in which I try not at all to recreate the post that blogger ate

Yesterday, I wrote a perfectly lovely post all about how excited we are to be expecting our first child- it even had really cool photos and  I waxed poetic about morning sickness, and told an amusing story about why we're refering to the baby as "The Dragon", but blogger ate it & I decided that I have way too much end of first trimester fatigue to try to recreate it, so you all get to read this instead.

I will post the pic of the vintage pattern I scored on etsy for The Dragon's first Renaissance garb:

Sorry,

gadgets and gizmos galore

Over Easter weekend, Joe and I visited his parents & his mom asked me to do through some old sewing stuff that had belonged to her aunt. I expected to find buttons, old spools of thread and assorted other basics, all of which I found and some of which came home with me, but the coolest thing was this box:

First off, I'm a sucker for a cool looking box, but what really got me was what was inside:

It's a whole kit of Kenmore specialty sewing machine feet and color coded cards on how to use them! I ♥ color coding!
Not only that, but after I brought it home, I confirmed that they fit my modern Kenmore machine!

The old school zipper foot kicks the gluteus maximus of the one that came with my machine & it's fully adjustable without having to remove it!

I love how each attachment fits neatly into its own place in the box:
I can hardly wait to try out the ruffle attachment, but unfortunately, that may have to, because I'm already in the middle of, oh, half a dozen other projects and I really should finish one of them before adding another.

And on a completely unrelated topic, here's a pic of me at work on the day of the Royal Wedding:

Who says it's not normal to wear a lace dress to work? We had an afternoon tea that day, so of course I had to be dressed for Westminster. The cup holds Prince of Wales tea, naturally.

vintage pattern

While doing a tiny (as in I spent a total of under $2) thrifting, I found this great vintage pattern:

Here's the really fun part: It's marked with $1.50 as the original price and I paid 29¢! I'm pretty excited about it because it's *just* the style I was thinking of for some black dotted swiss I have. The pattern even has the little slip for underneath! PERFECT!

The not to good news: It's only a 32 inch bust! So, this is going to be a learning project for me. I'm going to learn how to grade a pattern-eek! Luckily, I only need to bring it up 2-3 inches in the bust. I haven't had a chance to measure the pattern pieces yet to see how much I might need to regrade the waist & the skirts should be pretty easy (although I have HIPS, so that will be a lot more added inches than anywhere else)

I figured for 29¢, I could risk it & try to learn something new.

My New Big Girl Bike!

I still really love the style of a real vintage bike, but I came to realize that I could get that same feel with a new retro-styled bike.

Enter everyone's friend Craig & his list.

I just brought home this Manhattan Cruiser Aero Deluxe 6 Speed for about half the price of a new one! This baby's hardly been ridden! The tires still have the little hairs on them! (and although it's a little unclear in the photo, those are white-walls!)

I'm going to have to do some basic maintenance and some adjusting, but that's just normal stuff. I'd like to get a basket for the front (maybe one of those cool ones that has a handle for shopping) I also have to replace the grips, they're torn, but overall, I could squee like a little girl (wait, I already did!)

bikes!

After receiving the coolest bike helmet ever for my birthday, a Nutcase Watermelon, (above) I have been lurking on Craigslist for the perfect vintage bike. Technically, we have 2 bikes, so Joe and I could go for a bike ride together, but one bike needs some work & the other bike really isn't me. I do have a 10 speed in my parents' garage that is in riding condition, but again, although it's mine, it's not me anymore.

In searching, I realized that what I really really want is a Schwinn Fair Lady 3-speed. (anyone have one that you want to get rid of?)
My first bike was a blue Schwinn with chrome fenders. As a kid, I was initially bummed that my parents got me a blue bike. All of my friends had girly pink bikes & I had blue. I grew to LOVE that bike. And what I loved the most was the way I felt riding it. It's the same feeling I had when I drove all by my self for the first time. I'd like to re-capture that feeling. Hence, the Craigslist search.

I really love that the Fair Lady has the same curved lines that my first bike had and it's just a beautiful bike. It will look wonderful with basket and I'll love riding it.

I got really close today. I found a single speed w/ a coaster brake for under $100 & it's green, which would look awesome with the helmet, but it's only a single speed. The lady selling it was very nice on the phone and I felt a little badly that I had to tell her I was looking for the 3-speed.

My best friend reminded me that I'll find it, I just have to be patient. (thanks L!)