A Regency gown, and a Christmas tree

This weekend, I departed greatly from my favorite genres and made myself my first ever Regency gown. The husband just acquired a gentleman's suit from this era, so I needed something to match his splendor. Regency is one of my favorite eras for men's clothing, and one of my least favorite for women's. Men get gorgeous cutaway jackets and tight pants and women get empire waistlines. Trying on this gown, my thought was that my top portion looked like an overstuffed sausage, and the bottom half looked like I was trying to disguise the fact that I was ~6 months pregnant. (I'm not, by the way, but that's what any Empire waistline dress ends up looking like on a body, no matter that body's shape.)

They're very simple dresses to assemble. The only part that was a chore was tacking down the Venice lace I used:



You need to sew down both edges, and that meant somewhere between an hour and an hour and half of sew one inch, turn the needle, sew another inch, turn the needle, ... oh just shoot me now!

I haven't finished the fastener on the robe yet, but here's the 99.5% completed dress:



After I got the gown finished, we put up our Christmas tree. My color preferences have prevailed over the years, and there is an abundance of burgundy and silver on our tree:



There's a few surprises hidden away though.

Here's Drexel, an ornament the then boyfriend/now husband and I acquired for our very first Christmas together, 15 years ago:


Drexel by *dbvictoria on deviantART

And also hidden away is a favorite toon:



Keeping the lights going by the power of the Dark Side of the Force, Emperor Palpatine hovers in the tree:


Emperor Palpatine's Christmas by *dbvictoria on deviantART

All three of them are wishing you a happy holiday season, as am I!

and yet another one

Yes, another new parasol completed! I'm going to have fun displaying them all.



This one's an antique black umbrella with burgundy and black trim and 4" burgundy Venice lace. Luckily, I've already made myself one in these ("my")colors, so I'm not too overly tempted to keep this one!

What a fabulous window treatment!

One of my all time favorite movies has got to be In and Out. The title of today's post is from that movie, and gets said on a fairly regular basis in our household.

The husband called me last night from the big box hardware store, saying he'd found some curtains that he thought could work for the living room. There followed a rather comical series of events of me trying to use my cloth measuring tape to measure our living room picture window while also trying to talk to my husband on our respective cell phones. It was determined that they were long enough, and although three would probably cover it, he might as well go ahead and get all four of the drapes they had in the clearance section.

He brought them home, and they are beeeautiful! We spent about an hour trying to get them up, struggling with not having the right curtain rod, but we are both incredibly stubborn people, and we prevailed!



Shiny burgundy curtains! My favorite color! My husband loves me. I am a happy kitty.

Of course, once we got the old drapes down we realized how absolutely filthy the sheers were, and let's not talk about the windows themselves. Ick! But now the glass is clean and the sheers are white again, and life is good.

A Year in the Making, day 334

It's August 1st! This is month 12 of my year in the making. Including today, that's only 31 days to go! And I got off on my count again, because with 31 days left of 365, I should be on 334. I'm good at math. Really I am. This is just my trying to see if you're paying attention! Really!

We went off to the beach this morning, a semi-regular Sunday tradition, for toasty beverages and so the husband and munchkin can throw rocks in the water together. Then we got home and started planning for next weekend, which is the Washington Midsummer Renaissance Festival. And my husband uttered 8 fateful words.

"What is Gwendolyn wearing for Faire this year?"

Oh, (*censored*)! One of her dresses still fits, but we'll probably go for both days. I've always represented the fantasy contingent, and my daughter has loved to go as a fairy the last few years. Normally I plan better and go buy fabric, but today I just dug through the fabric stash. Of course, my stash is full of "my" colors, black and burgundies. So this year, it seems the munchkin will be representing the dark fey, the unseelie court.



I'm going to be working on wings for the both of us over the next few evenings.

Did manage to get another necklace made this morning as well:

Purple Fluorite Y Necklace with Pewter Celtic Knot

A Year in the Making, day 299

Been a bit distracted the last few days - cleaning house, as my father decided to come in at the last minute for the holiday weekend. It's amazing how quickly the clutter takes over the house. Creep creep creep goes the clutter! But I did get a couple of new pieces made, and the pieces from the weekend listed as well.

Pyrite and Antiqued Sterling Necklace



Tequila Sunrise - Citrine and Burgundy Red Glass Necklace on Sterling Box Chain




I also made a bunch of trim for parasol ruffles. I started with 2 yards of pinstriped fabric, cut out 3" strips on a diagonal, folded it over and ironed it, then finished the edges. I'd initially done about 6 yards for the first gent's brolly I posted a few days ago, and decided Tuesday night to go ahead and cut and finish the rest, as I have two more umbrellas that are asking for similar treatment. I knew I was accumulating lots of strips, especially after I went through almost 6 bobbins sewing it, but it wasn't until I got done and measured it, at just short of 24 more yards, that I decided I may have gone a bit over the top!

Here's what 24 yards looks like:



I've got the ribs covered and trim around about 1/3 of the next brolly. Who knows when I might get it finished, though, with company in town. There's also something blooming at the moment that is making me very cranky - my eyes have been itching and watering for 4 days now. We were crabbing about having such a cold rainy spring, but now that the weather's shaping up I'm praying for rain again to wash whatever this crud is out of the air.

Here's the pieces from the weekend, now listed in my Artfire shop:

Blue and Silver Necklace Bracelet and Earring Set



White Glass Strung Necklace with Silver



Waiting for the benedryl to kick in. Hopefully this isn't riddled with typos, as I'm squinting at the screen and typing in bursts between sneezes. Unhappy Kitty tonight.

A Year in the Making, day 287

Another day and I might feel almost human again, I think. This has not been a fun week. And I have reawakened my hate of the banana. It's not a bad food, really, except when it's one of the few foods you're told is safe to eat for days on end.

But, anyways, on to something a little shinier and happier! New jewelry!

Burgundy Glass and Silver Necklace Earrings Set



I am now going to drift off on the sofa to the soothing sounds of the husband cackling madly at Zombieland.

A Year in the Making, day 270

We just got back from watching Shrek 4, which despite the number in the title wasn't half bad. I didn't have high hopes after #3, but it made me laugh and cry in all the right places. Munchkin highly approved.

The husband has been working on finishing up a drinking horn over the last couple weeks, and he's almost done:



Just needs to do a bit more sanding on the outside, then finish it with bees' wax. We were going to attempt some carving on it, but decided it probably would be wiser of us to leave it au naturale.

And I did some stringing today, a fused glass pendant I acquired in a lot of bits and bobs that's been sitting around begging me to do something with it:

Blue and Burgundy Fused Glass Pendant Strung with Pearls and Fire Polished Glass



Now we're off to do something nefarious and tasty to the leftovers from last night's salmon dinner.

A year in the making, day 155

I'm back in the pearl box again! And the steampunk-y watch bits, too. This style of earrings seems to be rather popular, for which I'm glad, because they're fun to make:

Steampunk Watch Parts and Freshwater Pearl Waterfall Earrings



And here's the last couple of days' work listed now in my ArtFire shop:

Cobalt Blue Glass Bracelet



Sardonyx and Burgundy Fire-Polished Glass Necklace and Earrings

A year in the making, day 152

Quick post tonight, as sleep is threatening to overwhelm me at any moment. One flash picture of today's set, sardonyx mixed with burgundy glass beads, necklace and earrings set:



Now for a glass of wine and to fall asleep on the sofa watching an episode of Bones. Would really like to find out who picks Temperance's jewelry and send them a care package.