Mad Men Season Six Withdrawal

Well, folks, season six of Mad Men has ended and Don Draper is not the only one having the delirium tremens. HOW, I ask you, HOW am I to carry on living until season seven comes??? And let's not even talk about what survival looks like when the show is actually over; I am quite sure that residential rehab will be required to treat my Mad-diction.

So here I sit, with Zou Bisou Bisou playing in a never-ending loop, and I thought I'd finally share the rest of the pics from the season six shindig we threw back in April.

In my last post, I shared that our Mad Men season six premiere party had a luau theme, inspired by the fact that episode one was set in Hawaii: 

Back in the late winter and early spring when our party plans were coming together, I was totally on the prowl for a perfect late-60's hawaiian muu-muu. I knew that I found my dream frock when I stepped into a thrift shop in Woodstock, NY named Castaways (which is apparently so retro they don't have a website!) and spotted this little beauty:

I loved the colors, I loved the pattern, and I loved the fit, but I was not feeling the super-long length. Fortunately, I knew that could be fixed easily enough, so fourteen bucks later, this baby was mine.

The dress is a Ui-Maikai brand muu-muu, made right in Hawaii. If you want to snag one of these for yourself, a quick etsy search will lead you to heaps of them.

To get this thing party-ready, I set about chopping off all that excess fabric at the bottom. The faint blue dotted line on the left of this photo was my cutting line.

Whenever I want to shorten a dress, I always pull out a dress that already has a length I like, and use that as a guide:

Once the excess fabric was safely tucked into my fabric stash (and I can't wait to figure out what I'll be doing with it!), it was a simple matter of pressing the raw edge under:

...and stitching the new hem in place:

Now, before I reveal the after shots of the dress, I have a few other party preparations to share with you!

We knew we'd have some very hard-core fans at our gathering, so a Mad Men season five trivia quiz was created:

...and season five-themed prizes were procured for the trivia quiz winner:

In our goodie bag of prizes, we had Heinz Baked Beans, a bag of Bugles, and a mix of our favorite tunes from season five.

  

Since we were throwing a luau, of course there were leis for all:

As everyone knows, if you're expecting the gang from Sterling Cooper Draper Price to come over, you better stock up on booze:

...and going along with our tiki motif, we knocked back Blue Hawaiians and Mai Tai cocktails:

And here's how I pulled my newly shortened dress together with my refurbished earrings and some big, teased and hairsprayed hair:

Steven and I snapped a couple of selfies before our guests arrived:

We had an absolute blast welcoming season six in with a bunch of really wonderful friends. I cannot believe that the entire season is already behind us!

I don't think it's too soon to start dreaming about season seven, and to start pulling together our final premiere party ideas, do you? 

I can hardly contain my excitement over the fashion options for next year's big soiree! (Will somebody please alert the local vintage/consignment shops to expect a run on polyester pantsuits?)

Felt food: dessert edition

It's our final felt food post! For dessert we'll be enjoying a chocolate donut, with thick pink frosting and chocolate jimmies.

And here's all our felt food together, gathered up in the Sassy tote bag, ready for delivery: 

I just loved tinkering around with creating and sewing up these felt foods! 

I'm not quite done sharing the handmade gifts I made over the holidays. Next time I'll tell you about my take on the popular "happy memories jar" that has been ALL over Pinterest. See you then!

Felt food: lunch edition

Earlier this week, we enjoyed a little breakfast together. Are you hungry for lunch?

Nothing says lunch like a hearty sandwich with lettuce, tomato and swiss cheese. 

Maybe you prefer a hot lunch? Don't worry! We've got pizza:

I hope you'll come back for the final felt food post, which will of course feature the best meal of all: dessert!

Felt food: breakfast edition

If you're anything like me, you spend about 47% of your free time on Pinterest -- isn't it addictive? (And while we're on the subject, let's follow each other if we don't already!)

Lately I have been drooling over all the adorable felt food images there. In a recent post, I mentioned my friends' daughter T and the tote bag I made for her for Christmas. Since T has an awesome play kitchen, I decided to fill her new tote bag with pretty felt foods for some kitchen-themed fun.

So if you were to visit T in her play kitchen, she might serve you a little breakfast. Of course we all know the foundation of every yummy breakfast is obviously bacon:

And what's better with bacon than a couple of maple-y sweet pancakes?

Or if you're in the mood for something a little simpler, perhaps just a sunny-side-up egg:

This post is making me hungry! Join me back here soon and I'll treat you to lunch.

Sassy bag!

If you follow me on Instagram or Tumblr (and I'd love it if you would!), you've likely noticed a recent, um, uptick in the number of photos I post of my beloved Maine Coon kitty, Sassy.

I swear: I have a good reason for this foray into crazy-cat-lady territory. 

It seems that we have a crazy-cat-lady-in-training in my friends' daughter, T. This kid is obsessed with Sassy. I can't tell you how glad I am that someone else finally recognizes that Sassy deserves to be worshipped. 

So I decided the holidays were a perfect time to treat T to a little gift that would feed her feline fetish: a tote bag with Sassy's face on it!

For this project, I worked with Blumenthal Craft brand inkjet printable PhotoFabric:

I lucked out and found this on clearance for just $2.97 at a craft store, but it's also sold on Amazon.

(And for those who know me, the brand name here is merely a coincidence; I am unfortunately not connected in any way to this Blumenthal Craft empire.) 

This is such a simple method for transferring photography onto a fabric project, and I think it gives really great results:

I sewed a simple square cotton tote bag, cut my printed Sassy image out with some pinking shears and attached it to the tote with a little orange chain stitch. I live for chain stitch, so here's a little chain stitch porn for you:

But I didn't just give T an empty tote! Stay tuned for details about the handcrafted goodies that were inside...

Healing through sewing: The National 9/11 Flag

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I was in New York City on 9/11/2001, commuting to work along with everyone else under the prettiest, bluest, sky that I think I have ever seen. So many memories from that day, and the ones that followed, have come back to me as this major anniversary approached.


Earlier today when I was watching some of the 9/11 coverage on CNN, I caught a segment about a very special project, the National 9/11 Flag. This flag is a 30-foot American flag that was flying across the street from the World Trade Center on 9/11, when it was badly damaged. The flag was taken down later the next month, and it sat in storage, still torn and tattered, for many years after that.


But since 2008, the flag has been undergoing a process of restoration and healing, traveling around the country, receiving patches from retired American flags from all 50 states. 

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Stitchers who patched the flag have been nominated by people in their local community in recognition of their service and sacrifice. After the final stitches have been placed in the flag, it will go to the National 9/11 Memorial Museum. 


If you'd like to learn more about this incredible project, click here:

As I researched the flag today, I also learned about the amazing New York Says Thank You Foundation, which is the custodian of The National 9/11 Flag. 


As their website says: The mission of The New York Says Thank You Foundation is to send volunteers from New York City each year on the 9/11 Anniversary to help rebuild communities around the country affected by disasters. It is our way of commemorating the extraordinary love and generosity extended to New Yorkers by Americans from all across the United States in the days, weeks, and months following September 11th. 


This documentary trailer will introduce you to this group's extraordinary mission and accomplishments:





I love the way they describe their work:


"The secret to New York Says Thank You’s growing national 'pay it forward' movement is very simple: What we do is not about 9/11. What we do is about 9/12."

Mother's day tea towel from a linen dress

One of the things I love about living here in Beacon, NY is the fact that I can always count on our Main Street shops for something unique and lovely when I need to find a gift for someone dear. 


A couple of weeks ago, my hubby and I were wandering around Main Street looking for some inspiration for a mother's day gift for my mother-in-law, Lisa. As usual, we ended up in our favorite shop, Clay, Wood and Cotton (aka CWAC):

CWAC is an adorable shop with a range of beautiful handmade items. At shop-owner Kristy's suggestion, we decided to give Lisa a "tea-time" themed gift this year, starting with this sweet cup and saucer from Virginia Piazza pottery: 

Next, we stopped by the Alps Sweet Shop...

...because what's tea-time without some truffles?

Final stop was the Beacon Natural Market...

...for the tea. We thought some organic Yogi Tea would be nice.


Then we headed home so I could whip up a nice tea towel to tie everything together. I wanted the towel to coordinate with Lisa's new cup and saucer so I raided my craft stash, looking for something in the green or blue family. I've had a very light blue linen dress from J. Crew in my craft stash for quite awhile. I used to love wearing this dress, but it doesn't fit me right anymore:

I harvested some fabric from the skirt, and stitched Lisa's name on it:

I sewed a band of cotton fabric (which you may recognize from earlier projects, here and here) to the bottom, and here's the result:

Enjoy your cuppa, Lisa!