MommyCoddle

even a pillowcase dress feels hot

It's hot here. Aren't most of us going to be saying that this week? Just in time for a heatwave, I made these pillowcase dresses for the girls. They were so easy I couldn't stand it. Emma's was first--I love the fabric of this pillowcase, but sometimes I chuckle when I see her in it because it has such a 'housedress' look to it. And Mary literally stood beside the sewing machine while I pounded out one for her.

(the heat makes her grumpy--just like her mom.)
These dresses have elastic at the neckline and bias tape binding around the arm holes which then becomes the ties at the shoulders. There's a fantastically(is that a word?)  simple tutorial here.

In other news.....I have picked six names out of the hat for the fabric giveaway from the birthday post. Instead of choosing which fabrics everyone will get, I'm going to let it be first come first serve with with six winners....leave me a comment to let me know which of the three fabrics you'd like. There are two pieces of each available--retro orange flowers, small red/orange print, and blue birds/horses/flowers. Leave a comment so that others can see what's available. I'll send you an email to get your mailing address:
the six winners are:
BLAIR
GKGIRL
EIREANN
ALICIA A.
MICHELLE
KRISTA

Stay cool everyone. We can be found here:
(and for the record, she wouldn't even go past her waist at the beginning of the summer)

farm fair

First of all, thank you to everyone for my overwhelmingly full inbox stuffed with birthday wishes. It was a wonderful treat. And if you're waiting to find out if you're the lucky winner of some fabric, I'm sorry but you'll have to wait just a bit longer. I'll draw the names tomorrow, and announce the winners on Monday. Things have been summertime-busy around here, and I just haven't taken a moment yet to write out all the names and do our official fabric drawing. But thank you again for your lovely birthday wishes and thoughts on my "30"....and I never thought that I might actually be shaving off my tan every time I shave my legs. hmmmm.....hairy and tan or smooth and pasty? something to think about.

This week was the county farm fair here in Maryland. Visiting the fair always brings back lots of wonderful memories for me. My time showing animals and home arts projects was so shaping to me as a child. I used to love being at the fair, feeling in charge of my animals, knowing my way around, being the one in the show ring while others watched, or wearing the crown of fair royalty. It gave me such confidence and courage. Sometimes I walk around and look at the new generation of 4-Hers and I wonder if they feel like I did...that excitement and energy...

Of course the day we went was uncomfortably hot and it zapped my children of all their energy and interest in all things fair-ish--which is quite obvious in this picture:

And I spent more time carrying around a crabby, sweaty two year old than really enjoying the fair, but we still managed to see a few sights of the fair.

And the girls  took full advantage of the wonderful freebies that can be found at different booths around the fair--they came home with a bookbag (also free) filled with cow and milk bottle-shaped erasers, a thermometer, a rubber disc for opening jar lids (for me, of course), pens, pencils, pamphlets, key chains, dog toys, and most importantly tatoos:

30 on my 30th and some sharing

I sat down to write thirty things about myself this morning, in honor of my thirtieth birthday. That is a hard task. I felt confronted with how boring I am....but nonetheless, I managed to think of thirty things, thrilling or not.  Enjoy them and then we'll get to the good stuff:

1.    there is a crown and sash in my history
2.    I played the clarinet in middle school and high school and never sat lower than first chair…I’ve only played it twice since emma was born
3.    I cannot draw
4.    If I chose my favorite singer today it would be patty griffin
5.    I have a sweet tooth—actually it would probably be more like a molar
6.    I grew up on a farm
7.    I used to be an elementary school teacher
8.    I am not a morning person
9.    I’ve inherited my mother’s high standards for bed-making: smoothed out bed, hospital corners, folded down flat sheet, sides tucked in…etc.
10.    For the life I me, I can not get my legs from knee to ankle to get anything tanner than pasty white
11.    I’m a procrastinator
12.    I hate talking on the phone
13.    I shave my legs every time I shower (I guess my pasty white legs need all the help they can get)
14.    I have showed sheep, pigs, a steer, chickens, dogs, sewing projects, cakes and hard candy in my county fair. (hint, hint for no. 1)
15.    I always like to have something to drink with me in the car
16.    I could do bagels and diet coke every day for lunch.
17.    I had a great college experience
18.    I just started drinking coffee—but I have to put some hot chocolate mix in it to get it down.
19.     As I type this my four year old is drawing on a cucumber, and I walked in on my two year old squirting expensive conditioner all over the bathroom sink
20.    I can get frazzled easily….breathe…in…out….calmly address no. 19…..
21.    I still get a few blemishes , but I’m thinking I should start putting cream around my eyes…
22.    I have one grey hair (that I know of)
23.    I have two children and hope for more.
24.    I can’t fathom that I look different or older than I did in college.
25.    I hate being hot
26.    I love a little bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream in front of the TV at night, after my children are in bed—and I can really enjoy it.
27.    My husband and I are obsessed with getting BBC/PBS shows from netflix—formerly “monarch of the glen” currently: “Ballykissangel” next: “miss marple?”
28.    I love reading children’s books
29.    I always have music on
30.    I hope my next thirty years will be marked by growth: spiritual, emotional, familial, marital…(oh—and some loss—in the weight department)

**maybe I should clarify marital growth: I'm not planning on acquiring more husbands, just a deeper, richer relationship with the wonderful one I have now.**

Now as a sort of birthday in reverse, I thought I'd give the gifts today and share some of my thrift store scores with a few of you. I think we'll go with the old name drawing method. If you would like your name in the hat for some of the fabrics below, please leave me a comment, and be sure to say you are interested. Last time I did this, I had a hard time telling which people wanted to be in the drawing, and which were just leaving a comment.

Gift# 1 and 2: (about 2 yards each panel)

close up:

gifts 3 and 4: (also about two yards, I think)

Gifts 5 and 6: (these curtain panels have tucks at the top, but they could easily be taken out with a seam ripper...about a yard to a yard and a half each)
obviously no ironing involved here, but I washed my set yesterday and they cleaned up nicely:

So there's the stash for sharing. Remember, if you're interested in having your name in the hat for one of these 6 pieces of fabric, please make it clear in your comment. And one small disclaimer--if you are an international reader, I'd be happy to send fabric to you, I only ask for a little donation towards shipping...fair enough?

So, I'm 30...wow. feels just like 29. I'm planning on spending my day poolside with my two favorite girls and then a small dinner celebration with the girls, Dan and some close college friends. A nice, simple, quiet day. Happy July26th to all of you! Have a wonderful day--for me!

thanks for the advice

When we first moved here a few months ago, I was whining to Hillary about the ridiculous prices at my "new" goodwill. Sixty dollars for a dirty 70s chair, six dollars for a plastic Barbie laptop? Forget it.
But Hillary wisely recommended I find a thrift store on the junky end of town.

Bingo.

If you recall, the girls and I went last week. I will probably avoid going with my children in the future, it's just too much trying to keep them at my side, when there is a carousel (yes--like a carnival carousel) filled with crap children's toys. I was even lucky enough to be scolded about keeping my children in the cart over the loudspeaker in the store. Is grumpiness and general dislike of children a prerequisite for working in a thrift store?
Anyway, despite the "friendly" staff, I scored big. So big in fact, I'll be sharing the wealth here tomorrow...a little "birthday in reverse" where I'll be giving the gifts instead of receiving....so stay tuned.

In the meantime, I sat down with three little baggies of thread and such this morning and tried to untangle the mess. I have a small obsession with thread on wooden spools. I love the stuff. And these baggies had the spools in all different sizes from gi-normous to eensy-weensy. Love it. And there were some other goodies buried inside as well:
(and I'd love to know what the mystery needle is in the last picture)

an afternoon in the workshop

bisque-fired buttons and pendants ready for glazing:

backsides painted with wax resist to keep the glaze from adhering to this side, and to keep them from sticking to the bottom of the kiln:

Lots of notes on glaze colors and behaviors when they're fired; as well as notes on what glazes and combinations I use with each batch. (in case I do something great  (or lousy) and want to repeat it):

glaze gets brushed on, and must dry between each layer:

all finished glazing. glaze is rarely the same color unfired as it is fired, that is why my notes are so important. the glazes in this batch will be deep shades of blue, green, brown and mulberry (I hope!)--you'd never know it by their colors now.

after the layers of glaze dry, I clean out the holes...(almost always results in bloodshed):

any glaze spills are wiped off the back:

four hours later: finished pieces, out in the kiln shed waiting for the final firing:

buttons and small pendants

Just wanted to let you know that I've updated my etsy shop this morning with small pendants and buttons. If you are on my mailing list, you should have received my email early this morning. Another batch of buttons will be coming in the next few weeks if you miss out this time around.

MY ETSY SHOP

a hiccup in the plans

I turned on my digital camera two days ago and got no response--batteries charged, all parts seemingly intact...but nothing. I couldn't believe it--I had a desktop full of buttons and pendants ready to post on etsy, two little sewing projects to share. I told my husband I couldn't imagine a day without my camera---he told me it was an idol. Thanks, honey.
I'm starting to think that I'm a walking disaster zone--the broken cars, digital camera, and to top it off--yesterday, I was sweeping my bathroom floor and I bumped into the sink and it fell off the wall! (apparently this has happened before and my dad came to the rescue) but c'mon, I'm starting to wonder about myself!
Anway...my girls are champing at the bit to visit the thrift store this morning, their chance to play with "junky toys", and I'm fiddling with my  new camera (thank you, Mom--another slightly early bday gift!) So here's a few pictures of a little weekend sewing project...two very different looking elephants. One named "horse" by Mary, and the other "sally" by Emma.

"Horse" came first:

My plan was for a simple design, and I wanted them to have an "Eyeore-esque" tail...held on by a button

The second time around I wanted to chage the skinny long trunk, and the legs weren't quite right...so "Sally" had some alterations.

They were roadtested yesterday on a day trip to my mom and sister's. And they enjoyed it immensely. They mostly get carried around by their trunks or tails, but so far, they don't seem to mind.

Alright, children are clinging to my arms, so I must step away--the thrift store is calling....

Mail Call Monday

The mailman has been good to me lately...the mailman who lets me put envelopes in the mailbox without postage and never gives me that little brown envelope for postage due, the mailman who wants to buy tomatoes from me for his brother's restaurant but doesn't know I have ONE little tomato plant in my garden...

Anway, the first was an early birthday present from one of my dearest blogging friends. When Blair asked me if I would mind one of her quilted bags instead of the tea cosy that we had been talking about, I about spewed my cup of coffe on the computer screen. Did she even have to ask?? I told her I wanted to be surprised and that she could do the picking for me as far as colors and fabrics (I love a little surprise now and then), and man, did she pick the perfect bag for me!

I love every yummy slice of fabric on this bag--from the green cursive alphabet to the tea cups and saucer fabric, to the vintage prints and polka dots. Its wonderful and so exciting to actually have a true blair bag in my posession. And the small details hidden inside make it so unique and special, too.

And to top it off, she sent along some other goodies from the daiso store near her house, including the cutest little "roly-polies"-- as we call them in our home-- wooden toys for the girls...Thank you Blair. Really-- a big thank you.
Awhile back, I  came across alicia's wonderful blog after scrolling through the tie one on smock entries. Her simple little linen smock was one of my favorites and when I commented on how much I loved it she offered to make me my very own in exchange for one of my pendants.

I obviously got the better end of the deal, in my opinion. The smock is wonderful! Fits perfectly, even though I'm not wearing it in the picture--I'm too hot, sticky and nasty to pose for a photo right now. I absolutely love it and can't wait to wear it with a little tee and a pair of jeans. Thank you so much alicia!!

And last but certainly not least-- this wonderful CD came from Courtney at two straight lines.

When I saw the list of songs she put together for her kid's music swap CD, I knew we must be something like musical soulmates...so she offered to send me a copy. And we love it. Just today, I put it on again in the car and Emma said, "mom, you really like this CD don't you?" That says it all. If I didn't have a crafty/family blog, I'd probably have a music blog. I love music and even more than that, I love discovering new music. So this one is a big score for me.
Thank you so much Courtney. Once I get my act together, I'm going to send you a CD in return. I think you'll enjoy it.

just a second my phone's ringing...

Wait! how could that be? answering the phone with a dial-up connection??!! unheard of....
Well, the day has finally come and I've joined the ranks of high speed internet users once again. Ahhhh...this feels good. Things are continuing to come together around here. It feels like I'm getting my birthday presents a few days early--cable internet, a few "lifeline" channels on the TV, and today we traded in the chronically broken car for a new (used) one. And to top it off, my little sewing machine is oiled and adjusted and ready to come home from her little spa visit to the shop. I hope she's relaxed, rested and ready to get back to work!

For WIP friday--a stack of buttons and small pendants waiting to be sorted and put on cards for my etsy shop very soon. If you're on my mailing list, I'll give you the heads up first.

I've been forced to do some hand crafting since my sewing machine has been in the shop, and I've been meaning to do some of Emma's drawings that I tuck away, for quite some time. This is one of my favorites of hers. When I was working on this, she said to me, "you know mom, I can draw you some more birds if you want." She must be picking up on my obsession with this little sketch.

After I worked on it, I wished I had enlarged the drawing a bit and used a few less strands of floss, but the feel is still definitely still there. She's been asking me to make her a pillow for her bed, so I think this will be on there somewhere.

  We just refreshed our stash of library books this week. ( I can't believe the new group is due on July 31st! This summer is going by so quickly!) Anyway, our latest "study" with the girls is birds. Emma seems to have her field guide by her side at all times.

She does the best impression of a mourning dove--well enough that one outside our door "talks" back to her. We have some great books, that I'll post in the sidebar this weekend. One  I especially love is about how different birds build their nests. It really is amazing what birds can build using natural materials and their ingenuity. I think we might give it a try ourselves and see if we can build anything close.

And lastly, another mysterious picture that showed up when I downloaded my camera. Must be the work of the camera in Emma's hands. Mary seems to really light up for her sister:

Next week, I'll have some amazing mail to share, I'm planning another trip to the ribbon outlet (wednesday? mom? mary?), and I'm hoping to give a few things away...stay tuned....Happy Weekend!

ponies and pickin'

Things are slowly shaping up around here. Dan's got a loaner car from work, a fuel card from his boss, and the potential for a company truck. My wagon's days are numbered and hopefully I'll soon be driving something a little more reliable.  My sewing machine is in the shop, a brush against emma's ear no longer causes a recoil in pain, and the rest of the family is back in town after various excursions around the globe. (Big congratulations are in order to my father who is back from rowing in London with two gold medals from the races at Henley on the Thames.)

We had a good weekend of work and play--mowing and weeding for my grandmother, making sure the spring-fed pool was just the right amount of coldness(you can only tell by getting in, of course), and Sunday dinner on the patio. This was followed by the older girls giving Emma and Mary rides around the paddock. Emma started her first riding lessons this summer, but sometimes I wonder if Mary won't end up being bigger horse-lover of the two.

This morning the girls and I went to my uncle's house to pick my most favorite summer treat in the whole world--raspberries! I could probably overdose on them if it were possible. When I little I used to get scolded for sitting in the back of the volkswagon bus and finishing off the whole pint before we even got them home. I think I've passed this on to my children. I probably heard, "just ONE more, mommy" every five seconds on the thirty second trip home from picking.
I don't know what the berries will become. I'm thinking they'll just be scattered over vanilla ice cream after dinner tonight. And the rest will be eaten right out of the basket. yum.

We also stopped to pick some queen anne's lace on the way home. We are anxiously waiting for their little white flowers to soak up the purple dye--a trick I used to love when I was little. Emma is checking in with them every few minutes, I'm trying to encourage her that these things take time and that the flowers need to drink up the colored water before we'll see any changes. Thankfully, I got her off for a nap despite the impending color show.

the stuff of life

I feel like I've been moving a bit in slow-motion this last week. Not sure why. Lots of ups and downs of life...
Yesterday, one of the two kittens that Emma has been mollycoddling since they were born was killed somewhat traumatically by an overly playful dog. Emma, unfortunately was the one who found it dead outside and was terribly upset. It was horrible. They are outside barn cats (although they "accidentally" come inside our house more frequently than I should admit on here), so there wasn't much sympathy around here from others, which is fine, I guess. Sort of a "that's what happens in life; live and learn; life on the farm is tough" response. I wasn't very sad about the kitten, because I haven't been as attached to them as Emma has but seeing her tears brought tears for me as well. And more tears once Emma had gone to bed for the night and I was retelling the story to Dan. It just plain sucks seeing your children heartbroken. Emma seems better today but she keeps asking me to go outside and check if Flower, the other kitten, is still alive. And she's asked me to pray for her a few times to 'stop thinking about Spring being dead.' ugh.
And of course this all happened as we were rushing out the door to a doctor's appointment. Emma has a painful case swimmer's ear. Although I think she's kind of proud to call it that. It has been keeping her up  and bringing her to our bedside nightly.  Perhaps adding to my tiredness.  Thankfully she's being a champ about the eardrops.
So, life has dealt a little blow to sweet Emma this week. But we are managing.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes Dan and I are dealing with the most annoying case of car troubles. At this point, its either becoming comical or completely ridiculous and unbelievable, I'm not sure. For the last four months, we've been literally taking turns as to whose car is broken down. And for the last three weeks, we've both been broken down. On tuesday we picked up Dan's "fixed" car from the shop and it promptly broke down again the next day with a new problem when he drove it to work. Now, my car is driveable, but shaky....so there's lots of decisions to be made surrounding all that in the next few weeks/days/month. who knows...say it with me now, "ugh."
But, BUT--the weather is beautiful here. My perfect kind of weather--no humidity, cool breeze, temps in the upper 70s. I could live in this temperature all summer.
And my dear little two year old is demanding to be potty-trained. I just let her walk around bare-bummed or in a pair of em's undies and she gives me a little, "ow!" and then "i need to go peepee." and off we go to the bathroom. She doesn't waste any time, I don't have to check in with her every twenty minutes, she doesn't hang out on the potty for endless hours with a book like her older sibling, it just seems to be happening. What a girl.
And I got these lovely gingham checks in the mail from fashionfabricsclub.

I've never heard of them, but found them when looking for brown and white checked gingham. I thought their prices were great, too. I've had brown and white gingham on the brain lately. I just love it. And I'm hopin g it will become one of the smocks from my new craft book, if I can just figure out those crazy japanese patterns. I was a bit disappointed that the orange was so peachy, but still think it will be cute.

But, oh, did I tell you my sewing machine is broken. Say it again, "ugh!" One of those stitch-stitch-jam-- stitch-stitch-jam problems. I'm hoping it only needs a little tune-up. I just have to figure out where to take it.
So we've been happily kid-crafting around here which resulted in a new family of peg dolls moving in to our dollhouse. Three have already been fostered out to new homes, but this is who remains in residence with us.

Emma really got into it and exclaimed that she was going to keep making dolls until bedtime. (this was at 11a.m.) But just forty-five minutes later I looked up from a pleated skirt I was carefully gluing on MY doll and realized I was alone and the "party" had moved on to crayons and coloring books.

I'm hoping to list some buttons and small pendants in my shop next weekend. And guess what--next thursday, my trusty cable guy will be arriving to install my cable internet. Goodbye mr. dial-up. Pleased to meet you highspeed cable. I will be back in the ranks of highspeed technology. I look forward to not having to fold laundry while waiting for pictures to load, or blogs to appear on my screen. And I'll be glad to no longer neglect my flickr account. mmmm...that will be sweet.

I've spent emma's whole nap writing this post, waiting for pictures to load, and updating my college directory online. Not much accomplished with my free time. Now she's hanging on my arm begging to go outside with me and check on the kitten. of course I'll go.

I'm hyper-ventilating over this one

I just got back from spending the weekend at my mom's. As part of my mother's continuing saga of cleaning out the attic, she found her collection of records which includes some amazing children's records. Now that there is the pitterpatter of grandchildren's feet around the house, they've been getting a second playing on the record player in the upstairs bedroom. Everyone loves them and listening to them this weekend was a trip down memory lane for me. One of our favorites was "Rusty In Orchestraville"

and hoping to take this classic story home to share with my girls, too, I looked for it online in CD form.
My searches led me to an amazing find. A project called kiddie records weekly.

The project celebrates "the golden age of children's records" from the mid-forties to early fifties. And in an effort to avoid their extinction and have them enjoyed once again by online listeners, they have brought them back in the form of downloadable mp3s. Each week in 2005, and continuing in 2006 they offer a new children's record for download. You can download and burn the complete record as well as download all cover and dust jacket images.

It really is an amazing gift. I've already been downloading like crazy and the girls enjoyed Rusty in Orchestraville and some Uncle Remus on the ride home.

My mother made the comment that these stories are enveloped in rich, beautiful classical music. And the endearing storytelling is unmatched in our day. I know so many of you will love these.
Enjoy and have fun.

2005 library here
2006 library here (including previews of what else will be revealed the rest of this year.)

              

---