Alabama Chanin Jersey: Worth It?

Is Alabama Chanin jersey worth the premium cost? Yes.

 Before any other consideration, this is truly wonderful fabric. The colors are rich and saturated, the medium-weight jersey has a great drape, and--o frabjous day!--the grain isn't twisted. If you've ever tried to lay out cheap jersey, you've probably cried over twisted grain. 

 I think of it like buying yarn. You're going to have your hands on it for hours and hours making a piece to wear and enjoy for years. Is $22 a yard reasonable? I think so.

 Although you have to buy three yards to make a six-gore dress, you'll have plenty of fabric left over for a shirt, skirt, bag, pillow, etc. Lots of value!

 The cuts are generous--if you order three yards, you'll actually get close to three and 1/3 yards, just because it's a giving company. That warms my heart.

 20% off sales pop up regularly. Plan ahead, then bite the bullet.

•this is not a sponsored post•

Lampscape with Sedums

 I study these for new growth while I make work phone calls, which I try not to do after dark, or by lamplight.

Hickory Stick for the Bathroom Wall

Hosting a shower was just the kick in the pants I needed--I couldn't have all those ladies over without getting my stick up and mounted on the bathroom wall! Done.

Rosy Cupcakes for a Wedding Shower

Carol and I co-hosted a wedding shower Sunday. She made these gorgeous cupcakes. I watched her frost them and each took only a few seconds with a large star tip. Strawberry, lemon cream cheese, and chocolate with white frosting.

We borrowed a cupcake stand and I found the perfect topper in my thrifty treasures--this porcelain "cake layer" bedecked with a pair of birds. Of course, I often pull out pairs of thrifty birds to adorn the table, too.

Punch victory this time: cranberry-raspberry juice frozen for the ice ring, and the bowl filled with pink lemonade. Beautiful and so good! Not too sweet. Garnish with lime and mint for best-everness.

Diamonds with Tassels

This is vintage Butterick 7150, some delicious vintage nonsense. Giant diamonds appliqued around the hem of your circle skirt, each with a *tassel*. Because why again?

Log Cabin Quilt Top: Pink Tulips in Delftware

My log cabin interpretation of the archetypal pink tulip in blue-and-white china.

Grape, Peacock, and Midnight

Cosy winter of stitching coming up--just got three lengths of jersey from Alabama Chanin. The kids gave me a gift card for my birthday and I cleverly waited for a 20% off sale to spend it. Grape, peacock, midnight. Yum.

My Own, My Lace

In a yarn shop in Germany I lifted up a silk scarf and crunched it in my hands and vowed: I was going to buy tiny silk yarn and learn to knit lace, after all. And so I did!

 Clara started me off on my scarf on the drive to school. All day I was passing my knitting back to her every five minutes to fix.

There's a distinct change in the pattern where Clara got out of the car. But no matter! It will never show on a moving horse, and I'm having fun, and I definitely understand it better now than I did eighty rows ago. And it feels very very good when I crunch it in my hands.

Rosemary and a River Rock

I think we are settling down for fall. The weather promises to turn (we had a freak straight-line wind this weekend that took out a big chunk of our silver maple), the cherry leaves are blowing down into the pool, and Daisy has resigned herself to some daily schoolwork.

We're just in the process of settling a temporary third daughter in--a lovely young lady from Saudi Arabia will be staying with us for at least the month. Brave girl! Her first time from home, and her first insects, as she is a girl from both the City and the Desert.

Log Cabin Quilt Top: Zinnias Going to Seed

What's catching my eye this summer? The particular yellow of the cornstalks in the still-green gardens. Other things are still growing, but they're done for the year, punctuating the vegetable rows with their definite golden-brown.

The zinnias want to go to seed, too, if I don't cut them every day. 

Pieced in deep red, pink, yellow, and natural linen.

Felix Loses

It never fails--when Felix comes home from school he engages in a battle with the couch, and loses every time.

Shelf Full of Milk Glass

Assorted sizes and shapes, and especially textures, of milk glass. 

My Standing Date with Daisy

It's the last part of the summer, when no one has the time or inclination to swim except for Daisy and me. We have a standing pool date for 4:15 every afternoon, when it's shady enough to skip the sunscreen. We have a lot of races, slap at wasps with the wacky noodles, then come inside to cook dinner.

White Rose in the Windowsill

Alabama Chanin Couching: Chlorophyll Splendor

This is the simple six-gore tank dress from Alabama Studio Style.  Made up in Alabama Chanin cotton jersey in a single layer.

The neckline is finished with green glass bugle beads in a parallel whipstitch pattern, and the armholes are simple thread whipstitching.

The entire skirt, front and back, is the "Bloomers" stencil pattern in a very intense green. Each leaf shape is outlined in couching. I cut a bunch of half-inch wide strips of leftover jersey and pulled them into thin "ropes". It's such a great way to use up scraps. I couched the ropes around the leaf shapes, and the little accent shapes in between I outlined in bugle and seed beads.

 If you don't like green things, you won't like this dress. But I do!

Working on My White Bathroom

Over the tub now, a mountain scene! A nice, big, paint-by-number from the thrift store. I popped it out of the frame and plan to mount a branch on the wall above it. I have a hard time selling this to my husband, but he'll learn to live with it.

The windows in here are so out of square ("handmade" is my mother's term), that each curtain only fits its particular window. So I've embroidered "West" and "East" on the two curtains to tell them apart.

Such a tiny room, it's hard to back up and get a picture. But you get the idea: white.

In Which I Note Differences Between My Two College Students

 Clara left for school having worked her way methodically down her list of preparations, from the neatly bagged ingredients for tea loaves to be baked in the dorm (above), to laundry detergent, to a custom mending kit with the right colors of thread.

On the other hand, Felix got himself off to school for his senior year while we were gone, catching a ride with a friend. Today he called and asked if we could bring him a bed, and maybe a mattress too.

Bright August Morning

Clara's Knitting: Linen Apron

From an issue of Jane Austen Knits, Clara's linen apron.

She did the whole thing on our two-week trip to Germany.

The bib is a lovely wheat pattern, and the bottom of the skirt is deep lace. The straps  cross in back (not shown) and attach to a waistband (Clara added buttons).

I think if she were doing doing it over she'd make the bib wider, but it's still really pretty, and yes, washable.

The Light in His Eyes

Felix comes home tomorrow after first a semester in Peru, then a summer working with at-risk kids in NY. We're ready for some of that sunshine, and for some of the many facts he will share with us about birds, life on Mars, possibilities for public transport, and the redemption of Detroit. As well as why he should buy a 3D printer, go to Madagascar, and plan a year of travel by blimp.

I didn't mention this at the time, but last winter he was chosen over 1700 other students as the outstanding rising senior at his school within the university. It's that light in his eyes.

Such a Fresh Morning

A Slow Backroads Day

The Composer and I had the day together and decided to spend it driving slowly around back roads.

Stopping for stone churches and anything else that looked interesting.

Apple tree in a churchyard. No, we didn't steal any. I don't think they were quite ripe.

We never could figure out what these bunker-like structures are in the middle of nowhere. The Composer shot down my theory of nuclear warhead storage. What does he know?

Kind of like being back in Germany.

An evening in mountain air.

A Turquoise Train Case, and Carol's Bears

I was at least twice-lucky on our camping trip--not only did Carol take the kids to the amusement park while I stayed at camp "working" at fixing dinner, I got to go to some thrift stores as well. And lastly, the black bears went through Carol's trash, not mine. Ah, she's my hero.

I would offer her the gorgeous train case I found, but Daisy's already claimed it. 

Bungalow Aprons: Is This Pattern the Holy Grail?

I'm currently slightly obsessed with the "Diane" Kimono Dress and here's why. It doesn't use any zippers or buttons, which makes it super fast and easy, but it still fits well because of the drawstring waist. More importantly, when made up in the just-below-the-knee length, it turns out to be the perfect bungalow apron! It hits all the marks--a comfortable fit, made from crisp cotton, short sleeves, and it has that indefinable 1910-20's air.

 I think it looks very lounge dress-y in the longer length shown above, but the shorter length is definitely happening! Compare here with the real thing. See, you can do the contrast inset belt and hem, and sleeve trim. All that's different is the crossover front.

Floating Gingham Patch Scrap Quilt

 

I thought this crib quilt was about the two strips of deep-toned scraps I put together with natural linen. But when I picked it up from its stay at my mother's house, I found out that it was actually about the two charming "floating patches" of gingham she had added to the edges. These quilts have a life of their own!

I'm headed out to camp with the girls tomorrow, but hope to put this in the shop on Saturday. If anyone's interested before then, they're welcome to email. I'll be asking $125, since it's loaded with hand-quilting. See you in a few days!

"I Learned from My Mother"

"I learned from my mother . . . that everything at home can be made more beautiful with some thought, a little care, and extra attention."

--Alexandra Stoddard,  Daring to Be Yourself

Ferns for the Bathroom

This is the shelf above the tub in my newly-tiled bathroom. It used to have an array of vintage rosy tins on it but I'm strongly drawn towards a more severe aesthetic (tuberculosis sanitarium) now that I have this gorgeous floor.

Hence the spindly ferns, which I literally dug out of an outside plant and plopped into milk glass bowls. We'll see how they do. If they continue to look scary I'll spring for cute fluffy ones at the home store, but somehow I'm rooting for these.

Daisy's Beetles

David was over swimming with Daisy today, and they sorted through the skimmer baskets as usual looking for whatever, including several of these brilliant beetles. Frankly I was surprised when Daisy fished them out and (not so surprising) mounted them on felt-lined boards in pink and blue.

David is good for her; he brings out the bug-handling, water-gun-toting, pretend-burgling side of Daisy we wouldn't see otherwise.