Sunflowers For All

My friend Michaela tagged me for the Sunflower Blog Award. I haven't blogged on here in quite a while, and I thought this would be a fun way to get back in the swing of things. So, here goes. First, 11 random fact about myself.

#1 - I really dislike writing with pencils. And most pens for that matter. My favorite kind of pens to write with are gel pens. I guess because it's the most similar to writing with a nib pen and a bottle of ink.

#2 - I love acorns. In fact, I've been a bit hoardishly collecting them this fall. No worries, I DO have plans to do something with them.

#3 - My favorite mug right now is one I got from my brother last Christmas; it was made somewhere in Africa (I think?) and it has a little fish on the inside. That fish is just darling!

#4 - I really love books written by E.D.E.N. Southworth. Good, thrilling, 19th-century novels! The Hidden Hand, Ishmael, and Self-raised are three of my favorites.

#5 - I also have a love a dictionaries. I don't often go in them (ah, the convenience of Google), but big books full of words just make me happy!

#6 - I have always been enchanted with Winnie the Pooh. In fact, I still have a little Tigger plush next to my bed, and two of my favorite gifts from Stephen a few years ago were vintage copies of Winnie The Pooh and The House at Pooh Corners.

#7 - I have a love-hate relationship with roosters. I LOVE decorations with roosters on them (well, most of them....some are just tacky). But, I've learned that REAL roosters can be awfully frustrating - especially the one at work that is constantly escaping the coop.

#8 - I got to play the character of Pretzel Gretel at work last weekend. I even dressed as a pretzel! A light brown under skirt for the soft, chewy inside. A dark brown looped up into by belt for the crunchy, twisty outside. A yellow neck-scarf for the mustard, and a white head-scarf for the salt! Oh, and I twisted by hair into a pretzel bun in the back.

#9 - I have a really hard time throwing away fabric. You just never know when you might need that random piece! But, I've found a good system for keeping at least my scrap stash under decent control. Anything that is big enough to cut out pieces for quilts is an instant keep. Anything smaller gets cut into 1/2 strips for making rag rugs. Anything too small for that I can throw out without hesitation, because there really isn't much more to be done with it.

#10 - I take pictures of and dry a few flowers from every bouquet that Stephen gives me. It's just a tradition that I started the first time he gave me flowers, and I've kept it up ever since. Someday I hope to do something with all those dried flowers and pictures.

#11 - Last year, I found somewhere between ten and fifteen four-leaf clovers at work. This year - none. Oh well, I guess that much luck in one year covers me for the next few years.

Now, 11 questions from Michaela!

What is something you’ve collected over the years?
 Snapple bottles! I really love glass bottles, and Snapples were always a special treat from Stephen. I think I have close to 30 now.


What is one dream, whether big or little, that you’ve had? 
 To own a hobby farm. I love the idea of growing a lot of fruits and vegetables, and I would also like to own chickens, goats, and maybe pigs and alpacas.

What is your favorite poem? 
That's hard. I'm sure there are quite a few that I loved when I read them, but I'm not very good at remembering them. I guess the ones that really stick out are the ones from Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. So many lovely, ridiculous poems.

What is a piece of wise advice that your parents have given you?
It's hard to pin-point it down to one, but here's one that comes to mind right now. You're not always going to FEEL ready to do new things or move onto new times of life, but sometimes you just have to do it even if you're terrified, and you'll learn as you go! 


Are you named after anyone in your family tree?
No; I was supposed to be, but my name is still just as special. See, right before I was born, my dad went to Arizona for a job. The couple he stayed with were Allison and Staci. He came home and told my mom that he wanted to name me after them!

Would you consider using any of your ancestors’ names for your children? 
I might. I want to use the name Clara, and I'm pretty sure that's a family name.

Pepsi or Coke?
Neither. The only sodas that I like are root beer, mountain dew, and sprite. But mostly root beer.


Who is one of your heroes from the past?
 This is also a hard question. I was always very interested in Corrie ten Boom. But, I tend to move from person to person; I learn all about one person, and then I'm ready to move onto a new one.

What state would you most want to visit?
Texas? I've heard a lot of mixed reviews about it, and I want to see it for myself. But honestly, I think all the states have something awesome in them, so I would say states where my friends are!

If you could live in a world from a book what would it be?
 Narnia! Or, does England count as a "world"? A lot of my favorite books are set in England. It would also be fun to visit Wonderland, but I think I would go bonkers if I had to live there.

What is your favorite Bible verse?
Two of my favorite passages are Psalm 27:13-14 and Romans 4:18-21. But there are so many more!


Lastly, 11 questions for anyone who wants to join in on the fun.

#1 - What is one book that you would recommend everyone reads?
#2 - Which piece of clothing that you own is your favorite, and why?
#3 - Do you play an instrument?
#4 - What is your favorite household chore?
#5 - What is one of your favorite hobbies?
#6 - Do you prefer plain colored or patterned socks?
#7 - If you were to re-do your bedroom, what colors/theme would you choose?
#8 - If you could have anything you wanted for dinner and dessert tonight, what would you pick?
#9 - What is your favorite ride at an amusement park?
#10 - What is one of your favorite movies?
#11 - If you could instantly be fluent in any language, which would you choose?

If you do choose to participate, please leave a comment with the link to your blog so that I can see your answers, too! Have fun, everybody!

{Works With Her Hands} Period Correctness

Most of you know about Period Correctness, but if you've been following me on Facebook, you also know that I haven't been posting much. It would seem that I haven't had much business, but thankfully, it's quite the opposite! Period Correctness has been getting lots of orders this summer!

Last night I cut out pieces for mid 1800's civilian trousers, and a man's shirt. Plus, there are several other orders on the waiting list!

Make sure you check out the Facebook page, follow us, and share with your friends! There are some new and exciting plans in the works for Period Correctness, and you'll want to catch the latest news!

{Works With Her Hands} - 1830's/1840's Dress

Every spring and fall at Genesee Country Village, we put on special Hosmer's Inn Dinners. If you've never heard of them, or never gone to them, I would definitely recommend checking them out! Anyways, I usually get the play the hostess (A.K.A. Mrs. Hosmer), and this year I decided that I would like to make a dress of my own for this role.

However, there was the trouble of buying fabric again. Thankfully, I have awesome friends who also do historic sewing and who are always willing to pare down their fabric stash. I got the fabric for this dress from a friend in exchange for doing some sewing for her.

Both of my inspiration dresses are from the Victoria and Albert Museum. They are late 30's, early 40's. I wanted the bodice and upper sleeves of the first dress, but the lower sleeves of the second dress.

Thankfully, I had help from an expertise seamstress at the museum. She helped me drape the bodice, and pointed me in the direction of some great tutorials for the rest. Koshka The Cat was my main source of help. I used her 1840's Daydress as a guide for the sleeves, and the 1855 Ball Gown for the bertha. I sewed the bodice entirely by hand, which considering that every single stinkin' seamed is piped, was so easy feat! But, I got the dress done the morning of my first Hosmer's Diner, and it was a grand success!

I didn't get around to taking pictures of it that night, though, so here are some pictures from the Celtic Faire at the museum this past weekend.

{Works With Her Hands} - HSF Challenge #10 - Art

For the next Historical Sew Fornightly challenge, I actually decided not to sew something, but to crochet something. The challenge theme this time was Art. My dreams were to replicate some beautiful gown from a favorite painting.These were some of my original inspiration:

But, practicality meant that I needed to scale down. I already had some other big projects in the works, and I couldn't spend the time or money on a fancy dress. However, I soon realized that there WAS one piece of art which I absolutely loved that would be easy to replicate:

This plate comes from the 1856 February edition of Godey's Lady's Book. Ever since I first saw the green and pink hair piece, I have wanted to re-create it, and this gave me the perfect excuse! Its description reads thus:

"By Happy Conception of the artist, we have at once the front and reverse of the single graceful figure in evening-dress. Hair in full bandeaux, fastened by a pearl comb, a cordon of the point passed across the brow, fastened by a single black rose and foliage. For a dinner dress, nothing could be more simple and elegant."

I realized after reading it that the coloring of the plate is not accurate to the description. However, I prefer the pink and green to the black, and I just so happened to have green yarn and pink flowers.

After much trial and error of various crochet lace patterns, I settled on Wheel Pattern Insertion from Knitting, Crochet, and Netting by Eleonore Riego De La Branchardiere, published in 1846. 

Here's my finished product....oh the joys of trying to take pictures of yourself :P The hair still needs a little practice, but I'm really quite pleased with how the hair piece turned out!

And the HSF details:

What the item is: Hair piece

The Challenge: #10 - Art

Fabric: sage green wool yarn

Pattern: Wheel Pattern Insertion

Year: Specifically 1856, generically 1850s and 60s

Notions: pink flowers

How historically accurate is it? I'd say pretty close....the only thing that might be different is that the yarn and flowers would be better as silk.

Hours to complete: Several hours of experimenting with different patterns, maybe 1 1/2 hours once I had decided.

First worn: for pictures

Total cost:$0!!!

{Works With Her Hands} - Black and White Challenge

The next challenge in the Historical Sew Fortnightly that I chose to do was Black and White. I had dreams of doing all sorts of really spectacular things with that color combination, but right now practically must take precedence over fancifulness.

What I was really in need of was a new chemise, so I decided to adapt it and still make it fun by adding some black embroidery. This was a neat project because I drafted the pattern myself from pictures of original 1850's and 60's chemises. It worked out really well, and only needed a little tweaking in the shape of the yoke.

The sleeves are just simple rectangles with small triangle gussets in the underarm seams. My biggest problem with my other chemises was that the sleeves were too full and too long, so I tried to rectify that with this one.

The front and back of the chemise are basically just rectangle, but the top front is cut into this funny shape in order to fit nicely into the shaped yoke.

The back of the yoke is just a gradually curved band, but the front pieces kind of remind me of a bat. :/ Thankfully, they look less bat-ish when finished!

Here's the finished chemise, complete with embroidery. There are five tiny buttons down the front of the yoke.

Over all, I'm super pleased, both with how it looks, and how it fits. Glad to now have my own, easy, nicely fitting chemise pattern!

Here are the details for HSF:

What the item is: Chemise

The Challenge: #9 - Black and White

Fabric: bleached cotton muslin

Pattern: my own, drafted from pictures of originals

Year: 1850's/60's

Notions: Black cotton embroidery thread, buttons

How historically accurate is it? I would say about 90%. I think the shape and fabric are good; the embroidery is inspired by original pictures, although I know that it was usually done in white.

Hours to complete: One hour for drafting the pattern, two hours for sewing, and four or five hours for embroidery.

First worn: Yesterday

Total cost: $4 for fabric, maybe?

{Works With Her Hands} The Making Of A Kirtle

This year, I am participating in a sewing challenge, called Historical Sew Fornightly. The challenge I chose to do this month was called "Under It All". So, I decided to sew an early medieval kirtle, or under dress.

I decided to do this for two main reasons. #1 - These dresses are beautiful, and I've seen many wonderful examples from other people in the sewing group. #2 - I thought it would be a great chance to learn new techniques.

What made this dress so different from other dresses that I have made is that it is a bust-supporting garment; that is to say, you don't wear a corset underneath like I do with my 1800's dresses. Instead, it is the fit and shape of the dress itself that provides the support. The other big learning curve is that for the most part these dresses are draped instead of cut from a pattern. This means that I created my own pattern by laying scrap fabric on myself and pinning till it fit correctly.

This was the first time I tried to drape my own pattern, and it was quite the challenge! It probably took me four tries, but I finally managed to get this:

Next, I used those pattern pieces to cut out the dress. This was the scariest part of the whole thing! Usually I don't flinch about cutting into the real fabric, but this time I was terrified, since I really didn't know if it was all going to work.

One of the coolest parts for me was learning about how to draft the sleeve. I've always had issues with sleeves on dresses I sew. Either the sleeves lay perfectly but restrict all movement, or they allow for free movement but have lots of ugly wrinkles. I never understood what the problem was or how to fix it, but researching how to draft a sleeve pattern explained all that! Apparently it has to do with the ratio between the measurement of your bicep and your armscye. Either way, this is the silliest looking sleeve pattern I've seen....but it works!

The actual process of sewing all the pieces together was very easy. It consists of two front pieces, two back pieces, and four skirt gores. I flat-felled all the seams, and did some basic facings for the sleeve and neckline hems. The sleeves button part-way up. The style of button used then is a self-stuffed fabric button. I made 24 of these, sewed them all onto the dress, and then had to do all the button holes!

The front laces up, so I also had to sew all the eyelets.

And here, finally, is the finished kirtle!

I'm very happy with how it turned out, and I'm so glad that I chose to do this project, because I learned a lot. Next in the making is a cotte, or over-dress to go with this.

And, the info for HSF:

What the items is: Medieval kirtle

The Challenge: #4 - Under It All

Fabric: 70/30 Linen/cotton blend

Pattern: my own, drafted using tutorials on Cotte Le Simple

Year: 1300s (?)

Notions: Thread

How historically accurate is it? About as much as time, money, and practicality allow. Since I won't be using this much, cut some corners, like blended fabric and sewing machine.

Hours to complete: Maybe 30, spread out over several days.

First worn: For the pictures, and just for fun the rest of the day around the house!

Total cost: $25 for fabric and thread.

American Duchess Giveaway!

American Duchess is hosting another giveaway!!!! The prize?

1 pair of "Nankeen" Regency Boots in your size
Nankeens are a later Regency fabric boot with leather soles, adjustable lacing closure, and a soft, round toe. They are perfect for daywear, intended for outdoor use, and are even dyeable (purple, red, blue, oh my!) You can learn more about the boots here.


Click on the picture of the boots to go to their giveaway page, and enter for a chance to win your own pair!

{Works With Her Hands} Let The Quilting Begin!

A few weeks ago, I finished piecing the Double Wedding Ring quilt top:

It's queen size, so there is no floor space in our apartment big enough to lay the entire thing out flat! Definitely the biggest quilt I've made yet.

Such a big quilt can be really expensive to get backing for, so I reverted to my new money-saving trick - a bed sheet from a thrift store! This past weekend I got a queen size sheet in just the color I wanted for $3.Can't get much better than that! It isn't cotton, which I'm sure any quilting die-hard would nag me about, but I'm not picky. It's soft and silky, and gives a unique look to the quilting and drape.

Today, I layered and basted the quilt, and now the first ring is quilted!

The deep red backing really highlights the white quilting; the pictures don't do the color justice, though. 

For the large squares between rings, I chose to do a fleur-de-lis motif. Ever since Stephen gave me a fleur-de-lis pendant back in 2010, that symbol has had special meaning.

And now, only 55 more rings to quilt!

{Works With Her Hands} - New Etsy Shop

Many of you are already familiar with my historical sewing business, Period Correctness. Well, orders there are just starting to pick up, and I've decided to help grow my crafting endeavours by starting a more modern Etsy page as well. So, here is it!





Please check it out, and spread the word to your friends! Also, if you see anything I have made on my blog and you would like to have one, too, don't hesitate to contact me about it! And, I've added links to both my shops on the upper right corner of my blog.

{Helpmeet In Training} Harsh Love

Does this look familiar?

Yup, we're back at it again. Stephen was accepted into the second semester of LIFT; I'm so proud of him for how hard he had to work to be accepted again, and for how hard he continues to work now that he is up there. He's been gone for about a week a half now, and my countdown chain has made it from 118 to 107.

But, the point of this was not to write about the countdown; I want to write about something I've been learning this past month - harsh love. It all started one day after Christmas when I was bored and decided to pick up one of the books Stephen has to read for this semester. It's called Your God Is Too Safe, written by Mark Buchanan. I was only able to read the first half before Stephen had to leave for LIFT, but even just that taught me so much. 

The idea that Mark really stresses throughout the book is the idea of "borderland". A place between the worldly life and the Christian life that is safe, and yet full of apathy. You may be comfortable in borderland, but you'll never really accomplish much. He then goes on to discuss the ways in which Christians have been blinded into believing that borderland is the best place to be, and how we have tried to mold the One True God into our own timid, lazy, permissive god of the borderland. The main point that I took away from the book is that God loves us too much to let us stay in borderland. Even if He has to chase us out with wind, rain, and hail. Mark quotes C.S. Lewis's The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, talking about Aslan:

"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver; "don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the king I tell you."

The second thing which got thrown into the mix in this lesson that I've been learning is 1 Peter 5:6-7. We read these verses in family Bible study the day before Stephen left, and they really stood out to me: 

"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you."

The mighty hand of God - a hand works; it creates, destroys, moves, cleans, comforts. So, Peter is telling us to submit and humble ourselves under whatever the hand of God is doing in our lives. But how can we do that when so often God's hand is not gentle? By casting our cares upon Him. By saying, "Your will be done. You be glorified." By recognizing that each and every hardship that comes our way is for our benefit.

And so, all of this has been thrown together to teach me an important lesson. I know God is good, but so often He also feels harsh. And yet, in this season of my life, that very harshness is what  shows me His great love for me. Even as I was crying right after Stephen left, I kept hearing these words play through my mind: God loves me too much to let me stay in borderland. And that has brought me comfort; I know, without a doubt, that God is working mightily in both Stephen and me during this second semester. I know that He is using the challenges to bring us out of borderland, and into a deeper relationship with the Living God.

So, is He safe? No. But, He is SO good.

{Works With Her Hands} Oh, Babies!

The past few months a lot of my projects have been baby items. Most of them were for my little nephew Hudson. I just finished working on this quilt for him. My mom did all the cross-stitched squares, and then I turned it into a quilt. I think it will look great with the rest of the travel-theme nursery!

Then, I've also been working on a present for a friend who is due in February. They aren't finding out the gender, so everything needed to be as neutral as possible. I ended up crocheting this adorable cat and dog duo:

Then, I knitted this onsie. The most interesting thing about it is the color patterns that ended up happening. I was working with two yarns, grey and white, at the same time. When I was knitting flat (the top and the bottom) the two colors looked more mixed. When I was knitting in the round, in the middle, the two colors are more scattered. I had no idea this would happen, but it looks kind of cool.

The edges are finished off with one row of grey crochet.

The openings have snap closures.

I'm really happy with how it turned out. It was stalled half-way, because I was using plastic needles, and one snapped :/  But, I got a nice new METAL pair, and from then on out it was an easy finish.