jennylafleur | Entries tagged with family

I love how productive and inspiring my friend's list has been lately - such fun!

My weekend was quiet, nursing Mom and taking on "homemaker in residence" duties for the foreseeable future. Dad was a great help of course, we do make a good team.

In between all that (and the couple of migraines that popped up) I beaded the Peacock. I'm really determined to make progress on this project and not be scrambling at the last minute. Embellishment of this nature is no fun under stress. So I channeled all my post-Saucy/Flirty-time inspiration into the Peacock. Nothing like 3 days with costuming buddies to make you want to costume! Watching Downton Abbey helped too of course. :P

I finished the second Peacock panel late last night - yay! So two down, 4 to go. I forgot to log hours on this panel but a rough estimate would be about 35 hours. Based on that I'm estimating the whole bodice will be in the neighborhood of 300 man-hours of pure bodice beading. Plus construction and gown embellishment. I am insane.

Luckily my next costuming event isn't until March (the Williamsburg Costume Symposium which I'm not going to, only crashing the social occasions surrounding it) and I really don't need to make anything for it. I'm tempted to join the redingote crowd that is forming but really I don't know that I'm emotionally ready to re-visit that project. We'll see. It's not like I don't have a closet full of 18t century lovelies I'd love to be photographed in Williamsburg. Hee.

I have Casey's Swing Dress Sew-Along of course, which I really must get myself together on. We are doing muslins this week and I still don't have a fabric or firm plan of what I want to do for that. It will be something from the stash of course so no biggie. I just haven't really thought about it yet. Too many other things going on. :>

So my goal is to get at least one more Peacock panel done before WCS, hopefully more. It will make for rather boring LJ entries I'm afraid. I'll see if I can't come up with other interesting things to post about... :>

To the US veterans reading this, past and present, in the thick of combat or behind a desk, thank you so very much for your service.

I am humbled by your courage and your dedication to excellence. I'm so grateful for your willingness to serve and your many sacrifices to do so. I'm especially proud of my Dad, Mom and sister, all of whom have served/are serving in the US Navy. Thank you for safeguarding my freedoms and this beautiful land I call home.

May God richly bless you and the country you served so diligently.

Last night I went to the local ballroom dance studio's Halloween party after all. I debated about it all day (while I made mini pumpkin cheesecakes for the potluck - which came out yummy although not as good as Costo's pumpkin cheesecake) but in the end I wanted to be a pretty, pretty princess for the evening.

With a whole wardrobe of pretty things to wear I took sage advice from my LJ friends and decided to wear a totally impractical dress for dancing since I didn't want to dance much. I went with my Fire Dress. With the addition of my Golden Diadem it worked well with Mom's Snow Queen costume so we were Fire & Ice. (Bridget gets credit with that idea!)

It was fun to wear the frock again (it had only been worn once!) and it totally worked on the not much dancing front too! After several wardrobe malfunctions during the complimentary Hustle lesson no one but Dad was brave enough to ask me for a dance afterward. Yay! After bustling the train of doom and safety pinning up the underskirt's sweep it wasn’t so bad really. It just took a couple of tries to work out the kinks. I still didn't have much movement in the shoulders but with tall guys (like Dad) it wasn’t much of a problem. So I got to hustle, swing, cha-cha and foxtrot with Daddy, not that Mom got a single pic - shirker!

Mom's newly bling-ed out Snow Queen was very cute. We didn't get any pics of the new detachable bustle (she'll be wearing it again for an event in Dec so we'll get better pics then) but it was very pretty. She also added a lot more face make-up and fiber optic lights to her hair (never did get a good pic of them) and rhinestone snowflakes to the hem of the dress. I'm beginning to wonder if this dress with ever be finished, she has so many more ideas for bling. She is SO funny!

After dance we went to the Ale House for a beer and munchies - it was a good way to end a fun evening.

Man, my summer is just flying by at mach 10! So what's been going around here? Well I'm just back from a lovely couple of days in Newport, Rhode Island. My sister graduated from her 5-week basic training so Dad, Mom and I went up to celebrate with her and cheer her on at her graduation ceremony.

We got to do some site-seeing (Marble House, New Bedford Whaling Museum, downtown Newport) but mostly we simply spent as much time with Bridget as her liberty schedule would allow.

We had some fabulous meals (the seafood in New England is SO good!) and some great family time. The time with B wasn’t long enough of course and we were all sad when we had to part. This living on opposite ends of the country stinks!

We are all so incredibly proud of Bridget though. It was great (if slightly surreal) to see her in uniform and to be part of the US Navy again, if only on the very fringes in my case. I didn’t realize just how much I missed it all since Dad retired. *sigh*

Right before my trip to New England we had our Mary Kay end of the year unit awards (the MK year runs July 1 - June 30th). I achieved my goal of Queen of Sales and was also Most Improved and Miss Go-Give (again!). Wow!!

So next time I pack my bags it will be for Costume College - I'm so excited! I haven’t had much time for sewing lately but that really needs to change now. I've mostly been working on the Diva, which is feeling like an endless bowls of pasta. I've been working and working and while I know I've made progress it's really hard to see it!

I had to take apart the bodice to re-fit it (losing weight does have its disadvantages!). It's mostly put it back together, just the sleeves are left. I also had to take off the trim on the bodice (and un-gather all the trim that I prepped for the skirt in Jan) to fray-check it. All the fray-checking is done so I'm in the process of applying and re-applying the trim. Tedious!

I'm making myself finish it though before I work on anything else. The carrot I'm dangling in front of myself, as a reward for the tedium, is a secret project for the Ice Cream social. Hee.

To the US veterans reading this, both past and present, thank you. It doesn't seem enough, those two little words, but please know that this American is humbled and so grateful by your courage, your dedication and your many sacrifices. May God richly bless you and the country you served so diligently.

I'm home!

Well I'm in Virginia anyway. :P After a 2.5 hour delay in SFO I'm just glad to be out of an airport.

I miss Bridget. A lot.

At least I have fabric to console me! My taffeta was waiting for me and it is lovely! The blue is what I would call a midnight blue while the dark coral is a lovely mellow pumpkin. Someday I will really regret not buying more of it. :P

the pics

Yesterday was Mom's 55th birthday so I threw her a tea party! Poor thing ended up doing more cleaning & helping than I meant her to do as I got slammed with the Worst Migraine of 2008 (TM) on Saturday. Thank goodness for little pills and eye masks.

Needless to say I could not have done it without help. Dad was such a star! It's great to have a guy who is handy in the kitchen, especially when your sister is away. He cut up all the fruit, prepped the ingredients for my quiche, spread and sliced all the sandwiches, made the icing for the German Chocolate cake, did most of the dishes, made 3 trips to the grocery store and got up that morning to go get lovely balloons for the birthday girl. That was after driving up to DC on Saturday to get Mom her gift. I know I brag about my family a lot but seriously my Dad is the best.

The tea was lovely. I don't have a single pic of me of course so you'll have to take my word for it that I was cute. (Well, Casey did post one on her blog but it's not full length.) Mom wanted everyone to wear hats, she even supplied some for those that didn't have one. I definitely had fun with the pink and black theme (Mom's favorite colors). The menu was fun too, although more work. :> And the company of course was the best. It was so special to see so many friends sharing Mom's day, I know she was really touched.

Dude, we need to do another tea again soon!

Ack! What a weekend of costume fun it's been!

Last night B and I went to a reception at the James Monroe Museum. We went in costume because, well, it was more fun that way. :P

I had a good time playing dress-up with my sis, although had I realized we would be the only ones from RCHS to show-up I probably would have skipped it. There was supposed to be a whole group of us and it was a bit of a crazy weekend for me. However, we didn't know we were the only ones until we got there. Oh well, everyone else missed out. The food was really good and both B and I were a having rather fabulous hair day. Does anything else really matter? :>

*waves* First I would like to give huge thanks to everyone who wrote to encourage me and check up on me during my LJ hiatus. A very special thank you for the chocolates & postcards. You guys really are the best.

I meant to break my hiatus long before this but by the time I was ready to come back my trip to San Diego was suddenly upon me. The trip was incredible as I celebrated the wedding of my dearest Maegan. I went out almost a week early for my maid of honor duties, to generally help out and spend some time with M before her big day. It was the best week ever, if emotional and a bit crazy toward the end. It was just what I needed. To be home in SD again, be with dear friends, spend time with my family and away from my office... exactly what I needed to recharge my batteries... once I catch up on my sleep that is!

I've posted a few favorite pics (I took about 550 while I was away!) starting at the bachelorette party Bridget & I threw for the girls. There are more to come, at least I hope so as there aren't many of me on my camera. The professional ones of the wedding party in Balboa Park are the ones I can't WAIT to see - woo hoo! My pics are here:

http://www.jennylafleur.com/pic/2008.0229/album

( What else have I been up? )

Well I'm off for a fun filled day of DC site-seeing and then Dallas for the Mary Kay Seminar. I'll see you guys when I get back - don't have too much fun while I'm gone! :>

Thank you so much for all your kind words and responses to my pics and new painting! Sorry for the delay of my responses. I was hoping to get back to the chemise dress this week, or maybe start on the Victorian corset, but real life will keep getting in the way in the most annoying way. The Mother-Daughter tea I'm helping to plan is sucking away my free time this week. I know I keep complaining about it but although it was not exactly my plan, it's been a good thing.

Maybe I'll get some sewing time in next week. Although with Bridget's graduation celebration to prep for the following weekend I'm not holding my breath. So since when did May become party planning month? :P

I'm back home, safe and sound. We drive through the night last night to avoid snow so we are all exhausted but we did avoid the snow. We had rain and gusty wind but that was about it.

I'm not sure I'm all that glad to be home but I am glad to be out of that car! More posting later... I found some pretty fabric goodies to share in Colorado and Kansas *evil grin*

Thanks all so much for your posts and support. I didn't have time to reply but I was able to check them throughout the trip and they cheered me up no end. Thank you. :>

We made it to Pueblo, Colorado this afternoon. We drove straight through, 28 hours door to door. I wasn’t too bad with four of us driving (I got part of Kentucky and the Kansas/Colorado border stage) but we are all super tired. After the afternoon and dinner with family, we are even more so! :P I'll be collapsing into bed in a few minutes. The funeral is Thursday so we have a day to recover a bit tomorrow, which is good.

My web based email appears to be down so looks like LJ is the best way to reach me at the moment. Thank you so much for all your condolences, I feel so blessed to be supported by you'all. Merci mon amies.

Thanks also for the help with the compère question - so helpful!

Bed is a-calling...

As some of you know, my Grandpa passed away this week. I wanted to let you know that I will be in Colorado all next week (or rather driving on my way to, staying a few days and then on my way back) for the funeral.

I will have my cell phone and computer access (via Bridget's computer) if anyone needs to get a hold of me. Although I don't know how much internet time I'll actually have so don't be surprised if responses are delayed. :>

I'm taking my quilted petticoat and pocket with me, wouldn't it be nice if I could finish them while I'm away? :P

I didn’t get too much sewing done today. I am in a baking mood so I spent most of my day making a mushroom quiche and some carrot & oatmeal cookies. Oh yes and cleaning up the kitchen before and after. The quiche was very good, especially as I took the time to make the pastry this time but the cookies need some perfecting. I burned the first batch and overcooked the second. I’m a wiz at pastry & sauces but cakes & cookies are not really my thing. Practice makes perfect, right?

I did get the channels in the back done and the pieces trimmed. I also cut out the lining pieces. I decided that I preferred the “plain” side better so I won’t be showing the stitching after all. Beyond the large channel issue, I did a rather sloppy job with the stitching and I just a-soon hide it. Mom’s take on the subject was that it didn’t look like a corset if you couldn’t see the stitching. :>I’ve never had one like this actually so we will see if I like it.

I had the seams almost all pinned together when I realized that I’d forgotten the horizontal bust bones and to cut the tabs. The tabs are marked on the interlining and I’d planned on attaching those casings to the inside so I have to take them all apart now.

I think I’ll just call it a day. Bridget is expected home any minute. We are going out for Chinese for dinner and then a family game afterwards. Sounds like a good stopping point to me! :>

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Jenny La Fleur

adventures in costuming

a full plate

Veteran's Day

dancing & dressing up

a very proud sister

Veteran's Day

home again

happy birthday Mom

a Monroe reception

while I was away

bye-bye for now

a lack of sewing

home again

safe if not quite sound :>

away for the week

more channels

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July 2014

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