Scenes of Summer

I had friends over for an afternoon of Mah Jong.  I wanted to have a pretty tableau.  Kristin and I went to Fresh Market for food, and found summery yellow flowers and sun-kissed peaches.  Kristin especially liked the look of the Doughnut Peaches.  The table was pretty, the food yummy, the game fun, and the company was delightful!

Corset Cover Completed Embroidery

Here is the machine-embroidery for the corset cover front, all completed and pressed.  Of course, it doesn't look like much now, as the fronts are mostly shapeless due to needing extra fabric around the edges in order to do the scalloped edging.  The actual sewing on this project doesn't concern me, even the tucks and whatnot.  It's the scallops and the buttonholes at the neck for the ribbon to pass through that have me nervous!

A Style for Long Hair

I wanted to post a new hairstyle I tried recently.  It is like a "Heidi Braid" (crown braid), but without the difficulty of doing what is basically a French braid all around the head.  For this one I braided the hair, angling it off to the side for easier wrapping, then circled it around my head and bobby-pinned it into place.  Add floral embellishment as desired.

Embroidering the Corset Cover

I finally made some progress on my Edwardian corset cover.  I cut out the fabric, tracing the cutting lines for the neckline and armholes and leaving extra fabric extending beyond the cutting line in preparation for finishing the edges with machine scalloping (the extra fabric will then be cut away along the edges of the scallops).  Here's progress so far:

The Pattern

Cut out and ready to start.  Note the extra fabric left on the armhole and neck edges (this is to make the sewing of the scallops easier, then the excess fabric is cut away along the edge of the scallops).  Also ignore the extra black lines where the scallops are traced on the pattern.  The pattern is drawn on the original with the scallops set for the small size.  I had to hand-draw the scallops in for my size so they would be symmetrical.  

Embroidering.  I used one of the designs on the Brother Embroidery Card #23 (Linen & Lace).  It was tricky, because I had to do a mirror-image for the other side of the front of the corset cover (never did that before with my machine!). 

Now, if I can ever get to ironing the pieces I will post a photo of the completed embroidery.

Cook Outs, Frosty Drinks, and Gardening!

It's finally the season for it.  After a very cold spring we are now enjoying fine weather (actually, at times, too hot, and very abruptly too).  Here's what we've been up to:

Paul manning the grill.

Our drinks: Sgroppino (Italian cocktail). Giada de Laurentiis' recipe here.

Hummingbird Garden plants, ready to be planted.

A New Tea Kettle

The old one bit the dust.  But I just love the new one!  It has one-touch controls for the different temperatures for the different types of teas.  And it will keep the water warm for a half hour.  This will make my Tea Lady gatherings much easier!

Barbara's Surprise Party

My nephew planned a special birthday surprise for my sister Barbara.  And she was surprised!  It was a lovely party.

Completely surprised!

Happy Barbara

Delicious cake for a landmark occasion