29 June 2015

Summer 2015 Project 333-First run though.

I LOVE Summer in Minnesota!! It's so beautiful. The birds that come through are beautiful!! My favorite so far are the little yellow finches that eat from my bird feeder every morning. They bring me such joy to watch them hope about and they are my favorite color! Yellow doesn't always look good on me so I don't get to wear it too often. 


I'm working from my Spring Capsule wardrobe and adding or subtracting things as I need for summer. 

dresses- pink sheath, mint lace, blue short, pink vintage, navy button up and pink polka dots (6)

tops-chambray button up, chambray shift, gray tee, mint tee, pink and green plaid,pink and white stripe, white stripes sleeveless, blue linen short sleeve, short sleeve flower tee, blue stripe long sleeve, blue with mint stripe tee, soft kitty tee, Marie Curie tee, navy button up, zombie tee, long sleeve pink tee, pink flowers buttonup, and space reserved for 2 tops to be made. (19)


Longer sleeved shirts above. Yes, I actually do wear them in the summer time. Not as often...but I still do. (Thinking of taking a few more of these out.)


Dressier tops below and my tees above. (Still considering taking out Ariel)






Skirts

bottoms-fav jeans(will be replaced for fall or when they fall apart), mint shorts, high waited shorts, camping shorts,navy w/white stripe skirt, pink skirt, peach skinnies, Rose skinnies, new pair of shorts to make, and a new skirt to make. Maybe a new pair of khakis.(9, 10 with Khakis)
Pants

sweaters/cardigans-navy cardigan (1)


Things I keep to a minimum but don't include in my count:

jackets/coats-pink slicker w/liner. (1)

shoes-Birkenstock Yaras , black malibrans, navy chucks, grey with white dot chucks, and blue fluevog sandals.(5)


accessories- pink clutch/wallet. (1)


I need to get busy with my 4 piece capsule sewing so I can wear them for the summer. I'm going to go through my fabric stash and see if I've got enough fabric to do some of the things I've picked out for this challenge. I might not finish them all before Summer ends, but maybe I can get the shorts and the sleeveless top done at least. The other two pieces could transition into fall quite easily. 

26 June 2015

Spring 2015 Project 333-final thoughts.


Can you believe that Spring P333 is almost officially over??
WOW.

I feel like it flew by. I did really good this season and I feel like I've learned that I needed to layer in Minnesota weather. There have been some days up in the 90s and I've got my shorts and tank tops for that. But, I did get pretty sunburned on my back one day while working in the garden. I've got to remember that even though it's not as hot as it was in Charleston, SC, I need to wear my sunscreen. 

I'm excited to say that I'm going to keep most of my wardrobe in tact for summer. I did go to Target and get new undies (I know they don't count, but still) and a lighter chambray shirt that doesn't button up the front. It looks more like a shift or a tunic. I also repaired a sundress that's been in my sewing room for awhile and remembered how much I love it when the weather is nice enough to wear it. So I tossed in those two things for summer. I'm really loving the color pallete that I chose and I'm going to continue with it. 

A few things I learned about this wardrobe challenge. 

I did not use my oversized purse this season (at all!) I usually use it in the fall and winter when I need a place to put my hat, scarf and gloves so I don't loose them. So, I think I'll take it out of rotation for the rest of summer. I'll put it back in the fall. Because I really do love it!

I never wore my zombie shirt or my flower shirt. I stayed at home and worked on the farm a lot and I have different work clothes. Mostly old T shirts that I don't wear out anymore and a few pairs of jeans that are really holey and too big for me now. Just awful things that I don't care about getting ripped or dirty. 

I've realized that I need another pair of shorts. I wear my dark pair of shorts around the farm. Mostly to garden in when it's hot. But I need another pair! The light mint pair I worry about getting dirty or stained so I don't wear them on the farm. I'm thinking I'd like to blend my farm and my out capsule wardrobes. But I'm not sure how to do that yet. This system is working and makes sure that I have nice things to go out of the house in when I do. 

I'm really excited about the 4 piece capsule wardrobe challenge that I'm participating in this year. There is no deadline, but I'm thinking about making these things so that I can wear them this summer. I need to get busy sewing if I want to do that though. 

I think I may need to get a new pair of khakis. As much as I love how soft this pair is and all. Maybe I could just take them in. I will make myself a deadline to take them in and if that doesn't happen then I will just put them in the declutter bin/bag.


What I had for Spring:

 dresses- pink sheath,mint lace, blue short, pink vintage, navy button up and pink polka dots(only wore  once)

 tops-chambray, gray tee, mint tee, pink and green plaid,pink and white stripe, white stripes sleeveless, blue linen short sleeve,short sleeve flower tee, blue stripe long sleeve, blue with mint stripe tee, soft kitty tee, Marie Curie tee, navy button up,zombie tee, long sleeve flower blouse, long sleeve pink tee and pink flowers buttonup up. added another chambray top, want to make 2 tops

 bottoms-fav jeans, khakis, mint shorts, high waited shorts, navy w/white stripe skirt, navy linen skirt (not flattering), pink skirt,peach skinnies and Rose skinnies. (want to make shorts and a skirt)

 sweaters/cardigans-mint sweater, multi-colored sweater, yellow sweater and navy cardigan (Did not need the pullover sweaters like I thought I would)

 jackets/coats-olive military coat and pink slicker w/liner. (only wore pink slicker, and my farm hoodie)

shoes-cowgirl boots(wore once) , black malibrans, navy chucks, grey with white dot chucks, and blue fluevog sandals.(added my birks)

accessories- B&W scarf, multi-colored scarf, pink clutch/wallet, purple bucket bag, and Leather backpack (only used the pink clutch out of all of this)


So this leaves me with:
 dresses- pink sheath, mint lace, blue short, pink vintage, navy button up and pink polka dots (6)

 tops-chambray button up, chambray shift, gray tee, mint tee, pink and green plaid,pink and white stripe, white stripes sleeveless, blue linen short sleeve, short sleeve flower tee, blue stripe long sleeve, blue with mint stripe tee, soft kitty tee, Marie Curie tee, navy button up, zombie tee, long sleeve pink tee, pink flowers buttonup, and space reserved for 2 tops to be made. (19)

 bottoms-fav jeans, mint shorts, high waited shorts, navy w/white stripe skirt, pink skirt, peach skinnies, Rose skinnies, new pair of shorts to make, and a new skirt to make. Maybe a new pair of khakis.(9, 10 with Khakis)

 sweaters/cardigans-mint sweater and navy cardigan (2)


 jackets/coats-pink slicker w/liner. (1)

shoes-Birkenstock Yaras , black malibrans, navy chucks, grey with white dot chucks, and blue fluevog sandals.(5)

accessories- pink clutch/wallet. (1)

23 June 2015

VIFPMCW challenge.

HA! What a mouthful eh? I didn't make up the name,  but I'm excited to do it. Only I need to finish up some other projects still. (whom, whomp) 
My only issue is I'll have to figure out how this will fit into my capsule wardrobe. (If I ever get to it. Sometimes I'll all about ideas and I fall on the follow through. I need help with that.) 

The acronym stands for 'Vintage Inspired Four Piece Mini Capsule Wardrobe challenge.' You can see it here!

This challenge is a 4 piece vintage-esqe (1950's) wardrobe. It would be a great travel set for a warm location. I suppose you could make a winter version if you wanted to, but I'm probably not going to do that. I might make a long skirt and a blouse that could transition into fall and maybe early winter with me, but might not make it through deep winter. 

Now the fun part! Let's brainstorm what I might make. 

I like these for the shirts.Both of these shirt patterns are from evadress.com. She makes wonderful reproductions of vintage patterns. So, you know they are authentic!  Plus, they are beautiful.


The shirt on the left I have always loved and I've wanted to make it for awhile. The one on the left I like view 1 but I don't think it would work for my body. So, I would go with view 3.




Now for bottoms.
I'm just going to make a circle skirt with buttons on the back like in the picture on the left here. Maybe tea length or thereabouts.

I'd love to make some shorts like the ones that I have and love to death.
Finding a good shorts pattern is sometimes hard to do. 


  I really like the shorts in this pattern set. Because they are high waisted. And since I'm already high waisted they would be on my natural waist. Thus, making me look slimmer. (And who doesn't like that?)
Yet, I really am starting to think about the pants as an option for later. and after looking at this blog post. I'm thinking about making the top as well. So, I could even use this as the whole set and then make another shirt or even one of the ones above. And a skirt.







While looking for a skirt pattern I found this little beauty! The whole thing would be perfect with the above mentioned shorts. If I buy all these patterns I'll be busy for a long time. (Not that I really need more to do yet) I'm still working on a quilt, a 1880's pioneer costume, my viking costume, and some little things I'm not ready to reveal yet. :) 

Well, I think that's all the brain storming I can deal with at the moment. Just thinking about making new clothes and bringing more into the house after I've decluttered my closet so well just makes me want to go toss out some things that aren't in my capsule wardrobe right now. 

Maybe I should go do that...

I'd love to hear your thoughts on which pattern would work well for a 4 piece vintage wardrobe. I want to make 2 of them in one fabric and 2 in a coordinating, possibly solid, fabric. So that they can be mixed and matched. I don't know which ones I would do yet so I can't go figuring out fabric that I already have down in my stash. My new mantra is *I will not go to the sewing store* 



22 June 2015

Disconnected from the real world

"The average American has lost touch with what food actually is. Most people think that food comes out of a box and sadly it usually does for a large percentage of Americans in today’s world."       original article.

I agree with this statement so much. A lot of people that I know and even people that live in the rural areas, live out of boxes and cans from the super market. I rarely by processed food, but I admit that I do buy the occasional thing. I'm trying to wean us off of it. It isn't healthy for our bodies and it is way more expensive to buy a tiny amount of chemically laden food than it is to produce it myself.

My garden is in full swing and I will soon have some fresh broccoli to use in our kitchen. Beans and watermelons are going in the ground this week and cucumbers are following shortly after.
I planted my permanent gardens on the west side of the house and they seem to be doing quite well there. Asparagus, rhubarb and horseradish were planted although the horseradish has yet to sprout. I have a lot of squash and melons to plant soon. And lots of space for tomatoes and peppers. I am eager to see how these things help us in our goal to not buy so much from the grocery stores any more.

Moving on to meat we have chickens and rabbits right now. We have just added a couple of ducks as a trial run this year. Chickens have been attacked by a fox recently and I did loose a few but I am hoping they bounce back from the scare pretty easily and maybe next year produce some more chicks for us. Something that does bother me though is when people don't understand and ask me ignorant questions because our culture is so used to getting everything that we need at a store, not outside where God intended it to be.

I hate when people ask me how I can kill the cute little bunnies or the chickens. Umm, cause I like to eat? and I want to know that the food I'm putting in my body doesn't have GMOs or chemicals that I choose not to eat in them. I'm going to start asking people this in response, "How can you be so disconnected from your food that you buy it on little plastic trays in a bleached environment covered in plastic?" I know that not everyone can slaughter their own food, and while I don't understand that, there are other options available to get access to GMO free, chemical free, healthy food for your family.

Go to the farmer's market or find a farmer that sells what you are looking for and get to know them and the process they use to bring their animals to slaughter and the feed they are on. For example, I don't have the space to raise beef cows on my property and I'm not sure that I would want to even if I did. So, I buy bison (It's better than beef, trust me) from a neighbor down the street who sells, bison, beef, pork, chickens, rabbits, ducks, geese and lamb. I only get bison and pork from him, the rest I could raise on my own farm a lot cheaper. But, if I didn't want to raise them myself the option is there. If you look around I'm sure that there is an option for healthy and fresh food near you.




15 June 2015

Working on the Chicken Coop-part 1





Our plans for the chicken coop were derailed...because of DH's enforced overtime. (It's just part of the job, I'm not complaining, but it's a lot of work 12 hr days!)  So I ordered chicks with 6 weeks to build the coop. We started building the walls. We didn't have too much experience building buildings from scratch like this, so we had a learning curve. I learned to frame pretty well. And I can drive a nail pretty easily, assuming nobody is watching me and making me nervous.

This is the first wall in the back and the second wall in the foreground. We were working on this from pictures of coops and ideas of plans so we made it up as we went along. You can see some of our other projects in the background as well. 

This is one of the walls that we completed. I was trying to size the window. We ended up doing something completely different when we put it up. But I tried and I got it close enough so it worked. 

So a few weeks go by with just the one wall built. Then the overtime started and we actually got 3 walls framed. I didn't take a picture of the third wall, but it is here when I walled it up.
One of my

Then I put the legs on the bottom of the coop and braced them up. Moving it alone was another story all together.

Above is the bottom flipped over to put the legs on it. This used to be a loft bed that a friend made for me and since it won't fit in our house we are using the pieces of it for other projects. I painted the bottom with exterior paint, in the color that I want to pant the coop. So, sneak peek here. 
Isn't my Krunchee a cute little helper?


One of my awesome neighbors offered to help me carry the base outside so I could get the walls up. I was excited to get some more work done on it. He came over and helped me with that and then said, "What about those walls you have sitting here? You want to get those up too?" I didn't expect him to help me put all that up too while DH was working. I was ecstatic and we carried them out there and I nailed them down. We propped it up and nailed a board across the 2 sides, since that forth wall wasn't built yet. 



Then my wonderful (seriously, not sarcastic here) in-laws came to visit us. My FIN, my DH and I  worked on the coop together. We got the forth wall made, attached to the others and the roof framed. And the best part in my opinion is that we got all the windows framed in and set up. Now all that's left to do is to put the plywood on the outside and on the roof. Then I need to put the roof felt and shingles on and then paint the sides. I'm thinking about adding some little touches to make it look like a house like a window box on one of the windows.  


These are the few pictures I could get of them working while I went to go get some more nails.