Wonderfully Made

On the road again Monday all day, figuring out our lives! More to come!

With all the traveling, and sickness, I was determined to get some sewing done today. Come hell or high water, I have goals to meet! If this is going to be the year of the jacket, then I have to get on it! ( especially since my jacket making partner, Lori, has already finished her Chanel Style, Cabi- InspiredJacket!)

We are using Simplicity 2284. Today, I was able to fit and finish the outer shell, along with the sleeve heads and shoulder padding. I didn't have actual shoulder pads that I wanted to use, so I made do with some fusible fleece. While this may not be the "proper" or "by the book" way of creating structure in the jacket, I thought I hit on something pretty neat. After all, isn't necessity the mother of invention? So, I cut two half-moon shaped pads from my fleece:

And affixed them to the inside of the jacket:

I wanted very soft shaping at the shoulder, and to be honest with you, even the thinnest shoulder pads I've seen are still too thick for me. This method created just the perfect amount of structure. And, my jacket so far:

Mine is a boucle' with a very soft hand, and since I want this to be a drapey, soft jacket, I chose not to underline any of it . I only applied interfacing to the usual areas, and I think with the addition of the fashion lining tomorrow, I'll have just the softness and weight I wanted to take this jacket into Spring.

WARNING: copious salivation may occur as you read the next section!

Oh, good gravy, did I ever invent a burger yesterday. Let's just call it the Fabulous Incredible Burger Melt.

First, slowly caramelize an entire sweet onion which has been sliced. Caramelize that in butter, by the way. Then set the onions aside.

Pan fry two oval shaped ground round patties, which have been seasoned with fresh ground pepper and kosher salt.

Get some marble rye ready by spreading butter on one side of the slices.

When the burgers are done, remove them to a plate and top them with a slice of mild cheddar cheese, and on top of that, a slice or two of pre-cooked bacon ( happened to have some in the fridge, leftover from Sunday's breakfast). Put the whole burger pile on a slice of the rye bread and place it buttered side down in the frying pan.

Now back to the burger pile. On top of the bacon, heap up those caramelized onions. Then top that with some crumbled blue cheese. Slap the other slice of rye bread, buttered side out, on top of it all and grill the whole burger sandwich until the cheeses are melty and the rye bread is nicely toasted.

Serve it up with some sweet potato fries if you really want something delicious.

Again, necessity being the mother of invention...I needed a cheeseburger, and couldn't decide which cheese, and didn't have any burger buns, and well....there you have it. I dare you to make one.