home – Looking At Stars

House

We sold our house! That has been eating much crafting time, as time I’d usually be at the machine is spent poring over housing listings. It’s a little disconcerting to sell before you buy. We’ve never done that in the past – we’ve always known exactly where we were going. But now we’re on somewhat of a deadline to find something new, and that can be stressful.

But it does allow for a lot of dreaming about what will come next, which is always nice.

On the knitting front, I cast on the Levinwick pattern recently and am about a third through that. I keep meaning to knit stuff for the kids, but I just keep making things for me. I’ve also had the Wiksten tulip skirt cut out for ages, but haven’t started sewing it yet.

I need to make a list for fall of the back to school clothing the kids will need… that will motivate me a bit to get back to the machine.

M is (almost) 2!

Miss M is going to be 2 in less than a week! We celebrated in style, with cake and whipped cream and cousins.

If you came to see Miss M you’d probably see her acting all shy at your arrival. She and her cousin B were out-shying each other. But once she knows we’re not leaving and you’re not a sitter, she’ll boss with the best of them. You’ll hear “Nooooooooo!” a lot, and see a big mischievous grin. I always feel I got off easy with P in his twos. His challenging stage was 3. I think M is going to be the quintessential 2-year old though. If she has any sense you want her to do something, she is going to refuse to do it. If she senses that I want her to wear an outfit, she will scream bloody murder. I won’t lie – there was some screaming to get her into this outfit. She also knows now that I want her to pose for a picture, and her answer is “No JEEZ!” which translates to “No ‘Cheese!'” which translates to “No, I am not going to say ‘Cheese’ and smile for your picture Mummy!” Hence the reason the only picture I have that shows the whole dress has her covering her mouth with a toy cowboy hat.

She is a girl of few words. “Say your name M!” I urge, and she gives me the “Nooooooo!” and that grin I was talking about. But for a child with so few words, she can definitely get her point across through mimes and so on. I’m rarely confused about what she wants – whether it’s her plaintive sign for “hungry” or a request to draw.

Both she and P were sick 10 days or so ago, and it took her quite a long time to recover. It was a week of “Uppa! Mummy! Uppa! Mummy!” all.week.long. I do not fare well with such neediness. Every now and then I can relax into it, but somehow it always coincides with a particularly busy time at work. It’s been really nice to see her happy and playing again. She feeds tea to all her babies. She chases P around “roaring” like a “scary witch” (at least that’s what he calls it… it looks more zombie-like to me). And best of all, she sleeps a little better, which always makes the household mood a bit happier.

Of course her birthday party warranted a new, summery outfit. Nevermind that it poured rain all day.

Outfit: Oliver+S Badminton Top + Skort Pattern
Skill Level: Rated 1 scissor (Easy), but I found the yoke a little tricky. It was certainly more complicated than the Nature Pullover, which is rated three scissors. The skort is super-easy though.
Fabric: Top is Ann Kelle with unknown blue for yoke/bindings. The blue looks like a voile to me, but I have no idea where I got it. Skirt is Denyse Schmidt’s DS Quilts for Joann’s
I will definitely make multiple versions of the skort, and probably one more top, just because I want to perfect that yoke. Although it was a bit tricky, I was buoyed by the instructions which said something like “If this part is a bit fiddly, you’re on the right track!” The skort was a breeze to sew, although I accidentally sewed the hem facing on the outside. (This is what happens when you sew when the kids are awake.) I’ll chalk it up to a happy accident as it made me realise you could do a two-toned skirt that would look cute too, and I think it looks fine as is, so I didn’t leave it.

New Sewing Centre

Not much sewing has been taking place in these parts lately. But hopefully that will change now that I set up a new sewing area for myself. We finished our basement renovation, which allowed us to convert the kids’ room into a guest room… aka sewing sanctuary! Here’s my new sewing desk, so that I no longer have to have the sewing machine on the kitchen table at all times… or have to clean up all my supplies each and every time I choose to sew.

This desk holds our computer, as well as my machine and serger. I hung up some ceramic baskets from IKEA to hold things like fabric markers and pin cushions easily accessible. You can’t really see it in this photo, but I also got a magnetic knife block and stuck some magnetised holders on it there to hold quilting pins and so on. I’ve been so busy organising that I haven’t even had a chance to use the space yet, but am very excited to do so.

I think I’ll put up a fabric covered bulletin board too, but we have lots of other home projects on the go right now (including painting over that orange wall) so it will have to wait.

I have an ambitious schedule ahead – promised to make some curtains for a friend, and I also have to make outfits for P and M to wear to my brother’s impending nuptials. P will be the ringbearer so he needs something extra special. I have an aversion to little tiny boys in tuxes, and I abhor the North American thing of wearing a tux before evening, so, since this is an afternoon garden casual wedding, I am making him a little button down shirt and some shorts. The wedding colours and orange and red, so the bride requested orange gingham for his shirt. I had some leftover dark gray chambray to make him shorts too. I am going to attempt the Oliver + S bubble dress for M. As for me, I am going to try to make this Cynthia Rowley Simplicity pattern out of some gorgeous AMH voile I bought… I have tried and failed at this pattern in the past, but I think that my sewing skills have improved since then. At least I hope so, cause that voile ain’t cheap and I’ve already cut it out.

Quiet on the Western Front

Quiet on the blog front recently. A few weekends away, a hectic couple of weeks at work, and massive, massive sleep deprivation due to a child who doesn’t fare well with weekends away, not to mention rearranging our whole house due to some completed renovations. Does it sound like I’m making excuses? I am.

In the course of the renovation, we moved the kids’ bedroom. Which means that their old bedroom is now… a sewing space for me! And a guest room-to-be, but also a sewing space. Their closet was already filled with my materials, overflowing really. But the sewing machine had a permanent spot on the kitchen table. So J is very happy to see it in a new home. I also went through all my fabric, saved in various bags, boxes and so on where it would fit, and um. Holy. I have a lot of fabric. I’ve always been vaguely aghast when I’ve seen posts of quilters with shelves of fabric – I’m not a person who likes to accumulate a lot. But I realised, I too could practically fill a bookcase. It’s a sickness really. So I did co-opt the kids old dresser and re-organise all my quilting cottons in here… very exciting. And no more fabric buying until I work through some of this! (Except what I ordered last week… ssshh.)

Oh, and even though I haven’t done too much lately, I signed myself up for a sewing workshop in January. And um, it’s in PALM SPRINGS! That’s right – me… alone for a weekend with a bunch of sewing ladies! Sitting by a pool! Sleeping in! I realise that spending a weekend holed up sewing might not be everyone’s idea of a perfect vacation, but hey, I’m kind of a weirdo. I’ve never been that far from my children, especially the baby, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. It’s nice to do something entirely selfish every now and again.