Thistlewood Manor

The Easter dress

Recently, my 20 year old daughter found the perfect dress on Modcloth.  It was a sunny yellow and just perfect for Easter.  Even better it was on sale for just $15.99!   But by the time she placed her order, it was sold out,  so she sent me the picture:

She wanted to know if I could copy the dress for her in less than a week!  Her favorite parts were the eyelet, the pleats at the neckline and the waistband with the rosette; so we went shopping for a pattern.

We decided on Vogue 8555.  I was most concerned about making the neckline pleats come out right, so that’s what I was looking for in a pattern.  View E seemed the most similar in shape, so that’s what I chose.

View E is the blue dress on the pattern front.  I changed the shoulder straps to match the Modcloth dress and added the cumberband, ties and rosette.  They were easy to create without a pattern.  I also fully lined the dress because she chose an allover eyelet pattern and would have needed to wear a full slip if it hadn’t been lined.

Here’s a picture of the finished dress:

And another:

  She chose to style it with a sweater and matching shoes and pearls for Easter Sunday church.  I might be biased, but I think she’s adorable!

Overall, I thought the copy turned out very close to the original.  The yellow is a little brighter and the eyelet pattern is all over rather than just on the hem.  I used to love making my daughter Easter dresses when she was little, so it was really fun to make another one!

Selling soap at the Funky Monkey!

Have you ever heard of the Funky Monkey in Hampton, IA? 

Well, I’d heard of it…..seen the advertising, liked it on Facebook, but had never been inside until last Friday…..was I ever missing out!

Owner Tracey Meyer asked me if I’d like to sell my handmade soaps in her store, so I thought I’d give it a try.  This is what I brought her:

It’s an assortment of my best selling soaps.  At just $4 each, they make a fantastic little gift for a special friend, teacher, bus driver, snow shoveler, mailman, Mothers Day, or ?????.

After we talked about soap for a bit I needed to have a look around the store.  The last time I’d been in the building it was the home of an electricians shop and it was a bit of a cave.  Tracey has done an amazing job of painting, decorating, and turning the space into the cutest boutique ever.

This is my favorite room; the one with the kitchen stuff.  I plan to redo my own kitchen with the black and white tile floor and I’m pretty sure that there are some things in here that will look great in my kitchen too.

I couldn’t  believe how big the area for children’s clothing and toys is.  And what adorable clothes!  I saw a little tiny pair of floral pants that I just wanted to take home……unfortunately I don’t know anyone they would fit besides my cat.

Tracey has a real knack for repainting furniture.  Her prices are also very reasonable.

This is the front entry.  So bright and clean…..this is a resale shop it feels good to walk into.

I love that red cabinet…..wouldn’t it look great full of handmade soap?  Now to just rearrange my own furniture so it will fit……

Hope you enjoyed this little tour of the Funky Monkey!  Be sure to check it out, it’s well worth your time.  Oh, and buy a bar of soap while you’re there!

Handcrafted

It seems like everything is made with a cookie cutter these days.  I walk into a big box store and see dozens of the same things, all made in a big, impersonal factory by someone I’ll never meet.  That’s why I love hand made items, made one at a time by someone who is making them just for me…. or things I”ve made myself for me and my family.  Today I want to share a few of those things.

Here’s a Christmas present from my mom this year.  She gave me a hand painted box.

Inside were 3 pairs of hand knit socks.  She knows how much I love wool socks and used her scraps to make these for me.

They might look a little quirky, but they are very warm and one of a kind!

This last weekend I was at a craft show where I had my handmade soaps and also lots of wristlets and little bags for when you don’t need that big purse.  Some people really appreciate that everything is handcrafted.   Some don’t.

I promised a picture of the new purse I made yesterday.  I used a wool sweater that had shrunk and felted.  I really like how it turned out!

I hear the weather is going to be stormy again, so I”m heading back to my sewing room to make more handmade items…….stay tuned!

Secret Project Revealed!

I mentioned in my last post that I was working on one project that I couldn’t show pictures of.  That’s because it was part of a swap I joined through my medieval re-enactment group, the SCA (the Society for Creative Anachronism).  This organization is a lot of fun because we aren’t just spectators, like at a Renaissance Festival, but we actually participate by dressing in clothing from our chosen time period and learning from and teaching others what we know.  I have never met so many fun, creative people in any other group.

This swap was called Noblesse Largesse and involved people from all over the world, although the majority were in the United State.  I received the name of a woman from Nebraska who is interested in Bedouin and desert cultures of the middle ages, so I made some jewelry I thought she might like to enhance her costume.  Since I know she has received her package I can show off my pictures now!

I spent some time researching jewelry from this culture and time period, and chose to use engraved silver beads, lapis lazuli, and sodalite beads.  I also wanted to use copal amber, but the price was prohibitive so I chose glass beads in the same butterscotch color.

I decided to make a necklace, about 22” long and dangly earrings.  And at last……drum roll…….here are the photos.

I took them from a few different angles so you can see the beads better.

It took about a month to collect all the beads, as some were ordered online and had to come from overseas.

I hope you enjoy the pictures, I really had fun making these and learned some new jewelry making techniques.

Just Something I Made

I’ve been working on some fun projects lately and finally got around to taking pictures.  One will have to stay a secret for a few more days as I made it for a swap and don’t know if the recipient has gotten it yet…..

One thing I made that I CAN show you is a machine embroidered Tardis towel.  How cute is that?

I made it for my daughter with a design from Urban Threads .  They have a lot of great fun and modern designs.

Then I decided to make some draft snakes to put in front of our doors, as some of them have big gaps and the floor is always cold.  I grabbed a pair of my husbands jeans that had just split out in the seat and was able to make 4 snakes.

There were some small holes in them, so I zigzagged over the holes and sewed patches over the top of them.  They are filled with sand and will hopefully keep the house warmer.  If you want to make your own, the measurements are 42” x 8”-9”.  Doesn’t take long to make a bunch.

As usual, I had plenty of help with these projects.

After all, it’s not a good blog post unless you have kitties.

Looking Back

Based on how much I’ve posted lately, you’d think I’ve been a lazy bum lately…..but you’d be wrong!  I’m going to take this post to show off what I’ve been up to the last few months.

Due to my overwhelming lack of organizational skills (I invented the term “fly by the seat of  your pants”), these may or may not be chronological. 

One of the main things that has kept me busy is making soap.  It’s been selling very well in numerous venues, from my Etsy shop to SCA events to local people who just call me up.  Thank you everyone!  Here’s my favorite picture of all the soaps I have in stock now:

Isn’t that just pretty?  It’s too much to list here, but check out my Etsy shop as linked above and you’ll learn more about them.

I’ve also been doing more dress sewing than in the past and learning how to fit myself better.  Here’s a couple of new dresses I’ve made:

 

This is the “Avengers” dress made with Marvel Comics fabric.  Yeah, I know it’s silly, but it’s fun.  I had some fit issues with the top, as it turned out a little too big.  So, I made another one:

This is the “cocktail dress”, made with cocktail fabrics, of course!  Same pattern as the one above (Butterick 4443) .  It fits a little better, but the shoulders are still too wide.  I think maybe I’ll move on to another pattern, I’m tired of fiddling with this one.

We’ve also attended some fun events the last few months.  First was Kris Kinder, a medieval style market held in Kansas City.

Doesn’t that look like fun?  So many vendors and so many cool things to buy!  Of course, hubby was there to help me sell soap and pickles and other good things.

One of the most fun things we did was to get dressed up fancy for a holiday party.  I don’t think either of us had gotten this dressed up for quite a while.

Of course we had to get a nice picture taken!  So, that’s a little wrap up of the past few months, I’ll be posting new projects now for 2013.  Hope you enjoyed it! 

Oven Roasted Tomatoes

I have trays and boxes of green tomatoes that are quickly turning red and yellow indoors.

Since some ripen more quickly than others, I wanted an easy way to use up small batches.  I decided to make oven roasted tomatoes and can them for sauces, hot dishes and soups.

I started by washing the tomatoes and cutting out any bad spots.  Then I cut them in quarters and put them on oil drizzled baking pans.

I sprinkled them with seasonings.  You can use any italian herb or garlic blend.  Then I put them in a 400 degree oven for 2 hours.

The house smelled delicious while they baked, and when they were ready, they looked like this:

They were soft and juicy and oh so tasty!  I packed them hot into pint jars and water bath canned them for 40 minutes.

They will be so good this winter!

I also made a quick vegetarian lasagne for supper tonight.  I used our last zucchini, sliced thin, and a few ripe tomatoes, also sliced thin.  They were layered with italian herbs and mozzarella cheese, then baked at 350 for one hour.

Delicious!  A perfect side with oven roasted chicken.

Lazy Woman’s End of Season Sloppy Joe Sauce

I picked 3 boxes full of green tomatoes a few weeks ago and they are slowly ripening.  I had enough to do something with,  so it was time to get busy.  I picked out all the ripe ones and washed them up.  I was feeling lazy and didn’t want to go to the trouble of peeling them all, especially since some of them had bad spots, so I decided to go the Lazy Woman’s Way.

I cut out the bad spots and threw the tomatoes into my food processor.  After whirling for several minutes, they were totally pureed.  I made 5 quarts of this “sauce” and put it in a stainless steel stock pot.

Then I added:  6 finally chopped green peppers, 12 finely chopped onions, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 2 cups vinegar, 1 tsp. salt and 1 tsp ground cloves.  I let them all cook for half an hour.

I added 2 cups of brown sugar, stirred the mixture well, and let it simmer another hour or so till it was thick.

Then I put the hot sauce into pint jars and water bath canned it for 15 minutes.  If you haven’t canned before, get yourself a Ball Blue Book, it will teach you everything you need to know and has great recipes too.

This recipe makes 10 pints of really awesome sloppy joe sauce.  To use it, just brown up 1 pound of ground beef, drain, and add 1 pint of sauce.  So easy and so much tastier than store bought!

What I see….

If you were to walk into my pantry today, this is what you would see:

Rows and rows of canned goods, waiting for this winter.  There are home made pickles, beets, tomato sauce, sloppy joe sauce, salsa and spaghetti sauce; as well as the store bought goods I buy when they are on sale.  But when I look at these shelves, I don’t just see canned goods, I see much more than that.

I see early spring, when we began to till up the ground and plant the seeds.  I see those first sprouts sticking out of the ground.  I see my husband carefully weeding around the plants in the warm sun.

I see the plants growing and marvel at how those little seeds turn into huge leafy green plants producing an abundance of fruits and vegetables for us to eat and preserve.

Then I see us harvesting all that goodness and am amazed at how it piles up, to the point of giving it away to friends and neighbors.

Giant candy onions and broccoli and beets.

Carrots and beans and more broccoli.

Juicy red tomatoes for fresh BLT’s and salsa.

Freshly dug potatoes for soups and side dishes.

Then I see us preserving the harvest, the final step in stocking that pantry.

Jars and jars filled with delicious garlic dill pickles.

Jars of sauces and salsas, ready to use.  I love preserving my own foods; I know what goes into them, that there are no bug parts or unsanitary conditions in making them….these foods won’t be recalled!

So, that’s what I see when I look in my pantry; a season of hard work and God’s bounty.  What do you see?

The fall harvest is in!

I spend a lot of time in the garden today, as it sounds like it may be the last really nice, warm day for a while.  I love the smell of the warm dirt and seeing all the beautiful  browns, oranges and golds around me.

I got a 5 gallon pail of ripe tomatoes and a wheelbarrow full of green ones.  There were even more left, but I don’t have room to lay them all out to ripen!

Here’s the last of the potatoes.

And a pail of carrots that I plan to can.  I even got a few bunches of broccoli!

This is a pail of dried beans that I need to shell.

A bucket of apples that will become apple butter.

Not sure how I grew these, but they sure are cute sleeping under a bush!