon and the pattern is Knitting Pure and Simple which I purchased with the yarn

The photo is from my phone as my camera was out of batteries.

Besides the costume work, I've worked an hour on the Valentine scrub top.  Photo when it's closer to being done.  And now for something to make you smile.  Right next to me enjoying the twilight from the window sill, it's Edward P. Cat.

That's all for now.  Keep on finishing and smiling.

(Last year, 2022, the blue hooded sweater was finished with help from my daughter. She finished the sleeves and made the hood and the draw string. 7/21/23)