baby oobee

Baby Oobee instantly became a hit at the house. The minute I took it out S grabbed it and immediately it became a new friend. She puts it to bed every night by her bed and carries it around with her pink elephant (another one of her babies). It even became a hit with my boy so a second Oobee was made.

I used a really nice Japanese lawn, a little Denyse Schmidt and a special Heather Ross birthday print for the fabrics and the organic cotton fleece fabric for the Oobee which is so nice. I added a double sided blanket.

The pattern is from Leslie and I won the copy on her blog.

shoofly quilt

Here are the blocks I showed previously being hand washed and line dried all pieced together.

I had 26 and I used 25 of them to make this quilt. The fabrics are old and the pieces are faded in some spots but, the colors and patterns are still so rich and look so great together that I just had to put them to use. They were hand pieced but, I used the machine to put them together.

The vintage blocks are from the 30's and 40's and I won them on ebay for $36 in 2008. I knew I saved my emails for a good reason. I backed it in white cotton and tied with red embroidery floss. The binding is the only part I regret. I should have used a wider binding. I wanted brown and I had some brown store bought binding so I went with that but, it was a pain to hand sew to the back because there was only a scant amount to work with.

It measures 45" x 45" and if my research proves correct the pattern is called Shoofly.

felt ball trivets

Seen here are some felt ball trivets I made on Tuesday. I only owned one trivet and this has become a issue when having gatherings at the house. I like these simple and pretty solutions found via the Purl Bee and the tutorial is very simple to follow.
It's so dark in the house today so I took them outside for their photo. All the rain has been so good for the garden. The humidity though I could do without.

silk cardigan

A child's cardigan knit in pure silk by Rowan. The color is called Bliss and the pattern name is Daffodil.
The little ruffle edges are what sold me on the pattern. A perfect special occasion knit and so incredibly soft and full of drape.
This color I find myself drawn to a lot lately and it shimmers in the silk.

storybook tunic

This is a version of the free Oliver & S popover dress.
Yes, I didn't read the directions correctly and realized after that some pages are printed portrait and some landscape. It came out more like a tunic or short dress but still cute after some of my own changes because well it looked wrong and some alterations needed to be done to the pattern specifically with the armholes. I thought it looked short...

I used Far Far Away II: Moon and Stars and Owl and the Pussycat in Berry by Heather Ross. The material is 80% cotton and 20% linen. Some vintage purple ric rac between the two.

I will definitely be sewing this pattern again printed and sewn correctly and in a more drapey fabric
This one though is cute too.

lavender shortbread

Some lavender shortbread was made on Monday. Our lavender is in bloom and I always am so happy to see it come to life as there are so many great ways to use it. This is the first time I baked with it and have been wanting to experiment with herb shortbread for a few years and am happy that I finally did. There are so many interesting herbs to try out with this recipe in the garden. Since you use them dried this is a good project to try out when you have the time since herbs have such a long lifespan in the garden.

I based my recipe on this one but, did not use lemon zest or mint. I did add a splash of homemade lemonade (this is why I had no lemons) and also added a teaspoon of rosewater and a teaspoon of vanilla.

They came out delicious and are even better the day after. The little burst of lavender is really nice and not at all overpowering.

Edit to add: I forgot to tell you that for the last minute I sprinkled on some superfine sugar and that this recipe with the small heart shape yielded about 50 pieces.

vintage quilt blocks

Two or three years ago I acquired a collection of quilt blocks and they have just been sitting in the craft room. I thought about separating them into various projects- framing and hot pads were a few ideas that came to mind but, I am now thinking maybe they should stay together. So, I plan on sewing most of them into a quilt.

Today i am washing and drying them and will inspect to see what other spots I need to tackle and then most likely repeat this process once more.




What types of projects, if any, have you made with old quilt blocks? I would love to hear about it.

#3 outfit based on a watercolor/collage

It has been a year since I worked on this series but, I didn't forget about it.
I came up with a plan to work on a collection of girl's outfits based on a painting. I'm still not ready to reveal the artist.





This dress is the second in the series and I used a pattern from 1973. It is the same exact one I used for the other dress which was in orange. What is sort of fun about it is this is the year the artist died and it's also the year a certain someone was 3 and would have worn this size. Can you guess who?

It is made of purple linen in a medium weight just like the other one.

I love the pinafore ruffle style on the bodice and the wide sash that ties in a bow in the back. Those are some ruffles, right?

This project may take me a long time but I do hope to complete it someday and in my dreams have little girls modeling them and in the right setting as in the painting. Hmmm, we will see.

Here are # 1 and # 2

hopscotch

Ms. Scarlet learning hopscotch at the park and wearing a vintage plaid dress. Did you play hopscotch growing up? I loved it. We had a big courtyard at the grammar school on my block when I was a kid and I could play for hours

I am doing lots of gardening, strawberry picking and general running around this week. School ended for her which was 2 mornings a week and next week it will end for M.
More soon.

-Thanks for all the nice comments about the quilt.

city weekend plus quilt

I finished this quilt the other night which means I completed my goal to finish two quilts this Spring.
This quilt was a great experience that taught me a lot and showed me just how much more I need to learn.
With a design such as this one which I made up as I went along but, had lovely help figuring out how to make the blocks you can easily see how important each minute detail from exact cutting to exact sewing works out in the end.
I need to be more precise even when I think I am being diligent there is still room for improvement. That said I think it's really nice and I am proud that I made it.

I quilted along the sewing lines known as 'in the ditch' and used a lightweight batting. This makes a nice blanket and the bright coordinated color scheme of the City Weekend collection makes a fun happy summer quilt.

I talked about the quilt here and here

pansies and geraniums.

Yesterday I took some time to pick a few flowers for pressing. I love this simple way of remembering the pretty petals that were growing in the garden. Do you press flowers? What do you like to make with them?

fifi dress

Happy June!

I saw this fabric as a similar little top made during the Kids Clothes Week Challenge and wanted to use it for a dress. I immediately fell in love with the sweet polka dotted kitties. Last night I put together a very simple little pattern and made it in about an hour.


You will notice 'bumpy' the turtle in one of these photos. This is the turtle baby that S gave birth to yesterday shortly after she married her brother. She was of course wrapped up in a hello kitty blanket with enough blanket left for a train. She is completely obsessed with the you tube videos of Prince William and Catherine's wedding. After the wedding M decided that a flight to Japan was just way too long so they retreated to S's bedroom and shut the door for their honeymoon while I folded laundry. I am told by M that she rubbed his eyebrow while he asked her not to. People, I can not make this stuff up. All in all it was a comical day. And, I was happy to end it with making her this sweet dress because the minute she saw it this morning on my bedroom chair she had to put it on and what better reward is that. All the outfits I have made lately have been being worn and are getting good use now that summer weather is here.