The Winners Announcement!!

Hello! Are you excited? I'm excited. I REALLY wanted to take video of my kids rolling dice for the winners but that idea turned out to be... not good. You may not know this, but my other title is "Cat Herder" and  as you can imagine its often barely controlled chaos. So, to make sure this got done today I decided to go the random number generator route.  Also, PicMonkey helped make it fancy (if you haven't checked them out, you should).  Also, a couple posts had non-contestant comments. They were omitted and my list will be up last.

All the winners please email me your mailing address to ladykatza (at) gmail (dot) com. I will do my very best to get everything shipped out before we leave on July 7th.  Ok, on with the show!

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!  The winners are as follows:

For the "New Look Giveaway" First Giveaway it is:

Puddle Boots!

Number seven was listed as "Unknown" but a little sleuthing I believe they are actually PuddleBoots.

For the "That's So Seventies" Second Giveaway it is:

Njeri!

NJERI, COME ON DOWN!

For the "Little Darling" Third Giveaway it is:

Carrie B!

There were only two entries to this, which surprised me.  Great odds for the contestants though. CARRIE B, COME ON DOWN!

For the "Mad About You" Fourth Giveaway it is:

Carolyn!

CAROLYN!! COME ON DOWN!

For "The Slenderette!" Fifth and Final Giveaway it is:

Vickikatemakes!

VICKIKATEMAKES! COME ON DOWN!


*Wild applause for all the winners*  Congratulations.  Please PLEASE send me your mailing info ASAP. Now, as promised, here is a screen capture of my list.

click to embiggen

Somewhere Between OMG and WTF

Someone send help, or a truck of ice. Please.  I'll be serving up some Southern Tea (with honey, cause me and agave don't get along). As it is, all four of the cats have staked out the a/c vents for napping.

Morals of Silk

Donna from Nid de Tissus wrote a fascinating post about visiting a silk worm farm, or rather a museum.  Go check it out! Then come back cause it posed an interesting question for me.

Now, I know people who find the process of making silk to be cruel because you have to boil the silk worms in their cocoon to get the end product. I would like to put a bit of a different spin on it though.  If these worms didn't produce such a lovely fabric would humans have bothered to keep them alive for thousands of years?  Would they have, instead, been eradicated as pests?  Maybe the very thing we kill them for is what has allowed the species to survive.  I would love to hear everyone's thought on this.

In Which I use ALL the Machines!

Ok, first up, all give-a-ways are now closed!  I shall be rolling for the winners this weekend.  Also up for this weekend? Trying to finish the last of my knits that I cut out over a month ago, making my kids' beach outfits, and oh.. I dunno,  taking photos of all the outfits somewhere in there.

I might just pack all the un-blogged items  and take the photos at Jekyll Island, but that might be considered blogger cruelty.  HAHAHA.  Seriously, make this vacation get here or I might be on the news for all the wrong reasons. *ahem* Anyway.  So what's on my sewing table? Well, for starters, this:

These do not belong to my machine.

 See those little green bobbins?  Cute right? They go to my Mom's Viking (not pictured yet) and its a great machine, except I can't get it to wind a bobbin worth a tinker's damn. All the nicely wound bobbins in that box were done by Mom herself.  The one sticking up overfull and wonky?  Yeah... my attempt.  I've read the instructions multiple times and its just not working, and its not like I have an afterlife directory.  "Hello, Peter, yes please connect me to my Mom, I have an urgent sewing matter."   And quiji boards and seances are right out of the question too, so I had the brilliant idea to try and use my Brother to wind the bobbin.

On the left side of the ring, Brother! On the right, Singer overlocker!  Wadded fabric in the middle is one of four current projects. I'm a multi-tasker.

Small problem... they don't fit on the Brother bobbin winder.   Well crap. I know, I'll buy a Sidewinder!!  New problem... you have to get the DELUXE version for them to fit Viking bobbins. Which costs $66 instead of $26 dollars.  I think its a conspiracy against vikings. I mean the sewing machine, not my ancestral history.  Nobody pisses off those kind of Vikings, but I digress.  The whole reason I was going to use Mom's machine in the first place is because I just had it serviced and mine needs to go in the shop for some TLC.  Plan C, hook my machine back up and take over the kitchen table with the Bernina cover stitch machine.

Its a craigs list table. One day when I don't have  two dirt vortex catastrophe machines living in my house I'll invest in nicer furniture. And new flooring. 

Yes, I used all three machines. I'm just a few illegal immigrants short of a sweat shop. *badumdum TISSS*   So for those of you asking, no I'm not giving up the old serger because I've discovered having both is very convenient.  I have finally gotten the hang of making the cover stitch work on this machine, mostly.  You do have to fiddle with tension settings when changing fabrics.  The vaguely Asian looking knit below is being used to make Simplicity 2369 view A. The photo is the back side of the knit, its black and red on the correct side and a very yummy feeling microfiber knit. Unfortunately, its probably a polyester of some sort and won't breath well. Bad for outdoors in our insanely hot and humid weather, great for work.

Cutting knits is fun!

The reason for the cover stitch machine was to finish the hems on another dress from Vogue 8679. The hem turned out lovely, but the photo is really dark.

I then went to do a finishing stitch on the Simplicity dress front wrap piece and sewed it  wrong, not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES.  Coverstich seam ripping will make you want to rip your own hair out.  The fourth time was passable and I said "to hell with that" and left it.  No photo, at this point my son was awake, playing video games (his natural state) and asked "Are you yelling at me?"
"No, I'm yelling at inanimate objects".
"Oh good, glad to see you are feeling better",  (its been a bad couple of weeks) he says.  So yelling at inanimate objects is considered an improvement over the last few weeks.  This is why I need a real vacation, ya'll.  I'll also accept care packages of chocolate and vodka cocktails. But not molotov cocktails, those are illegal and make the postal workers crankier than me.

So, anyone else have seam ripping nightmares to share?? What's your favorite cocktail?

Quickie

This is just a quick post to remind you the last give-a-way closes in less than 24 hours. I'll be doing the dice rolls and announcements by this Saturday.

 Also, I finally made some progress on the kids' projects, including a muslin on my daughter's bra top and getting Simon's shirt cut out.  As expected, the size 8 (chest 26") had almost eight inches of ease.  EIGHT.  I know its suppose to be a loose style but that's absurd.  Oh, and Simon got a haircut.  This was the best photo I could come up with:

Meatloaf AGAIN?? 

That's pretty much his natural state.

In any case, I have lots of photos on the DSLR and more to write about but this  will have to suffice for now.



Anyone else have the "Its summer and I don't want to be at work" blues?

Give-A-Way Five! The Slenderette!

Well, isn't this fabulous?  Not only that its a 42" bust! That's right, I pulled out another large vintage pattern for ya'll. Isn't it lovely?  This has two views, a sheath dress and an A-line.  The soft pleats in the front can be embellished.  Another great pattern for dressing up or down.  All the pieces and instructions are present.

STATS:
Bust: 40"
Waist: 32"
Hip: 44"



Rules To Enter:
Post a comment!
Follow me and post a comment!

Rule to get TWO entries:
Post about it on your blog and then post the link in the comments.

Winner Will be chosen by roll of the dice. 


Entry time will close June 26rd 11:59PM Eastern

Changes and Notes

Hello Everyone!  You might have noticed I changed a few things.  I'm trying to update the graphics to look slightly better than a trained monkey apprentice's work.  Let me know if anything is really wonky on your system.

Ok, first big note of interest, the FIFTH give-away.  I can't for the life of me remember what it was suppose to be. I'm not kidding, really.  I shouldn't be surprised though cause, for some reason, I always stress out at mid-year review time. Self reviews, does anyone else hate them?  Anyway, I'm gonna rummage around and find something awesome and I'll have it up by noon today.

Next up, my current sewing projects. Vintage beach outfits for the kids! If any of you have been following me on Pinterest you may have noticed a couple of cute summer kids patterns in there.  Check out the patterns and fabric...

Aren't these great?  Felicity's fabric is a print from a fabric my Mom bought what I was her age, so its from the 80's. I'm reclaiming some purple linen blend that was going to be a paper bag skirt for me until I realized that would be a disaster.  The blue Hawaiian fabric for Simon is a Japanese cotton I found on Etsy.  The pattern is a size 8 but I'm hoping, based on past experience with vintage children's patterns, there will be HUGE amounts of ease.

Now, in case you are wondering why I might be making beach outfits, there's two reasons. I live near a lake and its less than three weeks until ISLAND VACATION!  We're heading out to stay at a friend's beach house on Jekyll Island, just off the coast of Georgia.  A little neat bit a trivia, the very first International Telephone Call was placed from Jekyll Island.  Not remember the date at the moment, but it was early 20th century. As someone that works in Telecommunications, I think its very interesting.

Anywho.  I'm starting on these this week and I'm going to do my very best to document working with these patterns.  Its going to be my first attempt at shorts with pockets and cuffs. I'm trying not to be intimidated. Weird, huh?

So, those of you in the Northern Hemisphere*, what do ya'll have planned for summer?

*Ya know, the international nature of the internet is just kinda awesome.

Give-a-Way Four! Mad About You.

But what's up with the hat?

That's right ladies, I've got a "Mad Men" era dress here.  And in a 38" bust no less!  This is a figure flattering sheath dress with round neckline, kimono sleeves.  The matching jacket also has kimono sleeves.  Its calls for soutache trim.  I can just see all sorts of neat embellishments with this dress. Its like a canvas waiting for your brush, or sewing needle.  I think a navy blue with white trim like Gertie's dress would be fab!

This dress actually came to me in a large box of sewing patterns my wonderful friend Beth Ann (whom I stayed with in NY but has since moved). Her neighbor was having a yard sale, or moving, I don't remember which. In any case, she was lovely enough to send the box of pattern goodness my way and now I'm sharing that with you.

The directions and pattern pieces are all there. It looks like this was made up

STATS:
Bust: 38"
Waist: 30"
Hip: 40"


Rules To Enter:
Post a comment!
Follow me and post a comment!

Rule to get TWO entries:
Post about it on your blog and then post the link in the comments.

Winner Will be chosen by roll of the dice. 


Entry time will close June 24rth 11:59PM Eastern (Eastern time applies to all give-a-ways)

**Cause I've apparently been extremely exhausted I've failed to explain the close of the give-a-way time. Comments will be closed five days from the date that it was posted at 11:59pm Eastern. I will have the winners up next week.

Give-A-Way Three! Little Darling

Isn't this just darling? I personally love this look for little girls, particularly when they are under the age of five and can't really complain. I got lucky though, my daughter seems to love the retro looks. I picked this out for those of you that might not like to sew for grown ups but love sewing for children. A daughter, granddaughter, niece, or lucky friend's daughter.  I'm even throwing in some gingham cotton/poly broadcloth in pink with little flowers.  Felicity's not so in to pink these days (so... we may be painting her room soon *sighs*).  The second image even shows the ruler on the back so you can tell scale.

The print makes this weird on the eyes. I blame not thinking about this on being awake 15 hours.

 This is Simplicity 2287 in a Child Size 1 with three views, blouse, jumper,and skirt.  All the pieces and instructions are there in factory folds. This includes the transfers for the applique.  The quilters out there would love this!  Now, this is a fifties pattern and one thing I've discovered about vintage children's patterns is they run LARGE.  When you had to make most of their clothing apparently you wanted it to have room to grow.

STATS:
Chest 20"
Waist 19.5"
Back Length - neck base to waist   8"
Finished back length of jumper 17"
Finished back length of blouse 11 3/4" 
Finished length of skirt 9"



Rules To Enter:
Post a comment!
Follow me and post a comment!

Rule to get TWO entries:
Post about it on your blog and then post the link in the comments.

Winner Will be chosen by roll of the dice. 


Entry time will close June 23rd Eastern time (this applies to all give-a-ways) 

Cake and the Bunny Rue

First off, WOW! Look at all the new people!  Nice to meet ya'll and welcome to my little corner of insanity. And don't worry, we have cookies.  I'm gonna have to send some to Oona as a thank you. Also, if you are new, just started following me, and want to put your hat in the ring for any of the give-a-ways, please don't forget to comment! Otherwise I might miss you and that would make me very sad.

Second, I'm skipping the give-a-way tonight as I lost my way for a bit there. That will be explained after the "Cake" section in the "Bunny Rue" section. I will have the next give-a-way scheduled to go up at noon this Monday. In any case, despite the lack of in-depth sewing posts, I have been sewing. Honest! And I have more planned soon, including some insights into sewing vintage children's garments.

Cake

Mmmm, knits

So, to continue with the description that Ms. Tasia started, I have actually been doing some sewing since I finished the two frosting dresses. Sewing cake pieces at that, but in neat fabric.  First I have to back up and say that I had been on an online fabric buying spree lately.  Seems every time I want to strangle someone at work I end up buying fabric instead (My bank account is probably thanking my doctor right now for the Xanax prescription).  This has amounted to... a lot of fabric.  The above knits I had cut out, most of which are in progress right now being one bit.  Another knit fabric I had cut out was from Saywer Brook, a French rayon jersey knit called Gotham(now sold out, sorry). Being the geek that I am, how could I NOT buy it. It has since become a piece in heavy rotation.  The dress is New Look 6936 * and is all cake. Very great basic knit pattern. This one could be sewn without a serger if you have a good zigzag stitch.  I haven't modeled it on me, not had much time. But here it is on my brand new, padded out doppleganger.

Please excuse the mess, we're still in the midst of The Great Cleaning and Reorganization Project.   So, as cake-y as this dress pattern is, the print makes it fun.  Its kinda like Devil's Food Cake, doesn't need frosting, ya know?  I get lots of compliments on it at work.  Also, I'm quite proud of how my dress-form finally turned out.

I also finished at black knit top that was suppose to be cake, but ended up giving it to a friend because it didn't fit me.  I have pictures and will post them later. :D

*This was my first time trying to do a downloadable pattern from Simplicity's site and all I have to say is NEVER AGAIN.  Not only did it really cost me more than it would at the store, I'm only allowed to print it out twice and the system they use to put the pieces together is confusing.  I can't even really describe it. They don't have the rows numbered numerically or anything like that. Its weird. AND they made me go to a WHOLE other website  and fill out info for "security" of only being able to download it twice, AND the instructions counted. WTF? So, in summery, unless you live overseas and its just otherwise impossible to get, don't do it.  Or even better, use Tanit-Isis'  Grecian Sundress pattern.

The Bunny Rue

So, Friday was my actual birthday.  And the day itself was not exactly spectacular but it ended on a note that, while not in any way happy, was completely unforgettable. My husband is on call this week, and got a trouble call while we were out for my birthday dinner. Not really his fault, but after I had gotten up early to pick up my farm share and everything, I was kinda just tired.  We both ended up going to bed when we got home, Felicity was off with Grandma again (she does that alot in the summer) and Simon was in his room reading.  So, about 10:30pm (which is like AM to me, I work nights), I wake suddenly with the feeling something is not right.  I get up and walk out to the dining area to see Simon's kindle sitting on the floor next to the table in the walkway with its little reading light still on. This is very unusual since Simon takes fairly good care of his electronic devices.  Then I hear commotion in the sun room. 

I walk around the corner into the sun room and find Simon kneeling on the floor and obviously distraught.  He stands up and says "I just locked Manga out so he couldn't get to the bunny. I heard it scream upstairs, it woke me up and I tried to save it but look!!"

Manga is our orange tabby cat. He's a tough hunter, enough so he managed to survive a wild dog attack,  so without even getting over to see this bunny I knew it wasn't going to be pretty.  Simon's squatted down over it and is crying "Don't die little bunny, hang on little guy. You can make it."  

I can see its bloody from across the room and knew I was going to need some gloves. I told Simon to watch it, I'll be right back and went and got a pair of the latex gloves I use for cleaning.   I get back and remind Simon to breath as I put the gloves on and gently roll the bunny over. Its back is broken and you can see its intestines.  "I'm sorry Simon, but I don't think he's gonna make it." I tell him gently. 

"Its gotta make it! Its just gotta! Can we try and save it? Can we keep it if it does??"  he says with so much hurt in his voice.

"Yes Simon." I tell him, knowing neither of those things are possible. " Grab that empty box and some paper towels."

He's better with instructions.  Panicking people always calm down when they have something to do.  He gets the required things and I put some of the towels in the box and then gently lift the rabbit and put it in the box.  The poor thing is gasping for air this entire time.  I put the box in Simon's lap and tell him he can pet between its ears.  The entire time he's got tears in his eyes and he pets it gently saying "Hold on buddy".

I'm totally losing it on the inside but this is one of those moments in motherhood you gotta keep it together. I've taken off the gloves at this point and I'm holding him while he holds the bunny in the box.  After what seems like ages but is really only about five minutes it finally stops breathing.  Simon starts sobbing.  I let him cry.

"Its better this way Simon. There was no way it was going to live through that. See its side, that's its insides.  It was too broken and in pain to live that way." I told him.  "Breath Simon."  And he gets his breathing in check with the exercises we've given him to calm down.  

"Its better this way, I promise.  Now its no longer suffering." I tell him. 

"Like Grandma W?" asks Simon. 

"Yes, like Mom. Neither of them have to suffer anymore".  

"We have to bury her, or him. It, we have to bury it."  I have to smile because even distraught Simon's mind focuses on the details.  And of course we have to bury the rabbit. It couldn't be any other way.  I ask him if he knows where the shovel is. "No, but I know where the little one for gardening is" he says. 

So there I am in the backyard at 11pm at night with the camping lantern, a dead bunny, and a tiny hand trowel digging a grave.  We dig it big enough for the bunny but not the box and as we put it in the ground Simon asks "Since its dead, can I name it?"

"Yes, Simon, I think that's just fine." 

"I'm gonna name it Rue, cause it was tiny and brave."   And if ya'll have read "The Hunger Games" then you are right there with me.  I waited until he cried himself to sleep in my arms before going through an entire box of tissues myself.  

And that's how my birthday ended. 

Give-A-Way Two! That's So Seventies. **update**

**I forgot to add, you can try for each give-a-way. So comment on any of the ones you want to enter as the week goes on. Hope that helps!**

I picked this pattern up in a huge antique shop during a trip to the North Georgia mountains. It was nestled between old coke-a-cola paraphernalia and ratty old taxidermy deer heads.  There was even an old electric washer with a hand wringer.  In any case, I had a certain Egyptian Goddess in mind when I found it but then it turned out she already had a copy. She'll just have to wait until she sees what else I have in the goody bag.

Anyway, here's Simplicity 6710 a CLASSIC 70's silhouette.  The pattern is printed, counted the pattern pieces and they are all there, though its been used so some of them are kinda smooshed in.  Since this is a fairly common pattern I thought I'd throw in some poly/cotton knit with tiny shoes all over it.

You know you like the tiny shoes. Don't lie.

Stats:  Bust 36" Waist 28" Hips 38"

Rules To Enter:
Post a comment!
Follow me and post a comment!

Rule to get TWO entries:
Post about it on your blog and then post the link in the commends.

Winner Will be chosen by roll of the dice. 


*entries for this one closes June 21rst

Give-Away Day One! Its a New Look Era!

Hello fellow sewing enthusiasts! Are you ready for the first pattern up for grabs?  Rules are simple, if you follow me already, leave a comment, if you don't, follow me and leave a comment.  And for an EXTRA entry, post a comment on your blog and leave a link to the post in the comments.  Entries will be tallied numerically and, because I'm a geek, I will use dice to pick the winner.  I'm thinking I'll film my kids rolling the dice for me. It will be cute, promise. (And don't worry... I have LOTS of dice, including more than one 20 sided.) Entries will be cut off June 20th at midnight.

 Ok, here it is! A vintage Vogue pattern 6551, I am dating this somewhere between 1947 and 1952 due to the after "New Look" vibe but before printed patterns became popular.  All the instructions and pattern pieces are included and nicely folded. As suggested already, the pattern is un-printed.  There's a beautiful tuxedo bib detail and tailored collar.  This would look beautiful done up in a wool crepe, silk faille, or a cotton poplin for areas with mild winters.  This is a size 16, Bust 34", Waist 28", Hips 37".  And don't worry, I've got something a whole range of sizes!

Upcoming! Birthday Week Give-Away-A-Thon

A giveaway! OH MY!

Actually, I'm doing TWO things.  First, I'm helping de-clutter some of my stuff.  I have a _lot_ of vintage patterns and fabric that I will never, ever use and they need new homes.  Second, I'm celebrating turning 29 for the... um... seventh time. Today is my virtual Friday, so should have the FIRST give-a-way up by Real Friday, which also happens to be my birthday.  That's right, the FIRST one, I'm doing FIVE DAYS WORTH!  Are you excited? I'm excited.  Ok, see you then!

Oh, also, I want to give a warm welcome to all the new people that have hopped over from Ohhh Lulu and I hope you stick around!  Cheers!

Epic Cleaning Frenzy

One of the things on my "to do" list for some time is to "redo" the kids' rooms.  And this is one of those times I really wish I had thought to take "before and after" photos but I didn't. Because I was on a warpath of CLEAN.  No one must stand in my way.

I started on my daughter's room. They are both at the Grands at this point and she doesn't freak out over change.  Her bed was in the middle of the floor, nothing in the dresser, the closet hadn't been cleaned out from when we moved in over seven years ago and DEAR GOD IN HEAVEN it was trashed.  All told I netted six 33 gallon bags of trash and three large boxes for GoodWilll.  My roommate rearranged the furniture and we moved her desk and art supplies upstairs in the corner I cleaned out for her. So I also have more room in my sewing/office area (more on that in another post).

We did not paint/wallpaper this room. It came like this.

Yup... this is the after photo.

Sewing machine now on her desk, and yes, she has a huge fish tank. 

In the hallway, the SECOND wave of stuff from her room.

So the kids get home, Felicity is thrilled with the new arrangement, YAY!  I have to get up early on Fridays to pick up my share at the farmer's market, so since I was awake and Simon was home I started on his room.  This way he's involved and I won't have to deal with emotional melt down over changes made (Simon has some idiosyncrasies that we've had to work on, and he seems to have inherited my anxiety issues.... weee).  Felicity decides to help and I have her take Simon's now, mostly empty (since the fish died) one gallon tank to the bathroom.  She drops it. ICKY EVERYWHERE. Lovely. I tell her to go out on the back porch to grab the mop and bucket.  What I don't realize is there is more than one mop and bucket.  So I decide to take that one out to the trash (it was used in another epic cleaning)  and, even while holding the hand rail, I slipped, landed on my behind, and slid halfway down the stairs.

Ouch.

ouch ouch ouch  

Ouch.  PAIN.  So much pain. My husband comes rushing around the corner, Felicity's going "ARE YOU OK??", and Simon starts wailing.  I'm still mentally assessing whether or not I've just made my back injury worse or if its just gonna be one of those hurt for a couple weeks situations.  After missing two days of work, it looks like the latter.

But wait, THERE'S MORE!  Normal, sane people would stop cleaning at this point. But obviously I'm neither normal or sane. Instead,  I waited the 25 minutes for the meds to kick in and went back to work.  I told you this was an epic cleaning frenzy, right?  Yeah, it was.  Three more bags of trash and two huge boxes of toys to donate.  Oh, and while I was at it I found a new bed for Simon's room that's a loft style with a desk underneath.  Husband went and picked it up and everything!  Then we had A Talk reminding him what we do for a living.  (When asked what I do, my kids say "She kicks people off the internet" and its not UNtrue, exactly. Pay your internet bills people.)

So, long story short, that's why I haven't gotten any sewing done. What did you do?

Its Recipe Time!

What my fridge looks like on Fridays (please ignore the cola cans...)

So, I know I've mentioned this before but I'm a member of a CSA.  The folks over at Spreading Oaks Farm are wonderful people. Not only do they grow vegetables but they raise chicken and cattle too, for free range eggs and beef.  And by the photo above you can see there's no shortage of fresh, local veggies in my house right now. The trick is cooking it in ways that everyone will eat, and preserving the rest for later. I've decided to share more of my culinary adventures with you lovely people!

First is my breakfast casserole, or Frittata.  I'm doing this all in "standard" measurements but there are lots of conversion websites out there. Eventually I'll get around to converting it but right now I'm feeling lazy.  I just cleaned BOTH kids' rooms.  More on that adventure later.


Potato and Kale Frittata

Ingredients:

1 medium potato
2 cups chopped kale*
8 eggs
1 tablespoon of half/half or milk
1/3 cup shaved parmesan or reggiono cheese (more or less to taste)
oil (any will do, but olive is best)

8x8 baking pan, sprayed with Pam (deep dish pie pan will do in a pinch)

Halve the potato and the slice as thinly as possible, leaving the skin on.  Remove stems and chop kale. Heat up a heavy skillet and add oil to the pan, enough to keep the potatoes from sticking.  Fry potatoes until just starting to brown around the edges, then add the kale.  You may need to add a bit more oil at this point, but saute until just wilted and then remove pan from heat and transfer to the baking pan to cool a bit while preparing the eggs.

Crack eggs into a bowl and add the cream.  Beat until nice and frothy, much like you would with an omelet. Add salt/pepper/garlic powder to taste.  Pour the eggs over the veggies in the pan, stirring a bit to mix.  Sprinkle cheese on top and then bake in the oven at 350F for 25-30 minutes, or until firm in the center.  When this is done I usually set it under the broiler for about 3-5 minutes to make the cheese crisp and flavorful, but this is optional.  This will feed four people or two ravenous growing children. It will keep covered in the fridge for about two days, reheats just fine.

*The great thing about this dish is you can use just about any vegetable, even add sausage.  Spinach and green peppers I would not bother to cook ahead, but just add to the eggs. This is also easy to add more eggs to cover more veggies and feed more people, or vice-verse.

A Big Thanks!

I want to give a big shout out to Ms Sarah of Ohhh Lulu for sponsoring me on her blog. If you look to your right you'll see a link to her shop.  And I really want this set for my birthday!  (Hip measurement 45"  HINT HINT. She takes custom orders.)

My Doppelganger Needs More Butt Padding

Keen eyes may have noticed my mention of an Epic Meltdown (post before this one) due to my missing out on family fun at the lake.  Well, I have to admit that, in my petulance, I ended up doing a little online shopping.  However, it did mean I snagged a Singer Dress form for $99 (still going for another couple days... qualifies for their fee shipping, too).

Please excuse the mess. 

And this time I was armed with knowledge of how to pad it out and make it more "me" shaped.  I started out I used the dial for the upper bust and under bust (which on the dress form  = waist) measurements. Then I used one of my older bras and padded that out and then started with the quilt batting. I did two wrap-arounds with low-loft polyester, tucking it under the bra strap.  Next I cut out more rounded shapes to pad the tummy and posterior.  I measured as I went, both myself at the moment, then the dress form.  I'd stand side by side with it to make sure it was approximately the same shape as me.  This also meant I ended up in my underwear. Actually, that happens a lot when I'm at the "try it on" phase.  I don't always remember to pull the blinds cause we practically live in the woods, so its really only an issue if I have pervy neighbors with binoculars and insomnia.  In any case, I now I basically "bump breasts" with it if I'm trying to put a tape measure around or something, which means I probably have a good height too.

I then draped and pinned some scrap red knit/lycra I had kept around pinned an approximation, and then serged. You can tell from the white showing that I didn't bother to change the serger thread. Cause I'm lazy like that. I didn't really think to take photos of that part.  It was around this time my roommate woke up and wandered through the sun room and said "Hey, that's very you shaped!" Bonus.

The padding did settle after a days sleep, so when I got up and had enough coffee in me to ask his opinion, my husband says  "Good job, but your doppelganger needs more butt padding".  *insert BADUMDUM TISS here*

Oh yes, I plan to put BOTH sergers to work on these. There's one more that I cut but is not in this picture. 

He's right, probably need a bit more of a tummy pooch too. Ah, the joys of motherhood. Now I just need to sew up that pile of knits sitting next to the sewing machines. Hmmm.

I'm a Teapot in a Boat!

Little girl is my daughter, baseball cap is my brother in law, and the man behind the wheel is my Elusive Husband. 

Did I mention my brother-in-law* bought a boat?  Like, a ski boat that seats about six. I found out and was like WHOA, AWESOME!  But not until after my friend Jenna talked me out of an anxiety attack about the kids learning to ski.  She pointed out this is why they make life vests. Oh right... durrr.  And seeing as we live close to the lake, their grandma takes them to the pool, and we like to vacation at the beach, well, our kids pretty much develop webbed toes and gills in the summer time.  Not to mention the ever adorable freckles across the nose.

Felicity is biting the strap to keep it from flapping against her face.

We're all happy about swimming here.

Last weekend they went out and it was kinda last minute and I had an Epic Meltdown because I couldn't go.  So this was a sunset ride so I could go. SO. MUCH. FUN.  I didn't actually go swimming,  I'm not happy with my current swimsuits for that purpose. The one I want is on back order and I might just have to modify this pattern to make one I like. We'll see. There are just some things I don't feel like spending the effort on.

In any case, this means there may be some more beach style cover-ups in my future (shirring anyone?).  So obviously, we had a blast.  The funniest thing happened as we were all driving back to my Brother-In-Law's, a friend of mine ended up pocket dialing me.  This particular friend, Kris, has known me so long he still uses my maiden last name.  My husband says its cause he's an optimist.  I reply by sticking my tongue out at him.  It devolves in maturity from there. Anyway, pocket dialing.  If you've ever seen "Real Genius" and remember   Val Kilmer's character then you have a pretty good description of both looks and personality. So of course, after hearing Kris talking AND I could tell he was talking to some other people, I realized that the phone was actually in his pocket, I couldn't resist what happened next...

Me: HELLO KRIS?  CAN YOU HEAR ME? YOUR PANTS ARE TALKING TO YOU!!! HELLO!
*wait a minute, still hear talking*
Me (singing at the top of my lungs):  I'M A LITTLE TEAPOT SHORT AND STOUT, HERE IS MY HANDLE HERE IS MY SPOUT!!!! WHEN I GET ALL STEAMED UP AND START TO....  *devolves into a fit of giggles from me and the kids in the truck* 
Me (after I still hear talking): HELLO, KRIS, YOUR PANTS ARE TALKING TO YOU!! HELLO!
Some other person in the room: Dude, your pants are talking...
Kris: Uh, hello???
Me: Hi Kris, you pocket dialed me.
Kris:  Who is this?
Me: Elizabeth
Kris:  Elizabeth [my maiden name]
Me: Yes, that's right.  Your pants dialed me.
Kris: My pants dialed you? Why would they do that? Are you seeing my pants behind my back?
My Husband in the background:  I don't know, you should ask them.

At which point I completely lose it and start laughing so hard tears are going down my face, which sets Kris and everyone in the truck to laughing too.  Eventually Kris says he has to go.  Have I mentioned I know awesome people? True facts, man.

Goggles a must!

Why yes, I'm a sassy redhead, what makes you ask?

Awesome, right?

So, great times!  What do ya'll have planned for those in the Northern Hemisphere for summer?  Don't  forget there's always fun things to do even on a budget, like Finding a natural swimming hole or even going on a day trip to the nearest State Park.  For those of us in the U.S. of A. I say explore the fun out-of-doors. National and State Parks are there for a reason and you should get your tax dollars out of them!

Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta finish padding out my new dress form,make some zucchini bread, and coleslaw.  

*My brother-in-law and sis-in-law live eight miles from me in one direction. My mother-in-law/father live eight miles in the other (basically live in a house turned into a duplex).  I gotta say having family close makes life easier.

Carved Messages

I <3 U

The downside to working nights is my children often complain they don't see enough of me.  It always breaks me heart, especially when they say it while I'm on my way out the door for work.  But then they do little things that make me just love them to pieces.  Now I smile whenever I grab the tailor's chalk.