What Happen???

Remember how I said that I was going to tell you why I don't wear lipstick and what the details of my 1940's suit was? Remember last year I was making a crochet rag rug and never showed you the finished product? Remember I wanted to make a crochet hat pattern to share a looonnnng time ago?

So what happen?? Between life happening and losing interest in some projects along the way everything just got put into a pile, forgotten or neglected like my blog recently.
This month has been about a health check because I've hit a wall of exhaustion. Looking back it's been coming on since last summer but I kept putting what I was feeling as  "it's all in my head" because  that's what I do. (It's probably why I was sick every other week this winter)  Finally this past June I gave up thinking it was all in my head when things started getting worse and went to the doctors. So now we test for this and that and I've gotten a few answers but still can't seem to shake the need to have a two hour nap in the afternoon and 12 hours of sleep at night. The rest of the time I just drag myself around waiting for those magical good days to pop up when I can get something done.

In order for me to feel like I accomplished something I got out my rag rug a month ago and finished it.  Now you know why I never showed you because I didn't finish it.

It has been so nice to wake up in the morning while we are camping and step onto this cozy rug and it felt great to finish something that had gone onto a pile of forgotteness. 

I also cut my hair. All these cute short cuts where showing up online and so I took a cue from Miss Fisher and went slightly longer then her but I sure do like it. 

And now for the burning question as to why I don't wear lipstick.

No matter what kind of lipstick inexpensive or expensive it dries my lips something fierce and if I don't take care of the dryness right away it can develop into a cold sore. So when my beets are ready I'll be drying a few to make beet root powder and make my own lip colour from beeswax and coconut oil. 

The forgotten hat pattern wasn't really forgotten, I just found this one by Hopeful Honey for free and it turned out lovely. I wanted to line it for winter but winter was slipping away already when I made it so it went back onto a pile of things to have ready for winter. 

I still want to give you the details of the suit because there is another story that goes with it that I want to share. So in between naps I'll hopefully get that done but if I'm absent for awhile you'll now know why. 

:)

Cherries Baby!

The last two weeks have been super duper busy and I'm not done yet with all this busyness. But I thought I'd sneak in a few photos of my 1940's cherry suit and my fabulous new shoes from Modcloth.

(Another rainy day, another photo shoot on the porch.)

Next week I'll give you all the dirt on the pattern the fabric... you know all that fun stuff and why I don't wear lipstick. :)

Pinterest #10

Up until a few days ago we were living the high life. We could go for walks and jump on the trampoline well into the evening. It was all good but then THEY showed up. Those blood sucking little vampires that make going outside anytime of day a nightmare.

Before we went camping I had made us a mosquito bar but we didn't need it. No bugs and that's the way it's been until now. 

Since this to me is a "does it really work" Pinterest review I have been passing this bar around and getting people's opinion. So far it fallen in the "yes" category and it's been working against some major battles too. Ive been able to water my plants in the evening with literally swarms circling me, bouncing off me and no bites. I've tried another deet free bug spray with not as much luck. 

 Sustain Create and Flow is where this pin originally came from and I found it to be a quick and easy recipe to follow. 

In the recipe she took out the coconut oil but I put it back in. I also didn't exactly follow the amount of essential oils either. Some of the oils we can't get here as written so I had to improvise. My "bugless" oil was mostly citronella oil but I did add a bit of lavender too. 

In the end I went by smell, so mine has a very strong citronella/ lemongrass to it. I'd say I put in at least 20 drops of citronella and anywhere from 10-15 of the rest. 

After application of the bar the smell eventually will dissipate and you need to reapply maybe every hour if you were going to be continuously outside. I'm ok with that because everytime I'm using it I'm mostuizing my arms and legs and my skin is loving that. 

You may ask why didn't I make a spray? I still might but I think this is easier to apply where I want it and easier to put on little ones arms and legs.

Ok here's what mine looks like. Not pretty like the ones you see on Pinterest  but I'm ok with that as long as it works.:)

A Camping we will Go!

It was our first camping trip of the year with the the old girl back to my paradise. The interesting thing about going to the same spot year after year is how much it's changed from the year before.

The very first time we went 5 years ago it looked like this.

Now it looks like this.

Where we used to walk out on that flat rock area... the water now greets us at the edge of the brush.

It's amazing to see how high the lake has gotten!

Before we left for our trip I found a recipe from Dash of Nostalgia. Caramelized onion, tomato and goat cheese Tart. ( really... go check out her creation)

I've been wanted to try my hand at cooking on an open fire for awhile now and this seemed like a recipe that could work. If it didn't I could always throw it on the bbq to finish it since I knew the heat of the fire was going to be a tricky thing. For us virgin campfire cookers we thought less of a fire/heat then more for our first attempt at this.

 First Roger built the fire up to get a good bunch of coals on the bottom while I prepared the tart.

I had to change a few things from the originally recipe for someone who shall remain nameless who's not a fan of rosemary or goat cheese. Since it was just the two of us I also cut the recipe slightly in half.

Here's what I used.

One pkg of puff pastry 

250 grams of cottage cheese

2 eggs

1 onion

1 cup mushrooms

1 cup broccoli 

2 small tomatoes 

and 1 cup of cheese to top it with.

I generously greased my cast iron pan with butter for this experiment and would probably do it the same way again because it gave such a lovely crispy crust. But I'm jumping ahead.

So everything now put together like the original recipe...

(minus the broccoli and cheese, they were an afterthought)

and covered with foil, off to the fire we went.

We knocked down the fire and slowly added wood one piece at a time as needed to keep what we thought would be an even heat.

We timed it at about 20 mins. We moved it around quite a bit too sometimes over direct heat, then off to the side, back over the heat. I think this gave us the gave us the best result.

I served it with a caesar salad and we were both impressed with ourselves at how great it turned out.

I will one day make it as Lindsay intended it to be but either way I make this recipe, this one is a keeper. Thanks Miss Lane!! :)

The Cigarette Pant

Long before leggings or jeggings or super slim fitting jeans or pants, came the cigarette pant. Heck if you goggle it now you can find they've made a comeback of epic proportions but I'd have to say in my opinion it was the most beautiful Audrey Hepburn who made the women of the 60's covet these pants.

Pinterest

Here's the pattern that I used to get my own version of these pants.

I wanted a pair of pants that I could wear year round more or less so I wanted a comfy stretch denim. I had no idea that denim( I haven't bought denim in years and years) had gotten so pricey at $20 a meter and then I had to do a quick pro/con list. 

Pro- I'll get the pant that I want and it would be the vintage high waisted loveliness I'm becoming accustomed to.

Con- I can probably find something similar in a low rise much cheaper then 40 plus dollars 

The latter was winning out in my mind but I had one more chance at obtaining my goal. The remnant pile!!

Searching through the remnant pile like I was searching for the Holy Grail I found approximately 2 meters of stretch denim at $8 meter. Now we were in business, pants for under $20. 

But wait...when I took my fabric to be measured she asked me if I'd be willing to give my email address to get an additional 50% off. Uhh YES.

My new jeans were going to cost me $8 in fabric plus a zipper and thread. Now this cheap  thrifty little dutch girl was dancing in her wooden shoes.

Fitting and sewing pants is not for the faint hearted I'm learning. It took me a trial run in another stretch fabric and one in cotton to get major fitting issues out of the way. (I'm thinking I might want a cotton capri from this pattern as well) 

With my new jeans I still had to tweak some fitting issues and with the help of YouTube I'm now happy with the fit and have worn them a few times and I find them super comfortable. I've rolled the pant leg up and down, so I'm checking the box that allows me to wear them all year as long as it's not too hot out.

One day people I will own a serger but for now my seams are old school.

 Sew, trim and a zig zag stitch to finish them off.

I can see why women adored these fun, casual pants so much because...

Oh look you can pretend to water the plants when its' pouring outside in them.:)

This entire outfit cost was $15.

Sweater -thrifted

Shirt -thrifted and modified

Pants- made by me

Earrings-thrifted

scarf- I already owned 

A Musical in Orange

It's been "hot then it's cold"  and I've been "busy as a bzzzz bee" throughout it all. ( hehe a little musical humour for you)
But seriously folks, we've had hot spring days already and as usual it's caught me off guard in the clothing department. Want I want is clothing that can be worn that gets me through the chilly spring days but also the dog days of summer.

" Welcome to the Sixties" Ok, ok .. I know I've said before that I wasn't a fan of the sixties style of clothing and now I appear to be a liar. What I've come to like is what I like to call sixties casual.

By the way, I'm still not thrilled about taking pictures of myself. Those Sear Catalogue poses, what to do with your hands, the far off looks you give... so I find myself looking through the pictures and coming up with captions for them. 

This one says " oh look, it's raining and I'm pretending I'm not freezing because it's only 8 degrees outside"

This one says " Oh no!! My sweater is falling off. Now I know I'm bound to freeze because it's only 8 degrees outside. Who will save me!!!!!" No worries, I saved myself.

I originally thrifted the sweater because of it's brand new just knitted condition. Some may have passed on this sweater because of its electric orange colour but I saw it at least as something to wear around Halloween. The earrings were also a fun find. 

But what this picture was really saying is this shirt started out it's life looking like this.

I bought this shirt the other day at Goodwill because it was gingham annnddd it was a peachy orange gingham. I knew I wanted to tear it apart and put it back together and if it didn't work, no biggy I'd cut it up even further to become something else.

Here's what I did do. I took the sleeves and collar off and opened the sides. 

From the sleeves I fashioned a new 60's wider collar from a pattern I had. I added darts in the sides and made the shirt a little more fitted at my waist. I trimmed the top of sleeve back a bit so it hit better on my shoulder and made a facing from bias tape.

I'd say success for me!!

The question you may be asking yourself is why not just buy an already made shirt. 

1. It likely won't have that vintage feel I want.

2. It was a super cheap shirt that I didn't have to pay a lot of money for and since the fabric feels high end..bonus!

3. No muslin making!!!

4. Although not the answer to the real problem it was one less shirt made in a probable sweat shop. 

( it says made in Malaysia so I am just assuming, feel free to correct me)

As for the cigarette pants, that story is for another day.

I leave you now with my best KISS impression. :)

House Tour!

If you follow my blog you can always tell when the warm sunshine has arrived because posts get infrequent. The outside starts calling my name and I can't resist. We spent the majority of our long weekend doing just that, outside playing in the garden, having fires with roasted hotdogs and s'mores.  When our bodies needed a break from yard work we drank Springtime Lemonade.

Last week on our hunt for the perfect home for the boys this church conversion was on the list.

The Basement was a cozy spot.

I'm pretty sure your guests would never want to leave the guest house.

 It was complete with kitchen bath and living area not to mention this sweet little bedroom.

There where also trails through a small cedar grove and a pool to lounge by.

I think I've gotten quite a few ideas from the houses that we toured for my own home. Unfortunately for Roger it might require some weekend building. :)

Want to see more?

Look here!