Adventures · Wordless Wednesdays

Wordless Wednesday- Disney Golden Figures

These were some of the golden 50th Anniversary figures they had throughout the park. If you had a fancy bracelet for the parks, they made noises!

My favorite- Edna Mode!

Frozone

Miguel and Dante

Rocky Raccoon

Olaf

Winnie the Pooh and Piglet!

Adventures · Gardening · Wordless Wednesdays

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday- Maine Coastal Botanical Garden- Dahlia Garden

Hey Mom, remember when Grandma found the “dahlia” plant growing in her driveway? 🙂

I think that was diatomaceous earth on the dahlias to keep some bugs off of them naturally.
Adventures · Sewing

Disney Sewing

I did some sewing, of course, for my Disney girl’s trip and thought I should share it! The first three are embroideries that I was playing around with with a possible intention to making something for the trip. They didn’t get made into anything, but they are Disney themed and pretty to look at. The first one is, of course, Cinderella’s Carriage.

The second one is the Beast’s rose. I accidently put part of the pink where the golden lines was supposed to go. I think it still looks good though.

This third one is Ariel, but the colors are slightly off from what I wanted them to be. I really liked the background fabric though and wanted to keep the colors matching that. I will maybe redo it. K said she liked it, so perhaps she will get something made it with. I hadn’t cut the extra threads yet in the picture.

I made this shirt for Disney bounding, which is where you dress up themed as a character without actually being dressed in a character costume. I went as Rapunzel, because, of course I did. 🙂 I braided my hair and put flowers all down my braid. The purple skort in the picture below has pockets and matched the purple in the shirt perfectly. I also had a sun necklace and a set of frying pan earrings. In the movie, which is where these images on the shirt are from, Rapunzel wields a frying pan several times to great effect. It was the day it rained so in the next picture, I have my cozy Disney hoodie I bought so I wouldn’t freeze. We kept saying we didn’t intend to bring the cold winter weather from home with us to Florida.

I made the purple skort by combining two separate patterns. I used my favorite skort pattern and then added pockets from a gathered skort pattern I had. It turned out super cute, although I made have to redo the waist as it is a little loose.

I made this rocket shirt on a whim and was excited to wear it to Epcot. It’s very comfy and cute! I liked getting to wear something science themed there. I also was excited to wear something I made on the day we went to the Festival of the Arts! It seemed like it fit with the theme as well. Both the Rapunzel tee and the rocket tee are from Peek a boo Patterns, but I think they may have retired the pattern, as I can’t find it on their website to purchase any more.

I also made another skort that was accidently reminiscent of Jasmine or Merida. It was a darker teal with gold dots on it. I liked it and it was made out of athletic material (as was the purple) so it kept me nice and cool. I don’t have a good picture of it, unfortunately. It’s super cute though! It’s a little gathered, so it looks like I’m wearing a cute gathered skirt, but it’s got the shorts and the pockets too.

It was fun to have an almost completely handmade wardrobe to wear on the trip and I think I’m getting my sewing mojo back. I hope you enjoyed hearing about them!

Adventures · Gardening

Glass Flowers Exhibit

I have a fascinating exhibit to show you today from our out East Trip. You may get sick of seeing things from out there eventually, but I hope not! The trip was a bright spot in a really awful time of change in our lives. (I was in the process of managing a difficult time at work.) I haven’t felt like much myself for a while, but am slowly getting back there, so have a back log to catch you up on.

Today’s post is about the Blaschka’s Glass Flowers that are part of the permanent collection in the Harvard Natural History Museum. The website is here for more info or for a virtual tour. https://hmnh.harvard.edu/glass-flowers

Made from glass as teaching aids, the flowers were made by a Czech father and son team- Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, over 50 years from 1886-1936. They produced 4,300 glass models representing 780 plant species. They created special processes to capture the textures, looks, and parts of a plant. There were a lot more models than I could take pictures of and some of them did have a glare from the lights, so I was only able to grab a few pictures, but I wanted to share them with you.

The Blascka’s were frustrated with the lack of teaching materials for botanists and others trying to learn about the natural world and so decided they were going to make their own. If you saw some of these just out in the wild, you would honestly think they were real flowers. They were incredibly detailed.

I’m always in awe of what artisans can do and this exhibit was no exception. The craftsmanship and care that was taken with these plant artifacts is stunning. Part of the exhibit also included information about what it takes to be a conservator for exhibits like these, restoration, and other neat behind the scenes things. The exhibit went through a renovation in 2016 and it looks gorgeous. If you get the chance, I would highly recommend the Harvard set of museums. If you buy a ticket to the Natural History Museum, you get admission to four other smaller museums for the day as well. It’s definitely worth the price! I’ll leave you with one last picture to enjoy as inspiration for your trip.

Adventures · Sewing · Wordless Wednesdays

Wordless Wednesday- Art Deco Quilts

These are all from the National Quilt and Sewing Expo. I always take a million pictures, but there’s so many cool quilts! These were all Art Deco style!

Adventures · Wordless Wednesdays

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday- Harvard Museum of Scientific Instruments

Here’s the website for the museum. https://chsi.harvard.edu/

They had a small part of their collection in the museum itself and a larger part in the the online catalog, so I would recommend taking yourself on a virtual tour to see more.