Happy Halloween!

A very fun Halloween was had by the Muses and nephews, and so much candy was consumed by all that it will most likely be a very good Christmas for our dentists. 

I'm not sure I've ever dressed as a superhero for Halloween before. I loved it!  I may have to be a superhero for Halloween every year from now on. You may find my character - Hit Girl, a 10 year old vigilante described as "John Rambo meets Polly Pocket" from the movie/graphic novel Kick-A**- to be controversial. So be it. She is. But when I saw the movie last spring, I loved that she is strong and empowered, that her character and the havoc she wreaks is non-sexualized, and that she doesn't wear a trampy costume (why is it so hard to find a non-slutty Halloween costume these days!?!?). Plus who doesn't love a purple wig?

Hit Girl - My ten year old vigilante superhero alter-ego.

Here's a few more pictures from my day. I hope you had an excellent Halloween, too!

Mario and Luigi - Mom Muse really got into the spirit!

Venom (Spider Man's arch nemesis) and the cutest pumpkin in the patch.

Poly as a witch, Me as Hit Girl, Calliope as a rabbit and Erato as a cheerleader

Great Scott! It's almost Halloween!

If you missed Glee last night, then you missed their utterly awesome Halloween homage to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. But thanks to the Time Warp (and Hulu, where you can see the whole episode for a time), here is a little taste.


When I was a teen, seeing RHPS at a midnight show in Greenwich Village at the first opportunity that your parents wouldn't notice that you were not in your bed at midnight, was practically a right of passage, especially if you considered yourself to be somewhat of a misfit or outcast. And what teen doesn't feel that way? Anyway, it was so much fun to see this cult classic diced and spliced with the talent and enthusiasm of the Glee cast during the month when both me and Rocky Horror are celebrating 35 years. (Seriously, do I not have the best birthday month ever?!?!?!)

Putting the Moron in Oxymoron

It was almost exactly three years ago that I received my first sewing machine as a birthday gift from my mom. Since then, I've learned a huge amount about sewing, and there are days when I feel very confident and capable about my work. However, there are also days when I feel like I don't know a thing. Lately I feel like I'm oscillating back and forth between sewing genius and class dunce. Perhaps this is a propos for being in the oxymoronic catagory of "advanced beginner". 

On Saturday, I had one of those truly laughable moments when I was working on fixing the lining and zipper of my gray pants. Everything was going fine and I was congratulating myself on so swiftly fixing the pulling problem. And then, in about a 20 second span, I managed to thoroughly destroy a perfectly good zipper. As you can see from the above specimen, not only did I manage to derail the zipper from the right track, but I also somehow managed to rip the teeth off of the tape. I have absolutely no clue how I managed to do this. Although, I will confess that I happened to be holding a seam ripper in my right hand when the trouble began. When I saw what I had done, I carefully put down the pants and slowly backed out of the Craft Lounge, being very careful not to touch or disturb anything on the way out, lest any other innocent notions or projects meet a sudden and untimely death at my hands.

Do you ever have moments like this? Either with sewing or another hobby?  That 30 seconds that take you from things going along swimmingly to utter disaster?

I did get back on the proverbial horse yesterday, and installed a new zipper. I am now attempting to finish putting in the lining. It's all basted together and (knock on wood) looking good. During the week I plan to finish sewing up these pants.  Um, cross your fingers for me, please!

Happy Friday and More October Baking!

Another sunny and crisp October weekend arrives today! Hooray!

This is the time of year when I start to think about pies; rolling out the dough, filling it with apples, pumpkin or pecan fillings, sprinkling sugar on the crust to make it shiny and sweet, and the warm aroma of cinnamon and spice filling the house.

I went on a second apple picking expedition over Columbus Day weekend - a special trip to get granny smiths and winesaps, which were not yet ripe when I took my nephews apple picking. I now have a plethora of apples to eat and bake with. So, last weekend, I made an apple pie. If you've never made a pie from scratch, I have to tell you that there is something immensely satisfying about it. So much of cooking these days is about quick and easy - semi-homemade, 1-2-3, Rachel Ray... Not that there is anything wrong with that. But it doesn't really give you the same sense of accomplishment and satisfaction of a pie that is made from scratch, with apples you picked from the tree and a crust you rolled out with your own hands. Pulling my piping hot pie from the oven gives me a similar sense of satisfaction as finishing a successful sewing project - that moment when you try it on and say "Yes! Perfect!"    

Apple Pie! Mmmmm....

About apple pie... There are several schools of thought, but most divide along the following lines: raw vs pre-cooked filling and 2 crust vs lattice vs crumb topping. It all comes down to preference, and some people have pretty strong preferences. My mom's apple pie uses an uncooked filling, which I do enjoy, but in the last few years I've come to favor precooking mine. Some of the Muses (my siblings) think this amounts to heresy, but I find it more reliable - no worries about al dente apples in the pie or a burnt crust and raw filling or too wet or dry a filling. It takes some of the variables out of the equation. This filling recipe from Williams-Sonoma is a good basic one. I use a mix of Granny Smith and Empire apples, which makes a filling that has the right sweet/tart balance and doesn't get mushy, even after a long baking.  I also tend to make either a 2 crust pie (my primer on pie crust here).

This pie did not last long at all. But, since Phineas has already started mentioning turkey and stuffing and all things Thanksgiving, and I seem to have Autumn on the brain, I am sure another pie is in my near future - maybe a pecan one this time.

Anyway, I hope you are enjoying excellent Autumn weather where you are and getting out there and making the most of it! 

My first "Vintage" machine

Last week my Pop called to say he was evicting me and my sisters. Or rather, all of our accumulated junk from high school, college and childhood was being evicted from the attic. So, on Sunday, the Muses assembled at family headquarters to go through all our old toys, clothes, science fair projects and memorabilia.

There wasn't all that much that belonged to me: one box from high school and one from college, both of which contained some real gems - speech and debate awards (I was a nerd), yearbooks, notes from friends, concert ticket stubs, etc. And I did come home with one outstanding new-to-me item.

My Grandma's Sewing Machine

My Pop gave me my Grandmother's sewing machine. It's a Sears Kenmore 1320 "Zig Zag Sewing Machine" and it boasts of having 4 different types of stitches. I am going to guess from the funky avocado colored accessories and the instruction manual that starts with a letter to "Dear Homemaker" that it is circa 1975 or earlier. It has been in my parents' (un-air conditioned) attic for ten years, but it still had the tag on it from the last time it was serviced.  So, I was optimistic that it would be in working order.

There are a bunch of mysterious presser feet. How cool is this button hole attachment?

I took out and started the machine up last night - it weighs a ton!  The machine was still threaded and there were bobbins still wound.  The motor protested when I tried to wind another bobbin, a sign that it definitely did not like my parent's attic or is showing it's age. And there is something funky happening with the part where you load the bobbin. You actually have to take the throat plate off in order to load it, which is very neat.  But something isn't catching or clicking on the inside to hold the bobbin in, but I'm not sure what. So, I have some work cut out for me in figuring out how to operate my new toy.

My Pop also sent me home with my Grandma's tin of buttons.  I don't think any of the buttons are particularly noteworthy, but the tin is excellent. It says "Ward's Fruit Cake" on it. I'm sure it was kicking around my grandma's house since the '50's.

Anyway, I am probably going to have to get the machine serviced or repaired, so stay tuned for more as I investigate further. I can't wait to get it into working order so I can take it for a spin.

Lady Grey Muslin 2.1

A business trip at the end of the week and into the weekend kept me from posting about changes to my Lady Grey muslin. It also kept me out of the Craft Lounge.  So, here is an update on how things were going as of last week.

Things are starting to come along. I did some strategic pinning, taking in all the seams by about 1/4 inch from shoulder to a little above the waist.

From the front with a bit of the collar pinned out to prevent gaping.

From the back - definitely an improvement from this.

From the side - less gaping.

 

Here is another view of the back.

I may need to do a little more pinning across the back. Plus I need to finalize how much to pin out of the lapel so there isn't gaping in the front and work on the sleeves. However, I think that once I have sewn this up in my wool boucles, sewn in the stabilizers and added a lining, this will fit pretty well with the right amount of ease. I think that some of the little distortions are caused by the pins, and by the extra ease. It is just so difficult to judge the back! I don't want to make the muslin too fitted and then have my jacket be snug.  

Anyway, that is where I am with this project - let me know your thoughts!

Weekend Sewing: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

I should be feeling much more positive about my weekend sewing than I'm actually feeling. Although I made progress, I had some pretty annoying setbacks. And, as usual, there was just not enough time for everything I wanted to do. Here is the round-up:

First, I sewed up the second muslin for my cami, now in a size S instead of M, and with the FBA that I posted about on Friday.

Please ignore the red eye, black bra straps and ridiculous grin. 

It's better than the first version, so that is some progress. But now it is a shade too snug across the bust and hips. Plus the straps are still too close together in the front, probably on account of it being a smaller size. I plan to add a bit more room to the center front and see if that helps all three problems.  I do think that the size small armskye fits better than the medium.  I really want to be done with this muslin so I can sew on the beautiful silk that is staring me down in the Craft Lounge. With all my on-going, larger-scale projects, I need a simple, easy thing to sew. I need a win.... bad! Do you ever get like that?

Next, I haven't told you about my pants recently. That is because there was not much to tell. I was plowing ahead, little by little, when I realized I had gone too far and attached the waistband without dropping in the lining first. Whoops! So, a little backtracking and the lining was in. However, when I went to do the "final try on" before closures and hemming, it was a big old mess. I must have done something wrong when stitching the lining to the zipper fly area, because now the fly is pulling to one side, causing all kinds of ripples across the crotch/abdomen - it's very noticeable. Not good. So, now I have to un-do this part of the lining and figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. I really hope I didn't botch this project - I was loving these pants even more than the original version. And Phin commented that the bum was fitting perfectly, which is pretty incredible considering how awful the first muslin was. Aaarg!!  I'm hoping I just did something dumb that will be self-evident and easy to fix. So, that is another big step back.

Finally, I DID manage to make progress on fitting my Lady Gray. But, I will post more on that tomorrow.