Two Skirts, One Pattern & Food Galore!

  It is so freaking gorgeous around here right now, I can hardly stand it. The weather turned cool and dry overnight! The leaves have begun to fall, and I went outside a bit ago to find that the chestnuts are dropping from the big tree beside the house. I picked up a bowl full, and they are currently roasting in the oven along with the amazing peppers we picked up at Osage Farms yesterday.

Things aren't looking totally shabby around our garden either...okay, the garden looks pretty shabby, but we are still pulling goodies out of it every day!

We just roasted up three winter squash, and B is getting a batch of collards in the crock pot. It is a regular harvest food festival around our house these past few weeks. 

  Baby A is eating solid foods now, and it is really excellent that she has started solids at this time of year. We have been baking apples, squash, pumpkins, and turnips, and steaming kale, snap beans, and corn and pureeing all of it in the blender for her baby food. She may someday turn to EZ Cheese and Wonder Bread, but hopefully not if we can teach her to love delicious, fresh food right from the get go.

Chowing down on some kale oatmeal! Yummy!

On the subject of sewing, I have recently finished another project! I am participating in a sew along, and I have been working on a coat muslin piecemeal for weeks. I decided that if I was going to keep my motivation up, I needed something wearable fast. I sewed up this quick (and dirty!) skirt to wear with my riding boots, and although there are super obvious flaws, I consider it a wearable muslin.

1974

Once I knew the skirt fit well, and that I really liked it with my boots, I decided to sew it up again (neatly!) in a camel wool that I bought at the local thrift shop for $1.50. I used vintage thrifted notions (metal zip $.25, mother of pearl button $.50, lace hem tape $.10), so the whole skirt cost about $2.60 if you include the 25 cent pattern price. I really enjoyed sewing it up. The pattern is great, and the wool, although it has a bit of an animal fur-ish smell, was quite nice to work with also. 

If you don't like my skirt, perhaps you will still like my baby in this bear outfit!

If you don't like my baby in this bear outfit, I can't help you. Nobody can. 

I tried out some new techniques this time around, well, mainly the hem tape, but I think it gave a nice polish to the inside of the skirt (since my pinkers suck!). My zip came out pretty well, and I used the auto machine button holer with much more success than on previous projects. I am also getting pretty used to the blind hem stitch. My hand stitching is so crummy that the blind hem stitch, although it is not at all blind, is a marked improvement. I also learned how to use my dress form hemming arm with these last two skirts, and I must say it is really nice to be able to easily hem a garment to a length that will make your legs look slim and show off your favorite riding boots. The wool version came out a wee bit tight (the knit was loose, and I thought a fabric with less stretch would sew up as a perfect fit. Not so), but as I am still watching the baby pounds trickle off daily (SLOWLY, but surely), I think it will be fitting me very well in no time at all. That is if B stops bringing home dessert breads from the country club where he works weekends.

I wanted to take a few shots of my new skirt to post on Sew Retro, and it turned out to be a great opportunity to slip in a few family photos.

I am a lucky, lucky lady. 

   Well, that's the news, or lack thereof, around here. I sincerely hope you are enjoying beautiful weather wherever you may be! We are expecting visitors again in the upcoming weeks, and now that the weather has turned nice, we are planning some hikes and day trips. I will post pictures of foliage and fall scenery as I see it!

The Latest Greatest Thrifted Vintage Loot

I went out thrifting the other day as I do a couple of times a week to find goods to eBay (and feed my sewing addiction), and I found some really neat vintage stuff. I rooted through the knitting pamphlets, which I usually am not interested in doing, and found some great old pattern books I intend to send to family members who knit. Check out these styles... sorry about the blur.

Plaid mini with knee-high boots! Perfect!

White nail polish! How posh!

These two are just too cute!

Nice sweater, guy.

Those two are from 1965 and 1966. Here is a real find- a pattern book from '54!

Ooh la la! Love the bolero!

Imagine the undergarments required to do that to your waist!
"Quick! Get the shot before I pass out!"

The Bernat book is a bit wrinkly, but for 25 cents it was worth buying just to share the great photos. 

Next, I meandered over to the place where the sewing books are usually kept. Here I found more treasures.

From 1940 and in fabulous condition!

This info on cuffs reminded me of the article on Chanel's cuff variation in the recent issue of Threads  

Inside the orange book, I found a recipe tear out from Better Homes and Gardens dated 1947 and a tape measure marked Compliments of the Fashion Department- Woman's Home Companion. The monthly magazine was published until 1957. 

I also found a McCall's sewing book from 1965.

Heaven knows I could use help styling my wardrobe!

 All of the paper finds were very cool, and like I said, they were a quarter each! Even the sewing guides! So, needless to say, I left the store feeling particularly satisfied that I had scored some more goodies to hoard. Then, at the next shop, I found these- the whole lot of them- for 75 cents!

Too cute, right?! Okay, enough gloating for one day! I found a couple of other things, but lest you think I am a total pack rat, I am keeping them to myself!

Falling Hard for Pumpkins and Apples

Pumpkins and apples are in at Osage Farms, and I went a little overboard today on the shopping. I told B that we could consider all of the pumpkins edible fall decorations. Don't you think he should be thrilled to have such a practical wife? We did, in fact, eat a sugar pie pumpkin for dinner tonight along with quinoa, fresh steamed turnips, and apples baked in my clay baker.
  It's like my kind of Christmas when they get pumpkins at the stand. I get so excited about the options and the variety! I mean, check these out:

There are warty ones

There are Long Island Cheese

There's another kind of cheese... :)

There are pretty white pumpkins

Striped ones...

Watermelon-ish pumpkins...

Cinderellas, which are among my favorites

Some cool green ones that must be good! 

Delicious petite sugar pies

I bought one of these green beauties!

Carvers aplenty!

A nice man offered to get our family photo in the pumpkin patch:

"Back in the old days," he said "we had to take our film in to have it developed! I didn't hear it click..."

There you go ol' man! Way to work the iPhone!

I'm sure there will be even more in the weeks to come, because I did not see any Vif de Temps pumkins, and they have always had them in previous years. 

Then, there are the many types of squash. Here are a couple favorites:

Hubbard squash is soooooo good. Mmmm.

There were more winter squash inside that I forgot to photograph, but you know them well- butternut, acorn...I didn't see any spaghetti yet. I did see tons of lovely decorative gourds though:

A cute gourd and an even cuter pumkin!

And just when I thought it couldn't get any better...Apples!

  These aren't those enormous picture perfect, shiny (waxed), red apples. These are ugly and delicious!

  So, if you can't tell, autumn is my favorite season of the year. Here we get to see the leaves change and fall (they have already begun), the weather gets mellow and dry, some of the summer tourists go home. Western North Carolina is exceptionally beautiful all of the time, but this is particularly true in autumn when the mountains are awash in the yellows, oranges, browns and golds of dying leaves. 

  Okay, okay! Enough about autumn- 

Ugh! B! You are not eating that apple without washing it, are you?

More Farm Minutiae

I cannot believe it is September already! The last few days we have had highs of 80 or so, and lows in the fifties. The air is off, and the windows are open, and this is why we love the mountains of North Carolina. 

B's dad and stepmom came for a visit, and we enjoyed having four extra baby carrying arms around the farm. We also enjoyed their wonderful company, of course! 

Two days ago, B and his dad went down to pull a frame out of our beehive, and B says we have a super (the wooden box the honey frames are kept in) absolutely full off honey. Our bees made about 75 lbs. of honey last year, and we were hoping for a good haul this year too. Here is a photo of B and his dad with the frame they pulled:

Note the socks! Nerf herdery is hereditary!

They harvested the honey just in time to use it as a topping for the fresh yogurt I have made with my thrifted Salton yogurt maker. 

Action shot of me pouring hot milk! Exciting process! 

  Yes, we used a salad spinner to remove the honey from the comb. Sometimes, you have to improvise. The fresh yogurt with our own honey is so tangy-sweet and delicious. I have never had yogurt this good- but that is almost always the case with food made at home from high quality ingredients. I burned the milk slightly on the first batch I tried to make, but I turned it into yogurt anyway. Our chickens are totally spoiled, and I have read that yogurt helps them clear their crops. 

  I have been working on my sew along pattern in Swedish tracing paper. It needed a good deal of alteration, as I bought a size 39 bust for my 36 inch self. I took my trench in on the sides and center back, and I lengthened the bust dart and moved the apex. I also shortened the waist, and I still need to shorten the arms as well as add some room for broad shoulders. Then I think we will be in business. I know it is a "sew along," but I always like to get a head start on a big project.  I was planning on sewing a navy trench, but the lady at the fabric store confused me with a nice, medium weight khaki twill. I was plagued by horrible indecision until I realized that I can always sew both colors! I went back to the fabric store yesterday and bought 4 yards of khaki stretch jacquard. It is feminine and has interest, but is still simple and classic. I tried to post a photo several different ways, but for some reason it is not working. Here is the link to the whole photo pool, and I am Abbymomma. I am really excited about this sew along!

  Well, I've been trying to post this for a couple days, but the internet has been fudgy, so here goes. We planted our small fall garden; I will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about that soon!