:: wearing matching outfits with my girl on Mother’s Day ::
:: first berries of the season, and consequently the first canning session of the season as well ::
:: herbs in pots on my deck ::
:: a vegetable garden that is planted and ready to grow ::
Archive for the 'In the Garden' Category
Making Me Happy Today
Published May 11, 2009 Cooking , Crafted by Friends , Homemaking , In the Garden , In the Kitchen , In the Mailbox 7 Comments
My goodness, where did April go? Seriously. The month is almost over and I don’t feel like I’ve finished much of anything. In fact I haven’t even started my mystery blanket — the project for April — from the Knitter’s Almanac. Enough bellyaching and time to get back at it. Hopefully on Monday I’ll have some finished stuff to show you. In the meantime, you can enjoy the fruits of another Mama’s labor. She’s been outside my study window and on Thursday that little guy hatched. I think his little brother might join us today.
I know in many parts of the US March is a big month for snowfall. Around here we get more in February and March usually brings the Spring rain. This morning though, we woke to this:
Looks like we’ll be enjoying a day of snowmen, hot cocoa, and time by the fire. I’m thinking of making shortbread if we have enough butter. In the meantime let’s take care of some business, shall we:
- winners…. I know that’s what you want to hear about. They are comment numbers 9, 20, and 42: Melissa, Chilton, and Anina. Congrats and Chilton email me your address so I can get a box in the mail to you. I’ve got the other addresses already.
- thank you to each of you who commented about my bloggy birthday. It turns out you like hearing me prattle on so I guess that’s what I’ll continue to do. Thanks for taking the time to let me know, it’s put a great big smile on my face.
- it’s green week hosted by Emily and I’ll be finding spots of green — inside, given the current weather — to share over on flickr. Don’t worry I’ll share them all here at the end of the week.
Now it’s time to bundle up and build a snowman.
Autumn Is… Acorns
Published October 16, 2008 Cooking , Homemaking , In the Garden , In the Kitchen 9 CommentsTags: autumnis
The kind the squirrels eat:
and the kind for us:
Polka Dots with FOE
Published September 16, 2008 Fiber Crafts , Homemaking , In the Garden , Sewing 9 Comments
You know, I’ve been meaning to try using fold-over elastic (FOE) for a while. Ottobre patterns often call for it and there’s no secret about Amy’s and Melissa’s love for it. I’m so lazy and I hate gathering — like at a neckline — so I often substitute a casing and pull some elastic through. I figure elastic in children’s clothing is a positive. The thing is though, pulling elastic through a casing is also on the list of things I get annoyed doing, it’s just generally less annoying than gathering.
This outfit is all about the elastic. The pants are elastic waist with a casing. The bottoms are trimmed with crochet lace — I bought a whole bunch of it on clearance. The top is the same top as this one but with FOE on the neckline and sleeves. It’s super-fancy expensive seersucker FOE — the only brown at my fabric store — and has less stretch than normal FOE. That would be the reason the neckline is big. Oh well, this fabric has been hanging around for over a year, I’m just glad it’s finally in a wearable form. This morning we woke up to cooler temps so with any luck we’ll have wearable weather soon too.
Puppies for Tea
Published August 20, 2008 Fiber Crafts , Homemaking , In the Garden , Sewing 15 CommentsWhen Katie told me that she wanted some clothes like we gave Gabrielle it reminded me that I had a peasant skirt for her cut out from the same Heather Ross fabric. I told my mother-in-law, who was here visiting, that I had stalled on it because I loathe gathering. So she gave me a hint and guess what, it was no problem at all. After conquering that issue the skirt came together very quickly.
Then yesterday while the kids were occupied I made a matching skirt and t-shirt for Katie’s recently acquired My Friend Jenny doll. I actually won a couple of lots of clothing patterns for this doll — one of the greatest things about the My Friend dolls — on ebay and should have them soon but I was just winging it when it came to this doll outfit. Katrina’s face when I showed her Jenny wearing the new outfit was priceless. So a puppy tea party was immediately planned and even though Onyx is far from a puppy, she got to attend too. Pip, pip, cheerio!
EDITED TO ADD: Okay, so what my mother-in-law told me was this… sew two lines of basting stitches and then on one line pull the top thread to gather and on the other line pull the bottom (bobbin) thread. Sorry I didn’t share at first but after she told me that it seemed so obvious I figured you all knew anyway!
How Much is that Doggie in the Window?
Published August 18, 2008 Fiber Crafts , Gifts , Homemaking , In the Garden , In the Mailbox , Sewing 12 Comments
Modeled by Katrina
It’s my niece’s birthday again and this year her gift from Papa and I was this doggie outfit. The skirt is brown corduroy with an elastic waist and an a-line silhouette. I added a single pocket on the front and a small appliqué on the back. The shirt pattern is from the autumn issue of Ottobre magazine and made from Heather Ross’s dog park print in blue. The pattern calls for gathering the sleeves and neckline before attaching the binding/trim. I hate doing that. So, instead, I attached a longer piece of binding to the un-gathered edge and then pulled a piece of elastic through. I actually think that modification will make the shirt fit longer. It would be a perfect application of fold-over-elastic (FOE) so I think I’ll try that next time.
The purse was just made out of my head. I used the dog park print on the outside and a coordinating dot as the lining, also from Heather Ross. I should have stuck a piece of flannel between the layers but didn’t. The top of the bag is the brown corduroy and the handles are made from the same crochet trim that is on the skirt. I filled the purse with Hello Kitty stickers, pencils, and notepads. I had to do something to keep our gift cool to the six year olds. She started opening the wrapped present and said Oh no, I think this is clothes….. again. The pencils and stuff seemed to save it though and my sister liked the outfit a lot. Katie must have liked it a lot too since after we were back home from the party she told me I wish I had some clothes like that. Seems like I might need to get on that.
Modeled by Katrina
Kerchief Girl
Published July 29, 2008 Fiber Crafts , Homemaking , In the Garden , Knitting 7 CommentsTags: lavenderkerchief
I just love a little girl in a kerchief. I don’t know why but I think it is so cute. And my little girl in a kerchief. Well, that is pretty darling if I am giving myself credit — for the girl and the kerchief.
Lavender Kerchief
Pattern: Babushkita, by Larissa Brown
Yarn: Cascade Sierra, in colorway 29
Needles: US size 6 and US size 7
Yardage: less than half of a 191 yard skein
Modifications: n/a
If you ever have plans to go to a flea market and it starts to rain I recommend going anyway. Yesterday, Katie my mom and I went to an outdoor antique flea market in the rain. The rain was certainly an annoyance and Katie did complain a little but the crowds were non-existent and the prices were great. I got a bunch of things — I’ll show you the rest later — including this old space heater. I had something to use as a nature table on the front porch on my list. I know you guys all know about the bits of nature that are collected by the urchins because your urchins do it too. We didn’t have a place for all those bits and I was having trouble finding something that was all-weather, vintage looking (or actually vintage), and small enough for our narrow porch. Well, there it was in the rain. My mom says it looks like grandmom’s corner — I wonder if she means she wants it to be her corner? — and I really like the way it looks with the chair too. Next I want to find an old architectural piece — maybe a window — to hang on the wall. Hmmm… now that I think about it Hannah is doing the same thing. Now if we could just get my chair and table with her windows one of us would have an awesomely vintage front porch.
