plaid poncho

To say I like capes and poncho would be an understatement. I really love them.
Here is a design I came up with the other day for children. I hope to make a few up for the shop.

Edit to Add: I added two to the shop.

angostura

It's finally finished. I mean I feel like I have been working on this a long time but, really it was about a month. I know I didn't tell you about it so for you it's brand new.

I should preface this by saying I don't wear vests but, this one! Well, I really fell for the design.

What is embarrassing about it is that it's a bit too long so the two cables that are supposed to hit at the waist don't. Especially embarrassing because the book it hails from is all about getting your sweater to fit right. I measured though the one measurement I didn't take underarm to waist is where the problem came up. I swatched and went down one needle size. I had a hunch when I was knitting the back which is done first but, then I measured and it wasn't off by that much. I now realize I should have taken that hunch and skipped quite a few rows. I am of average height 5'4 1/2" but I have a short waist and most likely a short upper body.

Okay, so after all that explaining I can still say I will wear it. A friend suggested wearing it with a leggings. I'm contemplating trying to shrink it in the dryer. What do you think? I really just need to shrink the top above the cables. Making things by hand takes patience and trial an error and the lesson I learned with this is to listen to my inner voice because if I did that it would have been perfect. I also think I could have gone down one size which I often find with sweater patterns with the exception of a few designers like Ysolda.

The wool I used is Quince and Co. Lark in Peacoat. I'm really happy I chose navy. You can see more photos of what this looks like on Ravelry or Ysolda's blog.

apple picking

A last minute decision trip to the apple orchard yesterday. We picked Golden Delicious, Jonamac, Jonagold and Macoun.
We will be back for more. We go to this place



Pictures from other apple picking adventures...here, here and here

Oh my goodness..one more here

celebration dress

Do you know what my little girl decided? My silly little 3 1/2 year old.

She decided to stop sucking her thumb 9 days ago and hasn't done it since. I am so impressed because she made the decision and the self control she has exhibited is astounding.

She usually sucked her thumb in the car, to go to bed, when she was nervous or watching tv but, no more. Not even once.

In honor of this incredible achievement I made her a new dress. The first few days she got coins but since has forgotten them. There was also a balloon one day.

Go Scarlet.

Her dress was made from a remnant I picked up at an antique store and is black with the sweetest bouquets of flowers.
I made the pattern myself. Should have ironed it before I took these, huh?

into the woods satchel

A satchel for Matty was made since he loves collecting and we no longer want to find acorns in the washing machine from his pockets;)

Plus now we can have room for rocks. He brought home at least 10 rocks and lots of leaves from our walk in the woods the other day.

I used denim and lined it in a rusty orange and white dot cotton. I measured him for the strap and then as an afterthought decided to sew on a yellow felt leaf.

The smile on his face when I gave it to him made me melt. I love when simple things like this make my children so happy. Also, how giddy and full of life they become in the woods which we are lucky to have close by.

leopard print

Mother and Daughter Faux Fur Leopard Print collars.
Can I tell you how fun these were to make....so fun!
I already had the faux leopard and hooray for a day cool enough to wear a cardigan.

She was just as excited as I was about these and not only did I point the camera at her



but she got to point it at me.



"No, Mom, smile"




I think the photos together were her favorite.




No pre-styling or prep (hello messy hair, no makeup)

I decreased the size on the pattern a tiny bit for hers and the pattern is this one and it's free.

By the way, just look at those curls. Sigh.



Do you need a brunette and a blonde to star in your next movie? Ha ha.

What are you up to this weekend?

Mick and I are going to our friends Carolyn and David's wedding tomorrow and can I just say how excited I am. It's going to be amazing. Whee!

floral

I had a bit of an unplanned sewing spree this past weekend. I also succeeded in messing up what was an earlier attempt to clean my sewing room (ahem).

Anyway, I have been wanting to sew up some Fall/Winter clothes for Ms. S and discovered I had enough of the Liberty Cord from this dress to sew up a skirt.



Then I got distracted from clothing and decided to sew up some totes and made matching totes for my girl and I. Hers is to carry her ballet clothes (first day of ballet after summer break is today) and one for me to carry my knitting with me. The one shown is hers and it's a bit smaller then mine with shorter straps naturally. I had some blue upholstery weight corduroy like material I picked up several years ago to use for the base and since I was feeling flowery I paired it with this beautiful cotton seersucker Japanese print. Since the print was lighter in weight I first had to back it with a cotton so it would be sturdy and hold up to the wear since it is at the bottom of the bag and also work with the weight of the other fabric. I also used this print on a chair this summer in fact it is the one I am sitting in to type this up.

There is one more set of match items I made for us two girls and I will show them soon but she is up to something sneaky right now and I must run. She says she is doing 'nothing' which usually means 'something.'

hot air balloon

S and I are really into this book right now called The Secret Circus..
In the story there is a very tiny circus that only the mice know how to find and on the cover there is a hot air balloon flying around Paris with mice in the basket. The artwork in this book is wonderful and the whole vintage feel of old Paris comes through in the illustrations.

It got me thinking about trying to sew a hot air balloon to hang in her room. I feel like I may have seen something like this one sewn up before and figured it would be easy enough so I drew up the pattern quickly for the shape and then sewed them all together leaving one side open to stuff and then hand sewed it up. The basket is connected with fishing line and I sewed some line to the top for hanging as well.

Well, it wasn't as easy as I thought to get it just right but, now that I have tried it I could see where I could tweak it and a few slight changes I would make. I weighted it with a smooth stone at the bottom.

little girls western style

I knew it was going to be too big but, then second guessed because it is a loose style. I am referring to the dress from Little Girls Western Style by Yuki Araki.
I didn't realize when I cut it out but when I started sewing it a few months ago I knew so it sat.
I kind of figured this was a trial dress from the beginning not because it is hard to sew but because I believed I would need to alter the pattern which is in Japanese which you know makes it harder because I don't know the language. What I wished afterwards was that I didn't serge the seams because I think I could work with it.
I had already narrowed the sides but it looks like they could get narrower and the apron wrap needs to come up higher. Oh, and a few inches need to be cut off the bottom.
Hmmm, maybe I should just start from the beginning again and save this one for later.

red riding cape

I have known for a year that this Halloween S would wear my handmade Red Riding Hood Costume from the 1970's which was a handmade crochet hat and poncho by my Nana and sewn gingham skirt made by her or my Mom. I love that the skirt has two sets of snaps so it could be worn as the child grows.

What I didn't predict was that my daughter would say - "where is the hood?" She is called Little Red Riding Hood.

So, out came Little Things to Sew by Leisl Gibson. I had the red melton wool, some sweet wildflower cotton for lining and the perfect wood button. So, why not? And now we have two options or we can wear it all, which she most likely will as lately she combines fairy wings with polar bear costumes and puts bunny rabbit costumes over all her regular clothes.

Now, who do you think is going to be the Big Bad Wolf, Grandma and the Hunter?

old city, philadelphia

After Terrain we stopped by Old City, Philadelphia for a spell.

We walked along Elfreth's Alley.


Stroll down Elfreth's Alley's historic cobblestones, and step back into America's past. Located in the heart of Old City Philadelphia, Elfreth's Alley is a block-long street that opened in 1702 connecting two blacksmiths' shops near Philadelphia's busy waterfront with Second Street, one of the growing colony's busiest thoroughfares.

You can read about the history here and see pictures of the homes of our nation's oldest residential street. I loved all the history here and the homes were beautiful. Very inspirational.

As we were leaving my boy lost his second tooth which was very exciting as the tooth has been loose for a few weeks now. He was so happy to have it out. Here he is running along after it came out.



We then stopped in at Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction to see The Reverand's Rhuby exhibit which I thoroughly enjoyed. I bought a purple white and brown horsehair bracelet here for seven dollars that I haven't taken off since.





I would love to come back and explore old city more. I really wanted to go inside the Betsy Ross home but, it was closed when we walked by.

terrain

Yesterday we took a drive to Terrain in Glen Mills, PA and then a little side trip to Philadelphia.












Here I am sporting the Nadinoo Untie Me Dress. I am usually a little shy about showing photos of myself but I am feeling brave today.




On September 1st we celebrated our 10 year anniversary but really didn't get to do anything that day and had decided a family day trip for the weekend would be fun. I had been wanting to visit Terrain and it was even more dreamy then I had thought. After browsing around for a while at all the beautiful plants and flowers we had lunch at the cafe. This was such a treat as we were served in style a organic local meal in an antique greenhouse. We ordered the cheese plate with fruit, honey, preserves and jams, tomato corn risotto balls, melon risotto and a heirloom tomato mozzarella salad with mint pesto. The water is served in ball jars and the table centerpiece was flowers inside a small log.The kids had a grilled cheese and a macaroni and cheese. The setting inside was so beautiful. We were too full to get dessert.








We then explored the cheese and honey festival going on there and the kids got honey sticks. M and I tried some great liquor- I had Root and he had Snap from Art in the Age. We plan to buy some at some point.







The home store was also a treat and we purchased a few things. I missed a lot of amazing shots in the home store. There was so so much to see. We came home with a glass vessel for a future terrarium, a fog linen placemat, a striped linen tablecloth and the most wonderful peach and white dot organic Japanese towel. I was pining after many other things. Oh, and we also bought a few cotton twigs.

I was pretty smitten with this cast iron apple pot and it is going on my want list.



I really could have gone crazy here because the style matched my personality so well. I was sad to leave without any plants other then one tiny moss for the terrarium but, I want to plot out a bit more what I want before I impulsively buy. I didn't take as many photos as I would have liked but, it was difficult to concentrate on photography with the kids and basically just being in awe forgot but, I hope this shows a tiny bit of the story of Terrain.

I almost forgot there was face painting and the kids got to see a fuzzy orange caterpillar and a preying mantis here.


I will show a few images from our small pit stop in Philadelphia in the next post.