New kitchen lesser deity

In addition to my previous list of Kitchen Gods, I've recently re-discovered this blog: The Homesick Texan, who's happily stuck in New York City but missing the food of the South. While I haven't actually made anything from this scrumptious-looking site (I keep promising myself to make biscuits... arg!), the pictures and stories to go with the pictures are fantastic and drool-worthy (I'm sure she'd be horrified to hear "drool-worthy" as a descriptor of her blog).

Now, let me explain: I am a Northern girl. Very much so. I've never even been through Texas on road trips. I have no idea what Texan cuisine is all about. I do, however, have some idea of Southern cooking, having lived in Atlanta for three years. Not a lot, but some. I'm quite relieved to be back above the Mason-Dixon line, and don't intend on returning south except for friends' weddings or somesuch. But some of that Southern cooking really can be good for the soul (but not often for the waistline... eh... sacrifices). I'm not so hot on grits, but I'll take any variety of barbecue, stew, or cornbread.

Sewing: B&W&P dress inching along

It's so nice to come home from a long day at work, followed by the gym and tasty dinner, and totally crash for the evening. Which is why I've only done a little more on the dress:

Hey, check that out... forgot the purple sash. Go, me.

Obviously, I haven't shortened the hem of the lining yet. I figured it'd be easier to do once the outer skirt was done. It also looks a little shorter on the sides than the front. I think this is just a picture-image problem rather than a real-life problem. I think.

I ended up using that hem tape stuff after all. If you look reeeeeally closely, you can still see the dark/light layers through the seam, the hem tape, and the folded over (i.e. backside of the!) fabric. Doubling over the tape makes for a pretty hefty seam, but also gives the skirt some body and not-as-clingy look. We'll see if it stays that way once the lining's shortened.

New problem: If you know me, you know that I have very pasty-pale skin; the pictures make me look like I have a decent tan. I just realized that I already know that I look pretty bad in off-white. Huh. Why the heck did I choose a color that looks terrible on me?

Well, one more (major) seam to go...

Baking: More End of Summer

Even though the La Nina off the coast is determining otherwise, there was one last outing to the u-pick blueberry farm for jam ingredients. (Yeah, sometimes it's just hard to let go.) End of season berries still make good stuff:

The color of the contents of the jars are actually more like that of the top jar. If you look at them in the light (or with camera flash), they appear strangely pinky, like the bottom jars. Eh.

Now having made three kinds of preserved fruit goodness, here's the weird thing: I don't eat that much jam. What to do...

Sewing: B&W&P dress problems

Pesky dress.

The biggest hurdle in finishing the dress is that work has ramped up. And I just want to sleep when I get home.

Okay, another part of why I haven't had any progress on hemming the pesky B&W&P dress is the problem of see-through-ness. I've pinned up the dress (taking out about 7.5 inches, and it looks pretty good. Except when I tried to mock-up the normal rolled hem. The pattern was very evident. Too see-through. The twill tape I've been using on the seams is only half an inch wide, which would be difficult to manipulate into a hem. So, I got some 2" wide hem tape, which I assumed would be suitable for hemming. But I can still see the fabric pattern through it. Thinking about using a strip of the lining or something, but that would require more hemming of the strip. Or something.

Still working on it, but mostly in my head.

Any suggestions out there?

Baking: End of Summer

Blueberry tartlet a la mode with nectarine syrup.

Craft: Ye Olde pen and ink

Work and other general life has ramped up, therefore, the B&W&P dress remains unhemmed. Soon, I hope.

As a break during work, I've picked up a calligraphy pen again. I took the first class in 3rd grade (hated the class, but found the calligraphy fascinating). My Chancery font (the common, slanted one) has always been terrible... just can't keep the slants consistent. My Gothic and Unical fonts (the Germanic and Irish-ish ones) are pretty good, though. I need to re-find my copy of the Speedball (yes, as in pen) textbook. So many ways to write an "S"!

Following the realization that letters could look different from the Printing Teacher's directions, I have consciously changed my handwriting three times in my life. I've also taken steps to make sure that my signature is something that I think looks good (and is legible). Guess I'm kinda bragging there...

There's a couple of links on the side of this page for beautiful works of calligraphy from different cultures, like China and Arabic Ottoman and Persian. Completely amazed by some of the zoo-graphical Arabic designs. This link is cool hand-lettered manuscripts from all over. John Langdon does "ambigrams" (the words that look the same upside down), and shows how to create them.

I've also just found this really neat blog on calligraphy. No, not just the thick-thin-lines calligraphy, but the more general use of the word, which applies to writing and communication in general, also including history of the art and accouterments. Check out The Calligraphy Alphabet.

Sewing: More Progress on B&W&P Dress

My goal was to sew a dress before summer finished. If I hadn't sewn the zipper in backwards last night, I'd have had something to show yesterday.

B&W&P Dress, mostly finished!

All of the internal seams are bound (yay me!)

Seams so neat!

The hem isn't done, and won't be done before summer's over, since my summer finishes, uh, yesterday. And I need a hook-and-eye thingy. Maybe I'll actually finish it next week. Next week-ish. -Ish. Here's my questions:

1. I think it's a bit long (or I'm a bit short... yeah, probably more likely), and I intend on shortening the hem (or growing me, yeah right) a little. How much should I take it up? AND...
2. I have seam tape for the inside, which will hopefully be inconspicuous. OR I could bind the bottom of the dress with purple satin, like the straps and belt. Which will look better?