In Search Of......

 By the shore of a misty pond, our heroine searches. For what, she knows not.........

Uh, maybe -  a better look at the clothes? This IS supposed to be a style blog, isn't it?!?!?

Okay, here you go.  For some reason i felt like i was in my jammies all day wearing this outfit.  This seems to be some species of recurring neuroses on my part, and at this point i have no idea what the heck it's all about. Even i have to admit there's no realistic way that this get-up emits any type of 'jammy' vibe. I wore this dress because i was dying for some color and floweriness with all this cold, grey weather. I have the world's most boring merino wool v-neck sweater in grass green that i wore over the dress but under the jacket, so it didn't really show all day. It did provide a welcome layer of warmth. Brrr!

I've finished my first 'resolution' piece - the black linen blend full knee-length skirt. It has an elastic waistband and a couple of 3/4" deep tucks by the 60" hem. Comfy, easy, with a really nice drape. Plenty of room for wool tights and petticoats during the winter, and bare legs in summer.  I plan to spruce it up a wee bit with two or three groups of self-fabric yo-yo's. I was inspired by this look of Elsita's. (ah, the glorious day when Elsita begins her outfit posts again......) But my new skirt is a nice, basic piece of cake without extra ornamentation, so i'll focus making on my black interlock pants and my tobacco linen skirt before i start tartin' it up.

In Style Nation news, Reva is sponsoring an 'in the raw' group post. Seeing as i egged her on about it, i'm in. (Don't worry, mom, i'll keep it clean.) I encourage you all to go check it out and think about participating - Reva explicitly discourages 'severe nudes', so no need to show anything you feel uncomfortable with. But it's a nice opportunity to show a different side of yourself - we're not all perfect all the time, after all. 

Eagle Clothes

Hello everybody! First of all, i wanted to greet my new followers....it's a surprise to find out about people by having them sign up to follow!  Quite a treat! Although i enjoy blogging on it's own, and would write and photograph even if no one else ever laid eyes on what i produced, i really enjoy the conversation and the fresh perspectives that commenters bring to the table.  Plus finding out about new people. websites, projects.... everybody's busy, with so many demands on their time, and you're making the effort to spend some of that limited time here. So Thank You for following and reading and commenting!

bright winter light blasted out skirt color - see 1st pic for truer feel

Well, winter's here and the holidays are just about on top of us. This is always the time of year when if i'm gonna get good and sick, then i get good and sick - so far so good this year, i'm nice and strong! But i do my best to stay up to date on my rest, exercise, etc.  And there's more to do generally, in terms of shopping and food and baking cookies.......all of which is to say that from now until the beginning of the year my plan is to concentrate on outfit posts and stay away from my usual long-winded philosophizing.  If you notice a change, that's what's up. And as usual, if you have any questions or want me to expand on anything, drop a comment!

I've been re-energized, clothing-wise, by the change in weather.  The ability to really layer opens up so many possibilities and reflects my truest sensibilities. It puts my dresses in a whole new perspective - i loved wearing this one as a skirt. I don't have any tall boots, so these leg warmers from mom added that tall boot flavah to this look. And the slight eeneriness of the dress collar under the sweater neckline gave me just the excuse to add this scarf and little wren pin. I felt very long and lean and loved all these smokey blues together.  Plus, all knits, floaty rayons, and no waistband makes for a comfy ride.

These type of outfits, with  floaty, drapey clothes on top and big strong boots at the bottom, always make me feel like a bird of prey.  Raptors have those incredible wings and feathers floating and fanning, sometimes each individual feather independent of the others, all on top of those huge strong leathery talons. Grounded and soaring all at once.

Reality check

Recently i've been feeling a little strange just showing the 'best practices' me. So i thought i'd throw in a picture of my 'less-inspired' dressing every now and then.  That way you can get a little more realistic feel of what i wear.  In addition, my 'downtime dress' does influence what goes on 'on the blog' as well. This is what i wore to drive with Mr. E to work so i could use the car for the day. Hoodie, skinny cargoes, slip-on boots. (At least i put on a bra!) I liked the feel of a leaner line on top of boots, and this influenced my choice of the first outfit in this post when i officially 'dressed for the day'.

What I Really Wear

Monday through Friday, day in day out, dusting, cleaning, knocking down cobwebs (and we have some busy spiders over here!), cooking, baking......you'll find me in this sturdy yellow apron. Mom got it for me at Shackford's and i've been using it ever since. I'm clumsy, absent-minded, and perform messy jobs and chores. With this apron, made of denim-thick fabric, i can wear my most frivolous finery with no fear of eggy-flour handprints on my hips!

The day i wore this outfit was very eventful. I baked some bread (as you know by now). I jerry-rigged a system for taking self-timer pictures with the camera ON IT's END! A major coup in my quest for more clarity in outfit pictures. I celebrated by stretching out for this photo:

We had a wee wisp of fog in the morning, so i took the opportunity to bogart one of Mr. E's shirts to create a little plaid on floral action, and pretend i needed to bundle up. Apparently i didn't really need to, since it turned into a perfect day for washing the quilt and hanging it out:

The nite before, lying in bed before drowsing away, i had a brainstorm. I noticed how useful these liliswan earrings are - i can throw them on with just about anything and they'll work. They have that romantic-retro vibe, and a balanced palette that adds interest without being overpowering. How about more earrings along these lines......i recalled some clear quartz heart beads i'd found at the Renaissance Faire a couple of years ago. How cute would they be with black ribbon bows atop? Unfortunately i have no black ribbon, haven't seen any that would work at Joann's, let's see, hmmmmm......i do have scraps from the skunk skirt. I could cut bias strips and make bows of those.....

Hooray! They have hearts, bows, transparency, good light/dark contrast, all that stuff i love. This blue dress is maybe along the lines of fifteen years old. I wore it on one of my first dates with Mr. E. The long princess seams are so flattering and easy to wear i've been thinking of making another dress along similar lines. The Artful Dodger Virtue dress from Hot Patterns looks tempting.

Plaid Shirt: Converse
Dress: Smith & Hawken
Apron: Shackford's
Shoes: Dollhouse
Necklace: liliswan
Earrings: own design

Two Outfits

Ancient dress, embroidered top and hat were gifts. I'm fighting a sinus infection so expect lite blog activity.