Let's talk about my fear of skirts.

I recently purchased this really great Joel Dewberry fabric from an Etsy seller in two colors...the lime green and the dark pink.

Now, I was in love with this fabric, but honestly had no idea what to do with it. I really wanted to make something utterly cool, but it doesn't seem like this fabric would be all that great all over your body--as in, a full length dress. After a little bit of snooping, I found this skirt over at Bird and Bread:

(img courtesy Bird and Bread)

Isn't it sooooo cute? She did an amazing job sewing it, and I only wish I could replicate the effort. Unfortunately, I have this little problem. Ok, a big problem.

(I look really bad in pencil skirts.)

Even I get how defeatist this is, but it's totally true. I just can't find any styles that accommodate my curvy hips with my small waist. I'm not built like a stick...I can't help that. But, I can totally take a cue from the fabulous blogger above and sew my own, well-fitted skirt.

I looked for a long time. Vogue had a lot of high-waisted options that I really liked, but I finally settled on this pattern from the "project runway" line. It's kind of a tulip skirt sort of shape that I think will go really well.

The link to the pattern review is here.

The one that the reviewer made up looked a little poofy in the hips...but hopefully this will work for me. I've never worn the style, personally. Here goes nothing!

Tea Sandwiches and Transversally cut bread

It has been beautiful here in western New York recently, and the SO and I decided to go on a picnic. There is a really beautiful lake nearby that we decided on as the spot for our munching, and the only thing left to do was to figure out what to munch. I didn't have much in my fridge (this is very typical, really) but the SO was hell-bent on making what basically amount to tea sandwiches. We had them a lot when on our trip to Argentina so see his family a couple years ago. They are square, usually thin sandwiches on thin white bread, with a very small amount of filling.

(Image taken from Asado Argentina)

The basic idea behind these is that you have to eat about 50 to satisfy hunger, but they are defninitely light and would be easier to haul around than thirteen Tupperware canisters full of potato salads, cocktail weiners, and all the other elaborate food I wanted to pack. So, we made them. Ah, but how does one get the bread so thin?

By cutting it lengthwise instead of width wise!

The fine people at Wegman's were understandably confused, but could not fight my rock solid logic. 

"This is the last loaf," the bread woman said skeptically. "I can't cut it that way here." We both looked from the loaf in my hand, to the machine, and then back to the loaf. I allowed my face to settle into a patient, oh so very patient smile.

"Is there any reason why you can't do it here? Can't you just put it in the other way around?"

And she did, and it worked. She was definitely not impressed with my bread cutting style, but since it was the last loaf and all (and it's not like I was at the bakery section of a grocery store or anything, right?) I can understand her attachment to it. The point I'm trying to make is that Wegman's is full of excellent people who always try to accommodate the customer. Even if we are weird bread-murderers!

The great thing about these sandwiches is that you can basically put whatever you want on them. We did three types: cuke/mayo/mustard/ham/salt ,  cuke/mayo/tomato pesto/turkey/tomato , and cuke/mayo/tomato/ham/mustard.

Yum!!! We had a great picnic, and though I didn't make fifty, I wish I had--because I really could have eaten at least three more. I wonder how much of sandwich eating is eating a bulky crust? Maybe that's why most people can only eat one real sandwich, but fifteen of these?