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.

Puree-a-palooza

We've entered the land of the solids. I started Alex the first time at five months, but did not continue because he became constipated and I was pretty sure his digestion wasn't quite ready for it yet. Also, he just didn't like the food very much.  Of course at that time, I had no idea how picky my boy is. :)

The Baby Bullet - Not entirely necessary but definitely a cute
little set.

We got the Baby Bullet system for Alex before he was born. It's been waiting for this moment to be taken out of the cabinet and put to use.  If you have a blender or a Cuisinart, you probably don't need to spend the sixty bucks for this. An ice cube tray and a blender is fine. But since we don't have a blender, and my little Cuisinart is a chopper not a puree maker, getting this set was a plus. And it comes with six of these adorable smiley feeding jars.

The freezing tray and some assorted frozen meals, vacuum
saved and ready to to pop into the little cup, and forty five seconds
in the microwave.

The blendery part makes a really smooth food. And it's good to know exactly what is going into my child's stomach. So far, his favourite is sweet potato. That he will chomp happily from his little spoon. Anything with the brown rice cereal, he is no big fan of. Even if it is blended with banana.  His likes: sweet potato, butternut squash. Iffy: pear, carrot and apple. No go: anything with rice cereal. It's a bummer because I went through all this trouble finding brown rice cereal that wasn't one of the brands that has arsenic issues. I went with Bob's Red Mill, which is sourced from California. I'm hoping he'll develop a taste for it as we go along.

What's this? Pear? What's pear?

Umm... Not so sure about this.

Yeah, no.

I don't think so.

These carrots aren't any better.

Sadly, the side effect of solids is that the nicely innocuous yeasty scentless breast milk poops are now a thing of the past.  His emissions are now quite smelly and gross.  Oh well. The price of growing up. I wish he'd stop. I want him to be eensy weensy again. My little frog-leggy baby ball... he's growing too fast. He's grabby, and he rolls around, on the edge of crawling.  He has been standing for about two months already. And we took him swimming recently. Normally Alex hates the bath, he screams and cries like we're putting him in a vat of Hydrochloric Acid. I expected him to scream the same way at the pool, but instead, he had a blast.  Here's a cute video:

Here he is having a giggle fest at my bad Dracula noises. For some reason, it cracks him up to hear it.

Somehow, I get the impression...

That this person from this week's Postsecret collection might be Belgian or a big fan of Belgium. Not exactly sure how I came to this conclusion. :::snicker::::

Improvised yumminess, tulips and reminiscing.

The Kitchen Sink Casserole 
Thrown together when I had no ideas and a spare Pantry

A package of Apple Chicken sausage
2 1/2 cups of Gruyere cheese (grated)
One of those kid-lunch sized thing of whipping cream
Milk (I just eyeballed the amount)
Some rigatoni-like pasta (I used the short, squanty ones)
Head of cauliflower
Nutmeg
Salt
Pepper
A tablespoon of flour
A tablespoon of butter
A sprinkle of panko

First: Broil the sausages until they're done.
Then: Steam the cauliflower until it's tender
Then: Boil the pasta until it's al dente.

Sauce:
Melt butter in saucepan.
Whisk in the flour to make a roux
Whisk in the whipping cream in dollops to avoid making
unwanted dumplings.

Add salt, pepper and grate up some nutmeg to taste.

Add milk until you have a creamy, only slightly
saucy consistency (it'll thicken more when baking).

Add 2 cups of cheese. I threw in a little leftover block of
sharp cheddar too, and some medium cheddar just
for fun.  I left 1/2 cup of the grated cheese aside.

Whisk the sauce until the cheese is completely melted into it.
(lift up the whisk and there should be no cheesy strings)

Meanwhile, cut your sausage into wheels, put into casserole dish.
Cut your cauliflower into little florets and add to dish.
Add drained pasta.  Mix it up.

Sprinkle with more salt and pepper and nutmeg.

Pour sauce over the food in the casserole dish.
Top with last 1/2 cup grated cheese and panko.

Bake at 450 for 25 minutes.

Enjoy. :)

On Sunday, hubby and I packed the baby into the car, slid by the assisted living facility and picked up grandma Peteranecz (aka Satan) and headed to Woodburn, where there is the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival.  I expected it to be ... bigger, I guess. I'm used to the fields in Holland, where there are tulips as far as they eye can see... and god it was crowded.  But we still had a lovely time.

Alex was bundled up. It was cool out there.

My baby boy in the flowers.

It was nice. We didn't stay too long, there were a lot of people, and we didn't have money to go and spend in the gift shop or whatever. There was a group of Harley Davidson riders there. I will be honest, I just don't get them. Is there some kind of hidden agreement when they buy the bike that they should look as douchebaggy and dirtbaggy as possible when riding it.  Even the women look that way. They look like skanky men.  They were amongst hordes of families enjoying the tulips, talking at the top of their lungs about crass subjects.  This guy with grizzled hair in a ponytail, decked out in chaps and studs and skulls shouted: Tit inspector! Take 'em out! HAHAHAHA. ::eyeroll:: They were a blot of darkness obstructing a river of families and children flowing around them. They took twenty minutes to leave, finding it necessary to start up their bikes and to rev them repeatedly to make as much as spectacle of themselves as possible.  I don't get the harley types.

Anyway... on the 17th, my little pumpkin completed his fifth month in this world.  I was sifting through my husband's photos, and found these from the morning of November 17th, 2012. Nine-ish. :)  Never mind how crappy I look... I was in labour for over 36 hours by the time he came 'round.

I was tired. So was my baby.

My newest costume project. Farewell wedding gown!

Yes, I am demolishing my wedding gown. My friend Nora came up to visit me on Sunday, and exclaimed her astonishment that I was brave enough to do it. "I'm not emotionally attached to my wedding gown, but I still am not brave enough to just pull it apart."

Well... it's not that I dislike my gown. Au contraire. I was absolutely in LOVE with this style. I found out after I bought mine, that they had a version in ice crystal blue and white that I coveted too.  But, as it is with wedding gowns... what do you do with it afterwards? You store it for indefinite periods, you try to impose it on a daughter or niece or something. I tried to resell it, but nobody was interested. I really didn't want to pay exorbitant amounts of money to preserve it either so it could sit in the attic or closet.  It has been hanging in the closet since October of 2005.  I was looking at it one day, and I observed the pretty gold and ivory tones, the lace and organza overlay and thought... this is the makings of a Regency ballgown. Yeah, sure, it isn't a historical accuracy thing... this is synthetic flat satin. But what the hell. At least it'll get a few more wearings and will get put into the rotation of event costumes again, instead of taking up space in our coat closet.

My gown was about $675... a Maggie Sottero. It was called the 'Rowena'. Here's what it looked like on the catalog on a skinny model.

Here is my gown before I started picking it apart.  The gown is a flat satin in ivory with an organza overlay edged in dark gold, almost brassy lace with swarofski crystals here and there.

The front.

Closer look at the back.

I began by removing the lace on the bodice.  It is
embroidered on a very sheer net and was easy to remove.
They used some spider-silk fine thread to attach it.

Here is a picture of the embellishment piece
made for the front. I also removed two from the back.
I left the rest on the organza because I plan to use it as is.

The lining is of the same fabric, which is advantageous, because I want to add fullness to the skirts and need to build a Regency bodice and I want to make some detailed sleeves.  I'm excited to get started, although today was proof it's going to be a long road, because every time I put the baby down in his bouncy-seat, or on his play mat, he would fuss, so I got nothing done except to spread out the separated panels onto the dining table.  I haven't quite figured out my strategy yet, but I will begin to document it as I go along.  I hope (emphasis on HOPE) to get this done for April 26th's ball. Hahahahahaha!  argh. I HOPE (emphasis on HOPE) that I can get this done by the April 26 ball. I'm laughing at my ambition, considering how little time I Have between baby fussings to do anyhthing... but I will TRY.. Emphasis on TRY. Either way, whether it's done by April 26 or not (probably not), I will document my progress and post another update that will detail my progress and a photo when it's done. I hope. I will try. ::LOLing at herself::

Incidentally.... The perfect Regency shoes have arrived! American Duchess has created the dyeable satin 'Highbury' complete with ribbon loops! They are discounted for pre-order, so be sure to order yours now!

They're here! Order yours today!