One down, 26 to go

Well, it's a good start. I was only a few hours late, which for me, is right on time but here she is, the opening salvo in my regency wardrobe attempt. It's considered a bonus challenge, thus the #0. I thought about passing but why not get this party started off right, yes? It helped that I just happened to find a free and easy pattern. As suggested, here's the proper run down.

The Challenge: Starting Simple

Fabric: I used leftover fabric from a dress I made pinky two years ago. White silk taffeta from Joann's with a rose silk batiste from Baltazor. It's also interlined with plain cotton muslin as both the taffeta and batiste are wispy as hell.

Pattern: As I mentioned earlier, free and easy and here. The embroidery pattern can be found here.

Year: No idea but the style itself is readily seen when one googles little bags of the period.

Notions: I finished it off with some (not)silk cording and tassels from Joann's.

How historically accurate is it? Let's get something straight here. There is no way on God's green earth that I will be turning out ANYTHING completely historically accurate for this challenge. I don't even like to whipstitch or finish my hand so you best believe I will not be handsewing complete garments together. But aside from that, well, it's a little handbag. I guess it's accurate enough, machine stitching notwithstanding. I think the embroidery might not be the thing for Regency sewing but meh.

Hours to complete: I traced off the embroidery the day after Christmas and finished up everything around 3 am this morning.

First worn: I'm saving it for tea.

Total cost: Uhm, let me think. About five bucks, I suppose, including the $1.19 I spent on beading needles that I broke within minutes of getting home as my thread was too thick for the eye. Boo on me. The fabrics came from my stash. The beads are the half of those previously purchased for the advent scarf (yes, I'll update soon, gosh!). The embroidery floss is also from my stash.

And here are a few more pictures. First, of the back. The two other panels are plain.

And a peek inside at the pretty lining.

If you'd like to follow along with all my plans and attempts, you can check out my Sew Fortnightly Pinterest board.

Next up, little girl regency stays. 

I think.

They'll be good practice for my stays and I get to figure out how to size an adult pattern down for a rambunctious little girl.

I'm thrilled already.

No, really.

Kind of.

Hold me.

More than I can chew

I'm not sure how it happened, but I was puttering around the interwebs as one does when they are avoiding housework and came upon the website for a local museum, The Davenport House. How I've lived here for five years and never heard of the place, I can't quite explain but that's neither here nor there. The point is they have tea, regency era tea or whatever you refer to that period of time as here in the states when we clearly could no longer give two hoots about Georgie's craziness or the other Georgie's hot mess secret marriage or whatever it was he was doing. 

As it also happens, pinky is slightly obsessed with American Girl books. We ordered her the catalog and every time it arrives, she is breathless with excitement, skittering around the house with passive aggressive comments about possibly getting a new one or new outfits for the ones she has, or a bonnet, mommy, I can't have a bonnet, can I? Because I know I can't get the new dolls, right, mommy? Like that. And what about this newest doll?

Her name is Caroline and she is perfection in miss Pinky's little starstruck eyes and really, who can blame her when the little thing comes decked out in full 1812 awesomeness, amiright?

There might have been some Caroline books under the Christmas tree this year and it might have renewed her desperate need for a bonnet. But where on earth does one wear a bonnet circa 2013 (can you believe it's that already? ugh?)

Why, to tea, of course. At a house built in the era and later converted to a museum for the era.

Eureka!!

And so, as I do, I have committed to turning out period appropriate garb and escorting our whole wonderful ensemble down to the Davenport House sometime in March, me, the pinkster, Kirsten, and Samantha, resplendent in little empire waisted beauties.

Just when I was thinking of wavering, wondering what in the hell I'd gotten into, what should my eyes come across but that wonderful challenge from The Dreamstress I mentioned yesterday. Here's a refresher. There's a lovely little facebook group to pepper with all my questions since I've never sewn historical before. I'll try to make as many of the early challenges in regency garb as possible for well, obvious reasons. But after that, I'm considering attempting the Federal era.

Corsets for everyone!

Ahem, I mean stays, of course. They were called stays before circa 1840 or so. I'm not quite sure when it changed to corset but it was after both the Federal and the Regency eras.

So again, pray for me.

Everyone else is doing it

I really don't want to recap 2012. Suffice to say the year was full of highs and lows. Both my sister in law and I gave birth to gorgeous babies (if I do say so myself.) But we suffered two unexpected losses, that of my uncle, followed a few months later by the loss of my husband's father. Everything in between seems rather sedate by comparison I think.

The sewing/crafting front saw its own share of highs and lows. I blew threw a bunch of projects around Mayish or so but succumbed to a frightening loss of mojo and turned out nothing of great importance for the rest of the year. The living room is littered with false starts and so so completes. So we're just going to call that a wash and move on.

On the domestic front, I actually feel I did pretty good. I've still not managed any semblance of organization, nor have I made great strides in the housekeeping sector. But I did institute some traditions that are officially part of our routine. Friday Movie Night has continued merrily along, Sunday dinner is nothing short of a success, and Saturday breakfast, peteybird's brain child, has been a fantastic way to compensate for Mr Man's 60 hour work week.

But enough about 2012. Let's talk the new year. I'm thinking five challenges and ten goals. I could probably come up with some fancy reasoning but let's just make it simple. I want to do better. That's really all there is to it. I made some strides last year. I won't bore you with the details. But there's always room for more. Just don't expect some kind of weight loss/exercise plan. I'm not even. We'll save that for 20dead.

So, let's start with the challenges and tomorrow, I'll share the goals. How's that?

Challenge #1: Daily Blogging

This is one is rather easy as I already mentioned it before. I will be blogging daily. I have promised Bear Allen and Bear Allen will shove me down a flight of stairs and lock me in a dog crate if I don't comply. At least this is what her husband says is the consequence of disappointing captain reading pants. I'm really not sure but I'm not in the mood to test her. Okay, really, I'm just not in the mood to throw down on pregnant ladies and I'm entirely too forgetful to remember to save my beatdowns for post partum.

Challenge #2: Knit/Crochet for an hour a day

Can I just share with you how much I adore sitting down at the end of the day, tucking my legs and my dog underneath a blanket on the couch and just chilling out with something soft on my needles? Oh yes, I do. It's very calming, reflective, and just a great way to clear your mind and settle for sleep. This will also help me carve out some time for all the knit projects that often fall by the wayside when I get a glimpse of a yummy fabric or lustworthy pattern.

Yeah, yeah, you wanna know about that advent scarf, don't you? Well here's a song for you.

Challenge #3: The Dreamstress's Historical Sew Fortnightly 

Did you notice my new bloggie button on the right hand side of the page? Well, there you go. Here's a link where you can read more about the challenge in general but I think you'll agree an announcement like that requires its own post. You should also be aware that I received my winnings the day after Christmas and will be blogging about that soon too.

Challenge #4: Sew simple each week

Look, I'm swimming in stash, okay? It really and truly is out of hand. I started and stopped an awful lot last year and have very few things to show for it. I also need more versatile, more grown up, more coordinated clothes in my wardrobe so yes, I'm going to work on it. We're not talking complicated outfits. Just something simple and easy either for myself or for the spawnlets. I think a cute knit tee in a blue, white, and silver stripe will be just the thing to get me started. But I won't lie. I think this one will be my most challenging one to stick with. I'm sure Bear Allen will be happy to add this to her list of things to pester a hot mess about.

Challenge #5: Budget, budget, budget

This one is also a humdinger. I won't be blogging much about it, however as I'm just not feeling the idea of sharing my entire financial picture with the whole wide internet. Suffice to say, we make enough to live on and live decently I might add *if* we pay attention to how we spend it. I'd like to get on the front end of our finances instead of feeling like I'm always falling behind or missing something.

But there are benefits to thee ol' humble blog. For one, I'll be resurrecting the weekly menu segment I was doing earlier this year. The budget is pretty much the same, $125/week for groceries. The menu will usually consist of Sunday dinner, Saturday breakfast, two crockpot meals for those extra curricular days, and Friday's junk food make over.

So there it is and it feels so very brave and yet completely possible, even, dare I say it? Likely.

But if you know me . . . . well, wish me luck anyway, okay?

A dim and blurry Christmas

I think it's well established that a) I have a crappy camera and b) I take crappy pics. So I'm sure you'll be double shocked that my Christmas pictures could put an issue of Family Circle to shame.

HA!

::le sigh::

I'm going to console myself with the fact that I didn't have to spend my time threatening lives until I got the perfect shot. I just took these and kept on trucking.

Wanna see?

Red Velvet Cake

The haul
(Pay no attention to the fabric explosion in the corner)

The Tree
(And more fabric explosion plus UPS leavings)

Christmas morning comes early when you're short/old

Grandma send me a glowworm!
And no, grandma, you didn't need to see my face.

I love how appetizing food looks with really awesome lighting.
Also, my ham is hiding and my stuffing looks really sad.

Gimme my pot pie!
(Please say you get that reference or we can't be friends.)

In conclusion, I know only five of you will actually care about this post, because really, it's awful. But I promised Bear Allen I would blog daily, and blog daily I will.

Okay, so the five people part is really, really generous. I can tell you my mama cares, Bear Allen cares, Heather cares because she loves me and fuss cares because she loves my kids. I swear I will atone for all the ills of this post with the remainder of the week.

Deal?

Deal.

Merry Christmas from the Hot Mess Household.

Challenge Accepted!

So I have this friend, a rather pushy friend who is always blathering to me about what an ungrateful hussy I am and how I never give her enough shout outs for generally being rather awesome and specifically, feeding my sewing inspiration and trying to resurrect my sewing and blogging mojo.

But she lies, I tell you, LIES!!! This friend is none other than the lovely, intellegent, fellow hot mess, Ms Bear Allen over at the wonderful Black, White, and Read Book Challenge, whom I mention fairly often.

Her grousing is your gain, however, because she has issued me a challenge of my very own. And yes, I'm well aware that my record in that department can best be described as dismal but whatever, we will press on. And what is this challenge you might ask?

Bear Allen has demanded that I post once a day even if it's just a few lines.

I'm sure you'll all wondering what the hell I have to say that's worthy of a daily check in but you'll just have to wait, now won't you? But I promise, it's rather good. I can give you a few hints if you like. But only if you ask nicely.

The challenge starts Monday.

Squee!!

P.S. My mantle is short one stocking because that picture is from last year's cleaner, neater Christmas display and not this year's sewing crap and clean laundry strewn all over the place hot messathon.

Merry Christmas indeed.

What day is it?

It's totally December 1, right? RIGHT??

::sigh::

Well, I've recovered my lost work so that's something. 

I think.

Here's a close up shot. As I'm not using circular needles, there's only so much room to spread it out. But I think you can catch the general drift. It looks less impressive this way, I think.

Two more repeats and I'll be finished with Day 1. Maybe I'll have a scarf by Valentine's. 

Dear Advent Scarf,

Posting uncharitable things about an advent scarf goes against the purpose of said advent scarf and thus it will merely be noted that the hot mess is ever a hot mess and will be starting with a fresh spirit come morning.

::sigh::

Post and run!

I'm supposed to be wearing a super cute, handmade dress to Mr. Man's Christmas party tomorrow. I've cut out exactly two back and one front on the fold complete with jacked darts. I'm not sure why I do this to myself but now is not the time for introspection.

It is, however, time to start your Advent Scarf! Day one is up now so you can awake bright and early tomorrow and finish this stupid dress you should have had done days ago and break out the needles and yarn. If you need help, the ravelry group is here. Between the girlchild's dance schedule and mr man's Christmas party, I'll be a day late and a dollar short but I hope to catch up on Sunday.

In the meantime, feel free to stare at the pretty yarn I'll be using for my scarf.

It's Madeline Tosh Lace in Robin's Egg Blue and I purchased it after succumbing to peer pressure from my friend Nicole. You see, after feeling up every skein of yarn at my local knitting shop, I finally selected a rather Christmasy black, charcoal, red, and burgundy combo from Cascade Yarns called Licorice Twist. However, as I confessed to another friend, it didn't slap me in the face with its awesome, at least not for a advent scarf. I'd had visions of knitting up something that reminded me of a Nordic fjord and my local yarn store wasn't obliging, at least not at a price that didn't make Baby Jesus cry.

Christmas but not winter

So I settled on the Licorice Twist and went home, defeated and dejected, trying to summon up images of knitting by a fire in an old rocking chair instead of inhaling crisp, cold air and feeling the Scandinavian wind on my cheeks. And so I was at the perfect place in my head for a little yarn nudging and enabling. Nicole had already purchased her yarn and while I despaired of any retailer who isn't Amazon delivering my goods in a timely fashion, she convinced me otherwise. Once she told me Eat Sleep Knit would even ball it up for me, well I had no choice.

So here I am. Now, I'd better get back to the cutting floor and see what can be done with these stupid darts. Booooooooo!

Would you like to swing on a star

After much harassment from my children, namely the girlchild, I took a break from Black Friday (mostly window) shopping and hauled the whole lot of giggling kidlets down to Forsyth Park for some kite flying. Of course the mini hot mess left her kite at home and the mommy hot mess was not going back for that crap. So swinging would have to suffice.

And because pinky doesn't hold still long enough for pictures unless it's a fashion show, you'll have to settle for a host of pudding pictures.

Wait, how do we do this again?

OMG! Yes, like that. HA!

Heyyy, what's that thing?

There sure are some
weird children around here

That brother and sister of mine
sure are funny looking

Oh yeah!

I do have a blog!

My sewing mojo has been non-existent of late. I'd ask for ideas on how to jump start it but my disgusting lack of posts means that there is likely no one reading this. Also, mojo or not, I have to start sewing. It's after Thanksgiving and any sewist, home hobbyist, self made gift giver knows what that means . . . IT'S CHRISTMAS CRAFTING TIME!

Yes indeed.

First up, a wreath. I have all the materials purchased thanks to Black Friday and some awesome Joann's coupons. I'll let you know how it goes. 

It also means it's Advent Scarf Time!

What's Advent Scarf Time?

Well, if as a kid you ever did an advent calender, it's pretty much the same concept except instead of candy or whatever else parents do for these things, you get a newly revealed bit of knitting. In the end, you're supposed to come out with a fantabulous finished scarf, like so:

As made by the very talented mmhiscox on Ravelry.
I love this version. It reminds me of a Nordic fjord.
So very winter, so very Christmas.

I made an attempt the first year I decided I was a knitter and it was truly a hot mess. I went with some really awful scratchy Vanna White crap that I couldn't fathom wrapping around my neck unless I'd been convicted of a crime and sentenced to death by acrylic wrapped in tinsel. After five rows of madness, I switched to some feathery also acrylic nonsense that kept slipping off my aluminum needles and was nearly impossible to see. So I gave up, gave in, gave out, all the things.

Two years later, I think I've come much further as a knitter and am prepared to give it the old college try. As I mentioned earlier, I'm coming into a busy time sewing-wise, forget all the other hustle that comes from the holiday season. I thought it might be nice to have some time set aside every day this month to sit down, take a deep breath, and do some knitting.

If you're interested in joining me, you can find more info here. You can also join the ravelry group here. I'll update daily with the new bit. and as a measure of accountability and an attempt to get back in the blogging habit, I'll be sharing my progress with anyone who might still be reading this thing. If you are joining, leave me a comment or even send me some pictures. I wanna see!!!!