Labelled.

Sometimes a skein of wool yarn is labelled "virgin wool," implying that the skein was made from the first shearing of a sheep.  The first shearing is considered the best because it is the softest.

If this is true and factual, then I ask you, what in the world is this?

Bigger on the Inside.

As some of you may remember, I wrote a post a while back featuring my Doctor Who inspired scarf.  It was a great way to show off my fandom and was a lot of fun to make.

For those of you who may not know, the Doctor travels around in his TARDIS, which is a time-travel space ship.
Essentially it looks like this:

Picture from Wikipedia.  That's credible, right?

The TARDIS is an iconic piece of "Doctor Who" for fans everywhere.  It is instantly recognizable. 

I'm not sure where I got this. Oops.  (I love the Tenth Doctor, by the way.)

The other day a wild idea popped into my head.  "If I can't make a real TARDIS, why not make the closest thing to it?" I thought.
Yesterday saw the idea take form.  Eight hours, three empty spools, and a broken needle later, I have this.

Quite possibly the Coolest Thing Ever Made.

It is made of twill fabric and is quilted in the design of the TARDIS's panels.

I kept the design relatively simple.  I didn't want to go overboard on the details; I just wanted the basic, instantly-recognizable look.

I made an adjustable strap, which (embarrassingly) took me forever to work out how to put it together. :}

Here is my TARDIS bag with my Doctor Who favorites: the mini scarf and my journal that looks like River Song's journal (Spoilers!).

And for those of you who are wondering if it's bigger on the inside, come and see for yourself.  :)

Just for fun. :)

Either people will laugh, or I will get beaten up for this... ;)

Camera Cozy and a Dress for Tiny Felicity

Some of you might remember my first post called A Window Into the Past... which described using vintage fabric as a sort of portal (not literally) into a specific time when the fabric was made.  I have recently been messing around with this fabric once more.  

About a week ago, I decided that my camera needed a new case.  The old one was also handmade, but it was very much, shall we say, a prototype.  Not very well done at all.

I decided that, like the previous case, this new-and-improved one should also be quilted.
I quilted it much more tightly  so that it would look right.

The new case was also meant to show off my knitting skills.

I knitted a simple stockinette stitch sleeve and used a knitting spool to craft the wristband.

The quilted section I put on the inside with the knitted sleeve covering it.
The two layers are connected at the wristband and button only.  The rest is left open.  They fit so snugly together that I did not need to sew them into one piece completely.

A picture to show the inside.  The case (amazingly!) fits like a glove on the camera. :)

The second project I completed this week was a dress for my first sister's doll, Felicity.  I should mention that her Felicity doll is a mini one.
It was like sewing a dress for Thumbelina. ;)

First Sister was ecstatic with the results.  Doesn't Felicity look cute?

And yes, this is the second post this week with dolls in it.  Hey, I'm a girl.  I'm allowed.  ;)

Meet Me in St. Louis

Warning: Excessive amount of doll pictures.  If you are offended by  an unusual number of dolls photographed, you might not want to read further. ;)
This Sunday my family and I went to St. Louis for the day.  It is one of our favorite places to go because there are so many things to do in St. Louis for free that appeal to everyone.
This Sunday was an exception to that appeal for everyone, at least for a little while. 
We went to the American Girl store.

It was a true dream-come-true for myself and my younger sisters.  :D

The store opened in March of this year, and from what I can tell, it's been going great for AG.   :)

The amount of dolls in that store was stunning.  They had dolls in the displays, underneath the displays, and on wall-to-wall shelves.
It was incredible!

They even had armies of dolls!  ;)

The store had a mini Bistro, which was really cute.  I took a picture of the light fixtures.  The bubbly one in the center is my favorite.

I had to take a picture of the Josefina display.  Josefina is my favorite.

They had the tiny weaving loom on display that I've seen in catalogues for years and always wondered what it looked like in real life.
It looks like it would be rather difficult to set up for a young girl, in my opinion.

I also took a picture of the Kaya display.  You can see her horse, Steps High and her dog with his own travois for carrying things.

To be honest, I kept hold of myself pretty well until I saw Kaya's tepee.
This was the best picture I took of it. 

When I was 13, I received a mini Kaya doll for Christmas. I consequently made tepees out of chop sticks and brown fabric for Kaya.  It was one of the best Christmases ever. ;)

I didn't realize that AG is still selling mini dolls of the retired characters like Kirsten and Samantha.  You can see them on the far right.

After a while though, my dad and brothers were done with standing around awkwardly while we girls jumped up and down enthusiastically.  I am so grateful that they waited patiently for us.  I can imagine what it was like for them.   They told us all the hardship and ridicule they received from other customers. All. The. Way. Home.

Afterwards, we went to the St. Louis History Museum.
It's a pretty impressive place.

A statue of Thomas Jefferson in the main entryway.  The museum was made for the St. Louis World's Fair  and was a part of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.  Jefferson was President at the time and a necessary driving force of the Purchase and the subsequent Lewis and Clark Expedition.

There was a small exhibit on weaving in the back room.
This is pretty much the only picture I took of it because my camera's battery died.

The history museum was followed by the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica, which was beautiful as always.  Later we stood underneath the Arch and walked through the underground museum.
It was a great day.

Horseshoe Lake

Today was a rare day.  It was one of the very few days when my dad, my brother, and I were all off of work.  Mom and Dad decided to go on a drive to nearby Horseshoe Lake in Illinois.
It had been a while since we had all gone out there, probably around six years.

The lake is more or less a small swamp, complete with cypress trees and stagnant water. ;)

Cypress trees are always cool to see.  They grow in relatively stagnant water about two to three feet deep.

We stopped at a good lookout point, complete with a mini pier!
We had a great time, until my second brother noticed this:

 The top of the deck was just fine, but those support beams looked a little sketchy!

I tried a little forced perspective with my point-and-shoot Nikon.  What do you think?

A little farther on down the road the lake changed into a huge pool of gigantic lilypads.  It reminded me of the end of "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" when the children are boating through a sea of white waterlilies. 

At this point my camera battery was dying, so I quickly snapped a picture of this tiny fairy-like scene.  

God bless!

Elvish Waybread

I mentioned in previous post that I am a part of a group studying "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring."  Early on it was suggested that someone from the group needed to find a recipe for lembas bread, or Elvish waybread.  It is described in the book and shows up a few times in all the movie adaptations.
I found a recipe from Brielle's Costumes blog some months ago and saved it to my computer.
Tonight, it was shared with the group. 

It is like shortbread, just like the recipe states.  Very crumbly, buttery, and sweet.  

You've noticed by now that I added leaves for effect.  In the books,  it is said that the bread was wrapped in elvish leaves, which kept the bread sweet.
Since Wal-Mart had no elvish leaves, I decided to go with the biggest leaves I could find, which were collared greens.  :)  It worked.  

Collared greens are nasty, by the way.  :}

Predictability

As I look through old newspapers for my research job, sometimes I find interesting and odd pieces from the past.
Take, for instance, this editorial cartoon from the 1952 St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

With all the various shapes and sizes of the cars we see today, this gives a funny look at what it was like so early on in car history.  Well, at least in Ford's history. ;)

At any rate, I recommend you look through your local newspaper's archives, if they are available.  They provide fascinating insight to life at any given point in history as far back as the newspaper goes.

God Bless!

A Rather Gray View

Good evening, everyone.
I know that I have been very irregular in my posting.  I decided to post tonight before the craziness of this work week begins.  I simply do not have the time during the week.  If I do, I'm usually catching up on my reading.

http://prepfection.tumblr.com/post/25399547156/findyourlife-the-books-of-our-lives

Which leads me to my first topic.
I have just finished re-reading, "The Scarlet Pimpernel" for only the second time.  Shameful, I know.  I forgot just how wonderfully romantic that book is.  The way that Marguerite and Sir Percy are so far apart in the beginning of the book reminds me so much of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy's relationship for a good part of "Pride and Prejudice." (Which reminds me, I really need to re-read that book, too.)

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/lady+blakeney

Anyway, now I'm reading a biography of Voltaire and his relationship with Emilie du Chatelet.  It's an interesting book, although one can learn too much about historical figures.  One piece that I found intriguing was the fact that actresses in the 18th century were considered outcasts.  I realized then that if Sir Percy were a real person/aristocrat, then there would have been no way that he would have married Marguerite St. Just, an actress.  It would have been (gasp!) beneath him.  You can conjecture for yourself then that if Sir Percy was a real person that he would have married her for love and would have foregone all rules of class and aristocracy or would not have married her at all.  Personally (and I think I speak for all die-hard TSP fans) that he would have been the former, not the latter.
(I'm probably going to be slammed for this.;)Moving on.
I bought two books at Barnes and Noble today: "To Kill A Mockingbird" and "North and South."  The first one is more or less stocking up for future reference, but the second one is definitely for enjoyment.  Ever since I watched the 2004 miniseries version of "North and South," I have been wanting very badly to read the book.  I mean, who doesn't want to read about John Thorton? ;)

http://media-cache-ec0.pinterest.com/upload/223772675205025602_XFPYApAJ.jpg

I found a beautiful gray a-line skirt at JC Penney's today as well.  It is almost identical to a skirt my mom bought for me at Cato two and a half years ago for my Confirmation.

www.jcpenny.com

 I have grown to love it as a must-have in my daily wardrobe.  Gray is a great color that works for every season. 

I have also decided to purchase this lovely gray pea coat from Victorian Trading Company.  I love the lower half of the sleeves.  So puffy and whimsical. :)  I suppose wearing color gray is something that Jane Eyre and I have in common. ;)

Last but not least, a song by The Piano Guys, my new favorite music group.  This one just sound like summer, doesn't it? :)

Somewhere Over the Rainbow/Simple Gifts

P.S.  I just realized how much gray there is in the post.  Unintended, I assure you.