Tackle It on Tuesday: Civil War dress progress

May 20, 2014

Last week, I started working on a Civil War dress for a friend of mine. I knew I would not be able to have the whole dress finished by this Tuesday, which is okay. Some tasks take a bit longer, some can be finished a bit quicker. But making a bit of progress on some of these bigger tasks over each and every day gets you closer to the goal of finishing!

Over the next couple of days, I need to finish up the bodice and sleeves, then start working on the skirt. Hoping I can finish this big project up in the next day or two so my friend can wear it to a Civil War event this upcoming weekend!

In addition to working on this dress, today I need to put together a batch of pizza sauce.

When I cleaned out my freezer a couple of weeks ago, I realized we were out of homemade pizza sauce! We like to have homemade pizza about once a week, usually on Friday nights. I will share more about our pizza next week, so stay tuned!

What project are you tackling this week?

Tackle It on Tuesday: Civil War Event Photos

April 22, 2014

My first camera was a Kodak Brownie, a sweet little film camera that I took to Outdoor Education Camp in the fifth grade. Since that time, I have owned many other cameras and have learned a lot about photography. A couple of weekends ago, our family attended a Civil War event at my favorite location just west of Yosemite. The location is absolutely beautiful!

On Saturday, one of the battles took place during twilight when the light was amazing. Since we are members of the group, I was able to gain access to hang out by a tree on the battlefield during this twilight battle to take pictures. I won't bombard you with a lot of photos, but I will share a few of my favorites:

See what I mean? So incredibly beautiful here!

I had to include this photo because my son is in this one. He is the fourth one from the left.

I haven't finished editing all of the photos I took that weekend, since I did take over 300 pictures. This is one reason why I take quite a few photos, so I might capture one like this...

...or like this one...

...and like this one.

So I didn't quite finish tackling all of the photos I intended to edit, but I did delete over 200 pictures. After editing about 20 pictures, I have another 50 to edit to finish this project. And I really need to finish editing these photos since I am going to be paid for some of them! Yay!

For this next week, I want to start going through some of our bookcases. This is just one of many full bookcases we have in our home.

It has been a while since I have homeschooled little ones, so it is probably time for me to clear out some of my younger age books. But it is so hard for me to get rid of books! So I wonder how many books from this bookcase I can let go of? Be sure to check back next week...

Tackle It on Tuesday: Civil War Women's Clothing

April 15, 2014

Last week, I had a deadline for myself to finish sewing some Civil War underclothes for a friend of mine. Almost came right down to the wire, but here is the finished chemise:

Looks kind of like a nightgown doesn't it? The chemise, along with a pair of drawers, would be just the first layer that a woman would where during the Civil War time period. Women would also wear a corset, layers of petticoats, maybe a hoop skirt, her dress, an apron, and a bonnet or hat. There were a lot of layers! To read a bit more about clothing during this time period, here is a good article that covers some of the basics.

So this last weekend, our family went to one of my favorite locations out here in California for a Civil War Reenactment. This event takes place every spring in Mariposa, which is just about an hour west of Yosmite. The location is a dream location for a photographer because it is very rural, not a lot of modern items to get in the way. And of course I took a lot of pictures...

...about 300 or so. Which means I need to spend some time this week doing a bit of editing. And I just found something on Pinterest which might just help me work through these photos a little quicker. Next week, I will share a couple of my favorites from the weekend with you.

Are you working on anything special this week?

Tackle It on Tuesday: Pinterest recipes

April 9, 2014

My 'Recipes I would love to try' board on Pinterest has over 400 pins, which is the equivalent of the average cookbook. Every now and then, I like to give those recipes a try because making the same things every week just gets a little boring. This past week, I actually tried three recipes and here is what I thought about each one:

5-Ingredient Bacon Asparagus Pasta was the first new recipe I tried last week. All of the ingredients sounded wonderful! Bacon, asparagus, pasta, white wine, parmesan cheese...heavenly right? My husband loved this one, and he loved it even more the next day as leftovers. But something about it just didn't sit well with me...something about the bacon and the bacon grease. So I am thinking of changing this one up a bit with Italian sausage instead of the bacon...

Recipe #2 for the week...Pan Roasted Lemon Chicken. Again, the ingredients sounded amazing, but for some reason, the flavors didn't come through when I cooked up the recipe. I was really hoping this one would be a keeper because my husband really likes chicken for dinner...bummer!

After two strikes so far, I was a little reluctant to try recipe #3. But this recipe was for dessert, and really, how can you go wrong with dessert? After finding all of the ingredients I needed for this one, I must say, this was really good and will be moved to my Pinned it, tried it...it's a keeper board!

This week, my project I need to tackle moves me from the kitchen to my sewing room...

One of the reasons we were able to participate in Civil War Reenactments is because I did a lot of sewing for myself and my daughter. It is hard to believe the layers of clothing women wore during that time period and how expensive it is to buy those items today. Right now, we don't go to nearly as many events as we used to, so I am not making near as many outfits either, but a friend of mine has asked me to sew some items for her. The plan is to finish up her underclothes before this upcoming weekend and this chemise is just one of the items I am working on. Next week, I hope to share with you about some of the underclothes ladies wore during that time...makes you thankful for modern times.

Tackle It on Tuesday: Craft Room Clutter

March 25, 2014

Last week, I shared with you that I was determined to tackle the clutter that had taken over the floor in my craft room:

It is almost embarrassing to show a picture like this from my home, but you know what? We live in our home. It is not a museum, it is not a model home. People live here, and people make messes. And yes, this mess was created by me! There are times when the messes in my home really drive me nuts. But I would rather focus on the relationships with the people in my home than spend a lot of time worrying about the messes in my home.

But I am happy to say, that with not a lot of effort or time, I can now see the floor in my craft room!

One thing that usually happens when I go through a decluttering process like this, I find long lost projects that are just waiting to be finished. This is one of the reasons I started these Tackle It on Tuesday posts.

Some time ago, I started working on an English Paper Piecing project called Grandmother's Flower Garden. When we were going to a lot of Civil War Reenacting events through the year, I loved having projects like this that were portable and could be picked up and worked on between events. Although the Grandmother's Flower Garden pattern is not authentic to the Civil War time period, the art of pieced hexagon quilting goes back to the 18th century.

So why am I telling you all of this? Well, here is what I found this week:

Now, if I were making a full quilt with this method, I would be a very long way from being finished! But if I just finish the blue border, then maybe attach this to a square of muslin or other material to be used as a table topper at our Civil War events, I just might be really close to finishing this project. So, that is my Tackle It on Tuesday project for this week!

What project are you working on this week?

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Love my family, flip flops, baking, reading, photography, traveling, and Compassion International