cherry bounce & summer dresses

{made this yesterday & hope to wear it often in the hot summer days to come.}

Well the water is starting to recede and blocked roads are beginning to reopen. It's gonna be a nasty and probably a very long clean-up process, but it will get done. In the meantime, I am still enjoying the weather, despite the massive rains we've been experiencing. And the humid summer months will continue to annoy the hell out of us. Bad hair-days here we come! (Though I am experimenting with something to battle this; we'll see if it works.)

Onto something a little brighter...

Yesterday I got this serious summer-dress kick. I think it was partly due to a recent post I happened to read the other day on abby try again. She's seriously a huge inspiration. For those who haven't already seen her photographs and her blog, check it out 'cause she rocks. :)


{close-up of the dress.}

Anyways, back to 'serious summer-dress kick.' Several months ago you might remember me talking about making a 'little black dress' for formal occasions. Well that hasn't happened yet, though I did start making a pattern and got to the point where all I needed to do was fit the muslin mock bodice to make sure the pattern worked. Never got around to it... until yesterday. All I needed to do was make a few minor adjustments to the bodice and I was good to go! (I love it when it works like that.) Instead of making the black dress, I decided to make a sundress with some printed cotton I had in my stash. And it just so happened that I already had green binding and a green zipper. Cool. I did have to adjust the skirt because using two panels of 40-something-inch wide fabric made me look like a little 7 year old after it had been gathered to the waistband. Not exactly what I had in mind. But the adjustments I made weren't too terribly difficult and I like how it turned out in the end. I also made sure to add pockets, which I loooove in skirts and dresses. There ought to be a rule that every dress should have at least one pocket. And yeah, there definitely will be pockets in the black dress I make. Whoever invented pockets; I love you.


{why take a picture of my feet? just because.}

Another thing I've been getting into the last few days is making Cherry Bounce. It's this glorious 1850s drink that is made with whisky, cherries and sugar. Lots of sugar. It's pretty much to die for, but you have to be careful how much you drink 'cause that stuff is gooood. The only thing about making this is you have to make it when the cherries are in season (well, duh) and then it takes 6 months to do 'its thing' before you can enjoy it. But it's so simple to make and definitely worth the wait. And hey, it makes a great gift come Christmas time!


{cherry bounce goodness.}

Frank's Cherry Bounce Receipt:

1. Fill a 1 quart jar with cherries [I purchased 1 lb bag of cherries and that worked for about two jars] and about 1 cup of sugar/ brown sugar / or molasses. [I used just plain white sugar.]
   
2. The rest of the space fill with the cheapest whiskey you can find. [A bottle of 750 ML. should be enough to fill two jars.]
   
3. Seal the jar turning it every two weeks.
4. Open around Christmas Time.