Grandma at Home

By my rough count Grandma has lived with us for a total of nine weeks. For the most part it's going very well. Grandma can still wash, dress and feed herself. However, she's very hard of hearing and has poor eyesight. On top of that Grandma has always been a strong-willed, outspoken woman. And like the little girl with the curl, when Grandma gets mad, she gets really mad.

Visiting Grandma once or twice a week did not entirely prepare me for this: when we would help her at her apartment she would be thankful and grateful, and if she was out of sorts she was usually just depressed, not angry. She couldn't live alone anymore, she knew it, and she very much wanted to move in with us. Which was all a huge change from just five years ago, when (at age 88) she insisted she would never want to live with us.

This past week has been probably the most challenging so far. Any little issue could become a point upon which Grandma could become a martyr. Grandma alternately doesn't want to trouble us and then a bit later will want to be pampered constantly. How do you tell a mad ninety-three year old woman who doesn't want to listen that she can't bawl people out? When Grandma acts like a selfish child how can one enforce understandable consequences?

Grandma could be a huge encouragement to the family if she had a mind to. She has the time to invest interest into her family, especially the boys who until now have seen any of their Grandparents but rarely. I'm very grateful I was able to care for Grandma before she moved here because I got to know her much better than most of the Grandchildren. And really, she's so old. She's a piece of family history that we'll lose once she's gone. But after thirty five years of living alone (plus good dollop of total depravity) she's so focused on herself she can't think of how she could be a blessing.

Grandma might turn out to be a cross to bear. And that could be a blessing too. We're still figuring it all out.

Regency Tailcoats

I've been slowly plugging away at the recent costume project, coats for thre Regency section of the costume closet. The gentlemen have until now been performing in a state of undress; last year we worked on trousers, shirts and waistcoats. This year I got to coats. The blue wool I made up to hopefully pass for a military coat to the untrained eye, or be converted into a accurate military coatee if needed. Military coats are so specific in the details and thus more expensive. This blue coatee is cut just like Caleb's', with short tails and a plain stand-up collar. It has white and blue floral lining, not at all appropriate for military, but people really don't see that part.

Civilian coats are much easier. One can do what they like (within the confines of history) with the collar, buttons, and tail length. The tan wool coat with green paisley lining fits nicely on my slim fifteen year old dancers.

 Tan coat: completed! Notice the buttons from Jas. Townsend.

The gorgeous black wool coat I also made with long tails. It's such a beautiful wool I can't wait to see it on my gentlemen.

Black tails with grey lining.

Next project: knee breeches.

Independence Now... Independence Forever

I've finished the first tailcoat, a men's shirt and ladies' shift, and started the second tailcoat. Having a room to myself makes it way too easy to stay up late doing endless hemming and stitching while watching some movie on Netflix. After a tiring week I'm trying to curb that habit. And it's still hot. It's hard to sew wool coats when it's this warm. Tonight everyone else is going bowling, and I'm going to stay home with Grandma to sew and watch a movie with my Bolthouse mocha cappuccino. And that's what I call a holiday.

I was sorely tempted to wear my colonial outfit for Independence Day, but I figured that would be a bit ostentatious, so I settled for wearing my special shoes instead:

 I purchased the imperfect ones in my normal shoe size, and they're just a tad bit snug. But I'm satisfied. I wore them to the Fort last weekend along with my turquoise linen dress and cream silk bonnet.

Striped Blouse in the Heat

I was curious to know what the temperature is upstairs, since we've not been running the upstairs AC(I have an aversion to using electricity) and have just been airing it out at night. So far it's been cool enough at night. So I took the thermometer out of the freezer(testing new appliances!) and put it in my bedroom. Three hours later, it read 98F. No wonder I was getting dehydrated sitting in my own bedroom. Maybe now I'll turn the AC on to 90F, or perhaps on desperate days 85F. This week we have a straight run of 90F predictions. I know this weather is a lifestyle for many people, but it's not for me! I'm having trouble adjusting.

Anyway, I finished the lavender striped non-Mary blouse and wore it to Church Sunday.

It did look better with a linen skirt and my American Duchess shoes, but I was too lazy to take a picture yesterday.

It's a slip-on blouse, which tend to look poufy, so I added a snap-closing belt. I ended up not altering the pattern much at all except to add a collar.

Project Striped Blouse

Lady Mary from that famed costume drama, Downton Abbey

The other day I bought some cream and lavender striped polyester at Hancock's for only $1.20 a yard. Many thanks to my dance students who gave me a gift card to that particular store. I got just enough for a blouse, and in my internet searching for striped ideas I liked the one above best.

Striped fabric with pattern

The only pattern I have close to what Mary seems to be wearing is the amazing 1960's version above. But I love altering anyway, so I'm sure it will turn out fine. I'll just lower the shoulder on the sleeve, gather the front shoulder at the seamline, take out the darts, cut it off at the waist and add a different neckline. I also need to keep plugging away at the tailcoats, so this may get put on the back burner at some point, though I'm hoping it will go together fairly easily.

Disclaimer: If it's not obvious already, DO NOT expect my blouse to look like hers. It's a jumping off point, that's all! I always think it's a let-down in blog posts to see first the actress's photo, and then the look-alike garment on a real person. So I'm telling you now. my blouse will be very different and I do not look at all like Mary(I'm blonde, for goodness' sake), so don't be disappointed in the end!

Moving, Again.

We moved again, last Saturday. We rented another 24 foot truck, loaded it with boxes left in the old house, and hauled it over to the new. The sewing room is once again a mess, the garage is again full, and my body is sore all over. Moving is so tiring. Once I have my own home I will either never move, or never accumulate stuff.

Apparently 90F is the new 70F, because the temperatures here are abnormally warm for springtime. Even though we do have an air conditioner here at the new house, it's not practical to cool both the upstairs and down all day long. Today at 95F I'm guessing my bedroom got to about 85F. It's warm here in NE! But I'm sure we'll get used to it. Today, I managed to hang curtains, make a new bedcover, and take a nap.

New bedroom curtains: when laundry baskets cost $15 and garbage cans $6, curtains cost $2 at Goodwill.

The New Dining Room gets Character

Some two years ago friends gave us a Christmas present of a wall decal, and we saved it for "when we move." At that point I think I hardly believed that we actually were going to move; really, it wasn't until last fall that we actually got serious about moving. Anyway, amazingly we did move and the decal was in one of the first boxes to go.

However, we didn't get around to putting it up until this week. It wasn't complicated to do, but it did take a while to get the paper backing off.

Many thanks to our Texas Friends for our new dining room decor.