National Coffee Day Fashion

National Coffee Day Fashion by constance1964 featuring a round wall clock

Tricky Trend: Patchwork Denim II

I'm so smitten with this patchwork blazer.  Now if only I had a muslin worked up so I could piece my own together.  It's not for sale anywhere and even if it were, I'm sure I could not afford it.  Anyway, homemade would be the best!

Tricky Trend: Patchwork Denim II by constance1964 featuring a black leather purse

How Easily I Get Distracted

Sometimes I just can't help myself.  I get so easily distracted and move on to something else from one day to the next.  I have been creating quite a bit actually.  I remembered my brother asked me to make him a Chicago flag (just like the one I made my hubby for Father's Day) so I started on that.  Then I remembered that I had a wonderful idea for the cover of my sketch book and I started to decoupage tissue paper to the cover of that.

Then I saw, once again, the 2 painting off in the corner of my studio that had been sitting there for who knows how long.  So of course I started to work on those as well.  Here are just a couple of the paintings I've been working on this past week.

First, is this beach scene which has gone through many changes and I'm sure will be going through some more as I'm still not completely happy with the water.

Next, is this smaller beach scene painted on a 12 x 12 canvas which was done as the first painting from Jacqueline Penney's Painting Charming Seaside Scenes in Acrylics.  It just needs a few finishing touches and I'm gonna call this one complete.

 

 

 

Finally, here is a painting that I call "Dreams of Provence" which I realized yesterday has been sitting for 5 years waiting to be finished.  I really love how it finally turned out!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

~Connie

 



One Lone Pear painting

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted here. Of course it's been pretty busy to say the least. I have been practicing more of my "happy faces"   Here are a couple more ...

I've also been doodling in pencil and playing with the acrylic paints as well. Just finished up a little painting of one lone pear. 

Until next time. Happy creating!

~Connie

A Few More beautiful Faces

Hope everyone had a fun 4th of July!  I certainly did with lots of food and fireworks in the company of family and friends.

Anyway, here's a couple of other faces I was experimenting with the other day. I'm really looking forward to having another go at it again today!

My favorite one is the "Blondie" in the second photo above.  I'm still amazed at how different each one turns out just by changing up the color scheme and varying the eyes, nose and lips ever so slightly.  Each lady has a personality all her own.

Until next time, Happy Blogging!

~Connie

Never was much for Drawing

Doodling was my thing when I was in school. I would fill the inside covers of every notebook I could with doodles and lettering, but when it came to art class I was terrified to even attempt to draw anything.  Drawing a face or flower was something I told myself that I just could not do and out of the question. From time to time, I try to art journal and even sometimes manage to get the acrylic paints out and put paint to canvas, but I've had 2 canvases sitting in my studio here that are both only partially done and have been that way for more than a year now. 

I remember watching a You Tube video recently with Janes Davenport and loved her style and the fascinating faces she created. I was so thrilled when I stumbled on a copy of her Drawing and Painting beautiful Faces at JoAnn yesterday that I just had to get it!  I have to say that I'm very pleased with the few little drawings that I've done so far . . . 

It amazes me that each drawing started with the same simple oval shape but how each one is so unique.  I'm definitely looking forward to drawing more beautiful Faces with Jane.

Thanks for stoppping by!

Until next time,

~Connie

Simple Patriotic Wreath

I don't remember where I first saw this idea, but I made this wreath last year for 4th of July.

The base is just a white styrofoam wreath from Michaels. I then tore fat quarters of my chosen fabrics into 1" x 8" strips and just knotted them around the wreath form. I also had some wooden star cut outs that I painted white and then hot glued each to a length of jute.

This was a fast and easy project that you could probably get done with supplies you already have on hand or can repurpose.

In honor to all who have served, Happy Memorial Day, everyone and God Bless America!

Thanks for stopping by,

Connie

Baking a lot lately

I've been having fun the past 2 months making sugar cookies for Valentines and paczki for Fat Tuesday. I even made some donuts that were similar to Krispy Kreme's as my younger son is just crazy for them. I also tried a gluten free bread mix from Bob's Red Mill that was pretty good too.

I found the book Patisserie at Home by Will Torrent at Joann's recently and just had to have it.  Today I made the coffee and chocolate madeleines and "boy!" are they good!  

These are great and a very tasty treat for after dinner when I'm craving chocolate and coffee. They really are easy to make and I learned a new trick for future baking endeavors on how to make what is called "beurre noisette". It gives your butter a golden brown color and adds a nutty flavor to the batter. It smells wonderful too!

I'm really looking forward to baking more goodies from this book.  Hope to post again soon. Until then, happy baking and crafting!

~Connie

The Little French Jacket Sew-Along

I'm still working on my couture dress, but it has been slow as family birthdays (September's a busy one in this family) and just everyday happenings with the kids going back to school have been keeping me otherwise engaged. But, if you know me I get bored too easily and distracted frequently.  This time it's for a really great reason though!  I was surfing some sewing blogs recently and came across this fun Sew-along Challenge. I'm hoping to have time next week so I can work up a muslin for my chosen pattern:

I'm looking at and figuring on doing view B which is on the lower right of the pattern envelope.  I have only 2 yards of the fabric I want to use so I'm hoping I can make it work.  Gosh, I think I just sounded like Tim Gunn?!  Oh My?!  Anyway, I've had this fabric for quite some time and was never really sure what I wanted to do with it, but I think this would be the perfect project for it.

 

It's a very pretty boucle that has a black background with accents of purple, magenta, dark blue, light blue and yellow threads that make up the pattern.  I think I can almost make out a houndstooth shape with the black, but it's really hard to tell.  I figure it has tons of possibilities for pairing with any number of skirts, or trousers or even jeans!  I will have to look for a lining fabric as well which means I'll have to go to the fabric store . . .  which means, I might get distracted again . . . which means I might end up wanting to start another project??!!!  Yikes, I think I better get focused on what I've got going so far.

 

Why not check out the posts about the Little French Jacket Sew-Along at A Challenging Sew and here at Thewallinna and see if you might be interested in sewing along too!

Hope to be back again soon with updates on these 2 exciting projects I got going on.  SEW . . . until  then . . .

~Connie

P.S.  I hunted down my copy of Threads, issue 121 from October/November 2005.  It has a great article by Susan Khalje on the "Inside Secrets of a Chanel Jacket" which I'm gonna read over again.  There's tons of great info in the article for this project if you can get your hands on a copy of this issue for yourself!

 

Craftsy Class

I recently signed up for Susan Khalje's class "The Couture Dress" on Craftsy.  I watched through all the lessons once before my pattern arrived in the mail and I've been busy these past 2 weeks trying to work on my muslin.  Last night, I finished up doing some redrafting of the front side bodice and am very pleased with the results.  Looks like I am very close to actually starting to sew my first real dress!

The toughest part was figuring out how to alter the areas that needed to be adjusted.  I searched on the Internet and through all of the books and magazines that I have and found my answer with Sandra Betzina's book Fast Fit - Easy Pattern Alterations for Every Figure.  (BTW, this is a great must-have reference for anyone interested in garment sewing)  Believe me when I say I should have looked at this book first.  Since I have so many books and really haven't been sewing the last couple of years, I didn't mind doing all this research and I really needed this primer on the basics and garment sewing lingo.  From now on, this will be the first book I consult when I need to alter a pattern.

Anyway, here are some photos of my muslin.  I chose to do option C for Vogue pattern 8648.

Front:

Back:

 

Side:

 

 

All in all I am very happy with the results.  (Please don't pay attention all those wrinkles you see.)  I had to adjust the bust for a lower bust and I made the seamlines for this smoother so that there was no point at the bust.  I also had to let out the sleeves a bit and will need to adjust the armhole, but this seems pretty minor as I was really worried about the bust area more.

 

Thanks for stopping by.  I am off for now and one step closer to starting my actual dress!  Until next time . . . Happy Sewing!

 

~Connie

The Garden

My garden has just been bursting this Spring.  Here are just some of the wonders from the past few weeks . . .

This is the Lilac 'Beauty of Moscow'  It's about 3 years now that I've had it and it's just over 6' tall.  The flowers are profuse and smell heavenly!

 

These little darlings are Japenese Anemone and are scattered throughout the front and back yard and are just so cute!

 

These iris are from a clump that my MIL gave me a couple of years back.  I think I'll have to divide them again this year.  Not sure of the actual variety but they are hardy and stay upright nicely.

 

 

This is the yellow Baptista which I've had for several years now.  I divided this last year to put some in a different section of the yard and the new plants are looking great as well!

 

 

This is 'Snow in Summer' another one of my favorites with tiny white flowers and silvery foliage.  Even after the blooms are gone . . . the foliage still looks great.

 

'Amethyst Falls' wisteria hanging over the arbor now in its 3rd of 4th year. (Not really sure)  looks stunning and smells wonderful!

 

Finally, the peonies are getting ready to open!  I love cutting these and bringing them inside for fresh flowers in the kitchen!

 

Hope you like my little Spring display.  Be back again soon!

 

~Connie

 

Easter

I tried posting this a couple of weeks back and got side-tracked.  So I'm a little late . . . Spring is finally in the air here for real now as temps are climbing more and more each day.  Easter was a wonderful day celebrated with family and good food!

Here are some of my decorations:

An Easter bunny basket found a Pier 1 . . .

 

 

and the wreath on my front door . . .

 

I got some wonderful gift baskets for playing hostess, including more bulbs to plant in the garden!  Here's one with some pretty little jonquils . . .

 

 

and another with white tulips . . .

 

 

Finally, I had the crocus blooming in the garden already.  Although they were the only thing blooming at the time, they were beautiful!

 

 

Hope you all enjoyed your Easter.  Hope to be back again real soon!

 

Until next time . . .

 

~Connie