getting colder

the weather has officially shifted. we can no longer walk the streets of brooklyn unbundled without seriously regretting the decision. so, the coats and hats and gloves have come out of storage and onto the big and little bodies around here. a few days into the cold, eve began requesting a scarf. ruth soon joined in. after two weeks of being reminded (scolded?) by my daughters i got to work making the scarves, in the laziest ways possible. instructions below:

scarf #1: find abandoned, half-finished scarf wadded up in the bottom corner of yarn/knitting bag. stick needles in one last time to cast off properly. sew on largest button you have and fasten around daughter's neck. 

scarf #2. think back to when you made a scarf for your sister-in-law four christmases ago. recycle exact same idea. get a bunch of yarn, cut into strands at desired length. holding all strands together, sew back and forth at desired intervals with whatever color(s) of thread you have near your sewing machine. wrap around daughter's neck.

feel really good about yourself. you might have been lazy, but you've just made scarves two scarves in less than an hour. and that's something. 

happy halloween!

a full day already, and the fun has just begun. while the biggest bat plays at school, her bat sister colors spooky portraits (and sings a song to herself whose only lyrics are "poopy mommy". . . she really loves me), and the little bat baby rests up for the second round, which is set to begin in just over an hour.

hope your halloween is as full of as much sugar as ours! (yikes).  

++

update: a local kids shop was offering "professional polaroids" today. strait after school i took my bats in. i could not be happier. aren't these great? now i feel like i need a professional photographer to follow us around every day, preferably with a wagon-full of polaroid film.

after our very long and very festive day, the littles are in bed and i'm thinking the only right thing to do is to throw in the watcher in the woods. if you are not lucky enough to own the dvd, borrow it from someone (i can't be the only one that owns it. . ). the alternative endings are insane and so awesome. 

wedding attire

as of friday, chip's littlest -and youngest- sister is a married woman. mim was stunning, martin was handsome, the weather was perfect and everyone was beaming. 

the girls can't stop talking about it. 

ruthie: "remember mim's married dress? ya, dat was really really pretty. and white."  

eve: "i liked martin's flower. but i caught lots of flowers when mim threw them. so, bonus points for me."  

i can't stop thinking about the happiness of beginnings. . . sigh. . .

beyond moral support, making mim's hair pins and some minor altering of the wedding dress, my main responsibility was getting myself and my family dressed in fall colors. orange dress for me, plaid dresses for the girls plaid pants for charlie. . . i'm one scary step away from making all of us match all the time. . . chip could look pretty great in a homemade plaid suit. . .

throughout the entire day- from the manhattan temple to central park's sheep's meadow to soho's i tre merli- the plaid served us well. but the real beauty of these dresses is that at any moment they could have been turned inside out for a whole new look. ruthie's is reversible! eve's is reversible too but as the maiden attempt i kept it really calm and her reverse side is a little more hausfrau compared to ruth's party girl. i'm going to have a hard time just making a regular dress again. two for one! no self-respecting daughter of my mother's passes on a two-for-one deal. . .   

but, while the newlyweds are honeymooning in the tetons i'm taking a few more days to catch my breath and stay away from any new projects. i'm also going to try my very very hardest to forget all the "it seems like just yesterday miriam was eve's age" or "it will be here for you so much faster than you realize." comments. ugh. . .  i can hardly handle how big they are already. maybe i'll just have more photoshoots with ruthie because the attempts to photograph this charmingly unreasonable little girl drag on forever. 

++ first photo courtesy of joshua brown photography. 

school: the first day

eve has begun her life as an official student. a pre-k student, but an official, full time student of the nyc public school system nonetheless.

the night before the first day i told eve i'd be waking her up in the morning. "oh, so you're gonna hit me in the face with a pillow? you can do that to wake people up." clearly i didn't hit her with a pillow. instead i made a liar out of myself, stayed sound asleep in my own bed and let the girls wake me up by "carefully" climbing on our heads to get to charlie. throwing pillows at a person's face, or stepping on that face. . . you choose, they both work.

once my eyes were open eve wanted two things from me: final confirmation that this day was the day she goes to the school with all her new friends and, second, that she see her new "super special school skirt." she was pleased, gave me a "check" (as opposed to an "x"), and we were on our way. we washed, we ate, we dressed, we grabbed the baby and each other's hands and flew out the door. eve bit her fingernails the entire 10 minute walk to school and once we arrived she met the flood of kids with wide eyes and more nail biting. but she was amazing. her two moments of despair were handled so maturely; the little well of tears didn't even spill over. so careful and sweet and attentive and such a big girl. . .

if she weren't so happy and ready for tomorrow i'd be dealing with my own moments of despair (and i wouldn't stop before the tears spilled- have i mentioned that i cried every first day of school through the SIXTH grade? emotional maturity has never really been my strength). . . but, if i were about to ball up and hide under my desk for thirty minutes (third grade), it is good to know i could take some real comfort in two things:

first, the fact that this little wrap number is going to fit her for longer than she'll ever want it to- move the buttons over, let down some of the high hem and it's a size 7. and then ruthie gets to wear it too! that feels good.

second, that i finally got to put that little apple button to good use. i've been trying to for over a year but nothing seemed just right until last night. apples! cursive! pleats! school!

oliver + s's 2+2= happy eight-year-old

before we left for the summer (we're back!) i did a little pattern testing for oliver+s's new fall line of patterns. liesl sent me the pattern for 2+2 blouse and skirt in size 8 and i sewed away while thinking about the eight-year-old that, if things worked out, would soon be the happy owner of the outfit. 

things worked out.

i can hardly stand how cute my little niece is, especially in this little outfit. mia says she really likes it too. and even though she is the kind of girl who might try to pretend because she would never want to hurt my feelings, i believe her; she is a terrible liar and she has already requested to wear it to church twice. (only being successful once. apparently she had a kool-aid mishap just before church. . . nothing welcomes the day like a tall, cold glass of red kool-aid).

this is the second time i've been an oliver+s pattern tester and i have nothing but wonderful things to report. the design is great- both of the packaging and the garments- but even better are liesl's instructions. each pattern is like a mini sewing lesson. so thorough and understandable. and the things that may veer into the realm of pattern speak are clearly explained, so much so that i really think each pattern can be sewn by anyone at any level of experience.  power to the people. 

the patterns are available over at oliver + s, check 'em out.

blessing day

before making it to oregon we went to salt lake for a week of celebration with chip's family. tucked among so many other amazing happenings was the blessing of little charlie. baby was silent and sleepy as his grandfather, great-grandfather, five uncles, one cousin (once removed) and a dear friend surrounded him and chip gave him a beautiful and sweet blessing for his life. it was pure glory to have so many of our favorite people in one room to share our joy, faith, love and life with.

the day got off to a seriously rough start - frustration from an argument with chip and the discovery that my favorite a.p.c. dress was accidentally shrunk was further compunded by the sad reality that none of the pre-pregnancy dresses i packed fit my blubbery body. before i was finally able to throw something decent together to wear to church i was a sobbing mess. hormones are great. but despite all that, i can confidently say that it was one the five best days of the year. in fact, mary's birthday and a really amazing reunion with friends on top of all the fun of charlie's blessing throws it into the top two- only to be trumped by charlie's actual birthday. really, such a good day.

making charlie's little kimono top and drawstring pants was so fun. i have deluded myself into thinking it will be lovingly passed down from generation to generation of baby boys. . .i derive a huge amount of pleasure and satisfaction from this delusion. borderline unhealthy. but, even if charlie is the only baby to wear it, i'm happy. he looked like an angel. the kimono top is from this martha stewart pattern while the pants are from a random pattern i grabbed at the fabric store (after accidentally leaving my preferred pant pattern at home). the outfit was fast and easy and i don't think anything looks as wonderful as a baby in white. the tiny bit of light blue gingham (the drawstring and covered buttons) had to be a part of the outfit, because what is a baby boy without a least a little blue on him at all times?

this picture of charlie on the floor was taken yesterday, two weeks after the actual blessing day, and the kid has grown a crazy amount in those 14 days. do you see how long the arms are? so, the fit is a little different than the original, but the basic idea is still there. and yes, you are reading his expression correctly- very nervous and very unhappy about being stuck on a hard wood floor while i point the camera at him. not his most flattering picture, but i'm just lucky he waited ten seconds before letting me hear about it.

charlie smiles

  

so apparently posting a picture of blueberries is not an acceptable way of helping chip feel in touch with his family. weird. so, here we have his rapidly growing man child, charlie.

the latest: smiling, usually preceded by eye contact and a few short coos. he was showing some clear preference for my sister jeanie, but the competition has left town and i'm thinking i'm the frontrunner for smiles once again. although papa is a clear threat. . .

the dissappointment of not having a third girl has long since melted away and i'm now thinking that, although not the same, making for and dressing charlie is a pretty entertaining game. arrows, cowboys and railroad stripes. with those furrowed brows and manly neck (i swear it's thick, chip thinks i'm nuts) he's already on his way to being the classic all-american boy.

i love it when baby things have pockets. so adorably useless. for charlie, anyway; ruth makes good use of them. when she's not trying to shove his hands in them she uses the pockets as storage for her own treasures. most recently; lipsmackers and crumpled stickers.

triangulation

i've been trying to figure out what this third child will do to and with the current family dynamic we've got going here. (yes, this past weekend and came and went and along with it, his due date. waiting waiting. . .). over and over the three little kids that will soon be mine have led to thoughts of triangles and the shape's possible meanings. on one end they're symbolic of perfection and unity while down at the other they represent danger and unavoidable tragedy. so which is it? should i be preparing myself for familial annihilation or some sort of exaltation once this little one joins us? as with most things this baby will probably take us on a path somewhere in the center, with detours in either direction occassionally thrown in the mix. moments of hell and moments of heaven. much like our current life, just with more stomping feet. 

so, to celebrate the triad that baby will complete; this triangle banner quilt. there are countless imperfections and the whole hurried project could have used a bit (a lot) more careful planning, but the fact is that that is just how i operate around here. especially lately. each time i get an idea i am in a near panic to start and finish it immediately. . . who knows when this little guy will decide to come and my days will consumed by holding, feeding, staring, keeping the girls from smothering him and trying to figure out how he ever fit inside me. 

why not

yes, why not throw a few more dresses and/or skirts in the mix around here? and why not do it in compulsive spurts starting around 9pm at night?

i actually drew up the pattern for these first two dresses a few weeks ago and then immediately went to work making and dip-dyeing the first dress. i love dyeing. especially in a big pot over my stove. with my wooden spoon prodding and pushing the cloth in the steaming opaque water i feel like a happy old village witch. like strega nona. the girls are always so puzzled and a little bit worried when the cooking of their clothes begins, but once it is clear i won't be making them take a bite they cheer and demand frequent proof that colors are changing. i still have several kinks to work out with dyeing, but there will certainly more of it, and soon.

this second dress is such a happy burst of marigold sunshine, both in color and in the fact that i was able to correct the few small problems with the construction. the colors chosen were a second choice from my stash when i realized i was too short on the green i had planned, but eve couldn't be happier- after all, it's yellow (albeit an orangey one) and yellow matches her hair.

i've almost got a completely reversible version worked out, both in wrap-around and regular. i'm fairly certain the skirt will be a happy medium between the full/gathered and the strait. more to come on that progress, especially if this baby stays as cozy in utero as he seems to be currently.

ruthie's skirt came along as an attempt to soften the blow that only eve would be wearing a brand new dress to church on sunday (last minute saturday night sewing didn't allow enough time for a second dress). didn't go over very well. she knows a consolation prize when she sees one and does not appreciate being slighted. she insisted on modeling the sunshine dress for this post and is now feeling a little bit better, although i'm still getting a lot of scowls and the occasional tongue stuck out at me. sweet angel.

shortcake and bloomers

happy belated mother's day to all of you. i hope you got a chance to relax and enjoy your families.

in an apartment filled with the smell of lilacs and lilies i was fed a delicious meal prepared by chip, presented with cards, a pasta necklace and a "talking butterfly" from the girls and entertained as we all joined in on making strawberry shortcake; a favorite dessert for as long as i can remember. i went to the new sweet melissa baking book (thank you mim!) for the shortcake recipe and am happy i did. a great biscuit-y texture and with the lemon zest, a perfect foundation to the strawberries and whipped cream. i'm excited to try out more of the recipes- especially the baked donut things- and soon, before i feel obligated to monitor what i shove into my mouth.

before mother's day with its flowers and naps i went to an amazing baby shower for my ridiculously talented friend abby. the woman has some creative and talented friends and the result was a perfectly executed "pop" theme shower. i couldn't stop staring at the giant balloons suspended from the ceiling, the sensation of pop rocks in my mouth (used to sprinkle the cupcakes) was one i hadn't felt in at least 12 years, and solely because of visual appeal i was suckered into drinking a bottle of soda, which neither i nor my stomach like, but just couldn't resist. i'll make the same excuse for the obscene amount of the adorable mini pop burgers i consumed. . .

due with a girl in june, a tiny and cheery summer outfit was in order. smocked short dress with bloomers. no pattern for the dress (just a rectangle) but the the bloomers are a slightly modified version of the makie pattern (great japanese craft book, isbn# 4-579-10996-1). here's to the flourishing parks and gardens of brooklyn, the outfit that was inspired by their beauty and the new little baby girl who will soon be here to take it all in.