Strawberry Shortcake

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

Daisy Visits the New Neighbors

You probably would believe that she went bounding down the path on four separate occasions today.


And you probably wouldn't be surprised to learn she used her top speed.


But did you know she was carrying a bag of wilted lettuce?


Welcome to the neighborhood, fellows.

Vintage Girls' Wrap Dress: Simplicity 6300

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 thrift store, you proved me so wrong.


And you provided me with an extra large men's plaid shirt to make the dress out of. And I believe that brown grosgrain ribbon came from your shelves as well. But I won't give you credit for my raggedy flower. That was my own.


Thanks for the pictures, Giles! And enjoy that chocolate, Daisy.

Parenting the Hurt Child

Every adoptive family needs a copy of Parenting the Hurt Child by Gregory Keck and Regina Kupecky. Even if you think your adoption situation was idyllic, adoption by definition involves a loss for the child at its center.

I love this book because the authors treat adoptive parents with such respect; they are viewed as the only parties who have the power to bring healing to the child by teaching him to attach to them. A therapist can help, but the job belongs to the parents. It's full of lots of practical instruction on fostering attachment--things that are fun and doable, and great for keeping *any* child firmly attached (hello teenagers!).

And they view home-schooling as a non-issue, a refreshing change for child welfare professionals.

I'm giving this book a whole-hearted endorsement.

Three Views of Giles

(photo credit to the Composer)

Pinking

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 decided to give them a try. I just find it hard to trust that pinking will prevent unravelling, when a zigzag stitch is *clearly* so secure, not to mention French seams, or bias binding . . . .

On the other hand, I've come across a few vintage dresses recently with pinked seams and they look okay even though it's been sixty years or so.

Anyway, I brought out the shears for my project, the Beignet skirt from Colette Patterns. I thought it would be a safe test run since all of the seams are hidden by the lining anyway.

And. Not only is pinking quite functional (at least on this reasonable fabric), it looks absolutely adorable!! Now I want to pink everything. Such delicate little pointies!

Waiting for Giles

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 big boy!

Canvas, I Love You

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, pillows, and clothes.


And quilts. And you can dye it and embroider on it. Yes.

An Eye-Popping Pillow

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 its apex, was capable of producing pieces like this one.


Look at this! Chrysanthemums made of loops! A basket woven out of yarn! Somebody knew what they were doing.

I've turned it into a pillow but not the kind you take a nap on or let the cat sleep on. In fact, I think it may need to go to a child-free home, or at least one with an unused parlor.


And I should mention it's really large. 18 x 24.

A Row of Little Pitchers

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.

Daisy Unloads the Dishwasher

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

Chocolate-Pecan Phyllo Rolls

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'm here to tell you that if it's in a plastic bag, nothing bad is going to happen. Not having pistachios on hand, I decided to switch a few ingredients out and make Chocolate-Pecan Phyllo Rolls.

Why does Martha Stewart do things the hard way? This recipe says to put your chocolate-nut mixture into a ziploc bag with the corner cut out and *pipe* it onto the phyllo sheet. Nope. I just spooned it in place and I'm sure that was faster and less wasteful.

We ate these with enthusiasm.

A Woven Silk Tote

The thrift stores around here have marked the winter clothes down to make way for spring stuff. I found a blazer made from this interesting woven silk--it looks like burlap, but feels supple and, indeed, silky. There was just enough to cut out a small tote, and use the sleeves for the tote handles.


A pretty floral lining.


A good way to get rid of some of my excess of velvet rosebuds. Credit to my mother for sewing that bugle bead to that leaf.


Hoping to do a shop update this weekend with this and other goodies.

Vintage Inspiration for Wives

"This house told more about Mrs. Parker than words ever could. Here were beautiful things . . . Beautiful things were here to be used.

In the midst of this loveliness there was comfort . . . People lived here and liked it.

Mary sensed that this pleasant atmosphere was not because of the lovely things in the house but because of Mrs. Parker herself. She understood now what Mrs. Parker gave [her husband] . . . how she surrounded her husband in his home with all the things in which he could rejoice. She realized now that Mrs. Parker was not just an older girl, for all her unquenchable youthfulness. She was a woman who understood and delighted in the task that was hers."

--Mildred Foulke Meese, Star Light, Star Bright (1940)

A Vintage Blouse for Clara

Clara wanted a simple vintage blouse, and this pattern had a Peter Pan collar, tucks to fit the waist, and 3/4 sleeves gathered into bands. I had just barely enough gray polka dot flannel to squeak it out. I would have made it an inch longer if I could have. She's way over 5'10 these days.


She roamed the button jars and chose five odd yellow buttons. So cute, and she wears yellow rickrack in her belt loops with the blouse!


I'll get a pattern picture up in the next day or two.

An Arabic Dinner

We had such a treat last night: a cooking demonstration and traditional Saudi Arabian meal, right here at the schoolhouse.


Nora (an approximation, I think!) and her daughter Sarah did the cooking, while Aziz, the twenty-something son, translated. Aziz does not know how to cook, and his mother and sister don't speak any English, so we did a lot of guessing. Actually I was surprised at how universal the physical language of cooking is, and how useful for communicating! Most of the time I could guess what Nora needed before Aziz could get the term out of his not-so-useful translating gadget.


The centerpiece of the meal was an elaborate rice platter. First Nora put an enormous quantity of jasmine rice aside to soak. Then she put two Cornish game hens in a pot to make broth, with Arabic spices, lots of cardamom and cloves, garlic, and onion, and the cutest two whole dried lemons. In a separate skillet she sauteed onion with chili powder, a seven-spice blend in Arabic packaging, and a pinch of saffron she brought along in a little fold of tin foil. It was a deep burnished brick color when she finished.

Also for the rice platter, she sauteed pine nuts in olive oil until they were rich and dark, and at the same time had a pot of broken-up spaghetti on the boil. When it was cooked, she drained it and tossed it with some of the saffron onions.

Then she took the hens out of the broth, put the rice in the broth in an enormous pot to cook, doused the chickens with the saffron onions, and put them in a hot oven to brown. Whew! At this point we had a lot of dirty dishes!


Meanwhile, she started on the salad. Everything she used she chopped into the tiniest, most delicate shreds, using my shamefully dull paring knife. A head of iceberg lettuce, a bunch of green onions, red, yellow, and green bell peppers, canned corn, black olives, and two whole bunches of cilantro, and several cucumbers. It all went into a big bowl, ready to be doused with the most surprising salad dressing. When I described it to Giles, he said, "Wow, that doesn't sound good for you!" Nora mixed mayonnaise, ranch dressing, and--get this!--salsa con queso from the chip and dip aisle at the store! So unlikely sounding, but really good!

And on the top, a big tomato cut into a flower shape.

Now, back to the rice and chicken assembly. When all the components were ready, we hunted out the biggest platter I own, that only comes out for the Thanksgiving turkey. It was just right for the enormous quantity of rice that was spread out evenly on it. Then came a layer of saffron onions. Then the two game hens were nestled down in vertically, and in their cute little empty cavities Nora stuffed the cooked pasta! It flopped out so festively! Then the pine nuts were sprinkled over all, and the platter was garnished with slices of tomato and green bell pepper.


All of this was carried in state to the table, which had been set by the girls. We admired the food, and Nora told us in Arabic that "the eyes eat before the stomach." I love that!


She and Sarah and Aziz very graciously served up all the plates, and I was so impressed that Aziz could carve two Cornish game hens for fourteen people. It was just right. They encouraged us to mix the salad and the rice dish together, and Aziz tried to get us to eat with our hands, like him, but I noticed that both Sarah and Nora were using their forks!


After we ate Aziz served the men, and Sarah served the girls, tiny cups of "Arabic coffee". This was our second hot drink of the night and Aziz was driving me crazy with his inability to tell us what we were having. The translator said *java* which was really not helpful. I'm sure our after-dinner cup was ginger with lots of sugar and some cinnamon. The first one was creamier and almost orange with lots of floral and spicy notes . . . I'll probably never know, but it sure wasn't java!


Such an enjoyable evening! Nora has a twinkling, friendly, quiet presence and showed off her fancy party clothes under her covering coat when all the men were outside.

A culture so different from ours, but cooking and eating together, and good times in in the kitchen and around the table, are truly universal.

A Canvas Bag for Bread

It's not a hostess gift when you give it to a guest who's coming to your house to cook, I don't think. But anyway, I made it for her--two loaves of French bread in a purpose-made cotton canvas bag with a pale pink velvet drawstring.

Daffodils, Finally

At last the daffodils are blooming enough for us to go picking. They're about two weeks later than usual! And much appreciated.

Kitchen Skylight

Glad for a little sunshine today to warm up our cold world.

He Calls His Own Sheep by Name

"I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture."

This find is going by the front door . . . .

Velvet Ribbon Rosebuds

I love these little calico rosebuds on the front of Home Sweet Sewn (sadly however these buds and their felted tea cosy are the only project in the book I find interesting). They created a mad desire in my heart to sit in a chair all weekend rolling up fabric into rosebuds of my own. I did mine in velvet, first cutting strips of the dark red, then moving on to already-cut-in-strips-also-known-as-ribbon which worked beautifully. I used about five inches, sewed the beginning end into a little point, then just rolled and gathered, and folded the second end under before stitching it in place.


It was kind of hard to stop, which is why I have a pincushion thoroughly garnished with these beauties. I'm trying to think of what I don't want them on though. I want them on my shoes, my dress, my bag, my hair, my daughters . . . .

"I Know About That Stuff"

" 'I know about that old diabetes stuff, my granpaw had it wors'n you,' Puny told him with satisfaction. 'And not only can I cook for diabetes, I can cook for high blood pressure, heart trouble, nervous stomach, and constipation.' "

--Jan Karon, At Home in Mitford

(we've only had to go gluten-free for the weekend, while my mother visits after knee replacement surgery)

How to Sew a Lapel Collar: Classic Shirtwaist McCall's 4769

Shirtwaists have different style collars, but let me walk you through the collar of McCall's 3769, a classic lapel. Many seamstresses, including me, have found this difficult to understand. But I am here to say that it is possible to get this construct through your head! So let's proceed.

1. Have the bodice, collar, and front facings prepared. Actually, with this pattern you'll have the bodice sewn to the skirt as well, because there is a front button-band that runs the length of the dress.



2. Where the dot falls in the corner of the bodice, reinforce and then clip. This is all in the instructions, by the way. It hasn't gotten tricky yet. When you do your reinforcing stitching, you'll notice that it is at the exact 5/8 inch seam allowance line.


3. Do the same thing with the facing. Stitch through the corner dot to reinforce, then carefully clip. Of course you realize that the facing is an exact replica of the bodice front (some of us sew for years before we catch on to these things).

I'm just showing you here how the bodice and facing look alike. Don't do anything to them yet.



4. Pick up the collar. Make sure you have basted these raw edges together to keep them even: the short sides, and the long side that will join the back, but only on the outsides of the dots. The center part of the collar should not be basted.

Remove the facing from your field of vision. Place the collar over the bodice front so that the dot in the corner of the collar matches up with the dot on the bodice you just reinforced and then clipped. You see I am holding the collar here and laying it over the bodice.



5.Keeping the dots lined up on top of each other, swivel the bodice around the corner so that it follows the raw edge of the collar. I've turned up the fabric to show the underside here. I pulled the corner of the bodice down clockwise to get it to conform the to the collar's edge--the slash allows me to do it. A diamond-shape of collar is going to be visible in the pulled-apart edges of the cut. Good!


6. Take a deep breath, thread a needle, and take a minute to hand-baste this arrangement in place with a few stitches. Now no worries that your arrangement will fall apart.



7. Remember how the facing is an exact copy of the bodice? That's right, time to do the exact same thing to the facing. Treating the bodice and collar as a unit now, lay the facing on top as the last layer of a sandwich, lining up exactly to the bodice. Dot lies over the dots of the collar and bodice. Just as you did the bodice, you're going to give the facing a turn around the corner so that it can match up with the raw edge of the collar.



8. And baste that layer in place. Do not fear the hand-basting. A quick few stitches, unlimited peace of mind!



9. All three layers are accounted for--turn it right side out and see if you're on the right track. If you're satisfied, machine-baste it. I just like to check once more before I do the real sewing. After you've stitched it in big stitches on the machine, make sure you haven't made any weird bubbles or puckers that won't press out. Also make sure that you have stitched inside the seam allowance far enough to have fully enclosed your clipping. When you're satisfied, then do the real thing.

When you are machine-stitching, be very careful going past the dot. Leave the needle down in the fabric as you pass by the dot just barely to the left of it. Raise the presser foot and gather the fabric out of the way and around the corner before starting around the next side. That way you won't stitch any pleats into the seam.



There's that diamond-shape of collar again. That's what you want.

10. And really, that's all. A good pressing should make it look crisp. Here's what it will look like on the outside:


And here's what it will look like on the inside. Remember that it's this side that counts, since the dress lies with the lapel folded out--the facing is what will be on view, so if you have to fudge, put the wrinkle on the "outside" where it won't be seen.



11. Finish the collar as the instructions direct--assuming that, unlike me, you still have that page of instructions.

12. Something to check on--when you go to do the other side, it's very important to make sure that on both sides of the dress, the collar merges into the bodice in the same place. There's a mark for this, but if you're not paying attention you may construct a collar that sits back farther on one side than the other. Watch out!