Moo Moo? Caftan? Housedress?

I've been working on folding this week's shelf of vintage fabric in the sewing room - blue.   I cannot believe the fabric that I have and I still can't believe that there are so many pieces I've forgotten about. Here's one.

I thought it was just some cotton yardage - 35" wide.  Then I opened it up.  

It had embroidery all over it.

It's one of those pre-printed fabrics or the transfer was ironed on by the original owner.  I don't know when I got this, but the width of the fabric would suggest it dates anywhere from the late 30s to the early 50s - before I was born - thank you very much.  I'm guessing 1950s.  Someone did all that embroidery, but never made it up.

There's enough fabric here to make a fairly long dress/moo moo.  

What would it turn out like?  And there's enough leeway to change it up a bit.  It could have a round neck or a v-neck.  It could be belted or not.  Sleeves seem sort of set.  Hmmm...  Should I sew it up?  How can I update it to make it fresh and trendy?  Any ideas from you fashionistas out there?

Bye Bye Max and Bella

We've been dog and cat sitting for our favorite pair of animals, Max and Bella who belong to our friends, Tom and Debbie. They go home today. We'll miss their antics and companionship.  Max is a perfectly behaved pup and Bella was raised patiently by him.  She even fetches.  We've dog sat for Max for many years, but then Bella came along about a year ago and now the two are one.

Even though they look rather calm in this picture, the fun starts when they get hyped up and chase all over the house and lick each other's heads like crazed maniacs... hopefully not in the middle of the night.

Until Tom and Debbie's next vacation... we'll miss you two nuts.

School Board Elections

Well, yesterday was the spring election here in Menomonee Falls and five candidates were vying for three school board seats.  There were no huge races this year and election day was during spring break, so the turnout was small.  The results are as follows.

So, Faith will continue on as the high quality board member that she is and we'll welcome Lori and Scott who will make excellent additions to our group.

Lori Blodorn has a ton of common sense and is an attorney by profession.  I was amazed at her initiative to contact and meet with every Menomonee Falls group or leader she could get a hold of.  That's confidence.  That's chutzpah.  That's energy.  That's doing your homework.  All good traits for a school board member.

Scott Ternes has a strong track record with his involvement in the school district.  He's been around this block a few times and knows the school district - warts and all.  He's smart.  He's got great business sense and a head for PR and he's not afraid of the financial mountains we have to climb as school board members.

I can't end this blog post without mentioning the two candidates who did not get elected.  Ouch, that must sting to be Robert Schneider - THREE votes short.  Wow.  I'll bet he's got a friend or two feeling rather sheepish about not getting out to vote.  Bob would have been a fine board member.  He seemed open minded and without agenda or bias.  

I got an email last night from a friend that said, "What do people have against Mike Dillhyon?"  She voted for him.  I honestly don't know why he didn't get more votes.  I've always thought he'd make an excellent school board member and he's got a good head for finances.  Maybe his defeat has something to do with his wife's early and vocal criticisms of the school district shortly after they moved here.  Mike was a bit of a critic in the early days, too.  However, I have always found him a person who makes an effort to be fair and tries to get his facts straight. 

Well, it's done again for this time around.  This election marks a full turnover of the school board in the last three years except for me.  There's me with 11 years and Faith is next with 3.  I don't know how that makes me feel.  Most school board members will say the learning curve is about three years.  We don't have a lot of experience, but we do have a lot of intelligence, people skills, and common sense - which all goes a long way.  Now it's my job to bring new people up to speed, reorganize committee assignments and foster good working relationships.  Here we go again.  : )

Shelf of the Week - Pink

Shelves of fabric, sort of sorted by color, make up my sewing room.  

Black, red/purple, pink, yellow, cream, white, green, brown, and gray all have designated shelves.  What a mess.  I haven't refolded my fabric in years and years, yet I've pulled pieces out and jammed yardage back in over and over.   Lately, I've been trying to organize my sewing room.  You may remember the great closet makeover of last fall.  Well, I'm still working at the rest of the room.  My kids are all coming home (in three weeks- tick, tick, tick) from BYU to spend the summer here - even my oldest son, Lars and his wife, Spring.  (Yes, Spring's coming this spring!)  Lars and Spring need a place to crash for a few months until they leave for a year-long trip to China in August.   So, they are taking the sewing room and I am moving creative operations into my bedroom over the summer.   Anyway, my supplies need to be in order to make room for them.

To keep me on the straight and narrow and provide accountability, I'm going to tackle a shelf per week and blog the highlights along the way... starting with pink.  

Now I don't have a "before" picture because I folded the shelf before I decided to blog about it.  So all you get is the "after" and the highlights of the pink shelf.  There will always be highlights.  Actually, I must have a terrible memory because I keep finding fabrics I had forgotten all about.  Blame it on school board.

Here are some pink barkcloth highlights.  For those of you who are not familiar with barkcloth, it was a heavy weight, textured cloth in fashion from the 30s-50s mostly used for draperies.  My personal favorite here is the lower left barkcloth with the turquoise geraniums and salmon colored cafe curtains.  Based on everything I have learned and read, the middle pale, textured one (I suspect) is the oldest piece - from the 30s.

Next are the pink tablecloths - mostly from the 50s.

These are yardages - all in widths of less than 40" indicating they were produced before the 1950s.  I've got at least 5 yards of the one on the lower right with the roses on dusty pinky peach.  It's soft and supple.  What piece of clothing would you make with it?

And we can't forget the bright and fun colors of mid century fabrics!  Lower left is a mod apron.  Upper left is fabric pre-printed for cafe curtains - yards and yards and yards with cut lines, directions and all.  Lower right is a polished cotton also only about 40" wide.  Gotta love the pinks!

Happy Easter

I get to teach a lively bunch of four-year-olds every Sunday at church. 

They are world class cuties and give the best hugs ever!
I love teaching them.
Last Sunday we had a big lesson on Easter.
We talked about:

 Easter baskets

the Easter Bunny

and Easter Egg hunts.

They were so excited it was hard to redirect their enthusiasm. 

After they settled back down.
We had a serious talk about the real meaning of Easter...
and they understood.

Happy Easter.
My favorite holiday.

Dying to Dye

Every year on the Friday or Saturday before Easter, it's time to dye eggs at our house.  Finding new and creative ways to dye Easter eggs has always interested me.  I've made plaid eggs, rainbow eggs, tie-dyed eggs (those were cool), crackle eggs, and batik eggs - among other methods.  I wish I'd taken pictures!  When my daughter came along, she joined me in my quest to find new ways to dye eggs.  She was the master rainbow maker... plaid, too.  With plaid eggs, it takes just the right eye to know how deep to hold the egg in the dye bath and how to work the colors in reverse order and what color you end up with by overlapping dye minus a quarter inch.  Much trickier than you would imagine.  A few years ago I cut apart a magazine and slapped on letters with glue water.  Those were fun, too.

What creative things do you do with your Easter egg dyeing?

Cookie of the Month - m&m

I know.  I just squeaked by with the March cookie of the month!  Actually, I made them on Sunday.  I've gotta move my game up.  This month I chose m&m cookies and to make them a little more in keeping with the upcoming season, I used pastel candies.

 

 Ingredients

(doubled)

1 1/2 cups butter

2 2/3 cups packed dark brown sugar

4 eggs

1 Tbs. vanilla

4 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 1/2 cups m&ms

 

Beat together butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.

 

Blend in eggs and vanilla.

Add flour, soda and salt; mix well.

Stir in candies.

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet a couple inches apart.

Press extra candies into each.

Bake at 350 degrees for 9-10 minutes.  

Remove from cookie sheet and cool.  Cookies may seem a little brown due to the absence of white sugar in the recipe, but they are oh, so yummy.  Enjoy!