Tea and Today's To-Do

[hrj]

Yesterday I went off to Cyn's "Terrible Teens" tea party, which inspired me to indulge in a late-night sewing session Friday to make something to wear for it (the Past Patterns "Armistice Blouse" and a plain gathered skirt in the same pale blue linen batiste), although matching costume was not required, only appreciated. There are a couple of fixes I want to make in the outfit before it settles into that "completed -- and therefore not to be changed" state: the skirt wants a set of tucks near the hem, and the central placket needs to be about an inch taller (which should be easy since it's a separate piece).


It was a lovely afternoon of nibbling on delicious era-appropriate food, drinking tea, and indulging in wide-ranging conversation with a group of intelligent and personable women. (There was also one very very young man present, but he isn't up to engaging in conversation yet.) There's been a series of tea parties being held among an amorphous group of locals who think the idea of tea parties is really cool -- this is the first of them I've actually been able to make.

I've put in my bid to do one in January (need to pin down which of the currently-open weekends to schedule it for) as I've wanted for ages to use my great-great-grandparents' tea service for its proper purpose. I'll probably use the 1870s as the target for the food, since that spans the majority of their married life.

Today is unscheduled (thank goodness!) which means I have an entire to-do list ahead of me.
* Move the computer desk upstairs (with accompanying arrangements upstairs) so that the loom can be put into its home.
* Take pictures of the loom to send to the descendent-of-the-manufacturing-company with inquiries whether they can help me with some replacement cables for it.
* Try the two most-likely fixes for the kernal panic of the iMac.

And, of course, continue my successful stint at IWriSloMo and put in another day's efforts at novel writing. (I haven't always written much on any given day, but I've written something every day.)

Comments

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

That sounds grand, and a lot of fun. You look great in your tea dress.

[duchessletitia.livejournal.com]

You look really good in that dress.

Wonderful ensemble!

[aastg.livejournal.com]

The next frame is where you put on your coat and a huge hat and meet Getrude Stein for lunch.

Re: Wonderful ensemble!

[hrj.livejournal.com]

It did need a huge hat. Alas, I left hat-shopping until the last minute and decided getting the handwork finished on the dress was more important.

[joycebre.livejournal.com]

yay, tea! The cookbook that I used yesterday was printed in 1879, though it's from Virginia, not update New York. I'd be happy loan it, if you're interested.

[hrj.livejournal.com]

Well, the LaForges were quite the jet-setters, so there's no reason to seriously limit the geography. I was just browsing Abiel's diary around the date of the wedding (to see what sorts of food got mentioned) and there are entries about the trip the took to France and Germany with Macy to do buying for the store, and the vacation in Florida, etc. But I want to see if I can do some tie-ins between specific foods mentioned in the diaries and letters and recipes appropriate to the era.

Tea! Tea! Tea! Tea! Tea!

[hyster1a.livejournal.com]

>>wanted for ages to use my great-great-grandparents' tea service for its proper purpose.

Now there's something to look forward to!

Re: Tea! Tea! Tea! Tea! Tea!

[hrj.livejournal.com]

I couldn't for the life of me remember your lj handle when I was posting the above -- now I recall why I couldn't remember it!