TRAIL MIX, part 1: the Look

As I may have mentioned in my last blog, I am really feeling the pull of simplifying my life and moving it into a direction that follows the old pioneers and their westward expansion.  In my opinion, making do with what you had and living off the land wasn’t just what pioneers had to do, it is what we should do to make our lives a little greener and perhaps a little more worth living. 

I have been chatting about this idea with friends at work since I began there.  At least once a year I bring up wanting to move us all to Alaska or Montana to start a new life as ranchers.  I think we’d ranch herds of booze bottles really, but it’s a wonderful fantasy.  Well, this time around, while speaking of trying to immolate the old west and the settlers I began speaking about making sunbonnets that hearken back to Laura Ingalls Wilder.  She is absolutely one of my favorite American heroes.  By just living and recording her adventures, she has proven that people can and do have what it takes to make it in the worst and best circumstances the old west had to offer.  So, my friend Katie and I decided that yesterday was the day.  We were going to make sunbonnets!

I got the “pattern” from another blog.  The woman is a genius and I am going to start following her, and I’ll give you the link here so you can, too: http://howtodresslikeapioneer.blogspot.com/2010/01/bonnet-tutorial.html

Yesterday Katie and I went to the local quilt shop and found that we were overwhelmed.  We went all over each aisle looking at floral and gingham, paisley and prints.  At one point we were looking at very contemporary fabrics because the idea isn’t to become actual pioneers, but to immolate them in modern day, but then Katie and I saw the same fabric, floral, one in red and one in blue.  These were the fabrics for us. 

We cut out the shapes.

We sewed in the seams.

We flipped them around.

And now we are frontier-fabulous!