Goodbye to the Big Boys

We had a wonderful, wonderful break together, but the wide world calls. Giles is off to New York again, spending the winter term interning for a commercial photographer whose work he really likes. A change from his summertime in NYC, when he worked for a different company as their all-around photo and graphic design guy. Those folks still like him enough to have hired him for his odd hours coming up, and he'll be earning a little there even while he works his new internship.


Felix scored last week--a thrifted vest that was easily tailored to his personal specs. He's setting the sartorial standard at his school; apparently there's an institution now called "Felix Shirt Friday" where everyone wears a shirt with a collar. Did not see that one coming, as his clothes for several years consisted of rainboots and underwear. He was younger then.

One more semester of high school ahead of him. Can he repeat this term's 4.0? Stay tuned for our next installment of "The Big Boys"!

Linen Log Cabin Quilt

Several of these lately: crib quilts pieced in a log cabin pattern, using various neutral colors of linen from thrifted clothes.


Inspired by the garment I used for the center squares--beautiful soft felted pink wool.


Wishing you a happy new year filled with making good things from nothing!

Black and White Cupcakes

Many many teens headed my way tonight for dessert and games, so I made two kinds of cupcakes. A straightforward yellow cake recipe for the vanilla ones, to be topped at the last minute with fat clouds of sweetened whipped cream.


Standard chocolate cake made up with darkest cocoa for the black cupcakes, then Daisy's best efforts in chocolate chips.


Add an urn of hot cider and lots of decaff coffee, for beverages in both light and dark.

A Morning Making Pasta

An exciting morning with Bella's new pasta maker! Also a Christmas gift--she had long had her eye on one of these, and we got her an Italian Imperia hand-cranked machine. The girl, she loves to make things from scratch, especially if they are made from flour.


None of us had ever done any of this before, and the instructions and recipe are basically in Italian. But oh, the handy internet. We had a good idea of what needed to happen.


How delightful when our mass of dough actually turned into beautiful fettucini. The machine is great! It does exactly what it's supposed to do, not more, not less. And it feels solid and good.

Hm. Like pasta.

Mad Hungry: Feeding Men and Boys

Bella got Mad Hungry, by Lucinda Scala Quinn for Christmas. Score!

Perfect for Bella because of the gorgeous photography, straightforward writing, and most delicious food!! She's already planned all the menus for the week straight out of it. She's cooked four already and at this rate we'll have sampled every single recipe in the book by February. And be happier for it.

This cookbook gets *all* my stars.

The Winter 2010 Look Book

Having spent the entire afternoon scouring thrift stores with Giles and Felix (what? it was only two hours? it felt like more!), I find this evening the perfect time to share the Thrift Store Look Book. Photo credits and styling to Giles, wardrobe credit to Alejandro, writing by Giles and Alejandro.

I.

Hand-crafted of the finest cashmere-rayon blend in select Japanese factories, the Lounge sweater (Billow model worn by Alejandro) is specially designed to create a dynamic visual match with the sleeves only when the wearer stands awkwardly still.


II.

Alejandro shares a laugh with chums at Le Chateau du Castle, sporting this season's newest plaid-on-plaid combo. Tie pin customizable with your initial. Featuring our vintage pleather-lined 1993 Nissan pickup in Crimson (call for details).

III.

Paul models our always up-to-date cardigan-tie combination on Le Chateau du Castle's rugged woodpile. Dress it up: dress it down: the outfit takes him from a leisurely afternoon badminton match to a sensuous evening at Le Cafe a la Chateau du Castle.

IV.

Alejandro and Paul return from a dusky ramble. Paul in gray cardigan-tie combo. Alejandro in plaid-a-la-plaid featuring authentic Patagonian boots.

And that should be plenty of inspiration for all of us!

Christmas Eve Afternoon

Cook, cook, cook. Wrap, wrap, wrap.


Think about being grafted into the olive tree. Thankful for the deliverer that came from Zion.

Lilies in Winter

Old window.


Early morning.

Golden Cookie Day

The girls were in charge today, and had the gingerbread dough chilling when I got back from town. Then we all got in on the rolling, cutting, and decorating. I guess frosting is so last year--they went with just the sanding sugars and the glitter. Beautiful in the last sun this afternoon.

Clara's Trio Poses

Photo shoot day for Clara's trio. Giles did great! Especially on telling us that turquoise accessories were the way to go. You'd hire these girls, wouldn't you? They make beautiful music.

So Much Singing

Clara usually helps Bella with her voice practice, accompanying her on the piano and working with her on good practice technique. She decided early this year that Bella's sight-reading skills needed upping, so they usually warm up, then sing several pages in a row out of the hymn books. For Bella it is sightsinging; by now Clara is piano-fluent in the whole hymnal, and usually sings along on the alto line.

It's been great for the rest of us as the girls bring many unknown hymns out of obscurity. Though some of them should be left there. God of Concrete, God of Steel? What was someone thinking?


And in the last year the boys have both developed so much interest in singing that at the first sign of the hymnals coming out they jump in and try to learn the bass lines. Daisy trills along in a "high voice" and, well, it's wonderful!

An Easy Shirtwaist for Bella: McCall's 4769

Definitely a go-to pattern for Bella's dresses. Something about the pert collar and sleeves and the tailored cut is just right for her. This one is made up in a brushed cotton-poly twill (I'm guessing) that someone gave me.

To make it more interesting I used a striped cotton to face the collar and the front band. The undercollar rolls out just enough to make it looked piped, which is fun! And the little flash of color in front goes a long way towards making it fun, and not just utilitarian. Though it is that. It doesn't even need ironing.

A House Portrait from Giles

Twenty-Two Hours for Clara

Finals are over for everyone, at last. Clara had her first college finals (Freshman Composition and advanced Spanish) and got her grades today. 4.0!

This Spanish class was the best deal ever--it is a third-year class, for juniors, and any student is free to enroll in it who has adequate Spanish skills, without taking the beginning and intermediate years. Then, if they earn a high enough grade, the student gets the actual credit hours for the first four classes--a total of nineteen credit hours in Spanish! Clara loved the class, which had a fine teacher and attracted lots of native speakers who wanted that bonus credit. So besides working on her language skills, she met students from Uruguay, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and other points Latin.

Now, vacation. Then onwards and upwards after Christmas!

Barn Owl Garland

These owls are so much fun to make. Every stitch is such an important part of the story--the eyes, the feet, the little V-shaped feathers . . . .


I've been needle-felting yarn onto felt to make the outline of the face, and to mark some feathers on the back of the tail.


A parliament of barn owls!

Barn Owl Pillow

Slightly obsessed with the barn owl's charms lately. Here's a pillow with a barn owl in a tree on the night of the winter solstice. Not sure you can see the big pale full moon, but it's there.


So much fun to work with felted wool textures. I cut up several coats and washed them til they were firm enough to work with. The images practically assemble themselves, and it all feels so good.


This one will be headed to etsy soon.

Hipster House Party

For days the living room has been filled with coffee cups and laptops. Everyone settles in with a notebook and a Bible and his current C.S. Lewis selection. Then they go to the thrift store and buy hip outfits.

I want permission to post the Winter 2010 Look Book when Giles gets back from hiking.

After dinner they get out Bella's guitar, lure Clara to the piano, and sing and sing. They like obscure new hipster worship music, and the very oldest, most mountainy hymns.

It all ended with a perfect Sunday--groovy outfits to church, a massive nap pile on the couch, and then an all-out session in the kitchen. Paul, who is Cajun, presided over my very largest pot full of genuine gumbo, served the real way with potato salad. Giles cut up a chicken (I couldn't believe my eyes), while Alejandro diced massive piles of onions and peppers, his architectural background evident in the tiny precision of his chopped vegetables. They had their favorite music on and the girls and I made cookies by dodging between everyone. So fun!

Now Paul has gone home (by train, so indie), and Giles and Alejandro and braving some very cold nights backpacking. They should be fine, though, Alejandro totaled up the number of calories they were each carrying and it came out to 23,000. Whew.

The Christmas Card Bell

Feeling very festive this year, but also wanting to keep the house understated. It's so full of festive people it hardly seems to need decoration!

Here's my Christmas card display this year--instead of taping them to the door frame as we've done every year since 1974, we're putting them under the bell jar. Just as beautiful, and a little quieter to the eye.

A Christmas Apron for Daisy

Because she thinks everyone should have a Christmas-themed waist apron that *fits*. No messing about with a grown-up sized apron.

I found a bundle of Christmas napkins at the thrift store--eight matching ones and two others. I thought I would use the odd ones to make her apron. She was very upset at the idea of having "odd" napkins in her apron. But once we had that idea ironed out, she gave me explicit directions. The border print was to be trimmed off one side of each napkin, and those sides were to be sewn together before the skirt was gathered and attached to the waistband. Right, Daisy.


I like to make you happy.

Giles Swings Through the South

Giles just got in from a road trip with some school friends. Judging from the photos, they focused on their main travel interests--decaying buildings, coffee, and rural Southern culture.


Alejandro considers the feasibility of historic preservation here. Prospects not good.


Famous all over the monde--beignets and chicory coffee.


The boys are all here now, having just fed on a big, late pot of chili and a pan of gingerbread. I will continue to feed them for a couple of days, then Giles and Alejandro, who seems a little urbane for this prospect, are off on a five-day hike. Giles has always had his Boy Scout side, and Alejandro is going to develop one. I guess.

Wool Garland

So many birds with one stone--I used up all the red and green sweaters from my stash, found a project Daisy could do the sewing on, and made something I adore to decorate the house for Christmas.


A wonderfully easy project. We just cut out a bazillion circles freehand from our felted thrift store sweaters and wool scraps, and Daisy strung them on a doubled length of quilted thread. I kept the segments about two feet long and then attached them to get a completed garland of about eight feet, with a very organic feel, as though it may have been, at some point, alive.

Daisy's Third Lesson

What she's working on now:


Accepting that she won't play things perfectly the first time.


Names of notes.


Growing her legs out a little.

Spools of Velvet Ribbon

I've been storing my lengths of velvet ribbon on vintage spools of thread for, I don't know, a long time. Then I saw yesterday that Sundance catalog has jumped onto that bandwagon. They're actuallly selling new velvet ribbon on vintage spools! Perhaps I've seen their buyers at the thrift store . . . .

Actually, We Can Look at Lucy, Too

. . . since Giles took such a nice picture of her.

She wears so much eye makeup.

Frederick on Friday

This bird is my constant joy. We mutually adore.


This week he cried, "Oh, Mommy! Look at Lucy!" Lucy is the cat.


How can I look at Lucy when Frederick is around?

Colette Patterns: The Cinnamon Slipdress

So far, my favorite Colette pattern of all! It went together in an absolute flash, because it has no lining, no facings, and not even any bindings. How's that for easy?

On the other hand, it's not really a wear-alone garment. It makes up into a beautiful slip or nightie.


My version is in flannel, and it's for bedtime. Isn't it fun, with the great fit and the tiny double straps that act to cinch up the fullness of the bust? I'm ignoring the fact that I didn't do any fitting until the project was finished--and then had to sew a dart across the midriff to take it in. I'll catch that next time, indeed. I've already made the notes on the paper pattern.


Because it's cut on the bias, it takes up very little fabric. And also, the bias drape allows you to make this gorgeous lettuce-ruffled effect at the bottom hem. Just pull back slightly on the fabric as you feed it under the foot. Instead of a plain narrow hem, I used one of my machine embroidery satin stitches, in white, to add some weight and improve the drape.


Colette is selling this as an intermediate pattern, but I say, any beginner can handle this one!

Little White Trees

My thrifting sorties have indicated that this holiday season I will be grouping little white trees together. Here we see the lightly spray-painted pine cone tree, the skinny curly white tree (Clara: "What's it for?" Me: "Nothing. It just is."), and the little linen trees I made a different year. A flocked forest.