And the sewing spree begins...

To begin, so sorry about the hiatus. It started around Thanksgiving last year when I made Thanksgiving dinner for a bunch of people and someone said "be sure to blog about it". And I wanted to. I really did. But then it was already so long after Thanksgiving that it would have been embarassing to post about Thanksgiving, you know, at Christmas. But I had difficulties posting anything until I posted about that stupid dinner. I did post about a bed. And now that I know that, like, five people I know actually read my blog when I post, I'm going to try to get back into the habit of it. But no Thanksgiving post. It was holding me back. Thank you to my small handful of readers!

Ok, so now to the sewing. So, I'm in the US right now, and in the US is where I have most of the materials I need to produce wonderful works of wearable art. Among other things, the dress form that is an exact replica of my figure is a real help. Which means.... I'm back to making things! My first project was to finish a skirt I started last time I was home. I was able to adapt it a little to make it pretty fashionable, and I fashioned it after these skirts (from Forever21):

 

I absolutely love rayon challis, so I picked a black one from my mom's stash, which is covered in pink polka dots and flowers. I decided to make my classic panelled circle skirt, which is one of my specialties, though you could just as easily make a normal circle skirt. The skirt might just drape a little differently.

I started by cutting 14 of these:

And then sewing the sides of them all together using the serger (my tool of choice when working with rayon). I also serged around the raw edge of the waistline.

Using elastic for skirt waistbands, I fashioned a waistband that is not stretched, but still snug, using the technique I got from this blog.

I attached the skirt to the waistband with a single line of stitching, then played around with it in front of the mirror until I decided to hem it at 16 inches. After marking the length of the skirt with dressmaker's chalk, I surged the hem then rolled it and stitched it into place with the sewing machine. The final product:

And, modelled by yours truly:

I'M ON A ROCK.

Because I made the elastic so loose, I can also wear the skirt around my hips, too. That way, if fashions change (and they will), I can simply adjust the way I wear the skirt. Wearing the skirt at my hips also makes it more work-friendly. I absolutely CANNOT lean over in this skirt. lol.

For your reading pleasure, here is a picture of me romping in my parents' yard in my new outfit:

I made the bed.

And when I say I made the bed, I mean I literally built the bed. Alone. Without any help. And I'm a girl.

It started like this: Our first bed was a cheap, €400 bed with an included mattress. Four years are not easy for such a cheap bed, and the Boy and I decided it was time to invest in decent mattresses. Then we decided, as long as we're investing so much money, let's go all out and buy extra-long mattresses (the Boy is over 6 feet tall and his feet hang off the end of a normal mattress). Unfortunately, extra-long also has this tendency to mean "extra pricey". I won't even tell you how much we spent on our mattresses and slatted frames.

Then we started looking at beds to hold our new mattresses. And would you believe we were considering this bed frame for over €600 without the headboard??

It's basically four pieces of wood with four legs attached to it. And it was the cheapest extra-long bed frame we could find. 

Which just wouldn't do.

I must admit, I didn't just dive into the idea of making a bed myself. One of my friends gave me a little push in that direction, and I was aware of another friend who had made his bed, which was encouraging. I played around with measurements and made the following drawing on google sketchup to make sure I liked the proportions:

I chose this design because I felt it would be the easiest to construct. After finishing this design (note that it also doesn't have a headboard), I ran across this bed online, which is from the same company as the expensive bed we were considering at first:

Now, doesn't that look familiar?? It's probably more in the range of about €1000. So, finally, here's a picture of the bed when it was nearly finished:

All the bed's parts, including the wood (solid beech), hardware, finishing supplies (sandpaper, wax, etc.), and transport cost just short of €300. So, I saved a lot of money. It took me two and a half weeks' worth of evenings to build. It weighs 60 kg and it stands 60 cm tall. The mattresses are even higher. It doesn't squeak, can be completely disassembled for easy transport, and is built such that two mattresses of different thicknesses appear the same height. The only disadvantage is that the bed seems to slide freely across the floor, despite the weight of the mattresses.

At some point I plan to make an upholstered headboard that hangs on the wall. It will probably end up looking like something from www.headybed.com:

As soon as it's complete, I'll post a picture of the completed bed and headboard! Should anyone be interested in more detailed instructions on how the bed is built, I'd be glad to share!

Vacation is time-consuming.

Wow. I haven't written anything in a while.

But vacation has this nasty way of ruining good habits. Even the Boy, who is a very conscientous and responsible person, forgot to pay a bill before we left for vacation.

So where was I? In the US of A!! I visited my parents and friends for a few weeks before going on an epic vacation to the American desert southwest with my parents and boyfriend. We hit up eight states ranging from Montana to Arizona, and I think it was seven national parks: Yellowstone, Arches, Canyonlands, Mesa Verde, Grand Canyon, Bryce and Zion. We also overnighted in Kodachrome Basin (a state park). The trip ended with a blast in Las Vegas, which was pretty awesome.

I was a little disappointed by the weather out west, though. Only Las Vegas really got as warm and sunny as I had been hoping. The first morning in Yellowstone was 28°F!! I will admit that Yellowstone, Arches, and Zion all got nice and toasty during the day, even if the mornings were kind of chilly. There were several days I had to change from long pants and long sleeves to tank tops and shorts around noon.

My absolute favorite part of the trip was visiting my aunt and uncle near Arches. Everything we did was so much fun, and I finally got to know some members of my family that I hadn't had the chance to meet yet. (I still haven't met three of my cousins on that side of the family!!)

One thing I learned about myself on this trip is that I apparently love to hike. I never knew that about myself. It also helped keep me thin while in the states, which is something I have a lot of troubles with on account of the inexpensive oreos and the large selection of sweets combining chocolate with peanut butter...

So, I'm back. And hopefully I'll have some interesting things to post soon! :)

And he's off!

The Boy is taking his first state exam as I write this. Five years of law school, including a year and a quarter of studying and no classes simply can't prepare you for the most important exam of your life. He will be taking six over the course of nine days, each one 5 hours long.

He was pretty calm this morning, but I could tell how often he was awake last night. When I escorted him to the exam this morning, I saw a number of tear-stained faces and was glad I hadn't chosen to study law.

So next Tuesday, it will all be over (at least until his oral exam in December). I can't wait to see what my boyfriend is like when he doesn't have anything to study for!

Cupcakes!

Today is my roommate's birthday, so last night I made cupcakes for her. I've been practicing icing for a while so I'd be able to decorate the cupcakes with frosting roses. Unfortunately, the recipe for the frosting is based on shortening and butter, so the 80° weather didn't do much to firm up the frosting at all... I'd say they didn't come out half bad, though:

I used a recipe for chocolate cupcakes and substituted white chocolate for dark chocolate to make them white (leaving out the chocolate had disastrous results the last time I tried!). The roses came out looking more like carnations, but flowers are flowers, right?

And by the way, it took me three hours to bake and decorate 30 cupcakes. I was done shortly before midnight--just in time to light the candles!

So, the recipe for the cupcakes is from my free Betty Crocker Cookbook app:

2 C Flour
2 C Sugar
3/4 C Sour Cream
1/4 C Shortening
1 C Water
1 1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
2 eggs
4 oz. melted Baking Chocolate (dark chocolate works best, but white works ok, too).

Mix everything on low 30 seconds, then on high 3 minutes. Fill paper-lined muffin form 2/3 full. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes (my first batch needed 20 minutes, and my second and third batches needed 30 minutes each). Remove from pan to cool on a rack.

The icing recipe is from the Wilton website:

1/2 C solid vegetable shortening
1/2 C softened butter or margerine
1 tsp Vanilla
4 C confectioner's sugar
2 Tsp milk (I accidentally used only 2 tsp, and it was fine...)

Cream everything and gradually add sugar, scraping the sides often.

Enjoy!

Doctor, Doctor!!

Soooooo... there are no doctors anywhere near my apartment. At least none that are useful. There are urologists and dermatologists and homeopaths (is that even the right word?), but no normal, everyday doctors. Which really sucks when you have a medical emergency that's not so bad that you have to go to the emergency room.

This morning I woke up around 8:30, prepared breakfast, and then sat down at my computer to read my e-mails like I do every morning. I began to feel a little confused and had difficulty comprehending what I was reading, but didn't really think much of it. It's morning, what else do I expect?

Then I started to get a pins-and-needles sensation in the tips of my fingers on my right hand. The feeling spread slowly but surely through my hand, and by the time it reached the middle of my forearm, I was freaking out. My roommate was a doll and started researching doctors online for me. By the time she was finished, the pins-and-needles had spread to my lips and (get this!) gums on the right side of my face. I tried calling these doctors (one number was no longer connected and the other doctor turned out to be a urologist) and then the pins-and-needles subsided, and I felt fine again.

Still shaken by what I had just experienced, I started developing a blind spot in my right eye. The same blind spot I had several years ago the first time I had a migraine with aura. So, with one eye covered (it's surprisingly hard to read when one eye is pretending it can see, but actually can't), I went to wikipedia and found this:

"The somatosensory aura of migraine may consist of digitolingual or cheiro-oral paresthesias, a feeling of pins-and-needles experienced in the hand and arm as well as in the nose-mouth area on the same side. The paresthesia may migrate up the arm and then extend to involve the face, lips and tongue."

I was at first overjoyed to know I wasn't dying. Unfortunately, it also meant that within an hour, I was going to be bedridden.

Thank goodness for Sumatriptans.

Lunar Eclipse.

All through high school, I was repeatedly told, "don't go out after dark alone!" But tonight was supposed to be a full lunar eclipse, and since I live in a big, bright city, I thought I'd head to the park at the end of my street. It's on a hill, and I thought I might be able to see the eclipse from the top. (I even told my roommate where I was going).

When I arrived at the park, a 20-something man was walking down the steps I was going up. I stopped to see if the stairs would suffice by using my Pocket Universe app on my ipod. There was unfortunately a building in the way, so I continued into the park. While I was checking the sky, the man had gone back up the stairs and was standing at the top minding his own business and just chilling, as it appeared. I was already suspicious because I'm paranoid and to be honest, I was already suspicious of him (as I am of everyone) the moment I first saw him.

I reached the top of the stairs and walked past him, and that's when I realized how very dark the park was. And how very empty. Before turning onto the path, I took a look behind me: and caught him looking over his shoulder at me. At that point I decided it was time to get out of the park. I turned right instead of my usual left because I knew another exit from the park through a construction site that wouldn't leave me too far from my bike. Halfway down the path, I looked behind me and saw the guy walking a short distance behind me, but just far enough away that he was slightly hidden by the curves in the path.

At this point I became aware of how loud my flip flops were, and decided I had no shame, and just high-tailed it out of there. He probably heard me running, but alone in that dark park in the middle of Berlin was just not the place to be this evening.

I'm very certain he was up to no good. What exactly "no good" was, I'm not sure. He might just have wanted to take my iPod from me. Maybe worse. I'm very glad I listened to my instincts and didn't have to find out.

So instead, I headed to a very bright, very busy bridge near my apartment and watched the sky from there. Unfortunately, the adventure in the park made me miss the beginning of the eclipse, so I don't know if the clouds were there right from the beginning or not. In any case, I waited an hour and a half on that bridge hoping the clouds would go away. They eventually did, but not until the total eclipse was over. The full moon was still half-covered in shadow in the brief moments I was able to glimpse it through a break in the clouds, but I didn't even get a clear view of that. Here's the best picture I was able to take:

At least it's better than the picture I took of a satellite dish on top of a nearby building that I mistook for the moon...