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green and pink and black, again

Unbelievable.. it’s a finished project! This one I started back in March. I’m not sure how it won the lottery of which project to start with first but I’m glad it did because once I got going on it (after mulling it for a week or so) it went together in a day and I now have something finished! Nothing more invigorating than finishing something.

This puppy is for Phoebe and it’s in a favorite color scheme of mine, that I think I can safely say has been sated now. The small squares (96 of them, half the same print) are 4″, the bigger squares (24 of them) are 7 1/4″ and the finished size is 47″ square.

My favorite part may be the binding. I love this green and pink calico so much and I always love how tidy a hand-sew binding looks. And I forgot how much I love having a hand sewing project to work on in the evenings. I’m so out of practice. I’ve been spending my evenings buried in a book trying to forget about all the day’s writing and editing. I’m really not a huge fan of sitting at the sewing machine. I just want to get to the sofa part. The embroidering or the finishing. I should try to get something to that stage today so I’ll have a project for tonight.

I embroidered a little to-from on the back for Phoebe. I always think something like this will take forever and am surprised how quickly it goes in a little backstitch. I think I should go through and add some to my old quilts. Hey, maybe there’s my tonight sofa project.

The back is a vintage tablecloth that I’ve had forever and never had the courage to cut into. Now it can live on in one piece, all happy and whole.

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you put your ribbon in there

I thought I blogged this and just realized I hadn’t. I came up with a plan for the sewing box.. ribbons! I never know what to do with my ribbons. They were stored in these plastic craft drawer things inside my fabric closet and I could never quite open the drawers so the only ribbons that saw any play were those right at the edge. Now they can fold out in front of me in all their splendor. When the kids are bigger I want to set this up with all my embroidery and hand sewing supplies but for now best not to keep scissors in pins in that new “foldy desk thing” that they’re obsessed with.

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hello august

I can barely force myself to say it, but I think I’m pretty much… done! My manuscript is turned in and although there are a few things outstanding and there will be more work down the line, I’m calling it. DONE! It’s taken me about 3 days to be able to even utter the words. My shoulders are slowly sinking back down, my brow is unfurrowing, my head is clearing and I feel my self creeping back into place. I’m thinking about summer plans with the kids, gardening, and even sewing. And getting back in the swing of blogging. I miss everybody! I’m going to drink a few more margaritas, see a few movies, catch up with friends. Heck I might be able to salvage some of this Summer after all.

When I got this calendar in January I was just starting work on the book. I’ve been waiting all year to turn the page to this month. Hello Mr. Cardinal. I love you!

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some day my prince will come

I've been searching for one of these ass-kicking, mid-century modern, made in norway, clever fold out sewing boxes forEVER! How fast do you think I lept across the room at that estate sale to grab it. I was pulling a Phoebe… "MINE! MINE! MINE!"

The only trick now is finding a spot in this house to keep it that has enough room to actually fully extend it.

Also from the estate sale… 2 new outfits for the friends

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new to me

Tim and I always drive by estate sales and sigh a wistful sigh and then just keep driving because we have the kids in tow. That kind of sale is way too cut throat to bring a 2 and 5 year old into. But this weekend we saw one that didn't look too crowded and we were feeling brave so we stopped and I'm so glad we did.

I go through these stages where I'm all purge purge purge and all the crazy prints and non-cotton vintage fabric I've collected from thrift stores over the years — the silks and chiffons and satins and knits — all go back into the system. Then I get all panicked that if I ever want make Phoebe a silk coat or cover pillows with vintage upholstery fabric I'll have nothing and then I start grabbing it all up again.Guess what part of the cycle I'm in now.