angry chicken

the proof (as they say. . .)

Summer pudding, (thanks to my mother-in-law, who made this delectable dessert from Ina's recipe)

With the whipped cream.

Have you all heard of this dinner delivery thing as a way to help out families with new babies? A friend set this up for us. . . she e-mailed a list we gave her of friends and family about 6 weeks before baby was due, asking if they would be wiling to bring us dinner after baby comes. The e-mail had food info (like no meat, and nothing frozen, you can customize to your heart's content) and when to drop off (like between 3-6pm)

Then, after Lydia was born, she e-mailed out a list with dates, every other day, and people signed up next to a date and replied all. It was amazing! After a flurry of e-mails, within a 1/2 hour we had dinner scheduled every other night for over a month! (Reply all is key here.)

It's not just the Cuban black beans and rice, 3 lasagnas, pesto pasta salad, falafel with a quinoa salad, ginger tofu with veggies, French silk pie, this amazing lemon pasta dish (again from Ina), multiple ice cream cartons, heavenly salads, fruits and berries, Thai food from the best take-outs, brownies, raspberry tarts. . . that all has been amazing to eat (and eat and eat) but it's the visits and the effort that have meant to much to us.

Knowing that people were making dinner for us, for our family, and then coming over to hold Lydia and feed us-- it has been priceless. We have been so grateful and so moved by all this generous effort. Most visits don't even last 10 minutes, just a drive by and a kiss for our wee one, lots of times kids are waiting in the car. . . We have been totally speechless and it's hard to even know how to thank everyone.

I can't recommend this enough-especially for anyone with more than one child, in lieu of a baby shower. (We sure don't need more stuff!) It was so great when friends asked what they could do to help a few months back, and I could tell them about the dinner list. They felt happy they could help in a concrete way, and I felt so happy I could say "yes, actually you CAN help me." What a concept. Thank you friends and family, so much.

book report.

It's so cool to see Bend-the-Rules Sewing have a life of its own over on flickr. Everyday projects made from the book are being uploaded to the group and I just can't believe my eyes! What makes me the happiest is that so many different projects are being made, not just the same one or two. Makes me so proud, man! Check out this fetching placemat and napkin set made by Meg. (That plate!) She wrote a really sweet review of the book on her blog, too. Thanks, Meg!

And look at her take on the Cat Tuffet in a Basket--total genius. A metal tub!

And more about the book. . .the Simple Tote made it into the newest issue of Bust. The article features fashions all made from patterns in new craft books. It's several pages and worth a check out for sure. And, I just got word that Bend-the-Rules Sewing is on it's second printing now. Whoo-hoo! Thanks you guys!!

I am almost done with the re-issue of the bonnet pattern (the sold out patterned from Mailorder) so I will have that available again in a few weeks. Thanks for your patience on that one. I might sell it as a pre-order because I have no clue as to how many to print. Would you all be cool with a pre-order sale on it?

cupcakes and dresses.

I just got the new Good Things for Kids from Martha. I have all the old MSL Kids magazines, under lock and key, so I really like it when they do these best of issues because I really use them--I get all weird about the actual magazines and don't like to leave them out.

This lollipop cupcake (image from the website) kills me. The recipe is on the site. So much is on the MSL site! I could spend days there. We are already thinking about Sadie's big 5th b-day in the fall, so the timing of this party themed issue couldn't be better. And here's a plea to bring back the actual Kids magazine, please!!

And thinking about Fall clothes, the new Miniboden came to the house last week and I want this outfit. For me.  Oh, I mean for Sadie. But I need to get her out of the pjs and the life vest first. There are great sewing ideas in here, I always save the catalog for that reason. I actually have never ordered from them before, but the clothes seem well made-are they? Anyone know?

but I can still shop. . .

Things have been good around here. . .but hard. Like in that "When am I going to take a shower?" hard. Or actually planning a time to go to the bathroom, hard. I had forgotten how urgent a baby is. Very. And then add 2 more kids under 5. . . wow. But, somehow, I still can browse on the computer. Some tasks are so impossible (like sewing or talking to any other adult ever with kids in the room) but a bit of quiet surfing? It seems to work out fine. hmmm. These yellow flats are mine now thanks to a 10 minute surf yesterday. After seeing the yellow shoe love around the last few months, I got on the yellow shoe train too, and it's smooth ridin' ya'll.

About twice a year I comb through the sales at maxstudio online. Unreal. If only I had a place to wear this stuff. Most of the knits are too fine a gauge and just not really practical for me, but the sale prices are so good, it's so very tempting. I love this sweet sweater. This color I love is guaranteed to look atrocious on me, however.

This lovely blouse. . .stain potential is huge here, but I still love it. Not the best nursing shirt, now that I look at it again. But I could save it! (Rationalizing strong and deep, here.)

I did buy this summer blouse cause, dang. It's just too good. Okay, back to the chaos.

summer-type fun

I'm not sure why I waited until this year the plant our first cutting garden. We have always been veggie/herb/perennial obsessed (especially grasses) but I thought it might but fun to have some flowers this year to cut and play with. . . . . it was a great idea because we just let the girls have scissors and buckets and they go to town. They water and weed away and then arrange the flowers in vases. They can never cut too many because the flowers are growing like gangbusters, its awesome. They really do weed and water with little watering cans. So cute it hurts. This is all usually performed in the favorite outfit of the week, which right now is winter pajamas with life vests over the top, buckled "tight."

Dead bird. We took photos so it would be easier not to "save" it.

Delia's arrangement.

Blueberry muffins from Ina's book. Yummy. My changes; I used canola oil, not butter, and yogurt, not sour cream.

lots of love, cozy style.

I was worried (because I have to worry about something) a few months back about not having enough handmade love for Lydia when she was born. You may recall the started, but not finished, crocheted blanket, or the started, again not finished, orange and white quilt. . . .which I didn't even get far enough on to blog. Why was I even worried? Who knows. Of course Lydia has been showered with handmade love and thoughtful gifts since day one. This amazing vintage quilt was sent to her by Sarah. (And yes, I now forgive her for washing it 3 times even though it is hand-pieced and entirely hand sewn!!)

      

It's a Cathedral Window quilt and Grammie and I freaked when we saw it. It's rare to find them this big, because they take so long to make. We think it's a 1970s piece in a vintage style. Truly stellar.

Lydia was wrapped up right away in this precious scalloped baby blanket hand-knit by my mother-in-law. It's in a super soft cotton and she sleeps under it everyday, and she will cherish it, as do I.

I will post the pattern details when I get them from her. I love this blanket so much, and the lavender color is perfect for Miss Liddy.

And from Grammie, a quilt, of course. One of several to come, I'd imagine. This one was made with a fabulous cheater cloth she found with repro feedsack prints (So, the deal with cheater cloth is that this quilt is actually not pieced, the fabric comes with the pattern printed right on the cloth, dig?)  The machine quilted trapunto is so flippin' cool. I will show how to do this soon-or at least photograph Grammie doing it. You will freak out when you see how easy it is. You do need to be able to free-motion quilt, but that's about it. Of course Grammie makes everything look easy, so I might be totally high, here. I will try it and report back.

If/when I get specific info on that cheater cloth print I will post it in the comments. More love and gifts have been received in the mail and keeps coming. . .I am so thrilled and thankful. . .I will show and tell more soon. Oh, it just makes me get all Hallmark when I see this stuff. sniff-sniff.

clothes sewing freakout.

I have had an itch to sew some summer clothes like all get-out. I boldly (in denial about the reality of my post-baby size) cut out 2 pairs of linen pants about 1 month ago, all ready to wear after miss Lydia came, and yeah. . . they didn't fit. And then. . . . still didn't fit. Now they fit. That linen stretches a lot, thank god. So, a pair of cropped dark brown and loden green linen pants are now done just in time for the hot days and for my need to get dressed in 2.5 seconds. I made a larger pair last week because I just couldn't deal with not having any--so now I have 3 pairs and they are all I'm gonna wear all summer. I refuse to buy sized clothes post-baby. At least I need to wait until fall. Also, can you believe what they are charging for linen elastic waist pants? I can't. Home sewn, I think these cost about $12 each. Way better, I'd say.

In between running out of elastic, I made this blouse over the weekend. There's a back story here. It's a short one. This fabric is by Nani Iro and I have been bugging Mariko about buying it from superbuzzy for about 2 months. Maybe more. I was trying to play it cool and not ask about it again, but then I did. I finally went over there and got it the day it went on sale last week after I had my spy tell me more about it. It's super soft, lightweight (double cotton gauze) and airy. Just lovely. I can't express how much it means to me to have this fabric. The repeat is huge and the design looks like watercolor. It's hard to photograph, but trust me. You can see it on me in this horrible out-of-focus photo here, with a crying baby. I can sew all weekend, but can't take a photo that requires 2 adults-that's how it goes.

Some details:
-here's the blouse pattern I used. I added elastic to the sleeves on this one.
-the width on this Nani Iro fabric, after washing, is just over 36", so buy extra.
-it's not cheap, think of this as an anthropologie type fabric, this blouse took 2 yards, which made it about $38 to sew. . . which is still amazing in my book when I look at this fabric.

And speaking of sewing clothes, I have an interview up with Sister Diane over at CraftyPod all about sewing clothes. It's about 30 minutes long and Diane's silky smooth voice and great music always makes me smile. Thanks Diane!

oh, how we love them babies.

I snagged this drawing Sadie did about 2 months ago and saved it for Lydia's birth announcement. Soon after she heard I was pregnant she added "mama's baby" to all her family drawings, which was so delightful. (And this also made me more worried, in my morbid way, that something bad would happen. I know that's sounds horrible, but that's the way I am, I can't help it.)

So, I made the announcements (and of course, nothing bad happened) and this is the front. I got them printed here. I added the blue background via photoshop. Sadie is so proud, she freaked when the box of them all came.

Here's the flip side. Sadie gets art credit on the side there.

I know I am not the only one geeking out on the new Blueprint, specifically the beautiful alphabet poster by Binth that was shown in the impossibly chic baby shower spread. Oh, that cool baby stuff makes me crazy. Sort of in a good way, but sort of in a bad way, too. It's a fine line for me between things being too design-y/cool/modern for babies & kids and not being over the top cute. Very hard balance. And now there is so much new baby gear out there, good thing we are all hand-me-downs here now, so I am not even tempted. (Or agitated by the impossible prices.) Except for that poster. They have individual letters also, which might be the ticket. Less shipping damage potential too.

cobbler vs. dinner and other stuff

The cobbler won. I'd show the cobbler and the dinner-but this is all I can come up with. I realize taking photos of anything other than this cobbler, the one here in the apple suit, just isn't happening. We went berry picking yesterday and got a ton of berries (only about 20 minutes of picking, the rest we bought picked for us, you know how it goes) and made the best raspberry/blackberry cobbler ever, which is what I had for dinner. I think Pete had an actual dinner, and then cobbler, but not me.

My brain is in list-y mode, here's a few things:

1. Run, don't walk, over to Fred Flair and vote for Miss Sarah, of the small object for the Next Big Thing. We only have until Friday to vote and she deserves it, man.

2. Please take a gander over at the Bend The Rules flickr group!! There are so many projects up there, it just warms my heart. There have been some dimension omissions/typos noticed in the book (drats!!) and some great tips and helpful hints e-mailed to me (hooray!) and this flickr group is a great place for all that, so take a peek. I was just alerted to an error in the width of the Simple Tote handles (um-yeah, it's supposed to be 3" wide not 13") so head on over to get the latest news and show and tell.

3. Justine and Nikki-Shell are taking pre-orders for their zine, Mix Tape, and it looks very cool (The cover!!) I got mine in this morning.

4. Kathy, over at Pink Chalk Studio has a crazy/beautiful table runner up, very inspiring, complete with helpful how-to's. She also is selling a pattern in her shop.

small quilts on small beds

This amazing vintage doll bed collection belongs to Swedish artist Magdalena Ljung, who meticulously makes doll quilt, sheets, and pillows (!!) out of vintage remnants and materials for each of the beds.

My mind is racing about doll quilts again. Not only do I need to make more (with sheets and a pillow) but I really want an old doll bed now. Yikes!! Do I really need to get wood tools? Perhaps. More photos in the Quilt Mania #58 magazine. This magazine is French, but you can find it here in the US, I got mine at Borders.

a few things

So. . .3 girls. I found myself revisiting The Little Fashion Gallery, and found this dress. Holy Moly, Good Lord. The color, the embroidery, I really just about lost it when I saw this. I am making baby-brain crazy rationalizations like, if I get it for Sadie, then all 3 girls can wear it. And the fact that they are having a HUGE sale right now isn't helping, I am also in love with this top here, which is also on sale. Ack!

And I did get my hands, for real this time, on The Dangerous Book For Boys book I posted about last week and I love it. A whole lot. Yes, it's for boys, but so much of it translates for girls (Except maybe the part about advice for talking to girls, which is quite sweet, really.) It's just a great reference manual to have in the house. And anything with secret codes and decoder rings gets an A in my book, obviously. I was thrilled I knew a lot of the info in there already, sometimes these types of books can be so humbling, realizing how much you forget.

The Tie One Gallery-The Pocket is up. Please check it out, once again, the submissions are awesome. And the new theme for July/August is up as well. Thanks to Pete and Grammie for all the help last week and this week, so I could do this gallery, read trashy books, nurse, and take a whole lot of naps. . .I am on baby vacation and I love it.