Another Charming Handbag

In the shop.

Surprise Lunches

When I have a little one who is just not interested in food at midday, I fix a Surprise Lunch. Similar to Japanese bento in concept (the concept being that a child will eat food that is cute), but easier to prepare, Surprise Lunches always work. Start by sending the child out of the room to cover their eyes, and don't let them peek until the plate is in front of them.


Use tiny dishes if you have them--I've recently been picking up little restaurant butter dishes at the thrift store; they're perfect. For food, I rarely use anything special or different from the child's usual food. Here Daisy's lunch is a peanut butter sandwich cut up, a few pretzels, a few cherries, and oh joy, four chocolate chips right on the plate. A tiny bowl of yogurt in the center of the plate, for dipping fruit, is nice too.



But look at the symmetry and the design: what toddler wouldn't want to eat that!

(Food styling credit to Giles today, as well as the usual photography.)

An Incredible Skirt

I just can't believe this skirt! My step-mother brought it over this weekend; she had found it in her mother's discard pile. It was her own skirt in the 1950's.

You do see that it is covered with cellos, right? And it's exactly Clara's size. And it's a circle--wide enough around to wear while actually *playing* the cello.

We popped it in the mail this morning to get it to Clara while she's still at cello camp. I know she's going to like it.

New Bags in the Shop

Dick and Jane for boys, and more . . .

A Fresher Living Room

Inspired by the new energy of the sitting room, I shuffled the living room furniture this morning. It's amazing that the same old stuff looks so different when it's been rearranged. Here you can see the east half of the room. The dining table is on the elevated stage (that's a *real* stage from when this was a school), and steps come down on both sides of the room.


The red dollhouse in the corner was mine when I was a little girl. It was built by the same carpenter who overhauled our house, and is painted to match. The bedroom even had the same striped wallpaper I had in my own room--I thought that was magic. Now my daughters play with it!


The music side of the room--the Composer at the piano, under an (unfinished) portrait of Clara with her cello. We miss her this week as she is gone to camp *again*! I did not do the portrait!!


But I did do this watercolor collage of pink tulips. I love this section of wall, just the simplicity of the cream, pink, and green. Makes the fern look good.

Charming Handbag

I can't get enough of Bend-the-Rules Sewing. I am loving every project I try. How about this little green handbag? Soft flocked green and white on the outside, inside crisp white with green leaves. A wired-ribbon rosette sewn on for fun, with "leaves" made out of my tiny treasured stash of pale green velvet ribbon (came from my mother's prom dress in 1962).

A *great* pattern--inventive, easy to work with, and CUTE. I'll put it in the shop tomorrow, because I love to buy the fabric, I love to create with it, then I love to pass it on.

Make Friends with Your Florist

If you, as I do, occasionally buy flowers at the grocery store, you should make friends with the florist there. This is one of the few situations where it actually helps you to shop with a toddler--usually a toddler is not a help at the store--because toddlers make friends everywhere they go. Disclaimer: my experience is based on having a very nice lady florist. But then I've found that most people who work with flowers are very nice.

• The florist can tell you what the store's delivery days are. Mine are Saturday and Tuesday, so I never buy flowers on Fridays.

• The florist can point you to the flowers that are going to still look good the day of your party. Just ask!

• The florist will help you pick out the freshest and sturdiest specimens.

• My florist, and probably yours too, will give me huge discounts on the older flowers, if I come in right after the new ones arrive. She's not going to be able to sell the old ones anyway. And sometimes this is exactly what I need--lilies that are already open, for instance. The new ones might still be furled in buds.

• Let the florist know how much you love her flowers, and that you have a limited budget. She might be able to help you afford something.

• It's nice to know the people you do business with. It's like the old days, and it's good.

Stack of Pillowcases

A stack of pillowcases is in the shop!

Black and White and Green All Over

Black and white inspiration today, beginning with my choice of shoes: zebra-stripe flats passsed along by my mother.


Then a great find at the thrift store for $3, a hand-painted ironstone Staffordshire platter. In black and white. When I got it home I knew it belonged in the sitting room, with its black and white floor.


But the sitting room was so dusty I had to pull all the furniture out and clean behind. Then rearrange everything.


Some things stayed the same.


But I brought in a couple of plants, an orchid and a fern. And moved the couch.


And added licorice, with black stripes.

Forties Dress in Aqua

How about some pintucks? This recently finished dress is in the shop!

Nasturtiums and Dill

"The Commencement of Natural Creativity"

"Given a tiny new human being, how can you know what encouragement to give? Is this a musician, painter, writier, mathematician, or zoologist who will do something magnificent in one of these areas, given the right beginning? The knowledge of what talents lie within the seed is hidden, but an atmosphere can be conducive to developing in many directions, until later one or another becomes obvious as some special talent. The environment in a family should be conducive to the commencement of natural creativity, as natural as breathing, eating, and sleeping."

--Edith Schaeffer, What Is a Family?

The Water Park

Today was Bella's birthday extravaganza, a Day at the Water Park. Each of our children has had a water park party for their tenth birthday (all other birthdays are cheap fun at home). We're good now til Daisy turns ten in 2014.

Wow! Water slides, wave pools, hot concrete, baby pools, you name it, we did it.

We also did an easy picnic lunch for fourteen--a giant pasta, ham, and vegetable salad which I dispensed out of gallon ziploc bags into bowls, bread torn into chunks, and lastly cupcakes. Once the food prep work is done at home, so much easier than custom making sandwiches for everyone, working out of an ice chest for children who are antsy to get back to the slides.

We rolled home exhausted, but not hungry.

From Giles' Portfolio

I wrote about Giles' recent photo shoots here. He got permission for me to share a few of his pictures with you all. These are all brothers and sisters in a large adoptive family:

How to Make a Vintage-Style Pillowcase

Even with the most beginning-level sewing skills, you can make this sweet set of pillowcases. All straight seams, all fun! For the main part of the pillowcase, I love to use a "new" vintage sheet, one I bought still in the package. I love the hefty crispness of old percale, and I don't want to risk a used fabric shredding after a few washes. The trimming fabric can be more fanciful--you only need a half-yard, and it won't get the hard wear the main part of the pillow will.

Materials to make two pillowcases:

1 1/2 yards of your main color (must be at least 40" wide)
1/2 yard of your trim color (ditto on the width)
1 package coordinating rickrack
thread

1. We always start with clean, washed and pressed fabric.

2. Cut out the main fabric: two rectangles that are each 40" by 27". The 27" side should run parallel to the selvage, or finished side edge, of the fabric.

3. Cut out the trim fabric: two rectangles that are each 40" by 9". The 9" side should run parallel to the selvage.

4. Cut two lengths of rickrack each 40" long.

5. We are going to use a 1/2" seam allowance on everything. Take one length of rickrack, and sew it down the long edge of one of your main color pieces, on the right side. The center of the rickrack scallops should go right down that 1/2" line. You may prefer to match your thread color to your rickrack.




6. Pin one piece of trim to your main color piece, right sides together, matching edges, right over the rickrack. Work on the main color side, not the trim side, as you will be stitching right over your first stitching line and need to be able to see it as you sew.



7. Now stitch them together, staying exactly on top of your first rickrack stitching line.

8. Press the seam allowances toward the trim on the wrong side. Then turn over on the right side and press again, making sure you don't have a bubble of excess fabric bulging over the rickrack.



9. Take the free edge of your trim piece and press it down 1/2 an inch. Then fold the trim fabric over in half, just until the pressed edge almost touches (1/16 inch away) your first stitching. Pin securely. Topstitch this edge down, working on the wrong side of your pillowcase.







10. Fold the pillowcase in half, right sides together. Make sure that the rickrack seam matches just right--if you need to fudge, do it somewhere else. Pin securely, and trim any extra fabric that somehow doesn't match up (like that would ever happen to me!). Stitch, using our old friend the 1/2" seam allowance.

11. Trim seam to 1/4", and zigzag all the way around to finish nicely. Turn pillowcase right side out and press edges carefully.



12. All done--stand back and admire!

Dinner Tonight

After an afternoon of going through dusty attic boxes (jackpot for the girls: all my old paperdolls!), and swimming, dinner was a big bowl of dressed butter lettuce and platters of salade nicoise ingredients. Tuna, fennel, tomatoes, new potatoes, olives, eggs. Just right, and a little ice cream for dessert.

A Hostess Gift

Clara has been spending the week out of town at a chamber music festival, working on a Mozart quartet with three other musicians. She is staying nights at the home of one of her best friends, also a tall, long-haired cellist who homeschools. I wanted to do a nice gift for her hostess, and decided to sew the "Pleated Beauty" bag from Bend-the-Rules Sewing.


I think this is the most complicated "crafty" thing I've ever made. But you can see why anyone would want to sew it! The contrasting pleats! The contrast lining in the straps!


I stuck fairly closely to Amy Karol's instructions, even using the suggested embroidery pattern incorporating vintage buttons. I chose a very heavy linen (oh, yes, the only linen I had in my stash) for the main fabric. It has a wonderful gloss and body, but tended to jump around quite a bit on the cutting board and under the sewing machine needle.


Pockets inside, of course, in contrast fabric.


Then I made a matching wallet, also from the book.

White Orchids in Felix's Room

Hanging Out His Shingle

Giles is officially in business this month. He has actually earned the money to pay for a snappy new collegiate wardrobe *simply by taking pictures*. And we all know how easy that is. Right.

I wish I could share some of his paid photography with you all, because so far all of his clients have been parents of disabled children who have gotten him to do candid portraits of their kids, in their homes.

Children who can't speak, or can't hear, or see, or move, or hold still--he has captured them all with his incredible eye for beauty. In his photographs you can see how much fun they all are having. Dancing, skateboarding, talking to pets, working puzzles with therapists, trying to stand alone. One little boy doing amazing flips on the trampoline--with one arm and two leg stumps. A little girl singing and gesturing to her favorite song--on her ventilator. Another little girl who's receiving hospice care at home, with her brown curls brushed and a little blue bow in her hair.

Honestly, he has no idea what good work he does.

Tea Cosies

The Composer took the kids out this evening to a minor league baseball game, but Daisy and I opted to stay home, having just been to the city yesterday for a rousing day of Taking Great-Grandmother to the Doctor.

At dinner he wondered aloud how we might spend the evening, which was polite of him, since he knows very well that I am currently obsessed by my sewing projects.

I can't stop making tea cosies.



Vintage embroidered tea towel, picturing a kitty on a climbing on a fork and spoon jungle gym, trimmed with rickrack scallops. Lined with flannel.



Vintage table runner, in soft red and green, back is made from gorgeous soft green flocked cotton, lined with white flannel, ribbon tab is vintage from my mother's prom dress in 1963.

In the shop!