Pot Holders for Skillet Handle

You know those little pot holders that are always on the end of cast iron skillets at restaurants when you get fajitas? Well, I decided I was tired of using a dish towel to hold the handle of my skillet while cooking and set out to make some of my own. I will be posting the finished products and a brief tutorial sometime this coming week. They turned out pretty well.

We are reenactors

Husband and I are French and Indian War reenactors. He's been reenacting since he was young, and I have been since 15. I don't remember the story of how his family started, but I started when my best friend invited me to join her family for the weekend. That weekend was a lot of fun! Husband and I actually met at that same reenactment the next year when we were 16. It's funny because that weekend a lady was telling us about how she had met her husband at an event years ago and I thought that was the cutest thing, but enough about us.

I have slowly been working on replacing our machine sewn clothing with hand sewn because only rich people had sewing machines in the mid 18th century (that's 1750s for those of you who get confused by centuries like I do). Sewing by hand can take forever, but I find it relaxing to be able to sew anywhere I want; in font of the TV, in my sewing room, on the couch, in bed, while I'm driving, at dinner (ok, so I admit, I've never done those last two.)

Last fall I began working on a Robe à l’Anglaise (or English Nightgown) for myself as I had had been reenacting for a while and wanted a fancy dress for a Christmas ball we were having.

Underneath the dress is a set of panniers. They enhance your hips and allow more of the dress fabric to be shown. I made my own pair, but do not have a picture. They look like this:

(source)

Every piece of this dress is hand sewn, and while I didn't keep track of how long it took, if I had to guess it would be over 48 hours of sewing. 

This is the best picture I could get of the pleating I did on the back of the dress. The pleats flow down into the skirt of the dress. 

In my sneak peek from earlier this week, I started working on a new waistcoat for Husband. I haven't finished it yet, but I promise it will be done soon.

Busy, Busy, Busy

With the start of a new school semester (last semester before student teaching!) I thought I might warn you that blog post may be more infrequent than before. I am currently working on two projects, one sewing and one knitting but have no idea when either is done since I am trying to stay ahead this semester. Plus husband and I have started working on our house again.


Since I don't want to disappoint you, I'll leave you with a sneak peek of one of my projects. 

My silly kitties immediately think that anything new is a toy for them. (Charlie and Captain Jack)

Finished Sock Monkeys!

After working hard over the weekend, the sock monkeys are finished as promised. Before I show you the finished monkeys I want to show you how they got there. 

Remember when there were just two pairs of socks?

Thanks to my sewing machine they became a pair of socks with a little bit of sewing and some stuffing. They look really funny like this. I think they look a little bit like colorful potatoes.

Our cat Captain Jack who is very much still a kitten decided to play with the blue monkey and then later snuggle with the pink monkey. He's pretty adorable if I say so myself.

And here they are.... My finished monkeys!! The longest part was hand stitching the arms, tail, mouth, eyes, and ears on. I opted not to add a mouth because I just couldn't get it right. Oh well, they are still cute.

 Complete with an embroidered "R" on their butts so the girls would always know that I made them.

And one last picture that I took while writing this post because Jack was being such a darling again. 

Sock Monkeys

I've always thought socks monkeys were pretty cute. It must be their cute red mouth or their timeless look. Until recently I hadn't seen them very often; here and there, in pictures etc. I always thought that sock monkeys were difficult to make. How does one take a sock a make a stuffed animal out of it? 

And then came pinterest. I saw a couple tutorials on how to make them on pinterest and thought, why not? So here I am making sock monkeys for my sister in laws (11 years old, twins) for Christmas. Shhh don't tell them what they are getting!!

Out of the two tutorials that I "pinned" here and here. I like the second one best. It's more straight forward and she has tutorials for sock cows and sock elephants. Future projects?

On a trip to target I stopped to look at the juniors socks. The tutorial had said the more colorful the better, so these are the socks that I picked. They are knee high socks from Target.

I'm now about half way done with the monkeys so hopefully by next week there will be a sock monkey 2 post.