Birthday parties are a good excuse to glam up for an evening!

Just started another dress – same pattern, different fabric. I am tweaking where the waist of the dress sits on my waist, so we’ll see how this one comes out. I’m also starting another dress (new pattern), which I’ll post more about later.

I’m really looking forward to the fall season. We had our first pumpkin pie last night, in honor of Neal’s birthday. It was so delicious. I used the leftover pumpkin puree to make some pumpkin scones this morning. And it is raining in L.A. Sounds like fall to me!

Pumpkin Scones

Mix:
1 1/2 cups flour (any kind)
1/2 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp ground flax seed
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

Cut in:
3 Tbsp cold butter
until mixture resembles coarse crumbs

Add:
2/3 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup nonfat plain yogurt or buttermilk (I added a bit more of this after mixing a bit to add some moisture)
1 tsp vanilla

Pat into a 8″ circle with well floured hands, onto a greased baking sheet. Cut into 8 wedges and sprinkle top with 2 tsp. coarse sugar.

Bake 20–25 min at 375 degrees until golden.

It’s hard to believe that October is already in swing! This summer went by so quickly, but ended with a lovely trip to Oregon. Our friends Jason and Megan got married, we saw lots of family and friends, and ate a lot! It was a really great trip. I used the wedding as an excuse to make a new dress (but who really needs an excuse – it’s a new dress!). Here is a photo of me and Neal:

And now we’re back in L.A., getting back into regular life. Design work, teaching, basketball, social engagements are on my agenda. Hmm… what to sew next?

Just finished up this skirt – lovely indeed! The pattern is from Colette Patterns.

Have a good weekend!

We started off the morning with a rush to get Neal to work in time for a meeting. When I came home, I decided to do a thorough kitchen cleaning. We’ve had some ant issues in the past few weeks, and I thought a scrub down might do some good. In the midst of my cleaning there was a knock at the door. I assumed it was our neighbor, but when I looked through the peep hole I saw a UPS deliveryman. He had a huge box for me – a box that I could fit into standing up! And it wasn’t light – the poor deliveryman was huffing and puffing from carrying the box up three flights of stairs.

And much to my surprise, the contents of the box was a beautiful dress form, shipped from Oregon! I wish that someone could have been around when I opened the box as a witness to the huge smile on my face. If only the kitty could talk.

The dress form is basically the dress form of my dreams. It is in pristine condition, is almost exactly my current measurements, and is just a beautiful object in general. I can’t say THANK YOU enough to my wonderful family for this early birthday surprise!!!!

If you’d like to see more details, there are a few additional photos here.

At last, some photos of my blue 1950’s dress. I desaturated the background because the colors were bright and rather distracting. The blue in the photos is the true color of the dress – it is really beautiful fabric! And it has pockets, which I simply adore in a dress.

(You can click on the image to see it larger).

This dress was made using McCalls pattern #4769. I made it at the ever-awesome Sew L.A., of course! I was fortunate in that the bodice fit me pretty well without having to make any major adjustments to the pattern. I altered the sleeve pattern into a cap sleeve, which I am very pleased with. And I didn’t use the pattern pieces for the skirt. Instead, I just used some strips of fabric and gathered them at the waist.

It is a bit too hot to wear the dress in L.A. right now – talk about sweat marks! But I look forward to donning this dress in the fall and winter months.

I had some peaches that were beginning to look sad and wrinkled. I searched for some recipes that involved peaches, but decided to use a basic bran muffin recipe and modify it a bit. Here is the result – delicious!

Peach Banana Bran Muffins
Makes 12 muffins; 150 calories per muffin

1 1/2 cups wheat bran
1 cup milk or buttermilk (I used 1% milk)
1/6 cup canola oil
1 egg
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ripe banana, mashed
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp. ground flax seed
3 peaches, peeled and diced
1/4 cup craisins or raisins

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease muffin cups or line with paper liners.
2. Mix together wheat bran and milk. Let stand for 10 min.
3. Beat together oil, egg, sugar, vanilla, and banana. Add to bran/milk mixture. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flax. Stir flour mixture into bran mixture until just blended. Fold in peaches and craisins and spoon batter into prepared muffin tins.
4. Bake for 15-20 min, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

If anyone is interested in the original recipe to compare with what I made, you can find it here.

Bees on a baby! Sounds dangerous! But oh-so cute.

I sewed up this dress for a friend’s baby girl – its a great pattern and I expect that I’ll be making more of these for babies to come. Grey C also approves.

I finished the hem on my 1950’s dress – now its just sewing on the buttons and then I can model it for you. I think it turned out really nice. I also have plans to make a variety of other things in the near future, including:

• Party dress in Garden fabric
• Party dress in Blue Bee fabric
• Colette skirt in Blue Linen
• Vintage skirt in Flowery home dec weight fabric
• Finish up the tank top I started oh-so long ago
• ____________________ (there must be more)

Its been very nice here over the past few days. Really clear skies with pretty clouds – a rare treat in smoggy L.A. I went hiking on Tuesday night and was treated to a beautiful blue and pink sunset at the top of the hill. Sorry, no photos of that.

We’ve been going climbing over the weekends, which is really fun. I’m not very good but am determined to improve.

There are a few more recent photos on Flickr (here).

And finally I have some business cards for The Aesthetics Department! Photos coming soon. Have a great rest of your week!

When in doubt, just post a picture of your cat.

I finished up my “1950’s Dress” last weekend. Actually I need to hem the bottom and sew the buttons on, but once those are done I’ll post photos. Seems like I have a few other projects to post too… we’ll see what I can drum up. Tonight I’ll start training to teach the Pajama Pants class. It will be fun to teach a full project class.

This morning Neal and I went to the DMV to acquire California drivers licenses. The process went smoothly and we both past the written test. Neal even passed the motorcycle permit test, so he’ll be able to ride alongside his dad when we’re visiting in September.

Have a good day!

Just launched my new website: The Aesthetics Department

Check it out!