kitty buds

A pillowcase for sweet dreams...

Kitty buds fabric by Melinda Josie. Isn't this the sweetest fabric? I know I'm not the only one who fancies it.

I think I need to make another so no cat fights ensue between a certain 2 year old and I. It's pink and has cats on it after all.
I'm planning the birthday dress by Oliver and S for her in a size up for next year in this fabric. I love that pattern.



Perhaps she will even wear if for her birthday next year- I could have a kitty theme or maybe a cats and dogs party. Wouldn't that be fun? She does adore animals.

I also bought these two pretty prints.






I have so many prints around that need mats and frames. I have a terrible time finding ones I like that are the right size and the frame shops are so expensive. Where do you go to mat and frame? I had good luck on the internet once but, can't remember the shop.

Melinda is so sweet. She also sent a set of her letterpress cards for free along with this pencil drawing. I mean how nice is that. Very.



I'd love to order everything in her shop.
There isn't a single thing I don't like. The pussy willow print- oh my!

strawberries!

The strawberries are here! Our yard is crazy full of them.
Come and pick them if you want but, better get them soon before the berry thief (Ms. S) eats them all.

And, for those of you in the US- Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

lavender and roses

lavender




roses

So much goodness in the garden these days. This week I have been cutting a few roses and some lavender to bring inside.

It has been especially nice with all these flowers around as I've been in need of a bit of cheering up after I suffered a scratched cornea on Sunday though I am feeling much better now it may be a few weeks until it is fully healed.

Feeling a little nostalgic too perhaps from having had to have my eyes shut not being able to do much and now looking at old photographs.

My Aunt Lillian and me. I'm guessing I'm about 6 in this photo.



Me and my brother Ted. We are about 5 and 3 here I think. Most likely Easter day judging by our cute outfits.

the twelve dancing princesses

or
The Worn Out Dancing Shoes
or
The Shoes that were Danced to Pieces is a German fairytale published by the Brothers Grimm.

A slow project I worked on for almost a year, stitched by hand.

The fairytale -

Twelve princesses slept in twelve beds in the same room; every night their doors were securely locked, but in the morning their shoes were found to be worn through as if they had been dancing all night.
The king, perplexed, promised his kingdom and a daughter to any man who could discover the princesses' secret within three days and three nights, but those who failed within the set time limit would be put to death.
An old soldier returned from war came to the king's call after several princes had failed in the endeavour to discover the princesses' secret. Whilst traveling through a wood he came upon an old woman, who gave him an invisibility cloak and told him not to eat or drink anything given to him by one of the princesses who would come to him in the evening, and to pretend to be fast asleep after the princess left.
The soldier was well received at the palace just as the others had been and indeed, in the evening, the eldest princess came to his chamber and offered him a cup of wine. The soldier, remembering the old woman's advice, threw it away secretly and began to snore very loudly as if asleep.
The princesses, sure that the soldier was asleep, dressed themselves in fine clothes and escaped from their room by a trap door in the floor. The soldier, seeing this, donned his invisibility cloak and followed them down. He trod on the gown of the youngest princess, whose cry to her sisters that all was not right was rebuffed by the eldest. The passageway led them to three groves of trees; the first having leaves of silver, the second of gold, and the third of diamonds. The soldier, wishing for a token, broke off a twig as evidence. They walked on until they came upon a great lake. Twelve boats with twelve princes in them were waiting. Each princess went into one, and the soldier stepped into the same boat as the youngest. The young prince in the boat rowed slowly, unaware that the soldier was causing the boat to be heavy. The youngest princess complained that the prince was not rowing fast enough, not knowing the soldier was in the boat. On the other side of the lake was a castle, into which all the princesses went and danced the night away.
The princesses danced until their shoes were worn through and they were obliged to leave. This strange adventure went on the second and third nights, and everything happened just as before, except that on the third night the soldier carried away a golden cup as a token of where he had been. When it came time for him to declare the princesses' secret, he went before the king with the three branches and the golden cup, and told the king all he had seen. The princesses saw there was no use to deny the truth, and confessed. The soldier chose the eldest princess as his bride for he was not a very young man, and was made the king's heir.

Plot summary from here
A Sugar City Loom pattern. Thanks Lynne for such an enchanting project.

tea leaves

My current knitting project is a Tea Leaves cardigan. I'm knitting it for myself with Madelinetosh in a color called Vermillion.
I've knit with Madelinetosh once before and it's just so soft and lovely that I couldn't resist. I really love the shade- sort of a fizzy pink red or crushed berries. It's coming along nicely and I've just split for the sleeves. Lately, I have been sewing more then knitting but, I always have to have a knitting project to turn to. It is always good for me to hand sew, embroider, knit and slow myself down during the day and something I always turn to at the end of the day before I turn off the light.

mint chocolate chip

She tried on a new skirt I made last night and with what she had on it reminded me of mint chocolate chip ice cream a little.
It was a fun project with the pleats and pocket detail in the side panels. The peony is from our yard. I'd like to make the coordinating blouse once I decide on a fabric for it.



I also finished up a pair of pink chambray puppet show shorts (she has 3 pairs now) a few days ago which she loves and then she did a bit of playing in the water with them outside. I also got to stand in that little basin and get my toes splashed. My squealing producing giggles and more splashing. The shorts of course are soaked now.

Both patterns are Oliver & S.

heather ross mini quilt

What do seahorses, unicorns, mermaids, garden gnomes, banana seat bicycles, the ice cream truck, snails, tadpoles, birthday parties, octopus, nesting dolls and wild horses have in common?

Heather Ross.

Youthful, energetic, magical... the stuff of dreams, summer and youth turned into a small quilt.This block is called flying geese and I took a deep breath and gave it a go. I still have quite a lot to learn about quilting. Squares, rectangle shapes are a bit more straightforward and what I am used to so there are some little imperfections here and there but, I still love it. Mostly it's about perfect cuts and I should have alloted a tiny bit more space at the top when I made the blocks so the top of the triangles showed on all. One learns by doing, right?



Fabrics are all Heather Ross with a few solids mixed in for good measure and white cotton. They are from a few different collections. She has a new collection coming out soon which S has declared her love for. She threw back her head, smiled and said "love it" when I showed it to her.

The size is about 20" x 28." Perfect for dollies or hanging on the wall. Would you believe it if I told you that Ms. S has pointed out all the pink sections for me?

Some close-ups of the fabrics

feedsack dress

I really like the prints of old feedsack fabrics and someday hope to start a collection. I have only this one in my stash and I've been holding out for about a year or so. It's been begging to be turned into a dress. It was still stitched up as a feedsack when I purchased it. I wished I had photographed it before so you could have seen the stitching.

I liked the idea of making a sundress- something casual and carefree. I made the seam binding so it would match though the pattern suggests store bought I liked this look much better. The drop waist is cinched using seam binding sewn inside and elastic. I made size 3 and the pattern is this one View D. It should fit Ms. S next summer and perhaps this one too but, I haven't yet tried it on her.

ladybug picnic dress

Daddy's shirt had a rip in the elbow. What better excuse to re-use/recycle and make a little girl's dress. I remember when I bought this shirt for Mick. It was years ago and I was assisting a prop stylist and running around NYC picking out clothes for an ad shoot. This shirt caught my eye. I always have loved plaid.

There are quite a few tutorials out there for refashioning men's shirts into little girls dresses but, I didn't use one for this just took some measurements and cut and sewed.

A few jellybeans helped Ms. S agree to do this shoot...getting her to model these days isn't always easy and when I try to take photos outside she runs away from me giggling. Oh, two year olds...so funny.

a milo of her own

A little vest named Milo. The pattern is here and was a nice easy knit. I used very soft alpaca by Classic Elite. I only had 2 skeins and used all of it. I wished I had not made mittens from the other so I could have made it a bit longer as I had to eliminate a few inches off the bottom. A size smaller needle in the straps/garter section I think would help with sizing. Hopefully it fits a few months down the road. I think it will.




Today, we cut lily of the valley and brought them inside. The house smells amazing. We also made tiny bouquets for M's teachers tied with yellow yarn. The other children brought beautiful store bought flowers but, I think there is something extra special about ones from your own yard.