I'm Losing My Touch

I took lots of pictures when the boys were small. Lots and lots. Sometimes I'd take 50 to get that one Christmas-card-perfect picture. Thank goodness I saved all of them, because my favorites now are the ones I considered too silly then. My goal this Christmas Eve was to get all three girls in one picture. While it was difficult to get one good picture with two boys, it is impossible to get one good picture with three girls. For me. At least, in a limited time frame. In a confined space. With 20 other people milling around. Especially when the bounce-capable flash is left at home.

But I'll save all of the pictures taken on Christmas Eve. And in 15 years, I may be glad I saved them. Maybe.

Frosty Freezey

And Now There Are Three

I started to think about Christmas dresses for the three girls back in October, inspired once again to experiment with my two current sewing passions: the use of complementary fabrics and bias trim. I love clothes--especially children's clothes--that are constructed using an assortment of fabrics, but lack confidence in coordinating colors and patterns. I was confident, however, that I could talk Kathy into meeting me at Fabric Depot. After much pondering and rearranging of the Christmas fabric display, we selected three cotton prints for the dresses and a Blue Hill Fabrics plaid from the Victorian Christmas collection for a bias trim.

I've never been a fan of facings, either around the neck or armholes of a garment. I don't like the way they look if tacked down and I don't like the way they feel if not tacked down. Now that I have my handy-dandy cutting surface, rotary cutter, and a number of quilting rulers and cutting guides, I'm done with facings and have moved on to finishing neck and armhole edges with bias strips cut from fabric. To finish the neck edges of the two bigger dresses, I cut a 2 1/4" strip of fabric on the bias and folded one side in 5/8". Matching the cut edges (right sides together) of the neckline and bias strip, I sewed a 5/8" seam around the neckline, trimed the seam allowance down to 3/8", then folded the strip to the inside, leaving a 1/2" bias trim around the neckline. Instead of cuffs, I also finished the sleeves with the same bias trim.

The ruffles and sashes are also cut on the bias. In retrospect, I should have bought enough of the plaid fabric to make piping to go in the seam between the skirt of the dress and the border around the hem. After scouring fabric stores from Portland to McMinnville, I determined that the Blue Hill Fabrics Victorian collection was, in fact, no longer to be found. Lesson learned ... always fudge and buy a bit more fabric than you think you might need.

But Is It Cheating?

I have not yet fully embraced the digital age, at least where photography is concerned. Admittedly, digital photography is cheaper and I am more apt to take five digital shots for every one film shot I would have taken. But therein lies the problem. I used to spend quite a bit of time composing that perfect shot. Now I take twenty and pick the one I like best. Or crop it in Photoshop. Or adjust the color and contrast. Or edit out a minor imperfection. Or even a major one.
So is it cheating? I finally bought a polarizing filter for the Nikon D60. Not that there is a lack of polarizing filters in this house, just none that fit the digital camera. And on a beautiful summer's day, in need of a photo opportunity, I set out to take a perfect picture.

A perfect picture, composed in the camera, with no need of Photoshop intervention. I took some time to compose each shot and slowly rediscovered what I once liked so much about photography: becoming absorbed in the detail.

I am happy with the results. And why did I wait so long to get a polarizing filter? Who knows, maybe I thought THAT would be cheating.

Peter Goes To College (This Bird Has Flown)

The eldest child is off to college and the house is so quiet you'd think we were empty nesters. Not quite, though. The youngest is still here, just hasn't figured out that he can now talk uninterrupted. Though Craig and I had both planned to accompany the child to SLO, our Grandma-sitting plans fell through so Craig made the sacrifice to stay at home and allow me to hone my road-warrior skills. Craig's parting advice to Peter was sweet:

1. Use your superpowers only for good.
2. Be kind to the Hu-Mons (pronouced Ferengi-style).
3. I'm here for you ... you can call me anytime.

Acceptance into the Honors Program entitled Peter to apartment-style living instead of the typical dorm experience. The Cerro Vista Apartments are built on a hill and Peter's apartment is at the very top of the stairs. Each apartment has four single bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and two bathrooms.

His bedroom is at the back of the apartment and his window looks out into the hills above.

The living room is basic, but welcoming with lots of good light.

The kitchen is modern and spacious with a huge pantry. The table really called for some fresh flowers; however, I resisted. Four boys are going to live here, after all.

The view from the kitchen window, which is at the front of the apartment, is of the campus below and the surrounding hills. A nice view for washing dishes.

After moving in Peter's stuff, I made the bed and helped him "unpack" a bit. Which means we piled lots of stuff on the bed. By then it was around 5 pm and I had to hit the road to get in a few hours of driving. Peter was quite cheerful to show me the way out.

I offered some last minute advice, but he was having none of it. This bird was more than ready to leave the nest.

I called Peter from the parking lot and assured him it was perfectly alright if he wanted to change his mind and return home with me. "Ah, no" was the response. So I called Craig and told him that it felt very surreal to leave Peter behind and return home without him. Craig then shared that it had felt very surreal to him that we were expected to take Peter home with us when we left the hospital almost 19 years ago. I guess we all have these moments.

Almost Fair Isle

Or not. I love the look of Fair Isle knitting but have never attempted anything using the technique. I'd have to take a class. I wanted to try the self-patterning yarns to see if the same effect could be achieved and found the answer: No. At least not in sweaters. Socks, great, sweaters, no. I still like this sweater, which was started ages ago when I learned that Bailey was expecting a sister. I planned two matching sweaters, one for the three year old Bailey and one for the new sister. I'll make the six-month old size, I thought, just in case I don't finish in time. The new sister, Chloe, had celebrated her second birthday by the time I pulled this out of the cupboard and decided to finish up the picot edging. The knitting was done and I had anticipated having difficulty sewing the picot edging down. I didn't. Easy peasy. So easy, in fact, I wonder why I haven't used this technique more often, it makes such a nice finished edge.

And now it belongs to Ellie, who is so tiny that we'll be well into winter before she will wear it. Perfect timing. And enough yarn to knit another in the event that Ellie ever has a sister.

More Pink

At the family Christmas gathering, Paul expressed his somewhat negative opinion about the color pink. I ignored him. I would have ignored him even if I hadn't been halfway done with Ellie's blankie. But when I finally turned over the finished product to Paul a few weeks ago, he admitted that he had come to terms with the over abundance of pink and had actually grown quite fond of the color. Good thing. Because, with two boys, I jump at the chance to make something---anything--in pink. Although, I have to admit, I was ready to be done with this pink blankie about three quarters of the way through. The pattern was very simple: six rows of stockinette and four rows of K2 together, YO. But, done in fingering yarn, it went on f-o-r-e-v-e-r.

I improvised a bit on the scalloped edging. I'm not a crocheter (although I can execute basic stitches and follow directions moderately well), but the directions for the scalloped edging started with one set of instructions for scalloping across the top of the blankie and then changed the pattern of stitches for the scalloping down the side. Consequently, the edging did not look the same from one side to the next. Weird. I think the change was trying to account for the difference in picking up stitches along the cast-on/cast off edges and the less defined end-of-row edges, but still. I found basic scalloping instructions via a quick internet search and liked the results much better.

Ellie

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to keep up with blogging ... so much for New Year's Resolutions. I haven't lost any weight, either. But many projects have been completed and there is lots to share. Miss Ellie was born in February and the Ellie dress and slip were finished in time for the baby shower. The jacket took just a bit longer and will show up in a separate post. I've had a bee in my bonnet to embroider a baby something ever since Alicia's book was published. If you are looking for inspiration, this book will provide it!


In the olden days, we used iron on transfers, but it seems that modern day patterns are not equipped with those handy tools. I used transfer paper, traced the designs from the pattern, and crossed my fingers that it would come out in the wash. It did. In the second wash, with a bit of Spray & Wash coaching.

I worried that the facing on the slip would not lay nicely and used a running stitch around the neck and arm rather than tacking the facing to the body of the slip. I think it adds a sweet detail.