The inevitable approaches

My mom is sick. It is sort of expected. She never was much for self-care, and has fallen into a funk where she pretty much stopped eating and drinking.  She started refusing entry to the care facility staff, and accumulating garbage again. She stopped walking her dog, and he peed all over the place, including her bed, which she slept in.

Naturally, gross things started happening. Fleas or bedbugs or some sort of mite or pathogen started biting her. Her skin, covered in bites which she scratched and picked at until she was covered in little scabs.  She went into this perfect storm of sickness, her already taxed organs and her existing heart failure on top of her depression, lack of food, lack of water and itchy bug bites brought her close to death. I find it hard to accept that the care facility that takes $4000 a month from her allowed the situation to get as bad as it has, but that's a fish I am not willing to fry right now.

We brought her to the ER last Thursday, and her organs were failing.  That night, and Friday night, she nearly died (although my aunt contests that having discussed it with the day  nurse Saturday morning... but we'll get to that).  They were very grim to say the least.  They moved her to the ICU on Friday, and through Saturday. She bounced back and by Sunday she was sent up to the regular hospital room, and has been there since, slowly recovering, but not without its problems.  As usual, she is difficult to medicate, difficult to manage and difficult to treat for the staff.  I wonder why anyone bothers, honestly.

But in the end, she's doing better. The doctors say her heart and her organs are fragile. She had a mini-stroke on Friday night, it turns out.  There is no telling if she is going to last much longer at this rate, or she could outlive us, who knows. Either way, it's been a stressful week, and tomorrow she is going to rehab where she will work on walking again before we send her back to her assisted living facility.  

Her dog, poor disgusting Jack, was euthanized on Saturday.  I had to do it, the care facility wanted no more to do with him, and the doctors are suspicious that he is the cause of the itchy pathogen (fleas), which is very likely. I've been working the idea into my mother's head that he is very sick and may not make it so by the time she gets into rehab she won't have a stroke thinking that we just murdered her dog.  Jack was old, toothless, blind and was choking constantly. He also had seizures. It was past the time for him to go.

Mom is enjoying a PB&J sandwich. She sharing it with Alex.
She is eating like a horse. She calls it 'old hunger'.

Saturday morning, Uncle Matt watched Alex while Helen and I
visited with Mom in the ICU. When we were done, this is what
we saw. Alex, passed out on his Uncle's chest. Helen said she
fell in love with her husband all over again. :)

Her sister, also a complete narcissist, to whom I have not spoken in more than a year, had to be notified. So I called her on Friday to tell her, and this was the first few lines of our discussion, just to give you an idea what kind of people I have in my family:

Phone rings, answering machine picks up, I say: "Titi, it's Stephanie, give me  call, mom is in a very bad way..."

Aunt picks up: "Ghello? Estephanie?"

Me: "Hi Titi, (that's Puerto Rican for auntie), Mom in in the hospital, she is extremely sick (at this point, the doctors were telling me she may not leave the hospital and to be prepared for that, she was in a very bad way), and she's doing very badly. They think she may not live much longer.  I thought I would call and let you know."

My aunt: "Ooooooh...." a long, pensive pause.. then: "I am very sick too..."

Seriously. She then proceeded to call me back the next day to tell me that mom was never that bad, that she spoke to the nurse in the ICU after she was not that sick. ::eyeroll:: She then started to go on and on about how she was sick and was probably going to be unable to travel to Puerto Rico this week as planned, and she's sure she got sick after she visited my mom and picked up a bug.  At that point my patience ran out and I rudely segued her off the phone.  When she did call my mom, all they did was fight.  I'm so sick of this crap. ::augh::

My sister Helen made it down on Saturday, and if it wasn't for her husband, I would not have been able to trap the dog for transport to doggy heaven. So I was grateful for that.  My other sister is coming out next week with my eldest brother (hahahahahaha).  What a three-ring circus.

Anyway, that is what the past six days have been for me. Oddly, I managed to finish the stays. I'm going to wash them before I 'model' them to get rid of the pencil markings from my cording.  They came out pretty nicely. We'll see how nicely they fit.  Not a single machine stitch on the whole thing, pretty proud of that. I found that when I went to bed at night, as dead-tired as I was, I could not get to sleep because my head was so full of stuff. So doing the sewing was a good way to focus the mind elsewhere, while listening to Austen on Librivox.org. That's my catchup so far.  I'll have lots more to write next month, since we're scheduled to have a family reunion on the coast in Long Beach, Washington in a rented vacation home. Both sisters, husbands, hopefully Mom will be there in addition to myself and my little family and dogs.  It will be nice. It will be the first real vacation we've had together. Ever.  We didn't even get a honeymooon. :( Booo.

I'm done lamenting about mom. The pictures are from this week when mom felt better (the two last were from today). I've been putting Alex in her arms a lot lately, because he brings her so much happiness, and I honestly believe she won't be around much longer so it's time to make those photo memories.

Small Hat, Big Stays

So what has the Hungarican Chick been up to lately? Not very much that doesn't involve more baby-talk. Yes, I've become one of those people. I post so many pictures on Instagram and Facebook, I'm pretty sure my friends want to shoot me. But that is just too bad. I love my little boy with every molecule of my body. I took this brain-meltingly cute picture of him the other day standing naked on his changing table, with his bum facing me, turning and looking at me, but I won't post it lest some disgusting lech of a child molester steals it to fap to. Nothing can just be innocent anymore.

But yes, I have actually been occupying myself with some costume stuff during me free time*.  I made a hat just because I felt like it, I wanted to create a couple of new patterns for the workshop in 2014, but I cut it literally to my paper mock-up without allowing for extra space for I dunno... my HEAD, so it ended up being WAY too small, which is a shame because it turned out to be a beautiful hat.

Velvet Hat/Bonnet

I ended up putting it up on eBay where it sold for fifty bucks. I have the pattern, it requires tweaking, but I will make another. I used a slate grey velvet that I bought a long time ago for a spencer, and some striped taffeta for the lining and ribbons. I was sad to say goodbye to it, but it is now in Cincinnati (or almost there) hopefully being appreciated by its new owner.

My other project which I work on during those 'free time' hours, is my new set of stays.  I've made a few since my first endeavor into the custom transitional stays project. These stays I wore for a while before giving them to a friend, who wore them to the point where the steel boning rusted and began to jab out of the fabric and cut her. I resolved never to use that kind of boning again.  But that one pattern that I customized has become the template upon which all of my stays have come from since, the only change from those original stays is that I now habitually make them rear-closing with a short busk up front. I also added another gusset to the side just to give it a little more shape. I'm not sure when I started doing that, but it's now there. These work for me and have always worked for me.

They work out very nicely in spite of the fact that I am plus sized and am/was a DDD cup.  I know this is a conundrum for many women, finding stays that work for their bust size. Most patterns top out at DD (the short stays may go larger, but again, I do not recommend them for large-busted women because they just flop forward under the weight of the girls.

The reason why I'm making new stays is not because my most recent stays are ruined or such. It is because my breasts have grown bigger from the advent of the child. So, I resolved to make myself a new set with an extra gusset in the cups to broaden the space allocation and widen the 'platter'. My old stays would tube-out on me, and then become prow-like before me because there was just not enough room in there to fit all that boob.

So that is the most recent mod to my pattern. The extra boob gusset. I'm not sure yet how this is going to work, I haven't quite finished the stays. Since I decided I would hand-stitch the whole thing, and stupidly thought I'd do some cording to boot, I made it a lot bigger of a project than was necessary. But I do that to myself all the time. And I do it late at night, listening to Austen on Librivox, until I can barely keep my eyes open any more.

The Regency Silhouette, early and late (but in reverse here)

I've made a couple of posts on the Oregon Regency Society page about the regency silhouette, and corsets and attaining a decent fit when you are making regency stays.  This post about fit is one of the most popular posts on the ORS blog page. It talks about gussets and the empire waistline and la-di-da... but I haven't jumped into the shape and silhouette.  Many early period stays were modeled in the fashion of the 18th century corset, which was a boob-squasher. It created a hard-angle line that slanted in towards the stomach. There were some early stays made in this style where the empire waistline isn't really distinguishable. The chest sort of seemed puffed up rather than lifted, and because the corsets were designed to create an angle, the waistline was never very defined. Examples:

Stays like these do not have the bust-gussets that create the shape of the cup.  They promote a harder angle, and a slightly lower 'waistline' if any at all.  They squash the lower half of the breast and heave the cleavage up, which can be very attractive, but it isn't what I'm looking for in a set of stays. Especially in the case of a larger bust, where the heaved up breast, with the angled underside can often make the wearer look like a strutting pigeon--more Edwardian in shape than Regency.

Coo... cooo... strut strut.

Regency became a fashion of the natural form, and in the 1800s, the gusseted/ruched cups appeared to help define the waistline quite well, and to lift the breasts aloft over the waistline rather than force them up by squashing them. Then you have a bust in your bodice, not just a great big chin-touching cleavage. This is the look I prefer, because it works best for a big-busted girl for one, for two, the waistline isn't widened by the shape of the corset, and it's the most flexible for the gowns that go over it, not limiting the gowns to be worn to just 1790s styles, well, at least without looking like one is wearing a 'modern gown' with an old fashioned set of stays... like wearing sixties torpedo bras today. LOL. I like having my bust defined and 'presented' rather than squashed.

Little gathered cups give a bust rather than just cleavage.

Most regency corsets you find (pattern-wise) will have two gussets per cup and as I said, topped out at DD cups.  I could have widened the gussets themselves, but I don't really want to have something ridiculous looking, and since my girls need more width in the cup anyway, adding that extra gusset will hopefully do the trick of accommodating all that extra boobage breastfeeding has created.  I may also add a drawstring to adjust them if my girls shrink down again when I am through being a dairy cow.

This is the original pattern I customized. Note the two slits close to the center-front
for the gussets. I will add a third closer to the shoulder strap.

I transferred the old pattern onto some soft buckram a while ago and added the gusset slit
for the trunk. I eventually added another gusset to go between this front piece
and the side piece.

And there, I drew in the third slit for the gusset. I made it a smidge shorter
than the other two.

I cut this in two layers of cotton duck.  I usually add a third inner-layer for the hell of it. But I didn't this time. Just the two layers.

I hand stitched the pieces together, and then got to work doing the cording and boning channels. Here is a small sample of what I've done so far. I'll post pictures when it's done completely. I'm almost done with the cording (I want to add some little leafy shaped channels or squiggles still, but I haven't gotten to that point yet. I have one panel still to finish cording, and then I have to bind these babies--which with the tabs is kind of a byeetch.  But I am a glutton for punishment. And I like the tabs when they're done. They're cute.

Some cording and boning (ppfffftt... she said boning)

I will be making one of my amateur patterns for this set of stays for the ladies out there in search of something for their larger bosoms. This could fit a 40-44 DDD, possibly E ... but only time will tell. When it's done, I will put it on and model it for you all, and let you decide if this is the look you want.

*Free time consists of the hour after Alex goes to bed, around 8:30 or 9:00 PM, until 1 or 2 AM when I can barely keep my eyes open. It's the only time I have to myself these days.

What the heck are gDiapers?

"In fifteen years, I'm going to hate you for this, Mom."

I go on and on about using gDiapers. I sound like a freakin' commercial, but I talk about them because I really like using them. I feel like I'm not only being environmentally responsible, I'm being fiscally responsible. And I like responsible. I'm not all about convenience. If I were, I'd shoot my dog Simon into the sun. He is very inconvenient.

But let me tell you a bit about why I like this product so much;

This is my kid in his newborns.
Kind of makes me realize how
much he's grown.

He's well into his mediums now. :( Stahp growing baby!)

gDiapers are local to me. They are created by a company in Portland, Oregon. They work as follows:  There are the gPants. It is a cloth diaper 'cover' of sorts that has velcro closures that close towards the back (the g is on the bum).  Inside that diaper are waterproof pouch liners. In the pants for babies bigger than newborns, these pouches snap in.  In the newborn sized pants, the pouches are sewn-in.  There are boxes of six snap-in pouches for sale too, so if your baby soils the liner, all you have to do is wash that bit and replace that part rather than wash the diaper.  They also get stained and manky after a lot of use, so it's nice to have replacements.

He is comfortable in his pants. Rarely ever gets rashes, and the hemp cloth
inserts are soft, soft, soft.

These liners can be replaced. They act as the holder for the inserts.  There are two different kinds of insert; the cloth insert, known as gCloth inserts, and the disposable inserts, known as gRefills. There are also liners called gCloth liners which can be used over the cloth inserts so if the baby does number two, it can be conveniently peeled away and flushed with the liner.

The disposable inserts are also flushable (the interior part of them). The inserts are biodegradable. So already, you are being kind to your landfills. And there are some folks who have been known to compost them.

gPants can range from $14 - $22 a pair depending on how you buy them (in bundles, individually or in sets) and how fancy they are (some have ruffles for girls and gDiapers sells unique styles on their website sometimes -- see below), they don't come cheap. I recommend that if you want a good buffer for usage, you have at least eight to twelve pairs in the lower sizes (nb, s, m)... I can't speak for the larges and extra larges yet, but I imagine you will be changing less frequently so fewer pants would be required. But I could be wrong.  The best deal you can get is to buy a bundle pack. If you are pregnant, there is the Newborn Bundle, which includes twelve pairs of newborn sized gPants, six pairs of small gPants, and two packages of disposable inserts and a swish stick. They do not include gCloth inserts.  There is a 'sweet bundle' that gives you four packets of disposable inserts and six pants... also a good deal and great when you are transitioning to a new size. The website has revolving deals too, so always watch for them.

Velvety!

gCloth inserts are not cheap, but two packages of six ought to set you up, and like the disposables, they work in a variety of gPants sizes. For instance, the smalls will work in the newborns (kind of) and the small pants.  Do not throw them away or sell them when you are done with those sizes, they can be used in the medium and larger pants as double-ups if need be!  The large gCloth inserts work in the three larger sizes, medium, large and xlarge.  So if you buy two boxes of six, you're pretty much set. I understand that also several kinds of other prefolds work in gDiaper covers. I don't know which ones but it warrants research.

It seems complicated. It really isn't. If you do it right, you hardly use the disposables at all.  I use the cloth inserts when we are home during the day. All day. They are washed in a revolving cycle. I use disposables only when we are out and about (I keep the diaper bag stocked), because nobody wants to mess with cloth diapers when moving about. It's nice and easy to just toss or flush as needed when you are on the go.  I also use the disposables during the night, because with cloth diapers, the baby will feel being wet very quickly.  The disposables keep them comfortable through the night.  If I'm doing it right, we hardly go through a package of disposables more than every two to three weeks (my husband uses the disposables constantly, it's hard to get him to use cloth for some reason).

Recently sold all these plus those below for $75 - a good deal
for the buyer, for sure.

Note the extra snap-in pouches on the center-top.

What's cool is that when your baby outgrows their stuff, you can resell it. There's a big resale community for gDiapers, you just need to find it. Some second-time-round baby shops also carry them. So you don't have to buy them new all the time. I resold mine for cheap, my 11 newbies (kept one pair as a souvenir) and 10 smalls for about $75 (I threw in some extras, a few gCloths and some leftover small inserts).

I have my changing station all set up for the gDiapering process.

Baby's room is 90% IKEA. The Pyssingar storage set is cute & perfect for
their changing table.

The Lattsam set comes with three containers, two of which hang from the
table edge. The little waste bin is perfect for clean disposable inserts.
My wipes are in a warmer on a cabinet next to the table.

I don't buy gDiapers' wipes. We get some irresponsible ones from Costco for $20 for 900 wipes. Shame on us! I just can't justify the extra cost. Even if these aren't environmentally kind.

Your cost savings are not immediate. Especially in the beginning when you have a fast-growing newborn, where you will burn through disposables pretty quickly, and during pants-purchasing time. But purchasing slows down after five or six months, and you will have to replace new pants more slowly as your child's growth dials it down. New Seasons and some other retailers carry gDiaper products, so you can get them for a bit cheaper than the website.  You can get sets of two gPants for $27 for instance, in cute colours and stripes sometimes. :)  But your savings are in the long run. Once you get those cloth inserts, your expenses will slow down. You don't have to buy new ones very often. So spending $30 or $60 now can save you money later. If you use your cloth inserts exclusively and mete out the disposables for the diaper bag, you can save a lot of money.  They will probably never be as cheap as disposable diapers in general. Nor will they be as convenient, but for one they will have a much better impact on the environment for one. And for two, your sustainability rate is much better when you are laundering your own diaper inserts. Also, your child's body will be less exposed to harsh chemicals, synthetic fabrics and less prone to diaper rash. They also don't leak hardly at all. Only a few times, when he was in transition phase, almost too big for his smalls and too small for his mediums did we deal with some leakage, and only when he fell asleep on his side. They even contain poo-splosions pretty darned well.  Some people make do with six pairs of pants perfectly well after the newborn phase, if you are on top of it, and doing laundry often. The fact that you can recoup some money be resale of the gPants and gCloth inserts is also a bonus.

If you want *some* convenience, you do save some money by ordering your inserts in boxes of four packages, and they can be automatically shipped. They often have sales too, where they are only $12 a package.  It saves you the trip to the store and it takes a while to go through a whole box if you stick to the cloth-inserts.

I'm one of those people that has no problem doing things that are a bit more complicated for the sake of being responsible. I like that I am supporting a local business. I like that I can throw these inserts away and feel okay about that ... or compost them if I want... or flush them if I need to.  I like that otherwise, I can peel away and flush solids from the cloth inserts, and then toss them into the laundry, and end up with a soft, floofy insert that cleans beautifully right out of the dryer.  It's a good product, and that's why I talk about it so much.  End of not-really-a-promo-post, really. Nobody paid me to do this. LOL.

Update by insomnia

Anyone want this dumb-ass dog?

Let's see... we shall begin with a gripe. Why not? It is so ... me... isn't it? Anyhow, anyone who wants Simon, let me know. He's a stupid dog and I'm going to kill him one of these days. Don't get me wrong, I love my animals with all of my heart, but I love my kid more. And Simon has taken to being a bit of a territorial dick lately, and now that Alex is army crawling everywhere he can possibly go, Simon is averse to the mobility of this little interloper. He has twice already, growled and snapped at Alex. He has growled at him several times.  If it happens again, he is going to a Jack Russell Terrier rescue or something, I kid you not.  If he bites or connects with Alex, I won't even be able to describe where he's going because I'll be seeing red.

He isn't a mean dog. He's just stupid, and part of the problem is us.  We were a childless couple for many years, and nothing's worse for a pet than being owned by people who are substituting children for animals in order to satisfy their innate need to parent.  And these dogs just don't know that they've been knocked down a tier on the totem pole. They still think they're the kids. And they look at Alex like he's an equal; or worse, a puppy, lower than them and in need of their discipline and subject to their territory.  Well, that's got to end or else.  Simon, you flokati rug with a flapping tongue... I love you, but if you bite my baby, you may be stuffed into a box and sent downriver.

***Update: I am NOT getting rid of my stupid dog. I promise. Simon is an idiot of the highest degree, but he is also a member of this strange little family.  Yes, I go into stupid irrational mode when he does stuff, but I know that if he was mean, he'd have gone after the baby and not bothered to warn him. I know this breed very well--Satan bred them for years. I am afraid he may connect with Alex, but I am watching the baby (who is obsessed with Simon btw, because he reallyreallyreally wants to just grab onto that floofy fur) and making sure he leaves the derpy doofus alone). I was venting, as I always do. I am glad I have my husband and my readers to remind me that I'm being an irrational idiot.  But I don't dump my animals because they're being bratty. I'm a brat, and that would be hypocritical. And the reason he's a brat is our fault.

Our dinner on Saturday night. Trout and lemon/white wine Orzo.
It was pretty damned good.

Dan and I have been watching Alex's growth and development. He is moving more and more into solids, and eats more almost every day. His favourite remains sweet potato (yams) and vanilla Greek yogurt. But I also force him to eat things he doesn't like as much, like squash and peaches and banana. He's also started holding his little cookies and eating them on his own, in spite of having no choppers yet.  But we see how healthy he is, and our family doctor told us he is doing great and is very healthy. So we have decided to follow his example and to cut meat out of our diet (we may lapse occasionally... but as a mean, we will no longer eat cow, pig or chicken, or anything land-based that walks.  We will keep eating fish, and eating dairy (milk/eggs) at least for now.  I've even tried my hand at making seitan from unbleached regular flour and found that it's really pretty damned good.  So far, we are doing okay.

I did not gain any weight through my pregnancy, gaining only 17 pounds, which were taken out on 11/17 when they extracted my little critter-baby.  I actually lost a couple of pounds by the time I went to my 1-month postpartum appointment.  And for a while, I was great, happily larking along while breastfeeding, imagining myself sylph-like from the extra calories burned from breastfeeding.  But I have gained about 11-12 pounds back because I am out of control eating.  Both of us have fallen off the Weight Watchers wagon.  Dan, poor fellow, did so when I was pregnant. It was impossible really for him to keep holding on when I was in pregnancy mode, eating anything and everything I wanted at any given time of day. It's hard to keep on a diet when the person you're with is an eating machine and exposing you to all the naughty things you love so much.  So he's put on about fifteen pounds.  He's lost a few since we started this pseudo-vegetarian/pescatarian menu of ours.

A glut of fruity tarts.

Take the above photo for instance.  The fruit tart is Dan's most very much super happy gimme more favourite food I make. It's a pâte sucrée with vanilla custard in it, and then topped with fruit and berries (namely bananas and strawberries, but sometimes -- as with most recently this weekend, blueberries and raspberries too).  Dan likes to dollop some freshly whipped cream on it and pound those suckers down like candy.  I made him some for Father's day... it's his first Father's day, so he deserved it.  But then on Saturday, we went by our local fruit stand and bought a pile of berries and voila... more tarts.  Naughty us.

Flower's immediate reaction when taken out into extreme heat
is to plop down on the gravel in full sun and bake,
moving only to flip over when she's cooked enough on one side.

Oregon is sickeningly warm right now. It's not ideal. I like my bouldery grey days with dreary rain and sopping trees dripping in soaked garlands of tree-moss and air plants.  This summer crap is for the birds. If I wanted to live in a Turkish steambath, I'd move to Florida or California or something. ::sigh:: I hate summer.  I can't WAIT for September.  By then we should also be preparing to visit my sister in Pensacola so she can finally meet her nephew.  If we don't, she probably won't meet him until he's graduating from MIT. Yay! Air travel with a child! Woohoo!  His other auntie moved from Middle of Nowhere, Oregon to Bend, Oregon, and now that she no longer needs to drive to Portland to buy the essentials, she hasn't seen him since January, and expects me to make the three hour drive to her home with the little one in the car. So, the burden is on me to bring the child to them. Always for their convenience I guess. Sisters. Oy.  What a pain in the ass they can be.  They are my only true and involved family however, so I do need to put up with their sisterly shenanigans after all.  Even if they make me crazy.

Isn't my little boy just f*&!ing beautiful? I think so.
You should have seen how excited he was to ride in the carriage
and be free to look around and see everything. It was SO CUTE.

I am at present working to make more items for the sale on August 3. I'll take pictures of my sale table when it's all set up to share. I also plan to make a gown for the Pittock Mansion Picnic the last Sunday of July.  I haven't made something new for myself in eons.  I also want to make one of my bib-fronts and a draw-string from my pattern (see previous post) to sell so I have some samples.  I will have to find a model to wear them prettily so I can take photos.

We (the Oregon Regency Society) had a great event up at Hood River on June 1 & 2.  We went there to sail on the tall ship (the Hawaiian Chieftain) and to take tea, and hang about and go picnicking. We had some gripers complaining that the event was costly, but we managed to buy out the entire ship, so I guess it wasn't so bad. LOL.  People also came up to join us the next day for a picnic in a wonderful lavender garden. It was really fun.  I'm trying to push more people to set up events for the rest of the year, so I don't have to stress it so much, but it's hard. Everyone has lives too.  I will *try* to set up a ball at least for the end of the year, and some more smaller events.  The ORS is chugging along, not without drama, but definitely getting more oiled as a machine as the team coalesces and starts working together. Pretty soon, I'll be able to step back some more I hope.  Let people handle their own things, and not call on me.  I want to be able to just show up to events sometimes like everyone else does. It would be nice.  Now I've got el niño to worry about.

Anywho... that's my blah update for today.  My creativity is returning, so I imagine I'll start posting some drawings again at some point. But for now, I have all these projects to complete.  So bear with me.

Bib-front pattern? It's about damned time!

Yes, it's taken an age to get my err... stuff together and make a simple pattern from the pieces I use for my 'infamous' bib-front gown. It's an amateur pattern, meaning, there's no sizing, and it's just a pattern made directly from what I created. You will have to use your own ingenuity to figure out the rest. I am available for troubleshooting, but I recommend you consult the original tutorial post I created about this gown first before you come to me.

 This pattern not only includes the bib front pattern, but it also includes some simple instructions on how to use these pieces to create a drawstring version of this gown. I will be making a gown like this soon and will be making a tutorial post about that in detail, and will probably explain it a lot more succinctly than I have in the instructions of this pattern. Give me time. I'm slowly getting back into the groove as my baby's schedule is evening out.

The pattern is a PDF. You can have it printed in large format at a local Kinko's or other large-format printer. The first page is a large format page, and the additional pages are the instructions that can be printed on normal 8.5 x 11" paper.

Please be kind and try not to share the file with other people. The income from this pattern, small as it is, is important as I am a stay at home mom and we need every penny we can get. The instructions describes the best choices for fabric, quantities, etc.

The gown will create, if successful, a drop-front/bib-front gown like this:

Or a round gown like this:

I hope you will be cool, and post me links to photos of your creations, or post them on my Hungarican Chick Facebook Page. I love to see variations and how people use their imagination and creativity using the same pattern. Share share share! And like my blog's FB page too while you're at it. :) Comment below if you want to shout at me for my amateurish offering, I may or may not reply. LOL. ::hugs:: The HC

Pattern Regency Bib-front Regency Round Gown for Download

Of teleportation and clothed cats

Irresistibly precious, this face.

My husband described to me the other day how someone had labeled the act of picking up a sleeping child and depositing them in bed as being 'teleported'. The person describing this was fondly reminiscing about falling asleep in one place and waking in another.

This teleporting has become a sweet routine for Alexander and I, for you see, the days of co-sleeping are done. I discovered that Alex sleeps more deeply without the disruption of larger bodies tossing and turning around him. It would wake him and set him to rooting for some comfort nursing.

A few weeks ago, we had a very busy Saturday, where we gave Alex very little chance to rest and nap. But come bedtime, he was keyed up and as bright-eyed and bushy tailed as could be. Both exhausted and unprepared to entertain him, my husband brought him into his own room to play out his energy in his crib.

To his surprise, Alex turned onto his side as soon as Dan put him in bed, blinked his eyes a few times, and promptly fell asleep. I had already passed out myself having had little sleep the night before. Dan came to bed. Next thing we know, it's six AM and Alex had slept the night through in his own bed.

I've remained determined since to continue the trend, and have put him in bed at 8 PM every night since. He wakes only once, always around 11:30ish, where his cries are more substantial than the brief winging of sleep cycle transition. I get him, carry him to bed, let him nurse himself back to sleep, and then put him back on his crib to sleep 'til morning.

This ritual is deeply wonderful. When I go to fetch him, he is clingy and drowsy, crying with impatience as I nestle in beside him to nurse. He nuzzles in and drinks deeply and soundly, his draws growing softer and fainter as he submits to sleep again. Then he rolls over onto his side, his back nested against me, and falls into a deep slumber.

I then slip out of bed and gently gather him up into my arms. There is truly nothing more precious than the warm, dangly limbed, neck nuzzlingness of a sleeping baby. I slide him into his bed, and he rolls onto his side or into the fetal position on his belly, and sleeps on.

I won't lie... I still wake up in blind panic because he isn't there. I still go in at 2:00 am to check on him. I still ask my husband as he is leaving at 4:30 am to look in on him too. But for the first time since early pregnancy... I am getting eight hour nights now and then. Interrupted, yes... But not like before.

Hood Strawberries made into baby food. Fresh and seasonal.

 Summer is here. I am trying to take time to make up some crafty goods to fill a table for a fair held locally. The bookshop closing has brought back what remains of my consigned artwork, so I figured those framed prints, my unframed ones, some bookplates, jewelry if I have time, and dolls from my spoonflower fabric, and I can make a few bucks. Let's see what I can finish before August.

  

These cats are in progress. They will be clothed.

These sheep are for my sister. They will be sent to Pensacola for pelts.

Life goes on, as they say. I had a stellar weekend at Hood River with my ORS chums, sailing the tall ships and flouncing about in costume. Alex accompanied me as usual, and was spoiled by everyone. He has many adoring aunties.

I too was spoiled on my first Mother's Day, so I am resolved to do something special for Dan too. Baby J has begun calling his father 'Da'. We thought at first it was coincidence since he has been articulating in Babyese lately... But whenever Dan is out of sight, Alex twists around to find him and cries out 'Dadadadaaah!'. My husband is moved to tears every time. So it is for those who try and try for a child... When we get one, we are amazed and humbled by every thing they do.

Dan's granny, whose dementia is worsening daily, and who cannot keep track of who is alive or who isn't, who can't recognise everyone, still knows to ask how the baby is, even if she forgets that the person she is asking is her grandson. My own mother is still transformed as well.

We have taken to writing a journal for Alex to read later on. So we can properly show him how loved and wanted he is.

Other than that, things are generally the same. I have lost a good friend because I have realized that in our difference of age, we speak different languages.  I don't stop loving people though, when things break down. So it is what it is. Life is about falling, getting back up, dusting off one's knees and marching on. I do not regret or hold bitterness about what was largely, a wonderful thing. No sense holding onto the crappy stuff. That drives people to drink... Or worse... To religion. LOL.

The digitalis/foxgloves have overtaken this year.
The absence of trees and late rains most likely are the cause.
there are hundreds. So beautiful.

Farewell to a friend... of sorts.

The other day, I burst into tears, standing, holding my baby at the counter of the local bookshop up here on Mount Hood.  The Wy'east Book Shoppe & Art Gallery, where some of my artwork and books are being sold, has been a part of my life since September of 2004, when we first bought our house up here in the foresty foothills, and I started exploring our darling little town... is going away.

Cozy and cluttery in a good way.

Sandra owns the shop. She's a kind, taciturn kind of lady who has been good and supportive to me as an artist and a writer. She featured local Oregon writers and artists as much as possible, and provided a delightful, welcoming shop for the bookish crowd; as well as a lovely array of local artwork and jewelry to sell to the many visitors to our touristy place.

She smiled at me when I came in and invited me to sit down before she broke the news to me that she was closing the shop.  A corporate employment opportunity; something appealing to her original corporate background, had come up. An opportunity so enticing, she is going to move to the southern part of the state for it. The timing was also good, because a local half-retired pharmacist was looking for a nice location for a new pharmacy, something we lack up in our community and need to drive about 18 or so miles to the nearest one.

The walls are already showing signs of the closure... there's white exposed to the eye.

The news struck me cold. I honestly felt like I'd been told that a good friend was dying. I just started crying.  I've spent many an hour there. She had all these convenient options. Printers and WiFi, computers, a mail office to boot, where you could fed-ex, UPS or USPS whatever you needed. A fax to send stuff. And of course, the books.  We bought Alexander's first wooden toys there. I would go there and read sometimes. Or just sit and BS with Sandra. We would buy cool, hand-made jewelry as gifts there. Go and pet the two cats that pretty much owned the joint.  I would use it for work when I worked from home occasionally, to print and send stuff.  It is just a great place.  We always would go visit after a meal at the Rendezvous, which is next door. It's tradition.  It's part of my home, so to speak. My territory. My routine.

And now it's closing. By the end of the month, to boot.  I am so going to miss Sandra and her wonderful shop. I feel like I am losing a family member or something. :(

Goodbye, Bookshop... cats... and Sandra.  I'm going to miss you all terribly.