Stitching My Way To Christmas

So, as I mentioned in my last post, one of the big things that I was busy with during November and December was sewing projects and Christmas presents.

The first part of that was my own 1860's wardrobe. The #1 item on my list of projects was to re-trim my old blue dress. The old trim was in horrid shape after the summer and honestly rather boring; just straight black lines. So, I turned that:

 Into this:

And also put new trim on the bodice:

 Now, you'll notice from those pictures that the bodice is separate from the skirt; that was also a project - separate the two halves and tailor them to fit me perfectly. The reason for doing that was the second project.

Back in September, I got some amazing blue plaid flannel at a reenactment. After much searching and thinking and planning, I finally decided to make a Zouave jacket out of it, and a blouse to go under the jacket. However, I obviously couldn't just wear a blouse and jacket, and I didn't want to make a new skirt. Then it struck me...separate my old dress so that I can mix and match!! So, I made the jacket:

And the Garibaldi blouse, which is covered with intricate embroidery:

One other thing I forgot to mention: I sewed it all by hand. Every seam on the jacket and blouse, every stitch, every inch of embroidery was done by hand. A machine never touched them. And it was awesome!!! So cool to know that I was doing it all authentically!

And thus, my new outfit was born:

Continuing in the world of hand-sewing, for Christmas I made my wonderful man two 1860's shirts and an 1860's vest. That was interesting, trying to make clothes without being able to try them on the actual wearer. I definitely have to thank my brother for being so willing to try everything on, but, unfortunately, my brother is not quite the same size as Stephen. However, all three garments ended up fitting PERFECTLY!

I embroidered his initials on all three pieces:

Again, all three were done entirely by hand. As one of his family members said, "You're either a glutton for work, or you're in love!" Maybe a little bit of both.... =)

And that leads us to Christmas. It truly is a most wonderful time of the year!! Christmas day itself was the best Christmas I have ever had. Stephen and I got to spend the day both with my family and with his. At my house, one (rather new) tradition is to make chocolate covered Oreos:

 Does that vest look familiar? Yup, he loved it so much that he wore it most of the morning....even at the cost of having a clash of plaid on plaid! =)

My mom and brother.....pretending to cross-cut saw? Tug of war? Who knows!

My beautiful sister and her husband:

Some target practice at the Schmidt house!

The whole family together.....it was an amazing Christmas!!

Catching Up

I know, I know...I haven't written in forever. This week is Christmas break, and it's the first time I've had in a long time to actually sit down and do this. During December, I felt like I hardly had enough time to breath, let alone blog! But, because I've been gone so long, I thought I'd catch you all up on some of the wonderful things I've been doing.

One awesome thing is that I have had the opportunity to spend a day once a week down in Attica helping my wonderful man work on pianos, cars, and a dozen other projects. One we big project we finished was restoring a reed organ:

I've also been really busy working on sewing projects and Christmas presents, but that will be saved for a later post.

Of course, what has kept me the busiest was Yuletide at Genesee Country Village. It was pretty similar to last year's Yuletide, although not nearly as much snow. To anyone who was able to come, I hope you enjoyed it! And for those who weren't, here are just a few pictures.

My scene, the Town Hall:

Thompson's Tavern:

MacKay Homestead:

Brooks Grove Church:

Reenactors:

The village drummer:

One of the days we made a snowman, Teddy, who was the mini version of  Theodore, because there just wasn't enough snow:

Here a few other random pictures - a lovely friend:

The entire group watching eagerly as I tried a real, live fig:

Waltzing:

And of course, there were the obligatory photo shoots. I love my man with his camera. Really. Only he can make pictures of me look so good!

A new dress!!!

Check back soon for a few more posts!

Too Much Mud?

An off-road rally needs mud. If there's no mud, it's no fun. Participants want to see how well vehicles survive the mud, and they want to go home covered in it. At past rallies, there has even been the concern that there wouldn't be enough mud. But, the burning question is,

"Can there be too much mud at an off-road rally???"

Well, I am here today to answer that, "Yes, there CAN!"

The 2011 Spring Rally was so warm that people were getting sun burns, and even last fall's rally, though a tad chilly, was beautiful. But this past weekend was disgusting. It rained all day Friday and Saturday, resulting in more mud than we knew what to do with. Cars were dropping like flies; several of them didn't even make it through the first trail. And by the end of the day, five vehicles were stuck in one mud pit. Even the invincible Sally was stuck beyond help. So, I guess we all learned that yes, it IS possible to have TOO MUCH mud!

The morning began with the shootout. But, it was just Stephen and I, and because it was raining, we shot from the inside of the van.

Our targets were an old tv, sewing machine, grill, and some pumpkins. And it was fun to destroy them, especially the tv!!

Then, the rally started:

There were even two lawnmowers, and surprisingly, they did just as well as all the cars!

Then came the pond in which our van got really muddy:

And our expert driver:

 And then, after all that rain and mud, and three hours trying to get vehicles unstuck, we cleaned up, ate pizza, and made bacon-shakes!

Now, I know a milkshake with bacon in it sounds REALLY disgusting, but actually, it's not. You get the cold sweetness from the ice cream (especially if it's chocolate) first and the salty/crunchiness from the bacon second. If you like combining food opposites (like sweet and sour), and if you like bacon, you would love this!!

Although there was a ton of mud and rain, and it was cold and dreary, it was still an awesome rally!