Fun Night

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A couple of nights ago we came home with our minivan packed to the gills. Fourteen lawn and garden trash bags filled with leaves from the town piles.

Yesterday we came home from office cleaning and, while I worked inside to prepare for the party, I set Michael and his friend to work. I wonder if they thought they were going to play video games...

We don't do a lot of video games here, so usually when he has a friend over that's one of the things they like to do. But that was put off in favor of the building of fig cages.

They used old field fencing to create a circle around each of six trees (which look oddly like giant tumbleweeds) and then proceeded to fill them with the bags of leaves in preparation for the soon arrival of 20 degree, fig-killing weather. I was very disappointed to hear that all those leaves only filled up two cages. Now I realize our leaf collecting days have just begun, unless we go back to straw, which there is no money for.

A call to the town to see if they can deliver some leaves here will be happening today, but I don't know that they'll come out this far. Wouldn't it be cool to have a huge truck drive up, aim that giant hose at each cage, and blow them full of leaves!

The boys then set to making sticks for the candied apples, since every year that I've shopped for them, I can never find them. Dowel rods were snapped and whittled while they chatted on the front porch. Then came the video games.

I did a few last minute house cleaning chores, then prepped the apples, made Eggplant Parmesan from the last eggplants from the garden, homemade caramel for dipping, beans and rice and tomatoes for homemade burritos, vegetable lasagna, whole wheat bread (which I finally cheated on myself and added 2/3 cup of white flour since I needed a successful loaf to occur today), and thoroughly enjoyed the additional beautiful day while waiting for the rest to show up.

We've all been so busy lately, that I was thinking of not attempting our annual candied apple party, but when Michael was able to arrange an airsoft war for Sunday, I decided to kill two birds with one stone.

So the young people all went up into the hills just before dark, and proceeded to practice killing each other with pellet guns. This is considered fun these days. When I was a child, if I shot my little brother with a BB gun, I would get a spanking. These days I'm assisting my son in doing this to his friends, mentors, and even acquaintances.

It's a strange thing to see a dozen young people on your front porch, all looking like Black Ops in camouflage. But the living room was turned into a weapons base; a 25 foot square room, completely covered knee deep in weapons of war and gear.

So the rest of us did some garden touring, food prep, began the candy apples, watched "Flightplan", chatted, made arrangements to go see a local play "White Christmas", and generally just enjoyed being together.

It was a wonderful night, but this morning it's back to building the ends of the greenhouse. I'm going to take Michael's camera with me and try to post a tutorial for anyone who might be helped by it.

"This is how you might, or might not want to do a greenhouse end."

Another amazingly beautiful day here!
Counting my blessings,

~Faith

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Finishing up the Chemise. Fall Fun.

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Fall is cool.





















































Life is good.

Learning to do a little mending on a coat that was torn during morning chores.









I redid the the gathering on the collar, thinking I would do a better job with some tips I picked up online this morning, but after all was said and done, just doing it by eye worked out just as well, so I'm not going to bother showing what I did to redo it.

Here is a handy way, though, to keep your basted gathering stitches in place while you are getting the yoke ready to sew on. Wrap your basted threads around a pin at the end.





I had originally put the gathers all the way up inside the yoke, but after looking around at other examples in photos I found, I decided that having them as near the bottom of the yoke as I could reasonably get them while still being securely fastened was the best way to go. So I put in additional basting nearer the edge just before sewing it in.





Rather than ironing the gathers, I just crammed them tightly together for a little while. Not real scientific or sewing savvy either, I expect, but it was what I did.





Then stretching it all out later and spreading the gathers out evenly.





At first I was going to leave the neck gussets ungathered...





But decided to go ahead and gather them evenly with the rest of the neckline.





The fabric was inserted about a half inch into the yoke for sewing, and I simply ran over the other seam line already visible.





The yoke is on!









I found some spare trim to cover up the stitching that had accidentally been turned around while constructing the chemise. It's a little bride-ish, but it was the best I could find without running to town. I found a button that can pass as carved bone, and sewed a piece of ribbon to make a button loop, and that finished the bodice and neckline.





Finishing up the hemline, by double folding, ironing, and running a seam along it.





And it was done.





Except for the inner armholes, which I am not sure how to make them nice looking. I'll keep working on figuring out a solution for that.





Here's a quick shot of it on in the mirror. It fits really well, but it remains to be seen how comfortable it will be under the corset.





Now I need to focus on a cape for myself and an overcoat or cape for Michael. It's going to be cold caroling for Christmas in our Ballroom attire.

~Faith

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