Mayfly

It's the end of February, and I did it. I posted every single day this month. I hope you found a few interesting things thrown in there. Helping me through this dismal time of year, you have been the light at the end of my tunnel. It seems that Spring may actually be just around the corner, and and I am feeling thankful. I am thankful that Spring will arrive and show me the wonder of the cycle of life and the beauty of renewal. I am thankful for my amazing little family. And I am thankful for all of you and the flattering comments you leave. Really. Thank you.

Posting every day has me feeling a little too glued to the computer, so I think I'll take a little blog break for a week or so. I'm anxious to start learning the ins and outs of my new camera (it should be here today or tomorrow), read a little bit, and spend some quality time with my babies. I'm sure I'll be posting way too many pictures on Flickr, so please come visit me there.

I leave you with a few images of my very own Smocket. Click on them to view them larger. It's one thickness of lightweight denim with bound edges. I used the same fabric combo on the patchwork kangaroo pocket that I used on the smaller version. I hoped it might be stylish enough to be worn as a shirt, but though I do like it, it's feeling a little boxy and apron-ish for me. So I think I have a sharp new around-the-house smock .

Take care, everyone. I'll be back soon!

Posted by Alicia at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (27)

Today? Today was a nice day. Amy and Laura came over with their kiddos for a little visit this morning. They played together nicely, and the moms gabbed and drank coffee. Well, Laura sipped her tea. She also brought gluten-free Madeleines. Very very tasty. I wish Amy lived here. We seem to have a lot in common. Hear that, Amy? If you ever get a hankering to move back to Kansas City, you just pack up and do it. Ok? And speaking of Amy (and all the Smocket love) don't forget to go visit her and tell her thanks. It's her pattern after all. : ) Thanks, Amy. For the pattern, for the visit, for the little fabric coaster. All three lovely.

Here are Bea and Darwin hanging out in the living room. Aren't they cute? N spent most of the morning glued to my hip. Later in the day she kept telling me her mouth hurt. I got to thinking maybe she was getting a sore throat. Great. Invite some friends over and infect them. That's a little too friendly. But after a huge crabby fit with Grandma I got to poking around in her mouth. All four two year molars are just barely poking through. Awwwwww- Baby N. I'm sorry, my love.

One more day, folks. Then I'm taking a break. But do come back tomorrow to see MY new Smocket.

Goodnight!

Posted by Alicia at 10:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

Waiting this afternoon for J to finish his Spanish class at school, N and I explored his school's garden.

At first glance it seemed not much was going on, but as we walked around we saw and heard otherwise. We enjoyed looking up at the winter blue sky, feeling the wind in our hair, watching two mice dart in and out of the ivy, examining the compost, squishing in the mud, looking at the goldfish in the pond, and listening to the chattering birds.

There really is no greater teacher than nature, and there's little as amazing as planting a seed and watching it grow. I'm looking forward to J becoming a part of this school garden and for them both to help with the little vegetable patch we're planning here at home. Not long now.

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Hello to my TypePad friends- I've been having a heck of a time commenting on all TypePad sites. I'm still reading, but I just can't say a word.

Posted by Alicia at 5:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

After asking Amy (she's the one who gave me the pattern) if it would be ok with her to share, I turned the Smocket pattern into a .pdf file. I included some simple directions too. There's no copyright here- I didn't invent this pattern- and obviously it's been around the block a few times. Once you've got the basic shape, I'm sure you'll see how simple it is. I do believe I'm going to size it up and make myself a Smocket, maybe with buttons at the shoulders instead of ties. Go forth my friends, smock the world...

Click here to download the file. I think. This is a learning experience for me. Let me know if it doesn't work or you have questions. I'll put a link over in the sidebar soon as well.

Enjoy- I'm excited to see your versions!

Posted by Alicia at 1:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (61)

At the risk of turning this place into the What She Wore Today Show, you HAVE to see what she wore today.

My new friend Jennifer made this sweater. Isn't it amazing?! She made a similar one for her daughter and I raved about it, and her daughter really wanted the Olive and Archie dolls, so we arranged a swap. It really deserves a skirt and some tights, but I couldn't wait that long to show you all. Jennifer is so talented, makes all kinds of things, knits, and her photographs- even the everyday snapshots- are just beautiful. Thank you, dearest. We absolutely love it!




And you'll never believe what Brian did this time. He spent the evening Tuesday switching from garage to laptop, laptop to garage, then after a quick trip to the auto supply place and then back to the garage, he replaced the brakes on his car! And mind you, before this he knew nothing about brakes. I told him to drive slowly the first day, just to be sure. *wink* He told me he had to do it himself because, "Mama needs a new camera." I LOVE THIS MAN.

I'm pretty sure it's either this one or this one.

A little help? Please?

Posted by Alicia at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)

What in the heck is it?

It's a smocket.

smock + pocket = smocket.

Amy kindly traced her vintage child's apron and mailed the pattern to me. I used the surprise fabric she sent for the patchwork pocket. It's a happythings smocket. Thank you, Amy! It makes me very happy.

**the pattern can now be found at my main page in the sidebar! Have fun!**

Posted by Alicia at 9:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (59)

We have temporarily* taken over the care and feeding of my parents' bread maker. My mom has always made homemade bread and I have a few times, but I've never been very good at bread. I'm easily distracted or I get bored and end up botching the rising time. We've really been enjoying this machine. Last night we experimented with the delay setting and woke up this morning to the smell of a loaf of warm, fresh wheat bread.

We've been eating our weights in bread, which by the way, may be increasing rapidly. We've made cinnamon raisin bread, dough for the BEST cinnamon rolls and several loaves of the whole wheat pictured with my lunch here. I know it's not exactly the same, this new fangled machine-made bread, but the ingredients are the same. It makes me feel good knowing that we did make it at home.

Now, to test out my mom's French press coffee pot thingy. Living so close to my parents definitely has its advantages.

*definition of temporarily: until she stomps up to my door and says, "Give me my bread maker back."

Posted by Alicia at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)

the boy is all better.
the girl is finally on the mend.
mommy is at about 90%.
the laundry is almost caught up.
the house is clean.
the studio is organized.
the weather is SO much better (sunny and 50's today.)
a painting job is in the works.
some creative projects are planned.

thank goodness.

Posted by Alicia at 8:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)

June, 2006

Posted by Alicia at 7:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

I've got nothin' today. We're all still recovering from this virus, so here are a few Valentine surprises that came in the mail last week.

First an adorable patchwork pouch from Beki, that went missing for a few days. I blamed it on my sticky-fingered little girl, but then I cleaned up a few piles in the studio and um, there it was.

Next is a little surprise that Amy sent. I already have plans for these pretty fabrics.

There were also a few candies that came with both of these packages that, let's just say, are not pictured. Ahem. Thanks, girlies! You're the best.

See you all tomorrow. xo

Posted by Alicia at 5:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

oh, my aching teeth.

Posted by Alicia at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)

Enduring her round with the latest fever, N has been camped out on my bed all morning watching Caillou with her "tackers and dooce." That's fine, little one. Just keep those cracker crumbs on daddy's side.

Posted by Alicia at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

The "love life" is my favorite so far. I'm reading it as full sentence. Love life. Some of these are getting a little smart, don't you think? I just ate one that said "go away." Nice.

Happy Valentine's Day, friends. Hug somebody, ok?



p.s. Thank you all SOOOOOOO much for the wonderful kitchen comments. Brian is tickled pink. xo

Posted by Alicia at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

I have this incredible husband. More than incredible. He's a great father and my best friend. And get this ladies, he helps around the house. But there's another reason he is so great: he can do anything.

He makes most of our money, he is an environmental activist, he remodels our home, and he fixes appliances. A couple of months ago our clothes dryer stopped heating. He fiddled around on the internet, found information and part numbers, replaced some stuff and Bingo! It's drying again. A few weeks later the washing machine started leaking. The tub kept filling up with water even when it was off. So he did that internet thing again and he replaced some valve, and what do you know? It's fixed too. These are just a couple of examples- He's always doing, making, repairing something. I ask and he says, "Add it to the list!" Now I'm not helpless. I'd almost call myself "handy", but I intimidate easily. This man is fearless. He just figures out what needs to be done and does it.

So now we get to the real reason for this post. Our little N got all kinds of kitchen items (food, pots and pans, utensils) for Christmas and her birthday. I decided she needed a kitchen. I looked around and there are plenty of cute ones out there, but not exactly what I had in mind. This is what I wanted. Amanda showed that kitchen for her very first Corners of our Home post. I showed that picture to Brian and here is what I'm looking at this morning:

Click on either picture to see it a little larger or here to see a close-up.

It's made entirely from salvaged or scrap materials. The ONLY things he didn't dig up in our basement or the scrap metal pile at his store are the two cabinet doors (bought at ReStore) and two bolts with nuts (bought at our neighborhood hardware store). I'm amazed. I painted it white (with paint we already had, of course) an off she cooks. Handmade and well made from materials that would have otherwise been trash- Wow.

Isn't it cute? Brian plays it cool, but he's proud. After one of the MANY times she has said, "Thank you, Daddy" he said, "Maybe she'll want to give it to her daughter someday." See why I want to keep him around?

Posted by Alicia at 8:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (44)

dish cloths, pot holder, and tea towels for my teeny tiny chef.

Wait, oh wait, until tomorrow when you see what her daddy made her...

** Edited 2/13/07 to add: Several of you have asked about the pear fabric. It's from a set of fruity Martha Stewart tea towels from K-Mart that I bought several weeks ago to cut up into smaller towels for this project. (Amy recently used the same fabric to make a really cute patchwork bib.) **

Posted by Alicia at 3:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)

We received our Miniswap 2 package yesterday while little N was napping, which was good. I wouldn't have gotten any pictures at all with both of them tearing in at the same time. Our partners were Nily and her two adorable girls, Celine and Baby Derin. She's a graphic designer and jewelry artist, originally from Turkey, but now living in New Jersey. Nily has a weblog (it's in Turkish). Go ahead and visit and see how lovely they all are.

They sent the most gorgeous package. Everything was wrapped so well, all personalized and the kids love every bit. She included handmade pouches to hold notebooks for each of them, little toys, sweet treats, even a tiny knitted sweater for N. Nily, did you knit it yourself? Click here to see it all.

And here's what we sent to them:

Click on the picture to see what's in there.

Thank you, Nily and girlies for a wonderful swap. And thank you for the flower seeds for me. I cannot wait to plant them. I hope you had fun! Also thank you, Molly, for putting this whole thing together. We had a ball!

Posted by Alicia at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Friday: over to a friend's house after school, huge Valentine's Day party in the evening at another friend's house

Saturday: sleep late, play on the computer, bake chocolate cookies with Papa, get a package full of loot in the mail, play with new stuff, watch trains at Union Station, out to dinner at the Choo-Choo Restaurant

What will the rest of the weekend have in store?!

(It's our Miniswap 2 package! Click here to see his share of the gifts. Thank you, Nily!!! It's all wonderful. Tomorrow I'll post N's goodies and the stuff we sent.)

Posted by Alicia at 3:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

My girl uses many two and three word sentences now but there is always the most endearing pause between words as her mind searches for the right one.

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Hey, Erin! Check me out!

(my mom is trying to teach me how to knit.)

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Between 8 and 8:30 am is my most peaceful time of the day.

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Today it was impossible to resist turning towards the warm sun and closing my eyes.

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idea source: here and here.

Posted by Alicia at 3:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

The weather cooperated this time around, and all these ladies came over this evening: Estea, Laura, Jenny, Amy, Lori, and Michelle. The food was all super, the company even better. We talked and ate and LAUGHED and traded fabric ( Jenny brought tons- We scored BIG time!) and ate some more and laughed some more. Oh, these ladies. I swear we could all be friends anyway, but isn't it strange and fun that our little crafty websites brought us together? At the very last minute as we were all hanging out by the door and Jenny had already gone, we realized we didn't take any pictures! A few were quickly snapped, but this is all I got. I'm hoping one of the other ladies got some good ones.

Thanks, girls. I had such a nice evening. You are all so fun and sweet and we need to do it again soon. SOON. And thanks for the fabric, especially you, Jenny. That was seriously generous. With all this I'll be busy for months. The ideas are already rattling around in my head.

Have a wonderful week, everyone. Joining in with Amanda and company, I'll just be posting photos for a few days. Take care.

Posted by Alicia at 9:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)

Made entirely by J, with a smidge of prep by mom last night. On the menu: reheated pancakes, jelly toast, sausage links. It was a little heavy on the condiments, but I've never been happier with a bad breakfast in my life. He's pleased as punch and wants to make lunch too, "as long as it's sammiches, cause that's all I know how to make."

Posted by Alicia at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)

Well, my critters saw their shadows this morning, but Phil didn't. I'm sticking with Phil's forecast.

I like to spend time outside everyday, even if just a half hour in the back yard. I can tell the kids feel better too if they get a little time to breath good air and blow off steam. But today the high is 17º F, which is entirely too few. Trying to take a photo of Pete and his shadow, we were out for about 10 minutes. He tried to sniff, tinkle, eat something gross (the things dogs do best) all while attempting to keep at least a foot or two off the freezing ground. He was pretty pitiful dancing around and limping, the poor thing. So back inside are we.

I've got a good size stack of WIP's in here in the studio and we're going for take two of the Get-Together Sunday, so there will be some inside activities to keep me busy. Plus J has informed me he wants to fix breakfast tomorrow for us all. by. himself. {Smile.}

I hope you all have fun plans for the weekend too! See you tomorrow.

Posted by Alicia at 9:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

February is difficult. The bustle of the holidays is over, the birthdays have passed, and the cold and gray seem to seep into my bones. I know I have a hard time every February too, so the anticipation makes it even worse. I try to stay optimistic, but I can already feel the funk creeping in. I was going to take the month off from this site and Brian talked me out of it. (wow.) He thinks maybe it isn't smart to stop doing something that helps keep me busy right at a time that I'm feeling so uninspired, right when I might need it most. He's right.

Instead I am going to try to post every day this month. Many days may just be a photo, because you see, it's February and I'm in a funk and there's not so much going on. Oh, right. I already said that. At any rate, you'll be hearing and seeing a lot from me.

Posted by Alicia at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (21)