Polka Dot dress Sewalong Part 2 – Sewing the top

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Now that you’ve got the pieces cut out (did you make SURE you have RIGHT front and back in red and LEFT front and back in white – or whatever your combination is? Good!)

Darts markedBodice front – let’s mark the darts. I’ll be honest, I HATE sewing darts but I like how things fit with them, so I get through them as quickly as possible. I mark the end points with pins (see above) and clip the bottom edge where the stitching lines are.

Darts pinned2

If you’re really concerned about stitching them correctly then pin them, like this:

Darts pinned3

Isn’t this pretty?

Darts sewn2

Darts front sewn

I cannot say this enough – Press, press, press. Press the underbust darts towards the center front, press the bust dart down towards the waist. PRESS! This is the number two thing that will make your dress/outfit looking professionally done.

I will say that this fabric doesn’t press out as nicely as I’d like because it has some polyester in it. I tried. Do your best, then move on.

Inside darts sewn3

Do the same for the back dart. Mark….

Darts pinned

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Stitch & press….

IMG_20160414_184906 (2)

And done.

Join front to back. Pin side seams together –

IMG_20160414_185451 (3)

And stitch.

Now comes decision time. Finish the seams – you can either bind with Hug Snug, use pinking shears or overlock. I’m not fancy like Laura Mae (who does beautiful seam finishes with Hug Snug!), I’ve never been a fan of pinking shears (although those of you who like using period techniques when making period garments are welcome to do so!) so I overlock. I overlock EVERYTHING.

Side seam overlocked

See? Overlocked. Do what you like, it’s only a few inches 🙂 And remember to PRESS! Press side seam towards back.

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Now for a very key part – edge stitch. Edge stitch around the entire top, you don’t need to do the waist edge but do everything else. Edge stitch about 1/8″ in from the edge. The entire point to this is to keep from pulling those long diagonal pieces out of shape, keep the armholes from getting stretched out etc. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP.

YOU WILL BE SAD IF YOU DO.

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Edge stitchin

When you’re done, if you’ve gone a little farther inward you can trim. The idea is to give you a base for sewing on the bias tape and that will cover up all the pretty stitching you just did.

Again, PRESS everything.

Side seam pressed

All that stuff you just did to the one side? Do it again for the other.

Again:

PRO Note: Make sure you cut out a RIGHT front and back of one fabric and a LEFT front and back of the other. I mention this because, in my exuberance to get this done, I cut out the wrong pieces from the wrong fabrics. Twice.

Twice. Sigh.

Red front

So here’s the other side front…

Red back

And the other side back. And then you join them at the side seam, finish off that seam and edge stitch. Got it? Yeah! Almost half way there.

Now the fun part – the Bias Tape. Dun dun dun…

Pro Tip – don’t try to use the Extra Wide Double Fold tape. It’s large, bulky and unnecessarily cumbersome. If you REALLY like the look of it then go for it but technique-wise you’re not doing yourself any favors. Use the Double Fold, it’s about 1/4″ wide, double fold and looks like the original.

(Note: Lyric used the Extra Wide double fold tape on her dress and it worked out just fine, you can check her process out here)

Is it hard? NO! You can pin it if you like, you can use those binder clips we love so or you can use nothing. I use nothing so I can ease as I go. You will need to ease as you go around the tops of the ties and around the armhole but GO SLOW and it will all work out great.

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You’ll go up the diagonal of one side, around the top of the tie, around the armhole, around the other tie and back down the other diagonal side in one fell swoop. One package is 3 yards, you’ll need most of it. Save the leftovers.

PRESS!

PRO Tip: Make sure your packages of tape are the same color. I managed to buy one of each red. Everyone I asked said they couldn’t see the difference but I KNOW. And it bugs me. I’ll get over it, but seriously…

Do the other side. Now you’ve got the bodices done! Skirts up in next blog post. You can always email me with “oh, you left this out” or “What did you mean here?” and “Are you KIDDING me??” 🙂

And I’m totally serious about cutting out the wrong color sides twice. Check this THREE times if you have to but don’t do what I did.

SEWALONG!!!! The Polka Dot wrap dress Part 1 – Cutting

Polkadress7-

Welcome to the Sewalong on the Polka Dot wrap dress! It’s one of the prettiest and EASIEST vintage dress patterns so if you just have basic sewing skills you should be able to make this 🙂  You will need the following materials:

  • 3 – 3 1/4 yards of EACH fabric (depending on size pattern)
  • 2 packages double fold bias tape (preferably NOT the extra wide)
  • threads to match bias tape(s)
  • 1 button
  • cat(s) (optional but they CAN act as pattern weights and stress/comic relief)

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The dress is two equal halves. I found some images of one of the originals from the 50’s:

Polka dot dress

Red half8 whitehalf

I did not do the pocket on the red half but if anyone is interested I can draft a quick pattern of it and email that to you. Yes, I love a pocket but just didn’t like it on ME.

Two things to note of the original pattern: it has no darts (and mine has 6) and it gathers around the boobs in a way that I just didn’t like. You can see it on the mannequin in the white half (^in pic above). If it looks like that on a smaller size can you imagine what us bustier girls may have to deal with?!

The skirt is a circle skirt with each color a full half of that circle. It is full, it flows and I never, ever felt like I was going to show something I didn’t want to. It’s all good.

Here we go!!

First up – the pattern. Here is the general layout, how it will tape together once you print the pieces:Pattern-2-Edited (2)

You will note the upper right hand corner and lower left corner are blank pieces, they are marked thus when you download everything but included so that when you tape everything together things line up.

And here is the cutting layout:

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This is your first MAKE SURE moment! MAKE SURE your fabric is at least 44″ wide BECAUSE some fabrics, while the total width is 44/45″ the PRINTED area is coming in at 42/43″ and you can’t shove your pieces all the way to the edge to get the best use from your goods! We found this out the hard way during testing when a couple of people had to go buy another length for a top piece. Sadness 🙁  I also discovered the white fabric I used was 48″ wide which explains the unexpected extra piece I had that a cat has since claimed as hers and can’t be used for something like a cute headband…

Grainline: Normally you fold your fabric in half lengthwise and cut. In THIS case you can either open it completely up OR fold it in half WIDTH-WISE, putting the one edge of the circle on the fold and then cut each top piece individually. What you see in the pic above is the entire piece flat and the selvages are running horizontally.

Pro tip: We *almost* always want to cut patterns out with the warp threads of the fabric the up and down threads on our body. What does this mean? It means that when they set up a loom the threads that are called the warp threads are the long, strong threads. The threads that are on the shuttle are the less strong, weft threads (the ones that go back and forth). You want those warp threads to hold your pieces in shape. I’ve always told my students that there are rules for a reason and the reason here is longevity. Can you rotate your pieces 45 degrees, because they fit on the fabric easier? Yes, but you may pay the price of a sagging garment in the long run.

[Here is a VERY SIMPLE demonstration in weaving: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0aFlG7294w  And if you really want to see some weaving you can check her out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29yW-hL4NfI

Why am I telling you this? This isn’t about weaving, we’re sewing!! BUT it’s nice to know how the fabrics we so blithely use are made and why we cut the way we do.]

SO….the hemmed edges of the skirt can be the selvages of the fabric and then you can fit the top pieces onto the triangular sections left.

BIG NOTE: MAKE SURE YOU GET FRONT AND BACKS OF EACH COLOR CUT OUT CORRECTLY.

Pro Tip: Mark your pattern with an “R” for the Red side and “W” for the white side. Or whatever fits your fabric or makes sense to you. Just mark it. Otherwise you’ll have two extra bodices of the same color and same side floating around your sewing room like someone you know right here….

Just sayin’.

Seam allowances: I did the standard 5/8″ American ones. There are NO SEAM ALLOWANCES around the neck/armhole edges. I just edgestitched them at 1/8″ and then used the bias tape wrapped around the raw edges.

Sizing: Standard American sizing allows for a 6″ drop from bust to waist measurements. In other words, if you have the pattern for the 36″ bust then the waist will measure approximately 30″. Need to take in? I’ll post pics when we get to that step.

Fitting notes: The skirt length for all sizes is the same and there are 2 inches that will be cut off to use as hem tape later on. If you’re very short and decide to cut the skirt shorter to save on fabric keep this in mind. If you’re very tall, or like very long skirts and need to lengthen keep this in mind as well.

One other thing to keep in mind – there is no length adjustment for the bodice. You will adjust the length using the straps BUT you need to be mindful of the armhole! If you’re worried about fit then do a muslin of the top. I know, I know, it seems like a lot of extra work but TRUST ME, just do it. It will save you SO much time and frustration later on!

Now go get your dress cut out, PAYING ATTENTION to the fact that you need a RIGHT front in RED and a LEFT front in WHITE, and the corresponding back pieces in red/white as well. CHECK YOUR LAYOUT TWO OR THREE TIMES before you cut 🙂

Up next: Sewing the top

 

Another year, another Gatsby picnic!

Line

The line, oh, the line…

So here we are, another year, another Gatsby picnic 🙂

After last years win we decided to do things ‘easy’ this year. And for us that means we don’t have to load everything into a truck, get up super early to finish loading and food, race to the Dunsmuir house, get in line early, unpack, race to set up, get dressed and collapse in a heap for a while before we get BACK in line after the event is over, load the surviving stuff up and head home to unpack before it gets dark and you’re supersuperexhausted. Ack!

In a moment of blissful “we don’t have to race around this year” I forgot to buy an early entry pass. By the time I remembered they were sold out 🙁  The upside of that is it FORCED us to be super economical with all plans because we would have to get in line with the masses and walk everything in. Lest you think I exaggerate the ‘stroll’ in let me just say it’s a little over a quarter of mile once you’re on the grounds, but getting TO the gate is an adventure. See the pic above? We’re standing on a hill, about halfway down, waiting. We had two wagons that should have won some sort of prize for our expert level tetris packing skills 🙂

Now picture this – we dressed at home, we had our makeup on as well as our party shoes. Now imagine unloading two cars worth of stuff, packing it into wagons (and we’re talking a table, four chairs, an umbrella WITH stand, the food and drink and flowers AND all the things that make picnicking fun…) NOW imagine that those wagons probably have 40-50 pounds of stuff in each and you’re trying to pull them UP a hill while wearing cha-cha shoes…

In the end, all the sweat and groans are worth it.

In the end, all the sweat and groans are worth it.

The linens, the china, yep, all worth it. We broke NOTHING!

table1If you look at the silver thing the flowers are in you’ll note that it is the prize from last years win. Because flaunt it if you got it 🙂

And just because nothing is as easy as it should be….

TablelegAngie went to a great deal of trouble (ha!) ordering a camping table so that we’d have something lightweight and easily transportable. It came with a leg that would NOT click into place, and therefore wanted to dump all picnic supplies on the ground, so we improvised with a board and cable ties. I mean, really, can’t things just go right?

sideboardWe packed most of the food and all of the dishes needed into my lovely vintage picnic basket and then used the basket for a ‘sideboard’ for tea sandwiches.

cartOne of the wagons became another spot for food set-up and held our bar supplies etc. We were truly picnicking this year!

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leslieThis is Leslie and her delightful boyfriend. She re-worked her dress from last year, changing all the blue bits to black and accessorizing in her own unique way 🙂 For instance, you can see all of us reading books:

books2But are we REALLY reading?

book1Yep. But not the book…

Can’t have anachronisms lying about, now can we? So to keep up with what others were posting and doing our own Instagram posts she hollowed out a book for each of us. Even the judges thought it was brilliant. And speaking of judges, did we win? No. Were we trying to? Not even close. But they did spend a good amount of time asking me about the chairs AGAIN (what is it with those chairs? I bought them at TARGET a few years ago!), the china (sorry, not a family heirloom of mine but stuff I bought at the flea market) and food (almost all vegan).

petitefoursLeslie even made ‘traditional’ petitefours, coated with a lemon icing. We really kept things simple compared to previous years and for once we sat, we ate, we walked around and relaxed. Because we weren’t constrained by the rules of an early entry pass we could leave early enough to miss the mass exodus and late enough to feel like we had a truly lovely day.

angieFinally, Angie got to wear the dress she made last year, the yellow representing the yellow ring in the Olympic symbol. It was cooler too, so she didn’t die wearing a sweater 🙂

meI hated my dress up until I got dressed. Then it was ok. Angie wanted me to wear something in the blue/yellow theme, she decided to decorate around the idea that we were a book club reading “The Great Gatsby” and the cover is blue and gold. I know, I know…could also be the Warriors or UC Berkeley so we kept it subtle. My dress is essentially a tank top elongated and then side insert panels and some fancy lace. Up close it was pretty but it’s one of my least favorite makes in a really long time. I’ll either recycle it or sell it. Sigh.

crowdIt’s always amazing to just walk around and be surrounded by EVERYONE dressed up! Notice the guy in the swimming togs…

beachOne group not only came in swimming gear but brought the whole beach with them!

adorableAren’t they adorable??!!

smallThis was the winning “Small Picnic” set up. Small meaning a table for up to 4 people. The judges raved about (can you guess??)…the CHAIRS!

I was finally able to meet Tanya and her husband (she of the Mrs. Hughes blog) and you can see her entire write-up here of the picnic. We didn’t get any pics of us together, because by that part of the day we were all a little tired and a little disheveled 🙂 I did snap a pic of a thrift store find of hers that made me wish I could get back to Australia soon:

aussieI’m not sure if I’m going to make it to the next picnic or not, it really IS like giving birth and some years we need a break. We’ll see. I’m thinking I may need to go just to wear a different dress so I can forget about this one…

 

The Rosie Rally

selfieWell, hello again! Yes, it’s been a while and I’ve got SO MUCH STUFF to share!

*I actually wrote that sentence THREE months ago and have yet to publish this. SO much has changed and all of it for the better but seriously….THREE MONTHS?? OK, let’s get this show on the road, clean up and move on.*

This lovely selfie is from the Rosie Rally, held August 15, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. The organizers asked for 1,000 women to show up dressed like the Rosie from the poster to set a new world record for the Most Rosies In One Place (previously set in Michigan). I pulled out MY Rosie outfit, met up with friends and hiked over to the Rosie the Riveter Park in Richmond.

This was an official Guinness World Record event, so they had seats set up for us in a special sectioned off area so we could be counted. By drone. Slightly creepy 🙂

field

There were PLENTY of Rosies on hand –

IMG_20150815_143924Entire families showed up –

fanilyI LOVED these little girls –

kidsBut by far the most exciting part of the day was meeting REAL Rosies! This is my friend Thena talking to Priscilla –

thenaI was able to sit with her for a few minutes, and she signed our brochures because her original badge is featured in it!

brochureCheck out her badge at the top center of the page ^

priscillaShe told me she took the train out here from her family home in the mid-west after the war started. Her son was an infant so she put him in day care and went to work every day. The pride in her voice was quite evident. She did something many did but few believed could be done, she did it with an infant son and a husband away. And she did it WELL. Yes, I had to fight back tears.

There were commemorative flowers.

flowersActual soldiers in their original uniforms –

sodlierAnd a 95 year old Rosie that, until last November, was still working at an airplane plant in Long Beach. She retired in November, not because it was time, but because the plant CLOSED DOWN! She was a HOOT!! As she started seeing friends in the audience she looked at all the polka dotted head scarves and said “We never wore anything like that, did YOU wear something like that? I never did.” Lots of head shaking.
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96rosieHer grandson finally said “Grandma, we have to go. We have a plane to catch”. Lol 🙂

SO many scarves –

headscarvesSpeaking of which, if you remember my original outfit you’ll see that my polka dots were much smaller than these. When I checked in they looked me over and said “Those aren’t the right sized dots, take one of these”

scarfSo I did. Along with the requisite pairs of red socks.

seaofrosiesAnd then we sat in the sun. And the heat, it was about 90 degrees that day because of course. And we sweat, and fanned and we squinted. And we set the record! This is the aftermath –

aftermathAnd to add a little flavor to the day, look!

kissAll these guys did was wander around, kissing 🙂

Our official count was 1084 Rosies. We beat out the ‘old’ record of 776, and a few weeks later the gang in Michigan took the record ‘back’, challenging us next year to BRING IT ON!

More importantly over a thousand women came together that day to honor the women who moved mountains before them. No one wanted individual attention, they just wanted to be remembered that they were here and they made a difference. The fact that moms brought young daughters, some even infants, to soak up the living history lesson means those women will have a little bit of Rosie in their soul forever 🙂

Radio Free Richmond did a lovely little video of the event, which you can see here.

There is a list of all the interviews from that day on youtube here.

And here is KQED’s post.

I’m still trying to get several rooms in my house photographed. In the last four months I’ve left my previous job, started a new one, designed a show, started dating a lovely man and started ripping apart the acres of bricks and concrete in my back yard. Exhausted? Yeah, me too 🙂

I’m baaaaack….

tray2AHello world, I’m baaack…:)

After several months of unpacking, organizing, painting and general life busy-ness I am BACK, and believe me, there ought to be a cocktail or two involved!

My main occupation these days is de-browning my house. If you saw the photo of the front exterior (post previous to this one) you’ll notice the lovely Swiss Coffee color. My whole house, inside and out, is Swiss Coffee. I don’t drink coffee. I don’t particularly like coffee and to look at brown walls EVERYWHERE each and every day of my life is certainly not the style of a person who considers red a neutral! SO. Lots of painting. And priming because you can’t put anything over Swiss Coffee and not have it affect the final color. Except maybe Licorice. Another food I’m not a fan of. Yeah, you could paint the walls Licorice and the Swiss Coffee wouldn’t show through…

The first room I tackled was the guest room. Not because we were going to be inundated with guests but because it had the least number of boxes in it 🙂 And because my mother kept bugging me to come get the bed my grandmother left when she moved into an assisted living facility and it seemed silly to go to all the trouble to rent a truck, move the furniture, drag said furniture upstairs and THEN paint.

roomA,So I painted. And it’s bright and cheery and most importantly, it’s not BROWN. Excuse me, Swiss Coffee. It is definitely NOT Swiss Coffee. The morning after I finished I woke up and the whole end of the house was glowing. Glowing nicely into Swiss Coffeeland. Mocking the coffee, as it were 😛 Let me give you a tour of what went into this room lovingly called the Grandma John room.

trayAI’m sure my grandmother, whose name is Lola, would be mildly confused as to why the name John is connected to “Grandma”. John is one of our former neighbors who was getting ready to move to Florida the same time we were leaving Walnut Creek, and as he packed he kept giving me stuff he didn’t want any more and thought I would appreciate. For instance, the dust ruffle, the cover on the bench that the guest tray is sitting on, and the two very back pillows on the bed are made from a chenille bedspread he gifted me. I love chenille and would have gladly used it as a bedspread but alas, it had a huge stain on one side and was starting to rot on another. I carefully cut off the bottom edge of the spread, the part with the fringe, and attached that to a fitted sheet (that had issues in the center and was no longer usable for sleeping). Voila! Custom fit dust ruffle, re-purposing things I had. I cut around the holes and the stains to make the back pillows and finally covered up the former outdoor bench that I build with scraps so everything coordinates nicely.

The paint-by-numbers pics on the back wall were a flea market find years ago. Frames and all I think I paid $5 for them, maybe $5 a piece but a mere pittance for all that graphic awesomeness. The mask was made by my daughter in the late 90’s, and was meant to be an African-inspired art piece of our quail at the time, Shelby the Fierce. Now it has a home other than a box in the closet. There are two fabulous IKEA items on that bed – three cotton velveteen pink pillows and THE most adorable bird print pillow. I made the mistake took the opportunity when we were living in Berkeley to visit IKEA weekly for necessary and fabulous items for the new house. I saw the pillows but at that time had no use for them so when I decided on pink for this room the lightbulb went on over my head and a quick trip in to buy one (“just to compare because….”) became an OMG THEY’RE A PERFECT MATCH TO THE PAINT moment. And because that worked out so well I picked up one of the pink gingham covers for the easy chair.

chairAThe two prints on the wall were from John, and the goose on the chair is hiding behind the pillow in a vain attempt to not be seen by one of the dogs (who have a fondness and talent for de-stuffing any stuffed animal in less than 10 seconds). That goose is one of the cutest animals IKEA has come out with yet. I’m a sucker for cute stuffed animals so let’s just be amazed I only have about 6….

(Oh yeah, the little black and white stuffed dog on the bed is the Gund Jonny Justice)

sidetableAThis table was in my grandmother’s front hall for years. I don’t think it’s a family heirloom but it’s pretty and very “her”. I’m not generally a fan of furniture like this BUT it was hers so I will take good care of it. The “B” is a nifty metal letter that has had lights added on a battery pack. B is for Brittany, my daughter, and she now has a place to stay that is clean and sewing-stuff free should she choose. Indeed, sewing bloggers and friends, if you’re in town let me know and as long as no one else has claimed the space, I have a place for you to crash while you visit our lovely area. The guest tray will be stocked  for you, film put in the vintage camera and that white basket under the table is loaded with magazines. Put up your feet, pick a cat to curl up with and relax 🙂

My favorite re-make so far:

dresser4AI bought this dresser in 2003 for $49 at Salvation Army. I know this not because I have a fabulous memory (it’s pretty good but not THAT good) but because the original receipt was still in a drawer. I distinctly remember being drawn to the waterfall front and the fact that it still had 6 original handles. I figured I’d re-do it for my daughter but she hated it so it lived in the garage all these years. At one point the garage flooded so it was water damaged at the bottom, the veneer on one side was starting to peel off and it was missing 2 handles. I stored all manner of crap in it and when it came time to move every single one of my friends questioned my sanity when I emphatically stated I was keeping it. I’m sure at least two of them looked up the contact info for the producers of “Hoarders – Buried Alive”. ALL of them made me promise that if it wasn’t re-done within a few months that I’d kick it to the curb. ALL OF THEM. That’s how reviled this poor piece was! HA!!

Secret – my new favoritest (yes, that’s a word) product in the world of furniture re-doing stuff is Chalk Paint. Keep that in mind. Chalk Paint. Easiest stuff to use. Seriously. I can’t tell you how many hours of videos on furniture restoration I’ve watched to see how the pros handle the issues of veneered furniture. MANY. I’ve even taken several field trips to MacBeath Hardwood in Berkeley, where they have an entire ROOM of veneers to ogle. I’ve talked to real wood workers, experimented briefly on a piece of furniture I DID leave behind and you’ll see that all that research yielded…the piece sitting in the garage for over a decade. I needed to prove to my friends that I had a vision and could carry it out, and show them that my hoard stuff has value, dammit!

Other secret – you don’t have to do any of that time consuming, smelly, dirty prep work when you use chalk paint. Because this piece had sat for so long I did take my orbital sander to it to get off the major dirt and grease, then I cleaned it with some Simple Green and crossed my fingers. I did NOT prime this piece, I hear that priming can be useful for some projects but I was on a schedule and didn’t have time for any priming. And I couldn’t find the primer so there’s that…

I glued down the parts of the veneer that were peeling up, and used wood putty to fill in the bits that were missing. I painted a first coat of chalk paint. And then I painted a second coat. And then a cat walked across the top so I did a light sanding and painted a third coat on the bigger parts like top and sides. There was still quite a bit of original decoration in place so I sanded the edges lightly to highlight the details and give it that “shabby chic” character. While I like the idea of shabby chic more often than not the finishes trigger my OCD painting gene and I just want to paint everything clean and pretty again. In this case I kept the sanding to a minimum and like how it has turned out.

The final, and very important, step in chalk painting is to wax it. This gives a super smooth and fairly water-resistant finish. None of this is rocket science! Paint. Sand. Paint. Wax on. Mr. Miyagi would be proud. And I can attest to the water-resistant part. In between finishing this and taking pics we ‘acquired’ (as in walked in and decided this was good) a new cat. He proceeded to stake out his territory in the guest room (he is a guest after all…) by peeing on the chair and one side of this dresser. I spritzed the side with homemade Urine-off (SO much better and cheaper than that Nature’s Miracle stuff) and wiped everything right off. If he continues we will A) have a serious talk with Mr. Man Cat and B) have the option of putting on more wax. It’s all good. You should try this stuff. NO sanding. You can go over ANY finish! I’m telling you this stuff is a dream to work with. I used the Annie Sloan brand and am currently working on another project (free chair on the streets of Berkeley, you can’t MISS that one!) using the chalk paint that Ohmega Salvage carries by Old Town paints. Home Depot has a version, as does Lowe’s and Joann’s (yeah, the fabric store. I’m going to have to try some). I’m going to guess that you get what you pay for, to a point, but have to check it out to see how the $8 version Joann’s carries stacks up to the more expensive stuff at either Ohmega or the Annie Sloans. Seriously, my friends, find yourselves a piece of furniture that needs some love and jump in!
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dresser2AThe two top handles were from another piece of furniture that we had to trash BUT the plastic part of the handle is the same color as the original handles so I’m delighted with the mash up.

dresser3AThe tri-fold mirror on top was a John gift, the green Hall vase a birthday present from my youngest sister years ago, the bunny glass dish a very early Martha Stewart reproduction (the mid-90’s I think).

silk-spindleAThis is my favorite and newest piece – it’s an old spindle from a silk loom with the silk thread still attached. One of my favorite vendors at the flea market, Elsie Green,  has a shop in Walnut Creek (though I’ve never been) and does THE most incredible set-ups at the flea market. I go just to take photos but every now and again find some gem that must come home with me. They do a lot of shopping in France and more than once I make it back to their booth only to find the PERFECT set of purple transferware just sold out. Or I fall in love with yet another set of glasses that I seriously don’t need at ALL and have to walk away from just to prove that I don’t have to OWN ALL THE THINGS. Who am I kidding? You can drool over their stuff here. Hide your credit card first.

I’m so happy with this piece I’ve entered it into a twitter/instagram #dyi contest. NO expectations but to everyone who helped me move – I DID IT!

A couple other things of note – each room in this house as a ceiling fixture and the previous owner replaced whatever was up there with all the same contractors special. Nipples on the ceiling, I call them. So from friend John, I replaced the fixture in THIS room with this:

lightAIt’s vintage, it’s pink. Go big or go home. Yes, it’s a little nipple-y <shrug>.

chairAA quick mention of the chair – it is slipcovered with a blanket and a duvet cover. The arms and seat cushion are covered with a hand embroidered quilt I picked up in the sale section at IKEA 15 years ago. It was so cheap I used it as a picnic blanket and dog blanket at one point. It is beautifully hand quilted and a king size so I had enough fabric to do the chair and used the rest for the bedspread on the bed. The skirt and back of the chair is an old Battenburg lace duvet that had plenty of holes in the lace and back but I was able to cut around those and recycle it. This is one of THE comfiest chairs in my house.

And the final addition to the room:

room2AHenry, Le Chat Nouveau. He’s been in our yard off and on since we moved in. A couple of months ago he finally landed on my radar when I got a good look at his head. He has two large gashes behind each ear, had a eyeball that was so swollen I was afraid he was going to lose the eye, and an attitude of take-no-shit, give-no-fucks. He’s one hissy, snappy dude in that way that cool cats are. He came in the house a few weeks ago, demanded food and head rubs and then would hiss and smack me. We set a trap one night and caught him in about 20 seconds. He’s been fixed, ear tipped and shot up with anti-biotics. The morning after his vet experience he decided I’m the BEST thing in his world and has become my shadow. He was fascinated with the process of setting up and shooting this room and finally crawled UNDER the bed (because I kept moving him off of it) and fell asleep. Once the food came out and I sat down for more than 7 seconds he hopped up and made himself at home.

henry3AHe’s resting on the 1940’s, maybe 50’s, crazy quilt that I bought on my birthday a few years ago on the Longest Yard Sale. The seller was cranky, the quilt was moist because the van they loaded everything in leaked and she wasn’t about to negotiate (did I mention how cranky she was at 9am?) It was a whopping $25. I paid her and walked off grinning. Everyone loves that quilt, and now Henry has claimed it.

chair2AAnd there we are. One room done, a long-standing project complete, two people who gifted me with lovely things honored. The rest of the house is coming along, wait until you see the breakfast nook 🙂

Until then, follow me on Instagram for as-they-happen projects. I’m going to be making my own cleaning products to get rid of the chemicals in my house, make some cheese and pickles, not to mention more peach jam, as well as document the sad, cement back yard before we start ripping things out to make it our personal oasis. Woo Hoo!

To top everything off – we finally caught Max! He’s home, he’s happy and regaining the weight he lost. It took a small army of volunteers but he’s BACK. My family is complete.

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around for a while, you could miss it.” – Ferris Bueller

P.S. Apologies to anyone who visited my page and saw a slightly off colored phrase at the top of it. I was hacked because my version of wordpress was slightly outdated. It was rectified quickly and easily but boy o boy, don’t those people have better things to do? Once again, sorry and thanks to the Jolittletime on Instagram for the heads up!

Updates!

ColorTouch

(exhale)….

Ok, breathing again….

We are alive. We are doing pretty well all things considered. And I never, ever, once imagined that life would take the route it did.

Three months and three mortgage brokers later, I bought a house. Yay! I had about two and a half weeks to find something and then I had to figure out how to move 21 years of accumulation.

I rented a pod. I rented a storage unit. Friends came and helped pack. The chickens went to my daughters house, the cats were split up to several fosters, the bun is up in Napa having the time of his life with a new doggy sister…

And we are ‘homeless’. Technically, even though I own a house, we are homeless. The sellers are still in the house, they won’t be leaving until the first part of April so we have no address we can get mail delivered to (other than my parents), have no utility bills, nothing to “prove” where we live because we’re couch surfing.

Now, don’t cry for us Argentina, it’s not that bad 😛 But it’s definitely not the best way to live. We are renting a room from a lovely woman in Berkeley who accepted us with two dogs, originally four cats (more on that in a minute) and the proverbial partridge in a pear tree (the rabbit). Thankfully Karen (blinkysews.com) was able to foster the bunny for us so we literally arrived in the middle of the night with a small Noah’s ark of creatures and 2 very tired humans. We’re here for another 2-3 weeks and THEN we finally get to move into the 1937 house that you see above.

This has been the roughest 5 months since Jim was diagnosed with cancer. The whole house buying process was RIDICULOUS in the amount and types of paperwork needed. By FAR more intrusive than giving birth! At one point I told the mortgage broker (after yet another absurd request for documentation that demanded a level of transparency that the industry demanding it NEVER itself uses) seemed puzzled and mildly offended when I said “I’d rather give birth to twins naturally and raise them myself than go through this lunacy ever, ever, ever again.” Yep, seriously. Ugh.

Other causes that are associated with erectile dysfunction are smoking, physical purchase viagra inactiveness and poor cardiovascular fitness. An obvious difference between Tongkat Ali and viagra canada pharmacy , viagra and Vardenafil and on line viagra. So for restricting these types of interruptions those can affect your sick health you are always advised to you, that you should not take order viagra find these guys , with any kind of alcohol and for women it is also effective in preventing cancer, and in addition, it is available in various forms. These products are specially designed to treat the prostatitis and other diseases. buying viagra in india I’m hoping that once we’re down to unpacking boxes, finding homes for all the ‘stuff’ I’ve dragged along with me and are doing mundane things like picking paint colors that this will all be worth it. The feral cat colony that I’ve taken care of for 15 years is still an issue. I can’t move them until I move and the purchaser of our former home is…of a different culture that sees animals as disposable and repugnant (just going by the comments that he’s made). The last evening we were in the house we had everything out and I was getting the cats into carriers. BIG MISTAKE. I ‘should’ have gotten the cats before the bed left and just taken them to our temporary home. But I didn’t and I regret it. Ashton fought me but I hung on and shoved him into a crate. Max fought me harder and still I hung on and shoved him into a crate. I moved Ashton to the car and went back for Max and the blanket we left on the floor. Holding Max’s crate by the handle with the blanket under my arm, I made my way to the car at 3am. Max struggled so hard he managed to break the damn crate and ran away, as I held the blanket under my arm. I haven’t seen him since.

I’ve been back to our old house many times. A neighbor stepped up to help me feed the cats and has gone toe to toe with the new owners, explaining that this is a protected colony that will be moved once we get into our new home.

And why are we waiting? Here’s the fun part of the whole story – originally I was told we had until the end of March to move. When I entered into the contract on my new house the sellers asked to have until the beginning of April to find a new place and move. I figured, at that time, that we might have to stay somewhere for a few days, at most a week or so, so I agreed. THEN the landlord served me papers that said we had to be out on 2/26, not even 2/28 because of reasons that it turns out they lied about. The last week in the old house we had no gas service because PG&E showed up on the wrong date to shut service off, smelled gas and shut things down. They sent someone out later that day who determined we had a ‘substantial’ leak (yeah, and we’d know about it for more than 2 years but the landlord chose to do NOTHING) and they ended up completely removing the meter. REMOVING. We had no heat, no hot water and no way to cook. No recourse either since it was 4 days before we were to be out and standard procedure is to tell your landlord they f*&%$d up and make them fix it. Sigh….It was 38 degrees every night until we left. It was uncomfortable.

And now we’re missing Max. I’ve got signs up, I’ve got all the neighbors keeping an eye out, and there is food and water at the station for the ferals. I’m hoping he’s somewhere close and we can trap him when we get the ferals and get everyone moved. Once we’re in the new house and all our family members are there then I’ll be able to take a deep breath and move on. Until then I remind myself to breathe, put one foot in front of the other and keep saying “it will all get better soon, it will all get better soon…”

I’m hoping the next update will be SOON and I’ll be able to include LOTS of pictures of my pretty new house! And that I can SEW again soon!!

Thank you to EVERYONE that has shared their nightmare stories of buying a house with me. To everyone that offered to help us out, that has fostered an animal for us, that has been there when I’ve been in tears, THANK YOU. Especial thanks to Angie, who was responsible for several crucial puzzle pieces. THANK YOU!

 

 

 

Blog Hop and Changes

IMG_4353AOlivia

This is a LONG overdue post. I’m going to start with a challenge that Chuleenan of CSews tossed my way. It will make a good bridge 🙂 It’s a Blog Hop, in which each participant answers four questions. Check out Chuleenan’s answers, and she has a link in her blog to Olgalyn Jolly of O! Jolly! Crafting Fashion, who nominated her, etc.

1. Why do I write?

It’s therapy. Seriously, it helps me work through some of life’s “stuff”. And I really like to write. I wish I had more time/discipline to do it. Clearly I NEED to do it more, since I’m running months and many posts behind, the why will become clearer in a moment.

2. What am I working on?

Wow. Just you wait… OK, I’ve actually just cut out the new Dahlia dress pattern from Colette patterns out of an adorable retro-inspired cat print for Miss Crayola Creepy’s Cat Lady Sewing Challenge. I’m also trying my best to make a very simple Swirl dress for the Sew Retro Rose Swirl Sewalong. It should take me an hour to make the dress but there it sits, in the bag, all cut out and ready to sew. Sigh.

And I’m trying to find a new place to live in the next couple of months. Oh, and a new job. More in a minute.

3. How does my blog differ from others in its genre?

I purposely set up my blog to be able to cover anything going on in my life, not just sewing. The original design was to not only talk about my sewing projects but also include upholstery, gardening, crafting and just about anything else that flit across my path. Didn’t even consider knitting and yet, now I’m a knitter! More than anything I want to show my fellow sewists that they can do ANYTHING. I’m constantly learning from everyone around me so if I can give back, cool.

4. How does my writing process work?

Lately? Clearly not well 🙂 Usually I just sit and write and write and write. Then I edit, edit, edit. I have no less than a dozen half-written posts in my queue, covering everything from how to use twitter more effectively to several 20’s projects that are still in process. I try to be honest and transparent so goofs are included as well as the random outtake. Then I read and re-read things so much that words start looking strange, because how often can you type the word “office” until that looks wrong??? 42. Eventually I hit “publish” and go to bed, only to wake up and find some HUGE spelling and grammar error that my sixth grade teacher would have drawn a big circle around with her red pencil and given me that “I know you can do better” look but which you all are nice enough to never point out. I thank you for that 😛

I’m supposed to nominate two bloggers to answer these questions so I’m nominating our friend Vicki at Another Sewing Scientist (because we haven’t heard from her in a while 🙂 ) and Tanya Maile at Mrs Hughes because she’s adorable and I want to see her answers.
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And now for a confession or two:

Somewhere around the end of July I got tired. I would drag myself out of bed, drag to work, use all my energy to be happy and peppy, drag home and collapse. I’d try to catch up on stuff on the weekends but managed to only get further and further behind. When I was finally able to say “I’m always tired” I tried to see my doctor. “Lose some weight, then we’ll talk.” Really? That’s the BEST you can come up with in the 12 minutes you scrolled through my chart, only looking at me once as I talked? So I tackled the problem one piece at a time. I made sure I was eating well, I got at least 7-8 hours of sleep a night, I stopped trying to do much of anything other than the most important tasks at hand. Gatsby nearly did me in, and the few days after that I helped a friend finally leave her awful husband, moving almost everything she owned to my house and cleaning out my studio/’fabric storage space to put all her possessions in.

I did feel better. I started getting my energy back, I picked out several projects from my myriad piles and started organizing the sewing room. See the picture above of the cute kitty with the little pumpkin? She died. She lived an extraordinary eight years with FeLV, a disease that kills most cats within a year. It was ok, she puttered along just fine until the last couple days and then she was gone. I grieved. We have her ashes in a small box on the book case. The day I picked them up I got home to find a note to call the landlord.

We now have 90 days to move. They have decided to sell the house I’ve lived in over 20 years. Yes, they did give me right of first refusal but I don’t have a spare $400,000 in cash laying around. They never maintained this wonderful farmhouse, built in 1925, so the property is being sold as investment only and doesn’t qualify for an standard loan. The new owners will probably just tear it down and build some hideous McMansion. Yes, I feel lucky that I was able to live here so long. I raised my daughter here, I’ve lived here longer than any other place. I wanted to buy it, fix it and build a small cottage at the front of the property to rent out. I even had a 2 year plan in place and was actively working on it but it’s too late.

I’ll get over it. I’ll find another place for us to live, but the dogs will make things tougher. I may have to give my chickens away, and I haven’t slept more than a few hours every night thinking about the feral cat colony we’ll have to leave behind. The delightful next door neighbor, the one that thought the sound of Chloe’s puppies playing was awful, has threatened in the past to kill them. I’ve had a long conversation with Alley Cat Allies, for whom I’m a Feral Friend ( need help with TNR in my area? I’m your girl), and trying to trap and move them would be exceedingly difficult. Generally you’d ask your neighbors to take over feeding but those people don’t live next door to someone who has more issues than National Geographic. I do. It IS illegal to threaten an animal and even ferals are protected under cruelty laws, but that also depends on having a decent division of Animal Services in your area and we don’t. The colony is small, only 4, and all are quite healthy and happy. The ideal situation would be to find someone with a barn who needs natural rodent control, I just don’t know anyone like that. This, of all the things I’m worried about, really does keep me up at night.

So like the smart person I am, I called my mental health practitioner. Four more weeks until an appointment. Sigh.

It all comes down to the numbers. My current salary won’t buy me anything in our area. I’ve looked further east and there *might* be some options in the future but truthfully, I can’t imagine living out there. That’s not to say I won’t give it a chance but we’re now running against the clock. If I can get another job at the same place I’ve been working that would help. I’m trying. I’ve also started looking for job/housing up in Oregon. If I have to start anew why not? There is a thriving art/sewing/vintage community up there and housing certainly hasn’t been hijacked like down here in the middle of tech-ville. There is SO MUCH information coming at me ALL THE TIME that you’d think I could sort it out and start making lists.

I’m just not there. Yet. I’ve run out of kleenex and ibuprofen. My neighbor has offered to help to a garage sale to move some things along (whee!) and my plans have shifted from things like “clean out the sewer line” and “fix the front steps” to “ebay, ebay, ebay”. I’m not as afraid as I was initially, the shock has worn off. My brother-in-law, who fixes and flips houses for a living, tried to negotiate a deal for me. He’s also looking for places for us to live or perhaps even buy. It’s all such a muddle.

In the long run things WILL work out. I’m NOT giving up my dogs or cats, I may have to board the chickens for a bit and find a new home for the bunny (his brother died yesterday, see what kind of week its been?). My “52 to do in 52” list is largely crossed off now since most of those projects were for this house. Priorities shift, life slides along. I do a bit of microblogging on Instagram and twitter so please check those out 🙂  Vicki posted a pic of her laptop the other day and said ‘To be perfectly honest, this is the tool I use the most often: when I got back into sewing 5 years ago, I remember thinking, “Hmmm, I wonder if there is some sort of sewing community or tutorial site online?” Burdastyle led me to blogs and TSW and sewalongs and twitter and IG and meetups and IRL friends. Best tool ever.’

She’s right 🙂 I read as many blogs as I can, I look at my Instagram and twitter feeds when I need a smile (Tempest is doing her annual “How hideous is THIS ornament?” posts, a MUST SEE for all). There are at least three new babies in our sewing world, new patterns  weekly and photos of sewing areas. I look at them all and sigh. One day, I will get back to all of this.

So my friends, I’m sorry for the length of the post. I’m sorry I never quite finished up the 20’s sewing projects (you should see the stacks of stuff I’ve only half done!), I may not get my Cat dress done and I’m guessing anything else will be boxed up soon. I have no idea where I’ll land. I just don’t. And I’m sad and mad and all of that, a jumble of emotions. I wish I had a partner to share things with, I wish I had someone to hug me and tell me things will work out. I guess if I was “stuck” all of these goings on will certainly “un stick” me. The sewing world is one amazing place. You guys make me smile and give me hope. Keep it up : )

Ariel Rose

romoThat’s Ariel with Sergio Romo, pitcher and human being extraordinaire.

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Want to renew your faith in humanity? Read THIS.

Miss you, sweet girl.

The Gatsby picnic 2014

GatsbyCoverA

Ignore the date on the cover. The scanner is buried under a pile of papers. If we wait for me to unbury it we’ll be waiting until the day before Thanksgiving…

 It is that time of year again….time for the annual Gatsby picnic hosted by the Art Deco Society. Last time we were there was 2012 and we were three-fourths the way through the year with the Sew Weekly challenges. Angie and I put together a picnic based on the election of 1936 (FDR!), shared our area with Mena and her beau and didn’t win the picnic prize 🙁 Mena said “we was robbed”. That’s ok, it strengthened our resolve to do better after we took a year off. Putting these things together is sort of like giving birth, it’s a LOT of work, a small amount of agony right at the end and then you get to enjoy something really wonderful (for a short amount of time, unlike babies that you get to enjoy for the rest of your life). There’s even some sleep deprivation involved 🙂

Our theme this year, chosen by Angie, was the 1924 Olympics. She envisioned 5 of us at the table, each one wearing a color of one of the rings. The table itself was FULL of color!

IMG_20140914_114239

Table before the food…

I even found a menu for a 1920’s picnic that we used as a basis for our food choices which the judges apparently REALLY appreciated!

  • Tea Sandwiches
  • Tomatoes stuffed with shrimp salad
  • Thin slices of chicken or ham with cold asparagus/vinaigrette
  • Hollowed out oranges shell filled with berries
  • Rice salad with celery, nuts, raisins in ring mold
  • English trifle in crystal bowl
  • Champagne punch with block of ice floating

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We added deviled eggs to the list because Angie LOVES deviled eggs and deleted the champagne punch in favor of 5 different lemonades. I had a huge container of iced tea that I made tea ice blocks for – instead of adding ice and diluting the tea I just froze the same tea in jello molds. Of COURSE there are no photos, for which I profusely apologize, but it works really well. I also didn’t do the slices of chicken/ham with asparagus. Doing a cold asparagus dish was on the menu but at 8am Sunday morning, with everything else that had gone on, I said “uncle” on the asparagus. Good thing too, that table was FULL.

Instead of basic sandwiches we did Motorloaves, just like our first Gatsby picnic:

Motorloaf

We had a version of deviled eggs called “picnic eggs”. You make regular deviled eggs, put them back together and wrap them in parchment, twisting the ends so they look like candy 🙂 I almost didn’t get the shot we ate them so quickly!

picniceggs

Lynette made Berry Baskets. Angie specially requested chocolate covered Madeleines and check out the plate under the baskets:

berrybaskets

Olympic colors!

Limoncello

There’s homemade Limoncello in that little blue bottle…and check out the hand embroidered napkins. I did those on BART every day for a week.

We had a trifle that EVERYONE went bonkers over. Can I FIND that photo? I cannot. Rather than wait weeks days for me to look everywhere I’m just going to get this post up.

For those of you not in-the-know about this event let me just say it is a DEAL. No detail goes un-thought-of. The actual weekend of the event we spend all day Saturday doing a dry run of the set-up, packing the TRUCK and making sure shoes, hosiery, make-up, clothes are all in order. The morning of we’re up at dawn, finishing the food and last minute prep (Do we have enough ice? IS there enough ice?? What about the umbrella stands???) It’s a mad house. The cherry on top THIS year was Angie – the day before, as we’re in the middle of the madness, her phone rings and it’s her boyfriend who is calling to let her know his dad just died.

That’ll bring any party to a screeching halt.

We stepped back, took a breath and just stood there. Another call and she was on her way to his family’s house an hour south of us. I offered to drive her there so she could drive him back home and we set out. Midway down the freeway, change of plans, I dropped her elsewhere and went home to finish packing and food. We decided that we would go ahead with our plans and see if she was able to join us. I finished the sewing and hoped.

It was not to be for her. She stayed with the family, helping them make arrangements while three of us piled into my truck and headed to the Dunsmuir house in Oakland. We had an early entry pass which, in previous years, allowed us to get in line at 10 and be let onto the grounds at 11. THIS year they let us onto the grounds as soon as we were there !! It gave us an extra HOUR to get the picnic put together, an extra HOUR to get dressed, an extra hour to stop sweating 🙂 Here is our before shot:

Before

Check out my Mama Jade shirt there!

Dontcha just love Instagrammed selfies in the bathroom?? (If you’re curious about my shirt you can read the story here.) But oh just look at the afters:

Lynette

This is Lynette, she represents the “green” ring.

Leslie

Leslie is “blue”…

Caolifhionne

…Caolifhionne is “black”…

Me

…and I am red 🙂

I have no pics of Angie, who was yellow, but I know she finished her dress.

As for the patterns, I used this for mine:

Mydress_

It is a vintage pattern that was traced off and reproduced by the woman that brings you Past Patterns. This is the second version of this dress I’ve made (you can see the cuffs of the first still-yet-unphotograhed dress). My one issue with the pattern is those front drapey pieces. First time round I cut them out as designed and spent 3 hours re-pinning and draping to get them looking like the picture. Second time around I draped them myself and then let them hang on the mannequin to “set” the pleats like you would window drapery. Pain in the rear is all I have to say. I do like the way you pleat the dress to fit a little better than a sack, the centerfront drapey panels are caught in a 3/8″ tuck as is the back belt. And yes, there is a small back caplet. I had a cape…

The other pattern we used was this one that our friend Leslie had in her stock:

Pattern

We used the handkerchief hem version for her and the sleeker version with the side drape for Lynette. This is an EASY, EASY pattern so for everyone who doesn’t want to have to think about drafting or draping a 20’s dress and just wants something basic try this out. Leslie bought it on Amazon. It’s a little pricey BUT you either draft or purchase 🙂 Lynette’s dress is remarkably similar to the dress I made for Wendy.

 Leslie made her own hat:

Lesliehat

When we finally sat down to eat there were drinks:

Lynetteginjpg

Lynette is shakin’ up those gin cocktails!

TheGirlsHere we all are towards the end of the day, saluting Angie, because…

trophy

See that shiny silver champagne bucket under my elbow? That means WE WON the Grand Picnic Prize!!!

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Third times the charm!

Although we won over what I would consider one of the Best picnic setups I’ve EVER seen and this picture just doesn’t do it justice:

Best tent everSorry for all the grass-filled shots, I’m trying to get this done on a computer sans photoshop 🙂 They are still setting up here but you can see the tables of food, their wonderful chairs and that TENT. THAT is your basic patio umbrella with a million yards of RIBBON sewn to look like lattice panels, then draped with 48 custom dyed jade green net panels on the inside! They made those “fins” on the top of the umbrella to mimic the decorations you see on Chinese architecture, there was an enourmous light fixture on the inside of the tent, a huge arrangement of Chinese lantern plants on a table under the light, oriental rugs…it just went on and on in the details. To top it all off we met the charming Kim and family/friends, shared goodies and happily gave them some of our extra ice (because we finally had enough!). Turns out Kim used to make hats under the Topsy-Turvy label and for a few years I lusted after one of her creations. Never scored one but meeting her was even better!

You can see more photos of our set-up on the Art Deco Society’s facebook page. Looks like the got a shot of the trifle, rice ring and tomatoes with shrimp salad!

I had to grab a pic with this lovely lady, because she’s wearing polka dots, and you can see my awesome shoes.

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And finally, I AM MAKING a version of this amazing vintage swimsuit!

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Peace and love

The last two weeks…whew…

So much to blog about, so little energy so I’ll start at the top of the list. Robin Williams. He was a fixture here in the Bay Area. He was just a guy, just around town, not hard to spot but we always gave him the gift of just being. No celebrity, just a guy…

I saw him on stage back in the 70’s, as his star was beginning to rise and then again a few years later. The first time he was so frenetic I couldn’t keep up! My brain literally hurt after watching him on stage. The second time was after some rehab and he told us “Cocaine is gods way of saying you’re making too much money.” I was a fan for life.

Now he’s gone. Mental illness is such a trap, many people have it, and yet it’s still stigmatized. Fellow bloggers talk about their struggles, I’ve had a few. I get situational depression, meaning life starts piling crap on and I’m good for a while and then I start to buckle. When my daughter was very sick some years ago I went along ok until bam! Didn’t want to leave the house. Went on anti-depressants for a while, had some (more) talk therapy, things improved, left the anti-depressants behind.

A few years ago Jim got cancer, did OK for a while then bam! One day I wanted to ram the truck against the center divide so back onto anti-depressants. Here’s the kicker – different drugs this time. Had to try three different meds before one didn’t make me physically ill (one made my eyes track funny so I couldn’t stand without tilting, another made me puke, fun times) and the ONLY reason I stuck it out was I didn’t want to leave my daughter. By then I was SO OVER the cancer thing and the related garbage, not to mention one hideous doctor that I still wish liver cancer on, that my therapist actually put me on medical leave. It worked, things changed, life improved and I eventually ditched the drugs. Again.

It may happen again. I now have skills. But honestly it’s draining, people tell you ALL THE TIME you “don’t look sick” so they expect the exact same things from you, as if their reality could be yours. I felt like that Saturday Night Live character, Massive Headwound Harry (did I get that right?), if only people could see how I was bleeding inside.

And so our friend Robin left. I get it. I’m sorry for his family, especially his kids. I’m sorry there are trolls out there that feel it’s ok to judge. I am GLAD for my friends and a couple have let me share their memories.

From Courtney:

robin1This is her bike. Robin used to tease her about riding it. “Only way I know how to honor Robin; riding the bike he always gave me a hard time on. Riding in honor #churchofbike

This is posted on a fence in his neighborhood, there are photos like this all over the Bay Area right now:

robin2This is from my friend John:

Advantages of generic or branded viagra tablets usa Special cautions for driving cars or any other engine are not required when taking cialis generic cialis online should be taken according to the variation of the brands. Shift order cheap viagra workers are main victims of this sort of gout. So which is the better duration of sex is a reason for one in five relationships to on line viagra other break up over. Alpha Lipoic Acid – in its fat soluble form is another powerful anti-oxidant that is also the other cause free sample of viagra of reducing the price of the medicine. “Just an enormous talent, and such a loss. My outstanding memory of him— Renaissance Pleasure Faire, Novato- 1988… 100 degree day, just got off stage, several us us laying out on hay bails backstage melting, Phyllis Patterson (‘Owner-Originator’ of the Faire,) flips open the canvas curtain and walks backstage with a stocky built man in peasant costume with a beautiful Commedia dell’arte mask. Mask comes off- And there he was- Robin Williams. Very quiet. We discussed the heat, where he made a crack about being in a bear costume 24.7.. He rested and drank water with us. Then went on his way. When we saw him around fair, still masked, he’d make a “Shhhh” gesture, we’d smile, He’d smile. It was out secret for the day and it was wonderful.”

Finally, some  years ago I was lucky enough to do a show with James Monroe Inglehart. He just won a Tony Award for his work in Disney’s “Aladdin”, he plays the Genie. His heart is bigger than his stage presence, which is HUGE : )  This is their tribute to Robin:

 Source: Disney on Broadway

“You’ll have bad times, but it’ll always wake you up to the good stuff you weren’t paying attention to.”

robin3“You’re only given one little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.”

Peace and love, Robin.