My best T Shirt Maxi Dresses yet!

This is my favorite picture of John and his sister Maureen. At her house in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Maureen is one of my life's most unforgettable people.  You always know where you stand with her.  The older I get -- the more I admire that quality...

Maureen raised three children completely on her own -- and she did an awesome job. She has two daughters and a son. Marci, Marissa and Todd. I made t-shirt dresses for Maureen and her girls..and I had so much fun picking out just the right shirts, slogans and logos. Early on -- I decided the color palatte would be black and white and hot pink...perfect.  Of course -- lots of t-shirt fringe...

On the back of Marci's dress -- I experimented with some braiding. I LOVED IT...

During our visit, we only got to see Marissa...I was sooo excited to give them the dresses and see if they would fit.  (Marci helped me with the sizes)... AND THEY WERE BEAUTIFUL...

I only wish Marci could have been there to try on her dress, too.  But, after recently getting her PhD,  she was busy presenting a paper at an important medical convention...

As it happens -- we were lucky to get a glimpse of even one of Maureen's kids.  Since Marissa graduated from college (with honors) -- she travels all over the country, working on contracts for IBM, doing a complicated job that went right over my head...

And the next morning, at 4:00 AM -- Marissa was getting on a plane to go back to San Francisco.

Oh, yeah, Maureen.

You did a great job with those kids...

I am so proud that these are my people...

Latest T-shirt Maxi Dresses

My latest t-shirt maxi dresses. I worked for a LONG TIME on this trio!!  John and I were going to Pennsylvania to visit his family -- and I wanted to make special dresses for his sister Maureen and her two daughters.   Maureen's is in the middle -- Marci (on the left) and Marissa(on the right)...

Maureen is one of the most outspoken people I know. And since her kids introduced her to Facebook -- these words are perfect for her....

Another design detail on the front of the dress was a huge "M". You know how I did this -- I simply put a piece of pink fabric behind the black -- stitched the lines -- then did the cutting while I was watching television.

Marissa is working in San Francisco right now...and I had a shirt with this great Golden Gate graphic...

On Marissa's dress -- although I planned to do another "M"...you can see I got lazy. I just cut some squares and strips instead. Still cute....waaaay easier...
Now -- if only I could find the picture I took of the them WEARING the dresses...

Ephrata's Best Dishes

Michael did a wonderful job of presenting the history of the Ephrata Cloisters. I always think it is remarkable that places like this are still being maintained -- and you can tour them ANY TIME YOU WANT...

 

 

Here's a picture of one of the rooms a sister would have lived in. The bed is a 15-inch wide wooden plank attached to the wall. The pillow is a block of wood.   As Michael was explaining the severe conditions of 200 years ago, I said, "it's not all that different from flying DELTÄ"...

 

 

The Cloister Restaurant is right across the street. And we figured we could use a little snack before we went our respective ways...

I love the diners they have back East. The long bar with stools...the booths along the window wall.  The daily blue plate specials...it seemed like my kind of a place...

  AND IT WAS!! Michael had highly recommended their seasonal special, "corn pie". WHAT? How can there be such a thing and a girl born and raised in Iowa never yeard of it? CORN PIE YOU SAY??

 

HOLY COW. It was DELICIOUS. As I'm looking at this picture, I'm tasting it all over again. They serve it warm. They use fresh sweet corn. And it must be thickened with a white sauce. Maybe cornstarch. It's served with a sliced hard boiled egg. And a small glass of milk. I AM IN LOVE... CORN PIE is going to be my new best thing.

Ephrata Cloister

So -- here's my mystery location. The Ephrata Cloister. Have you ever heard of it? Me neither. But once I knew Donna and I were going to have a "day" somewhere in the middle -- I started looking around on the internet. And I found this... So interesting...a religious cult from the 1700's...

Because William Penn, a Quaker, wanted to develop his state as a place FREE from religious persecution -- Pennsylvania got more than their share of religious zealots. Shakers, Amish, Mennonite... And an orphan boy with some very odd beliefs -- Conrad Beissel -- brought his followers to Ephrata. And -- more than 200 years later -- the remains of his settlement survive as a museum and an archelogical dig.  Donna was bummed out because Lucy couldn't go into any of the buildings.  But I insisted we take the tour -- and they both got over it....

One of the reasons you never heard of Conrad and his crew is because he believed in celibacy. The brothers had their own building -- and the sisters lived apart. They didn't even eat their meals together. So, as both a religion and a town -- they were pretty much doomed.

What remains in the middle of Ephrata is 28 acres of pure history. We watched the little film -- then got a private tour from Michael, who was incredibly knowledgeable. I enjoyed his lesson in 18th century religion. There were so many things I did not know...and it was a fascinating time...

Several of the buildings are original to the site. The grounds are stunning. The day was gorgeous...

It was one of those days when I found myself thinking, "there's no place I'd rather be -- and nobody I'd rather be with..."

THANKS FOR PLAYING my road trippin' game, Donna. Didn't we have a great time, Lucy??

Pennsylvania Day Trppin...

One of the best things about our Pennsylvania vacation is that once we get there -- I RENT MY OWN CAR. John goes golfing every day with his buddies -- and I'm free to do a little "road trippin". Which I LOVE TO DO. And the weather was stunning...

John's family lives in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. Which is a very central location because  I have many friends on the East Coast. On this day, I headed south to the Lancaster area. Full of Pennsylvania Dutch and Amish communities. Places called Myerstown, Lebanon, Intercourse, Blue Ball and Ephrata...the homes are old and well kept...

AND the woman driving NORTH from Maryland to meet me was my friend Donna Babylon...I had a book on tape in my car. She had her little dog Lucy for company...

I chose the restaurant because on the website, they said they were famous for their "slippery pot pie". One of Donna's favorites. It seemed like a good idea at the time...lol...

But, if you know Donna -- you know she is a little picky about her food. That's okay. This day was about the visit -- not the food. AND my plan for us AFTER the lunch was really the big story... Can you guess? Have you ever been to Ephrata??

Project Runway Baby Challenge

Project Runway Designers taking care of crying babies?? What does that have to do with being a designer? Ugh. The fake babies were pointless. And I can't imagine a group of people who would be LESS FIT to be parents. WHICH I'M SURE THEY WOULD AGREE WITH...

It's actually a frightening thought.  Boris and Natasha as parents?  I would fear for their children...

Obviously -- this week was a blatant plug for Heidi's new baby line at Babies-R-Us. They just can't resist this product placement crap. The HP tablet, the Lord & Taylor accessory wall, the color of the Lexus dresses...every single challenge is pushing products.   This show crosses the line like no other  and it is wearing very thin for me...

But -- that said -- I loved the idea of making clothes for babies. Since the moment Lillian was born -- I've been altering ready-to-wear clothes with zebra accents. If I was a designer, I would have jumped  at the chance to make a baby-fashionista outfit and add some sophistication.  There were sooo many ways they could do that.  Fabric choice, of course.  Maybe a large scale print -- which you never see in the baby departments.  Zebra stripes?  A "little black dress" would have been fun...maybe a shawl or wrap made out of velvet?  A poncho?  How about a little mod dress with t-shirt fringe??

Without Heidi's guidance -- Christopher was nowhere with his baby girl.  And obviously, the "make something for the mother" twist was completely pointless.  That woman looked horrible in the garish print he did for her -- it was too tight and she HATED it -- but none of that mattered.  The judges picked him the winner for the girl dress that Heidi designed...ugh...

The boy designs were actually better -- which was surprising.  Because little boys clothes are boring.  But maybe it says more about the dismal girl outfits the designers came up with...Dymetri and Sonji (both boy outfits) should have been the winners.

But MELISSA SHOULD HAVE GONE HOME.  Yikes.  Once again -- she was clueless.  She had no skills, no imagination and no plan.  She produced a half-finished awful white stiff denim dress.  OH MY GOD.  It was terrible and wrong on every single level.  It was tight and had a side zipper??  That dress was so bad I thought Melissa should not only go home -- she could be arrested for endangering a child.

Elena's baby blazer with the ruffle was beautifully finished and had a little style.  If Heidi had come up with that idea -- it would have been declared the winning girl garment. 

If you ask me -- Elena mostly went home because she got snarky with Nina Garcia.  And I'm a little embarrassed to admit I enjoyed that.  Nina's eye-rolling, I mean...

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Thanks for the encouraging emails.  I'll figure the blogging thing out....and, in the meantime, I might need a break now and then to work on Sew Expo stuff, take a road trip with a friend to upstate New York, and watch the Real Housewives of New Jersey battle rounds...

It's all about priorities, people!!

Blogging Questions

Yes, I know. For me -- this has been a SERIOUS BLOGGING BREAK...lol... Thanks for missing me. But it ain't over. Three things happened all at once.

1. I had to get a new computer. Not much of a learning curve there...

2. but that meant a new operating system. Windows 7 IS causing me some trouble.

3. The THIRD big thing was that they eliminated the old blogger interface. Which, quite frankly, is kicking my ass.  Bigtime.   I HATE BLOGGER.

What used to take me 20 minutes can now take an hour...hey -- WHO'S GOT THAT KIND OF TIME!!

Which triggered the fourth -- and biggest -- thing. When it started taking so much time -- I had to ask myself the big question.  Really -- why do I write this blog EVERY SINGLE DAY? 

It's a lot of time and energy.  Life's two most important components.  Spent here. 

I'm just sayin....