late

this past september i was in arizona for a family reunion. while there i took several trips to joanns and bought a gross amount of fabric. one piece i purchased was really out of my usual comfort zone but the christmas gaudiness really spoke to me. right as i saw it i planned to make a little button up peter-pan collar shirt for eve and a skirt for ruth for christmas. great plan. pregnancy hit me (i'm annoyed to be typing that again, but it's true) and i gave up sewing anything other than what i absolutely had to. but now the "just over half-way done building this baby" stage has hit. i've got energy, and with nothing to watch, i've got time too. but apparently i don't have a logical thought process to rely on. out of over 70 options (no exaggeration), the bundle of fabric i pulled out to turn into a dress on monday was this christmas business. christmas was three weeks ago. but, i went ahead and made the simple dress for eve, a size too big, in gaudy fabric most likely meant for a table runner. and today i'm going to make her wear it to church. good news for her is that even with "lots of boy colored things" on it, she focuses on the lovely subtle sparkle and feels pretty fancy. plus, she gets a bow tied around her waist, and eve loves a bow.

now i just have to hope that nobody asks when i made it. i

christmas 2007 retrospective: the making

i'm going to have to separate this retrospective out into a few different categories so i don't overwhelm myself and skip it altogether. for those of you chanting "skip it, skip it!" hoping i'll move on to the more exciting grounds of brooklyn home life usually documented here, my apologies. i've got to get this down before it all becomes a distant blur and i start making things up.

i decided 10 days before christmas that i was going to make quilts for the siblings we were giving to this year (we've got a rotating list of who we give to avoid being overwhelmed, which is helpful because even giving to two out of thefamilies seemed to do a fair amount of overwhelming on me). so i set to work cutting and planning while chip was a champion running to purl several times to pick up materials i was short on. miraculously the quilts were complete and out the door in time to arrive in san francisco and provo the day before christmas.

quilt for bobby and megan:

i cannot see bright yellow and lime green without thinking of bobby and megan's wedding. so i threw a little turquoise and some orange print in there and finally made a coin quilt. i love a mostly-white quilt and i wonder if i'll ever venture away from it's simple nature. this quilt is enormous- about 80"x 90". amazingly, all the fabric used was already in my home at the time of project conception, which i love. the back is the softest vintage sheet pieced with some turquoise and the binding is from my third purchasing trip to purl a year and a half ago. a little scary how specific my purchasing memories are. if i thought about it for a few minutes, i could probably tell you what i was wearing on that day too. i'm hoping the very tall bobby and megan get some good cozying and fort-making use out of this.

quilt for emily and scott:

wow. these pictures are not great. in my frenzy to finish and get the boxes out the door i saved photographing until early morning before the sun rose. not my best idea. but hopefully you get the idea. it's a cool quilt, totally simple and inspired by a scarf i made for mim several christmases ago. the random plethora of quilting sucked up several spools of thread, but the "technique" of no-technique-required makes it kind of fun. no stressing about the lines being strait or even. just quilt away until it looks good. having never worked on any quilt bigger than crib sized, wrangling the 60" by 70" (roughly) beast through the machine over and over was laughable, but successful. the tiny wrinkly puckers created in between some of the quilting lines after washing and drying are my favorite part. (first picture taken pre-washing). off-white cotton for the front, high-quality unbleached muslin for the back, orange, turquoise, lime green, yellow thread for the quilting and dark brown cotton for the binding.

hat for baby veronica:

this aviator cap has been sitting, complete, in my home for over three months. i got pregnant and mostly miserable and never got to finishing the second part of the new baby's gift. i'm a really great aunt that way. so, i finally wrapped it up and sent it along with christmas, completely unphotographed, with the second half promised for january. welcome to the world veronica. thank you, emily, for the picture of the babe sporting her new cap- on top of the quilt no less!

home-made applesauce and granola. both really simple and really yummy.

the rest of christmas was bought from mostly local brooklyn shops (with the exception of a few more gifts to the girls' grandparents that are currently "in the works," yes, i am that person too. shamelessly giving away gifts in march that say "merry christmas!" on the card), which was fun in a completely different way.

next up: christmas 2007 retrospective: the build-up.

kids, be thankful

that has been the theme of our last two family nights. we're trying to get them to understand thanksgiving as much as they can. even more, i'm really trying to push the spontaneous (rather than prodded) "thank you." no major progress so far.

last week: thanksgiving jar

jar decorated with pieces of tissue cut mostly by eve and glued on by both girls (when i could get ruth to stop using the glue stick like chapstick). filled with strips of paper listing all the things we're thankful for. some of eve's: jungle book, "smashmallows," drawing on paper, princesses and all paraphenalia she owns or could think of relating to princesses. some of ruth's: eyes, clothes off and "didi boots" (dora and boots). once she thought of dora and boots she wouldn't say anything else, so that's in the jar about seven times.

the plan is to continue adding to the jar until thursday morning when we will read them all to each other and then put a candle in the jar for a "very bootiful" thanksgiving light.

yesterday: the first thanksgiving flannel board story

more felt pieces to tell the story of the pilgrims, mayflower, plymouth rock, the wompanoags, planting, harvesting, feasting and (naturally) being thankful.

i ran out of time for a few major pieces like a turkey and squash/pumpkin, but the rocks and fish i made for the oregon commemoration came in very handy in telling the story in crossing the ocean and plymouth rock, so it all evened out. not sure how much they got from the "we can help and be so thankful and happy for each other" lesson, but they haven't stopped playing with the pieces this morning. and i'm ridiculously happy to have more pieces for the flannel board. i really love the flannel board.

halloween 2007

halloween came and went this year with its usual amount of stress (procrastination is my curse) and fun.

since we were having way too much fun with friends we skipped pumpkin carving this year (which is a good thing, ruthie is far too confident in grabbing and attempting to use knives as it is) and let the girls paint away on their special pumpkin. clearly, tempera paints aren't the best option for pumpkin painting, but it is washable. and when is ruth involved, that is all i care about.

halloween brunch. spiderweb and pumpkin shaped panckakes.

inspired by this post of jeanie's and sarah's comment on said post. i love my sisters. and the girls loved the pancakes which we ate with eggs and beautiful homemade applesauce. the pumpkin pancakes were made with the help of a copper cookie cutter to shape the batter. for the spiderweb pancakes i only had a spoon, although a squirt bottle of some kind would have been much much easier.

the costumes. alice in wonderland and the cheshire cat.

the stress that is a product of my own procrastination is something i'm used to and usually totally comfortable with, because i can always pull things off. not so much this time with ruthie's costume. i needed more time to make it more fantastic and less homemade (you know what i'm saying here, the homemade that looks kind of sad and neglected, not the homemade that we all adore). but, she had a costume and besides the occasional "it's piglet!" (which she totally looks like in these pictures although i swear not as much in real life) or "umm. . . stripey??" many people got it. and as always, together she and eve were a great pair.

the most gratifying part of the costume making process this year was that i did not buy one scrap of fabric, everything is from the very very large stash i already have around the house. for ruth, i made skin-tight pajamas from some knit and applied the stripes out of some wool felt i've had for years. there were plans to make a hat with ears which i think would have made a huge difference, but time and exhaustion got to me. so we went for little felt ears stuck to her head bobby pins. the alice dress was a compilation of two things i know how to pattern (i use that term very loosely) and make; bodice top and circle skirt, along with a peter pan collar, made using this tutorial which is so easy. yes, there are a lot of steps, but it is still so easy.

trick or treating.

or "treasure picking" as eve was calling it. the girls, along with pseudo-little-brother luke, all went together through park slope. another year and another great night. definitely beats having a friend's parent drive you nad your friends from house to house because they were too far apart to walk. eve showed the way at the first house and ruthie got the hang of it immediately. she could hardly be stopped from running full speed stoop to stoop, mountaineering up the stairs, holding her bag out, squeaking "chik a cheat," climbing down and running off to the next bowl of candy. i was not allowed to touch her and the few times i touched her candy bag i regretted it.

the girls were fast and determined for two solid blocks of beautiful brooklyn brownstone stoops (oh, brooklyn. . .) but then hopped into the stroller and crashed. perfect.

this morning i woke up to hearing the stove top beep- my clue that ruthie has climbed on top of the counter in an attempt to get last night's treasure. i shot out of bed, got ruthie off the stove top and amazingly convinced her and eve that yogurt was a better breakfast option than a mars bar.

it's coming

halloween is in 20 days and i am still not positive about costumes for the girls. i'm thinking eve will be alice in wonderland and ruthie will be the cheshire cat. she'd be perfect with that belly of hers. . .

there will certainly be a lot of pictures posted when the costumes are complete (most likely one hour before the first halloween party we go to) but for now, i give you a rich family children halloween retrospective:

2004. sock monkey. here's hoping i get to use this costume again someday. one of my favorites. and yes, chip was the greatest american hero that year.

2005. the sad mouse. i was supposed to have a brand new baby by halloween of 2005. but the day came, ruth was still lodged inside of me and i was unprepared. so, we went with a store-bought costume that we just happened to have hanging in the closet. thanks jeanie!

2006. little red riding hood and the wolf. or the aardvark. you choose. i'm kicking myself for not doing a proper photo shoot, the girls were so adorable together. trick-or-treating in park slope last year is one of our very favorite brooklyn nights of all time. eve would hurry from stoop to stoop with all of her candy bouncing out of the basket and littering the sidewalks as she ran. can't wait for this year when ruthie can run right along beside her. and pick up all the candy and claim it as her own.

backlog: times three

dress for ruth.

june. modified vintage nightgown pattern.

dress for eve.

may. same as ruthie's, but looser fit and added tie/belt.

dress for me.

may. built by wendy simplicity. no darts, no elastic in sleeves.

backpack backpack

finally heaved myself out of the recent sewing slump and made some long-awaited (by eve) backpacks for the girls today. i used the backpack pattern from lotta jansdotter's simple sewing book, with some adjustments. the most major; re-sizing for toddler and little girl.

i love making these girls match. let's hope they don't hate me for it later.

ruth will soon be getting an "r" on hers. my earlier machine "r" attempts turned out badly, so i'll be doing a little hand embroidery this weekend. or maybe some applique. . . what'll it be, what'll it be?

first things eve HAD to put in her backpack: skirt, pants, shirt, panties and a little monkey.

things eve HAD to carry in her backpack for the maiden voyage outside: the treats, a car and a lion.

ruthie could not have cared less about the contents in her bag. she was just pumped that "ru batbat lite e!" (ruth's backpack like eve's)

with the awkward amount of fabric i have left, i think a hat and tote incorporating herringbone tweed will soon emerge.

just. can't. let. go.

of the brookings trip, that is.

so, in addition to looking at pictures and making eve tell me her favorite things at the beach and ocean, over and over and over, i've immortalized the trip with the little help from a newly made flannel board.

i've had a large ikea frame in the girl's closet for two years, with the plan of making a flannel board. last week i finally pulled it out to get to work. i had the flannel and the masonite but no staple gun. but i did have a tiny little stapler. i so wish my camera was working because i would love to have this tiny thing documented for you to see. teeny tiny. but, i was not deterred. a little entertained, yes, but not deterred. i set to stapling the flannel to the masonite and was shocked to find some success with my mini stapler. at one point a staple went all the way through the masonite and into my wood floor. who would have thought? (umm, sorry chip. don't worry, no extensive damage was done) so, itty bitty stapler and all, the work of immortalizing the trip has now taken form in flannel board felt shapes of all the things that played prominently in our stay. the girls are having fun with them.

fish and campfire

shark (we never saw one but chip's fear of them is always prevalent when we're near the ocean) and evergreens (i'd say redwoods if they weren't so wonky. i was getting impatient)

rocky coastline (the elephant looking thing is supposed to be an arch rock. i'll have to work on it). and anemone and starfish.

there's a lot more on the list before true immortalization and felt-piece documentation of the trip is complete. my salamander attempts have been laughable and end up looking like tailed aliens, but i'm getting closer. i think switching to a free-quilting foot will help. whales, seals, otters, kites, kayaks, water and people will be coming, but for now we'really pretty happy with what we've got. the girls have surprised me with how often they're playing with them. eve's voices for the shark and fish are fantastic, while ruthie just yells "fish! fish! oh no!" over and over.

** note for me: this was initially posted 8.23.07. blog managing confusion.**

an almost-dress and a quilt

these two items are the reasons i schlepped my sewing machine as a carry-on across the country with me. i deserved the looks i was getting during my three hour delay at the san francisco airport, the ones that said "wow, i feel sorry for you, you poor lonely girl with two little children and what looks to be the crappiest stroller known to man. . . oh, wait, is she trying to push that one-handed? what does she. . . is she carrying around a SEWING MACHINE? in the airport? she looks kind of sweaty and i'm pretty sure that stroller is going to come careening into my shins at any minute. honey, honey! watch out, let's give the sweaty girl some room. she just needs room! no help for her, she's brought in on herself. smile politely and move on, quickly. quickly!" the many looks and sore forearm aside, i'm so glad i did. i loved my janome even more than usual as i finished my projects in brookings on the table that i ate every childhood family dinner around.

first, we have the almost-dress that i will be wearing as a tunic:

not only are you, my seven lucky readers, seeing the the product of my handiwork, but you also get to see some double chin and what my niece, mia, refers to as a "pancake" on my sister's floor. just to be clear, sarah is not one for throwing breast pads around willy-nilly, but, you know how it goes. and to be even clearer, sarah's house only stays this messy for about five minutes. she's like a robot, in the best way possible.

so the tunic is my rip-off of one i saw in the barney's co-op catalog months ago. i used the basic shirt pattern in sew u with several adjustments and alterations.

and here we have the baby quilt for little baby bryce:

i love looking at chip hold it up for me to photograph. and i'm happy with how it turned out. my favorite baby quilt so far. we also gave this really great book to baby bryce, to use when he is older and wiser. for now, he can lie on his quilt while he watches his siblings make arrows and go-carts and teach him about latitude.

** for my own records, this was initially posted 8.17.07. accidentally removed it while trying to make corrections.**

baby quilt

a good baby quilt is one of my favorite things. to prove it, i have about 15 crammed in various spots in our 650 square feet, with plans (secret, naturally) of accumulating more.

considering my own love, i assume everyone else feels the same. and if they don't, i think they should. (i really am a good american). so, for a new friend's baby shower this past weekend i made a simple little quilt for her up-coming baby boy. i'm always nervous when i make things for boys- are my color choices too girly? is this fabric weird for a boy? i feel like i have no real gauge on the whole thing. but, things seemed to work out. in fact, i almost kept it for myself. but, i'm trying to be less selfish (and i had no back-up gift) so i wrapped it with a ribbon and we were off. it went over well with the preggers mom and everyone ooed enough to make me feel good and special. win win.

the front is a cowboy print i picked up on my last trip to oregon, the back (my favorite) is seersucker with a bright red, and the binding is the really great cursive handwriting fabric by moda ("mrs. nelson's 2nd grade") and a little patch of orange for fun. blurry close up shot to see said edging:

it felt good to make another quilt, especially such a quick one. if i was smart i'd start working on the girls' christmas quilts now. . . but that's not going to happen, this will: i'll procrastinate, get over-ambitious and then be freaking out trying to finish them the night before christmas. i won't. so then i'll turn them into valentine's day gifts, pretending that was my plan all along. . .