The Calming Technique comments: 87

After all the friends, family, picnics, and pool days of the past month, my girl and I spent a lovely, quiet past couple of days inside, in the air conditioning, doing not much. Not much at all. My very limbs were limp. I pushed the ottoman over to the chaise lounge and made a day bed. Why didn't I think of this before? We rolled around there for hours. She took her nap there. I watched this documentary (I think it was on Xfinity on-demand, maybe?) while she slept beside me and was moved to tears by it, remembering things. I knit this very pretty little sweater in the prettiest color (I think). I fretted about all the work stuff I have to do (fast-paced shallow breathing here). I decided instead to order many vintage toddler dress sewing patterns from the '70s on Etsy, because I have these ideas. My pickiness about the exact lines I want to see in a toddler peasant dress has reached epic proportions. It's weirdo. I've thought about it a lot. Which is weird. I was starting to panic a little bit. Over toddler dresses. Stress-shifting. Pant pant. I thought about designing something myself and laughed out loud. I thought about splurging on some French patterns (the cuts, oh the cuts!) but the French were on vacation and wouldn't ship soon enough. I looked through the contemporary-designer PDFs I've bought, and the big commercial pattern books, but no. My brain tightened around these certain shapes and wouldn't let go. Then I started browsing the vintage patterns (hundreds! hundreds!) and — you guys — things got all  f l o w y  and  r e l a x e d. Chillllllllllled. I swear I felt all those millions of blobby wrinkles on my very brain start to melt out. Yes, those were the dresses, and the shapes. There they were. Relieved sigh. Down, girl.

When I was a child I spent hours — a lot of hours — browsing pattern books at the fabric store with my mom. I always loved it. When I got older, in high school and college, I did it by myself. I always had a lot of ideas. I always needed time to think about them. I always wanted something that wasn't exactly in the book, or a fabric that wasn't exactly on the shelf. Much like now. What is that? Such a curious phenomenon. When I had a lot of other stuff I needed to do, I would still be making things up in my mind, working on a plan for something. I find it impossible to surrender the impulse, no matter how busy I am. If I don't have that little space — just a little space to dream of shapes, before I fall asleep at night I see them in my mind — I am unhappy. If I have it, I am happy. There isn't much else I really crave doing, when time is tight. I find the dreaming even more satisfying than the sewing (which I don't actually have much time to do). I thought of making a notebook with the line drawings of the dresses, and swatches of fabrics and trims, and color combos. Then, when I do have a few minutes, I'll be ready.

My pet peeve about contemporary indie patterns: Many don't include line drawings of the dress, and they are made is such bright, colorful fabrics that I seriously cannot seeeeeeee what is going on. I SO very much prefer the old patterns, with drawings instead of just photos. I really seem to need the cover drawings and the line drawings, myself.

(Her little pillowcase dress was a gift from my mom from Camp Hollyhock.)

Flowers and Fruit comments: 113

My favorite part of summer is now, I think, when everything is still green and plump and hasn't been frizzled to a hollow. Barbecues with old friends, and baby is crawling. We spend our time together walking, or I ride my bike on the sidewalk so we can go as far as we want without my foot getting angry. Up and down the streets, past house after house and garden after garden. This is my favorite thing. The winding. The talking. He says we can go anywhere — and as far as — I want. Ending up at a restaurant, the bead store (yep, working on a new ornament kit), a pie shop. On and on. Amelia is so game. Amelia goes everywhere, does everything, and takes it all in with this placid, happy-go-lucky way she has. There's a sparkle in her eyes, but she is mellow yellow. There are no moments where I do not marvel at this quality. Knawing on her kitty, waving her foot up and down, she's watching. She shows me her bottle cap, her little deer. I like it. I kiss it, her. We rub noses. I ride in front, zig-zagging, about to fall off going two miles an hour and trying not to crash into everyone's rose bushes. Mommy the goofball. Andy buys a guitar made out of a cigar box and puts it on top of the stroller. Can't resist playing it while he walks. We're the ragtag parade, carrying a ten-pound sweet-cream raspberry pie and a stolen daisy.

By the way, brunch at the Woodsman was a delight in every possible way. I had pancakes and very strong coffee and I was about as happy as anyone's ever been about anything, I think.

I told you I'd tell you about Amelia's midsummer dress. It was inspired by a traditional Norwegian bunad, or folk costume. Each region has its own style of dress. Amelia's birthfather is three-quarters Norwegian, and his family is from the Dovre region of Norway. The dovrebunader, like this one and this one, are just so gorgeous. I have always loved these, so I was ridiculously excited to make her her own baby version. I made the pattern by tracing the bodice pieces of one of her basic little dresses from H&M, and then added a skirt that was 10" long by 44" wide. For the embroidery, I used the traditional dandelion-like design on the dovrebunader, and then just chose two other random designs from one of my clip art books. I traced everything onto copy paper and made a copy onto a special paper called Transfer-Eze. This stuff is VERY COOL. When you peel the top (printed) layer of the paper off of the heavy paper behind it, the top layer has a sticky backing. You press that smoothly to your fabric, then hoop it, and embroider away, right through the Transfer-Eze. (See the photo of my embroidery-in-progress in this post.) When I finished the embroidery, I cut out the bodice (adding a seam allowance) and then soaked the whole thing in cool water for just a few minutes. The Transfer-Eze dissolved and disappeared without any problem at all. It was wonderful to use, especially since transfering is kind of a pain, especially on dark colored fabrics. This was my first time using this and I will definitely use it again. The only thing I noticed is that my hand and fingers were a little bit sore after I worked these pieces; you do have to push the needle a bit harder as you stitch, but it's not too bad. I was doing a lot of satin stitch in a pretty short span of time. I haven't really looked into who manufactures this product but maybe I will try to carry it in my web shop because it is pretty awesome. I'll let you know if I do. Anyway, I thought the little dress came out very pretty and it was really cool to make something by pulling together parts and pieces of inspiration.

I also finished her midsummer sweater, and just have to put the buttons on. I think this is the first time I've ever done anything in reverse stockinette. Kinda cute. I think the yoke looks too deep, but maybe I'm wrong. I'll put the buttons (covered, I think, in Liberty lawn) on today and try it on her and see. It's cold and chilly today, so this will be good.

In our yard the rose mallow is blooming, and the hydrangeas are just starting. The apple tree had three tiny green apples but they all fell off already. We built a little teepee (using this tutorial — really easy, really fast, really inexpensive) on Saturday afternoon when it was still sunny and gorgeous. She played in it for a while, though it got kind of hot; there was no breeze, especially in the teepee. After Amelia went to bed, I sat out in the yard and ate pie and watched the darkness arrive and pretty much became infatuated with the teepee at dusk. So far we haven't really used our backyard lights that much because it stays light so late right now, and I can't stay awake! But I stayed out Saturday night and it was worth it. Oh, how I do love a good ambient light source!!! It's sooooo romantic back there now. We had the lights done by this company. I basically told them what I wanted — two strands of light bulbs crossing over the seating area, hardwired into a dimmer switch on the garage wall — and they did the whole thing (even more romantic). I don't fool around with electricity, and I knew we wanted this to be permanent. Neither do I have the details about the cord because Chris the electrician provided that, but it was twisted black and brown, and what I liked about it was that he was able to put the lights into it only and exactly where we wanted them — right over the chairs, and not down the entire length of the cord as they stretch from the corners of the garage to the pergola thing, and then across to the fence (they added a little 2" x 2" board so the cord would connect at the right height). The bulbs are 40 watt clear appliance bulbs. The dimmer is fantastic. I'm really pleased with how this came out. Now we just need to drink some coffee after dinner so I can stay awake and enjoy it.

Oh, and the other outdoor wicker pendant we have over the table we've had for several years, and it just plugs into an extension cord. I think it's like this one.

I did wind up ordering a battery-powered lantern for the teepee, too.

What else. I'm playing catch up today. I sincerely apologize to anyone who is waiting for me to answer an email. I am not good at this and the email just keeps piling up and up.

Wimbledon starts today. Yippee! Does anyone know the name of that little daisy-like plant (feverfew — thank you!), and the pink frothy one (spirea — thanks!)? Those were out in the neighborhood somewhere, but I'd love to plant both of them. Pretty.

***My tablecloth is from Powell's Books for Cooks; the teepee cover cloth is from eBay or Etsy; our bedding is from Pottery Barn; I made my skirt several years ago from cotton calico (don't know the name of it — I'm sorry); and I think the pillow cover was from Pottery Barn a few years ago, too.

Midsummer Magic comments: 141

Oh, in the midst of summer! What a lovely weekend it was: glorious weather, great fathers and grandfathers, a festival, lazy mornings, good company, good food, tiny lights, sun spots, a picnic on the hill, cool breezes through the pine trees, ukelele songs, a wedding in the distance, baby singing, bright nights, rose mallow blooming, a sleepy kitty in my spot on the chaise, a baby bunad, a band playing. Birds singing. A blue jay that visits us in the back yard lately, making me feel like little Mary Lennox. I was buzzed by a hummingbird. Oh, June. You've been so good to us, June.

***I will definitely tell you about the dress and the lights when I have a minute more to write. And to make the daisy chain you just pick a bunch of little daisies that grow in the grass at the park, keeping their stems as long as you can. Braid the stems tightly together (with the flowers at the top), adding new daisies in when you have about an inch or so of stem left on the previous daisy. The stems are flexible so just tie the end of the chain gently to the beginning flowers when the crown is big enough. Place on baby and kiss one thousand times.

My Little Things of Spring comments: 106

Tiny flowers everywhere. It's the time when everything is tentative and delicate. In a few months, I won't notice the flowers, really. Everything will be riotous and rampant. I'll be dragging the lurching hose around the yard so the whole thing doesn't frizzle to a crisp. (I say to Andy, back when it wasn't raining, "Hey, why don't you ask for one of those really cool automatic hose-winder-upper things for Father's Day?" He says, "Oh. Okay. Will you get me one of those hose-winder-uppers for Father's Day?" Me: "Absolutely. I mean, since that's what you really want!" Clever Mommy.) But for now, Mama Nature waters it all for me. My plants unfold their wonders, cautious and chilled. I dodge cold raindrops to witness. The unfurling never ceases to fill me with spring fever. And it is a fever, isn't it? You start to feel quite shaky: Let me get into the woods.

If it hadn't been raining, though, and I hadn't stayed home, I wouldn't have been knitting my Cricket, which is coming along nicely and which, I must say, I have thoroughly, utterly enjoyed. Why. I don't know. Everything about it has pleased me. The pattern is sweet. The yarn (leftover bunny-kit yarn) feels good and has a little bite to it, a little spring bite, so the stitches feel defined and reflect the light in a very chalky kind of way that I love (I don't like shiny yarns anymore). The whole thing feels utterly and completely handknit. Do you know what I mean? In other words, you can see the variation in the tension of the stitches, little bloops and frets, places where you put it down and came back to it, places where you stopped and had to keep someone from crawling into the fireplace (always toward the fireplace), places where you fell asleep in the middle of a row, places where you started dreaming about cabins and cocoa. I like yarns that record these things. I don't want them too smooth or so soft that all the bumps and blunders disappear. I want my hand in there somewhere. So she'll know, when she wears it, that my hands are there.

Now, this dress. This dress. Never have I wanted a mommy-and-me outfit more. LOVE. I used this pattern. And this fabric (in Gerbera Turquoise). Quick and easy. Made in a morning. There will be more.

And for some reason, because it feels like fall, I guess, I just want to eat mushrooms. If you take some leftover grilled chicken with rosemary and lemon (thanks to Andy — I have no idea how he does it but I can ask), and you chop up a couple of Portabella mushrooms and saute them in ghee (funniest sentence of the week: Andy: "Are we seriously out of ghee?", which just about made me fall off the couch laughing because — he knows what ghee is? and he's amazed we're out of it??? [which we weren't, which somehow made it even funnier, because we don't have milk or eggs, but we have ghee]), then pour about 1/2 cup of white wine over all of it and let it bubble down to a glaze, then add some salt and pepper and cream and Parmesan cheese and let that bubble down just a bit, then add some al dente spaghetti and get it good and coated, you, too, can have something yummy in your tummy. And yeah, I say things like that now.

Rain Rain comments: 99

Rain, rain. In the early mornings, before it is light, we all lay in the big bed with the windows wide open and the heated mattress pad turned on. The rain falls on the leaves, a constant tip-tapping. The breeze is cold and wet but we are warm. Amelia rests her cheek on my belly. I stroke her back and her tiny fingernails stroke my arm. I dare not move lest she move. I want her to stay. There are pillows and pets in every space. We talk about buying a little cabin in the woods near the mountain, so she can grow up with trees and pine needles and wood smoke and the sounds of the mountain creek, with snow in the winter and ski poles and snowshoes, with campfires in summer, sleepovers in the panelled loft, wildflowers in a jar on the windowsill next to her bed, sunlight filtered through the endless trees, sand on the floor where she puts her bare feet. I want that for her, for us. I pull out the computer in the dark and check the real-estate listings. The screen glows with moss-covered Forest Service cabins. This one has a porch. This one has a river-rock fireplace. This one is awful. They ruined it. This one would be perfect. Dream. She sleeps and breathes. My hands on her small body, feeling her breathe in the dark before rain-dawn.

We can't complain about the weather, when so much of the country is suffering, but it is cold and again cold, and sopping wet. It feels like green winter. Andy says that people have big gardens here because it makes you appreciate the rain; the gardens are happy, and that makes you happy. But for the cold. Everything is drenched and glistening, heavy with flowers. The peonies slump in the yard. The grass is half-drowned. The pavement is dark and shiny. I check the beet seeds daily. Chioggia and Bull's Blood. Nothing yet. It's Friday, the end of a long week. I imagine myself crawling under the duvet cover at the end of the day and watching my TiVo-ed episodes of Nigella Forever Summer. As soon as I turn on my side, I'll be asleep. If I have time tomorrow, I'll make some frothy dresses for Amelia. Clothes like summer flowers, to wear when it gets warm.

Maggie Rabbit's Back! comments: 80

Remember Mags? Yep, she's back! You can find her in kit form right HERE!

She has one previously available dress fabric and four new ones. There's Betsy:

And Danjo (interesting name, but no, I didn't make it up — Liberty made up all of these :). The yarn looks darker here than it does in real life. It's more of a pale, warm maroon:

Emilia's Flowers, for my dear Amelia:

And Margaret Annie (appropriately!):

And last but not least, sweet Meadow for my Clover Meadow:

Just choose the dress fabric and yarn combo you would like from the drop-down menu (sorry, there are no substitutions!).

I also have some new clothes patterns! There are some Little Pants and a Shirt for Rabbits. You can make them for a boy bunny or a girl bunny. Just change the fabric and place the buttons on whichever side you'd like!

There is a precious Little Knitted Dress for Rabbits (done from the top down, and mostly in the round [after you do the increases for the skirt]):

And a Little Raglan Sweater for Rabbits, also for boys or girls (the directions will help you place the buttonholes on the left or right side, depending on which one you're making):

And a Little Hooded Coat for Rabbits, all done in garter stitch, with holes in the hood for ears (of course!):

I also have some Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport Weight yarn for you to make all of these knitted things, in eighteen different colors (not all pictured here, but they are on the product page):

And there are also Weensy Little Buttons in nine colors for your sweaters and shirts:

And if you had trouble threading the elastic to go around the neck and cuffs of your bunny peasant dress, I have some size #18 needles with big eyes which will make it easier:

Now. For the knitty (sp?) gritty:

• I've fixed the shopping-cart issue that we had last time, so the specific name of the fabric, or the color of yarn, or the color of the buttons you've placed in your cart will show up, and not just the name of the general item. I'm really sorry I didn't realize this wasn't working until the end of the day of the last kit sale, and by then it was too late — my bad!!! But I think it's working nicely now, so this is good.
• Please — and this is where I beg! — take your time while shopping and make sure you are putting everything you need into your cart before you check out. Unfortunately, I cannot add anything extra to an existing order once it's been placed. The best I can do is 1) cancel the original order for you and have you place a new order with everything you'd like included, or 2) just have you place another order for the new items, and if they are physical items that need to be shipped (i.e.: not a digitally downloaded pattern), you will have to pay shipping twice. Due to the volume of orders that we receive in a very short period of time, I have to rely completely on my system, and the system only lets me cancel, not tinker, so just take a moment to make sure you are getting everything you want in your cart before you check out.
• Please also make sure you have the correct shipping address entered for your order.
• All that said, if you do have a problem and need to email me, don't hesitate!
• All patterns are available as digitally downloaded PDFs. (If you've ordered a kit, a hard copy of the pattern is included.) Once you've purchased it, a link to download your digital PDF pattern will be made immediately available to you upon completion of payment, even if you have purchased physical items at the same time. A link to download the patterns will also be emailed to you separately. Again, this system is completely automatic, so please make sure you are watching for the link at the end of your transaction, and have the correct email address attached to your order. If you have any problem receiving your pattern, let me know.
• I do ship internationally. Please read my FAQ page for details on shipping to Canada and overseas (about halfway down the page) and info about customs charges, etc. (You may be charged duties or taxes or customs charges by your importing country, which unfortunately I can't control; this doesn't happen often but it does occasionally happen, so please be aware.) To see how much the general shipping cost (minus these potential charges) is to your location, please complete the checkout process to Step 2 (which is after you enter your address, so the system knows how much to charge you; shipping charges are different depending on location). You will see the shipping charge to your location and can decide if you would like to complete the transaction.

We have made a lot of kits this time, and hope to get everything shipped in the next several weeks or so (but please be patient, because it is only Greta and I working on this but we're doing our best; we have half othe kits already assembled but if we sell over that we will need some time to put more together). IF the kits do completely sell out again, please don't worry because we will make more. It's takes us some time, but we will make more! Kind of like Doritos.

Thank you very much!!! I'm really excited about this new stuff!

***Ooops! A couple of things I forgot to mention:

• Thank you to everyone who submitted photos for the Pinterest gallery! Aren't these buns just adorable??? I LOVE seeing what people do to make their bunnies special and unique. Oh, they are just all so darn sweet. Thank you, guys. I love them all! (For info on submitting a photo for inclusion, see the second paragraph of this previous post. I am slow to upload these, so please don't worry if I don't get to yours right away. I get there eventually.)
• The knitting patterns are brand new, so if you run into ANY trouble with them, email right away and I will figure it out. If there is any errata and I need to update a pattern, the service I use allows me to send you a notification that there is a new, corrected pattern to download. I will also get these patterns on Ravelry soon. Please check the web shop product page for any errata. I will post corrections there.
• If any of the yarn runs out, we will reorder right away. This is my first time carrying yarn so I'm not sure what quantities to carry, but the manufacturer ships quickly so this can be turned around without losing too much time at all.

Thank you again, and thank you for being patient with me! I really appreciate it!

Big, Beautiful Spring comments: 138

The weather has been unbelievably gorgeous. This is perfect weather: Sunny, smooth, in the seventies, a bit of a breeze but only in lovely, dress-fluttering way. Mellow-yellow days. This has been the best spring weather I can ever remember. We haven't really had time to clean up the yard, even. And already the hydrangea (that's climbing hydrangea, on my fountain wall) has fully leafed out, and everything else looks fat and lush and happy. I think I actually have to water some of my wine-barrel hydrangeas already. That's unprecedented!

We've had kind of a quiet week, with sore throats and runny noses moving from one of us to the next. I'm last. I've been cooking and knitting generally laying low. Walking around the neighborhood a lot, especially in the mornings and the late afternoons. This morning Amelia and I saw a woman walking a baby (pygmy?) goat on a leash. Down a very busy street. Awesome. Everyone's yard is gushing greens. Everything smells so nice. The scent of cut grass is in the air. Lilac. Roses are starting to bloom already. This little pearly pink one sits on our woodshed. The bush that has probably been here eighty years. I put up a rosebud hair clip tutorial on my web site. Good for using up your extra felt scraps!

I made myself a dinner bowl last night of jasmine rice cooked in chicken stock and coconut water, black beans from this recipe, corn salad (I just used frozen corn) from this recipe, and a whole avocado. I would've added some shrimp but we didn't have any. It was pretty good, not great. Fresh corn would've been a major improvement. I like the concept of a dinner bowl. I think I'm going to start looking for recipes that go in a bowl. (Especially since I just bought myself a really pretty Japanese bowl with a lid on it this morning. Inspiration.) Rice, quinoa, noodles. Those are fast and good. I need a plan . . . that happens in bowls. And is not soup. Do you have any favorite bowl-food recipes?

There's always ice-cream bowl. In a pinch. I've done that.

Power Sewing Session comments: 104

We're all fighting colds here. :( Waaaaah! Oh well. I got some power sewing done over the weekend! It was a blast. I haven't sewn much at all lately. The lovely Amanda linked to this baby bib tutorial and I made some in a hurry. I'm not sure how many to make. I did eight. They're really fun and fast. I also made Amelia three more pairs of big bubble pants. I love these so much. I think she could use a pair every day, honestly. It's a good project for 1/2 yard of fabric. I made the legs a bit fuller, as well. My girl's got some chunky thighs! Is there anything cuter?

She's sleeping right now. Greta's coming over in a bit. We're making progress on the next batch of Maggie kits. I'm still thinking mid-May, and I hope that's not too ambitious? We'll see. I'm almost done with my patterns. Greta's still cutting dress fabric. Martha's still winding yarn. Tiny buttons are here, though one color is backordered (naturally). Yarn, too, was backordered (blah). Oh well.

I made this chicken with peanut sauce over the weekend and oh my stars, it was so good. I felt quite proud. Almost as proud as I felt the other day when I was making a Boboli pizza and squirting pizza sauce out of the little plastic baggie thing that comes with the crust and thought, "Wow, look at me! Making a pizza that wasn't even frozen first!!!" Puff puff. I was so pleased. Then I remembered that I used to make actual pizza dough, from things like yeast and flour. And sauce from actual tomatoes! That's funny! I burst out laughing. While I ate my Boboli I pledged to make a greater effort to cook more. I really miss it, actually. I'm making baby food for Mimi, but I am possibly the most pathetic regular meal planner in the world. When I am busy or tired, cooking — fancy, yummy, fun-type cooking, not just survival cooking — is the first thing to go in my day, always. And when I'm busy or tired, I seriously could not even care less what I eat. This chicken was so good, though. I am inspired. I want to do better at cooking for Andy and me. I feel like I say this all the time!

Do you know how to make a little rose hair clip? I'll take some photos next time I make one and show you how. I've bought a few (you can get a poufy one like Amelia's here, and similar rose ones here and here and here and here — there are a lot on Etsy that are adorable) and have been making a lot. I like making them because you can do them in so many different colors (and they get lost all over the house, so we need them in every room). They're really fun and really easy.

Big Bubble Pants comments: 165

I made some big bubble pants yesterday. I thought they came out pretty cute. I used this pattern but added 3" to the top and 4" (total; 2" to the edge of the pattern piece that goes on the fold) to the width. The cutest thing about them was that the minute I put them on her (she'd had tights on all day and I'd just taken them off) she started kicking her legs and clapping her feet. It was so adorable. She was happy. I was THRILLED. I have trouble figuring out how tight to make the elastic on things. I have made so many things that are gathered on 1/4" elastic and unless the pattern tells me exactly how long to cut the elastic for a neck or a cuff or around a leg I can't seem to get it right. That's my goal today (my goals are very simple): figure this out exactly for her right now, and write it down. A lot of her purchased baby pants seem too small around the waist, and the elastic seems tight and uncomfortable. She's pretty big for her age. (Her little birdy-deer blouse is from H&M, by the way — I got it [along with a lot of her clothes] at the resale shop.)

I took photos for my friend Prescott's new restaurant, Township and Range. Isn't it pretty in there? I had the fried chicken and mashed potatoes and they were awesome.

I got to go fabric shopping by myself the other day and it was pretty wonderful. A lot of people like massage, or manicures, or . . . I don't know . . . yoga . . . stuff like that . . . when they want to relax. Not me. I go to Goodwill or the fabric store. Goodwill is a lot cheaper. But I realized that most of my fabric stash is made up of smallish pieces. Quarter-yards, half-yards. So I needed some new fabrics for some spring clothes for Amelia. Win-win. I think I can make a dress or blouse and bubbles for 1 1/2 yards. Half-yards for the bubbles. I made a nightgown for Maddie (we have two bunnies — Maggie, and Maddie). It's made of this fabric. Just a longer version of the peasant dress her pattern comes with, tied with some silk ribbon. Thinking I might go back and get more and make a nightgown for myself. . . .

Oh, by the way, thank you for the pattern recommendations the other day! I've got some good ones now. Now that my time is much more limited, I have completely different requirements for patterns. It's kinda funny. Things I wouldn't have thought twice about in the past (buttons, continuous placket — basically anything finicky) — if I don't have to do it to get the general look, I won't. The length, the fullness, the angles — the cut of the thing matters more. And the easier it is to make and get on the babe, the better.

But I do care about the cut.

Also, fabrics. At the fabric store, everything's very bright. Bright aquas, bright limes, hot pinks. No. Those aren't mine. I don't like those colors. I like the colors of old books. Paris apartments. Ice cream and convents. Pansies and plum blossoms. Blushy pinks and mustards with a touch of gray, and French gray, and inky blue, and robin's egg, and violet, and apricot, and palest of yellows. Wildflowers more than tropical flowers. Weeds more than roses. Unless they're teeny weeny roses. Small flowers rather than big, loopy flowers. Dots and stripes rather than fat ruffles. I like feminine things, but I don't really like frilly things. Though I'm more gathers than pleats.

You know?

If you roast some broccolini and some asparagus with olive oil and salt and pepper, and some shrimp with olive oil and salt and pepper, and then you toss it with a half-container of mascarpone and some peas and a pound of thin spaghetti (and some parmesan), I don't think you'll be sorry. I was ecstatic that I was eating something that wasn't previously frozen, to be honest. But even given that, it was really good. And now I have dinner for tonight, too. Yippee yay.

*Thank you to everyone who has sent me photos of their Maggies!!! They are so awesome. I couldn't be happier to see how adorable they are turning out — thank you!

Little Leaves and Petals comments: 182

Mimi (that's what we call her at home) is five months old. Five big, beautiful, blessed, extraordinary, wonderful months. Oh how I love this girl, her smiles and her moods, her dimples and chubby hands and chunky thighs, her open-mouthed kisses and her hands on my face, trying to get my nose into her mouth. Her voice and her calls. Her sighs and little snores and her loud hollers and her chuckles when something's funny. Her floppy hair and her big, deep eyes and her big, warm cheeks. Her breath on my chest, her hand flung out, her hand tangled in my hair. I love her wonder, and her pleasure, and her heavy head on my chest as we sit in the window seat and find the sky. Always the sky. Dearest, dearest, dearest, dearest girl. My dream of dreams.

Six-to-twelve-month clothes! We need 'em. I bought a bunch of sewing patterns, both new and vintage, over the weekend. Very excited. The vintage patterns from the '70s make me crazy nostalgic. In looking through them on Etsy and eBay I see so many things that my mother made for me. I bought some of them to make for Amelia someday. Vintage patterns generally don't have several sizes included; they have one size. Maybe when she's six I'll make her the prairie maxi-dress and bonnet in pink calico, just like mine.

There are a lot of really nice designers making very pretty patterns out there right now! This weekend I got patterns from Oliver + S, Sis Boom, Sew Sweet, Lily Bird Studio, and Brownie Goose. And there are a ton more designers on Etsy. It's really fun just looking through everything that's out there. Who else should I check out?

*I made her blouse out of Liberty "Boxford" Tana Lawn and this pattern from Citronille, and her hat is here :)