Lovely, Lovely Thanksgiving

So much good cooking (with good cooks)--we served eighteen people

at two tables in the dining room.

Giles and Felix brought me gorgeous foliage and berries, and Daisy added little birds and butterflies here and there.

My oldest brother napping on the floor--I love that he feels at home here still--we grew up here together.

My mother brought all the pies and rolls, which is why I always feel that Thanksgiving work is no big deal.

Beautiful pie crew--doesn't Owen look like he could be my own? He belongs to my brother.

Room for so many people I love.

"Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love . . . for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things."

(Psalm 107: 7-9) 

Ready for Hungry People

Sourdough bread, white bread for dressing, chocolate chip cookies, marscapone-honey sweet rolls, blackberry coffeecake, cornbread; and in the fridge: cranberry sauce, chicken broth, and a vat of chili. Bring on the big kids. And Thanksgiving!

Alabama Studio Style: Ocean Circle-Spiral Appliques

Starting a new Alabama Chanin dress on genuine Alabama Chanin jersey in Turquoise. The thrift store yielded four tee shirts in toning aquas and pale blues.

I'm layering on the circle-spiral appliques generally from the hem up, dark to light, in a vague ombre reference. It's fun.

A Pretty Bathroom for Bella

Remember back in the spring when we started our bathroom renovations? It's taken until now to get the girls' upstairs bathroom finished. Life, and work, and wallpaper gum slowed us down.

I'm lucky to be married to a perfectionist (I haven't always seen things that way!) so although I had to wait, it was worth it to have his wonderful painting skills brought to bear on this little room.

Bella chose the paint (Benjamin Moore's Bath Salts) with confidence; we didn't even buy a quart to test it, she was so sure, and it is surely beautiful. Hard to capture in this south-facing room with lots of golden light at this time of year; it's a beautiful pale blue-green-gray. We balanced it with a white wall behind the sink and toilet.

I had found a wonderful peeling metal shelf unit to hang on the wall over the potty, and a thrift store cabinet to keep all the bathroom supplies in, near the window.

A white cyclamen from Lowe's for under $4, a paperdoll collage my mother made, 

 a watercolor self-portrait I did years ago (I'm holding baby Bella in the picture); my mother's ancient Steiff owl, bill-less and beloved,

 and even Bella's chocolate brown robe on the back of the door, in keeping with the bathroom colors.

Daisy and the Tiny Neighbor

Daisy's been reading Black Beauty, so when we go out for a walk she's harnessed up as a horse. These walks are top priority right now because of this:

  Sinnamon's five-day old kid, Claire-Beyonce (don't ask; Phyllis has to have her fun).

Daisy too.

Serviceberry, Turning Red

So awesome that this sprig of serviceberry I've had in the house for a month is turning red right here on the little table. I've never known a tree cutting to do that!

Edwardian Dress in My Shop

Edwardian-inspired ladies dress in my etsy shop!

Autumn Garlands

Hanging up my little autumn bits--this year I just draped the barn owls right on the branch that holds my chandelier drops. Pretty straightforward. They're like drops themselves.

For today I like the butterflies in the dining room window, picking up the orange of the last of the sugar maple leaves.

I've got to find a pattern for these beauties. They deserve to be made out of wool.

Very Soft Blanket

Much of my sewing is governed by what scrap bin is overflowing--it's like planning dinner around a gardenful of zucchini.

In today's project we can see that the box of wool and cashmere sweaters (collected from the thrift store and then felted) was pretty full, and it was time to make a blanket.

This is a very soft blanket. I'm still thinking about a very soft back for it.

The Fruit Bowl Today

The fruit bowl today struck me as beautifully seasonal. The Fuji apples from my favorite farmer, a few pears (they are so good this year!), a butternut squash I have got to remember to roast for dinner--I keep thinking of it at 5:30, and the first orange and pomegranate of the year.

A Warm November Afternoon

Felix has just a few more weeks on campus and it was a beautiful warm end-of-color weekend so we headed his way to enjoy the woods and take him out to dinner.

We all appreciate living so close to so much beauty.

And so many raccoons.

Next semester Felix will be farther away (more on that later), and we've learned to enjoy proximity while we have it. For sure.

Framing

This week I framed my paint-by-numbers favorites for the sitting room. There's something about uniform frames (even the cheap wood ones from Hobby Lobby) and a mat and some glass that just lends authority.

I kept buying the wrong things though. It took about four trips to the store to get three things on the wall. I hope it's not just me that does that.

So, one painting on the left and two on the right. I'm definitely waiting for the fourth picture to cross my path one of these days. I love these portrayals of Jesus. They may not be fine art, but they are, I think, reverent.

Patterns in the Shop

In the shop this afternoon: a box of thirty-five patterns, a mix of old and new. Many not-so-exciting skirts, but plenty of vintage children's, a few vintage ladies' items (see dress above), and a darling patterns for assorted, very period, pot holders. All proceeds to charity, and it works out to just $.57 a pattern!

Shop here!

Jane Brocket's The Gentle Art of Quiltmaking

I've been perusing Jane Brocket's quilt-making book this week. It's a great companion for someone who's been intimidated by quilts but wants to jump in. The how-to is there, and the way to think about color and pattern. For that, I heartily recommend it.

And yet. I just want her to loosen up! Every single quilt is made with nothing but name designer fabrics. The problem is, that starts to look old. Studied. Even if--especially if--you try to give your arrangements as unstudied an air as possible. To me they cry out "Storebought!" 

Jane is careful and thoughtful with color, but her quilts would be more fun if she would use them as an opportunity to use up a little of the ugly fabric in her scrapbox*. That's where the real magic happens.

*If there is any. If there's not, she needs to go to the thrift store, close her eyes and spin around three times, and buy whatever shirt her hand lands on. And use it in a quilt. Seriously.

"The Simplicity of Good Taste"

" . . . She now knew what one ought to wear and exactly how to accomplish it on a very small income. She had learned that the most expensive models almost invariably chose lines of simplicity, both in cut and decoration, and therefore she had been enabled to select from among the cheaper garments, those which followed this simplicity of good taste."

--Grace Livingston Hill, Crimson Roses

In My Shop

Now in my etsy shop, these pot holders in my new quilt colorway "Saturday Morning at the Hardware Store." All proceeds to hurricane relief!

Autumn Morning Walk

The horses were looking over the fence, the homemade smoker was burning with hickory smoke, and the leaves were drifting down.

Matty's Window Log Cabin Quilt, Finished

This quilt was commissioned on behalf of a very young man with very strong opinions about what makes a quilt acceptable. It should not, for instance, have anything babyish in it. It should not look like it was made for a girl.

Squares are the best, but they can be built out of rectangles. 

I like to think that I achieved all of that, and that I did it with love.

Japanese Maple Log Cabin Quilt

Japanese Maple Log Cabin Quilt *Started*, the headline should actually read. I haven't wanted to do any Big Sewing since we got home from Paris, so instead I spent some time this week going through two scrap bins--the blue+green, and the red+pink, which was very full because I haven't made any good-size quilts in that colorway in several years.

But a girl can only poke around in fabric for so long before inspiration starts to stir . . . .

The Top of Daisy's Bookshelf

Not being of the "less is more" persuasion, Daisy builds up elaborate displays in her room. I love this telling collection on top of her bookcase. So many of her loves--kittens, fairies, birds, puzzles, pencils, and little boxes. 

A Fitted Wool Coat

A quick stop in a Goodwill to get some aqua t-shirts to cut up for an applique project, and I glanced at the coat rail and saw this.

Flawless heavy wool, a mink collar (with lapel notches!) and mink trim on the bottom of the front only (see the back!), a nipped-in waist, inverted pleats behind.

Not a single label or clue inside; I think it's been relined. Twenty dollars, and my size? Okay.