Doris Day Turns 90!

Last year it was announced that there was going to be a big birthday party for Doris Day’s 90th birthday.  I guess I am part of her fan club, so I received the e-mail announcement.  The very next day after discussing it with Jim, he called to reserve “our” spot.  Sadly, it was already “all booked up”.  Ugh!  This was right around the same time when I sent the Ellen quilt off and was waiting to hear something, anything.

As you can imagine, I was feeling pretty bad.  I had put the whole Doris Day Birthday Party out of my mind and moved on with life, forgetting that Jim put us on a waiting list for the birthday party package.  This included not only a whole weekend stay in Doris Day’s hotel, The Cypress Inn, but also admission into THE EVENT.  The Doris Day 90th Birthday Party!

Fast forward to late January, we were phoned regarding an opening to attend all the Doris Day festivities.  Yay!  We made our plans!

I think some spots opened up because some people backed out after they learned Doris would not be making an appearance.  As much as I wanted to meet Doris, the next best thing for me would be to surround myself with other DD fans who also enjoy her music and movies, people who would get me.  My other thought was, this is probably as close as I will ever get to meeting Doris.  They were also offering pictures with Doris’ own dog Daisy- so….. that was pretty close, right?   All the proceeds would be going towards Doris Day’s own organization The Doris Day Animal Foundation.  How could you go wrong with that?

Doris resides in Carmel, California.  Her hotel, also in Carmel, is very charming.  It’s not showy or overdone, it’s not huge or impersonal, it’s just right.  The Cypress Inn is a place of comfort.  You are free to bring and stay with your 4 legged best friend.  In fact, I sort of felt funny that both Ruby and Peekaboo were not with us.

The first night’s activity for Doris Day’s Birthday Party was a live concert that took place across the street from the Cypress Inn.  We listened to the musical stylings of Laura Didier (vocals) and Jim Martinez (piano).

Doris Day has a special sweetness to her voice.  It is very distinctive, and I know if you are a fan you know exactly what I mean.   Laura sang beautifully and nearly had that “sweetness”.    During the performance the piano player played a message from Doris, in which she thanked us for all coming and said that she loved us.  It made me cry.  Just to hear her voice and to know that I was one of the many that she was thanking!

The next evening was the big event.  I had wanted to wear one of my many dresses that I have sewn, but nearly all of them were too big in the bust area.  Figures, you lose a little weight and it all comes off in your chest!  Anyway- I purchased a dress from Nordstrom.  A  navy blue polka dot number, and it was perfect!

The party was AHHHHH MAZING!  I met so many great people- all of us Doris fans, of course.

The tables were beautifully decorated and named in honor of Doris’ many dogs.   We sat at “Spottie.”  Peter Marshall was one of our emcee’s.  He was also amazing.  He really does look the same.  His speaking voice sounds the same, and his singing voice- well, it’s beautiful.  He’s as sharp as a tac and he is so kind.  I am so glad, I was able to meet him.

I was pretty happy with how the evening was going.  I mean what’s not to like? I met Peter Marshall and a lot of other great folks- I would say it was a great evening.  There was that little nagging feeling of, “it would have been so awesome if Doris Day would have showed up”.  All of us were talking about it.  In fact from the deck of the Quail Lodge, you could see the very awning of her house!  Taking turns, we posed for pictures, so that the awning was in the background.  Stalkerish, huh?  We as a whole, figured it was going to be our last and closest chance to meet her.

You can only imagine how elated everyone was when Doris walked into her own birthday party!  I nearly fell off my chair!  Really!  Jim said that all of us fans looked like the screaming fans at a Beatles concert.  When I say fans, I am talking men and women, so you can imagine the display!  The picture above of my new friend, Chanmony, and I shows you just how excited we were.  Chanmony’s  husband took this picture.   Chanmony looks pretty and all collected, me on the other hand- I look like a crazy lady!

Swarms of people surrounded Doris.  I didn’t want to be one of those people.  I’m short, and I just couldn’t get a good look.  So  Chanmony and I stood on our chairs, we still couldn’t see.

Jim got some great pictures though.  He’s my bumble, and being as tall as he is, he is always able to see above the hoards of people.

I wish I could put into words how much seeing Doris meant to me.  The evening was AHHHH- MAZING.  The music, the people and the masterly cut video displaying many facets of Doris’ life, her activism, entertainment  and private parts of her life.

I tried, with Jim’s prompting, to weasel my way into meeting Doris.  Both times I was turned away.  Jim thought that if I batted my eyelashes at the security guard, he would allow me a quick hello- but to no avail.  I guess I am too old for those shenanigans to work.  Doggone it!  Who am I fooling?  I have NEVER had those powers!

  Finally after the cake and all the auction items were auctioned off, a big announcement was made.  Doris wanted to meet everyone!  So the large group of Doris Fans, made a line, to spend a short 30 seconds each to say “hello”.

Here are the pictures that were taken by Jim during my 30 seconds of Doris time.  Just so everybody knows, I am a totally understanding fan.  As Doris looked over at me, she reached for a glass of water, and then she took her hand away.  I said, “Oh, no Doris, you go ahead and drink your water”!  So 10 seconds of my time was spend watching her drink her water.  Which was just fine with me!

I really should have smacked that woman’s arm for reaching in front of me like she did!  How rude!!!

…and the fish was THIS BIG!

While I was gazing into her beautiful eyes, the police man standing behind us, holding onto his gun, might I add…. yelled “That’s it young lady, times up”!  It scarred the heck out of me, I jumped up….

I think I said goodbye…. I don’t know. She did giggle at one point and I do remember saying to her “oh my gosh, your giggle sounds just like it does in the movies!”  To be honest with you all, other than commenting on her giggle, I haven’t any idea what I really said.  I could have been singing “row, row, row your boat”- for all I know.  Maybe that’s why she giggled!

After leaving Doris, Jim stepped in and quickly told Doris that “the woman you just met is my wife and she loves you so much…” I hopped back in and got the officer’s attention and said, “Thank you for calling me young lady” :).

I sobbed like a baby in front of everybody after meeting her.  I am not sure what hit me.  Meeting Doris was a dream come true.  I never thought that day would come (no pun intended), and it did AND it was amazing!

THANK YOU DORIS!

Hanging with Doris Day – A Dream Come True!

Actually It is a dream, but it didn’t come true- at least not in real life.

I entered another Burdastyle Sewing Challenge. The Burdastyle Sewing Vintage Modern Contest.  The idea of this challenge was to use the NEW burdastyle Sewing Vintage Modern book as the starting point for your actual garment entry.  I chose the Jamie Dress, which is a 60’s basic shift dress.

 I liked the clean lines, and felt that I could really jazz that “Jamie” up.  This seemed to be the most popular choice for all the contestants, so that may have been my first mistake?  I don’t know-

I traced the pattern to some brown craft paper and then added the 5/8″ seam allowance and from there I sketched many sketches.  

I chose existing fabric from my stash.  I was pretty happy about that.  Both these fabrics were purchased from Joann Fabrics weeks prior.

It probably didn’t help any that I may have added too many details (my second mistake?).  The neckline has a placard detail, I added small flap pockets on the hips, surface cording and button details were also added.

Admittedly there is a lot happening with this dress and to this dress.

Front Views

 Back Views

I was happy with how it turned out.  I haven’t decided if I will actually wear it.

The best part my garment entry was my photo shoot.  One of the requirements for the contestants, was that they were to not only sew up a great garment, but they also were supposed to make the photographs interesting.  So this is where I believed I shined!!!

Feast your eyes!  Yes!  That is me hanging out in Doris’ 1960’s kitchen.  She is also holding the Burdastyle Sewing Vintage Modern Book.  My brilliant son Kenny photoshopped this for me-  Isn’t it awesome!  It almost seems real!

There were some pretty soured people who entered the challenge.  I was surely disappointed with the admissions process, there were some glitches.  I do need to remind myself, that even though it would have been great to have won, the process of creating this dress, and the photograph that I now possess MAKE ME VERY HAPPY!!!

By now I am sure you have discerned that I didn’t make the cut from 80 contestants to the 20 that the burdastyle public then were able to choose from.  No worries!

It is a shame, that folks can’t just keep negative comments to themselves and congratulate the very deserving winners!  Here they are!

The Grand Prize goes to Community Choice Winner, with 557 votes, Elochka for her Scala Dress.  Her dress is on the above right.

AND

The BurdaStyle Community Choice Runner-Up, with 455 votes, goes to Gurda8 for her Dream Date Dress on the above left.

The BurdaStyle Favorite goes to jon994 for her Springtime Fun and Couture Dress

in the photos below.

 

Anyway that’s the skinny!  Please enter to win my give-away, because that makes me happy also!!!

The Vintage-Modern Design Challenge! (Please Don’t Eat The Daisies!)

The deadline for the Challenge is March 12th.  I am pretty sure I have known about this since before Christmas, but I have procrastinated yet again.  Damn!  This contest is being offered through Burdastyle.    The idea of the challenge is to take a pattern by Indygo Junction/Amy Barickman and change it – make it your own.   So this is the pattern that I chose.  The Indygo Junction Day to Night Dress.  It boasts simple clean lines with a zipper down the front.  You could sew the dress and opt for a belt that has a button or a tie that attaches in the back of the dress.

My idea was to take the original pattern and keep the princess seams for the bodice, eliminating the  sleeves, but add a couple of fun new features.

My fabric of choice?  Cotton of course!  It is the summer stand-by, and I had decided to do a nod to the 50’s and make a “playsuit”.  This particular cotton fabric design is done by DS Quilts and is called Daisy Mae.

Pictured below are some examples of playsuits.  I am certainly NOT as curvy as these bombshells, but you can probably get the idea from the illustrations that a playsuit optimizes versatility, and is a sort of different rendition of the “Day into Night Dress.”

“Please Don’t Eat The Daisies” is one of my favorite movies starring one of my favorite actresses, Doris Day.  Doris is also one of my fashion icons.  It’s a comedy portraying Doris as a mom of four sons.   I recommend the movie, but I don’t recommend stealing any of her parenting strategies (she actually puts one of her sons in a cage from time to time!)  Honestly the thought has occurred to me before on some of those really hard days, but I’d never really do it!

 Doris is just so darn cute!

These photos show my interpretation of a playsuit.  A removable skirt, that buttons on and off of a romper underneath.

          

          

My skirt is made extra perky by adding horsehair braid in the hem and I have finished it off by lining the hem with a turquoise gingham that also covers my buttons.

            

Here you see the underside of the skirt in the left photo and the outer side of the circle skirt with the embroidery floss detail stitching in the right photo.

          

The romper shown here has gingham covered buttons that allow the two belt pieces to attach and detach again, allowing you to change out of your skirt with ease.

              

The backside of my romper and myself.    🙂

And here are some detailed pictures of the pockets, belts and buttons…

        

I have to say that this was a really fun and challenging project.  A playsuit has been something that I have always wanted to try.  It gave me a chance to use some skills that I have acquired over the last couple of years as well as expand on my creativity.

Whew!  Such a relief to be done.  I had so many doubts along the way.  I am just learning to keep motoring on and not listen to those negative thoughts that rumble around in my head.

Have a Wonderful Doris Day!!!!