First, let me just share a video of what we experienced this last week.  See those white dots?  Those are Hail Softballs!!  This storm totaled at least one of our cars, took out both front windshields and completely obliterated the sunroof on Scott’s car.  If you watch it, stick around for the end…it gets worse.

I have been quiet lately, but not because I have nothing to share.  On the contrary, I have been busy organizing my clothing patterns (fodder for a future post), sewing and baking.  I was able to finish the second UFO I posted about last time.  The dress is really cute and will go on the Etsy shop soon.

A few weeks ago, I made my (made for me) first “period” specific clothing item.  It is not much in the realm of costuming, but I actually love it and am ready to move on into something more challenging for myself.  The pattern is an Edwardian era apron and is a free download from the internet.  Taping the pieces together went perfectly, however, the instructions left something to be desired.  You can’t beat the price though, so I gave it a go with some calico fabric that had been in my stash for years.  Here is the end result:

Yes, I am sure there were no microwaves, refrigerators, or flip flops in the Edwardian era, but I wanted an apron that I could use today and this one was just right.

Speaking of updating, you know the “maxi-dress” that has been so popular for the last several years?  I have bought several (second hand, of course) and really like the light and comfortable feel of the dresses.  The problem is that they are essentially made for 20 year old ladies (read: college girls) who have something up top to show off and the ability to do just that.  I am beyond that stage, so I would end up wearing a sweater or something over the top of the dress, or not wearing them at all.  So…I decided to fix this and up-cycle the dresses into skirts that I will actually wear.  I cut off the tops, straight across, with a rotary cutter and then attached elastic to the top edge.  Folded this over and sewed again, and that was all there was to it.  This was soooooo easy and fast to do, and now I have three new long skirts to wear this summer.  Whoot!!

So, wearing my new apron, I set about baking some cookies.  Now, those of you who know me, know that I don’t cook.  However, I came across a free Kindle book on cookies that explained more about why and how to mix the different ingredients together.  I have always just thrown everything in, mixed in the stand mixer for whatever I thought was long enough and then baked the cookies in the oven (more often forgetting about them after I put them in than not) and hoped for the best.  Well, I took this book’s information and attempted to make some cookies the proper way.  They lasted one day.  I think I did good 🙂