escaping to winter

We skipped out on the torrential downpours that plagued most of the Northeast this weekend and traded up for a few wet-flurries and lots of slope-side fun. Our Little Guy clicked on a new pair of skis for the first time and after two short lessons was rocking the magic carpet slope. I think his favorite part was riding up the chairlift. That and the obligatory cups of hot cocoa, of course. Oh, and the jumps. He was all about the jumps, which were performed while skiing down a small slope between my legs and in the safe embrace of my arms. Little Miss was as thrilled as can be to have the complete attention of two doting Grandparents. And Mom and Dad were grateful for some ski time with siblings and friends in a happy world of winter white.

the means, not the end

Lately I’ve been thinking a little bit about why I make things.  Some of my favorite projects are ones that are born of necessity.  For example, this past weekend my two closest friends from college, and their families, came to visit.  As I was changing the linens on the guest bed and organizing sheets for the pull-out couch, I realized that some of our spare pillowcases looked like they have seen better days.  They weren’t in such bad shape that the situation warranted an emergency trip to the store, but I was able to pull some pretty fabric from a shelf and make two simple pillowcases in a print that I love.  I felt like I was adding a teeny tiny bit more comfort to the poor couple who got stuck on the fold-out couch. To have the ability to make something useful that adds some warmth and comfort to our home is, for me, empowering.  Basic utilitarian projects are some of my favorites. And a good number of them don’t make their way onto the blog.

Gift giving is another reason why I make things.  I enjoy the challenge of coming up with a gift that will be useful and beautiful and is made with a certain person in mind.  It is a fun process.  I’ll take note of things that they have commented on in the past.  Or I will show a person a stack of pretty fabric and ask them to choose their absolute favorite. The goal with these projects is to create something that they will love and that they could not have bought for themselves.

Another type of project is one in which the process of making an item is just as important (and perhaps even more important) for me as it is to create something nice for the recipient. With this kind of sewing, the end result is a lot less important than my ability to express to the recipient that I have been thinking about them. That I have been praying for them. That I think that they are beautiful in every sense of the world. The tissue holders pictured above were one of those projects.  Even though they were given to three wonderful women, they turned out to be little gift to myself. A little gift of time to reflect on someone very important to me.

And in case you were wondering about how I made the tissue holders, the basic idea came from this great tutorial.  {I know.  Thank goodness for the interwebs. How did anyone ever sew anything before the dawn of the blog tutorial?} I added a little patchwork and overlapped the two top pieces more than the tutorial recommends because the opening was a little too floppy for my taste. Another angle that shows the tops of the holders is here. The fabric is Denyse Schmidt’s Hope Valley and I think it lives up to all the hype. So pretty!

P.S. I realize that parts of this post seem a bit cryptic. This is because I don’t tend to get overly personal in this space.  That said, what I wrote in that last bit is just a shade personal, so I am going to close comments.  {Thank you for understanding!}

going batty on valentine’s day

Just a quick hello to wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day.  If all goes as planned, my two smallest valentines will be receiving some batty love on Sunday.  I’m loving how they are coming out already! Hope you have a great weekend.

Jump Rope Dress (View B)

This is my first go at an Oliver + S pattern.  All I really need to say is that if the pattern weren’t as fantastic as it is, I never would have been able to pull it off.  The placket and collar fabric is Denyse Schmidt County Fair for Freespirit and the body fabric is a super soft tweed that I found on a remnant table at my favorite local fabric shop. I think the pockets are my favorite detail. But the whole thing just makes me happy — and super proud.  The best part is that it fits my little girl perfectly. If you want to see more, there is a photo of the pocket detail here and the collar and placket here.

My mother-in-law made us that measuring board to track the heights of the kids. You can’t see all the wood-burned details marking each foot increment in this photo, but it is very well done and so fun to use.

bits and pieces

:: I’ve got lots of projects in the works. I’d list them but then there would be a record of my overly ambitious plans. I will tell you that most of the prints in that happy stack pictured above will make their way into a color wheel quilt for friends who have lost a beloved pet. Materials from the belongings of that sweet pup, plus another twenty or so prints, will complement the selection.

:: I am going with my aunt-in-law to my local quilt guild for the first time tomorrow and am looking forward to three consecutive hours of crafting time outside of my home. I need to decide which project to bring. My fall-back plan is to just grab a bag of scraps and cut out 2.5″ squares. And maybe some cross stitch. {Cross stitch is allowed at a quilting guild, right?}

:: I don’t normally make new years resolutions. And if I do, I don’t normally share them with others. It’s not because they are super personal or anything. I think it’s because I’m afraid I will be held accountable.  This year I am making an exception by writing in this space that the one thing I am really trying to improve on is keeping our home clutter-free and being better about having a regular cleaning routine. Earth shattering, right? The reason why I am mentioning it here is because this new little mission has actually helped me free up more time for my two favorite hobbies: sewing and sitting on the couch. I hope to share some of my new habits in another post.

:: I’ve been thinking a little bit about the different elements that make a blog attractive to me.  Currently, my favorite blog is Buttons Magee. I probably found this one because the author sewed something that caught my attention, but what keeps me reading is her beautiful photography, great writing, and relevant content. She offers snippets of her daily life, without offering too much personal information, and talks about topics that resonate with me. Organization. Simple meal ideas. Thrifting. Things she does with her young girls.  Conversations she has with her husband. My favorite posts relate to little things that she does to make life easier on herself. Really, just every day stuff.  Her photography is pretty incredible, and yet it seems to truly reflect her real life. You won’t find perfectly staged shots with bright colors against stark white walls. But the writing.  I think that is the most important aspect for me.  Words matter. The reason why I mention this is because I am wondering what draws people to certain blogs. What is it about your all-time favorite blog that keeps you coming back for more? {I’d really love to know your thoughts on this if you have a minute to spare.}

:: Speaking of good blogs, my little sister has a newish blog. What it lacks in craftiness, it makes up in thoughtful, well-articulated prose. Have a gander if you are so inclined.

:: My best friend relocated back home with her family recently. They used to live in Florida. Last night I called her to see if she needed anything at the store because I was going to pick up milk. She had run out of coffee filters. I picked them up and brought them to her. We chatted in her kitchen until it got to be a bit too late. I was tired the next day. But was also very happy. There is nothing like good friends.

:: And last but not least, I finished the Oliver + S Jump Rope dress and have never been more proud of something I have sewn.  Will be sure to take a photo and show it off as soon as I can!

cutest patterns ever… and for a good cause

I don’t think there is a person out there who isn’t aware of the devastation in Haiti and the current tremendous need for help.  I won’t go on about that.  But did you know that you could purchase two of the absolute cutest softie patterns on the planet and help the relief effort?  {That bat just kills me! My absolute favorite.} I bought these just yesterday and received a follow-up email explaining that all proceeds from the sale will go to Partners in Health.

Non stitchers can also do good by way of the mighty shopping cart when they spend their pennies on beautiful handmade goods that have been donated to the Craft Hope Etsy shop.

Happy weekend.

one

My precious baby girl. Are all little girls this sweet? I suppose I can’t know for sure. But I really don’t think it’s possible. She turned one recently. And we are feeling extremely lucky.

She says Dada and Mama and she knows how to bark like a teeny tiny puppy. I swear she kind of sang along to the “Happy Birthday” song we sang as we ate French toast with special birthday sprinkles on her big day. (Lots of ba-ba-ba’s, anyway.) She has taken her first couple of steps, but isn’t a definitive walker yet. She waves and blows kisses and climbs any obstacle she can find. She almost exclusively likes to play with her brother’s toys, and she loves wrestling with him and splashing in the tub. She scrunches her little nose when she laughs. Makes you want to lean in and give her an eskimo kiss every time. She’s kindhearted. And patient. And just too good to be true.

She is a daddy’s girl. One hundred percent. She smiles biggest for him. Hugs him the hardest. Crawls faster when she sees him. They are a pair, those two. It’s a {beautiful} sight to see.

Happy Birthday sweet pea! Heaps of love to you, from all of us.

sewing lessons

All images from the Oliver + S website.

A big part of me wanted my Christmas gift this year to be sewing lessons. However, the time I have to create is so limited that I didn’t want to spend any of it in the car. So instead, I signed up for some sewing lessons of the stay-at-home variety, in the form of a stack of beautifully designed Oliver + S children’s clothing patterns. I’ve already tried my hand at the lovely {and free} popover dress pattern and am moving on to view B of the Jump Rope Dress, because a certain almost-one-year old needs something to wear at her birthday party. And that same little girl will require a cute dress for an important wedding in June. Who knows? Maybe her brother will get a pair of sandbox pants out of the deal.

True to my sewing nerd tendencies, I have been spending my lunch breaks at work holed up in my office reading the patterns. Since I’ve only just begun to cut out the Jump Rope Dress, I can’t really provide a pattern review, but I can give you my early impressions. The instructions and accompanying diagrams are painstakingly clear. I actually understand the process of constructing a placket simply by reading the pattern instructions. Normally I need to have the fabric in front of me in order to “get it.” I am excited about the range of new skills I will learn by making some of these pieces.

Night knitter is my Oliver + S pattern sewing hero. She doesn’t get caught up in the crazy busy prints to which so many of us (myself included) are drawn. Her fabric selection is guided by a simple principle. She tends to dress her daughter in a way that she would want to be dressed. I plan to keep that in mind as I work my way through these patterns. I’ll let you know how it works out.

P. S. Good thing I don’t speak/read French. Otherwise, I’d probably want these adorable patterns too.

i sewed some stuff for christmas this year

But I wasn’t very good about documenting it.

This coffee cozy was made using a great little tutorial from House on Hill Road. The fit was a little tight on this cup, which is ceramic but looks like a paper one. I bet the pattern dimensions are perfect on a standard coffee cup. The cup and cozy were a Christmas gift for my sister in Park City. We picked her family in the Christmas gift lotto this year, so I made them a simple advent calendar using one of my all time favorite fabrics and included some gifts to open as they counted down the days to Christmas. I think this gift was day 11.

I love the patchwork combination, but that button kind of drives me nuts. I feel like something a bit more simple would have better suited my sister’s tastes, but I didn’t have access to my jar of buttons when I was finishing it off. I stole that button from a previous project. (Edited to note that my sister tells me that the button is her favorite part. )

I wish I had a good photo of the advent calendar. But I don’t. I wish I wasn’t too lazy to take a good photo of the Black Apple doll I made for my baby girl.* But I am. And I wish I wasn’t so last minute on gifts this year and had taken photos of the custom tissue box covers I made for my mom and my youngest sister. But I was. So I didn’t. (So there.)

Guess what else? 2009 was really great and I am very much looking forward to 2010. That’s about as reflective/forward-looking as I am capable of being right now. I have a “things I’d like to sew in the coming year” post flitting around in my head, but I know myself well enough to know that I won’t stick to it. So I’ll just save it for my sketch book. Or write the same post and title it “stuff i will probably never get around to making.” That might be fun.

I would like to say that I adore having this space to share this very small corner of my world. Creating would be a heck of a lot less fun and satisfying if I didn’t have my blog friends by my “virtual” side. Thank you for that!

*Part of the lack of motivation to take a good photo may be due to the fact that I managed to sew the legs on backwards. Um. Twice. As in: I sewed the legs on backwards, ripped the seam, flipped the legs around, and then somehow managed to sew them on backwards again. At which point, I decided that it was meant to be. The pattern is great, btw. Super sweet and super quick. The best kind of pattern there is.

christmas 09

Christmas was really nice this year.  We did a little bit less running around and a lot more lounging* around.  We were treated to a beautiful pre-Christmas snowstorm and a very special surprise wedding on the 26th. (More on that later.) I’ve had the whole week following the holiday off from work to spend with my little gang, playing with them and their new toys. I’ve also gone out to breakfast alone with my best friend.  (Thanks Mom.)  And out to dinner with my husband and some friends for New Year’s Eve. I’ve even had a chance to sit down at the sewing machine for a couple of small spells.  All in all, a really great holiday week.  Hope yours was nice too.

*I feel like the use of this verb requires some explanation.  Aside from nap time, we are never really left to actually lounge.  Our kids are in that constant motion stage. When I say that I really mean:  we stayed in our pj’s and didn’t leave the house. Which is a pretty awesome thing in my book.