HISTORY: Preserved

I've never been to any WWII events, ever. Considering my passion and love for the time period, that doesn't really make sense, does it?? I decided to do a search to find out if there were any events coming up, and there's one this weekend in Reading, PA! I really hope we get to go, because what fun!
There was quite a bit of info for other events that I found:

Mid-Atlantic Air Museum's 25th Annual WWII Weekend (Reading, PA)

Williamsport, MD WWII Weekend (not sure of the date yet)

WWII Weekend at the Eisenhower National Historic Site, PA

Military Vehicle Preservation Association events - this site has events listed all around the country! One event looks cool - a military convoy from Washington D.C. to San Diego, CA!

WWII Weekend in Frederick, MD

National Electronics Museum, MD is co-hosting Warfront to Homefront: World War II in Maryland. It is a coalition of 70 museums and civic organizations commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII in August 2015. This looks l…

Okay, okay, so I'm horrible at sewing goals.

I am working on those 18th century breeches. Right now I'm staring down 11 more button holes to finish. *sigh* Not the most fun I've had with a needle. Just so you know, if you ever want to sew a pair of 18th century breeches, there are 14 button holes. And they're not tiny ones, either!! Just so you know what you're getting yourself into...

I like sewing while watching a good movie or TV show, but lately, my hubby and I have been watching some great Korean dramas. It's very difficult to read subtitles and do sewing at the same time though. Believe me, I've tried. So, yeah. No sewing is done during those hours.

I've thought a few times that I might abandon this sewing project, but if I did that, I'm afraid I wouldn't get any sewing done! So, I'll keep plugging away.

When I was finishing up my WWII rationing project, I was thinking ahead to my next project. I had another fun idea for the 1940s, but…

I've mentioned on here a few times that I'm working on an historical fiction novel set in WWII. I've written a few first drafts in my life, but I've never actually worked on a 2nd draft before! So, it's a new experience for me and I'm learning a lot as I go.

So, in case you've been wondering how that 2nd draft is going...


There was only so much working on a laptop could do for me. Sometimes you've just gotta lay it all out.

I had one English professor in college have our class go through this exercise where we had to cut up all the paragraphs of our short story. Then we had to give it to another person and they arranged it in the order they thought made sense. It was quite the revealing exercise! I was kind of going for that with taping it all up, but really, it's just easier to make notes this way when I can see it all at once. :-)

Cooking on a Ration by Marjorie Mills came to my rescue yesterday. I've been in a cooking slump lately, and some days are a real struggle. Part of me wants to just dive in and follow a month of the Health-for-Victory's rationing menus. It would be hugely instructive and I wouldn't have to do any planning myself. I don't know if my family would like it though. Some of the recipes, as I've found, are not the most appetizing, but at least they're nutritious.

Anyway, I adore Cooking on a Ration and awhile ago I made a list of all the recipes I was interested in trying. Beef Biscuit Roll was one of these. It's essentially a savory "cinnamon roll" using biscuit dough and ground beef. It doesn't sound that glamorous, but man, it's good!

As you can see - they really do look like cinnamon rolls with ground beef. The filling utilizes ground beef, chopped onions, chopped green peppers, salt and pepper, and I added in minced celery. Any leftover biscu…

I know it's already May and my sewing challenge for April is overdue. I am nearly done with  my son's 18th century breeches. I'm working on covering buttons and sewing them on; there are 13 buttons in all! Which means just as many button holes. *sigh*

After that I need to sew on the leg cuffs, sew on the ties, make and stitch the lacing holes in the back, and finish the seams inside with a simple zigzag stitch on the machine or whip stitch depending on if I feel like hand sewing all that. Then I will be done!

This month's goal is to sew my son's 18th century shirt. I purchased a beautiful blue check linen from Burnley & Trowbridge at the 18th Century Market Fair two weekends ago.

Speaking of Ft. Frederick - I found lots of treasures at my two favorite sutlers: Burnley & Trowbridge and Wm. Booth, Draper. Between the two of them I got more bone buttons, some horn buttons, linen and cotton tapes, light wool for a petticoat for my daughter, checked linen, a few…