Postcard from Disneyland

It's about 

Color

Images

Fantasy

Flower patches

Gardens

Baskets of flowers

Happy, yelling children 

Swans

Moments with my daughter

Flying elephants

Elephants bathing in a river

Flying pirate ships

Talking birds

Singing birds

Dancing dolls

 Singing dolls

Mark Twain Steamboat

Well behaved, fun loving pirates

Singing ghosts

Buying souvenir socks with Mickey's face

Aladdin and Jasmine flying overhead in the Hyperion Theatre

Soaring over CA

Swimming in the Candy Cane Inn pool

Checking out the current crop of flower baskets at Candy Cane Inn

Disneyland is my home town.

Inspired by London (historical fashion)

On my recent trip to London I hopped the tube over to The Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace, to take in the exhibit, In Fine Style, The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion (if you're headed to London yourself that show is on through October of this year).

Sure the wealthy ladies and gentlemen in the exhibits portraits indulged in a lot of intricate garments that aren't practical today (nor were they then, for regular folks), but they still inspire plenty of details that do more than just make me utter a long drawn out romantic sigh. They give me ideas for my modern sewing projects.

Here Mary of Modena (a Duchess of York in the late 17'th century) wears a lovely riding habit. Although the lace at her neck may have been unaffordable for the majority of the population, I bet the beautiful hang of her sleeve inspired many a delicate blouse or shirt among the less monied people she encountered. Many of us might still enjoy stitching up a poet shirt with similar drippy hanging sleeves, perhaps in a soft white cotton batiste?

What do you think about her color scheme? I'm pretty partial to the way the soft peach in her turned back jacket sleeve and lining, picks up the brown tones in the primary fabric. A modern day vest (think waistcoat in the U.K. of course) or jacket sewn in an embossed print with a peachy lining would be a beauty!

My very favorite detail in this habit, is the welt pocket. It caught my attention the minute I spied the portrait. Though I think of a welt as being a subtle little detail, her ladyship's mantua maker drew everyone's eye to this practical little pocket, by displaying the lining and not hiding the opening with the welting strip I associate with this feature. (So does this really count as a welt pocket? No matter, it plays the same function in the garment.) She highlighted the pocket even more by embellishing it with an oval of the same carmel/honey colored buttons that would nicely suit our modern jacket or waistcoat. This gorgeous opening also looks to be farther down the hip than we might typically find it, but oh so practical for our spare change, or the handkerchief many of us still carry there, just as Mary very likely did.

Historical Inspiration keeps me enchanted by sewing!

Impressions of Morro Bay Harbor (San Luis Obispo County)

The Fishing Fleet
L.R. Shimer

Please click on the illustration above for a deeper impression

Cascades Ahead, Juan de Fuca Plate Off the Port Bow

Click on the illustration above 

to get up close and personal with this Cascadian view

Crater Lake was the first big stop on our recent trip into the Cascades.  It was also my first good long view of a range of mountains that first shoots up in my home state of California and dances all the way along through Oregon, Washington and into British Columbia.

The volcanic nature of many of these mountain peaks are all the fault of that boisterous Juan de Fuca plate. Or, if you prefer, you can blame it on Juan's kin, the troublesome North American plate. Skimming along towards each other atop the earth's mantle, at the rate of a couple of centimeters a year, both are headed on a disaster course.

As little Juan continues to converge into that big ole North American plate, watch out! Being more dense (of course since he's an oceanic plate) Juanito is just making trouble for himself. He's getting subducted under his bigger continental cousin. You'd think those oceanic plates would have figured out by now, that's the way the laws of plate tectonics work. But those kids never seem to learn!