Adelaide Lemonade

Summersville

When I first saw this fabric, I knew I just had to have some.  Okay - yes - I did say the same thing about  almost all of the fabric in my stash.  But I really, really love this one.

It reminds me of this great print that I bought from Swallowfield on Etsy a few years ago.  (Turns out that two of our kids were in the same class for a while - small world.)

I feel like both the print and the fabric could totally be my neighborhood.  The print definitely could be, since she did live in my neighborhood - the fabric - probably not.

Then when I first saw this dress by 190.arch that I think we all saw and loved during KCWC, I was inspired to create my own version.

So here's my combination of the super-cool fabric with the super-cool dress.  What do you think?

I can be a little fickle about the things I make - loving them one minute, being really annoyed by them the next, but for now, I think this is my favorite thing I've made since these pants.  Interesting that they're both probably the simplest patterns I've made, too.

I used pattern Y from this book.

It was a super-simple pattern.  Other than the binding, it originally only had two pieces.  Of course, I had to cut the one front piece into three to get the pieced strip in there.  The hardest part was making that little fabric loop that makes the buttonhole in the back.

Mine is a lot thicker than I would have liked, but I just don't see how you can turn anything narrower.  Any advice?  The linen kicked my butt.  Every time I got it halfway turned, the linen unwove enough for my turner to slip right off the edge.  I finally figured out to sew a line of stitching at one end.

I lined the pieced section with some of the polka dotted fabric.  I didn't want all the edges of those little pieces to show.  I was lazy and ended up using my basting spray to glue the two together while I was sewing up the front.  It seemed to work out okay.  I used French seams to attach the three front pieces.  I didn't want Addie to complain about any itchy seams.

For our "photo shoot" we went on a little walk through the neighborhood.  I love how in the shot above, Addie's feet aren't even touching the ground.

We saw this cute VW prettily sitting amongst someone's nice landscaping,

sat on someone else's new stone wall,

stopped to smell the flowers,  (The Rhododendron's were Addie's favorites.)

And tried to "plant" a few more dandelions.

I ended up loving this fabric combination so much that as soon as we got back, I started on a quilt using the same prints.

I still have some more rearranging to do, but I finished cutting out the pieces last night.

Thanks for reading.

Date Night

A long weekend was just what I needed.  I know, Memorial Day is more than just a long weekend.  I did send some thoughts toward those I think of being memorialized, but otherwise, we'd been so busy that I was content to just keep things low-key.  Our weeks and weekends have been so jam-packed with activities that it was wonderful to have a relatively low-commitment weekend.

Baseball/softball season is killer for me.  My two boys play baseball, and my older daughter used to play softball.  I'm really not that upset that she doesn't play anymore.  One less place to have to be at the same time.  Next year, with Addie starting t-ball, will be a different story.  

Here's one of my players (complete with the post-practice Gator-Ade mustache).  Frank had a great game the other night with a single and a double and an out made as catcher.

My husband also coaches and umpires every free minute, and I actually do like to see him once in a while.

About two weeks ago, we decided we needed a date night, and this weekend provided the first free night.  We decided to go to Pier 77 in Cape Porpoise where we'd been several times years (like maybe 7?) ago and loved.  I'm glad I made a reservation because it was packed when we arrived.  It's such a gorgeous location that even if the restaurant was terrible, the drive would be worth it.

But the restaurant certainly wasn't terrible.  It was really just as good as we'd remembered it.  We started off with some bread and Prosecco.

The prosecco was yummy.  Not too dry and just a tiny bit sweet.  I wish I could remember the name.  Something like Casteglieri.

I had a spinach salad with warm goat cheese.  Mmm.  Mike had the soup which he said was delicious.

(Isn't he cute?)

Then Mike had the ribs, and I had the salmon.  Both were great, but I think the ribs were better.  We took a peek at the dessert menu but opted to seek out another place for dessert.  Unimpressively, we ended up at Friendly's.  Anyone have any recommendations for a good place to go just for dessert in the Portland (Maine) area?  As teenager's we used to go to Peter Ott's in Camden for Eleanor Klivans' amazing desserts.  I wonder if you can still do that.

We had a nice little walk around after dinner.  The lobstering harbor reminded us so much more of where we grew up than Portland does.  Maine seems to have so many different worlds.

Hope you all had a great weekend as well.  Best of luck getting back into the swing of things tomorrow.

End of an Era

We went sailing last weekend with my Dad and my brother who was visiting from Minnesota.  In spite of a little extra adventure, we had an excellent time.  Maggie had a birthday party to go to and my husband, Mike had lots of umpiring to do, so the boys, Addie, and I went.

My dad has a beautiful sailboat with plenty of room for everyone.  I always end up in the front cabin.  Frank slept in the "living room".

Even though the cockpit isn't really meant for sleeping, Joe and Addie slept there.

I love taking pictures of the kids as they wake up in the morning.  I can't believe they slept as long as they did with the sun streaming in.

My dad is an interesting guy with lots of different hobbies.  Sailing is something that he's always wanted to do, and he really took it to the extreme.  Some people might take a lesson or two or even buy a boat for weekends, but no, my dad has been living on his boat for the last 8 or so years.  We've taken full advantage of it by making at least one memorable trip almost every year.

There are a few hearty sailors (my Dad, me, my brother) who make it almost every year.  Here's my brother Simon on board.

My husband and my oldest son, Joe are pretty much fixtures on the annual cruise as well.  

I wasn't as good at taking pictures when we first started, but check out Joe on one of our first sails (doing something important - lowering the dinghy, I think.)

compared to him now

(That's him standing on the right.  My younger son Frank is sitting on the left.)

And here he is - still doing something important - tightening the jib line while tacking.

Joe also has the honor of being the ship's bartender.  He's not that helpful at home, but with Joe on board, you have a gin and tonic in your hand before you even know you want one.  It's pretty good service.

But Joe is more than just a bartender and deck hand, he can steer the boat as well.  On our trip to Provincetown, he drove pretty much the whole way there and back.

I love this photo.  You can tell from both Joe and my dad's looks of concern that they're in a sticky situation.  My dad is very good about giving people responsibility.  I'm sure he was probably itchy to take over the wheel, but he let Joe stick it out, and he managed.

Beyond the five of us regulars, there's a varied crew each year that just adds to the fun.  My brother has lots of interesting friends who sometimes join with interesting stories to tell and lively music to play.

That's Jeremy on the harmonica.  He's been on at least two cruises that I've been on.  Some of the photos in this post - the better ones - are courtesy of him.

That's my brother on the guitar.

One of my favorite memories is staying up late (2 am, maybe?) listening to my brother and friends playing, lending my singing whenever I knew the words,  (Man, I wish I could sing.  Even Addie says I'm bad) and getting yelled at by the occupants of the boat moored next door.

My dad keeps his boat in the Boston area, so we've always sailed from there.  We've sailed to Provincetown, Edgartown, Marble Head, Rockport, Gloucester.  We didn't get very far on our sail last weekend, but last year, we sailed to Edgartown.  We spent a day traveling all over Martha's Vineyard.

For all of us, I think our favorite part was "The Bite" in Menemsha.  Mike read "Jaws" on the way there and back just to feel the full flavor of the Cape.

When my dad bought his boat, it was called the "Sea Biscuit".

There were many passionate conversations around the dinner table about what the boat should really be called.

Last year, my dad finally changed the name to "Perseverance".  

Just to keep this post a little bit crafty, here are some pillows I made for my dad before the name change.  My first foray into applique.

Not only are we well provided with drinks and entertainment, but we eat like kings as well.  One year, my husband's one condition to come with us was that he be able to do all the cooking and have no one help him.  Umm.  What's the catch there?  No one argued with that.

These were a different kind of "Sea Biscuit".  I never did much more than pull cold cuts out of the fridge to make sandwiches, but between Mike's cooking and everyone else who also volunteered to cook on different cruises - I've never eaten better.

Last year, I had arugula on my pizza for the first time.  I haven't been able to get it out of my head since.  Here it is pre-arugula.

It was getting late, so they had to cook by flashlight, but being on the boat isn't exactly roughing it.  On one visit to the boat, my dad rented "Bolt" for the kids.  Here's my dad watching with Frank.

I don't remember this, but I love how the pictures show that my dad was first a little bit interested then finally had to sit down with Frank and really watch.

My daughter Maggie hasn't made as many trips, but we've slept on the boat several times the night before a feis.  What other Irish dancer can say that?!

And lest you think it's all cooking and bartending and sailing, there's plenty of time for relaxing too.

 

We tried fishing on one trip.

But didn't catch anything - whales, sharks, or otherwise.

And fed the ducks on another trip.

 My brother introduced the idea of a morning constitutional.  I'm still not sure what that really means, but to us it meant a morning dip in the ocean.  I'll spare you a photo of all of us in our bathing suits, but here's a photo of Joe - just out of the shower - wisely just watching us crazy adults.

(This photo is one that's courtesy of Jeremy.  He actually jumped in then had someone hand him his camera - while he was swimming - so he could take photos of the boat.  Nuts.)

One time, we thought it would be a good idea to try to clean the sides of the boat while we were swimming.  I ended up with little tiny sea creatures crawling all over me.  Thank God there's a shower on the boat.

Even though steering can require a lot of focused attention - especially in a busy harbor - it can also be pretty relaxing.  Here's my brother in his over-the-glasses Grandma sunglasses looking pretty relaxed and probably steering with his feet.

There was always lots of good conversation to be had on the boat.

In fact, there are special chairs reserved for just that purpose.

Young and old alike are required to pay a visit to the conversation chairs.

The conversation chairs may change location, but even the very youngest can't escape.

Like I said, my dad is a man of many hobbies, and he's about to move on to the next one, so Perseverance will be taking a break for now.  I'm so excited about the new things to come and the new fun times that we will create, but I can't help feeling a bit sentimental about moving on.

Sea Biscuit/Perseverance and all the good times - oh how you will be missed!

Spring 2012 Giveaway Day - Winner!

Thanks so much for entering my giveaway.  It was so much fun to receive and read your comments all week long.  They really make my day.  I'm wishing even more now that I had 1000 selfish bucks to spend.

This morning I had random.org help me pick a winner.  It was commenter 124, Lynn who said she would buy fabric.  Good call!  Lynn, I'll send you an e-mail in a minute to get your mailing info.

Do you all have big plans for the long weekend?  We have baseball, baseball, and more baseball - at least for the boys.  My older daughter is complaining that there's nothing to do, so I think we girls are going to head up to the fish ladder festival (conveniently located next door to Alewive's).  That'll teach her!

Spring 2012 Giveaway Day

Giveaway Closed.  Thanks so much for playing!  I will select and post the winner tomorrow morning (US EST).

Happy Giveaway Day!

For Giveaway Day this year, I'm hoping to get one more lucky person addicted to sewing from Japanese sewing books.

I have the book below to give away.  It's for sizes 90, 95, 100, and 105 cm.  It's in good condition.  I've never made anything from it, so I haven't even pulled out the paper pattern yet.  Addie did draw a few stripes on the front cover as you can see from the photo.

 I also have this double tracing wheel to give away.  When it's out of it's package, it looks like this:

I was getting tired of my two-pens-taped-together technique for adding seam allowances.  I'd seen pictures of these things in some of my Japanese books and I managed to search one out on Amazon.  I must have accidentally ordered two.  You're supposed to use carbon paper with it, but I didn't think I was coordinated enough to layer my tracing material then the carbon paper then the pattern piece.  Besides, I don't think I've ever seen carbon paper big enough and I certainly didn't want to attempt moving it around.

So, I thought about it for a while and ended up buying a little ink pad (one of which I'll also give away).  Now I layer the pattern piece from the book then the tracing material - just like I'd been doing with my pens-taped together technique but run my tracing wheel over the ink pad every so often and just run the inner wheel along the pattern lines.  What do you think?  Have I revolutionized the world of adding seam allowances?  Has everyone else already figured this out?

Anyway, here's my little giveaway pile.

To win, just answer this totally random question in your comments . . .

If you had a spare $1000 (not that I do) that you had to spend on yourself, what would you buy?

A.  A new camera (would $1000 even be enough?  which one would you buy?)

B.  A new sewing machine (Ditto the above.  Would $1000 be enough?  Which one would you buy?)

C.  New clothes for yourself

D.  Lots of fabric - including some Liberty!

Thanks for playing.  I'll pick a winner on May 25th at the end of the day (or maybe in the morning on the 26th).  I will ship internationally.

A Quilt Finally

I've had a bunch of quilt tops ready to be quilted for quite some time.  Most of them have been sitting around for almost a year, and one is almost two years old.  I like the actual quilting - well mostly - and don't really mind the binding, but I hate crawling around on the floor and basting.  

Except for a few pillows, I've always used safety pins, but a friend finally convinced me to try out the basting spray.  I had visions of the quilt, batting, and back bunching up and sticking together all over the place.  I could just imagine all the layers being stuck to me with me going in circles to try to detach it like a dog chasing it's tail.  I even had visions of myself and/or the quilt being hopelessly stuck to the floor.

But I took it easy with the spray, and it actually went pretty well.  I laid everything out on the floor, so there was still a fair bit of crawling around.  My friend recommended laying everything out on a table, but I was too worried about getting sticky stuff all over my table.  I have one of those plastic-y Home Depot ones in my basement.  Maybe I'll dig that out and try it next time.

It wasn't a very fancy quilt or even a very big quilt, but I wanted to make it simple to show off the cute little Aneela Hooey designs.  I had managed to snag a charm pack before the yardage came out of her first collection.

I ended up quilting it simply, too.  I just machine-stitched my sewing machine foot width away from each seam.  I ended up going back and forth between my walking foot and my regular foot.  I've used my walking foot in the past, and it really hasn't done anything for me.  There are a few places where I ended up with a pucker in the fabric (frustration!), and I almost think the walking foot made that worse.  I plan to use the same quilting for my Heather Ross quilt, so I hope I can figure this out before then.

In hindsight, the solid blue binding wasn't the best idea.  There are some squares of the same blue in the quilt which, afterwards, I remembered placing strategically next to the non-blue squares, so it wouldn't clash with the other blues that weren't similar enough or contrast-y enough.  Oh well, it's such a light blue that I think you don't really notice the binding that much and can just focus on the quilt.

This time I did try machine binding.  I used this tutorial from Red Pepper Quilts, and it worked out great.  It takes me forever to hand bind a quilt - even a small one.  This was so much faster and still looks very nice.

I don't know if it was the simple quilting or the all-cotton batting that I used, but I love the softness and drapy-ness of this quilt.  The other ones that I've made and quilted with all-over stippling have seemed much more stiff.

I ended up giving this quilt to my mother for her birthday.  I know the Aneela Hooey fabric is probably considered a juvenile print, and the colors in the quilt are kind of baby-ish, but my mom had said she liked the colors when she saw the quilt top months ago.  She seemed to like it.

Anyway, it was a good quilting experience.  I might just get inspired enough, brave enough to do another one.

Something Other than Clothes

I haven't sewn a stitch clothes-wise since KCWC.  I have to admit, it's driving me a bit crazy.  Was it only 3 weeks ago?  I guess it's not so bad then.  

The last two weekends have been busy.  The first one, I got to spend the weekend with 3 of my good, good friends from college.  Then last weekend, of course, was Mother's Day. (I finally did get some sewing in that day - because it should be about doing whatever I want, right?).  Unfortunately, as often happens, my husband's birthday fell on the same day.  Neither of us think it's very fair to have to share.  

Then, this weekend coming up, hopefully, has some sailing in store.  And I'm all packed up to visit my mother tonight for her birthday.  And I have book club tomorrow night.  All fun stuff, but Addie is running out of clothes!  Just kidding!  She is so NOT running out of clothes, but I still have two things already cut out to finish up, and I just really like sewing clothes.  If I didn't know what was good for me, I might just lock myself in my sewing room indefinitely.  Hopefully, Memorial Day weekend brings some nice, uninterrupted sewing time.

I have been sewing a few things here and there.  Ever since I saw this post, I've been wanting to sew this bag.  I had a thought to make one for each of my friends that I got together with the weekend before last.  Then I had a thought to make one for my mom and sister for Mother's Day, but my sewing can't seem to keep up with my thoughts, and I only managed to make one which I donated to my husband when he needed a gift for his mother.

It's a great pattern, and I love the finished product.  I will definitely make it again.  Maybe I'll whip up a batch with my new Denyse Schmidt fabric.  (Like I said - production not necessarily keeping up with ideas.)

Hope you had a great Mother's Day!

Noshin'

My oldest son, Joe, is a bit of a foodie - or more accurately, he has watched a bunch of episodes of "Man vs. Food".  In any case, I like that he's willing to try new things.  He'd heard of a restaurant called Nosh on one of the episodes that nicely happened to be in Portland (Maine).  With my busy work and carting the kids around schedule and Joe's busy baseball schedule, we've been trying to go for a while.  We finally made a plan to go tonight.  As luck would have it, I was pulling up to the house in the car after work as he was walking up to the house after baseball.  He threw his backpack into the house, and we were on our merry way.

Here he is with his Nosh Burger and Tempura "Elvis Style" Bacon.  Check it out on their menu here.

I had the calamari which was good, but could not hold a candle to the excellent bacon dusted fries.

So good.  I would go back just for those.

The place was nice and casual.  For some reason, I was expecting it to be too formal than we were prepared for.  I highly recommend it if you're in the area.  Do NOT leave without trying the fries!

Happy Weekend!

KCWC Retrospective

I didn't finish everything I wanted to finish, but I'm quite happy with it.

I went from this pile

to this one.

I finished a skirt and made three shirts and a dress, and even though I didn't finish everything, I have the other two things I was going to make all cut out and ready to go.  All five projects were from my fabric stash that I've been trying to work through, so I feel like I got double the benefit from KCWC.

I think this is my third KCWC, and this is the first time I've done any prep.  At first, I felt like that was cheating, but it was so great to have all the projects cut out.  The best thing I did was make several trips to Jo-Ann the weekend before to stock up on all those little things that it drives me crazy to have to run out for - thread (it was 50% off!), buttons, elastic, interfacing, etc.  I didn't have everything completely cut out until the end of the first day, so maybe next time, I'll try to have that done even before.

I tried to explain the whole thing to my husband.  He didn't really get it.  He thought it was a contest or something.  When I explained that it was just a bunch of people who pledged to sew kids' clothes for an hour a day, I'm pretty sure he was resisting the urge to say, "What do you mean JUST an hour a day?  Yes, I guess that WOULD be a challenge for you."  As you might guess from reading my blog, I pretty much do that every day.  I think I may have started a KCWC a while back and just never stopped.

In any case, I was sure happy to have an excuse to sew even more intensely than usual.  I used it as an excuse to not exercise or cook or clean (which I don't really do that often anyway - but it felt even better to give myself permission to not even feel guilty about it for a week).

I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself yesterday - the first non-KCWC day.  If the previous week had been any other week, I probably just would have worked on the next garment, but I felt like I should do something different.  I started making a bag, but I'm not really into it.

Can't wait until next time!  I'm going to miss seeing pages worth of new adorable clothes in the flickr group every night.

KCWC Day 6 and 7

I'm so sad that KCWC is over, but I did manage to finish up two more shirts.  I finished up early yesterday afternoon (my daughter hurt her ankle playing soccer - nothing serious - so we didn't go to the feis.  50 bucks down the drain, but it was priceless having a free day that I didn't plan on having.), so I took photos and everything.  I planned to blog last night, but by the time we finished dinner, I could not do another thing.

Enough complaining, here are the two shirts I made.

I used the Lisette cotton Lawn from Jo-Ann for the blue one.  It's actually really nice fabric.  Very soft and flow-y.  It's shirt H from this book.

(ISBN:  978-4-579-11289-0)

I made the same pattern a few months ago, but I really didn't like the sleeves, so I decided to try to copy more traditional, curved-topped sleeves from another pattern.  I think it came out pretty well.  

It ended up being kind of long, so before Addie tried it on, I thought it could almost be a dress.  It's definitely not that long, but I"m tempted to actually make it in dress length now.

(I made the skirt last year.  It's from Happy Homemade Volume 5.)

So all in all, I was pretty happy with the shirt, but it turns out I didn't really need to alter the original pattern at all because the Figgy's Ayashe shirt pattern is almost the same.  It's a bit more feminine with gathers at the front and back.

Addie is almost 5, and I'd say she's small to average-sized for her age, but some of her measurements were right on the edge for the size 4/5, so I ended up making the size 6/7.  I'm glad I did because it fits perfectly.  I would even add a bit more length next time.

I used one of the smaller sizes for the sleeve length because I wanted something 3/4-ish.  I didn't put elastic in the sleeves.  I also wanted to do the drawstring at the waist line, but I didn't have enough fabric, and I couldn't find anything in my stash that went well enough.  If I make it again, I think I would make two little button holes in the front to have the drawstring go through.

I LOVED the little tag that came with the pattern.  It totally makes the finished garment look so much more professional.  I really should have some of my own made.

The only issue I had with the pattern was that I ended up having the gather the sleeves a bit at the top to get them to fit.  I'm pretty sure I traced and cut the right size, but I'll double check before I make another one.

I used some Yuwa Lawn that I got from Sew Mama Sew (with my winnings from last year's pillow contest).  It's gorgeous but not quite as flow-y as the Lisette Lawn.

Shoot, now I'm going to be late for work.  Yikes.  Happy Monday.