Cookbook is now available in Full Color and Black & White

The full color paperback version on CreateSpace is about $10 more than  what a black-and-white version (meaning the pictures are in black and white as well as all the text, cover is still in color) would cost. So I added a new black and white version; the book is now available on Kindle, and at Amazon in paperback format.

I'm working on getting it on to Lulu and Barnes and Noble but need to get through all the legalize first.  In the meantime, Kylee agreed to get a picture of my scones and my Devilishly Chocolate bundt cake, and the cake picture came out so nice I had to share.

Doesn't this look yummy?

If you'd like to order a special spiral bound copy, you can do  so at the Pyrhaven Etsy shop, please let me know if you would like it signed. I'm surprised at how many people have asked for it to be signed, it's very humbling.

The paperbacks can be found on Amazon by searching on the title, so you can order from the correct country site. (The links I have are for USA only.)

Grandma's Flapper Coat

I've had Grandma's 1920's Flapper Coat up on the Etsy site for a week or so and there are a few folks interested in it, and more pictures. Rather than try to get back into my pretty-much-dead Flicker account, I've decided to post the pictures here.

Grandma told me lots of stories about the bathtub gin parties she and Pop used to frequent before my dad came along. She was the epitome of style back in the day, and I can just see her all dolled up, with this coat on and the hat that's almost a perfect color match, arm linked with Pop strolling down the streets of Southern California.

A few of her old shoes made it into the trunk I brought with me from California, they're listed too, but not in nearly as good a shape as the pairs I sold to a Hollywood Prop Master.

This is one of the sides, it has some nice art deco effects stitched in, but no pockets. Why do "they" not put pockets in women's clothes?

 
Some of the lining didn't fare so well over the years, and I don't dare try to fix it myself. It's such a pretty fabric I'd hate to ruin it. I hope it finds a new home with someone who will love and care for it like Grandma did.

Time Machine

Well, my Etsy site has travelled back in time to the 1920's and 1930's today. I've been reorganizing my craft room/studio during my downtime between jobs. This involves going through several boxes, containers, and an old trunk that is purportedly from my grandparent's Model-T.

All of this brought me several smiles as I found two of my dad's baby outfits, my grandmother's 1920's Flapper Coat, and several pairs of her slippers.  I decided it would be better to let these items see the light of day and go on to new homes that will appreciate them.

Somewhere I still have to find my dad's old Navy Peacoat set that is similiar to this adorable Kute Kiddies toddler coat set.

 

My grandmother was a bit of a rebel when she was younger, much to my delight. Her flapper coat reminded me of all of her clothes that I should to a Hollywood Prop Master after her passing. One of her dresses showed up on Boardwalk Empire, much to my surprise. My husband actually caught it first, and I did lots of rewinds to make sure it was the one we thought it was. My grandmother would have been tickled pink to know her dress made it into a cable series.

Her pretty Flapper Coat was in the bottom of the trunk I mentioned earlier. I had forgotten about the detailed stitching that is so evocative of the Art Deco architecture.

 I'm not sure what kind of fur that is, but I'm thinking Coyote or Raccoon based on the coloring. It's most definitely not Rabbit...it's not soft at all.

To check out the rest of my time-machine items, visit my Etsy shop.

New Toys!

I finally unloaded my latest vintage machine wins and got pictures of them.  The Singer I purchased for the cabinet, not for the machine.  Good news is the parts will work on my Grandmother's machine just fine, so I may have a replacement deck with perfect decals.  I need to get a picture of the deck anyway, so a company I'm working with can make replacement decals.

Here's my $6 win:

As you can see, the varnish is having issues and a full strip, restain, varnish is in order.  The machine itself has been recently used (based on it's new belt and nicely moving parts), so I had to gut it completely.  Instead I think I'll simply swap what I need and either donate or sell this beastie cheap once I check it all out.  Here's a better idea of the damage to the cabinet.

My other win is a Singer Stylist 533.  After taking it out of the case I see there's a part missing.  Still, not too bad for $8.  And it does have the removable table stashed inside the case - right where it belongs.  Wiring is in great shape, so now it's just time to clean it well and stitch up a small project.

Fun "Naughty" Christmas Boys Fabric

I just "had" to have this fabric.  It's way to fun, and I know my BFF will get a HUGE kick out of it as a tote bag.  And since I will make it reversible he can keep this cutie pies with him all year round.

I also added several Christmas items to my Etsy site.  Drop on by there to see what are strictly one-of-a-kinds and which ones can be custom ordered.

Next week at some point I'll be posted again on tips for refurb'ing those vintage machines I love so much.  I do have one tip for you: Do Not leave your sewing machine oil where a it can be tipped over.  I've lost most of mine unexpectedly, even though it was in a sealed bottle and in a closed ziplock baggie.  It got tipped over and it leaked.  Not a happy find.

Oh, I did win 2 more vintage machines.  Pictures will come soon!

One Size Does NOT Fit All

I'm going to be teaching a couple of friends how to sew.  Just very basic, beginning stuff, all straight lines.  Aprons!  I thought they'd be easy - which they are when you're talking about construction, not so much for sizing.

I freely admit that I'm B-I-G.  Tall with plenty of excess cushioning so to speak.  So I'm used to having to adjust patterns of all types to fit me.  Usually my issue is with the length of sleeves and legs, rarely do I ever have an issue finding something to fit my "girth".  Until I started looking at my apron patterns.  The biggest size I could find in my stash is XL, and online I'm only finding S-M-L for women and practically nothing for men.

Now this wouldn't be such an issue if it wasn't for the fact that I was going to sew along with my friends and make myself a good canning apron with pockets and long ties that I can wrap around to my front with a duplicate to go to my BFF who happens to be male and love food as much as I do.  Problem is, none of the patterns that wrap around to the sides of the models wrap around for me.  And with curves and angles on the pattern I like, a simple add to the fold line won't work quite right.

So I'm on a misson.  I'm going to learn to make patterns of my own, for those of us who don't "quite" fit the norms of some designers.  I might even add some ruffles (even though I'm not a ruffle girl) just to test out my cool ruffler foot on my vintage White machine.

When all is said and done, I hope to have a pattern that works, is quirkily (new word!) fun to wear and can be adapted to multiple sizes.  Check my etsy site in a few weeks, I have a goal to have a Christmas themed apron up for sale before November.  And if I can figure out how to make pattern pieces that will fit on an 8"x11.5" piece of printer paper, I might even sell a PDF version of the pattern(s).

PyrHaven on Etsy

Welcome to the new PyrHaven Blog!