The fact that “Me-Made-May” is winding down is both a happy and sad thing for me. I’m going to miss the interaction with other sewists in the flickr group. I’m NOT going to miss the daily photo shoots, since they are a big drain on my time and have forced me realize that I’m a slob at heart–me and a hairbrush barely acknowledge one another’s existence on far too many days.

I’m also running out of new things to show you and do not want to become a total bore. I only have three days to attempt to keep this interesting, so I’ll show you old clothes in their typical habitats.

Here I am in my old, comfy home-sewn clothes and a snazzy apron in the kitchen, getting drunk on red wine and cooking dinner for my family.

Incidentally, the steaks were excellent.

And today, I sat around in my underwear a lot because I was sewing a muslin for pants and was continuously taking them on and off. I’m NOT going to show you my underwear, but you can see the AWESOME muslin that I ended up with.

I’ve never sewn Burda pants before and am amazed at how well they fit my figure. This is a muslin for BurdaStyle Mag 05-2009-111, which will be part of my summer wardrobe.

I’m sure many of you have been down the same road I have been…muslin after muslin after muslin just to end up with a pair of pants that are barely on the side of being presentable enough to wear in public. So you can imagine how thrilling it is to end up with a muslin like this without making a single change. I keep looking for faults–and there are some, but I’m going to forge ahead without giving them another thought. I do need to try my hand at single welt pockets first, so there will be a leetle delay

M’s play opens this week, so I absolutely had to finish the costumes during the weekend. As you all know, a sewing marathon requires (a) lots of coffee–always in good supply in this house; and (b) fortifying foods. Saturday morning, I whipped up a batch of banana chocolate chip muffins to get me started.

They were quite possibly the best muffins I have ever made…light in texture, moist and sweet, but not too sweet. I’ve used this recipe before, but this time, they were inexplicably better.

By Sunday afternoon, I had finished the bodies of the costumes.

It was an awkward affair sewing on those tails. I can’t say my stitching was particularly beautiful. I *think* they’ll stay attached…if Eeyore’s falls off, I hope the actor has presence of mind to pretend it was meant to happen. After all, Eeyore’s tail is supposedly only affixed with a tack. I used an uncovered button from a make-your-own button kit for the “tack.”

M and I decided to use flannel–and not faux fur or fleece–for the bodies of the costumes so the actors wouldn’t get too hot under the stage lights. I couldn’t live with an unfluffy skunk’s tail, however, and used faux fur for that. Boy, that stuff makes a HUGE mess. I think I still have bits of that up my nose and my sewing machine certainly needs a good cleaning.

I finished two hoods shortly afterwards. Here’s the skunk and Piglet.

Eeyore’s hood required a little more work, since it needed a mane. I didn’t finish that until later in the evening…

I’m not too thrilled with how the mane turned out. It looks a little bit like the moppy ‘do worn by Moe of the Three Stooges. I am not a hair stylist for people or talking animals. I did the best I could and called it quits when I ran out of the yarn.

My pattern review can be found here.

At the risk of sounding like a curmudgeon, I’m going to just come right out and say this week has sucked. Totally.

1) The pipes in the garage burst and the garage turned into an ice rink. I wish I still had my ice skates! Luckily, a plumber came over and took care of the pipes. Unfortunately for us, we’re still cleaning up the mess: soaked rugs and all the junk one usually stores in garages.

2) I’ve always liked Pyrex dishes, but something must have been wrong with the most recent one I purchased. After using it in the oven last night, it exploded, that’s right EXPLODED in my kitchen. I ended up tossing the chicken picata I had labored over and which smelled ridiculously good. We went out for teriyaki–which, while good, was not as good as homemade chicken picata.

3) I had bad hair today. Perhaps it’s not a big deal, but it annoyed me nonetheless.

4) My favorite necklace broke.

5) I ruined some fabric I had been ga-ga over by making a top designed for people with shoulders. It didn’t matter that I altered the pattern significantly. It’s still prone to falling off and therefore unacceptable. GRRRRRRRR.

(New Look 6828)

Next week will be better, right?

Every year, when grey overtakes Seattle’s skies, I struggle to keep my mood upbeat. I feel weary and blue. Luckily, I pull out of these doldrums and get back to my normal self. It just takes time. One thing that’s helping right now is the way this house smells. I’ve started cooking for our Thanksgiving feast and the scents emanating from the kitchen are divine. I’ve got whole grain bread dough rising, a graham cracker pastry crust baking (for pumpkin cheesecake!) and some experimental gravy containing apple cider and brandy simmering on the stovetop.

I wish Thanksgiving were today!

Speaking of holidays, I’ve made one Christmas present for my daughter already.

This is the Little Flirty Skirty Apron from Threaded Pear Studio. The original design had a lot more ruffles and ric-rac on it, which seemed like overkill to me. I used bias binding as an alternative design element and like how it came out. Since Claire has been writing about baking with me in her school journal (I went to her parent-teacher conference today), I think she’ll be particularly excited about this gift.

I also managed to squeeze in a little selfish sewing:

This is a Very Easy Very Vogue pattern, number 8597, and it’s just that: easy. I had this top sewn up in about 90 minutes flat. If I had spent a little more time on fitting the shoulder area, it would have been better, but I’m happy enough with it as-is. I’ve worn it half a dozen times already. The fabric is a something I found at my local fabric shop. I love the graphic print and how there’s a very subtle shimmer to the grey/silver area.

I’ve got two more tops queued up and a pair of pants. This is going to be a busy few weeks for me!

My niece once mistakenly referred to my migraines as “migrations.” I think that’s the first time I ever *really* laughed about these awful, debilitating headaches. Luckily, I haven’t had a migration in months and was feeling cocky. Wouldn’t you know it, though, one took hold last week and I am only now starting to feel better. Consequently, I’ve been spending the day catching up on my chores, like laundry and dishes, and haven’t had much time for the fun stuff.

I did, however, venture into the kitchen last night and made a roast beef. It looked and smelled divine.

The vegetables were divine. The meat was tough and stringy. A major disappointment!

While I was spending so much time propped up in my favorite armchair, I decided to work on a secret project for my mother. A couple of years ago, she had fallen in love with a sweater she saw at one of my local yarn shops. It’s a Norwegian design (Dale Tiur 11103), but I can’t find a picture of the finished item anywhere on the internet. It’s fairly traditional. It’s covered with eight-point stars and a pair of stags strut across the front of the cardi. Here’s the tiny bit I’ve done so far:

It’s going to be a MAJOR challenge for me. All that color knitting on tiny needles, cutting steeks… My tension is uneven around the hem, but I just can’t bring myself to unravel it all and start over, so I’m forging onward. I’m getting better at it with every round I knit. By the end of this project, I’ll be (a) totally insane and (b) a much better color knitter.

It’s hard to feel too terribly grumpy when the sun finally breaks through what once seemed like an impenetrable wall of grey clouds. The sun is what saved Robert from a battery of guilt trips after he confessed he had forgotten my birthday–and that he had promised to go out with some friends tonight. Ordinarily, that would have gotten my ire up, but wonderful golden light is keeping my spirits buoyant.

Robert promised to make it up to me on Friday. He’s going to get a babysitter and make reservations at a nice restaurant. I’m looking forward to that! I can’t remember when we last went out sans kids.

Today, though, I’m spending the day doing things I like to do. The laundry and all other unpleasant chores are going to remain undone.

I started by cutting apart the “hospital gown” so I could fashion them into pants for Claire. The sewing shouldn’t take too long, but I thought it would be fun to add an applique bird.

I then read a little bit from one of the books I picked up recently from the library, Sophie Kinsella’s Can You Keep a Secret?? It is hilarious! It reminds me a lot of Bridget Jones’s Diary (movie tie-in). The main character’s inner monologue is so real and crazy–well, you’ll just have to read it for yourself. It’s a treat!

Finally, I started baking a cake for myself.

I’m using an old family recipe for a layer cake with walnuts and mocha frosting/glaze. No one seems to know its origin, but it’s been our standard birthday cake for years and years and years. I’ll post the recipe and a photo of the finished cake tomorrow.

ETA: The sun only made a brief appearance today. I started feeling bluer the greyer it got outside. This is the first time getting older really bothered me–and, to be honest, I’m not sure it’s aging that’s getting to me or the lack of fanfare that’s surrounded the occasion. It could also be the fact that Claire’s bird pants do not fit her comfortably. I swear, some of those Simplicity patterns are cut for space aliens, not humans!

Claire mangled the cake while it was cooling on the wire rack. It’s now a big heap of crumbs covered with lots of chocolate frosting. It’s far beyond being photogenic, lol! However, I’m sure it will taste good!

I apologize for the tenor of this post. I want to keep things positive here, but sometimes I just need to talk through things–and you know what? I already feel better for having done so.

I have spent years and years looking for a good black bean soup recipe. I’m sure there are lots of them out there, but until yesterday, I hadn’t found one that particularly excited me. When I first tasted this soup, I was tempted to plunge my entire head into the stock pot and start slurping. Yes, it was that good.

I restrained myself, and managed to save some for my famished husband. He liked the soup too, but has never been a big fan of ham, so wasn’t quite as enthusiastic about it as I was. Next time, I’ll try bacon. Robert contends that everything tastes better with bacon.

I was born into a family of food snobs. The bad side of having so many foodies around meant there was always lots of calorie-rich food available. Whenever we got together, I swear I automatically gained 50 pounds.

In general, though, the familial food snobbery was a good thing. My mother, an exceptional cook, always made sure we had plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. That, in itself, was a feat of ingenuity. Southwestern Wyoming in the seventies wasn’t exactly a mecca for good produce. She cooked wonderful meals, many of which were good old comfort food. Others were like an introduction to exotic parts of the globe. They were full of rich spices and unfamiliar ingredients. They satisfied the stomach and fired up the imagination–we wondered what it would be like to visit the places where those foods were commonplace.

My paternal grandfather, despite an allergy to wheat, ran his own bakery. That man could make the most delectable butterhorns and the tenderest, most flavorful dinner rolls I’ve ever had. I’ve tried and tried for years to replicate the treats he made for us, and while good, they never have measured up to the high standard he set.

Anyway, if you had ever asked any of the cooks in my family to try a recipe calling for cream of mushroom/celery soup or a couple of handfuls of breakfast cereal, they would have looked at you askance. Cooking with pre-packaged foods like those would most likely result in something unappetizingly gloppy or bearing a regrettable after-taste. So, it tickled my funny bone to have discovered that the secret ingredient for a long-time family favorite is corn flakes!

Now’s an especially good time to try this recipe out, since it’s apple season!

DANISH PASTRY APPLE BARS

Pastry Ingredients:

2-1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 cup shortening
1 egg yolk
Enough milk to make 2/3 cup when added to the egg yolk

Filling Ingredients:

2 handfuls of cornflakes, crushed
8-10 small apples **
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

Glaze Ingredient:

1 egg white

Frosting Ingredients:

1 cup powdered sugar
1 T water
vanilla, to taste

1. Mix ingredients for pie crust, including milk and egg yolk.
2. Refrigerate dough for a couple of hours.
3. Roll out 1/2 of the dough to fill a 10-1/2 X 15-1/2 inch cookie tray.
4. Sprinkle the bottom of the crust with crushed corn flakes.
5. Peel & slice apples and place over crust.
6. Sprinkle apples with sugar and cinnamon.
7. Roll out the other 1/2 of dough and place on top.
8. Pinch edges of pastry together to seal.
9. Beat egg white and brush over crust.
10. Bake at 350 F for 45-60 minutes.
11. While pastry is still warm, combine ingredients for frosting. You may need to add additional water to make frosting liquid enough to drizzle over the top of the pastry.
12. Drizzle frosting over pastry.

** This quantity seems like a lot to me. I just cut up enough to cover the pie crust.

With the arrival of the colder weather, my family’s inclination has been to slow down and take life easy. Robert’s wandering around the house in a fleece jacket and Sam has actually been persuaded to wear socks when indoors. (He usually sheds them within seconds of entering the house. I wish I could induce him to shed footwear into the laundry basket instead of directly onto the floor, but that’s a battle for another day.)

Claire has spent a fair amount of time cuddled up on the couch with a good book and some friends.

She’s also made sure her bunnies are warm and cozy before bedtime.

All of us have been nibbling away at the Amish friendship bread I baked the other day.

Everyone seems peaceful, except me. It’s like a creative bomb has gone off inside my head. I’m full of ideas of things I want to make and am working on half a dozen projects all at once.

I’ve started sewing a dress for Claire from the thrifted apple fabric I showed you a few days ago.

I found the pattern in an old Ottobre magazine. It’s one of those projects that’s fun, but requires a lot of attention to the little details. Although my progress is slow, I have high hopes for the finished outfit. It’s going to have an underskirt to make it fluffy and especially good for twirling.

Meanwhile, I’m decorating t-shirts using freezer paper stencils, drawing cats and bats and owls with my son for a school project, and, yes, I’m even knitting a little bit. I’ve decided to finish off a couple of projects that have been marinating in my closet for far too long. One is the Chevron scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts and the other is a Kureyon cardigan. The scarf will take FOREVER, since it’s made out of sock yarn. I must have lost my mind when I started that thing. The cardigan could be finished very soon, if I would just buckle down and work on it. All it needs is a collar and a front band. As some of you know, I have to take it easy with knitting, so I don’t aggravate a painful problem I have in my neck and shoulder area. I’m trying to be good about it, but it’s hard when you’re really excited!

Here’s a perfectly wonderful way to start your day. Brew some good, strong coffee. Make a bowl of fruit salad. Whip up a batch of Pumpkin-Apple Muffins.

Sit in a sunny spot. Read a novel. Enjoy the treats you prepared.