You know winter is finally here when..........

Your candy dish changes from fun candy to this:

When you find these weird little ''crystalline entities" all over the place and you can't figure out how they got in the garage and why your cat keeps eating them.

When you have Christmas ornaments hanging in all kinds of places just waiting for the tree to be put up.

When you look out your car's front windshield and you are pretty sure you know what it's like to be trapped in an ice cube looking out into the world.









What little signs do you see that tell you it's really, truly and finally winter?

Happy 24th ST: The Voyage Home!!!

Looking for a little more Trek Info, this is the place!

http://www.startrek.com/article/the-voyage-home-with-producer-ralph-winter

Make it so!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

 Have a safe, peaceful, eat-full and blessed holiday!!

gobble gobble yummmmmmmmm

Pleating, Pleating and More Pleating

Making 4.5 yards of fabric fit a 28 inch waist isn't hard. It's time consuming, to say the least. And it's just gorgeous when it's done. How do you get 13-15 linear feet of fabric that small? Cartridge pleating!! 

There are several tutorials on youtube that show you how, but I learned from the costume diva of the Dickens' Fair, Ms. Liz Martin and company. When you have an evenly spaced plaid, it's easy and a thing of beauty.

I consider myself a near professional after pleating 7 skirts. LOL And now that I have attached two to the waist bands, I'm an intermediate there. LOL I have some seriously sore fingers since it's all hand work. If anyone really wants a tutorial, I'll make one, just let me know.

This is the pleating sans waistband

 Inside view of pleats tacked to waistband

                                 

                                        The pleats on the ''show" side of the waistband

 

Skirt showing how much fabric is really there. 13' 6"  length by 40" height

Not too shabby for a beginner!!!

Next time you need a period skirt, try cartridge pleating. Heck, use it on anything that needs a lot of volume in a small amount of space! it's a good thing!

Happy Sewing!!

Eyebrow sneezes?

Just a quick question: does anyone else out there sneeze after plucking a errant eyebrow hair?
You just see one or two that shouldn't be there so you grab your trusty tweezers and yank.......Ouch!!
Then it happens...the tickle and burn, the deep intake of breath, the trying not to sneeze so you don't poke your eye out with your tweezers........ahhhhh.......ahhhhh........aaaaahhhh...................... ccchhhhhhoooooooooo

Gingerbread and Sock Monkeys *updated 11/22/10

What do these things have in common? Christmas makes me think of gingerbread men and I am into making sock monkeys. I liked the thought of that combo and did the google thang. Nothin'. No pattern, nothing to look at, just regular ol' sock monkeys and some really awesome and freakish gingerbread men  and  Goofy gingerbread men. Soooooo I found a cookie cutter that had the silhouette of a sock monkey and went from there. I haven't decided if I like them yet or not; they are growing on me. Sooooooo, my stocking swapping cohorts (you know who you are) consider this a sneak peak of the ornament part of your package!!

Speaking of swapping cohorts,  my new far-away friend, Karen, and I crafted the night away while chit-chatting via facebook. ( soon to be skype or webcams, right??) She helped me get over my fear of all things crafty, felty and gluey and I hope I was a bit of moral support for her project.
This may turn out to be a great Friday night ritual!!
What shall we call it? Fiber-optic Fridays?
Get it?
Fiber for sewing AND high-speed data transfer.
Okay, so it only cracked me up!

update**update**update
Spockcookie by Karen 
You Have to check this out!! It is WAY past awesome!!!!! 

Corset /Grommet update

Corset History Slide Show

After seeing this little slide show, I decided to post the finished product. Yes, I have a pic of me in it. Noooooo, I don't think I want me in 1810 style unders all over the blogoshere. Maybe my victorian ones......they cover a whole lot more! LOL

As you can see, the grommeting is done. I chose the spiral lacing that was popular during the time.
As you can also see, the dressform is more a mini me then the real me. LOL

 Side view. Lots of gussests. After this project, I am dang near a pro at the ''slash and insert'' method. LOL

Front view. You can see the outline of the 14" rosewood busk in the front. Yes, that's why, every portrait you see from way back when, has women with really fabulous posture. LOL

You can see here what it does for my posture and the dress.
Could I breathe? yes
Could I sit? yes...very upright
Was it comfy? Not too bad, really!
Did it feel good to take it off? Oh and yeah. :-)


What did I learn?
Grommeting, gusset insertion, bias on a tight curve, that my bust gussets should've been an inch short, the corset should've been about 1.5" shorter in the back, the shoulder straps could've been shorter, but they fit fine and were probably more a leftover from the Georgian style corset as opposed to being necessary, that fit really is everything, and sewing in a group is totally fun!

Something old, something new, something crafty I must learn to do!

I drove my son to work today and to not waste a trip "over the hill", I stopped at a local quilt shop. It was just to save time, fuel; very green of me, really!
I looked through their fabrics, nice, but nothing standoutish.
Bought some thread that I needed. Am loving Aurifil. It's easier to find than dmc thread for the machine, that's fer sure!
And then I saw it!! It was gor-gee-ous!!! A quilt pattern with dressed up dress forms.
I wanted it!
Needed it!
Had to have it!!
Bought it.
Just one teensy, little problem.......I don't know squat about hand embroidery. Small detail, right? 

Weeeeelllllllll, as I looked more closely (after purchase of course) I noticed I can also do it applique` style . I don't think it's quite as cute as the embroidered version, but I know how to do that! ;-) Except it needs some hand stitchery too.

Looks like I will be learning a new skill sometime after the new year. Drop in classes are on the third Monday of the month!!! Where you ask?? Thimble Creek in Concord, CA

Monday, Monday.........

Is it just day? A song by the Mamas and the Papas? No, it's more. It's a state of mind. Have you ever heard yourself saying: It sure feels like a Monday to me? I know I say it!
Well, the last three weeks of my life have felt like I was having a Monday every dang day of the week. Someone was sick, something was due, past due, overdone, not done enough. I bit off WAY more than I could chew with a project and I am avoiding it like the plague using my sickness as an excuse. I can put it off no longer, but it was nice to not have to think about it for a few days. It's due Wednesday and I WILL be done! Even if I have to go sleepless. LOL
I am looking forward to a Wednesday state of mind.......top of the hill, hump day, weekend in the near future, project done and time for fun! Oh nooooooooo, somebody shoot me! I made a rhyme! It really is Monday!

OCD, anal or just plain practical?

Hi, my name is Regena and I have an underwear closet. I know, I know............It seems a little excessive, but, to me, it is a necessity.

Today was bra day. You might be shaking your head and saying: what the french toast?

I have a system. I wear one twice....but never in a row, and then it gets washed.

It hangs on a hanger with it's matching undie and when I wear it once, it hangs on the hanger differently so I know that I've worn it. After the second wearing, it goes on another hanger so I know it needs to be washed. I can go a really long time without repeats and that's why I have a special bra wash day!

The pile of the dailies getting ready for their wash day adventure.

They get hand washed and then hung up to dry.

Then back into the closet where the process starts all over again.

Well, OCD, anal or practical? As for my decision.....practical all the way!!!! 

Don't even get me started on the proper way to fold towels so they fit in my microscopic linen closet or mix my big forks with my little forks..........just gives me the willies thinkin' about it!!!

What little habit do you have that some may consider extravagant or down right odd but you just have to have in your life?? 

The joys of family

A misnomer of a title if ever there was one!
As a family of four sharing the same living spaces, things get shared.
Good things like love, comfort and laughter.
Bad things too; moods, undone chores, the last hostess cupcake and germs.
A momma-honka of a head cold is making the rounds. I am victim number three. Victim four is getting a scratchy throat. Bummer! Number four and I rarely get sick, but when we do, yikes! The hubster assures me it'll only last 5 days. Oh joy!!
(she says................. sarcastically........................ in the third person)
ah- ah-ah - choooooooooo     'cuse me!

CH-CH-CH-Changes

It's finally happened; the weather has turned cold enough to pack away the summer clothes and unpack and wash the winter clothes.  sniff, sniff

Good bye pink plaid shorts that I look like a total goober in, but love anyway.

 Goodbye orange, linen blouse that only has one, maybe two, more seasons left before it totally disintegrates.

Now it's time to say hello to polar fleece, long sleeves, brooding colors, hoodies, sweats, the electric blanket, the holidays, shoes (choke, sob) that aren't stylish flip-flops. Melodramatic....possibly. Heartfelt, yeppers.
Can't wait to change again!!!!

Passwords

I really, truly hate the internet sometimes! A LOT of people have been getting their accounts hacked lately so I have been systematically changing my passwords. WWWEEEeeelllllllllllll, I keep forgetting what I changed them to and then I have to do the whole riggamaroll of rescuing my password and making a whole new one.
What happens when you forget the answers to your security questions because you have had the account so dang long that the cute answers you gave (that you didn't think anyone would figure out) aren't so cute when you forget them????I can tell you what happens: they practically want dna through the internet that's what! I'm glad and I'm not all at the same time. LOL
I need one of those key thingies that holds all my encrypted passwords for me so I don't EVEN have to think about them. Plug it into my usb port and let the magic happen. Magic.....aahhhhhhhhh I can do that!!

Hiiiiiiii ya!!!

Spent a few hours watching 6 people add another notch to their black belt. They started with a the good ol' sanchin kata (that's my boy getting beat) and the whole thing ended with some series board breaking. Two people had boards broke across their arms, one shin (ouch and a half), one stomach and two thigh. My son says he is sooooooo ready!
Oh yes, we had blood! One person had a board fly into him just above the ankle. Bled like a momma-honka (pardon my french) THEN he got up and did his board breaking. There is no whining in Uechi!!
After the awards and pictures, potluck city and visiting.
I met someone new too! She saw my purse with the Joann's flyer sticking out and automatically knew I was one of her peeps! Is that cool or what?? Her email even starts with three r's, just like me!!
Big congrats to all the test candidates!

Is it Fall yet?

Not in my neck of the woods it isn't! 
I wish I could blame it on ''global warming" and shout to the world how I hate being cold and GW rocks it. But I can't. GW is a fallacy, a lie, a misrepresentation of facts, a blip on this planet's long history of weather.
Fact: the earth is actually .5º cooler
Fact: Al Gore's place uses enough energy to power a small neighborhood.Fact: Bush's Texas ranch is pretty darn global friendly. Green power and an underground cistern to reuse rainfall.(sorry bush haters, he's greener than your gw god, with a little g, gore)
Fact: There are more trees in the US than before colonization. Granted, they aren't in their original ecosystems, but there are more of them.
Fact: Many a gw spokesman is getting rich from the gw scare. I wish I could sell some carbon footprint credits.....seriously, that is some racket!
Fact: this, too, shall pass.
Does this mean I love Bush? Nope. He wasn't as horrible a president as people think, but he's no Reagan. Does this mean I hate Gore? Nope. He's a richie getting richer off of a lie and I have no respect for the man.
Does this mean a large portion of American society are sheeples being lead down a path that will destroy our democracy and end up hurting the liberal ideals many groups are promoting? Yep.
Libs rely on emotions to promote their agenda, conservatives, the facts. Too many politicians think they know what's best and want the goverment to run every single aspect of out lives. Can you say: socialism? Sure, I knew you could.
Where did this all come from considering my title is about the lack of fall?  Indian summer is lasting a bit longer than normal and we just had an election with so much crap on the ballot I wanted to crumple it up. AND another little right was taken away from us, we the people, the people who supposedly ''own'' the government. 
San Francisco has seen fit to take away toys from kids' meals. Really??? Now, you can't go to Burger King or McDonald's, get a little burger and fries and a toy because it isn't under 600 calories AND THERE ISN'T ANY FRUIT OR VEGGIES WITH IT.. SERIOUSLY!!!!!!???? 
What's next, no more frosties or milkshakes? All in the name of childhood obesity. Kids aren't obese because of Mac's lounge, they are fat because they don't get enough pe in schools but mostly because of poor parenting; let's just put little John-John in front of the tv so I can have adult time.
They're fat because people claim to be too busy to cook healthy meals. They aren't fat because fast food exists....it's been around a long, long time.  Can you say l-a-z-y?
Here's a gift we can all give ourselves: personal responsibility. It's free. It ain't easy and we have to take it back from the powers that be before it's too late!
To quote the late Bob Marley,
"Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: don't give up the fight"
Game on!!!!! 

I won, I won!

From the amazing shop of Lana's Sassy Aprons, I won this little beauty in an on-time drawing at  Shawnee's Flirty Apron Swap. Ain't I just as cute as can be??

Rock the Vote!

Did you rock the vote today? I did! What an awesome responsibility we have; electing (or trying to dethrone unelect) people to help keep our laws.
I admit, there are some years when it feels like I don't make a difference; when propositions get a yea vote only to end up in court because some special interest group can't handle the outcome (losing) of our election process. Trust me, I do NOT always like the outcome. Sometimes the things/people I vote for turnout to be a complete and utter disappointment. Things pass and people get voted in that I would soooooo rather not, but............where would America be without this process? For all its flaws, our way works. It used to work better. Maybe better times are ahead because we the people are taking notice and exercising our right and our voices. Too bad we are in times where the 60's potheads are the ruling class and the next group wears their pants around their knees. Hmmmmmmm tea parties are starting to sound better and better. No matter what side of the left/right axis you are on----exercise your right----rock the vote!!