The Egyptian Expedition

Last weekend was the Greater Bay Area Costume event "The Egyptian Expedition"!  It was held at the Rosacrution Egyptian Museum in San Jose.

My phone camera was a total flop on photos of the event, but luckily Jen's worked fine.

A sign of spring coming! The bees are swarming!

We have been having beautiful weather in the low 70s for a week now.

And the baby bees have been bursting their seams in their hives.  Even though George gave them an addition to their house, they still decided to divide and try to find a new home.

They are using the pepper tree for a temp home.  Hopefully they will stay there until George comes with a new hive for them to move into.

My new patterns!

I am starting to draft a mockup of a lingerie dress of very early 1900s.  I made the skirt years ago and never finished the bodice.  In the meantime, I outgrew the pattern!  So, I had re-fitted the skirt and now it is time to make the bodice.

I also want to use up the leftover fabric from Robert's Sack coat by making knickerbockers to match. The fabric was a great buy from a fabric store going out of business.  Luckily I bought enough that I should be able to use this pattern.

I also want to make Robert a vest. maybe eventually a frock coat too

Just had to have an evening bodice pattern.....

Because this will be a future project, purely for fun!

Robert's Casual Sack Jacket

Robert has the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Uniform which he is alway such a hit in, but I figured he needs something a little more casual (and cooler!)  The uniform is a rather thick wool and is really warm in the summer.

When I was up at Jen's house a couple weeks ago, we went shopping at a fabric store going out of business.  One of the fabrics I found was for Robert's Sack Jacket at only $3 per yard.

First I had to inflate Rob's body!

 This is the pattern I decided to use.

I may have enough fabric to make some knickers too!
Then after making a really fast mock up, I started cutting out the fabric and interfacings.

After a day of tracing and cutting out patterns and fabric, another day of putting the outside together and today of doing the lining I am to the point of getting buttons and putting in the buttonholes.

 Then there will be a fitting, buttons and their holes, shoulder pads, a bit of hand sewing the sleeves and bottom hem and DONE!

1910 Edwardian Tea Dress

I certainly have been rather remiss in posting lately!  I will try to do better.


In November 2015, I decided to work on a TV 1910 Edwardian Tea Dress.

  I had some poly crepe satin hanging around for about 20 years and figured I would use it for a mock up.  I used the crepe side, the satin side was just too shiny.

I turned out really rather nicely and I plan to wear it at the "Farewell to Downton Abbey" tea in April.

Black hat, 1850s?

Sometime during 2015, I'd like to make . . .

I'd like to make an 1860 dress.....not like I have a place to go in it.  But wouldn't it be fun!

Christmas at Ardenwood

My camera focus wasn't working really well, but it is a touch of Christmas at Ardenwood!

The Dining Room

The Sun Room

The Guest Bedroom

The Office

The Guest Parlor

The Family Parlor

The Foyer

The Library

Up the Staircase

The Library

The Guest Parlor

The Master Bedroom

The Guest Bedroom


Donna and her Guide Dog (in Training) Tundra

The Master Bedroom

The Sisters Tea

My sister suggested getting together for tea every 2 months.  We certainly have not gotten together very much in the past few years and what a great idea for a lot of fun.

We have our date for our first tea, October 10 at her house.   That was a minor miracle just how easy it was to get a date.  If we couldn't have gotten the 10th, the next possible time would have been as far out as January 2016.

We are now in the process of deciding what will be on the menu. 

Christmas Tea, December 13, 2015 at Ardenwood

Be prepared to be entertained!

More news later!

Drought and Fires

We in California are so sick and tired of this stupid drought.  Everything is drying up or has already died.  My poor yards....

And then there is the danger of fire.

One of our sons moved up to the Middletown area in June  They were up there a couple weeks and there was a big fire that got as close as about a mile away.  Then, a second fire, the Jerusalem fire came a bit closer.  Then, the Valley fire, the third largest most damaging fire of California history came so close they didn't know if they still had a house for almost a week.  His car was in the shop and burned to a molten mass and his brother-in-law lost his beautiful house they had hand built.

Now that is over and though we are all hoping for a really nice wet winter, we are concerned for those in burned out areas for flooding, hills being washed down, etc.  Everyone is starting to really prepare for winter.