Pushing Daisies dress

A while back, I picked up a copy of the reissued version of the walkaway dress that everyone's been talking about. The reviews I'd seen were mixed, but it looked SO cute on the package that I had to try it. Plus I think it's so cool that just after it originally came out (in the 50s? 60s? I can't remember), it was so popular that Butterick stopped production on all other patterns just to keep up with the demand.

It's called the "walkaway dress" because it's so simple, you can start it in the morning and walk away wearing it by lunch. In my case, I started it Wednesday evening, did pretty much nothing but work on it for two days, and finished it last night (Friday). But I am a slow, if not particularly fastidious, sewer. And when I found the pattern, the smallest size they carried was 4 sizes too big for me, and I was too impatient to wait for the next shipment so I bought it anyway. (And then let it sit in my stack of patterns for over a year.) So it took a lot of pinning, trying it on, re-pinning, trying it on, etc. to get it to fit at all right.


It's cute, but I'm not sure I'll ever wear it. It hangs a little funny when I move, and I feel like I need to constantly adjust it. Right now I'm in that uncomfortable in-between phase of having a few finishing touches to add, but not really wanting to bother because I know I won't wear it and additional effort will just be wasted time.

I think I need to stay away from making my own clothes. Accessories I can handle, and I'm a whiz at household items, but I have a LOT of trouble getting clothing to drape in a way I like. And because I buy all my clothes thrifted, it's easy for me to maintain an affordable wardrobe full of things I really, really like. It would be nice to have more "Chuck" dresses, but I think I'll just keep my eye out for vintage pieces at nicer second hand shops.

Bleh, it's so deflating to finish a time consuming project and then be less than thrilled with the finished product. Whatever I do next has to be a sure bet, results-wise.

Love, J

I love Chuck

Very sure I'm committing copyright infringement by using this collage.
If it helps, I found it here.

From Pushing Daisies, that is.

I like a lot of things about her character (and the show, holy technicolor!), but mostly am OBSESSED with her wardrobe.

After a mini-marathon of online episodes last night, I feel inspired to get cracking on a shirt dress of my own. And since my oh-so-accommodating husband hopped to and snagged my birthday dream dress for me a while back, I even have a well-fitting starter piece to model it after.

I do hate messing up the clean living room with scraps and fabrics and notions, but that's the price you pay...

Love, J

Pizza & salad

Soon I will post a how-to for this homemade pizza because it is SO GOOD, it's a shame that not everyone ate it for dinner last night. I'm so excited for our onions to be harvest-ready so I can use home grown reds on our pizzas. (I'm out of luck with the pineapple and olives.)


But look! Spinach from the garden!

Love, J

Socks are done!

Pattern: "Ploughed Acre Knee Socks" from Knit Green by Joanne Seiff


These are:

1. The first stockings I've ever knit.

2. The first time I've knit a pair of anything without taking a break after completing the first one and leaving it mateless for several months.

3. The first time I've knit anything without needing to have my grandmother walk me through at least one step. (Which is silly, because it's also the first time I've knitted anything while living within biking distance of Grandma's house. It would have been MUCH easier to get help with this project than the many others she labored to explain to me over the phone when I lived in Seattle ; )

Love, J

Big babies

Love, J

And they're off...

~ Beans ~
Here's where I close my eyes and fantasize about pretty jars of dried beans lining the pantry shelves downstairs.

~ Peas ~
I'm planting these in stages for a longer harvest.
This is the most recent of the 3 batches we've planted so far.

~ Spinach ~
G clipped our first batch yesterday to pack in her lunch. I love how fast this stuff grows.

~ Edamame! ~
How fancy do I feel,
that I can grow my own edamame?!?
(Answer: Very)


~ Broccoli ~
Note to self for next year: don't plant the tomatoes too early or they'll die off in the cold. But broccoli? Broccoli doesn't care. Broccoli is badass, and will take off no matter what the conditions.
Broccoli's a rockstar.

~ And a new compost area to boot ~

Growing food just makes me so happy.

Love, J

The geese

We have geese. For one more day, anyway.

We took them in about a month ago.

But I knew right away they weren't a good fit for our household.

They bothered me. For reasons I still can't quite name, we just were not a love match. And they had to go. Still, I gave it a shot, and waited until a week ago to ask River's Wish to make room for the birds. The hubs and I, it turns out, are not geese people.

So they were to go live at the sanctuary, where they would room with some lucky chickens.

Then tonight while out weeding in the rain, I glanced over to the pear tree, where the geese were chilling out. Broken Wing (the boy) was curled up under the tree, while Snippet (his gal) honked and walked over him. Back and forth. Trying to rouse him, but he was gone.

He was very old. The woman who owned them before us got them as chicks 21 years ago. And they had very unusually happy little goose lives. And, like I said, I don't care for geese all that much.

Even so, it is not at all easy to watch Snippet anguish over her fallen beau. In fact it is hard. She seems distressed, but calm as long as she can stand over his body. It's moving to witness such devotion in simple creatures.

Tomorrow she will go to River's Wish alone, and hopefully live in peace with the chickens, though it is more likely she will soon die of grief. That is common with bonded birds, and rabbits too.

I learned tonight that if you have to take a bonded bird or rabbit to the vet to be euthanized, you're supposed to bring the body back home to his companion so that she can sit with him and grieve a while.

I do not mind having to stay close to home to care for our critters (I'm not much of a traveler); I don't mind the messes they make or the (many) pieces of furniture, books, parts of our house, etc. that our rabbits have destroyed; and when they get sick or injured, I will gladly pay large vet bills, and be grateful to have access to the means to make them well again.

But nights like this are the one drawback I see to having pets. It's hard to see them suffer. Even the ones I don't like.

Love, J