HISTORY: Preserved

For our anniversary at the end of last year, my husband planned a whole surprise trip to Annapolis. Annapolis is a gorgeous old city full of wonky brick streets, buildings a couple centuries old, and the picturesque waterfront. We stayed at an old inn across from the historic statehouse. Annapolis is also home to the United States Naval Academy from where many of our astronauts have graduated!


Even though it's a gated campus, we were able to go in and walk around. What's neat is that in one of the buildings is the visitor's center, gift shop, and... a museum! It is possibly the smallest museum I've ever been to, but it was no less interesting!


Despite the museum being small, I was impressed by the different types of exhibit techniques they used. I am a total fan of maps, and the large floor-to-ceiling map of this naval battle above was really cool. I also liked the up close and personal feel of the exhibit below. It's simple and basic, but I think it functions well…

So... I cheated on this one. Twice. But I don't really care. I'm sewing, and that's all that matters. Yay!



 1940s Apron


I've had this awesome vintage-inspired fabric since my husband and I were at college in Logan, UT in 2008. I'd gone to the farmer's market and saw this vendor selling a super cute apron made out of this beautiful fabric. I begged her to tell me where she got it, and as soon as I got home, I hunted it down and ordered some. Ever since, I've been waiting for the perfect project, and this 1940s apron was it!

Here's the breakdown:

The Challenge: February - Ruffles or Pleats (I cheated and did scallops. Close enough, right? Besides, putting bias tape on scalloped edges is a pain in the rear! I figured the headache involved justified my cheating. So ha!)

Material: 100% cotton print

Pattern: Wearing History 1940s apron

Year: 1940s (my second cheat. The challenge's cut off date is 1938. Oh well!)

Notions: cotton thread, bias tape, a super cool …

I am so excited to finally get started on catching up on my museum posts! This one is long overdue. My family and I visited this post's featured museum last August. It's taken me so long because I had accidentally deleted the pictures. I was so devastated, but my wonderful husband was able to recover them for me. Hooray!
So, here's presenting - The Indiana Historical Society Museum!
I wasn't sure what to expect with this museum, but I was completely blown away! In every exhibit they used a wonderful mix of atmosphere, artifacts, reproductions, exhibit space, and interpreters. We visited four exhibits which I will detail below, though the 4th I'll feature in another post since it's chock full of awesomeness! Click on the exhibit title links to visit the webpage about them.
Cole Porter Room
Cole Porter was a famous early 20th century songwriter from Indiana best known for "I Get A Kick Out of You" and the musicals "Kiss Me Kate" and "Anyt…

Haha! I caught him when he was yawning.
Yes, I'm doing these projects out of order! I have to allow myself the sanity of doing that since I'm still trying to get together our outfits for upcoming events.

April's Historical Sewing Monthly Challenge was "Gender Bender", so making something for the opposite gender, or something that was inspired by the opposite gender's clothing trends. I decided to make a waistcoat for my son to complete his outfit. He already had the fall-front breeches, the shirt I made last month, and now he's fully dressed with the waistcoat! I couldn't have him running around in a state of undress (namely just a shirt and breeches), now could I?

Here's the info:

The Challenge: May - Holes

Material: 100% brown linen, 100% tea-dyed cotton for lining

Pattern: Mill Farm (This pattern had super basic instructions which led to frustrations with the pockets and the vents in the back. I had no idea what I was doing, but luckily it turn…

My friend, JoLee, who blogs with her sister over at Intellectual Recreation, is spending each day this week talking about books set in WWII. She covers different themes within WWII each day. Today's theme is about displaced children. I love her "reading on a theme" series and am always interested to see the books she discusses. On Friday she'll be featuring my book, The War Between Us, which is quite exciting!

Go on over and check it out!

Click here to see the introductory post from Monday.
Click here to see today's topic about displaced children during WWII.

It's time again for another recipe from Cooking on a Ration by Marjorie Mills! Hooray!


When originally going through the book when I first bought it, the recipe for Armenian Dessert caught my eye. Sounds exotic, doesn't it? Well, it wasn't really. At least not if you've tried shredded wheat before. haha!

This recipe made an interesting, simple, and inexpensive little dessert that would be easy to increase or decrease the amounts to fit any occasion. The main ingredient is large shredded wheat biscuits. It's amazing that they still make them, because I don't know anyone that eats them for breakfast. Do you?

Anyway, I was excited to try the recipe. All you do is dip the shredded wheat biscuits in hot milk, cut open the top half, spoon on the filling of chopped raisins and nut meats, replace the top, drizzle honey over the top and then heat them until warmed through. Super simple! I wasn't sure how they would taste though. Shredded wheat is pretty blah on it&#…