2017: Nourish

Alongside the hustle and bustle of every day life, I will carry a word: nourish.

When I sit down with my calendar, I will consider this word: nourish.

Do more of what nourishes us, and do less of what does not.

Some of what has nourished me this week ( "2017 Pilot Project"):

A few much needed repairs,
little details that matter,
honing in on rabbit care that creates calm & peace,
noodling around with the sewing machine
& finally getting to some upcycling projects

Do you keep a word close to your heart throughout the year?  I'd love for you to share it in the comments.

So Many Ways to Tell a Story

Ruffles aren't really my signature style, but I have to admit, it is pretty satisfying to sew a ruffle once in a while.  This project really called for it, and I'm so glad to be extracting it from the UFO basket.  Inspired by a project in Sewing Bits & Pieces (which describes my whole fabric stash, I think!), I designed it as a Story Quilt.  My idea was to use it as a cuddly way to tell stories together, using the graphics in the appliques as prompts.  Well, and to use only fabrics I already had -- which, in hindsight, is not at all remarkable, considering...  The one note about that, I guess, is that I discovered I had nothing neutral for the background and so repurposed a curtain from our first house.  And this makes me smile quite a bit, thinking of waking with the sun streaming though, snuggled up with my first little one.  (It's this kind of sentimentality that has me drowning in all of our Stuff lately, but that's another matter entirely.)

Originally shown as a doll bed quilt, I can see how perfect that would be!  But, I enlarged it, added a batting layer because the white curtain was so thin, and chose applique fabrics that were good for storytelling but probably not as visually appealing for a doll quilt.  Or, maybe they would be?

In any case, it's been a fun project, encouraging me to practice some rusty skills and learn new ones.  This morning while everyone slept, I treated myself to a YouTube tutorial of the ladder stitch -- a brush-up I needed.

It isn't quite finished.  I still need to quilt around the story circles.  I learned to do this a few weekends back while "watching" a movie with the kids I've easily seen eight times.  But this project has now been transferred to the hand-sewing basket, which makes it much easier to plunk away at.  And it feels so good to work with on my lap -- such nice weight and coziness.  And, there's no reason the storytelling can't begin whilst I quilt it!

Make + Listen Along: The Soundtrack

 It's been ages since we could Make + Listen Along!  But, we did it up right this morning.

Sela made the tastiest scones.  Imagine the flakiest pie crust you've ever eaten.  And now imagine it with heavy cream included.  And with a little cream and sugar on top.  Yeah.  (It was from Sticky, Chewy, Messy Gooey Treats for Kids.  Pretty great for mamas, too.)

I made the pillow Linus requested for his birthday.  It's from Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing -- I love this book.

And Linus made Lego houses, vehicles, battles, car chases, and all the other bits that come with such things.

We worked to the glorious soundtrack of home: our new fish pump and filter, birds in the backyard, utensils clanging, scissors snipping, lego wheels whooshing.  And not to the soundtrack of "out."

What's music to your ears?  Share your soundtrack!

Putting Something Back Together Again

Our picnic blanket is a quilt that I gave my grandmother for Christmas a long time ago.  Thirteen years ago, it came back to me.  It had been a department store purchase, nothing extra special on the shelf.  Just something sweet I thought she might enjoy.  But it did become very special.

Not made particularly well, it had started coming apart at the seams.  A small gap here, a small gap there.  And those grew.  And more holes appeared.  By the time I brought it from the car to the house to do "something" with it (no idea what that would end up being), it was in terrible shape.

On a warm summer night, while everyone slept, I sat down with this old quilt.  And I just started mending.  No plan.  Just a needle, thread, scissors, and pins.  I started with one small, easy hole.  And then I sewed the other open seams on that star.  I touched the fabric and noticed the colors and prints.  I found the next easiest star.  And I sewed it back together, one seam at a time.  I got to know the construction of the blanket.  I sewed until I felt tired, and I went to bed.

And over time, this blanket started to come back together.  

By the end, I was left with two stars right in the center that were in shreds.  And I thought, "There is no way I can mend something like this."  But, I started anyway.  What did I really have to lose?  I sewed up one seam.  And then one more.  And then one more.  And I stopped thinking about what I couldn't mend.  I just thought about the stitch I was making.

This blanket is whole again.  And, to my mind, it is more beautiful than it was before.

Creative Placement of Creativity

I have a little basket near the table --
just a little basket with a needlebook, embroidery floss, scissors and a project.
How my kids eat meals: giggle, giggle, take a bite, giggle, tell a story, 
     (fall out of a chair), giggle, take a bite, ...
So, I eat.  And then stitch and giggle and relax.

Little Craft with a Purpose

How about sewing some little napkins to jazz up lunch?  (Or breakfast. Or dinner.)

1.  Cut some squares, making length and width 1/2 inch bigger to accommodate folding over & finishing the edges.
2.  Fold & press 1/4 inch on each side with an iron.
3.  Repeat -- so that the raw edge of the fabric is no longer showing. (You've just folded it over twice - no biggie.)
4.  Zip around the perimeter of the napkin with your sewing machine to sew in place the finishing job you just did with the iron.  Use a reverse stitch at the beginning and the end, so that it will hold up to lots of washing.

Sela & Linus's Egg-sellent Adventure

What to do with eggs?
Here's where we started...

I got Linus set up.

Dry pinto beans & plastic eggs

Jellybean Pouches

And then Sela & I worked on these.  I found this idea from Small Wonders at The Crafty Crow.  We changed the pattern a bit, so we enjoyed creating our own tutorial.

Trace your egg shape. 

We used the inside of a cookie cutter to get the size we wanted.

Cut out three.

 

For the Bottom ("B"), cut off the top third of an egg.

For the Top ("T"), cut off LESS THAN two-thirds of another egg. 

"T" should overlap "B" when both are stacked and sewn on the whole egg.

 

Use a whipstitch to sew "B" onto the whole egg.

 Add "T" and continue to whipstitch.

Fill with treats!

This one is for the Easter Bunny. 
Santa gets cookies, she should get something, too.

Linus's adventure evolved this way.

 

We eventually made our way to our book stack and enjoyed these together:

The Golden Egg Book by Margaret Wise Brown,

Max's Chocolate Chicken by Rosemary Wells &

The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes by Dubose Heyward.

While Little One Slept

While Linus slept, I stitched these little cuties for an Easter bunting.  (Check out this great pattern and tutorial.)



Last Easter I finished a pin...

 

and a needle book that makes me happy to sew all year-round...

 I could do bunny & egg crafts all year long.  You know, I just might.  Hmmm...

Tending

Remember that mending pile I unearthed a few months back?  Today seemed like a good day to choose a project.  I pulled out this toddler quilt that I bought when I was pregnant with Sela because it was just the kind of quilt I told myself I could start with.  When I got started on quilting.  I really love it.  I can't believe it's been out of commission for YEARS because it came open at a seam.  So - today - it took me all of 5 minutes to thread a needle and mend it.  And now - back in play!



Sela mended the ball she sewed for Linus for his first
birthday.  Check out this link to make a ball - or a
pumpkin pincushion.  It was a great project for a
beginning sew-er & a great use of scraps!

 Well, today wasn't just about delving into an old stack of sewing projects (it never really is just about one thing, is it?); I've decided that 2012 will be a year to do some gentle tending.  I read a blog a while back -- I'm sorry I don't recall exactly which one -- in which the author talked about choosing a word to guide her year.  She chose "tending."  I don't remember what she needed to "tend to," although I recall thinking that her list looked quite different from mine, but I remember the feeling.  I liked the idea of having a guiding word for the year.  Not a rigid one, just a supportive and gentle frame for the year.  No crazy, weekend warrior-type stuff.  Just pulling up some lingering, unresolved, or ignored aspects of life -- seeing them with fresh eyes and a new perspective since the last time they saw daylight.
I like the feel of "tending."  It feels meditative.  Slow and methodical and thoughtful. 

Fleece pants

Who is this happy girl?  A girl with new fleece pants!

I really like to sew.  I'm not a sophisticated seamstress, by any means.  Seriously, I can use a very simple machine to sew simple straight lines. And that's what I love about sewing.  You can do So Much with such limited skill.

And I love to give handmade gifts.  Pants are a perfect gift.  They're pretty fast and easy -- really.  I made these from a simple & inexpensive pattern I bought at the fabric store (See & Sew #4322).  I told myself that if these were as quick and easy as I remembered them being, I'd aim to make us all matching pants for Christmas.  Yep, that's just my style.  I like to call it team spirit : )

So, the fabric for the Christmas jams is in the washer now.  For the other three pair, I'm going to use the pj's in our drawers to draft the patterns.  I'll put it up here so that you can do it, too.  I know you can do it!  Try it!!  (Hint: using fleece makes the project even easier because you don't need to finish any of the edges.  Zip, zip, zip.)

For some other fun ideas for homemade Christmas gifts for kids, check out The Crafty Crow -- wow, where to start?!

Make a T-shirt Bag in 10 Minutes

I'd get more use out of this T if it were a bag -- goodness knows I haul around a lot of stuff.

Cut off the sleeves just inside the seams.

Cut off the collar.

Turn the shirt inside out and sew the bottom edge closed.

Turn it right-side out.

That's it!

Every time I make one I have to stop myself from raiding everyone's drawers and using up all their T-shirts for bags.

Eureka!

Look what I stumbled into -- a round-up of some pioneer crafts on one handy page!

quilt-to-be


You'll find these gems, or shall I say "nuggets" (ha!) here: homemade bread & butter, homemade taffy, whittling, carved soap, braided rug, cornhusk dolls, quill pens & berry ink, rag doll, stick horse, covered wagons, weaving, tin can lanterns, woven paper baskets, quilting, and dipped candles.

These are great for us -- as follow-up to our Gold Rush Day and gearing up to go back to our American Girls Group (Kirsten, 1854) -- but if you find yourself less inspired to do them, you really should make homemade butter and do this science experiment.  It's SUPER easy -- and you get to eat your results!  What could be better?  Remember to sing a silly butter-shaking song, too!  We love Sara Sponda.

Sara sponda sara sponda sara sponda ret set set

Sara sponda sara sponda sara sponda ret set set

Ador-ay-o. Ador-ay boom-day-o.

Ador-ay boom-day ret set set

ah-say pah-say oh.

(And for good measure, here's a little background to the Sara Sponda song and "Eureka!")

Sew Cute!

Sela sewed this very sweet skirt almost all by herself!  The simple pattern & instructions came from a great book called "Sewing School" via my very-excellent-book-finding friend; the look came from Sela!  (To make with 1 1/2 yards of fabric: cut 2 tall trapezoids - front & back of skirt, sew 2 side seams, sew casing for 1/2 inch elastic, and sew hem.)  I am looking forward to many more sewing projects together.  So fun to see her work on, complete, and WEAR her project.  (And, a pretty fun way to do some math, too.)

Happy May Day!

I made this sweet summer dress for this sweet girl!  It was so easy that I could do it with this sweet girl and a toddler running around.  It's so easy that she and I can make some together!  I can't wait to gather more fabrics and even some pillowcases - the original inspiration for the style.  I'm so happy she likes it because I want to make more more more!

Cupid's Arrows

It's February 1st, and, boy, do I have Cupid and his arrows on my mind.
Sela was playing with pipe cleaners and brought these to me.  (If you haven't taken out the pipe cleaners lately, you really should!  For silly fun for the whole family try these just to get you started.  Or maybe these funny guys.)

Then I found this cute and quirky Valentine's Day decoration on my new favorite blog, Smile and Wave -- I love it and can't wait to make it!

(The picture would not be complete if I left out the giggling I did last night when Michael Scott called them "Cupid's Sparrows.")

I was not giggling later when Linus woke up all night long because he has a cold.  I was exhausted.  By the wee hours of the morning I decided it was Daddy's turn to try out rocking --rather than nursing -- back to sleep so that I could get a little rest.
Linus: "Mama."
Mama: "Yes, baby?" lovingly & patiently because, although I've been up all night, I am about to get a little sleep.
Linus: "Saaaaaaad."
Mama: "You're sad?  Why are you sad?"
Linus: "Nose.  Nurse."
Thwak.  Shot through the heart again.  I'm his.  We nursed & we both felt better.