Pleasant View Schoolhouse

Bella's been trying out madeleine recipes in the new pan she got for Christmas. Some are too buttery (who knew?), some are too scanty. S...

This vintage 50's shirt, of washed and worn Indian cotton, is in heavy rotation right now. Plaid! Daffodils!

Can you guess where she is? So much to think about; hard decisions to make. In the end, it was Josefina's goat and Julie's bunny com...

The Marriage of Figaro at the Chicago Lyric Opera! First we went to the little in-house supper bistro. Everything imaginable was covered in...

(image from vintagepatterns.wikia.com ) Before you go to the opera you've got to figure out the dress. So we pulled this pattern back on...

This year for Christmas, each child (except Giles) got his or her own special slice of Chicago as their gift. Set for late March, so we just...

Goodbye until Thursday! We are headed out for some urban adventure. A good week to everyone!

Clara has adopted a scorched-earth policy when it comes to cutting the hyacinths for the house, because if she doesn't gather them, the ...

Who knew there was a dessert in Frederick's color scheme?

You probably would believe that she went bounding down the path on four separate occasions today. And you probably wouldn't be surprised...

How long have I been telling Daisy I would not make her a wrap dress because there aren't any patterns for wrap dresses in her size? Oh ...

Every adoptive family needs a copy of Parenting the Hurt Child by Gregory Keck and Regina Kupecky. Even if you think your adoption situatio...

(photo credit to the Composer)

I have never used pinking shears to finish my edges before, because I've never owned any. Then I won some from Sew, Mama, Sew and decid...

Somehow the cats just know: they were both messing up his bed this morning. The Composer's off to the airport, and coming home with the ...

I love canvas! It's so cheap, so available, it works in place of linen for so little money. I use it for drapes, slipcovers, bags, pillo...

In the same way that the Ming Dynasty produced all the best porcelain vases, there had to have been some sort of Crewelwork Dynasty that, at...

Little pitchers, repeated and full of daffodils, make a nice arrangement in the sitting room. I find these at the thrift store all the time.

In the Housekeeping X Games, Daisy's favorite event is Extreme Dishwasher Cross, a sport characterized by intense verticality and dange...

Paging through my recipes this morning I realized I had some thawed phyllo dough in the fridge. Who cares that I thawed it six weeks ago? I...