summer is...

Spending warm evenings at the lake...

Exploring the nature around us...

Cooling off in the backyard (and locking ourselves out of the house)...

Enjoying being together at home...

Going on adventures...

 Relaxing and soaking it all in...

Summer is winding down and we are settling into a new routine. Part of that routine means I get a few hours to myself each day. So far that time has mostly been spent enjoying the quiet and tending to the garden, but I am sure it won't take me long to fill up those hours with shop work (after a looooong break) and a project here or there.

For me this summer has been wonderful and healing in a lot of ways, and hard and humbling in others. I am watching all of the women who were announcing their pregnancies around the same time I was now announcing the birth of their babies. And they are beautiful and I am happy for them, but I can't help but feel a pang in my chest for my empty arms. This summer is closing a hard chapter in my life, but I am leaving it with a heart filled with hope for the next.

another edelweiss

I couldn't go too long without whipping up another Edelweiss dress. Since I made the last one a tad bit more difficult with all of the added piecework sewing a more simple version the second time around felt like it went super fast. You may have noticed a color theme going on this week. I promise I didn't plan on making everything black and white, but what can I say?! I am falling for the trend.

So this is my KCW summer wrap up! I didn't have time to sew a ton and I didn't even sew a single thing for sweet Lark, but it was really fun creating these outfits for LM.

       Stenciled Cat Top                      Jumper to Jumpsuit                     Black + White Edelweiss

refashion: jumper to jumpsuit

   

My husband bought me a cute jumper dress as a surprise when we were dating because he remembered I mentioned I liked it. I wore it a lot during the time we were falling in love, so later when I decided it was a little too short for me to feel comfortable wearing it anymore I didn't want to just give it away. It sat in a pile in my sewing room for almost two years before I finally decided to cut into it and this is what became of that nostalgic gift. I think this sassy pants almost five-year-old wears it better than I did!

This project only took about an hour start to finish. All I had to do was take the sides in and then I laid a pair of her leggings on top of it to use as a template to cut out the inseam. I actually finished this a few weeks ago but have been super busy with a work project this month so I am just getting around to sharing it now. I am pleased to report that LM has been pulling it out of her drawer to wear often.

I am linking up with KCW here.

refashion: stenciled cat top

This was one of those projects where I started with a vague idea, but really had no clue where I was going with it until I was done. It is a refashion of a plain long-sleeved peter pan collared dress I thrifted last year knowing it was the perfect blank canvas to do something fun. The dress was marked a size 3T so I was originally making this with Lark in mind, but when I tried it on her the shoulders were to wide and it fit LM much better as a top.

I chopped the long sleeves off of the original dress and added a black flutter sleeve, then printed the shapes along the bottom using fabric paint and one-half of the arrow stencil from Handmade Charlotte's Family Message Center Stencil Set. I was just going for something graphic but quickly realized - Hello! Cats! - so when I stitched the hem up by hand I gave each little kitty a pair of eyes along the way.

When I showed it to LM I secretly hoped she would exclaim, "You have cat to be kitten me, I want to put it on right meow!" You know, or something close to that. She didn't, but she liked it and I got a "Thanks, mom!" so I am happy.

I will be joining the summer KCW challenge this week. You can find my projects here. Are any of you playing along as well?

the edelweiss dress

Today I am joining the Hey June pattern tour of the Edelweiss dress. Adrianna of Crafterhours invited me along and I am so happy she did because a) it inspired me to finally get back into the sewing room, and b) I love this pattern! It is just the right amount of sweet and the options are pretty much endless of how it can be switched up with different fabrics, a pieced bodice, or by making it tunic or dress length. I already have so many ideas of different 'looks' I want to sew up.

When I first saw the pattern I knew immediately what style of dress I wanted to sew. It reminded me of this vintage pinafore I had been wanting to try and recreate for some time and so my inspiration was set from the beginning. I found the solid colors in my fabric stash and started piecing them together to make the triangle pattern first. As I went along I decided if I was going to do all of this tedious piecework then I wanted to have the triangles go all the way around the dress for a bigger impact. So, I altered the pattern a little by merging the three bodice pattern pieces into one - that way the triangles could be one continuous piece. I also added a lining to the skirt since I chose white. I am asking for it, I know, but doesn't every little girl need a white dress for summer? ;)

I love the off center buttons in the back and the fact that I can move them over to loosen the bodice so she can fit into the dress longer. 

This just might be my favorite piece of clothing I have made to date. I really love how it turned out, and a great pattern can make all the difference!

a new decade

That guy right there holding an ice cream cake and singing Happy Birthday with gusto while still managing to look totally handsome is a keeper, I tell ya. Today is my birthday, but he surprised me on Saturday with a house packed full of friends and family to celebrate my big 3-0 a few days early. I had no idea he had been planning and scheming behind my back for a full month.

My mom was in cahoots with him to keep me away from the house after I got off work and she played her role perfectly - even when she had to improvise last minute when I got a terrible headache and told her I didn't think I could go shopping. She made us pedicure appointments on her drive over and told me that was my surprise gift, ha! I could certainly sit down and relax, oh, and here are some drugs... ;)

I really wish I got better pictures of the night, but I only got these few I snapped with my phone between conversations. It was a bit overwhelming seeing so many loved ones at once, many of whom I hadn't seen in a long time - high school friends! - and I wanted to sit down and talk to everyone a lot longer than I could, but it was so fun. I couldn't believe how many people showed up, and how hard Husband worked to make it all happen. He even asked everyone to write me a little letter and compiled them into a birthday book for me. It was a wonderful gift I will treasure.

Thanks for a great start to a new decade, honey! And thank you to everyone who wished me well.

our garden

We have been spending most of our days outside. I love weeding (no, really, I love weeding) and the girls have claimed the spaces under and between the lilac trees as their "hide out/tree house/grotto" so we are a content trio out in the yard. I pull and they pretend.

Over Memorial Day weekend we were able to clear out a space for our garden thanks to a neighbor with a tiller. This is the area where the fire pit was located, but we decided to move it since this was the best spot for the garden. The stone pathways are made up from all of the rocks we dug out from around the pit. I am so happy to have such a big space to grow food for my family!

I want our garden to be a family endeavor, so we invited the girls to help as much as they wanted. Lark just wanted to wear my gloves and pretend to plant, LM decided she wanted to put the seeds in the holes. Tending a garden can teach so many concepts from the science of how plants grow, to the rewards of hard work and I hope my girls will learn and grow along with our food this season.