lace ruffle tunic

It would not be inaccurate to say that I have been a bit of a sewing fool lately. Maybe it’s just me, but it feels like there’s been an avalanche of incredible patterns, tutorials, and ideas coming out of the woodwork on blogland and Flickr lately (must do a tutorial/idea roundup soon). All of that gets me to feeling really motivated to do a lot of sewing, so recently that’s kind of all I’ve been doing at night.

Remember the other day when I went to Jo Ann and bit off a bunch of stuff? I am so glad that Stitch Magazine was one of those things, because it is so much fun to chew on. It’s worth every penny.

This top is from the most recent issue — the lace ruffle tunic, to be exact. There are so many reasons why I love this top — it is modest (even when a baby pulls at the neckline), comfy, feminine, practical, and the pattern is really well-written, though it runs a wee bit big, even after taking it in an inch on each side. I made it in size small, which is usually about accurate (sometimes I wear medium, sometimes small), but next time I would make it in extra-small. And I will make it again, in one form or another — it seems like a great base pattern that can go in so many different directions.

About the black and white skirt — my awesome ex-fashion designer sister in-law Bev had an awesome idea: give the eye somewhere to rest by adding a band of solid black to the bottom. Ingenious, I tell you. I’ll get back to you about that.

Also, a juicing update — 1 apple + 4 carrots + 1/2 bulb fennel + 1 handful spinach = to die for. So, so good.

I have been working on my Etsy shop photos. I’ve only had time to do a few items so far, and I feel fairly weird about putting photos of myself in there, but I guess you do what you gotta do. If you have a chance to hop over, let me know what you think!

courtney’s girls

THANK YOU for your sage fashion advice, everyone! The common consensus is that the yellow skirt is good, and the black skirt would be good with a black top and/or a colorful accessory or two. I hadn’t thought of the accessory thing, so this is good.

As promised (because I know you’ve all been waiting with baited breath), here are the skirts for Courtney’s sweet family. Courtney and I were in the same church congregation growing up; she was a few years ahead of me in school, but her sister Lauren and I are the same age. Courtney often drove us to school from early-morning seminary, and we also did the Oakland Temple Pageant together one summer. Now she has three cute girls (and a fourth on the way)! Needless to say, I was thrilled when she approached me about making some coordinating-but-not-matchy skirts for herself and her girls. She wanted them all to be different colors, and for them all to involve stripes in some way.

First, there were daisies for the baby…

Butterflies for the middle child…

Blue and purple bouquets for the oldest (if you feel like you’ve seen this one before, you’re right)…

And a meadow of serenity for the mama (complete with maternity-compatible waistband)!

That meadow print just kills me. And look how cute together!

It was so much fun to create these skirts with you, Courtney — I can’t wait to see pictures of them on your sweet family!

calling all fashion police

So I found this top at Target that I absolutely love. The only problem is that I don’t have a skirt to match it (I know, my life is sooo complicated). Jean shorts are fine, but it is already way too hot to wear anything but skirts! So, thanks to the 20-Minute Skirt tutorial over at Ruffles and Stuff (add that one to your reader; I swear that woman is a tutorial machine), I cranked out two (two!) skirts during naptime today — one in yellow linen, one in an old sheet.

I really like the yellow one and will wear it with other stuff, but the black and white one — I’m not so sure. For one thing, I don’t usually wear clothes that are quite that bold. For two, I’m worried that it’s just too much. For three, I’m worried that I look like an escaped inmate.

They are true down-and-dirty skirts — I think their combined value is like $7 — the seams aren’t finished, and I didn’t measure anything but the hem — so you won’t hurt my feelings if you tell me that I should burn one of them. But for heaven’s sake, don’t tell me that I should burn both of them. I do have a little pride, you know.

So? What’s the verdict?

morning routine

We are suckers for routine around here. Exercising and juicing are two things that I really want to make a habit of, so it helps to make them part of the daily routine — something that everybody just expects. For the last few days, this is the way it’s been going: girls wake up, girls get dressed, girls eat breakfast, Mommy exercises, Mommy pauses the exercise video to tell the kids to share and stop yelling or you’ll have to go sit in your room and don’t push your sister, Mommy exercises some more, Mommy showers, Maren naps, Mommy and Lizzy make juice.

(Sorry for the blurriness.) Lizzy loves helping with the juicing, but she is not a fan of the juices themselves — and I can’t blame her, because they are pretty heady. I tried a new one this morning, and while I am positive that it was very good for me, I don’t think I will be making it again. The recipe is called I’m Feeling Beet. (Here’s a picture of these fab nesting containers I inherited from my mom. Aren’t they awesome??)

Anyway — the juice involved: 1 beet (including the leaves) + 2 carrots + 1 cucumber + 2 stalks of celery + 1 inch of ginger + 1 handful of parsley + 1/2 lemon. The beet leaves and parsley made the juice fairly spicy and tangy, which I didn’t really like. I have another recipe for beet-carrot juice (without the beet leaves) that I want to try before I write off beets completely. The pulp was very pretty, though.

We’ll see if I feel any less “beet” today (har, har). Actually I can’t complain — the girls (and I) slept in a whole extra hour this morning (woohoo!).

I’ll be back tomorrow to show off a custom order I’ve been working on — coordinating-but-not-matchy skirts for a mommy and her three girls!

why not?

I read a really inspiring post today on a new-to-me blog, Calico. The bottom line: Say yes! Too often, “no” is my immediate, knee-jerk response as a parent. It is totally lame, and usually totally selfish. And while I am a big believer in taking care of yourself as well as your children, saying yes so often makes everyone a whole lot happier!

Whew. Jumping on the baby’s bed sure burns some calories.

how to score

Vintage sheets, that is. I’ve gotten a few questions lately, so here we go…

There are a few vintage sheet hotbeds in the US where it’s just easier to find fab, funky sheets (the Seattle area is one of them — who knows why — maybe the housewives of the 1960s felt that bright, cheery sheets were a good escape from the rain?), but for the rest of us, finding funky vintage sheets can be tough. I have only been collecting for a year or so, but I thought I’d share some tips on how and where to score vintage sheets (and please feel free to chime in!).

Swapping
By far and away my favorite way to acquire sheets. There are a few ways to get involved in swapping. Evelyn hosts an organized swap on Swap-Bot every month (check out the June swap right here). This is a blind swap; in other words, you don’t have control over who your partners are or what you’ll receive, but that’s half the fun! If you prefer to know who you’re swapping with and want to know exactly what you’ll be getting in the mail, the Vintage Sheet Marketplace on Flickr is a great forum for arranging private swaps with other group members. You will need to submit a request to join the group, but Rachel is super nice and doesn’t bite. The Vintage Sheet Patchwork Swap group, also on Flickr, does a massive organized swap every so often as well. Jen’s Vintage Sheet Blog is also a super place to find out about upcoming swaps. Of course, in order to swap vintage sheets, you have to have vintage sheets in the first place! So, in order to get going…

Yard/Garage/Rummage/Estate Sales
Some are better than others. When I’m looking for sheets, I stay away from newer neighborhoods that are populated with young families (who are less likely to be selling off bed sheets from the 1960s and 70s). Truthfully, I haven’t had a lot of luck finding vintage sheets at yard or garage sales — but when I do, they are amazingly cheap (like ten cents apiece). I’ve had more luck at estate and church rummage sales, where older folks are more likely to be selling off their old sheets.

Thrift Stores
Like quirky great-aunts, thrift stores all have their own personalities; I couldn’t tell you why or how, but some get lots of great sheets, and others never have any at all (any theories there?). In my town, it’s been a matter of popping in for a quick check when I happen to be driving by (and everyone is in a well-fed, well-rested mood!), maybe once every couple of weeks. Usually there’s nothing, but sometimes I hit gold, and it’s totally worth the effort. When we first moved to our current town and I was exploring all the thrift stores, I stopped at an out-of-the-way Goodwill and came out with something like ten or fifteen sheets! I haven’t found anything there since then, so it’s like they’d all just been accumulating…waiting for a whacko like me to come and rescue them!

Buying Online
I’ve heard that Ebay is a good source for vintage linens, but the one time I’ve bought online, it was from Secret Cake on Etsy. There are some incredible sheets for sale on Etsy; just search “vintage bed sheets” and see what comes up! Of course you’ll end up paying more than you would in a thrift store, but if you have trouble finding awesome sheets and want a few more prints to make a fab quilt, you really can’t go wrong on Etsy. A few more great shops include JaneSays Vintage, Whimsie Dots, and SoSo Vintage.

I think that about covers it. Anything else?

healthifying

Last night R and I tried to get a last-minute babysitter, but failed. Then he had just about the best idea ever: “Let’s just lie around and play games and gorge ourselves on junk food.” Word.

It hasn’t been all junk food around here lately, though. Yesterday we blew some Macy’s gift cards we had on a fancypants juicer. I have been wanting a juicer for-ev-ah, but have had a hard time convincing R that we need one (I get an appliance itch every couple of years or so; R’s usual rebuttal is, “But dear, where will we put it?”). So far we have made carrot/apple/ginger juice and carrot/apple/cucumber/ celery/lemon juice, and both were delicious. I also used the juicer to juice the limes for my icebox key lime pie today, which was awesome. Check out that practically dry pulp!

Some more thoughts, in no particular order:

There are no words to describe how much I love Dave Matthews’ solo album, Some Devil. Every time it comes on Pandora, I rush over to the computer to see what on earth this awesome song is. This may need to be my next iTunes purchase.

I hate exercise. Hate. But my sweet friend Diane recommended the Turbo Jam videos, and I absolutely love them. I actually look forward to doing it every morning, and I feel awesome afterwards. It’s not like running or biking or any other number of exercise regimens where every moment I’m thinking to myself, “I hate this. I hate this. I hate this.” Love Turbo Jam. Except that I am a sucky dancer and am therefore can’t do it in front of R, even though he doesn’t care that I have no dance moves.

Have you seen the Swagger Wagon video? Seriously, if you have kids, and especially if you have a minivan (we don’t), you really need to see this. If you don’t pee your pants, you will think about peeing your pants. Here, I will even put it right here so you don’t have to go to another web site.

I leave you with some recent sewing for the Littlest Miss. It won’t fit properly until she starts walking full-time, but she is well on her way!

I used the Molly Peasant pattern with AMH Little Folks voile. I heart.

dear southern states:

We love the way you do Spring here.

love,
the girls & me.

the winners

Holy cow, you guys! 414 comments! That is definitely a Little Cumulus record! And speaking of cows –

Knock-knock.
Who’s there?
Interrupting cow.
Interr…
MMMOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

It’s the kind of thing that’s only funny unless it’s done out loud and to someone who is completely unsuspecting. Preferably a spouse who is tired, slightly sick of corny jokes, and is working on an OPORD way too late at night.

But that is neither here nor there. Congrats to comment number 391 — Danielle, who likes (and gets!) the Orange Flower hair clips, along with the rest of the loot! And congrats to Mary and Jennifer, both of whom submitted the winning bovine joke! Look for an e-mail from me later, you three.

If you didn’t win (and wanted to), look for a post in the next few days about how to hunt for vintage linens (I know they’re scarce in some parts of the US — not sure about other countries). We might even have a followup giveaway for those who are still hanging around (wink)! Big thanks to all for playing — and a big welcome to all our new readers — I’m so glad you’re here!

rolling in jokes

Well jeez, I’m starting to think I should start a joke blog with all the wisecracks you guys have been cracking around here! I mean, seriously –

Q: How do you make a tissue dance?
A: You put a little boogie in it.

Or how about this one –

Q: What do you call a sleepwalking nun?
A: A roamin’ Catholic.

Hee hee. I think we might need to have another prize for the best joke. If you haven’t submitted yours, there’s still time in the post below — I’ll be picking the winners tomorrow. Until then, here’s some happy little numbers I’ve got to show off –

I wish there were a few more hours in the day (don’t we all), because I need to make about four more of each of those — one for the shop, two for my girls, and one for me! Both were custom orders, with the fabrics chosen by the customers. Pretty picks, huh?

It’s naptime, which is a precious commodity around here, so I’m off. But before I go, I just had to tell you —

Q: What did the bolt of fabric tell his daughter when she threatened to run away to India?
A: “Go ahead…you’ll be sari.”

And this –

Two cups of yogurt walk into a bar. The bartender says, “We don’t serve your kind here.” One of the yogurts replies, “Why? We’re cultured individuals.”

And finally –

Q: Where did Napoleon keep his armies?
A: In his sleevies!

Thanks to Dana, Amy B, Desiree, Jess, and Angie for the quips! Be back tomorrow with winners!