spring chores

Clean closets
Change out winter clothes

These are the first two chores on the list in my planner this week. I know, it seems a little early, but really, it warms up quickly here, we've found, and once it's pleasant out I have a hard time committing to spending several days inside dealing with too warm clothes and too full closets.
It's not my favorite chore of the year but it's probably one of the more rewarding. If I could keep our closets clean all the time it wouldn't be such a big job, but all four of us tend to use closets to stow away things that we don't want to deal with, so twice a year or so I go through everything and "purge" and then I try (unsuccessfully, but still, I try) to keep them tidy and straightened. Usually this works for about two months and then we start stuffing again. Bad habit, but there it is.
Practically this chore means that our house will be a pithole of despair for the next week while the closets (and under the beds too, while I'm at it) get emptied and all the contents get put into piles: GoodWill, Storage, Trash/Recycling, Craigslist and Back in the closet. Then the stored clothes are pulled out and sorted before everything gets put away. It sounds like a big undertaking and it is, but it's not horrible. I usually put a story on my ipod or watch movies on my computer while I work, which makes it almost pleasant. Almost. (This time I'm listening to "My Life on an Allotment" which I suspect will hurry me up because it already has me chomping to get this done and get out into the garden).

The best part of doing this clean out is that it makes room for new things and so one of the things further down on the list this week is to tally up what clothes and shoes need replacing for each person. We're not talking huge shopping sprees here, but even replacing a pair of shoes here and a few shirts there is fun, always nice to have some new togs. :)

Do you do these big clean outs or are you more regimented through the year? I do pretty much a constant rotation of purging but even with that I need these larger, pull out the whole closet events to keep things really organized. Do you hate the chore or kinda like it? How do you handle the switch out of seasonal clothes?

need

For the third week in a row I've ended up actually going to the grocery store. If you know me at all you know that I'm obsessed with our local grocery delivery company Retail Relay and I almost never ever go to the grocery store apart from a quick trip to the small market downtown. I love Retail Relay but I'm on a fruit kick and the fruit I'm craving isn't really available, or at least not at my budget, through them, so to the grocery store I've gone. Yesterday Evie and I were trotting around the store using the self scanner (both my kids love these, it actually makes grocery shopping with them fun which may be why I've been willing to go lately) I kept having to haul up my cloth bags as they fell over, scrunched down and otherwise cause me grief. What I needed was one of these.

Seriously, brilliant.
I need them.

NEED THEM.

Wonder if I could make them actually.... Any thoughts?

to the library

The library in the small town I grew up in was just a few short blocks from our house. A straight shot down the street, but just far enough that you couldn't see one from the other. I have vivid memories of the place. The carpet, the smell of the books, the fact that I could check out only three books at a time and probably never left with anything less. We were frequent visitors, frequent enough that the children's librarian knew me by name. Knew me well enough, in fact, to give me little hints about the subject of the next story time so that I could dictate my own story on the subject to my mother, which the librarian would dutifully read to the crowd of children.

The one and only time in my life that I was returned to my parents in the care of the police was on a walk to the library. I had run ahead of my parents and then, unable to see them, I panicked and turned down an unknown street, frantically looking for help. I wasn't supposed to talk to strangers, which made sense in the safety of my house or the classroom but which seemed a little unhelpful once I was lost and everyone was a stranger. Although it had probably been less than a minute, I felt like it had been hours since I'd seen my parents and cursed myself for thinking that I could make it to the library by myself. Eventually (which was probably like, 30 seconds later but felt like eventually) I found a friendly policeman parked on the corner and tearfully told him my tale. Right about then my parents appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, to claim me. At the time I saw it as quite the drama, but now as a parent myself I have to wonder if I wasn't being taught a little lesson about running ahead.
Later, when I was about eight, the library moved across town to a newer, nicer building, and although we still went, it wasn't as often, and it never held quite the same place in my heart as the cramped but lovely old library. But I continued my love affair with libraries and books and have spent an inordinate amount of time in them over the years. I even found a little hidy-hole in the law library during my undergrad years that no one else seemed to know about and did all of my studying, and a good amount of sleeping, tucked away amongst the stacks.
Once a week Evelyn and I walk up the hill to the library for story time. Both my kids have been regulars at library story time since they were babies. Through all of our moves and all of the changes in our life as a family, heading to the library for a story and some fun has been a constant, no matter where we have been. The library here is wonderful, it has probably overtaken the spot in my heart for the library of my own childhood even. The librarians know our kids by name and have patiently, so patiently, helped Briton search out books for whatever subject interests him at the moment. Evelyn, who is notorious for bringing more things than she needs pretty much everywhere she goes and then leaving them behind, has had, at various times, a spot on the shelf behind the desk where whatever she has lost can sit until we come again.
Story time now means her heading up on her own with Miss Anne instead of a big group of moms and toddlers. It was, starting the week she turned three, the first time she got to taste Independence. The first without mommy activity and has continued to be her favorite time of the week. And for mommy, who gets 30 minutes of blissful, no housework, no work work, just sit in a quiet library and read or knit time, it's not so shabby either.
Our story time days are numbered, however. Next year she will be pouring over which book to bring home at school, under a different librarian's eye. She'll walk down the hall from her class instead of up the street from home. We'll still have library time, I don't think we could live without it, but it will be different. Much like when the library of my childhood moved. Just, different. For nearly nine years, across 5 states and two countries I have been to story time almost every week of the year. But come September...well, I wont think about that now. I might get weepy if I do.

lemon curdy goodness

We've had sort of a rough week around here with everyone dropping like flies with the stomach flu. Yesterday was really the only day that no one was sick (we're back on the sick wagon again today though with Briton down and out as of 6 am this morning) so I jumped at the chance of a quiet morning to for a) clean everything that the sickies touched and b) make some lemon curd in the newly cleaned kitchen.
The recipe I used this year is from Jam it, Pickle it Cure it which was given to me by my lovely friend Kim last year. Now before I go on with the lemon curd I'd just like to point out that buying me this book was very brave of Kim. She has, for more than 15 years now, been subjected to my culinary and crafting projects. Some successful, some not. And to be fair, she's been my co- conspirator in many of them (I think she has better memories than I of the Buche de Noel we made for French class in high school) and I've been her guinea pig often as well (she makes killer muffins!) But still, buying me a book that includes a recipe for making your own bacon, well, that's pretty daring. Because at some point I'm going to try it and make her eat some:) Even if she does live on the opposite side of the country (that's what Fed Ex is for!)
But back to the jam. I've tried a few recipes over the years, my favorite is one you make in the microwave (yes, really!) that my grandmother gave me ages ago. But alas, I have no microwave. And since the only things I really miss using a microwave for are warming up coffee (bad habit anyway) and making Lemon Curd and poppadoms, well, I don't think we'll be getting one anytime soon. So it was the stove top method for me. This recipe has you blend everything but the butter well before putting it on the stove which I liked a lot, I think it helped to keep the egg from curdling somehow. And it was also pretty fast once the lemons were squeezed. But the end result was a little too tart. Not bad tart, just not quite the sweetness I wanted. Maybe the lemons were extra sour, who knows. I think I may attempt a second batch when I've eaten up this one and adjust the sugar so I'll wait and post a recipe when I'm really happy with it.
And now I have to go and peel two dozen stickers off of the coffee table. Because when you are four and a half and you've been sick but are feeling better, well, naturally you are going to get into a little mischief, you have to prove that you're well, right?

What about you? What projects have you been up to this week? Anything fun?

leggings for a skinny minnie: a tutorial

So Evelyn has a pants problem. I can't even say pants, because pants she cannot wear. Never found a pair that fit her. Ever. It's really a leggings problem. Remember when I was grumbling about it last week? Well, when she once again wanted to wear leggings without a skirt this weekend I decided to try out my newly acquired lack of fear of sewing knit and try to make some.
(We both went down with the stomach bug yesterday so she wasn't feeling very modelish this morning)

I know there are leggings out there by the million, we just seem to have a proportion issue. Waist and bottom wise the girl, at nearly 5, is about an 18 month size, but length wise she's a 4T or even a 5T, which presents a problem. Occasionally I do find some that fit and aren't skinny at the ankles and then I buy a ton, but she's shot up another inch it seems so everything is now even shorter than it was. So miss tall and thin (I know, rough, I wish that was my problem) has bare ankles, which isn't so bad when it's 60 degrees out, but when it's back to 20 degrees after teasing you for a week with spring weather, well, bare ankles don't cut it.

So out came the sewing machine and I'll be honest, I think it might be just as fast to make a pair as it is to drive to Target and buy one, if they had any that fit. Which they don't. Because I just looked (again). Instead of making an elastic waistband for these I decided to use the folded waist instructions from the skating/yoga skirt that I wrote about here. You can find those original instructions at Sew Mama Sew but I'll repeat them below and explain how I used them in the leggings. These skirts have remained a favorite mostly because of the comfy waist I think, although Evie tends to wear it unfolded to cover her belly because she says it's cozy. Because of that I made two versions of the leggings, one with a folded waist and one without to see which she liked better. (So far the pink are winning out, but that may be because they are pink)

Skinny Minnie Leggings

Materials:

Knit fabric - measure the length of the leg and add a few inches to get the yardage. You want the stretch to go across the leggings, not down the length. For Evie, this was about 3/4 of a yard

Pair of leggings or pants that fit in the waist and bottom, legnth doesn't matter, but if you have a pair that fits perfectly, use those.

Fabric scissors, pins, sewing machine and notions

Cloth measuring tape

Lay the leggings out on the fabric, making sure that the stretch goes across them instead of down them. You'll need to make two cut of two layers each. Fold the legging in half so that the inseam is curved out. The inseam on the front and the back of the pants should be different so you'll want to cut one set and the fold them the other way before cutting the other.
Starting at the top, cut about an inch higher than the waist and along the sides to the mid-thigh point.If the leggings aren't long enough or wide enough at the ankles for your liking then measure how long you want them and cut about 1 inch longer than that, widening them at the ankles if you want a bell bottomed shape, tapering for a tight ankle. For my first pair I used some leggings that we long enough but not wide enough at the bottom for my pattern, the second time around (shown) I used the result of that first go since they fit perfectly.

Measure around the waist, subtract 3 inches and then divide that by 2 to find the waist band width. For a double fold waist you'll want to cut two rectangles that are this width by 15 inches high, for a non folded waist, the height should be 7 inches. The waistband is going to look way too skinny but will stretch to fit and feel snug with out being tight. This also needs to be cut across the stretch (so it stretches :))
OK, time to sew. Place each pair of leg pieces right sides together and sew up the inseam using a zig zag stitch. Unless, that is, you have a serger, and then use that you lucky dog. Now lay the two pieces (the front and back) on top of one another, still right sides together, and sew up the legs on both the outside and the inside. Now you pretty much have pants, all they need is finishing.
Lay the two waistband pieces on top of one another, right sides together and sew up the sides (that's the 15 or 7 inch side) to make a tube. I told, you, way skinny, right? Don't' worry, it will work. Fold the waistband in half so that both the inside and out are the right side of the fabric.

Stitch a basting stitch all the way around the waist of the pant and pull the bobbin thread to gather it slightly, until it's the same size as the waistband. Now, tuck the waistband, raw edges up, into the waist of the pants so that all the raw edges line up. Stitch all the way around using a zig zag stitch. Once the waistband is attached, pull the basting stitches out.
Have your skinny minnie try on the pants before you hem them so that you can get the right legnth, just make sure you double fold the hem to enclose the raw edges. You can either hand stitch them hem or just zig zag all around (I used a contrasting color on the pink pants for fun!)
And presto, pants. The pink pants were made with a ribbed knit and the black pants were just pain jersey. I wasn't sure I would like the rib on pants but it was the only knit in pink and someone was very insistent about the color, so I went for it and I actually like it better than the plain jersey. It looks a little more substantial on those little chicken legs.

It might seem like a lot of steps but really, they were fast. And the second time around it was even faster because I knew where I was headed. I'm kind of thinking tights might be a good thing to try next. What do you think? DIY tights?

the blank space on the wall

Will and I have moved so much in our life together, so, so much. And over the years we've developed a sort of unspoken policy about art on our walls. It goes up within the first three days of moving in or bust. It doesn't matter if walls will need to be painted or we're not sure that the funiture will stay where it is, the art (and I'm using "art" loosley, we have no "art" but lots of photos and pictures and posters that we have collected over the years) goes up as soon as possible, because if it doesn't it might never go up. Case in point, the blank spot on the dining room wall.When we moved into this house we had most of our stuff up on the walls even as the kitchen sat half finished, the coutertops dried on the deck and piles of unsorted belongings everywhere. But there was one spot that we missed. Or maybe missed isn't the word. Nothing we had seemed right so we decided to get something new for the spot. And then, well, we finished the kitchen and moved on to the long list of other projects, and we never got around to that wall.
A few weeks ago I picked up some metal serving trays at a local charity shop and painted one of them with chalkboard paint to hang on our air duct as a message board. I attached magnetic strips to the back to hang it but once it was up I decided I didn't like it there and started looking around the room for a better spot. Like the blank spot. It was too small on it's own so I painted the other tray to match and hung them on the wall by screwing magnetic sheeting right onto the wall.
I had the kids do portraits of each other for the time being. Eventually, when Will isn't so swamped with work I want him to draw the kids silhouettes onto them. I think I could actually add something else up there as well, but at least now there isn't just nothing there. Much better. And fun as well :)

projects, more projects

Holy baboon I'm quilting again.
I have not quilted a single thing since I was pregnant with Evie. And really, other than the quilt I made for her then and one I made for my niece when Briton was about two, I haven't quilted AT ALL since having children. I think it requires too much at the machine time. I mean, for machine piecing and quilting. Hand piecing and quilting? hahahahahahahahaha. Right. I can't even finish a page in a book, a hand sewn quilt would probably take me decades to finish at this point. But regardless, I got a bee in my bonnet to work on a quilt this week. Nothing complected, no fancy smancy applique or teeny tiny hexagons. Something simple and fun. Here is the beginning of it, I'll post more when it's done. When cruising for patterns I found this one and fell in love. And then I lost it so I couldn't use the handy handy tutorial and had to wing it. But thankfully for you, I found it again this morning. Just FYI, I made 6 in squares and 3 inch strips for mine. The fabrics are an assortment of labels from my local quilting store, mostly from a Storybook II line and one called Happy Camper plus a little Olivia thrown in, because who doesn't love Olivia. I'm planning on embroidering some I Spy-ish sentences on the strips. Like "I spy a silly piggie, do you?" I had a fantastic quilt as a kid that had lots of interesting things to find on it and I loved it. This is intended to be similar, although not nearly as fancy because the one I had was made by a true master quilter and even now I find the intricate work that went into it mind boggling.
Evelyn has been super helpful in the quilting process, as you can see.
I can't imagine why I haven't been quilting these past 8 years....

Also, while searching again for this pattern I came across some other fun projects that I'm dying to try if I can find the time. This one is super cute. Briton loves baseball style shirts so I may have to try it for him.


I keep finding cute pants tutorials but haven't come across one for wide legged leggings yet so I made have to just dive in and make my own. We are having serious leggings issues. Especially since, for the first time EVER (that I can think of at least) Evelyn requested wearing PANTS and NO SKIRT OR DRESS yesterday. She is so freaking long and thin that it's hard to find leggings for her. We have some fitted ones which are great under skirts but on their own as pants. Not so much. Chicken legs is all I can say. I mean I love them, knobby knees and all, I wish I had skinny little chicken legs, but still. We need something a little more, filled out, for those no skirt days.

Oh, and also, just in case I got you all addicted to Victorian Farm and you've watched them all, I found out that there is also Edwardian Farm, Victorian Pharmacy, Coal House and Tales from Village Green. You're welcome. Or maybe I should say sorry. I can not stop watching them. Last night I spent all of the commercials during Bones making my way through the third episode of Edwardian Farm. Really, I think there's something wrong with that.
Other than quilting and figuring out just what it is that is leaking in the new (almost finished! Yay! Except SHIT!) bathroom, we're hoping for a quiet, pleasant weekend with more spring-ish weather. I doubt we'll get it, but we can hope. How about you? What are you up to this weekend?