all buttoned up.

Another Reason to Get Busy

Shelly Figueroa just relaunched her pattern company, Figgy's. Holy Mother of Little People Sewing. The new patterns are pretty girl-centric, but as the mother of two awesome boys, I know she won't leave the boys out in the cold (not to mention, she co-wrote a whole darn book on sewing for boys). But that's beside the point-- do you see that dress?

I love these patterns. They are a little Ottobre meet Japanese Craft Book. They are sweet without being too sweet. They are simple but they don't skimp on the details. Shelly recently began working with Daniela and they are making magic together. I saw the samples at her house today and I'm getting my hands on all three patterns (there are 5 total garments and variations of each) of these as soon as possible. I have nieces. They need leggings and easy-over-your-head blouses. They need that freaking dress.

Figgy's is running a pre-order free shipping promo at the moment (until the 24th). They are printing up next week and will ship the first week of December, so you can eek out some pre-holiday sewing if that's your game. See here for close-ups and variations and more patterns from previous seasons.

This is most definitely my game, folks.

Happy Machine

We are happy about this baby girl. I didn't quite get there last post, did I? Yes. Very happy. Shock and happiness don't have to be mutually exclusive, right? Thank you for your good thoughts and kind words. I have already serged up the edges of some of that double knit. I washed it and put it away in the drawer next to some of my nieces hand-me-downs and a unopened package of tiny onesies. I love tiny onesies.

The rest of my piles don't look so neat, and I had a good little chat with myself about the amount of fabric sitting here and vowed to keep any new textile purchases confined to batting, thread and solid white and off-white cotton. I have finished up two more small throws for friends and I am trying to work my way through the unfinished pile. It's now or never, people! On top of that, I have a new sewing machine that I purchased used at the end of the summer. I had been casually looking for a while, and then specifically looking for several months. I had all but given up and then the craigslist stars aligned and I was able to bring home a barely used Bernina 440 for a stunner of a deal. I feel pretty lucky.

Luck precipitated action and I pulled out two cotton linen prints to make it a cover and practice free motion quilting with the stitch regulator. I used a print from the Tammis Keefe tribute line and a Japanese folk print I've had for ages. I bound it to be double sided and used two leather buttons and two lengths of fold over elastic to finish it up. I used elastic so that it will fit around the table that is usually attached to the arm. It's very similiar in style to Rashida's cover in her book I *Heart* Zakka.

It is a great machine and before it's novelty wears off (maybe it never will?) I'm getting through that to-do pile with lightening speed. It feels so good to be sewing again. And who am I kidding about not sewing very many little girl things? That just seemed a silly the minute I wrote it down.

Given the Odds

We are muddling along in the basement, but I'm not holding my breath that I'll be able to move my machine and my hoardy stash down there before February. I'm pulling piles out to work on around the kitchen table if I need to: gifts for the boys, a few quilts/throws to work on, a short list for Miss Gestation.

This is a Girl Baby that I'm growing.

We were not anticipating that news, and it has taken a while to settle in. I don't know if it's just 2nd pregnancy, or that I'm 7 years older, or that this is a girl, but everything seems much different than the first time around. It is probably a combination of all of those things! At this point it's been all very by-the-book and I'm reminded how, unlike so many people I know, being pregnant is really Not My Thing. It's not really the boy's thing either, and August is forever trying to push in my belly and Manny has yelled "SO CHUBBY!!" more than once while jumping on top of me.

While they are concerned with all this outward changing, I lay awake at night thinking about gender politics, mothers and daughters, and, uh, fabric. Obviously. I pulled these piles of knits to keep in the to-do pile. I will probably not sew much for this little person to begin with, but there's no harm in making plans. Right? The top left is a striped double knit Epplant gave me for my birthday last year. Underneath is a jersey with tiny stripes in cream and mauve-pink (one of the pinks that I really do like and keep coming back to) that I had been saving for myself. The other three are Nani Iro double knits: red dots are scraps (also from Mariko) and the two others are actually pointelle (!) I bought from Miss Matatabi. The Nani Iro knits will be swaddling blankets, I think. They are pretty narrow at 33", but I have more than a metre of each and when we are done swaddling I'll turn them into clothes or scarves. It is not cheap to buy, but it is the softest kind of knit after it is washed and I love it.

I'm going to get together a pile of lawn and voile to sew for a growing girl. A GIRL. THERE WILL BE A SMALL GIRL IN THIS HOUSE.

I'm totally not freaking out.

 

 

Friends that Benefit

I'm making quilts for some of my friends this year. And, if you are my friend and reading this and don't recieve one it is because 1. you haven't gotten it yet or 2. you know that I often make plans that have a minimal success rate. So. Friends. I have really good people in my life and I am a woefully unpredictable gift-giver. I am no good at wedding gifts unless I'm Really, Really Good. Same goes with birthday gifts (but don't expect one of those because I'm on a sort of a quadrennial schedule-- Olympics style).

The quilt above is for the McGarry's-- Ann actually took these pictures in her house because it was made during those short, dark days in December. It is a pretty straight-forward strip quilt-- dark grey and dark purple Kona cottons split up with patchwork strips in three places. The quilting is zigzagged and the back is Moda quilter's flannel. It is larger than a throw but smaller than a queen. My affinity for them is much, much larger than the quilt implies.

Friends:

• I am back with my friends at Habit for April! I'm so happy about that. I have been a crappy life documenter during the last few months. Plus, my real life pal Tracy is over there, too, so it kind of feels like we get to hang out.
• Speaking of Tracy-- she and her smarty pants D live in a sweet house house in California that they have been lovingly remodeling for several years. They started a blog documenting some of that love. If you are into non minimal, mid-century with a side of chickens, this is the place for you. 
• My friend Melissa made the Portfolio Dress from the new Lisette patterns everyone is so excited about. Melissa makes some great clothes and she knits stuff, too. Over-achiever.
• I am planning on making it to at least one of Susan's booksignings this weekend. You?

 

Go Forth into Spring

February was too much. TOO MUCH. But March is my month. And if I were to say this to you in real-life I would replace the little "my" with a "MY" and maybe swing my hips a little. Here, in no particular order are the annual events that I claim:

• Daffodils (my favourites)
• Longer Days
• Getting the peas in and moving dirt around
• Spring Break and maybe a little trip
• Swap out sneaking out to the fabric store with sneaking out to my favourite nursery
• Tax season (I know that this gives most people a stomach ache, but I like seeing everything on paper-- no matter how depressing.)
• People are happier. Especially the sort of people who are my children.
• Hope. I feel so much hope in March.

Paul has moved from working a graveyard shift over to a fancy admin day job. He is well liked where he works and I could not be prouder of him. He wears a lot of sweater vests and nice ties. I have been sewing quite a lot, trying to work through some of my accumulated fabric and patterns. I'm trying to look honestly at the clothes I've made and how they look on me and what I actually wear regularly-- it appears there will be some more knit tops in my future.

I spent a night and a day in Astoria this last weekend, sewing with a handful of really wonderful women. It was beautiful. And even though I spent two hours unpicking two button holes (they were in french terry and I didn't want anything to snag), the time was super productive. I really love being productive. I have come to accept that getting ahead with things at home is more accurately, barely maintaining or better: dismissing all expectations entirely and moving forward anyway. Maybe that is why I claim March so fiercely-- the light, the flowers, the seeds-- they all grow and move with very little effort on my part.

Of course, lest I get all crazy and optimistic, the laundry does the same thing. 

 

Unfamiliar Territory

I want to try a large paper pieced quilt this year. I've only ever paper pieced by hand (hexes!) and even though I've watched Fons and Porter do their thing on PBS before, the process seemed ill-fitted to my personality. It seemed fussy and complicated-- much like how I saw driving in reverse when I was practicing for my license. Anyway, I wanted to try something simple before trying a bigger project, and I wanted to do something I could piece largely using scraps and stash.  

Some friends and I are encouraging each other to get a quilt put together in the next few weeks. I chose a free pattern put out with Denyse Schmidt's Hope Valley line by Free Spirit to get started. Since I have an unusual amount of pinks for someone in my position, I figured I needed to get to using them up. I consulted Grammie on a few basics (paper, needle) and only flubbed the first one before putting together the next 32.  I'm using a large pad of paper that Sam has drawn in since he was a baby. I pulled a few classic three year-old Sam faces out of the pack and then cut what I needed down to size. The paper is pretty thin-- probably just a small step up from newsprint-- but it's been sturdy enough for what I need and tears away like a dream. Plus, I get to sew through tiny "S" markings and giant heads with googly eyes. 

These blocks are going to look achingly simple for those of you a lot more experience. I totally get the paper piecing appeal (much like I finally got driving backwards).  Now I have my eye on Wedding Ring type patterns. I have Material Obsession to thank for that:

I am coming for you, Gypsy Kisses. 

The Year of the Rabbit (Here, Little Bunny)

We started out the year with beautiful, cold, clear weather.  It was great.  When the weather is kind, I feel more kind.  I really want this to be a kind year.  I am making good progress with the books and the crosswords.  It turns out that since I had started a few puzzles in, I had been trying to do Saturday and Sundays instead of Monday and Tuesdays.  So, I'm still pretty good at crosswords, I just have trouble counting.  This will not be a revelation to any of my people. 

I have cleaned out closets, shredded acres of paper and backed up our computer (that was a huge pain in the ass).  I'm working on fabric and its relations at the moment.  And storage.  I'm also having a running conversation with myself that goes something like, "no new storage, just less things" and "I need to go to Ikea".  I hate being a slave to stuff. 

With that in mind, here's a little stack of fabric I'm super happy about from Sew, Mama Sew.  And Bolt has all the voiles which I'm a little crazy over.   I've decided to try and finish four quilts this year-- two big projects and two smaller.  Did you make any sewing decisions for the year?  This is the year that I also conquer (or at least) attempt well fitting pants or shorts. 

They are predicting some snow for tomorrow!  That would be great.  It will justify my keeping all the snow boots, snow pants and back up boots and snow pants.  If only I could use the weather to explain penchant for creamers and stationary. 

Paddington

I went off the novelty fabric deep end at the Depot the other night and bought these three Paddington Bear prints.  The boys are going to FREAK.  I'm thinking about placemats.  I know, a tiny bear from Darkest Peru is not exactly this week's super hero, but we are all big fans regardless. 

We have a few Paddington bits around the house and I try to pick up the novels used when I'm up visiting my parents.  I love the original illustrations by Peggy Fortnum and I'm always on the look out for books with pictures taken from the stills of the animated show from the 70s.  While I don't think we ever owned them (maybe my cousins did?), I did a little dance at the thrift store the first time I ran across one.  At any rate, they are hard to find. 

The reason that the boys (and Sam in particular) have a certain affinity for Micheal Bond's bear, is that we have listened to A Bear Called Paddington read by Stephen Fry IN ITS ENTIRETY dozens of time.  A fact which I'm always amazed by, considering it's whimsy far outweighs its high-flying adventure. 

Mr. Fry, evidently your voice soothes the beasts within and has me rifling through the "licensed character" section at the fabric store.  Thank you for using your power for good.

Feeding the Man-Children

There is an obscene amount of canning going on around here.  In the space of about a year we went from two and half eaters in our house to feeding five.  I mean, sure, technically there were 5 of us last summer, too, but you know-- throw some noodles and some brocolli their way and we were good.  Sam sucked the marrow of his precious tofu and they would happily split an apple three ways for a snack and declare themselves full. People make jokes about feeding boys and I wondered if it was some gender-biased myth.  Hah. 

IT IS NOT A MYTH.

I've almost always done some kind of canning or freezing, but this year I've gotten really serious about it.  I realized that my little boys didn't know what applesauce was because I had stopped buying it and apples never got cheap enough last year to make any.  So, as of this year, I know that 40lbs of apples (with peel and minus the core), gives us about 15 quarts of sugarless sauce.  If I process the same amount of romas, I get about 24 quarts.   I learned that I do not own big enough pots, we can never pick enough blueberries, and I am surprisingly picky about peach varieties.  We got ourselves a fruit guy and joined a vegetable buying club.

I have been refering to old standbys for preserving advice:  Joy of Cooking, More With Less, and familiar recipes and methods that I've grown up with.  I really love Small Batch Preserving for those times when I've needed to kill off those last pieces of fruit, and I'm still sifting through Jen's links for favourites.  So many of our friends preserve-- we trade around equipment, recipes and comment on how gorgeous each other's steam bathed skin looks (I will take it where I can get it).

This week I'm going to label, tally, and figure out how I can do a better job for next year.  Do you put up food?  Do you do it for pleasure or out of necessity (or both)?  My mom was visiting and while we were mashing tomatoes into jars, she commented on how glad she used to be when canning season was coming to an end.   The desire to feed these boys for less this year is a great motivator, but I'm starting to understand her end-of-season sighs of relief. 

***edited:  I re-checked my quart count on the tomatos and we are right around 24 plus a few pints.  I will say that it was probably closer to 50 lbs instead of 40, though.  They were whole, skinned romas (smashed them down with a spoon in their own liquid) with a little salt, lemon juice and a couple of basil leaves. 

For August (eventually): The Woodland Quilt

HEYA!  I finished something.

Never mind that I have two more not-done-at-all quilts in the waiting, I got this bad boy turned around in just a few weeks.  It will eventually be for August, but is hanging up at Bolt for a little while on display.  Let me tell you why my hands are waving wildly in the air while I try to type this up-- this throw-sized business was put together by me but quilted by the excedingly talented Gayle (Grammie) Karol of Tillie Studios.  Piecing it  was a piece of cake, and it only took a long-ish afternoon to get the whole top finished.  I let her decide on the manner she'd like to quilt it, and was thrilled when we got together to see what she had chosen.

I have several more patchwork projects in my head.  Blair (my awesome, jerkface friend who is always getting things done and now-- Teaching Crochet! The nerve.) has me thinking in greys, and this free (but donations will be put to fantastic use) quilt pattern from the ass-kicking Weeks Ringle is on my short list.

Fabric and pattern details are on the Bolt Blog for those of you interested-- I'm heading back to the peaches and the pickles and blackberries the size of golf balls.  I would also like to have my kitchen painted this weekend.  DO I SEE A SHOW OF HANDS?  I didn't think so.