Yesterday Was Crazy Busy, But It All Fell Into Place

First of all, Good Imbolc to all of you (it started at sunset yesterday). Now for the blog. Yesterday was crazy/busy but I got a lot done. I spent most of my day doing household things. I did the grocery shopping, dashing through Whole Foods in record time with exactly what I had on my mental shopping list, then going to my local grocer. I did pick up the wrong coffee for DH (even though I took a photo of it on my camera, I still messed it up). I was trying to get as much in my basket as possible before retreating to their little seating area for my quarterly chat with my stockbroker. 

Between Tom and Aearwen, I was on the phone for an hour-
and-a-half yesterday. That's extremely rare for me. I'm not 
really a fan of the phone, but I do love my weekly convos with 
Aearwen, and it was nice to catch up with Tom. 

It was a relatively fast and very pleasant conversation with Tom, catching up with him and his family. I guess DH never mentions his family to him, because he seemed rather surprised that I cared about how his kids and grandkids and his aged mother were actually doing. Well, after several; decades, I do consider him a friend as well as my broker, so yes. I ask about people who are important in the lives of my friends. 

I grabbed my largest stock pot and made a huge batch 
of chili yesterday. It'll feed me for days, which is an 
excellent thing. Although this isn't my actual batch, it's 
not dissimilar. My pot is nicer, though - LOL. 

After the conversation I finished my shopping and headed home. I attacked the kitchen - LOL. I made a HUGE batch of chili that will take me through the next week's meals easily. I baked a 9x9 and an 8x8 pan of gluten-free brownies because I wanted to use up my less favorite mix, and I finished up with a batch of Ogre Juice and actually found freezer space for two of the four containers. That was a TOTAL win. 

I could have bought a couple of other veggies for my 
Ogre Juice, but didn't end up needing them. I had 
exactly enough to fill the four containers I needed to, 
so I'm set for the next week. Huzzah! 

I also did four loads of laundry. The fourth load was an unexpected one - I managed to get brownie dough all over the sleeve of my white sweater and my kitchen towel. So I tossed them into the washer for a quick load, and by the time I was finished speaking with Aearwen, they were clean and dry once again, and my house looked as though nothing had happened all day. My goal, anytime I cook, is to leave the kitchen looking untouched. I succeeded. 

We love detective stories, and Very is always 
excellent with lots of turns and twists. We've 
see all of them before, but going through all of 
them from start to the end of Season 10 will 
be a delightful journey, and I'm sure there will 
be a few episodes that we haven't seen before. 

After our usual Wednesday chicken dinner, we settled down to watch our next episode of "Vera". DH purchased seasons 1-10 for my holiday gift and even though we've seen all of the episodes over the years, we're going through the series in order to reacquaint ourselves with the beloved character and see the nuances that we might have missed earlier. It's a delight - I just LOVE the show. So, I'm wrapping this up and heading out. It's not quite as cold today, but we'll be dropping in temp all day so that by the end of the day we'll be -16 F (-26.6 C). It'll just be for the one day/night before we warm up again, but it'll be a cold drive home tonight. I'm glad I have a full tank of gas. Have an excellent day. Slava Ukraini. 

Project Runway Season 18 Episode 8 - Sheer Delight

Wishing all of you a Blessed Imbolc as we move into the latter half of the Winter season (at least according to the sun). Of course, up here in the Frozen Northlands we usually have winter staying a bit longer, a house guest who just won't leave. Now ... on to the Runway (photos in alphabetic order, as usual). 

I liked the top of Brittany Allen's pink outfit,
but those short-shorts just didn't do it for me
at all. I think a skirt or a pair of long pants
might have been a better design choice. 

It was a Project Runway posting last week that was the beginning of a weekend of computer hell. I'm hoping and crossing my fingers (still trying to type with those crossed fingers) so that the issue will not revisit and that saving my draft, then recalling it to add the Runway photos, and finally putting it out there for all of you to read and enjoy will NOT crash and burn my computer once again.

Chelsey Carter went with blue and these space-ship
inspired empty sleeves. The white colored
undergarments threw me here. If they had been
a matching blue, it could have been a fun design. 

An Editorial Look using sheer fabrics was the challenge for this week. Combining the challenge with Dayoung's health issues and the fact that designers rarely enjoy working with sheers outside of sleepwear, it might be truly difficult for many of the contestants. Sheer fabrics have been a fabric of choice in collections over the past year from some of the major fashion houses. It will be interesting to see how these "baby" designers interpret suave and sophisticated while they deal with the inherent difficulties of sheer fabrics. I know when I worked with sheers in the past, they loved to fray, and stitching them cleanly was always a challenge.

I rather enjoyed this design by Delvin McCray. Of
course, the top was undeveloped, but the entire
outfit fit well and suited the model. 

As the winner last week, Brittany got to choose her own model. The "button handbag" was used for each of the remaining designers to choose their model. Nancy picked DD again, stating that she wanted to redeem herself with her model. It's a one-day challenge. Dayoung collapsed as the designers moved to the backstage area and the medics were called again. After meeting with the medics, Dayoung made the difficult decision to withdraw from the competition for her health. So now we were down to seven from the original sixteen.

Geoffrey Mac had no breast support for Thinjin in
this sheer gown, and the bold shoulders and belting
brought the eye directly to those bouncing breasts.
It just didn't work, although it fit the parameters of
the challenge and the model was fine with
pasties covering her nipples. 

After each designer met with their model, the group headed off to Mood for fabrics. Christian met them there, telling them that since Dayoung pulled out of the competition, a designer was going to be coming back.Who is it? Marquise entered Mood with a flourish. As the last designer eliminated, he was invited back to take Dayoung's place. What are sheer fabrics? Chiffon, organza, tulle, netting, etc. qualify - fabrics that are translucent. There are a lot of sheer fabrics available, all of which have their own inherent difficulties. After the designers have checked out of Mood, they entered the workroom and started working on their designs, Marquise's model came in and they chatted about ideas for his clothing. Since it's a one-day challenge, they all have twelve hours to create magic.

Marquise Foster grabbed his return opportunity with
both hands and created this sheer, flowing dress for
the Runway. For a change he actually worked with
his model and made something that actually celebrated
her shape. 

There are some really pretty designs under construction but Victoria is having a meltdown. She ended up grabbing her things and walking out of the workroom. Did she quit? I've learned over seasons of this show that you can't count a designer out until they actually leave and catch a plane. I still remember one designer who left in the middle of the night - abandoning the challenge in mid-stride. Victoria seems like a whiner, but I never pegged her for a quitter. We'll have to see if she truly has left the Runway completely.

Nancy Volpe-Beringer produced this stunning
shaped gown with a crazy ruff. She said it was a
"zero waste" garment - all of the scraps and
cuttings had been woven into the collar. Good
on her. DD looked confident as they strode
down the Runway in this gown. 

Shortly before the day ended, Victoria reappeared at her workstation and started to work once more. All she accomplished with her little fit was the loss of more than an hour to indecision. Probably not beneficial, but we'll see tomorrow. She wound up making a dress in 2-1/2 hours, piecing a lightweight fabric (that wasn't sheer) together with netting. At least it was different than her usual criss-cross bandage look that she's featured in too many designs. 

Sergio Guadarrama said he wanted to celebrate his
model's history as a German woman who married
a Chinese man. He placed tassels all over his
sheer patterned covered with sheer netting gown.
The tassels bothered the judges at first, but in the
end, they were all astounded at how covered this
nude model truly looked. 

So ... after the models had makeup and hair done and were dressed in the final designs, it's on to the Runway.

Victoria Cocieru had ripped her garment apart, leaving
the scraps on her table in the workroom as she left
to sulk offstage. She came back to her space with
a bit more than two hours to pull something together
and managed this offering. Is it great? Hell no. But
the fact she covered her model and it was fitted
beautifully went a long way. She's a very
talented seamstress. 

It was a tough Runway, but there were some looks I really liked. Of course, my opinions don't matter at all, it's all up to the judges, accompanied by a less than memorable guest judge who was unmentioned in any of the blogs and recaps. My predictions ... Sergio for the win with Nancy close behind, and Chelsey for the loss, but Victoria has really rubbed everyone the wrong way. One of the judges mentioned Christian's save, so maybe this will be the challenge where he uses his save for the season. Victoria drives me crazy but she has the talent when she doesn't implode, and Chelsey has street style, but she really missed the bus with this blue, stiff design over insufficient undergarments.




SPOILER ALERT - WHO STAYS, WHO WINS AND WHO IS GOING HOME, AND DOES CHRISTIAN USE HIS SAVE? READ BELOW FOR THE FINAL RESULTS.




So, I was right. The winner was indeed Sergio whose sheer embellished garment masked the complete nudity of his model perfectly. She looked amazing and it was a fantastic gown. As for who went home? Chelsey didn't make the cut, but it came down to a choice of Chelsey or Victoria. I would have accepted either one, but the fact that Victoria managed to pull a dress together from scraps in approximately two hours, and have her model actually clothed and fitted properly probably was what led to her extension. Christian Siriano did NOT use his save, so that's still pending if needed. So now there are seven. 

Have a wonderful weekend. I'll be watching Super Bowl (and the commercials, of course) while eating lots of things that aren't good for me and continuing to bead on my owl project. I'll be back on Monday. 

More on February Celebrations

Yesterday I spoke about the poor groundhog, destined to be pulled from his comfortable burrow to view whether or not he sees his shadow, and thus predict the remainder of the winter. The poor thing. You would think that if the people can see their shadows, then so could the furry, sharp-toothed beastie :-)

But there is actually a bit more to it than that. Celebrated on February 1 or 2nd (August in the Southern Hemisphere) is the celebration of Imbolc, one of the half-way celebrations. This one takes place half-way between Yule and Ostara (the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox). Legend has it that the Cailleach, in Gaelic tradition, gathers her firewood for the rest of the winter on this day. She wants a clear day so that she can gather as much as possible, thus a clear day means a longer winter, a snowy day means a shorter one. Hmmm...sounds rather like that poor groundhog again, doesn't it?

It is also the Feast of St Brigid, considered the first day of Spring in the modern Irish calendar, and is also known as Candlemas, the feast of the Purification of the Virgin in the old Christian calendars. Brigid would walk the earth that night, blessing small scraps of cloth left outside of the doors for her attention. The hedgehog, another hibernating rodent, was considered sacred to Brigid. This is another "whistling" rodent, so when the Gaelic peoples came to the New World, they searched for another whistling rodent for St Brigid's day, and found....wait for it...the groundhog!

Groundhogs have very sharp teeth, as was pointed out to me by a few of my readers yesterday. Several of my references recommend that we celebrate that fact. The groundhog chews through roots and branches above and below ground. That reminds us to clear away any destructive patterns and habits - Spring Cleaning in essence. As we clear these away, we awaken new realms of possibility. Burrow into the mysteries of Spirit and our own connection with the earth upon which we walk, and walk gently today.