Christmas Open House at the Sheriff's House

Every year, Lawrence County Cancer Patient Services has a holiday home tour to raise money for their charitable work. I had been asked a few times to open our home for this, but never felt I had the time or resources to clean and decorate the house to a level I felt appropriate for  this event. I mean, close to 250 people were paying money to walk through our house--there should be something to surprise and delight in every room, right?

Well, this year I said yes, and my sister Dee flew out from New York to help with the preparations. My friend Emily also worked with us every day the week before the tour, and other friends pitched in as well. I borrowed decorations from a lot of people, particularly my mom and sister-in-law Roxie, and bought a very few new things for my permanent collection. Here are a few highlights:

Bloomington Trashion Refashion Show

I'm so pleased I can finally show off my designs for the Bloomington  (Indiana ) Trashion Refashion Show. I had two designs in the show. One was a simple swimsuit cover-up made by folding a crocheted tablecloth, attaching ties from burlap string retrieved from a coffee bag, then stringing ceramic beads from the Congo on the string to add a little subtle color. I didn't have to cut or sew anything for this design, just wrapped and tied it. This design was modeled by our Croatian exchange student Iva.

The second design took a lot more time. A local coffee shop donated several burlap coffee bags, which I cut and sewed into a long Jane Austen-y coat. I lined the coat with colorful silk from a pair of old Indian saris.

To wear under the coat, I originally intended to knit a long Regency - style dress out of string my brother salvaged years ago from the dumpster of a furniture factory where he worked. I ran out of time, and quickly decided a short dress would make a nice modern contrast to the coat, so I kept the dress short and sleek with a high Regency waist set off by an old piece of ribbon. This design was modeled by Kara, a yoga-instructor-in-training and experienced runway model.

A few days before the show, I made a skirt for myself out of another coffee bag, lined in old muslin. The muslin was so soft I felt like I had thrown the skirt on over my nightgown. The skirt went together so quickly and fit so well that I want to make this pattern again soon. Even DH liked it.