disaster

I was watching Mind of a Chef with Gabrielle Hamilton and I fell in love with her apron.  Me.  PBS cooking shows.  Why am I not surprised?  I got on pinterest.  I tried to find a dress or apron that was similar.  From years ago yes but not recently.  Then Simplicity came out with an apron dress just a few weeks ago.  Now, I do not usually buy Simplicity patterns because most of the time I am not very happy with them.  But I figured why not.

I cut the pattern out in the size I normally wear with Simplicty.  I find most of the time the size I wear in sewing patterns is at least four sizes bigger then I wear off the rack, if not more.  I had a piece of black linen that really did not have a "name" put on it.  I have been mostly drawn to solid dark colours recently.  That does not mean for quilts but for clothes.  Even though I do have some plaids for soft weekend dresses in my stash.

Even when I was cutting this pattern out I was thinking the pattern pieces were a bit of an odd shape.  Especially through the hips.  I felt like the hips were shelves.  I have just sewn so much to know what seems right or not.

I sewed it all together and put it on.

I changed the bodice a bit so there were no gathers.  But even with that alteration I should have probably increased the pattern size choice by another four sizes.  The sleeves were just not me.  I do not puff.  There was something very wonky about the skirt.  It might have been the size but I do not think so.

The dress was a disaster.  But it was really not my style so I am okay with that.  I will get a set of sleeves out of it for the black linen sheath dress I will make with what is left.  I will say that I learned a lot about how an apron dress goes together.  Which means that Gabrielle Hamilton's apron is quite feasible.  

Actually, I am sitting here in the finished product.  I will blog about it before the week is done.  Though I do think I should dye it soon.  White and me and the kitchen.  Not so good.  There is not enough soda ash and bleach in the world for that!

not Russian dressing dressing

There have been more sandwiches being made around here then there have been in many years.  It has to do with my statement that if we ate more of our own food then out food, we could travel more.  Even when traveling, if I make sandwiches I can go farther.  I ate groceries on my grocery budget for both Estes Park and Utah.

Saying that, my Beloved asked for me to make a Russian dressing.  He likes Ruebens.  Me?  I am not a big mayonnaise or mayonnaise dressing fan.  I like Caesar, which is a basic mayonnaise and I like chipolte aioli which is not.  One for salads.  One for tacos.  Russian dressing?  Not me.  But that does not mean I will not figure something out.  

I did do my normal "what is there in the kitchen" for this one instead of going to the store for supplies.  I followed the recipe for Zingerman's Russian dressing as a starting spot.  It seemed most authentic.  But then it got twisted.  Homemade pickles.  Asian chili sauce and wasabi because that is what I had.  This dressing can kick you in the teeth.

not Russian dressing

1 egg

3/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup asian chili sauce

1 tablespoon minced yellow onion

1 tablespoon minced pickles (I think they were dill)

1/2 teaspoon dry wasabi powder

1/4 teaspoon worchester sauce

Put everything but the olive oil and pickles in a bowl.  Blend a bit with an immersion blender.  Slowly dribble (very slowly, I have been going to quickly and having aoilis break) in the olive oil and blend the whole time.  Once all the oil is added, mix in the pickle.  Blend for about 30 seconds more.  A bit of pickle chunk left is wanted.

Happy boyo!  Dressing for his sandwiches and lettuce wraps.

plotting

The nine squares I am working on from one of the piles of fabric I bought recently are coming together nicely.  I am trying to sew a few everyday, even when I am under the weather.  I think stopping the traveling and the stress from work is getting to me.  I am on a huge project at work which does not seem to have any possibility of success.  It brings along stress.

I went through some of the other fabrics that I purchased at Ragfinery and come up with what I think may be a complete quilt.  It is very exciting.  Especially since I had a sewing failure  this weekend.  I will write about it in another post.  There were great learnings there.

I practiced with a few line drawings of mountains at lunch today.  I am trying to think if I could translate those into quilts.  Possible.  I will need to practice more.  Always something else for me.  I do just want a bit of time at my wheel and machine this evening.  I will see if that happens!  

a shirt that was going to become a work shirt

I have gotten a really good sunburn this summer.  It was on the way to Estes Park.  Because of this, I now have some 50 spf sunscreen in the house.  It does not look like there is colour to it but when it hits a white shirt, guess what.  The white turns a beige orange.  My Beloved had it on his arms and neck when we were traveling in my truck.  My truck does not have A/C so there is no protection from the sun with the windows.\

This shirt was going to become a work shirt but I decided I was going to play with some of the dye I bought.  All plant dye and I know I have a long way to go but why not.  Also, I knew I really did not have enough weight of dye for the weight of fabric.  I used alkanet with a 25 % addition of iron to the quantity of dye.  

I boiled the shirt in alum and then simmered it in the dye bath.  I let it simmer for about two hours.  This was probably not the wisest thing to do in the middle of summer.  It is like doing hot bath canning.  How humid can you make your kitchen or house?  Very.

It is not as dark as I hoped.  But the stains are covered so it can be worn someplace other then the shop.

I am going to play with alum, vinegar, salt, and red cabbage this weekend.  I am making a black apron dress and I am going to dye the slip dress for underneath it.  There is another goal for the apron dress but getting two workings out of the way with one project works for me.  I just do not have a three day weekend this week because I had a four day weekend last week.  Less time for projects.  Oh well.  That is life.

time in my garden

After traveling so much this summer, I came back to a garden that needed weeding.  The heat and the amount of water we have had means that everything that survived is out of control!  Mint and Tennessee sweet potato pumpkins are taking over my garden.  I found my two newly planted tea plants.  I have a few flowers left but they have really petered out.  The fig is doing well.

The weeds and grasses, that I do not want, are also doing well.  I read a report that the reservoirs our finally back to the April preflooding stages.  Every time it rained since mid-April, there was the possibility of a flash flood.  

Because my flowers have petered out, I did buy myself some.  I like the structure of this bouquet but I would not have purchased it if the roses did not smell good.  They did.  I have been reading that you can order peonies from Alaska this time of year, my other favorite flower.  I actually like the garden roses.  Peonies and garden roses have similar shapes, very different fragrances but lovely.  On the mountain I can grow roses and peonies and I am looking forward to it.

I think there will be more weeding this coming week.  I can break my newly modified gloves in.  But I may need a bit of rain to soften the ground.  I can hope.  There are seedlings out there and I have a feeling that those seedlings are zinnias.  Fingers crossed!