One Crazy Summer

It is officially Autumn. School is in full swing, the weather has shifted and suddenly I'm in the mood to bake bread.

Apologies to those who have left comments and questions in the last few months and have not received reply, it's been one crazy summer!

It has also been an Instagram Summer

The garden ran wild this year, with big harvests and the putting by.

I spent a good many days in my Big Mac overalls, plundering the garden and processing my harvest. I think the dehydrator ran days and days at a time without let up; along with my paring knife.

This one, this kid: She started Summer out in pigtails headed off to Forest Fishing Camp, got a Summer hair cut, spent over a week in the Midwest channeling Esther Williams, grew a couple of inches, and can now wear my old vintage dresses and look amazing!

There were adventures...

watching many evenings come on in the back yard...

and flowers.

My sister and her dog Gypsy came to stay for a bit. We gathered many herbs, concocted potions/balms, sang many songs, laughed a lot, and reconnected in a lovely way.

Well, I guess that pretty much catches us up to date. 

So, what have you been up to?

No Pattern, No Problem: The making of a T-shirt

I have a frightful confession. I don't sew with knits. Oh I do hope you didn't bump your noggin when you fainted from the shock of it. Now that you've recovered I can tell you that I can happily revise that confession to: For years I did not sew with knits. 

It was not always so. When I was a teen I sewed knits with impunity, I had no fear and I couldn't for the life of me understand why people were hesitant to sew with knit fabrics. Ok, I do admit a slight aversion to pure polyester knits, but that's a story for another day.

Somewhere along the way I stopped sewing with knits, and with this lack of knit sewing I too began to have doubts, fears even. Silly me.

On the practical side, one of my excuses was that good quality knit fabrics are expensive. Well, the other day I was taking a long overdue peruse through my local thrift shop, and though I did not find the perfect v neck sweater I was searching for, I did find a few very large men's T-shirts in white. The perfect lead in to playing around with knits without breaking the bank while at the same time upcycling some formerly unloved clothing.

I didn't have a pattern so I made one. This is true of some knits, they can be forgiving of the hastily self drafted pattern. I created a Dolman sleeve t-shirt, one of the easiest things to sew, really! I then went about making a couple with various sleeve lengths. In the photos above I used some gorgeous knit that my friend Nancy sent me ages ago and added the contrasting bands from another shirt that happened to be the perfect shade of green.

This one was made using one of the white thrift store t-shirts, dyed black and stenciled with a horse of course.

There are some tricky things about sewing with knits, but honestly it's just like anything else... it takes practice and there is no reason to fear sewing with knits. Not that you're afraid, of course not, you are very brave and have no idea what I'm talking about. It was probably just me. Silly me.

I also whipped up a pair of yoga pants made from t-shirts that suffered from an unfortunate dye job. (Note to self: Order some good quality fiber reactive dyes!)

Well, I'm so glad I now sew with knits. 

Oh! And coming up on Friday I will be posting a quick tutorial on how to make a Dolman Sleeve T-Shirt of your very own! Hooray!

Random Acts of Sewing

On any given day there are a lot of projects waiting to be started, to be worked on, to be finished... and of course there's always laundry. 

There are some days however, that one must shoo away all those projects and to-dos buzzing around one's head and just commit random acts of sewing. Yesterday was just such a day. Something simple and happy, something that can be completed in the better part of a morning, and something useful as well. Yes, that was just the ticket!

I asked my girl to choose some fabric before she left for school then broke out some tried and true patterns that I have altered, adjusted, and sized up many times. I was able to give my new fancy steam iron a good work out and I must say it did a bang up job. (Last week my old trusty iron had a run in with some nasty synthetics and I'm not naming names, but it wasn't me... the end result was a new iron had to be acquired)

I spent some lovely hours happily stitching away, it did me a world of good I tell you! Nothing difficult or tricky, no doubts or maths involved, just familiar lines curving and meeting in a most satisfying way.

This morning my girl donned her new duds and blew kisses to me from the school bus window.

Well, I'm off - the laundry awaits!

Small Scale Couture

Funny how things work. A week ago I would have never thought I would be designing custom clothes for those of extremely small stature. Yet, here I am a day down the rabbit hole and a basic pattern tested with plans for at least 3 more designs to create.

Couture for dolls. Like I said, it's funny where life takes you. It's a really great way to use up those little scraps and in end, I hope to bring some smiles to some sweet girls.

Tis the season for felt

Seems an age since I got out my felt stash and stitched something up. Since this season lends itself so well to such adventures, I thought it high time for making little felt goodies.

Whipping up just a few baubles for Pony Girl's school chums. Having a jolly time of it too!

What are you up to?

Pa's Shirts

As I finally started tucking into the collection of the Mr.'s old shirts that I've been collecting for ages, I began the imagining the endless possibilities to refashion and upcycle them. I unpicked pockets and ripped out collars trying to adjust to the new development of reading/stitching glasses slipping down my nose. It's been cold out with an icy wind so I sat by the fire and I had to laugh, I suddenly had a vision of Little House on the Prairie. Here's me, "Ma" making clothes for the child out of Pa's old shirts.

It started a while back with this skirt...

Yesterday I finished off this shirt made from a shirt. Should we call it a Tunic instead? I'm unsure. I do know that I was helped by my young assistant who suggested the addition of lace. She was quite right about that I think.

Since I last posted about my 6 (and a half) shirts, I uncovered 2 more shirts hidden in the mayhem of my studio. So, I have many more chances to re-imagine and turn them into something else. I think perhaps a dress will be next.

What have you been up to?

Hello Monday - Frosty

I'm feeling a bit frosty this Monday morning. No, it's not the weather, in fact the sky is about the blue of that ribbon and the sun is shining gloriously. What is frosty is my attitude about this pile of slippery sparkly stuff. Still, I must get over it, I must dive in and get it sorted as the month is whizzing by and in no time I will be out of time. Darn you Elsa!

You see, after having a gander at the pattern, I decided I hated it, it wasn't right you know. So now I've got to re-design some key elements and put in some corset lacing instead of a zipper perhaps, and change the neckline and, and...

Well, it will all be fine. Though if you hear some unladylike language coming from my sewing studio, don't be alarmed.

Happy week all!

Where in the world is Lola?

Here I am!

As it turns out, I was not abducted by Aliens, I did not join the witness protection program, nor did the zombie apocalypse begin in the Northwest United States. I've been here all along. You know, just relishing in the abundance of life! That's just one way of saying, "Oh good gravy, life is non-stop action!" 

I'll just do the highlights:

The fruit must be obeyed:

When the "Hoods" come on (Mt. Hood, Oregon Strawberry variety), you have no choice but to drop everything and scoop them up. This old fashioned variety is small in size, quite perishable, and the best tasting strawberry you will ever have! To not immediately run out and make a quadruple batch of low sugar jam, would be tantamount to blasphemy and lead to painful regret and despair. We also ate them fresh and I had enough to try out my new dehydrator making fruit leather.

I really wish this was a scratch-n-sniff picture. So good!

Then came the raspberries. These from our own small patch. It seems my worry over my pruning job this winter was unfounded. They have come on like gangbusters! Fresh handfuls of just picked raspberries are the preferred method of consumption. Still,we had enough to make a small batch of jam, freeze a few pints and they are still going strong.

And there were the cherries! Having never grown cherries and having inherited one sweet and one sour variety when we bought this house; I did some research. I was a bit surprised that the trees were already dropping fruit (a sunnier spring than normal?). So we picked the first go-round. Being a bit canned out, I dried this first batch to use later. The second picking may see some canning of chutney and possibly a cherry Brandy.

There's this kid:

She ended 3rd grade and is moving on to a bigger school next year. We had a week of celebratory classroom community fun. She had a great teacher this year,a lot of challenges, and was ever unflinchingly herself. I am so proud and madly in love with this girl!

And this:

Go on! Get a kitten, you know you want to! Pure joy. No trouble, no trouble at all.

xo

Getting the Jump

Today I am:

Getting the jump on some Summer sewing for my girl. An old pattern that has been traced and changed and made bigger with endless options... so easy peasy to sew, I could probably make it in my sleep. Long tunics to go over capris and shorts. In shades of green with plans for other color combinations.

Planning a garden makeover for a raggedy patch in the sun. Making lists of plants for a "Bee and Tea" garden. I know there is more that I can do for those precious honey bees! Plus, many of the plants that bees love are also good for making lovely tea blends.

Trying to make our new kitten feel safe and comfortable so she stops hiding under he bed.

Hoping the weather holds for tomorrow's trip to the Farmer's Market. I'm in the mood for fresh peas! Our peas in the garden have a while before they produce.

Enjoying the warm day and of course, there is always laundry!

What about you?

She's About a Mover

This week is all about trying to recover from a nasty cold which has set me back and far behind, having a little panic over some very tight deadlines, and parenting a sweet girl going through some growing pains. I really am in the thick of it.

I hope that your week is full of happy things and I will see you on the flip side!

Oh Joyful Day!

It is amazing what a little sunshine can do for your soul! This weekend we were gifted with two beautiful days, what a nice way to start the month. So what is a mama to do with such a gift? Throw caution to the wind, pull on some puddle jumpers, fill a backpack with water and snacks, tumble into the car and head to the country with my girl.

Alright, so not way out into the country, but only a 20 minute drive (both of us singing along to pop songs on the radio with great enthusiasm the whole way) to Sauvies Island. I was thinking Nature Walk, I was hoping for Whooping Cranes, but whatever the day might hold in store was fine by me as long as we got out there, out into the sunshine!

Though many of our "go to" wildlife areas were closed for the season, we were not deterred, the drive was beautiful and we were on an adventure! We stopped to view the geese, searching for the all white snow goose. However, we did not linger long for we were feeling a bit too silly and some of those bird watchers take the watching of birds very seriously indeed and tend to frown upon general silliness.

We ended up down by the river for a walk where we chatted with local fisher folk and played in the sand. Pony Girl found the perfect stick companion right at the beginning. We discussed it's merits as a possible fishing pole, alas we had no hooks and granola bar makes less than ideal bait.

The trees were still wintering, skeletal against the bright sky, the air was fresh and warm, the water sparkled and we chased our shadows across the sand.

We walked and talked and examined moss and tree bark. We saw cranes and herons and hawks and bunnies. We wrote our names in the sand with hearts and smiley faces. Then Pony Girl took over the camera and captured some fine photos!

And then we got really, really hungry! We walked back to the car, stomped our puddle jumpers free of extra mud and sand, threw "Sticky" the stick in the back of the car as it had been such a fine and useful friend on our adventures that Pony Girl insisted on bringing him home. And back we went over two bridges...

...ate a tasty lunch and agreed that we deserved to splurge on a strawberry milkshake!

Oh joyful day!