Currently, we’re deep in the midst of making her Halloween costume, which I am ironically trying to sew as slowly as possible so that I don’t finish it before the big day.  But in the meantime, we’ve made quite a few other things, which I thought I’d share.

We’re working on making a big pile of baby wipes – made from old t-shirts and flannel pajama pants.  I simply cut out a rectangle (two layers), and for the t-shirts, I just sewed a zigzag stitch around the edge and called it done.  So simple, and so satisfying to use old soft clothes to make these.  For the flannel, I turned the right sides of the fabric together, did a straight stitch all the way around except I left a 2″ opening.  I turned it right side out, folded in the 2″ raw edges and then did an edge stitch all the way around.  (I could’ve just stitched the hole shut, but Ella insists that it looks prettier this way.  What can I say?  She’s right.)

This is the dress that seems to have kicked off the sewing frenzy for Ella.  She wanted to make a dress for the baby (no, we don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl), but when we got into the sewing room and started looking at fabric, she said, “Actually, Mama, can we make a dress for me?”  So we did, using Simplicity pattern #2684 (which I used to make this adorable shirt year before last) and some vintage reprint fabric that I adore.  It was nice using a pattern I had done before – much smoother the second time around!   I think she’s finding it really reassuring to have me making something for her.  So, while I’ve been mixing it up with a little bit of projects for baby or myself, we have mostly been sewing for her, which I think is pretty great.

We made this “morning bag” to hold her pajamas.  (I used the pattern for the bedtime bags in The Creative Family.)  In the morning, I’m usually downstairs when she wakes up, and in the past months she’s changed (without any sort of prodding from us) from waking up crying for me to waking up, putting on clothes, and coming down the stairs to greet me with a huge, proud smile on her face.  At least, she was until the cold came, and then last week she was coming downstairs naked, shivering, and wicked crabby.  So, a morning bag, which hangs on the doorknob waiting for her, with cozy warm pajamas so that she can climb out of bed, put on the warm pajamas, and come down.  So far it’s worked great, and she was super thrilled by the bag, wanting to show it off to everyone who came to our house.  I told her I was making a surprise, had her choose the fabric, and then sewed it right up – that was fun.

I made myself some new pajama pants, too.  I was really bummed at first when I realized this year that all three of my pairs of flannel pajama pants had huge rips in them.  I sewed the holes shut, but they ripped open again.  Then I realized these pajamas were at least ten years old, and I didn’t feel so bad.  I ordered some organic cotton flannel, and traced my old pairs for a pattern.  The first pair came out too small (forgot to leave enough seam allowance), but I think they’ll fit once I’m not, you know, 7 months pregnant.  The second pair fits, hooray!

Phew, and I think that’s it!  Oh wait, we made this shirt together.  It’s from Meg’s fabulous new book, Growing up Sew Liberated, which I received as an early birthday present.  The reason I got this one (instead of just checking it out from the library) was because it includes several basic knit patterns like this.  Which is just so awesome, because they’re the sort of clothes that you know you’ll be making over and over for your kids for so many years.  The only bummer is that even though I measured Ella and thought I was tracing the right size, it’s way too big – it might fit her next year.  Oh well, back to the sweatshop to sew the right size . . .

For nighttime, it’s so wonderful to have a waterproof mat for the bed.  With Ella, we had some but they were too small, plus they were plastic on one side, so they made awful crinkly noises all night long.  Not so great for, you know, sleeping.

I remember someone saying a year or two ago that they had felted down a wool blanket from the thrift store to make a water-resistant sleeping mat, and I thought, Aha!  I’ve never found a wool blanket (who are these lucky thrifters?), but I did have a pile of sweaters that were worn out/shrunken, and a few I got from the thrift store just for this.  I cut them apart, felted them (on hot in the washing machine – it took two cycles for some of them), then squared up the biggest body pieces, and sewed them together.  Viola – a water-resistant, absorbent, not-crinkly sleeping mat for baby.  Nice and big, too.  (A quick aside here – when we started ECing with Ella at five months, we really focused on the nighttime, and it was amazing.  Within a week or two she stopped waking to pee in the night, and would only pee while sleeping when she was coming down with an illness.  We used, and I highly recommend, the book Diaper Free.)  I’ll use the sleeves from those sweaters to sew some wool pants.

Lastly, these booties have nothing to do with being diaper free, but that’s alright.  This is the fourth pair of these I’ve made, but the first for my own baby.  I’m in love with this colorway, it makes me think of raspberries.  Yummy.

Mama, she said, can I mop?

Not a question anyone would ever say no to.  She thought she’d mop the fridge, too, just in case.  (The mop, btw, was made by Tonya and her lovely family.)

Also, a few weeks ago I made this handtowel (on the right) for the kitchen.  We needed a new one, and this was possibly the easiest, most satisfying thing I’ve ever sewn.  Just a fat quarter my mother sent (thanks Mom!), with two strips cut from another, sewn together then hemmed all around.

It’s definitely the season for new in the kitchen.  The fiddlehead ferns and asparagus are here, and we’re doing our best to stuff ourselves until they disappear!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone.  Enjoy the tidings of spring.

Six eggs from six chickens, two days in a row.  I had to make cheesecake (Keller’s, from Ad Hoc.  It was divine, of course.)

A dog who comes in from a night on wandering, reeking of skunk. This is, apparantly, becoming a yearly ritual. (This was very helpful. And doesn’t he look hilariously embarrassed?)

Greens in the hoophouse, planted inside, and transplanted out.  Hooray!

Some color for the kitchen floor, using what I’ve got (lots of scraps) to bring in some sunshine.  (It’s the patchwork mat from Patchwork Style)
Blessings on your weekend, everyone!

More favorites from here. Outside, winter doesn’t seem to know yet that its last days are here. The freezing rain and mud puddles have their own beauty, as my little girl in rain boots would happily tell you. Inside, I finished this applique for our down comforter cover.  I cut out the pieces last winter when I first read Sew Liberated, and began to work on it at last in January.  (She does two layers of petals, but I decided to keep it a bit simpler.)  A great way to use cheerful scraps.

The ability to wash and dry my laundry (seriously, after nearly a month of being too exhausted, it was a treat to do this quickly and easily). Especially with some new thrift store finds drying on the rack – looking forward to wearing that skirt in warm weather!

Locally grown Mandan Bride corn, cooked and spread out to dry, ready to be ground and made into fresh tortillas.  The simple joy of cooking and cleaning up in my kitchen.  The butcher block you see underneath so many of my kitchen photos – made for us years ago by our dear friend Rob.  There was at least one year where Rob always managed to show up at our house right as dinner was ready; in return, he built us a butcher block.  The joy of friends.

Salad greens, growing under lights inside, ready to be moved out to the greenhouse as soon as the sun peeks back out again.  (The hose that runs from the bathroom sink into the pantry to water these greens is not my favorite, but worth it.)

Loving hot tea from fancy cups (thank you Nana!).  I’m loving Shannon’s post about living mindfully this year.  Wishing you lots of simple joys this week.

I’ve been working this month (and will be all year, surely) to find contentment, nay, happiness, with what I’ve got.  To me, this means using the materials I already own instead of dreaming about and buying more.  Sewing with the fabrics I’ve been given and inherited, knitting with the yarn waiting in my basket, eating the foods we saved from the garden last summer, and being happy in this home instead of thinking how great another home and farm could be.  I had committed to myself to make any clothes Ella needed this year, and then when I went through her clothes for the spring and summer, I found that she actually didn’t need anything!

Not just material goods -  using what I’ve got  means finding happiness with where I am – with my family, my own achievements, my animals, my skills, my life.

To me, using what I have isn’t just about thrift, or deep ecology, or housewifery.  It’s about coming to peace with the blessings and challenges that surround us.

I wanted to share with you some of my favorites from our use what we’ve got adventures lately . . .

My Favorite New Salad Dressing

1/2 cup olive oil saved from last summer’s roasted tomatoes (I stored them in the freezer)

1/4 cup vinegar from pickled beets canned last summer

(don’t have pickled beets?  I bet any pickled veggie would yield delicious vinegar – green beans, onions, etc)

1 tsp mustard

1 tsp tamari

Whisk all together, add chopped garlic or herbs if you like.  This is a gorgeous deep pink from the beet vinegar, and has an amazing flavor.

Cash “envelopes” made from fabric scraps – the flowery one is made from an old skirt.  Using what I had meant, also, not going out to buy zippers, but simply putting on some buttons.

A flannel nightgown (slightly blurry), made (using flannel leftover from my own bathrobe for the sleeves) with the pattern in Making Children’s Clothes – so much easier to put on after bathtime then footie pajamas!  Plus, you know, it’s good for dancing.  Very Important.

I washed out and dried a black sheep’s fleece that I’ve been carrying around for approximately ten years.  Yeesh.

Ben got inspired and sewed this cushion (stuffed with fleece from Molly and Curly, which he washed and carded), working to transform our big rocking chair into a cozy Lazyboy-type chair.  He says it needs a little adjusting, and more test napping.

* * *

Postscript – I started this post this morning, partly as an antidote to my own snow day grumpiness (didn’t the Universe know I had Very Important Plans?).  After resting time upstairs with Ella, I came down to learn that our beloved midwife, who delivered Ella, just lost her son in a skiing accident.  He was eighteen years old.

Truly, I have no words for a loss so sudden and staggering. It is the most brutal of reminders that what I have is perfect, and blessed, and precious.  It is only my own attachment to difficulties that makes it seem like anything else.

Yours in peace,

Adrie

]]> http://www.localgrain.org/fieldsandfire/2011/01/18/piece-together-peace-use-what-youve-got/feed/ 9 http://www.localgrain.org/fieldsandfire/2010/12/16/works-in-progress/ http://www.localgrain.org/fieldsandfire/2010/12/16/works-in-progress/#comments Thu, 16 Dec 2010 11:21:02 +0000 adrie http://www.localgrain.org/fieldsandfire/?p=2319

Turning this fabric into one of these.  (So luscious that I may have to make one for myself, too.)

I had planned to make Ella one of these dolls for her gift this year, but when I lost more than a week of crafting time due to illness, I let go of that goal.  It will be a birthday gift instead.  While we were  sick, Ella wanted me to sew something for her, and playing with some fabric seemed like something I could muster a bit of strength for.  She chose this bunny vintage fabric, a pink knit, and the flower print on the pocket (a fat quarter from my birthday -thank you Mom!), and we cut out fabric for a smock.  She desperately needed a full-coverage apron for the bakery (she likes to make “cupcakes” using a lot of baking soda, spices, and soy sauce.  Yum.), and all I have left is to sew some bias tape around the neck, plus buttons and buttonholes.  I’m using a pattern from one of the staff at the fabulous Textile Company in Greenfield, MA (also where I got the bunny fabric).

Using some felted sweaters from the thrift store, I’ve made some hot pads as simple but useful gifts.  Three layers of felt, stitched around the edge with a design in the center (which is so much fun!)  I’m going to try doing a blanket stitch around the edge to finish it a bit more nicely.  I know already that some presents won’t be finished, but I’m okay with that, and I hope the receivers will be, too.

Some of my favorite works in progress this week are these two: we planted our solstice bulbs again, and I’m hanging up some gratitude stars above our nature table, to mark the passing days and remind myself of the magic and our many blessings.

Best to you and all your works today.

This little piece is from the great One-Yard Wonders.  It’s a little car bag that buckles around the head rest and hangs behind a passenger seat, ready to hold trash or anything that doesn’t belong.  Then you unbuckle it and bring it inside.  I made this last May (I told you it had been a while!), and I really do think it’s fun and useful.

Also from One Yard Wonders, I made this binder cover.  I love this fabric – it makes me smile, and I was saving it and saving it, until I finally decided to use it to cover my homeschooling planner binder.  This pattern was super simple, and is a really nice way to personalize a binder (this would be a great simple gift, come to think of it!).  Here’s the inside:

And the next piece, I showed you a sneak peek of back in August.  I made this sweet little bag as a birthday present for my mom, using the Blue Party Bag pattern from Patchwork Style.  I love, love this book – if you’ve got scraps, it’s fabulous.  The bag came out a little smaller than I expected, but otherwise the pattern was pretty simple.  I altered it to use a zipper instead of a magnetic button.

The fabric on the back is from a skirt my mom wore and then handed on to me, and when it finally could be patched no more, I figured this was a great way for it to be reborn.

I’ve saved my favorite for last.  Ella joined me at the sewing machine this fall (be still my heart), and this is the first thing we really made together.  She learned to iron (very supervised, of course), and she chose the fabric and the ribbon.  This is the super-easy, so-cute lazy days skirt from oliver + s.

Happy holiday crafting, everyone!

Ben the scarecrow

First, a quick glimpse back at Halloween – we threw a party with a bunch of friends who also have little ones (ages 5 and under), and had a blast!  I’ve been dreading Halloween all year – the corn syrup junk candy, the gory terrifying masks and costumes.  Not toddler friendly.  Not even close, in my opinion.  I was hoping to pretend it wasn’t happening for one more year.  But, as I said the other day, when someone explained all about Halloween to Ella a few weeks ago, I jumped on it, and voila, we were going to throw the best Halloween bash ever.  I think we did pretty well!

Everyone came in costumes, there were plenty of homemade treats to be had (eating pumpkin doughnuts off a string with no hands, anyone?).  We played pin the face on the jack-o-lantern, pumpkin bowling with butternut squash as the bowling pins, and had a merry time (unfortunately, my camera ran out of space – wish I had more pics to show you!).  Our living room was full of talking, laughing adults and children.  Now that’s a holiday I can get down with.  So next year, we’ll definitely do it again!

Oh yes, and I became obsessed with putting together this table runner – Ella helped me glue the patches onto the pumpkins, and then I quilted them and appliqued them onto some muslin, finishing just in time to have it on the table for the party, where it promptly disappeared under all the yummy food!  Still, it was fun to make, and a great way to use up some scraps!  I still need to put in batting and quilt it, for next year.

On to November.  This month, I’m joining Lisa and Elizabeth’s wonderful Piece Together Peace Project.  “How can you be peace today? What is the one thing that you can do differently to bring more peace into the world?” I firmly believe, like Lisa and Elizabeth, that peace begins in our selves – our hearts, our words, our homes.

It is so very easy to try to change other’s actions, to try to make them better.  It is much harder to look at ourselves, and how we can change.  For November, I’m going to continue with an intention I’ve been working on for some months now – working on myself, and letting go of working on other people.  As much as we like to think we can make other people change their behavior, it’s much more effective to change our own.  This applies to spouses, children, co-workers, community members.  We can make our communication more clear, we can work on our patience, we can work on setting loving but firm boundaries when we need to (instead of letting something go too far, then freaking out), we can make time in our lives to find space and peace through some sort of spiritual practice, so that we build up a reservoir of peace to draw upon when we need it. This is a gift I work to give myself, my family, my community.

Often it seems easier to be grumpy, to let a negative interaction linger on and on, and it can indeed be hard work to turn towards the positive, but not as hard as repairing the damage we cause by adding more negativity.  This is especially true, as I have been learning, with small children, who mirror our emotions so closely, and really absorb our beings.  For further inspiration, the wonderful Carrie has a fantastic old post that continues to inspire me about being the Queen of your home, and holding the space.

Please join us, and set your own intention, however large or small, to begin creating a world of peace, today, right here.

but it’s a present.  From Patchwork Style, which I’m obsessed with.  I have a *lot* of scraps that need a home.