Bolinas

I must confess that I am rather sad to leave Bolinas. My lovely, relaxing three night vacation up here is about to come to an end. It has been only my mom, my dog, and I, and we've all been enjoying some luscious relaxation together. I brought by sewing machine, I brought my novel, and I brought my spanking pink DS. I happily got a chance to play with all three. Every morning Eoin would jump on me to wake me up at about 7:30. I slept on the window seat bed, which is right next to a couch, and so Eoin was able to climb the couch in order to launch himself onto my face. It was a lovely way to wake up in the morning. He really is like a little kid who get's a kick out of teasing his older sister :P

It's not that I don't love aspects of living in a city. There's the great food, the interesting people, the easy access to tons of entertaining activities... But there is also something spectacular about a more rural place. In the country, nature runs wild. And for some reason when I'm in nature, I can't help but run wild myself.

My First Lolita Skirt

Aaaaaand given that the name of my blog is Burning the Midnight Oil, I thought it appropriate that I keep posting until at least midnight.

Although I've been interested in Victorian clothing styles since middle school, lolita fashion is a relatively new discovery. I've been curious since high school, but it wasn't until studying abroad in London that I really started to love it! Oh Camden Market, how I will miss you! 100x better than Haight Ashbury and Telegraph combined! For some reason lolita fashion seemed to spawn in Camden Market, and with so many opportunities to explore the style, I fell in love.

And so, I decided to try my hand at making a Lolita skirt. This is my second attempt, with and without lace––which took for frigging EVER to attach. All together it took 7 yards of lace, so thank goodness the nice lady at Joann’s Fabrics gave me her 50% off coupon. You gotta love the kindness of strangers.

I really should post pictures of my green practice skirt because it is absolutely hideous! I had to create my own pattern, the whole thing came out way too big, and the elastic waist got all bunchy and deformed-looking. Yuck! Interestingly, my more successful skirt also happens to be a slightly more complicated one, with a waistband and zipper instead of a bunchy elastic disaster. That being said, I’m still a novice novice NOVICE when it comes to sewing.

Bonnet

Ta-DA! So here it is: the before and after pictures of my mom's bonnet! It's supposedly fashioned after the Regency style, which is also the Pride and Prejudice era. Very cool project, especially because I LOVE EVERYTHING VICTORIAN! And thus––if you can guess––I love this style of bonnet!



I used this free simplicity pattern, and considering I didn't have exactly the right kind of hat to start out with, I thought it came out pretty good. It took me longer than I thought it would to finish, but I took my sweet time on this project. The ties at the back and the flower in the front are all sewn directly to the hat, whereas the colorful casing is just glued to the brim. We'll have to see how it holds up, but for now it's pretty dang sturdy. It was a belated mother's day gift, so I'm happy it's finally finished!

Oh! And I just had to steal this from Wikipedia. Best bonnet satire :P

A New Blog is Born

I must confess that since high school I have been a very bad blogger.

The years have come and gone. I laid my old blog to rest after senior year of high school, and suddenly here I am as a senior in college, starting up a new blog. If I'm remembering correctly, I stopped blogging because I realized that I had been neglecting my personal writing. For some reason I wasn't able to do both. It's important to me to have a diary, or a journal, or whatever you want to call the the place where you write for yourself and no one else. I loved my old blog, but for some reason it made me lose sight of my other forms of journaling. Now, it's almost four years later and I think I'm ready to try again. I have been–or more accurately I have tried to be–dedicated to my personal writing, and I think I'm ready to keep an additional blog.

So, What is it for?

I'm happily undecided. However, for this blog I would like to have an overarching theme attached to it. I think that would help to make it more focused and interesting. And so far this what I've come up with.

Burning the Midnight Oil is a place for me to keep track of the little things that matter. I'm someone who loves the little pleasures in life, but sadly I'm also someone who easily forgets about them after they happen. For example, lately I've been experiencing a passion for sewing. I've been making skirts and altering shirts, I'm in the process of making a bonnet for my mom, and every night before bed my mind is brimming with new project ideas. I usually hate sleepless nights, but I actually love losing sleep because of an over-impassioned mind. It means I've found something that I get truly excited about. When I can get excited by just thinking about a project, I know I've discovered an activity that really resonates with me.

But lets say that a month from now, I suddenly forget about sewing and spend all my time watching every Monty Python movie I can get my hands on. If that happens, I will most definitely forget about that fleeting and wonderful feeling of all-encompassing passion. That's what this blog is for. To have a place to put the passion. I'm happiest when I'm making something. Sometimes it's sewing, sometimes it's taking pictures, sometimes it's baking, sometimes it's beading, sometimes it's drawing, but whatever it is, it makes me happy. And I mean truly happy. That's why it's so difficult during the year to be in school all the time–I just don't have any time to be creative. I get these ideas in my head, things that I'm just itching to do...but I just have to sigh and put those desires away. I think to myself, "I have to study for a test on Monday. There's no way I can just stop what I'm doing so that I can sew a skirt or teach myself how to make sushi."

Thankfully, it is now summer. I have been waiting for summer all year. It is only in the summer months that I can nurture my silly ideas, my itching desires, and my beloved projects. And this blog will help me to encourage those passions... whatever they may be, and no matter how silly they may seem. When I have the time to play and be silly, I am happy. And when I am happy I feel inspired.