Bedroom Woodwork (with Regency Fashion!)

One of the last rooms to be finished in our fixer-upper is the master bedroom.  We had wallpapered the walls years ago (20 years?!), and that is in need of an update.  Paul had added window and door casings (we had the original design reproduced in oak).  But we didn't have baseboards in our room since the original pine ones (that were in horrible shape) were removed - 30 years ago - when we had gutted the upstairs.  Finally though, this summer, Paul installed the baseboards!  They are beautiful.  And this week the wallpaper is being changed.  So I am happy.

I happened to be dressed up for Book Club the day Paul finished them.  I was dressed in Regency for our book choice: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen.  I wore my Michaelmas dress, that I finally finished (when I wore it for my Michaelmas Party, the "innards" weren't finished (seam finishes around the armholes, tacking down of the back fastenings, etc. and the hem was atrociously put in - I literally machine basted the worst-hem-ever.  Now all is finished and properly hemmed.  It was nice to wear the dress again, with my short stays, and have it be complete.  I also wore my Regency slippers from American Duchess.  I posed my foot by the new baseboards!

Northanger Abbey Dress

"Dashwood" Regency slippers from American Duchess

Close-up of the baseboards, with the outer corner blocks

A Small Collection of Minerals from the Urals (in a Wooden Box)

I liked the book Doctor Zhivago.  At times, it got a little long, and I must admit - the politics got somewhat tiresome.  But it has to be said that the descriptions in the book are stunning. The way the author described food (especially the food), sunrises, landscapes, etc.  Truly poetic.  One part that caught my imagination early on was a part when one of the characters, Misha, an eleven-year-old boy, was on a train where a tragedy had occurred (a suicide). "Misha was examining a small collection of minerals from the Urals in a wooden box - the dead man's last gift."  This little boy made me think of Tyler, and I set out to find one small wooden box of Russian minerals; this would be part prop for Book Club, part gift to Tyler.  I found a lovely wooden box on Etsy.  Perfect: small, six little compartments, beautifully made.  

Then the real fun began at Dave's Rock Shop in Evanston.  The people there are very helpful, and did not seem to mind my rather odd request: six minerals from Russia, that will fit in this box, very pretty ones if you please.  So, I searched through and found some gorgeous specimens.  The only hang up was the last one.  I wanted to have a bright color, but there were no other colorful Russian minerals that I liked.  I broke protocol, and substituted a nice Orange Calcite from Mexico to liven it up.   

To complete the box, I found an old-fashioned looking map of the Urals, copied it and secured it to the inner lid of the box.  I made a key listing the minerals, may eventually put this in place of the map.  But I wanted the Russian map because I brought the box with me to Book Club, where we discussed Doctor Zhivago, on loan for a day prior to being given to Tyler, who will be the new curator of this tiny collection.  

Doctor Zhivago Inspired Edwardian Outfit

For Book Club this quarter, we read Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak.  It is a long book, but good for cold winter days.  The novel is set in the years 1903-1940's, but the majority of the book takes place in 1903-1920's.  I was inspired to put together an Edwardian ensemble with a Russian flair.  I also channeled my inner geology geek putting together a little box of minerals as a prop (see this post for that).

I'll post from the inside-out:

• Undergarments - If I had more time I would have finished my Edwardian Corset Cover that I had started so long ago.  So I just wore my older Edwardian undergarments.  I did make one tweak though - I had gotten my Erté Titanic Overbust corset from Period Corsets back in 2012.  It came with two sets of lacings for the back: one for the top-down and one from the bottom-up, meeting in the middle.  This makes it difficult though if one wants to lace themselves in.  Since I like to wear my corset during the week before an event to get acclimated to it, it is difficult when no one is home to help, as a two-laces corset requires (for the most part).  So I contacted a representative from Period Corsets, and she very kindly sent me a single long lace, which I re-laced my corset with.

• Blouse - I purchased an Edwardian reproduction blouse from Cotton Lane on Amazon.  It's very pretty.  I ordered a larger size (I have football-player-shoulders), then took in the sides.

• Skirt - Oh dear...this was a problem.  I used Rocking Horse Farm pattern #903 (Caution: Do Not Use This Pattern!  Ever!!) that was simply horrible.  The pattern lines for my size did not match up properly, I had to tape together the size small in order to see what they actually intended.  Even with that there was this odd extra fabric on the bottom front that was completely illogical.  There were no dots on the waistband pattern piece - needed for matching to the waistline of the skirt.  There was also a pleat marking missing.  The cut lines for it were on the pattern, and the markings were drawn on the suggested (tiny) pattern layout picture, but not on the pattern itself.  I spent a lot of hours trying to redraw, adjust, improvise.  The result was okay - from the outside.  On the inside there were problems.  It looked okay, but I was very frustrated with the lost time and aggravation of using a terrible pattern.  I will have to write a review on GBACG (Greater Bay Area Costuming Guild).  They have a Pattern Review section.  I so wish someone had reviewed this before and saved me the hassle of working with a dreadful pattern.   

• Boots - The darling, lovely Manhattan Button Boots from American Duchess!  I love these.  Customer service here was also very helpful with the sizing.  My foot is long but narrow, and their shoes tend to run a bit large.  They gave me good advice on sizing and the boots fit perfectly.  Button hook needed! 

• Hat - I bought a faux fur hat on sale from Fabulous Furs.  All of their products are faux.  This hat is very warm.  

• Coat - my coat is a modern-day coat, but I was happy to be able to match the faux fur of the hat with that on the coat.  

Book Club was lots of fun.  The ladies liked my outfit, and even chuckled at my very bad, well-intentioned Russian accent.  I only said a few sentences in my fake-ey accent!  Hello in actual Russian, and then some key phrases I put together watching YouTube videos, and here's a funny way if you need a fake accent in a pinch: Go to Google Translate.  Type in the sentence you want in the first box, making sure you select English as the language to detect.  Once your sentence is complete, change the language in that same box to the language you want to hear, and click on the audio clickable at the bottom of that box.  You'll hear the English words, but with an accent of the language you changed the "Detect Language" to.  It doesn't work with all languages, but did pretty well for Russian.

Disorganized Sewing/Robert's Room

I have two sewing projects on deck.  The trouble is that right now my home is not completely conducive to successful sewing.  Yesterday I wanted to get started tracing an Edwardian-era hobble skirt, and cutting bias strips to finally finish a quilt I started many, many years back. Step one was clearing off the dining room table - a Herculean task.  But it was done, wiped down, and worked commenced.  I was able to trace the skirt pattern yesterday.

The bias strips however, ran into a snag.  We have been, over the past, oh, six months or so, been doing some work on Robert's old room.  You see, Robert now lives in Portland, so the room is to be a guest room (and Robert's room when he comes to visit) and also a sewing room for me.  I've never had a sewing room before, and I long to have one.  But his closet was in need of repair (walls cracking, not insulated, cold), including a "secret passageway" that Tyler wants put in that leads from his closet to Robert's.  Fun, and has sort of a Narnia aspect to it (Mr. Tumnus?!).  So far the closet is insulated and has most of its wallboard.  All that remains is some electrical and the passageway door.  But we also needed to replace the ceiling in the room itself.  Right now the old ceiling is out, and 70% of the wallboard is up on the ceiling.  A paint job and new baseboards will follow (pre-stained oak this time, so all that needs to be done is the cutting and fitting).  But my sewing stuff is scattered to the four winds, including my iron.  Hence, the difficulty going forward with the bias strips.  So once I get all of my projects to the sewing stage, I will not have an optimal sewing space yet to do them.  Not really much different from when my sewing machine was in the dining room.

No one seems to know where the iron went.  To be honest, it is quite old, and I am tempted just to buy another.

My skirt project is for Book Club.  We are reading Doctor Zhivago.  I want to wear an Edwardian skirt and blouse ensemble, and I have my eye on an awesome faux fur Russian hat.  More on that in a future post.

Rocking Horse Farm #903 

Edwardian Hobble Skirt

My quilt - circa 1988

Fireplace Shenanigans

Two weeks ago, in my Christmas post, I had mentioned how we needed to get our fireplace repaired. I'll tell you how it all came about:
Way back in 2011, we had a chimney company come out to clean and inspect our fireplace flue. They noted that the chimney was in need of tuck-pointing, and that placing a stainless steel flue insert would be in our best interest for safety, etc. We would also likely need a fireplace fan to assist with prevention of smokiness. The trouble was - the estimate was extremely expensive, we simply did not have the money. So we put it off, hoping our fortunes would improve and thought "a year or two perhaps". Wellll, maybe not.
Then about two years ago, I would sometimes notice a "sooty" smell in the parlor. It often happened when it was raining. It made me nervous about even lighting a fire. I imagined large gaping holes in the chimney, allowing airflow and sparks to move past any holes and possibly start a fire in the walls. I also had visions of the chimney collapsing in on itself à la "The Money Pit" (video clip here, advance to minute mark :35).

From "The Money Pit"

This moved fireplace repair into "take care of soon" queue, but I remembered that awful estimate. Two years went by ("...that rusted grate knew no fire..." Rebecca, by Daphne DuMaurier).

(The gate to Manderley)

Paul suggested that we try putting the missing chimney caps back on to see if that would at least help the sooty smell when it rained. I had a different company come out, and while they were here asked him to give us an estimate. The company was well-rated and the estimate was less even than the one from five years before, so I told Paul I would pick up extra shifts at work to make it happen.

So, all was set, they put in the liner. It was the smallest size they had due to the small opening of our flue, so of course we did need the fan. The electrician came to wire it. We did a test fire. But, you see, the new flue opening mechanism was opposite the old one, so we started the fire with the flue closed instead of open. Disaster! The electrician came to the rescue and fixed it. The house smelled like a campsite for several days after that.\
We thought we were set. We had one fire with a commercial "log". There was some smokiness, but barely, so no biggie. But then we made a roaring fire with actual firewood. Gradually our eyes began to burn, and upon leaving the room and coming back, there was a haze. We also felt that the fan did not sound as loud as it did with the initial test fire. Oh dear, what went wrong?? We emailed both the chimney company and the electrician.

It turns out that the fan control is German-made, and is set up a little differently than one would expect. It actually made a whole lot of sense in retrospect. When you first turn on the fan, you hear a click, and after about a minute the fan is running full force. Then you can turn the dial to the right and decrease the speed of the fan. This makes a lot of sense when first starting a fire: you want that airflow to be going full blast, then once the fire settles down, you can reduce the speed. So from left to right on the dial the order is: Off, High, (gradual decrease), Low. We had incorrectly assumed that the far right would be full blast, had turned the dial all the way to the right immediately. Hence, our problem. Now we understand!

Fireplace Fan Control

I also got a special (improvised) thermal harp cover. I don't want heat from the fires to adversely affect my harp, so I got a welder's thermal blanket to protect it. The only exception might be if I have Tea ladies over, have a fire, and want to play harp at the same time. A small amount of time exposed to the heat won't be so bad, but in general it should be protected.

Now that we've got it straight we've had two lovely, non-smoky fires. I am in love.

Vintage Book - With Stories Of Saints

A long time ago I had purchased a vintage book from childhood: This is Our Town.  I had always loved the stories in this book as a child.  Then, this week Tyler got an assignment in his Catholic PREP class regarding saints, and we needed to find some information on saints that might interest Tyler.

A tangent: I should mention a change that has occurred, resulting in Ty needing to attend PREP; he no longer goes to our local Catholic school, and needs his religious education to continue.  PREP is the modern day equivalent of CCD (for all of you vintage Catholics out there that may have attended this while going to public school).  Tyler had enjoyed our Catholic school since the beginning, but last year was troublesome and difficult for him. And rather lonely.  There were very few boys in his class.  Those that were there were each difficult in their own way.  The one that he could count as his friend lived far, and playdates were hard to arrange.  Two had various problems making friendship difficult.  The other two were very exclusive, and would not open their circle to any other boys.  Ty spent a sad and lonely year last year.  As much as we loved the school, and loved Catholic education, the sadness and loneliness were just not worth it.  So far, he is having a great year at public school, and PREP gives him his weekly religious education that is so important.  

So, back to the book - I remembered one of my favorite stories from This is Our Town.  It was about St. Christopher carrying the Christ Child across the river, and how heavy he got with each step.  This was because he carried the sins of the world - what a heavy load that is!  So I read the story to Ty.  He liked it too, and used St. Christopher as one of the saints for his assignment.

I love sharing old favorite books with my grandson!

How happy I was to have found this book again

Beautiful artwork

Mini-Pantry Remodel (Phase 10) Completed!

Paul has really outdone himself on this one.  He took a small pantry area that had been constructed of painted, roughly cut pine pieces and constructed what is (at least, to me!) a fine piece of furniture.  Our mini-pantry is a bookshelf-sized area just off the kitchen, just before you traverse the basement steps.  Silly me, I did not get a before picture, although I do have one after I painted the backboard and before installation.  It is wonderful to begin to put everything back and organize.

The raw space with old structure removed, after I painted the backboard

While painting that, I was inspired to paint the basement stairwell 

(trim along that edge to follow later)

Paul, using the new gizmo he got from Rockler 

(a "Jig-It") to make the holes for the shelf support nuggies

Tyler "helping"

Paul made a total of 204 little holes, so I have optimum choice of shelf placement

Glorious: putting stuff back (lower shelves)

Upper shelves, including a gluten-free specific shelf up top, 

and a nice space for my cookbooks, 

and a little more room next to them for something else

Tea Ladies and Little Golden Books

Once a month I play Mah Jong with some of my Tea Ladies. It's lots of fun: we have lunch (usually with a glass of wine or two!), then we play the game, and then dessert, with tea served throughout the afternoon. This time we were at my sister Barbara's house. She had the cutest book, Everything I Need To Know I Learned From a Little Golden Book. This book takes the artwork from the Little Golden Books of years ago and compiles their sentiments into life advice. Much nostalgia to be had!  I was inspired to buy three more vintage books to add to My Kitten, which I bought recently. I bought Baby Listens, My Little Golden Book About God, and Georgie Finds a Grandpa.  

Tonight I opened up the packages and showed them to Tyler. He wanted me to read two of them to him. I made it through My Little Golden Book About God without a hitch, but when I started reading Georgie Finds a Grandpa, I simply could not get past the first few pages without crying! Such a sweet book, a happy ending, but I was caught up with feeling bad for Georgie in the beginning of the book, while reflecting on what a great grandpa Tyler has in Paul. Anyway, I turned the book over to Paul to have him finish reading it. Vintage books are such fun! 

Up Late Studying

For work, I have to train and be tested for Neonatal Resuscitation.  There is a 300 page book to review, and online tests for each of nine chapters.  Next week I will go in and need to demonstrate the techniques, and then be evaluated.  I finished the book and tests tonight.  What a relief.  It was a very good review however, and some things have changed from 10 years ago when I previously worked in the NICU.

Lady Audley's Secret

For my friend Colleen's Victorian Book Club (a quarterly meeting of eight ladies who meet to read and discuss Victorian literature), I was inspired to portray a character in the book we read, Lady Audley's Secret.  I did not want to be the main character (read the book to find out why!), rather, I was inspired by her step-daughter, Alicia.  Alicia was a very sympathetic character, as her father's second wife seemed to drive a rift between her and her father.  The fact that she was also a horsewoman fit right in with what was going on in my present day life, Tyler's horseback riding lessons.  Originally I planned on making a true reproduction riding habit bodice, but the pattern was delayed in shipping, and I didn't have much time to begin with.  So I decided to put together a faux riding ensemble that would capture the spirit of Alicia.

I have my Beatrix Jacket (made from the Sense & Sensibility pattern) and a modern black skirt that, when worn with a widening petticoat, looks somewhat authentic.  I had boots that looked like riding boots, a hat that just might look like a riding hat, and I bought a cheap riding crop (because, as you know, a good horsewoman must always be prepared for a ride!).  But I did not have a blouse that would work, and I wanted a new reticule.  I went blouse shopping and found this blouse, which does not look at all Victorian in the picture, but I rolled down and buttoned the sleeves, buttoned the buttons all the way up, added a brooch, and also sewed a little lace on the cuffs.  Voilà, a faux Victorian blouse!  For my reticule, I used this pattern, and just happened to find two different dotty fabrics at Vogue Fabrics that went with the blouse, which went together beautifully, making an adorable drawstring purse. 

Here I am, in all my faux glory, as Alicia:

Lady Alicia, her crop at the ready

Close-up 

The fabric of the dotty blouse

And the little dotty reticule

A Book from Childhood, Found!

It is amazing what going through closets full of junk will net you.  

As Tyler has progressed into reading, much on his own now, I was thinking of books from my childhood that I loved.  My grandparents were always wonderful sources of books for me.  Every birthday, I received a book.  I had been remembering a book that I loved, that I knew Tyler would also like.  But I was afraid that I had given it away years ago (although I cannot image having done that - still I could not find it).  It is called The Children in the Jungle by Leif Krantz.  It is about three children and their toy troll who begin to paint the walls like a jungle, and everything they paint comes to life, leading them on a amazing adventure.  I looked for it online, thinking, "Oh, I'll just order one."  No, not happening.  It was unavailable, one copy had sold for $105.  I gave up, hoping someday I would find it again.  That day has come!

I was planning on uncluttering my closet and the back porch.  Some items I had planned on putting in Robert's closet.  When I opened it, however, the closet had other ideas.  Jam-packed full of stuff.  I uncluttered that and his room.  Lo and behold, I found the book!  I was so happy.  I read it to Tyler that night, and he loved it as much as I did.  

Here are some pictures:

Potty Party!

My grandson will soon turn three. He loved his nursery school class last year so much, he never missed a day. But for his three-year-old program, he must be potty trained. Julie and I realized there were only about six weeks to get the job done. We got a book from the library that I had heard was a recommended approach to potty training called, Potty Train Your Child In Just One Day. The idea is to spend one full day, mother and child alone, first having the pair "teach" a baby doll to go on the potty, then the rest of the day teaching the child. After reading the book, we planned the party, shopped for decorations, and ordered a male doll that "goes". Julie chose a day when Paul and I would be at work, and Kristin and Robert made plans to be tucked away in their rooms unseen in the morning, and off to their activities in the afternoon.

Here is the potty room on Monday night, the night before the party:

Two gifts for Tyler: a Thomas stuffed pillow pal (the party had a Thomas the Tank Engine theme) and the Corolle Potty Doll "Paul", wrapped up for Tyler to open

Step-stool for getting on and off the potty, stickers for his "successes" to be put on a potty chart, potty-themed books to read while on the pot, boxes of flushable wipes, and a Thomas train storage case, which was temporarily filled with little treats to be given initially for "attempts" and then for "successes"


The Potty Chart, waiting to be filled in with stickers

Julie was utterly exhausted the evening after the party, somewhat discouraged because Tyler had only gone on the potty twice succesfully, and certainly wasn't trained in one day. But with gentle reinforcement, every day this week we are seeing him improve so much (several times telling us he needed to go instead of us having to encourage him at intervals) that we are astonished!

Samosas and a New Cookbook!

I got a wonderful new cookbook a while back. It is a whole grain baking book from the King Arthur Flour Company:

One of the main reasons I got is was so that I could have a recipe for whole wheat puff pastry and turnover dough. I haven't tried the puff pastry yet, but I did try the turnover dough recipe. I used it to make one of my family's favorite meals - Samosas (a traditional east Indian food). I serve them with a sauce made of garam masala and mango chutney - YUM!

Antique Books

I have developed a love of antique books. I like books on cooking, sewing, and etiquette. I have been steadily collecting interesting old books for the past year or so. My most recent aquisition is the one pictured above, The New Butterick Dressmaker, published in 1927. Here is a photo from inside that I find very appealing because the drawing of the lady is so very stylish and charming as she prepares her fabric on the mannequin. (If only I looked this stylish when I sew!):

I have a small space on top of my china cabinet where my antique books reside:

My father's model windmill stands guard

A Book for Baby

While browsing at my local Joann's store, I happened across a kit for making a quilted fabric baby book. There were three choices. Since my grandson has his nursery decorated in a Winnie the Pooh motif, I chose that kit. It made up very quickly. The only difficulty was stitching on the piping on the cover (an optional addition - one can simply leave it off if desired). I didn't realize piping was an option when I purchased the kit, but I took some pre-packaged bias binding I had on hand and some cording and made it myself. My grandson enjoyed chewing on his new book!