This and That

We had some really nasty weather last night! The tornado siren went off and that rarely happens here in Addison. We used to get them going off all the time when the kids were young and we lived in Romeoville. It was a bit scary, but it all blew through pretty fast. Other than a couple small branches down, we didn't have any damage. Some places got hit much harder though and are still without power. John just called me from work and told me that the power line over the car exploded while he was sitting in it eating his lunch. North was hit pretty bad, so maybe there was an overload from power being spread too thin, or maybe the power line was weak from last night, I don't know. Whatever, the power has been cut from his work so he'll probably be home early.
I have been washing wool all morning, trying to get as much done as I could before more rain came. There ended up being a couple of showers and I had to bring it all in again, but it looks like it's over now. I am still combing Nfld wool, and then spinning as I go. With the lanolin content of this wool it should make some nice semi-waterproof mittens. I'm hoping to get at least 2 pairs, maybe even 3. They will make excellent Christmas presents.
Still haven't taken any pics to post, but maybe I will later today.

Back From Hiatus

I have been out of the blogging sphere for so long I don't know where to start. I have closed the Etsy store. Irene has been sick, and there is just too much dampness in the basement for me to spend a lot of time down here. The mold and mildew really affects my allergies, so I have been confined to the upstairs more. We have had such a damp spring and early summer that even though there haven't been huge amounts of water coming in, there always seems to be a treickle here and a trickle there, and the damp mustiness is too much to deal with. On the upside, though, I discovered the dampness was not good for the loom, so I brought it and my wheel upstairs. I warped the loom with cotton rug warp and then wove a nice rag rug with all blue rags. I got some cotton thread in a blue green color and a cream and am going to warp for a table runner sometime in the next couple of weeks. I think I'm going to weave checks, it will look nice and is easy. I have tons of pics of crocheted and knitted items to post, I made a pair of mittens from handspun that I really like, also several shawls and hats. I've made 5 pairs of mittens since I posted last. I am currently working on a pair of socks (my first!) and a spinning project using the 12 oz or so of Nfld wool I had left. I just got 6 lbs of fleece I was going to start washing tomorrow, but it's supposed to rain again and keep raining off and on for the next 5 days.

On the fishing front, John and I have both landed some nice bass this year. I caught an 18 inch in Westmore woods during spawn. Suprised the hell out of me, I didn't realize there was anything that big in there. John caught his at Bass Lake about a week or so ago. Chris has only caught a nice crappie and small bass so far. We're going to Shelbyville the 8-11th of July. It will be Chris, Sio John and I, so a nice family trip. Hopefully the rain will be gone and it won't be too hot.

I didn't put in a garden this year, but my herbs from last year came back. The sage is enormous, I planted it 2 years ago, and I need to dig it up and divide it. The flowers are pretty and it makes a nice decorative plant, I might put some in the front of the house. My St Johns wort came back and it has to be 2 feet tall. It is getting small yellow flowers. The golden oregano I planted last year is doing really well too. I have been using it in different Italian recipes. And my lavender is flowering and almost ready to be harvested. I want to let some of it go to seed so I can plant more next year. I got a few ripe mulberries yesterday, just a handful, but in a week or so the should be ready to be picked. I checked the raspberries and they are tiny and very green still. I'm looking forward to raspberry jam so I hope they end up being nice. It's hard to say with the weather being so weird this year.

Pictures! Yay! Cooking and a Shirt to Skirt Makeover

Finally.pictures!

So I made a chicken pot pie that John thought was very tasty.And it was pretty too, because of the little leaf cutouts from the presses Melissa sent me. I'll be pulling these out again for Thanksgiving.

Then there is this cute shirt to skirt that I made today. The inspiration came from this skirt I saw in Vogue. I love front button skirts, I've owned a few over the years; there is a denim one in my closet right now. This one is by designer Michael Kors,is made of wool and is $1,395.00


I was in Evanston yesterday and the day before, and while shopping with Carla, I came across this Perry Ellis shirt. It was $4, a bit more than I usually pay, but I really liked the feel of the cotton,and the print.


I was originally thinking of a cotton tunic, but when I saw the skirt pic this morning, I knew I was going to try and work it out.I think it turned out nice. I might switch out the buttons for something lighter in color and prettier.


I call it Michael Kors meets Perry Ellis. I still have scraps of the shirt left and I might trim a t-shirt to match. Or perhaps a bikini top with a cream hemp linen jacket. We'll see.

Camera Problems

Well I am having camera problems again. John thinks it's the card; it says it needs to be reformatted when I take it out of the camera and put it in the card reader. So I can't post the pictures of my finished shawl or the cute black skirt I made. At least I can post a few random pics from New York though. I am so glad that I took these off the camera before the card went bad!


weird little house around the corner from Melissa and Nikki's building.


This is the Washington Mews by Washington Square park. I thought this street looked very European. I spent a lot of time wandering around the side streets near the park one day.


Just a cool building.


This is the White Horse Tavern. Supposedly Dylan Thomas' ghost is still hanging around, although I didn't see it anywhere outside. I didn't go inside as it was overpriced, plus I was told the food isn't very good.


This is the view from the apartment. I like the pink building; I forget what it's called.


On a walk with the girls.


Washington Square park


Nikki took this nice picture of all of us.


Mom and Sio on the subway.

Hudson River Park

Well I haven't been posting for the last few days but I've been busy, mostly planning and sewing. I probably won't do many Tutorial Tuesdays any more now that I'm working on the remade clothes. Instead, on Friday or Saturday I'll post pis of what I've come up with for the week. I have a piece finished for this week and I've only spent half my budget. I'll probably be biking up to the thrift store today to look around. I have a couple more ideas that I want to see if I can do.

My pics today are from Hudson River park. I spent a bit of time here by myself, as well as walking down with Melissa, mom and Sio. It was a nice walk for mom, just about a block to the park, the walking around, and then back again.

Trinity Church

I visited Trinity Church while I was visiting Melissa The church building on the site now dates to 1846, but the original church on the site was built in 1698. The graveyard was very cool; Alexander Hamilton and his wife are buried there. Some of the tombstones are just weathered away and are unreadable. One of the oldest ones that we read that was still legible dated from 1752, but there are much older ones in there. The church was nice on the outside too, but I didn't go in; it was Sunday and there was a service going on. Apparently there is another church and graveyard associated with Trinity, St Paul's Chapel, which was used for awhile when the church was destroyed by a fire in 1776. I didn't see that, but it's on my list for the next time I visit. In the meantime, here are my pics from this trip with a shot of the front of the church, some detail of the side and the graveyard.

Some More NYC pics

These pictures are all from South Street Seaport. I LOVED this place. There were a lot of historic buildings, and there were lots of boats. There were also a lot of tourists, but hey, that's ok since I was a tourist too. I really liked the embellished construction fence. Melissa pointed it out to me by saying that New Yorkers even make their construction sites look pretty. But what was really nice, is that with a bit of imagination, it was easy to see what New York might have looked like 150 years ago. I like looking for the history of the places I visit and I really didn't get that in my other trips to New York. We never really seemed to have any time, and I never really liked the place until now. This trip was really nice, and for the first time I'm looking forward to going back; not just to see Melissa, but because, as it turns out, there is plenty to like about NYC after all.

St Luke in the Field and a Challenge

It turns out that one of the nicest places I went to while I was in NYC was the gardens of a little church just a block away from Melissa's house called St Luke in the Field. The church was built in 1822, and the buildings and gardens very much remind me of what I imagine an English country church would be like. It's like a little surprising respite in the middle of the busy streets of Greenwich Village. I went there twice and just sat in the gardens with a little knitting that I didn't work on. I didn't attend a service while I was there, but next time I visit I will.


Ok now onto the challenge. There is a young lady here on the web who has started the A Dress A Day challenge. What she has done has been to swear off all clothes shopping in regular department and discount stores for a year, and instead, with a budget of $365 for the year, (which is $1 a day) set herself the challenge of remaking items from her local thrift store. The link to her page is http://www.newdressaday.com/ She is remaking one item every day for a year, starting with super cheap thrift store finds or using free things that she finds or is given. I think it's a really cool idea, however not all of her stuff is what I would consider wearable. Sometimes she's rushed and doesn't really remake anything; she just adds a pin or layers 2 pieces. I'm not criticizing here, she has a job and it is not an easy thing to make yourself sew every single day. Plus the limit of $1 a day pretty much insures that there will only be a certain quality of garment used. But it got me thinking, and I have set myself my own challenge. What it the budget was $10 a week, and with that $10 I have to come up with 2 to 5 wearable outfits. And by wearable I mean no remade 80's floof. It has to be in line with current fashion, and it would be nice if I could pick up on trends that are happening or are on the verge of happening, as well as remaking some things into more classic items. I can buy as many or as few garments as I want with the $10 each week, and I can pull from my stash and use things that are given to me. The important thing is that I am not making these clothing items for me; I am going to make them as part of a new line of sustainable clothing and accessories that I am going to feature on Etsy. I talked to Carla about it and she is really excited and wants to help which is good because I can't take pics worth a damn,she knows advertising and marketing, she stays on top of current fashion, and she is really committed to sustainability. She doesn't sew that well, but that will come with practice. I am going to stick to the $10 a week and I think that she should too, but will that be each of us has $10 or is it $10 between us? Her job might be over next week, so this could end up as being a source of income for both of us. Anyway, she is coming to moms on Sunday and we are going to pore over fashion magazines and make plans. I already spent my $10 for this week; I got 3 tops and an Alfred Dunn straight sleeveless dress. I'll post pics of them later, and I'll also post pics of garments that I finish. I have a couple of ideas already, but before I start anything I want to go through my stash of clothes that I have on hand as well as some of my vintage trims and stuff. Since I buy what I like I have a weird eclectic mix already. Anyway, I think this could end up being as much fun as it will be work, and that's the whole point isn't it?