Leibster Blog Award II

 

 

Thank you to Natalie from A Frolick Through Time who very kindly awarded me the Liebster Award, which happens to be my second time to be so honored.  This time though the award seems to have some new variations such as answering specific questions from the awarder. Natalie has posed some intriguing queries for her nominees to answer. 

1. How did you become involved in costuming, which as people may have said to you, is a rather unusual hobby?
   
   I am a teacher by trade and homeschool my children. I feel it is quite important that they (and all students) learn to speak in front of an audience, but my ideas of giving oral repots on current events, science experiments and book reports were boring to my kids. How to spark their imagination and inspire them to dig into their books for research?  Let them choose their favorite historical or literary character of the past and I'd design costumes for them.  Except they thought I was nuts. So I told them I'd dress up too and become someone from the past.  Now they were inspired and the rest is history.
   
   Since we've moved to Virginia from Texas, we now get to go to Colonial Williamsburg quite often. My kids wore some old costumey colonial costumes (from a recent history presentation) while we were on vacation from Texas.  After we moved to Virginia my kids insisted that I sew historically accurate costumes for them, just like they saw in CW. The Costume Design Center and tailor found out and encouraged me too. The rest is history.
   
   
2. What is the oddest thing anyone has every said to you when they found out that you like to sew costumes?
   
   I have made a Lafayette regimental for my son, and one winter while waiting for special programming to begin inside the CW Mary Stith House with one of the Founding Fathers (it was a mystery who it would be since the schedule did not say) many of the guests speculated my son was the speaker. I said no, that we were only guests. Someibe insisted he had seen someone dressed like town in programs before. None of them believed me. Then one of them noticed he had a name tag. The guest flipped it around to see the name...only to find "annual pass" and my son's name on there. Dumbfounded for a moment, the older man finally exclaimed, "He's a guest like us!" I *did* try to tell him.
   
   
3. Are you by nature one who crosses all "t"s and dots all "i"s, or one who prefers to wing it, or somewhere in between?
   
   I prefer to cross my "t's" and dot all my "i's" but being a mother and teacher (and wife) forces me to" wing it" quite often. It has become a survival skill.
   
   
4. In your dream home, what would hang at the windows, or would anything hang there at all in the way of coverings, I mean?
   
   Lace curtains, which I did in our last Texas house. They were gorgeous and took a few years for me to specifically find. The buyers insisted I keep them there (along with all the other window treatments I had sewn). I did partly because I knew our new Virginia house might not have the same sized windows. Here, I would like to hang lace curtains but the casing doesn't allow for that. Maybe someday when I have more time I can tweak things...
   
   
5. If you celebrate Christmas and put up a tree, what type of tree do you like and how do you decorate it?
   
   When we lived in Texas we pulled our tree out of a box. When we moved to Virginia, the kids and I insisted on going to a Christmas tree farm, which to us was the next best thing to walking through the woods like John Boy and Grandpa did on The Walton's, who "lived down the road" from us.
   
   
6. If you could travel anywhere in the world for two weeks, where might you go, and what would draw you there?
   
   Ever since I was a little girl I wanted to travel to the Alps. I first learned of them because of the children's story, Heidi, so that meant I wanted to visit Switzerland. Now that I know that I could also visit Austria, France, and Italy to see the Alps, that is what I would most like to do. While there I'd also have to see the setting for "Sound of Music" im Austria and then visit Monet's garden in France. I would also like to take some red, white and blue flowers to lay on Lafayette's and his wife's graves at Picpus Cemetery.
   
   
7. Do you think you'll costume so long as you breathe, or do you think you might tire of it at some point?
   
   I'm sure as long as I have someone to encourage me (I need lots of that) I will continue to costume.
   
   
8. Do you like like meals that come from a single pot? In German that sort of dish is called an Eintopf, and my dad always called his creations "one-pots", a direct translation, with no gussying up.
   
   I am not a single pot eater but a meat and potatoes eater, due to my being pre-diabetic, so I can eat more or less carbs and free foods depending on my blood sugar levels at that meal.
   
   
9. Caffeine or no caffeine in your cup or glass of a morning?
   
   No caffeine since I don't like the taste of coffee.
   
   
10. Do do you enjoy tying bows on things?
    
    I enjoy tying bows if the ribbon is luscious to begin with.
    
    
11. If you could present your best-loved one or ones with any gift in creation, what might it be?


That is hard. My husband always wants something different, and very expensive. I try not to think about it since it can't happen.


Now for 11 random facts about myself. Hmmm...
1. Born in Louisiana.

2. Lived in Hawaii.

3. Lived in Texas.

4.Grew up in the USAF and married into the USAF.

5.I dreamed of moving to Virginia but my family laughed at me and said it'd never happen because we'd always live in Texas. I prayed about it every single day when my husband was retiring from the USAF and the only job offer he got was in Virginia! Here we are!

6. I miss Tex-Mex food.

7. I miss great Texas BBQ.

8. I miss Blue Bell ice cream.

9.Dark chocolate and coconut are my favorite flavors.

10.I'm drawn more to beautiful teacups than tea.

11.I do not like coffee. I do like hot chocolate but don't want to gain weight and am prediabetic. Therefore I drink hot tea...so I prefer yummy flavored teas. I don't like green tea.

Here are the rules:

1. You must post eleven random facts about yourself.

2. You must also answer the eleven questions the awarder has given you and make up eleven questions for your awardees to answer in turn.

3. Tag eleven fellow bloggers.

4. Notify them that you've awarded them.

5. No tagging back.

6. The eleven blogs you tag must have less than 200 followers.

Finding eleven blogs is most difficult because I think everyone has received this award already. However I have found a few new blogs so I shall award them!

1. The Quintessential Clothes Pen
2. Born in 1808
3. Austrian Woman
4. Cuaderno de Costura

My questions for the five tagged blogs:
1.What is your favorite part of costuming?
2. What inspires you most about costuming?
3. What is your favorite costuming resource?
4.  What is your favorite costume that you made?
5. What is your favorite era?
6. Why is that your favorite era?
7. What advice would you give to a beginning costumer?
8. What is one historical garment would you like to learn that you do not yet know how to make?
9. What one word best describes your fabric stash?
10. How did you get involved in costuming?
11. Do you have a favorite yearly costuming event?