My Valentine

Happy February 15th one and all! I hope you all had a marvelous February 14th. Josh and I kept it simple. We exchanged gifts on the 13th (because we didn't want to wait) and we made dinner together last night - stroganoff! Yum!

I recently designed some Valentine's Day paper for work, and I used one of the unchosen samples to wrap Josh's present (he got a harmonica). It was so fun to wrap with something I designed!

Now I am inspired to make more of my own wrapping paper. Printing might be more expensive, but I could save it for special occasions. Oh what fun I could have  :D

Chocolate covered pretzels with crushed Andes mints

We also had our work Christmas party recently. The original party was canceled because of a snow storm. I made chocolate covered pretzels with crushed Andes peppermint mints sprinkled on top. They were so yummy! Next time I want to make them with dark chocolate - that would be heaven.

Peplumed Peony

My new peplumed peony!

What a relaxing day! I Slept in and then made johnny cakes, sausage, and coffee. We had an ice storm today in Iowa, so Josh and I were forced to stay in.

johnnies, yum!

It was the perfect day to photograph my new blouse that I finished yesterday. This blouse started out as a Colette Peony for my mother. When I gave her the dress last Christmas, the top was far too small! So I made her Peony a new top, and I decided to keep this one for me. I added a peplum to it, by cutting out a long rectangle and gathering the fabric. I would have liked a puffier peplum - but I didn't have enough fabric. Next time I will have the puffiest peplum ever, but for now I love me new peony top!

We decided to brave the cold and the ice.

Pretty soon the cold was too much for us.

Next we explored the creepy basement of our apartment building.

I found some kind of animal skeleton.

I can't wait for winter to be over, this cold weather is such a downer. On the bright side, the ice storm did give me time to make some fresh bread today. I found a recipe in The Joy of Cooking for milk bread, a yeast bread with  milk, butter, and an egg in it. Yum!

Long Time No Post!

Wow, it has really been awhile. What a crazy few months, I moved, started a new job, and then the Holidays hit. I started working for a company that makes vintage-inspired holiday decorations. It's a small company so I get to help with a lot of different things, like marketing, graphic design, product design, some photography, and anything that comes up!

For my birthday in December, I went to the National Czech and Slovak Museum in Cedar Rapids, IA to see an Alphonse Mucha exhibit. Mucha has been one of my favorite artists for many years. The exhibit had 230 pieces of his work. I love art nouveau and I am part Czech, so the exhibit was a perfect birthday treat. We also walked through Czech Village, ate Czech food, and went antiquing! I scored some pretty Czech glass buttons - Happy Birthday indeed!

My sister and I outside the museum.

A couple of Czechs hangin' out.

I bought a book of his work!

A cute shop with Czech glass!

Next on my sewing table:

After putting my sewing aside for a few months, I'm ready to get back in the game! I have a few sewing projects on my table that I really need to finish up. Sometimes when they get too stagnant, it is hard to start working on them again. I am finishing up a Colette Beignet skirt, a Violet top, and I just started buying fabric for my wedding dress! I will have to show pictures of the fabric when it comes in!

Smitten with Mittens

My mom has been making really cute - warm mitties out of felted wool sweaters. Last year she gave a bunch away as gifts, and this year she will be selling them at local stores and through her email. I designed the logos above and tags for her to put on her mittens!

Mitten mountain!

I really love how the tags and logo turned out. I think they look especially great on the mittens!

In other news, I started cutting out my pattern for the beignet skirt! Yay!

Negroni's Day Out

My first try at an intermediate pattern was a success! Labor Day weekend I finished the Colette Negroni shirt for Josh and he wore it the next day! I had many reservations going into the project, but the pattern was easy to follow and the instructions and pictures were so helpful.

Back yoke of the cowboy inspired negroni.

Lately Josh has been getting more adventurous with his style. He is especially attracted to retro and vintage clothing, and he loves cowboy shirts. Who doesn't love cowboy shirts? You have the pockets and yokes to play with, there are so many possibilities!

Piecing the Negroni together.

Yikes! 1st fitting  :)

Negroni basking in the sun

Every year my family goes to the Midwest Old Threshers Reunion in Mt. Pleasant, IA. It's a fair that celebrates the history of midwest farmers and rural life. I've never really been too interested in farming, but it's a fun family tradition and we always have a great time  :)

Old picture of people threshing and a special guest!

   

I found a little friend!

What a fun day! Eventually I am going to make him a Negroni with long sleeves  :)

Roy Lichtenstein & a Sencha Blouse

Sencha blouse and patterned skirt hitting the city!

Last weekend I visited my sister in Chicago and gave her a beautiful Colette Sencha blouse. Originally I made her a Sencha blouse for Christmas, but forgot to adjust the pattern to her 6'1" frame. I kept the original blouse, shown in my Handmade Christmas post, and gave her a much prettier one.

She must be saying, "This is my favorite shirt ever!"

Another motive for visiting was going to Lollapalooza. My sister and I are both HUGE Jack White fans, and this was my first time seeing him in concert. He was amazing! I wore my Ode to Sewing shorts to the concert.

The amazing Jack White

Now back to the shirt... I bought some beautiful silky cotton at Home Ec. and I put white pearly buttons up the back. This time I made the shirt 4 inches longer and it fit perfectly.

White buttons up the back

We decided to do a photo shoot at the Chicago Art Institute. They have an amazing Roy Lichtenstein exhibit up. If you're not familiar, he is a really famous pop artist. Now for more photos!

Waiting outside the Art Institute

My favorite Lichtenstein at the show!

POP!

The Art Institute has an amazing collection, so after the Lichtenstein exhibit we tried to see as much as we could before closing time.

Monet!

Seurat!

Picasso!

Next on my sewing table....

Up next is a Colette Negroni shirt for Josh. He has been waiting patiently while I work through all my other projects. It's an intermediate pattern, so this is going to be interesting!

The Patterned Skirt

The last weekend in July, I took a class at Home Ec. on how to make a bias skirt pattern and sew it. I've been wanting to make a pattern for a long time and there aren't really any places nearby where I can take classes. When I saw this class being offered,  I jumped at the chance!

The pattern we made is for a very simple elastic-waisted A-line skirt. We basically took our measurements and used them to draw a triangle shape. It was really simple and fun, and we were done with the pattern and sewing in less than 2.5 hours.

It was really sunny!

After I finished my class, Josh and I went camping at Sugar Bottom park. It's one of my favorite places to camp and that's where we took these lovely photos!

I'm already thinking of ways to play with the pattern. I'm not a huge fan of elastic waistbands, so I may try to draw a zipper back for the skirt!

Last weekend I visited my sister in Chicago and went to Lollapalooza! I gave my sister a version of the Colette Sencha blouse and we took pictures at the Chicago Art Institute. I will post those pictures soon!