Diana Trout's blog

Scent-Sational

It was too cold too do much of anything this weekend. Snowy and blustery and sub-zero wind chills.

Let's make diffusers! All you need are some inexpensive items:

Jars, Bamboo Skewers, a nipper to cut the skewers about 2x's the height of your container, mineral oil (available from the drugstore), vodka. and  essential oils. You can get a scent you love at the health food store. 

The oils are pricey but it only takes a few drops and they last forever.  Note on bottles: the neck should be smaller but I just used what I had. Mason jars would work fine. 

Super easy! Do your research on the oils. I think Eucalyptus is a cleaner and air de-germer. I know Lavender relaxes you so that's good in the bedroom.

Go wild and mix a few. Peppermint-Orange? Rose-Grapefruit? It takes a little while for the scented oil to creep up the sticks so be patient. I think the reeds here might be more efficient (less dense). I had skewers on hand. Let me know if you try the reeds.

Time Keeping: Planners 2

Welcome to the New Work Year (ouch). Over the weekend, I spent some quality time with my planner and journal. Business first. You can see another post and video about my planner here.

Ahem. Does adding a washi tape tassel to your planner qualify as "business?" I also added a page to the beginning of the month for "Dinners" with a column labeled "get ingredients." I'm in charge of planning and shopping around here. Not necessarily cooking and definitely not cleaning up :)! 

I received some great Blue Q pencil cases and labelled them. Eleanor is now holding all of my planning bits and bobs. Which is not much: Keep It Simple.

While I was at it, I did a little more labeling by attaching a paper clip to the zip tab and sliding in a piece of washi. 

The Best Quick Minestrone

And yes, it's time for a soup recipe. The weather was cold and very rainy here today and Minestrone entered my mind. My original Minestra is a two day affair but this needed to be quicker. It was so delicious that I need to get it down on paper.

This makes a nice big pot - plenty for 8 (enough for the three of us for 2 dinners, a couple of lunches).
Prep time is about 40 minutes
Cooking time is at least an hour

Ingredients

About 1/2 lb of any kind of beef, cut into small pieces 
1 onion, diced
1 big leek, diced
3 carrots, diced
Olive Oil
1 bunch of swiss chard
1 small can diced tomatoes
2 qts chicken or beef stock
salt, pepper, thyme
Parmegianno-Reg, grated and rind
1 can chick peas
1/2 cup of Orzo (or other small pasta)

4 shallots, cut in half polar-wise and sliced

Saute the beef in olive oil. Remove from pan

Diced and drop the onions, leeks and carrots (in that order). Let them saute till tender
Add about 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper, 1/4 tsp of thyme (to taste)
I considered adding red pepper flakes at this point.

Return the beef to the pot along with
Stock, Tomatos, Chick Peas, Swiss Chard and Parm rind

Simmer about an hour or so. 

Add the orzo in the last 20 minutes (or so).

I sauteed the sliced shallots in olive oil for a good 20 minutes or so and used that as a garnish. It was worth the bit of extra trouble. It added a nice sweetness to the soup and an extra texture.

Serve with parm atop. 

Heaven. It was worth the wait. Whatever is in your fridge or to your taste works here. 
The proportions of liquids to solids should remain the same. It's a nice hearty soup.

DIY Spa

Pamper Yourself

Happy Sunday all. I just pinned all of my favorite DIY beauty recipes to my Pinterest DIY Spa board. I haven't tried all of them yet and you can see my notes on the pins. I just finished using the Coconut Oil Sugar scrub and it's fantastic. Here's to a spa day :) xo - Diana

PS: This journal page is from Pattern Crazy, my class at the upcoming CREATE, NJ. Pattern Crazy, the studio version was this past weekend. We had a blast. I'll post more about it this week. 

Shaped Like Cat

It is a sock day today. Yesterday, my dear Teddy was taken to to the vets and left for a time. He is returned home now in fine shape. It was a harrowing afternoon and evening for all of us. In my morning sewing class, a house shape fluttered down from the cutting. And then later, with Teddy home, a vaguely cat like shape wandered onto the stitch.

Vaguely shaped is appropriate as so much in our lives transcend their physical shape as they distort to hold their own personalities and the feelings that we fill them with. 

Simple Modern Sewing, Japanese Sewing

And my wedding outfit is finished!

Whew. Ultimately, I'm really happy with it and there would have been no pleasing me at the stores. I'm far to fussy and then far too cheap. 

Here's the deal as I see it on making garments from Japanese patterns. Remember that I am a very beginner garment maker. Maybe not anymore but sewing from these patterns was way above my pay grade. 

*** If you have no interest in this sewing stuff, skip down past the numbered paragraphs. 

Japanese bodies are different from American and European bodies.  And guess what!!! There is no standards in sizing! Isn't that so cool? Break out the hard stuff.

So, say you are an American sized large, you will need to:

1. Find the pattern pieces you need among the stacked patterns.

2. Use a highlighter to trace around the pattern. Take a nap.

3. Trace again onto paper. I used gridded interfacing (and I guess, but haven't tried, the Swedish Sewable Pattern paper would be good). 

4. Figure out how to enlarge the patterns and do so. This is initially pretty danged tricky and I wouldn't suggest have a glass of wine while you're at it. Though you may need one afterwards. You really need to measure the armholes in particular and the dart placement. You may recall my recent post Cockeyed. Check the length as well. I'm average height but needed to add length to everything. I have to tell you here that it is very fun to make up those patterns, all those little arrows and dashed lines. I have a black felt tip marker and it is awesome to write on that interfacing. Small pleasures.

5. Cut out your traced pattern.

6. Lay out your pattern pieces and add in the seam allowances! If you are smart you will retrace the enlarged pattern with the seam allowances. But I keep forgetting. I've added pockets to dresses, pants and skirts. What's the point of no pockets?

7. Make a muslin first before you cut into some really gorgeous fabric. Or make it with some less expensive fabric from the sales. 

8. Sew as usual. The Japanese sewing books are very short on explicit instruction. If you are a beginner, I really suggest sewing lessons or getting someone knowledgeable to help. You'll save on booze and you'll learn all sorts of nifty things like what "ease" means. 

I really love almost every single garment in Simple Modern Sewing (review here). So far I'm made a peasant-y kind of blouse (2x's), the little jacket for my dress - at the top of the post -  is the same pattern pieces. Now that's pretty good stuff. I've made a simple gathered skirt and the dress which can be worn as a jumper.

I'm making another top that I'm pretty excited about which uses the same pattern pieces (lengthened) as a dress. You can really use a ton of creativity putting these pieces together with different fabrics for different seasons. You could add bits of fabric and embroidery and wear clothing that reflects your own sense of style.

Most important, I'm learning about my body. Learning to accept it, love it and clothe it with enthusiasm and some originality. My husband remarked that I looked really happy in my new clothes and my son asked me how I felt wearing them. That's what I'm talking about. It seems that middle aged women are invisible in the fashion world. That is not cool. 

This stuff takes time. It's been a sabbatical of sorts and well worth it.

How do you feel about your clothing? There's been a lot of talk in the news lately about fast fashion. Buying a lot of cheap clothes and then more. Throw away society. We all do this. It's quick and convenient. I just want to give myself this gift now. 

Self Care: Just Do It

 

Something small. The question is what? What little bit of time can you carve out of your day and what would you do with that time? That is the question that needs a practical answer. So make a list. In your journal. Make a list of everything that you can think of from a trip around the world to 30 consecutive minutes with a good book or your journal.

Then whittle down the list to what works for you. Don't steal a minute here and there and think it's self-care. That's what my dad used to call "nickel and dime-in' it." Give yourself the whole danged dollar. And please! share your ideas in the comments. No idea too big or too small. Make a bunch of photocopies of your hand and glue them in your journal What message will you put there? 

And I apologize for my slow response in replying to comments. Today is the day!

In other news and under the label "self-care," I made four cloth napkins using Moda's toweling by the yard which I tripped over here about four months ago whilst drooling over the Cosmo embroidery thread. The toweling fabric is soft and heavy. Hemmed on two sides, all you need do is cut it and hem the other two sides.  The whole project took about 40 minutes. These would make dandy shower gifts, house-warming gifts or hostess gifts wrapped around your potluck entry.

More here and here (lots more!). I'll let you know about service when I place an order. And I will do that. My kitchen towels are a big disgrace and I'm disgruntled at the prices for the cr*p at stores. Getting crotchety, aren't I?

Ahem. Go make your list and I will too.  

PS - this is posted in Taming the Critic. It is the critic we are addressing when we ignore ourselves and nurture all those around us. IMHO, natch.

Related articles

Making it Work: Working From Home With Kids

Self Care and The Critic

Over the summer, I wrote this post about not being well and honoring it. 

Ally commented that she is not very good at self-care. I've wondered why so many women are missing out on the tender nurture we give to so many others. And I have to guess that it's the critic at work again. The critic suggesting that if we (for instance) eat the last two pieces of bread, we aren't taking care of our families. We should leave that bread for them. 

Suggest to yourself a walk, a bit of journal play, a day off without any reason at all. What is the first thing that pops to mind. A year ago, I would have said .. "oh I should be *blah, blah, blah-ing*."

Where does that little voice come from? I'm clearly thinking about this as I write because this is new territory for me. I'm really not sure. At all.

But how about it, wise readers? What do you think?

A Clutch of Purses

I have a weakness for collective nouns. And purses and any kind of bag.

A few years ago, I ordered some purse frames which came with crappy instructions and failure was the only option. I've had the bug to try again lately and with my recent flu giving me some "lay down" time, I dove back in. 

I found instructions here on Etsy, along with the glue, Guttermann's (super important) and purse frames. Good start. I also began haunting U-Handbags, a company owned by Lisa Lam. Lisa authored a couple of books and (sheepishly) I bought a Bag For all Reasons (linked below). 

It took me a few tries to get this right but it is absorbing. I can see making these purses with embroidery and fabric collage piecing. In the meantime, my first commission is to make purses for the bridal party and a few family members for the wedding. Practice makes perfect. 

Chiffon is Blooming in January

Amidst the logistics of planning my daughter's wedding is some straight on fun. 

The bridesmaids had their hearts set on fascinators and when I found this tutorial on making chiffon flowers, the deal was done. The edges of the fabric curl when held over (ahem, not IN) a candle. A trip to Fabric Row in Philadelphia with my buddy Susan, provided everything necessary to make these frothy confections. Susan found the perfect fabric for the leaves. 

It was pretty easy once the fabric circles were cut. The largest circle is about 4.5". Anyway, flowers done, one to go *the bride needs one, right?* And a lovely silk hairband with flowers for our junior bridesmaid. 

I'm thinking of all of the sizes and colors you could make these in for pins or embellisments. I made a tiny one - about 2" across that is quite cute.