Summer Sews

Over the last couple of months i've been happily distracting myself with wee sewing projects (when i should have rather been doing house-renovating type things). I'm very much a beginner sewer--sewing curtains has been the extent of my sewing endeavors. However, i have been happily teaching myself to follow simple patterns for children. It's kinda fun when you have a 2 year old girl to sew for. My first endeavor was not so successful, but there is a finished product! I call it the "comedy of errors" dress:

 

Look! Even the picture turned out blurry! ha! I remember running into someone who had taught themselves how to sew who had started off by experimenting by sewing different shapes together and coming up with some interesting clothes. How hard could it be? Well, i though it couldn't be too hard, especially coming up with a pieced together sundress for O. I was wrong. The shape was all weird, and i ended up laying out all my stitched together pieces and laying an actual pattern on top of it so that it would work. an it did, finally, sort of. It's blurry for a reason--can't see all my mistakes, and how there wasn't enough bias tape to go all the way around the bottom of the dress. oops!

Here is another dress i had much more success with:

I bought this one-piece dress pattern from Nearsea Naturals, and got the hang of it pretty quickly. Well, aside from the button hole part which my mom helped me with at first. And it's reversible! Perfect for sittin' on the rocking chair for some banjo pluckin'.

Here's the back view:

I can't take all the credit for my new found sewing skills though. I have also been attending some of the sewing workshops at Sew Free Winnipeg taught by seamstress extraordinaire, Melanie Wesley. I've been working on a little something for myself, but it's a work in progress i tell ya. Lots of sweat, blood and stitch ripping.

My next endeavor was also a super simple McCall's pattern my mom found for me. Not much to it:

 

Unfortunately just because you sew something for your own daughter, she might not want to wear them/it. Even though she's two. Because two year-olds have strong opinions. Today was the first time she actually agreed to wear any of these dresses i've made for her. I had already vowed not to sew anything for her again, but it looks like there's hope after all.

One last piece...i sewed these pants for a friend of mine who just recently had a baby:

I found the fun camper fabric came from Etsy. The pattern was from a book i picked up seemingly ages ago called Simple Sewing for Baby. Somehow i thought that after i had a baby i'd have all this free time for sewing and art and other things. Not so. It's the first thing i've sewn from that book, and O. is no longer a baby. It will be good for gift-giving, yes, it will.

colors in the kitchen

This morning we had to hang around the house waiting for Mr. Cable Guy to come fix us up (more services, cheaper price?!), so we decided the kitchen was the place to be. These are the colors that came out of our kitchen today:

   

First we used the mint from our first CSA veggie delivery to make some yellow Mango-mint smoothies. Yum!

Then i used the parsley, cilantro, and oregano--also from our delivery to make some green Chimichurri sauce and decided it would look lovely sitting beside my jar of pink Rhubarb-ginger cordial from the fridge. Sweet summer-ness! I've never made (or had) Chimichurri sauce before, but i'm sure it will taste spectacular smeared and seared onto something or other.

Last but not least stop in today's kitchen was a fresh boiled pot of greenish mint tea. Aaaaah! Summer living at it's best.

Happy summer sipping!!

showgirls in the garden

I was at my parents house this weekend celebrating Father's day, which meant a walk through my father's ever-growing garden. The irises were in bloom and in full regalia...it felt as though there were show girls  appearing around every corner, flapping their skirts at me...some were flouncy and playful, some were sensual and seductive and others were much more delicate and almost papery--each with their own personality to be sure! I almost think they each need their own names, no?

Check out the ladies:

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~Amanda Soule