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I'd hoped to unveil a new me-made garment today, but due to some, ah, technical difficulties, the new item in question is not ready for its debut. Frustrating, yes, but not worth getting upset over.
Earrings: Beaded by me
Top: Thrifted (you can't tell in the photo, but all the white areas of this T-shirt are sparkly!)
Skirt: Yet another McCall's 4783 (OOP)
I'll post my final thoughts on MMJ in a day or two!
On Day 28 I couldn't wait to wear this cute new top I found during my thrifting adventures on Monday.
This top fulfills my Closing The Gaps quest for a neutral-colored, non-tailored top. Plus, it only cost me $1.50. Hurray, and woot!
Skirt: Embroidered gauze McCall's 4783 (OOP), same as Day 9
Necklace: Beaded by me with adventurine beads and pewter charms of sea creatures, also worn on Day 9
I find Day 29's photo quite instructive. It seems that when I wear a black top, my whole torso blends in with the back of my chair, causing the upper half of my body to appear as kind of a shapeless blob. Good to know, as this is NOT the look I'm going for.
Earrings: Beaded by me
Necklace: Me-made "Mojo," available in my Etsy shop
Skirt: Same as Day 7
Top: Bought at NY & Co.
One of the great things about Me-Made-June is that it has forced me to take a little time each day to do something other than work: shooting outfit photos, blogging, interacting with other MMJ participants online. And guess what? Relaxing my schedule a little bit hasn't affected my livelihood at all. Obviously, all other things being equal, more goofing off is the way to go! :)
This Monday (my day off), Anthony and I set out to do some thrifting and exploring. First stop: the Salvation Army thrift store on Marietta Street, where I bought a really cute top (soon to be seen in an outfit photo). The real coup, though, was this:
Four CD box set for $2.00! Couldn't believe it!
Next, a break from the heat at Zesto. Mmmm...hot fudge sundae.
From there, we wandered down to Paris on Ponce. It's definitely more of an antique store than a thrift store, so not really in our budget for shopping, but still fun to explore. I found a weird room and a door marked "VAULT" so naturally I had to open it and see what was behind it. Inside, I found a magical wonderland!
Here I am, on a plush couch, peeking out from behind a curtain made of lace, lights, and sequins. (You saw another shot of this in yesterday's post.) It turns out I had stumbled upon Le Maison Rouge, a fantastic space that Paris on Ponce rents out for events (it's quite pricey, but if any of you want to throw a party there, please be sure to invite me!). It's like a sumptuous French...something. Cabaret? Boudoir? There was no one in there, so Anthony and I explored and gawked at everything.
When he's not fighting crime with the Justice League, he's fake-bartending at a tawdry French nightclub.
Then we headed down Moreland to Value Village, where I bought a rack thingy to hang scarves and belts on. Not photo-worthy, but this sign, on the other hand....
This woman looks simultaneously thrilled and terrified of the bargains on South Moreland.
We rounded out the evening at Thinking Man Tavern for dinner and drinks (and board games--yes, they have plenty to choose from on their shelves). Last week, the Tavern was struck by lightning not once but twice! They had to close for a few days, including Friday, so I'm sure that was very costly for them. If you're on the east side of Atlanta, stop by for a meal or a drink and generate some cash flow for these fine folks.
In conclusion, taking a day off--really OFF--totally rocks. I definitely felt more like me by letting myself have a day to relax, explore, be spontaneous, and just see what happens. Note to self: do this more often.
Skirt: Same as Day 5 and Day 11. I made this skirt two years ago and it has become a real staple of my summer wardrobe.
Necklace: Me-made "Mimosa" necklace, available in my Etsy shop
Top: Not me-made, but it was handmade by someone--my talented friend Beqi.
Shoes: An awesome, random find! I'm so pleased to own these. They deserve a close-up.
Aaaaand then there's this, for Day 27. What is going on here, you may ask yourself. I'll explain in another post. For now, here are the pertinent MMJ details:
Top: Vogue 8334, OOP
Earrings: Beaded by me, worn frequently throughout MMJ
Last weekend when we visited Anthony's mom, she sent us home with a big bag of fresh veggies from her garden. So all week we've been giving veggies to friends and co-workers, and trying to come up with ways to use this harvest for ourselves.
We had (and still have) LOTS of zucchini, some of which are literally the size of my arm. This chicken tortilla soup has been in my rotation for a few years, and I remembered it called for zucchini, so I made a pot of it last night. While there is some chicken in this batch, it is definitely much heavier on the zucchini than the original. :)
Garnished with shredded Mexican blend cheese, chopped cilantro, and blue corn tortilla chips, and washed down with a nice cold beer, this was a great meal. The weather even cooperated by being cloudy and thus not as scorchingly hot as usual, so we were able to enjoy it all on the porch. Yay, summer veggies!
This week's mini- challenge over at the MMJ Flickr group was to take our picture with an animal. No problem for me, as we have four resident felines here at Stacyverb HQ (aka Boogaloo Acres, for those of you who've not been formally introduced to our humble home).
So here I am on Day 24 with my beloved sidekick, Nacho Kitty, aka Pip Squeak. Her cuteness is 100% self-made. She was born that way, baby.
Top: Same as Day 2
Skirt: Same as Day 14
Necklace: Me-made from various random gemstone and glass beads, seen frequently throughout MMJ
Day 25 finds me running out of me-made garments, but finding a new combination.
Top: Same as Day 8
Skirt: Same as Day 13 and Day 15
Necklace: Me-made from thrifted beads, same as Day 4
Only a few days to go in MMJ! Overall, I'm pleased with how it's gone, and still have hopes for another new me-made item by the end of the month (fingers crossed!).
Necklace: Me-made with various random shell and crystal beads
Top: Butterick 3344 (out of print) View A with View D sleeves; black cotton interlock
Skirt: Thrifted.
I scored this skirt for $3.29 at the Value Village on Lawrenceville Hwy. It's actually too big, but I just put a safety pin in the back to take in the waist. With my chair, no one can see the pin, and the rest of the skirt looks just fine being "too big."
Top: Same as Day 1
Skirt: Same as Day 3
Earrings: Me-made Tomato earrings, available in my Etsy shop!
I didn't make the necklace, but it is handmade. It's a Nancy Drew pendant made by XOHandworks. This was a Christmas gift from a friend and I love it!
My MMJ garments and jewelry are repeating themselves at this point, but at least I'm mixing them into different combinations.
The stuff on the wall behind me makes it look like I'm wearing Mickey Mouse ears, but no, only a sunflower. :) It's just a silk flower with a clip, but very lifelike.
I've been looking at my list of ideas for closing the gaps in my wardrobe. There are four items on there, plus I have two projects currently in progress and one idea for a quick (?) refashion, and they're all summer garments. Now, although summer officially began only yesterday, I know me: halfway through this hot, sticky, bad-air season, I'll be sick of it and ready to start daydreaming about fall.
So here's my thought: prioritize my summer project ideas and work on them until the end of July, at which point whatever I haven't tackled yet just won't get done. Mentally, I'll be ready to move on to fall stuff, and if I start at the end of July, I should have some goodies done by the time fall actually arrives. Yay!
So let's prioritize my summer gaps:
1. Finish my lawn chair sundress. I only have a few steps left.
2. Solid orange top. I'm thinking this would be fabulous.
3. Perform a refashioning of a garment whose history is related to all of the following. I'll explain soon!
4. Finish a cardigan I started knitting in February that was supposed to be for spring (see why I want to get a jump on my fall knitting and sewing?)
5. Make a summer dress in a solid color. I might resurrect one I started last summer and had to put away.
6. Knit? Sew? A drapey, unstructured top in a neutral color (black? cream?).
7. A solid red top, which I might just end up buying to save trouble. Might do that for #6 too, actually.
However many of these I get done, great. If only half of them get done, so be it. I just want a basic blueprint so I can make the best use of my time!
Today I'm debuting a new hand-knit item, fresh off the needles. This is the project I first mentioned here and ended up nicknaming "Sunny Side Up."
PROJECT DETAILS
Pattern: Ruched Yoke Tee from Interweave Knits Spring 2011 issue, designed by AnneLena Mattison
Yarn: Cascade Ultra Pima, color 3748
Needles: US 4
Because I have a knack for doing things the hard way, I fiddled with the gauge on this a bit. I knew I wanted to use my beloved Ultra Pima, but my gauge on it was 6 sts/inch instead of 5 sts/inch. So, I followed the numbers for the size 42½, hoping to end up with a size between the 34½ and 38½. One of those knitting gambles that sometimes works and sometimes goes horribly wrong. In this case, it worked! I used EXACTLY three skeins of Ultra Pima, because I'm short and didn't need to make mine as long as the pattern called for.
The necklace is the same one I wore on Day 18, and the skirt is also me-made. You can't see the print too well in this picture. Go here and look at it instead. I'll wait.
Awesome, right? And yet I don't wear this skirt very often because I know it didn't turn out the way it was supposed to. It's McCall's 5631, which is supposed to flare out more, but I didn't have enough of the fabric for that. So while it's a totally fine skirt, and no one looking at it would think anything was weird about it, every time I put it on I feel vaguely dissatisfied. Oh well. I still do like it!
Days 19 and 20 were spent out of town at my mother-in-law's house, where we basically hung around indoors for two days while thunder- storms raged outside. So these aren't exactly my most exciting outfits ever.
Top: Simplicity 5060, out of print
Earrings: Beaded by me
Could I look more tired? It was almost midnight and I was about to go to bed when I realized I hadn't taken my MMJ photo yet.
This photo is hilarious because it gives the illusion that I can play pool. Really Anthony and I just stopped here on the way back to Atlanta for a bathroom break. Mostly I just wanted a picture of the awesome light fixture over the pool table. Yes, it's a tiny hot rod THAT IS ALSO AN OVERHEAD LIGHT. Who cares what I'm wearing? The flaming car lamp is the real star of this photo. Don't even look at me.
Top: Some old pattern that I can't find the number for
Earrings: Same as the day before
