SouleMama

Season Opener

Did I just make a sports reference? I think I did. But it's true - this weekend marked the opening of Yard Sale / Rummage Sale season in Maine, my favorite sport. The warming up happened at a highly-attended annual church rummage sale in town. Highly attended by many people - I think you could have done a who's who of Portland bloggers in there - quite fun, and completely overstimulating at the same time (the sale, not the bloggers). Anyway, it was nice to get back into the swing of things - you know, the crowds, the searching, the craziness of it all. Good stuff.

And a happy little showing for the day too, with many of the usual suspects. Some tins, that pile of muffin cups that I'm ridiculously happy about (should have photographed the box, too - so cute), and of course, some fabric. I think you'll see that wool on the left turned into something else very very soon - I keep giving it the eye in my studio. Ooh, actually looking at it in the photo right, I think I just decided what to do with it. Fun.

And always, a few linens. Some will be used as is, and some will be used in sewing projects.

My favorite find of the day - these patchwork quilt pieces. I can't for the life of me figure out what it was on it's way to becoming, because both of these sides are covered in the squares, and sewn on three sides - large pillowcases perhaps? In the center of many of the squares are the handwritten names of the quilters, I presume. Yeah, I'm pretty excited about this one.

Thank you Ethal. And Francine, Almina, Etta, Charlotte, Laura, Anna, Florence, and Agnes. Thank you very, very much.

i never thought i'd be a nervous mother...

...but sometimes I am.

I hope you're enjoying your weekend! Don't forget to wear your safety goggles!

Quiet Cooking

I don't think I need to tell you how much I love the busy, bustle, energy of family life, and particuarly around family mealtime. I really do. I feel blessed to have it, and I truly enjoy it - the mess, the baking, the craziness, the creativity, the laughter. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

But you know what else I enjoy? QUIET.

Yesterday, Steve arrived home from work to find us at the end of the driveway, at the ready for a hand off - the kids ready and buckled into their car seats, the car full of pajamas, a picnic dinner, and all that they would need for a playground/picnic/bedtime driving adventure with Papa. Goodbye! Goodbye! Be on your merry way, my loves {right now, please!}!

And back I went into the house to revel in it's silence. And to clean it without someone behind me 'helping'. And to cook without the flour ending up on the floor (okay, only a little). Quiet cooking? Oh, I really, really like that. Instead of madly scrambling to just 'get things made' before they end up on the floor, or interrupted to help settle a disagreement in another room...I can leisurely take my time baking and cooking, and actually thinking about what I'm doing. It even allows for a bit of creativity, and like sewing I do think, the results of that are always unique, and a little bit of a surprise.

Blueberry-Banana Cake

wet:
3 egg whites
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream
1 ripe banana, mashed

dry:
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1 cup blueberries
1 tbsp lemon zest

Combine all wet ingredients in a large bowl. In a seperate bowl, sift dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix until combined. Fold in the blueberries and lemon zest, being careful not to overmix. Bake in a greased 8" pan, at 350 for 30 minutes (or until a toothpick or knife inserted in center come out clean). Let cool in pan, and remove. Extra yummy with cream cheese frosting (I like to add a little blueberry juice to this).

It was yummy last night at 11pm with three dear friends gathered here for dinner, craft, laughter, and wine.  And I must say that it tasted just as yummy at 7am this morning as a breakfast surprise with my three loves, while we compared stories of last night's adventures. Ah, the Quiet and the Noise.

Corners of my Home: Studio Dreaming

I rearrange furniture a lot. Steve has arrived home from work many a day with entire rooms switched out (our house is not-so-big. This is a feat, I tell you). I have no idea how 'normal' this is, as it's something my mother did with us all the time. Bored, stressed, anxious, energized? Move furniture! No one seems too worried about it around here - I enjoy the change, the kids think it's fun ("Silly Mama! Where did you put that bookshelf?"), and I feel like each and every move makes our house 'work' for us better. Once I've decided I'm changing something in the house, my mind won't stop working it out, and I'm rather inclined towards impulsive trips to the hardware store for new paint, or whatever it may be, and waste little time in getting the job done.

My studio, right now, is in need of an overhaul. When I set the room up, I envisioned it as mainly a place for crafts and sewing. It is that, of course. But there's also a great deal of writing that takes place here too, both in the past year, and I hope, even more in the future. While it's certainly lovely and inspiring to be surrounded by beautiful fabric and handmade things while writing about beautiful fabric and handmade things, it does kind of suck, I must say, to be stepping on said things. Or setting one's very special laptop down in a pile of pins. Or...well, you get the idea. This room serves a lot of purposes. And it needs to hold a lot of stuff. And it's small. Quite simply, it needs an efficiency redo. But just as important as the efficiency are the other factors of beauty, comfort and inspiration.

I'm trying to resist my impulsive urges with this room in favor of a more mature, responsible, and thoughtful decision making process (yeah, yeah). I've saved money, drawn layouts, tacked paint colors to the walls, priced furniture, and made lists.  I've scoured the inspirational studios of several lovely and talented writer/designer/artists for ideas. And I've stalked the design blogs I love on a regular basis, bookmarking far too much. In the next few weeks I'll start the work on it. It feels like a big deal, you know? In this smallish house, to have a whole room of my own, and a room that is so very important to me (and just me...ah....), well, I'm really grateful for that. And I'm thrilled with the task ahead - of setting up a work/play/dream space that I truly love, and that truly "works" for what I do.

It's time to move some furniture...

for my little one

Despite all the baby-lust talk of yesterday, there are no worries that I know exactly who is my littlest baby. She, of course, is quite clear about that fact too. She's just switched from "Mama" (what the boys call me) to "Momeeeeeee" with a very elongated, sing-song 'e' at the end. I love it. So does she.

I'm pretty sure that for every dress made for a shop, a friend, or a swap, there's one for Miss Lady A made too. This particular Adelaide dress was made from this vintage pattern (Simplicity 7880), and with a reproduction fabric of which I cannot remember the maker. I also cannot remember who sent me this lovely vintage pattern, which annoys me to no end. But I'm grateful to whoever it was. ;) I don't know why I love working with vintage patterns so much - I know it's more than the style and the nostalgia (I do love dreaming about who else used this pattern for another little girl 30 or so years ago...), and I think it has something to do with the paper. Is it thicker than modern patterns? Or is it the instructions - which seem more concise to me? I'm not sure.

Obviously, I have not bored of having the sun around yet. I'm sparing you the gushing about it, but apparently cannot resist in the photography. But really now - all that wood? that fabric? that skin? the SUN? Good stuff.

As I seem to do, the dress is a bit big for her yet. No worries, she's growing like crazy, and it will fit in no time. And she's happy as can be that she's wearing a dress with cats on it. This way, she can walk around all day, hollering 'TAT!' (cat) and pointing to herself, which really, is quite fun for all of us.

Except for when she meets up with Luka, and switches to her deep and low, best rottweiller impression of "woo woo!" (dog).

And this one? Well...it's just her little form of entertaining. It works. The boys double over in laughter and all is well throughout the house.

I think I just broke a photos per post record. Seven photos for one little pink dress? Yup, that sounds about right to me.

for the littlest ones

I had the pleasure of meeting a gorgeous, bright, and oh-so-tiny little one this weekend. This little summer dress was for her - for Miss Pheobe. It was my token bribe to hold and kiss her for a minute. Oh, it was heavenly - I could have just looked at her all day long, near tears from the amazingness of her two week old being. Gosh, can you imagine what kind of a grandmother I have the potential to be? Over-the-top and ridiculous, that's what.

The dress was based loosely on a vintage dress of Adelaide's, or mine rather, as since it no longer fits her, I've reclaimed it. Am I really that person who has baby dresses on my wall as decoration? Why yes, yes I am. And they're mostly pink too. Sometimes I'd like to go back and tell my 22 year old Women's Studies degree -carrying, shaved head, pierced-everything self just what it is that I spend my days doing now, and that my sewing room walls are decorated with pink baby dresses. I wonder what she'd think. I'd like to think she'd think it was rad and as feminist as she. Because I certainly think it is.

Back to the babies. These linen, embroidered bibs have become a favorite little project of late. They're easy to carry with me, coming up with the embroidery designs is such fun, and, of course, they're such a reminder of the oh-so-little days of my babes, which seem to be disappearing so fast, as I realize each time I see a very new one like Pheobe.

I've put a few of these sets in the shop today. You can find them there, if you're interested!

from the other side of the camera

I learned a lot this weekend, in my grand attempt to shoot the cover photo for my book. I learned that you can make a HUGE mess in a very short period of time when staging a photo. I learned that our home is just that - a 'home,' and not a photo set, and that there isn't a square foot in the house that isn't 'marred' by imperfection (of course, we love it that way). I learned that blueberry muffins aren't the best idea if you don't want stained faces/fingers/clothes in the 'perfect' shot. I learned that lighting is a very, very, very, very tricky thing to figure out. I learned where my camera manual was (missing for a year). I learned a lot about my camera.

I learned that children - especially my adventuresome, curious, energetic, independent-thinking little ones - instantly lose any sense of 'creativity' once they're asked/told/begged/bribed exactly what to be doing by a desperate, directive Mama. And I learned that hours worth of planning for a shot can end up amounting to about one minute worth of photo-worthy attention span if you're under the age of 7. And that there's really nothing you can do to change that, except move on to something else.

Thankfully, I learned that it's important to know when you're in over you head, and when to ask for help. And I learned how lucky I am to have generous and talented friends who happen to be wonderful photographers, who will save me from myself. The kind of friend who'll answer, "yes we can and we will!" to my whining pleas of "i can't do this!"; who will quietly give up the first sunny weekend of the season with her own family to be with mine; who doesn't mind taking hundreds of pictures to get that one shot; and who does it all with a contagious smile on her face. A good friend, I tell you. A good friend, indeed.

And last, I think I learned a lot about what kind of photography I do best. Much like parenting, I think I work best not by being the planner and director, but by following the lead of the little ones around me. By engaging and encouraging, and quietly watching and waiting, and by letting things unfold in front of me, naturally and beautifully as they always do. Then, and only then do I get my shot. The planning thing? Doesn't work for me in this case. Really, it's just a matter of being in the right place at the right time.....and with the right people (Those four people above? My favorite subjects, naturally).

(What, you thought I'd show you the cover photo? Oh no...not even a tiny glimpse...I'm pretty sure it's like a wedding dress, you know. Bad luck, or something. I can hardly wait.)

Oh, that sun

Oh, the sun. It continues to shine, and promises to through the weekend as well. It's restorative powers? Tremendous. It feels as though everything really is okay when the sun is shining. We're all walking around as though we've never seen it before, chasing the sunbeams through the house, and being outside as long and as much as we possibly can. I can feel the energy lift in those around us, too...despite the hardships that I know many in our area have gone through this past week, there's a lightness and a breathe for everyone in the sun's return. It certainly makes the hard work of cleaning up, much much easier. Thanks again for all of your sweet words of kindness this week. They are so much appreciated.

I think that storm was the last final push of the season, and now on the other side of it, with the sun, comes spring that I am welcoming with deep gratitude. I've retired the banner of snowy robins above. And though I usually keep my banners seasonal, in a desperate need for green, I used this photo from last summer. It's Ezra, playing in the Penobscot's West Branch riverside - the river most near and dear to our hearts and our past. I remember that day and moment so clearly, as he laid belly-down on the river's edge, and ran the sand through his fingers over and over, singing softly. There were no toys around but the ones the Earth provides us, and he couldn't have felt more 'full' of things to do. He brought this rich handful up from under the water to show me with delight. "Isn't it beautiful, Mama?" Yes, yes it is, my love.

This weekend, I'll be attempting a rather challenging photography project. One that will require overcoming some logistical challenges, many self-doubts about my ability, and especially, it will require lots of sun. For many reasons, the sun will help.

Once that is accomplished, there will be much time spent playing, laughing and soaking it up with my loves. That's one thing I'm very sure of.

A lovely weekend to you all.

this morning...

Thank you!

Your kind wishes of love, warmth and SUN have made their way to Maine. Look what appeared this morning - strong and bright, and so very, very welcome.

the past 48 hours

 

the ugly:
no electricity, internet or phone : no dry firewood left for heat (it is April, afterall) : a foot of water in the basement : 30 trash bags (and counting) of ruined basement stuff : one tree on the house (no damage) : flooded roads and beloved trails : trees down all around : the stomach flu (just Mama) : lots and lots of cleanup for friends and neighbors much worse off than us : emerging from it all to such sad news : feeling cold, wet, sick, sad, and grumpy

the beautiful:
no electricity, internet or phone : many games of checkers : favorite books by candlelight : embroidery until sunset : a soon-to-be immaculate basement : enough firewood now lying about to last through the upcoming winter (and maybe next?) : awe and humility at the strength of the Earth : feeling incredibly grateful and blessed for what we have

More photos on Flickr. I'll be back in a few days...I've got some drying, cleaning, and warming to do!

Tailor in the House

Well. My favorite little tailor has officially set up shop in the house, and staked a claim on my old sewing machine ("Mama, when we're talking about this machine, should we call it 'your machine' or can we call it 'my sewing machine'?"). The sewing has taken over a corner of his bedroom - right next to the costume rack, naturally. I've much to say about what he's been up to, but I'll wait and let the little man himself tell you all about it soon, I do hope. I'm a little curious as to what the results to his 'handmade' wardrobe might be after watching a few too many Jimmy Hendrix You Tube videos with Papa ("for the costumes!" of course). Those buttoned-at-the-bottom pants are rad, I must say.

My favorite quote from last week?

"Mama, I'm SO glad someone invented such a thing as a seam ripper!"

Me too, buddy, me too!

starting things

I seem to be in a little spell of starting lots of sewing projects, and finishing a little bit less (I know, what am I talking about? I just showed you four finished projects this week). There's a lot going on - a new season which brings new clothing to be made, some brand new ideas I'm working out for the shop, and some gift-making to be done. I'm excited about all of them, and can't quite make up my mind which one to finish, so they all get little bits of attention at a time. My studio is a mess for it, but it's a good kind of mess, I think. The working, energetic, and inspiring kind of mess. Today, just a few shots from around the room as it appeared this morning after a late night of work/play:

So that's what I'll be working on this weekend when I get a bit more studio time. I can't wait to dive back in. And you? What have you started to be worked on this weekend? Here's wishing us all some inspiration and creative energy!

Summer Skirts 1 and 2: for the beach

What's that, I can't hear you? It's snowing? In Maine? Today? No, no, you must be mistaken. Surely you are mistaken. Because, you see, I just made the first two of my installments in the Summer Skirt collection. That's right. Summer skirts - the ones meant for flip-flops, sand in the toes, and days spent at the beach. That's the summer I'm talking about.

It's right around the corner, Summer. Which is why I needed to get moving on making these skirts. For the beach. Easy to make (Simplicity 7229), easy to wear, light, casual...intended for tossing on in the morning, wearing over my bathing suit all day and getting wet and sandy and dirty. There will be some ice cream, berry, or watermelon stains on both of these by July. July - it's very soon, you know - I just bought new sunblock, and the beach blanket is freshly washed and by the door. Sand toys? At the ready.

All I need to do now is get an early summer pedicure.

Oh yeah. And wait for it to finish SNOWING.

Ready for an Adventure

This was the night-before-the-birthday crafting that happened, even though I had been thinking about it much longer. It was so much fun to make - Ezra's Adventure Bag. It's a messenger-style bag - it took my brain a bit to wrap around how to put it together. (I suppose this is where a pattern would have come in handy). On the flap is a fabric - printer sheet with his drawing and words. I scanned this drawing of him on top of Mount Battie. Then, I asked him to write the three words - one each on a piece of paper. He adores writing letters so much right now that there were no questions (ah, so tricky), as I whisked it all away to the scanner. In photoshop, I plopped it all together to make one image, and sewed it all onto the front flap. I used some D-Rings for the straps, so I could easily adjust the length if/when needed. (Thanks, Steve, by the way for letting me steal your webbing I found in the basement. Was that for your boat? Sorry.)

Inside are all the things I thought he'd need for an adventure - binoculars, walkie talkies, bandaids (naturally), a drawing book and pen, and field guides.

He likes it. And now, he's ready for an adventure.

Four is Fun, and Mustard is Good

 
Steve told me recently that every time I mention Ezra in writing, and on the blog in particular, I refer to him as 'my sweet Ezra'. It's true. He is ridiculously sweet. He is now, and always has been a snuggle-bug, and very observant, and tender and thoughtful - an old soul, I do believe. But of course, he's more than that, too. And whenever I start to worry about the whole middle child thing, he astounds me with the other parts of his personality - namely his strong sense of individuality, and especially, with his sense of humor. I don't mention it much here, because in writing and out of context, it's hard to convey. But when I'm telling stories in person of my little ones? It most often involves a way in which Ezra has made us smile. Or laugh - more often than not, doubled over, and filling us up with happiness. And it's always laughing with Ezra, because there's no one who he amuses more than himself.

So my funny guy had his mustard party, mustard being his favorite food of all. At the same time, he also proved his entrance into the age of "fickle four," by firmly stating the day before the party, that no, in fact he did NOT like mustard anymore at all and was NOT going to have any mustard at his party. Followed the next day with a declaration of, 'where's my mustard?', as if the previous crisis had never happened at all. Same thing for the cake versus cupcake choice - except that changed hourly. Being the second child and all, this didn't ruffle our feathers, as I think we're starting to get the hang of some of this developmental stuff. By Adelaide, we'll totally have it down (you know I'm kidding, right?). 

With six different mustards, and all the dippables (thank you for all of your fabulous ideas - we put many of them to use!!), we needed some uber sweetness for balance. Ezra came through with his final request for "chocolate pupcakes with buberry frosting". This recipe, with a traditional cream cheese frosting, with a bit of blueberry juice added in. Um, yum. And thankfully, my poor math skills worked in my favor when I tripled instead of doubled the batch. Yeah, oops. That's going to be a real tough problem to take care of today, now isn't it?

Happy Birthday, my sweet Ezra. Four is going to be so much fun with you.

After the chocolate

Oh! Such a glorious day. The sun, family, friends, my babes, patent leather, chocolate, and some embroidered linen. Really, is there anything more one could need? I think not.

Just as I had hoped, my littles were happy to wake up to a new book, a chocolate bunny, some yogurt covered raisins, and yes...some linen pants.

I made it just in the nick of time with finishing these up. I went a bit late into the night, but happily so.

Everything fit and everyone was pleased, and I was very happy with all of that (though, Calvin did have some suggestions on how I could improve the next pair, by 'shortening the inseam' as he said. Ahem).

Adelaide, like any good third child, honed her art of picking up the leftovers (shaking each egg, and tossing aside the empties over her shoulder as she continued) as she followed her brothers around after the snowy egg hunt. The egg hunt during which Ezra declared that the treats were not in fact, brought by any Springtime or Easter Bunnies, but perhaps a Spring Skunk instead.

Alright, enough chatting from me. I'm headed back to the Mustard factory. Oh my.

getting away

It took me a while into my parenting life to realize how important it was to take a break from it all - to refuel and recharge on a regular basis. Now, I can't imagine parenting without those moments. I surely know that I couldn't parent the way I want/try to without the moments alone. I'm so grateful for the little breaks of time that I get/take throughout the week - sneaking in a moment of quiet before dinner, a night out with friends, a Saturday solo road trip. Whatever it may be, the benefits go all the way around the family, and we all return to each other happy to be together and full of contentment.

While the kids are still so young, and the ideal childcare situation hard to come by, it's more common that we take our breaks one at a time. Which makes it all the more of a treat when we actually do make it out alone - together.  Such was the case last night when, in the middle of all that needs to be done, Steve and I skipped town for a dinner on Peaks Island. From the ferry, as we watched the small distance between us and the mainland grow, I could feel my breath slowing, and my energy returning. I was perfectly clear that these little breaks, and moments alone - despite the challenges of time, money, and logistics - are so essential to family life.

Everything about it feels good - feeling like a partner/lover/friend instead of just a co-parent, quiet moments (oh, the quiet!) to see/hear/say things there normally isn't an opportunity to do with three little hands to hold, and then at the end of it all...with all five of us feeling a little bit more 'full' in some way, coming back together in peace. Ah, perfectly small moments of Balance.

weekend planning

I pulled my clipboard out yesterday to put into action. Which only means one thing: there's little sleep on my horizon. It's all fine, though...it's a natural result of my procrastination (I do that, remember). And by the way, does anyone know where March went? Just wondering.

First up: Easter!  And a gift of spring linen pants for each of my little ones. Does that sound like a cruel gift? Clearly, you do not know my children. Some new clothes, and a couple of earth balls, and they'll be thrilled. Though I'm sure Grammie will oblige them with a few sneaks of candy (but where, oh, where is that bunny going to put things?). It will be a very mellow day of cousins and aunts and celebrating spring (that's funny). But first, I need to stop eating the earth balls. And then, those pants need to be made.

Next up will be the hand delivering of these invitations to Ezra's birthday party. Oh, I am so so so in love with his drawing right now.  The drawings are all pirates, but the theme of the party? It's mustard, his favorite food. No really. The kid's a hoot. We'll have a 'mustard bar' with lots of different mustards (oh, he's SO excited about this), and I'm planning on making soft pretzels and veggie kabobs (for honey mustard), but I'm stalled out on ideas after that. I'd love any ideas for mustard-dipping foods! (To Ez, this seriously would be everything, but I'm thinking of us other folk).

And the hand delivering part? Hmn...well, it's the only way they'll get there in time for the party....three days from now. Yes, three days from now. All invitees have been forewarned of the date. But still. The point is that if I'm this behind on the invitations, you might guess how behind I am on the rest of the birthday festivities. So, um, yeah, I'd better get back to work!

See you next week! Have a wonderful weekend!

snowy spring day

The North wind doth blow and we shall have snow,
and what will poor robin do then, poor thing?
He'll sit in a barn and keep himself warm
and hide his head under his wing, poor thing. poor thing. poor thing.

I'm not sure how many times this was sung yesterday, brought to my little ones' attention from this much- loved Elizabeth Mitchell album. Many, many times. Adelaide and I spent a good deal of time watching the beautiful robin birds take refuge in the old apple tree pictured above - about 15 of them off and on for an hour, as still as can be in the middle of the storm. I suppose that's the closest thing to a barn that we've got. (I had no idea how much of a bird watcher I'd grow up to be. I'm amazed by them.)

Meanwhile, on the inside, we did our best to busy ourselves on the should-be-spring day. Lots of little, puttering projects happened, like this little thing that I first saw over on The Black Apple several months ago. It's been in the back of my mind as a solution to my prone-to-tangling bowl of necklaces, and yesterday was just the perfect day to make it happen.

Just like Emily said - quite easy. I hot glued the buttons (a teal one, and then smaller white one on top) to a clear thumbtack, and stuck them (with a bit more glue for good measure) right on this shelf. Voila. No more tangled necklaces, and a simple bit of satisfaction on a very simple snowy spring day.

 
And today? Well, today I'm sure we'll see the robins quite clearly against the now-white of the same apple tree. So we'll watch for them. And then, we'll bring the sleds and hats and mittens back out. Because really, when it's this beautiful out there - 'wrong' season or not - jumping in just seems like the thing to do.

embroidery dreaming

This is the last of the smocks made for an Edith & Edna order. I think it's my favorite, even though Calvin told me it doesn't look like a teacup. Harumph.

The embroidery was inspired by the arrival of this Japanese embroidery book (ISBN 8347-2421-2) from SuperBuzzy (mail from SuperBuzzy is good mail, indeed). A few more book scans:

 

We're getting snow today - six inches of it. I have nothing nice to say about that. Steve says it's what I get for swapping out the winter gear for the beach toys and sandals. And spring skirts. And again, I say, Harumph.

So this morning, I'm headed back to my coffee to dive into this book for as long as I can, daydreaming about visits to the beach with summer linen smocks with little red riding hood embroidered on them. My vision involves lots of sand, baby toes, and ice cream. Ooh...and maybe some embroidered picnic napkins! Yes.

a challenge

I've had grand plans and dreams in my head of making some new spring / summer skirts. It's just what we do this time of year, right? I do. I dream about getting out of heavy, winter clothes. And I start wearing the lighter spring clothes far before the weather dictates it.  So I love the springtime closet clean-out, which happened this week. It led me to discover no less than 38 skirts already in the closet. 38. I was discussing the ridiculousness of this out loud to no one in particular, and deciding that, in fact, quite sadly, I had no reason whatsoever, to make a new skirt at all. When out of the blue - up perked some little ears and a little mouth, with a very matter-of-fact, "Well, Mama. You like skirts, and so you have a lot of them. Just like we like hats, and so we have a lot of them. Right?"

My Ezra-bird continued, "We have 42 hats {it's true - they counted}, and so you should have 42 skirts!" {Simple living, you ask? I guess in our house, exceptions are made for skirts and hats. And maybe a few other things too. Does it make you feel better that they're nearly all thrifted or handmade? Do you see the justification happening here?}

I'm pretty sure Ezra was issuing me a challenge, don't you think?
Kid, you're on.

The skirt inspiration is starting to gather (both from anthropologie):

 

Ah...Summer Skirt making season has officially begun, and I've got four skirts I need to make. I'm happy.

delivered, in patent leather

When I was little, a trip to Meme's (pronounced, "me-may," by the way) house always called for our most special dress and some patent leather. So this weekend, in honor of our roadtrip to visit my grandmother, I finally took the tag off this special little frock for Lady A to wear. She loved it, most especially though, the shoes - somehow she knew that shiny black shoes (that were once mine) help you dance, because that's just what she did.

And so, properly clad as we were, the quilt was delivered to my grandmother. And my Meme loved it, and I love that she loved it. She didn't really understand who each of the people in the photographs were, but she did keep saying with much enthusiasm, "MY people," and really, I think, that's all she needs to know. We're her people. Yes.

There was something about this day in particular - having nothing to do with the quilt, really - that will keep the memories of it close to my heart for a long time. It was a day full of life, really, in all that it means - full of memories of distant past juxtaposed with the full, young eyes of my little one, and plenty of beautiful 'now' moments where the two meet. It was full of the feelings of tremendous joy and sadness all at the very same time.  And I'm so grateful for all of it.