Happy Halloween Everyone!
(p.s. for those following my job hunt: I got one!)
My moment in the internet spotlight
I have the pleasure of being the "featured member" this week on Burdastyle. Feel free to check out my interview on their blog!
If you're a visitor from the Burdastyle - welcome! Take a moment to look around the site and don't forget to enter in the pincushion giveaway !
Tagged!
I was tagged by StinaStuff to list seven random things about myself - I'll be answering the questions from the giveaway at the end of the month, but these may sate your wondering about me appetite for now. 1. Not including family members and Mr. Cleaver, I've had 18 different roommates over the years.
Here are some of them:
2. I've played the celtic harp since I was 12, though I haven't lived in the same state as my harp for the past five years, so you could say I'm a little rusty. I could, however, probably still play you "Scarborough Fair."
3. In 6th grade I was literally head and shoulders above my classmates, I'm still fairly tall (5'9"), but it seems as though everyone else caught up.
4. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone; The Giving Tree; and Yes, Virginia There is a Santa Claus are just a few of the books I own in Latin, along with things like the Aenid and Metamorphoses. I also own a cookbook of ancient Roman recipes.
5. I absolutely adore carousels - the older the better. And before I ride one I always watch a couple of go-arounds to pick out the best horse/creature.
6. I am comfortable using a table saw, a jigsaw, band saw, a drill press, and pneumatic nail gun. For my scene shop final in college I made a wooden marionette from scratch. His name is Frank and his feet are disproportionally small to the rest of his body. I am no Geppetto.
7. I know how to use a semicolon.
I'm going to tag
One-Year Blogaversary!
Blogaversary - that's a word right? If not, I'm using it anyway.
Yes, today is my one year blogaversary - a year ago I decided to start blogging and 88 posts later, here we are. I'm amazed at how this has grown: it's grown an audience (30 subscribers, according to google reader!), it's grown in scope, and it's grown into an important part of my life.
So thank you to all the family, friends, and new friends who read this thing. Some of you I know and some of you I don't , but in thanks to you all and in honor of the blogaversary, I'd like to do my first giveaway:
I whipped up this little pincushion yesterday out of some of my favorite fabrics, filled it with eco-friendly stuffing, tied it with ribbon left-over from my wedding, and topped it off with a faux pearl from a vintage necklace. It looks like a little gift, doesn't it? And really, who doesn't need more pincushions?
To be eligible to win please leave a comment below with the following info:
- Why you read "Ms. Cleaver Chronicles" and if there's anything you'd like to see more of here.
- A question you'd like to know about me, which I will answer in an upcoming post.
I'll pick winner the old fashion way, out of a hat, and I'll contact the winner by email.
Entries will be accepted until October 31st and I'll post the winner November 1st.
Thanks for reading and good luck!
(ps - I know not everyone who read this blog sews and I'm planning on a non-sewing-related give-away in the near future)
It's a Mod Mod World
I really think I'm at my best when I'm sewing dresses. This dress, which is the Zoe pattern from Burdastyle, is the first piece I've done that I feel looks 100% professional, inside and out.
The pattern itself is pretty simple, with a total of seven pieces. I did have to make a few alterations to make this dress work for me though, something I'm slowly getting better at.
I added about three inches to the length of the skirt, because I wanted it to be work-appropriate. And really, can you imagine if this was three inches shorter - yeesh! It would be positive indecent on someone of my height. I also, like many people, had to add a pair of darts down the front, because I can't pull off the "sack" look. The material is a fantastic wool or wool blend that I snagged from the remnants section of Vogue Fabrics back in my "stock-up-because-I-don't-know-what-my-fabric-store-selection-will-be-like-in-Portland" phase. It's fairly stretchy and oh so soft. I used the material "wrong" side out because I loved the slightly fuzzy nap of it - it seemed so fall/winter-appropriate that way. I think I may need to knit a black beret just to go with this dress.
And boy is it fall. The colors are peaking right now and its absolutely gorgeous - it's like the trees are on fire (in a good way).
Once again, I have to give a big shot-out to Mr. Cleaver, who helped with the photos (and it starting to get pickier with his shots :p). And here's a bonus outtake, just for fun:
In other news, I have job interview #4 tomorrow, I now own a couch, and you should keep your eyes out this weekend for that surprise.
Anniversary Trip
As you know, last week was Mr. Cleaver and I's one-year anniversary. As part of our celebration we returned to the site of our "first" date: Bradbury Mountain. We call it our first date now, but I use quotation marks because at the time I didn't realize it was a date. This was not the first time I went on a date and didn't know it either. That probably tells you a lot about me right there. But I'm more than happy to call it a first date in retrospect.
It was a beautiful day. The color was in it's early stages (it's peaking gloriously right now), but it was beautiful nonetheless.
Oh and stay tuned this week for a new sewing project reveal and a surprise!
Taking in the Season
I am not alone in my love of fall in the blogsphere. It seems ever blog I read in is love with the colors, flavors, textures, and crispness of fall.
I love fall for all the usual suspects: apple cider, the sense of renewal, school supplies, the scent of the air. I also have a bonus reason to love fall: it's when I both met and two years later married Mr. Cleaver. So the fall is very special to us both.
So this past Saturday we engaged in some traditional fall activity and went on our third annual apple-picking trip. We really liked the orchard we had been going to in Illinois, so the standards were high for our first Maine venture. It had so have a few things: 1 - a wide variety of apples, 2 - pumpkins, and 3- (most importantly) apple cider doughnuts. Seriously, I live for my once-a-year shot to eat apple cider doughtnuts hot out of the fryer. I keep thinking about trying to make them on my own, but I think it might take something away from the experience. That said, and I'm not promising anything (having still not posted an actual S'more pie recipe), don't be surprised if apple cider doughnuts appear on this blog in the next month or so.
Ricker Hill Orchards was a hit on all three points. Crisp juicy apples (organic and non), delicious hot doughnuts (weekends only), cheery pumpkins, and amazing views. Not to mention the fantastic play area.
Oh, and this is pure genius, they had giant slingshots for the rotten apples. See if you can spot Mr. Cleaver's apple in the photo above. The boy below's name is David (I didn't catch the irony until I was captioning the picture) and he asked me to take a picture of him, so I was happy to oblige.
We got lost in the corn maze, but did solve it on our second try.
But Mr.Cleaver holds a grudge, so after we got out, he decided to mow it down.
(Totally kidding on that)
We also both gave a go at the obstacle course. Look at the following images while humming the theme to "Rocky" in your head, it makes it better.
Who do you think won?
Not that I'm a biased judge or anything. :)
Oh and we did pick a bunch of apples too.
Been a Mrs.
Today Mr. Cleaver and I have been married for a whole year. Happy Anniversary Mr. Cleaver!
And a big thank-you to all of the friends and family who support and love us.
Fall Sewing Begins
So even though I still don't have a job, I thought it might be time to start sewing some work-appropriate clothes. This little number is the Kasia skirt from Burdastyle. I loved the way this piece came together, even if I still, still managed to iron the interfacing on the incorrect side of the fabric on my first try!
The jacket, which I swear seems a lot more like the same color as the skirt in real life, is part of the vintage jacket-dress combo I picked up a few weeks back.
The skirt is made of a mid-weight linen and the pockets are lined with royal blue cotton, for a bit of fun. Unfortunately these photos don't really show all the details: there's some rouching at the pockets and a sailor-pants-style button flap at the front. I need to rework the waist a bit for a better fit, but this is really a project I'm very proud of, inside and out.
As for the photos, I have to give extra credit to Mr.Cleaver for acting as my stand in as I set up the shots and hitting the shutter for me - We had a lot of fun taking these shots, which are outside the chapel at Evergreen Cemetery. And believe it or not, it was raining when we took these!
Fair Weather: Part II
About four days after visiting the Common Ground Fair upstate, Mr. Cleaver and I stopped by the Cumberland County Fair on Wednesday.
This was much more similar to the fairs I grew up with. There were rides:
(I totally loved this girl, her poor car kept getting stuck, which is totally what would happen to me.)
There were games:
(Neither of us hit the bell)
There were prize-winning livestock:
Giant vegetables:
Oxen Pulls:
and a blacksmith demonstration:
(The smithy even gave us one of the hook he made)
The weather was again, perfect and I had a fantastic time. Even though I ate too much fried dough, my faith in the county fair is totally restored.
Next up on the fall activity list: apple-picking!
PS: As always, these are only a portion of my photos, if you're interested in seeing more, you can check out my flickr.