“But perhaps the most important lesson I learned is that there are no walls between humans and the elephants except those that we put up ourselves, and that until we allow not only elephants, but all living creatures their place in the sun, we can never be whole ourselves.” ― Lawrence Anthony, The Elephant Whisperer
“Never break a promise to an animal. They’re like babies—they won’t understand.” – Tamora Pierce, Wild Magic
“The household cat is really a tiger that has underwent three counselling programs.” – Valeriu Butulescu
We went on a date to the sunflower fields at a local orchard and it was lovely! We took home two blooms, a charcuterie board, and two glasses of wine- peach and raspberry.
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!
We went to the Sarett Nature Center when we went to the west side of Michigan for Memorial Day. I just haven’t found the time to post about it yet. It was small, but had some really cool trails. There was even a small low ropes course in the woods! Here’s the website and some pictures.
We were greeted by the animal tracks from the featured picture, a loud bullfrog, and two buckets of carnivorous plants. (Listen, no matter what the Husband says, I was not attempting to push him into the bucket of carnivorous plants. He just happened to be standing next to it.) These were a type of pitcher plant. I think maybe we need to plant some around our house to eat all the mosquitos.
These were different tree rings from Michigan trees. The one at the bottom showed the age of the tree when historical events happened. It was really big!
These were Indigenous artifacts used by the tribes in the area. They had a nice display about the tribes and land they occupied.
They also had some skulls and other things. These were a moose and a white tailed deer.
There was an owl suspended from the ceiling in the bird and butterfly viewing area, which startled me a little. It kept turning, so it was hard to get a good picture. I enjoyed learning about the native birds and the ecosystem.
There were also some creatures! This is a chameleon and they had some turtles, frogs, and other lizards, as well as bugs.
Look at the long legs on that turtle on the right! Who knew they were so leggy? Kinda freaks me out, if I’m honest.
This iguana was super grumpy and judgy. I think I messed up his nap or something. 🙂 He had a very distinguished name that I now can’t remember, so maybe that’s just his normal resting face.
We even got to play in the woods before walking the trails! They had a cute little ropes course along the side of the trail that we climbed on. I’m super paranoid about poison ivy after getting it last year, so I wasn’t as brave as I could have been, but I kept seeing it along the side. The parts I did go on were really fun though!
We had a really good time. You’ll see some more pictures from the Nature Center in a tree picture post shortly too, but I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing these. It’s definitely motivated me to find some more nature centers and see what they have to offer!
“And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half thousand years, the ring passed out of all knowledge.” ― Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings
“A perfect house, whether you like food or sleep or story-telling or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all.’ Merely to be there was a cure for weariness, fear, and sadness.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
“Home is behind, the world ahead, and there are many paths to tread through shadows to the edge of night, until the stars are all alight.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
“Where there’s life there’s hope, and need of vittles.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
“All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
A lot of my sewing groups have been running extra challenges with fun prizes and percentages off patterns, so you know I’ve been abandoning my previous projects like a snake shedding skin. 🙂 For this particular challenge though, I was able to fill a couple of wardrobe holes.
The idea of a Capsule Wardrobe has it’s roots in minimalist culture as a way to get the most out of a few pieces. They are all supposed to mix and match, so you have lots of options. Generally this means picking a focus fabric and carefully thinking about prints.
I called it my “Picture Perfect” Capsule, because I needed a few new work things, especially something for my new headshot. I had planned to sew up mostly solids and did succeed in getting some more made. I had to abandon part of it though, as I ran out of tracing paper.
This particular challenge was sponsored by Made for Mermaids and Patterns for Pirates. They are PDF pattern companies run by two sisters. The vibes are similar. Made for Mermaids tends to be softer and more flowy. Pirates seems to have more sleek things. I have a bunch of patterns from both, so was excited to use new ones. The deal was that you had to use only patterns from both companies and you could mash them together if you wanted to. You had to have 9 items total and could use up to four previously made items.
Mine ended up being almost all Patterns for Pirates by accident. More of them fit into my capsule idea and I ran out of time and tracing paper to include the Eloise and the Lauren from Made for Mermaids. Here’s what my original concept was:
It took me a while to combine the fabrics, as I didn’t start with a main fabric. Once I realized that having a main fabric would help pull everything together, I settled on this one: a floral Liverpool with a navy background.
After that I pulled a couple of coordinating colored fabrics. The purple rayon spandex below really wanted to be an Eloise and I have it cut out, just not finished yet. The glittery blue is actually on a black background and is ITY, which is a cool, slippery feeling fabric. The flamingo is a rayon challis, I believe. The green next to it is another rayon spandex, but it’s thicker and more slinky feeling than the purple. It could possibly be bamboo rayon, but I’ve never felt that, so I don’t know for sure.
The main dress is a Patterns for Pirates Sweetheart Dress. It has a full circle skirt and is very dramatic and excellent for twirling. I may have twirled every time I got compliments on it. 😉
The only thing I didn’t like is that the neckline feels like it’s strangling me. I’m going to scoop it out lower for comfort.
My original pre-made items (we were allowed 4) for my capsule were a pair of grey leggings, a navy floral Brunch Blouse from P4P and a grey cardigan. I switched it up at the end as the cardi didn’t really go and I was running behind on time. I decided that after all the work clothes, I would probably need an after work outfit and used my vaccination outfit as my final two pieces.
This is the Made for Mermaid Penelope dress. I have been waiting a long time to make it, as it seemed very complicated. It has princess seams which run straight down from the shoulders, making it drape nicely and flare at the bottom. It has cap, short, 3/4, and long sleeve options. It also has mini, knee, and maxi length skirt options. My sleeves were slightly longer than the short sleeve.
This is fine in the front for work, but is a bit shorter than it probably should be, due to my curves at the back. I’ll most likely be wearing this with leggings or shorts when I do wear it to work. I really like how it looks on me and will definitely make more.
This beauty is the Patterns for Pirates Gala Gown in the knee length option. It’s made out of ITY, which stands for Interlock Twisted Yarn. It’s silky, slippery, and cool to the touch. It also rolls like crazy and was super annoying to sew! I wore this dress for my professional headshot and it made me feel special and confident. It’s got a fantastic twirl factor too. The pattern is complicated, with many pieces, but not difficult to put together. I did forget to add in the pockets though.
I love it and had a grand time swishing around in it. It also looks flattering on pretty much everyone that I have seen make it. I’m interested to try it with some other fabrics.
This is a Brunch Blouse from Patterns for Pirates. I think it’s rayon challis. It’s nice and drapey to wear. I switched this out for the Eloise.
I made pants to go with it! They are super comfy! I have been irrationally afraid to make the Patterns for Pirates SOS pants for a while, but they weren’t that hard to make. I do need to grade out at the hips. This pair has some pulling in the seams. But I do have plans to make more with my fancy pants fabrics. Excuse the wrinkles, I forgot pictures before wearing them.
Overall, it was fun to push myself to try new and somewhat intimidating patterns. I will make all of them again and it’s boosted my confidence in trying more of my patterns. I should be on a pattern buying ban, but we all know that’ll never happen. 😂
I think I’ll go find some more capsule options and work on filling my wardrobe holes next! Wish me luck!
I thought it was really interesting to see the sculptures that were set up for the annual Zoo Lights when we were there the other week, so I thought I’d share them with you.
