needle & thREAD

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It's nearly spring recital time, so "sewing" looks like this around here today. I admit; I kind of love this kind of "to do" list. 

I've been reading Shakespeare with the kids this week. We're loosely following this plan. I love this plan. I loved it when we wrote and love it even more today, because there it was, ready and waiting for me. And we are tightly following the syllabus of the class Christian is taking. Yesterday morning, when big bodies and littles one were all sitting in the great room listening intently to "Much Ado About Nothing," I couldn't help but breathe a giant "thank you" heavenward for the inspiration all those years ago to do something really crazy and educate these children in our home.  They thought nothing unusual about being gathered on a June morning--this crew from 4-21--to listen to Tales from Shakespeare. 

I have days--many, many days--when I question the sanity of the way we live. Yesterday was not one of them.

I've also begun to read Katrina Kenison's new book, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment. Many years ago, when both Katrina and I had two little boys, I read Mitten Strings for God and truly loved it. It was a book that filled me up, inspired me, and resonated deep in my heart. A couple (maybe 3?) years ago, I eagerly looked forward to The Gift of An Ordinary Day. I tried, but I really couldn't dig into it. It made me sad, the way it makes me sad when a friend from many years ago has drifted away. 

I'm only a few pages into this new one, but I admit I am eagerly looking forward to sitting in the waiting room at 8 AM this morning while Mary Beth has an hour of physical therapy. This book will make that time feel like an indulgence. Here is the obligatory caveat: If you are the kind of person who can hang out in the park and watch your kids play, while chatting with a neighbor who doesn't share your faith or even your particular philosophical bent, but still come away from the conversation having learned something and, especially, having acknowledged that women can share some of the deepest true feelings of a mother's heart without coming from the same worldview, you might like this book. If you wouldn't be inclined to have the conversation at all or if you'd spend the whole time arguing with her in your head, don't bother.

I'm eyeing that quilt fabric and thinking the moment is around the corner. As soon as the recital is over, I'm looking to start some home dec sewing. What about you? What are you sewing or reading?

needle & thREAD

Remember how I said I wanted slow? Turns out I have it in the reading and sewing departments;-). I've made very little progress since last we chatted books and sewing. The voile frays easily and I think I need to use French seams. Anybody have French seams advice?

I intended to put this sweet little top together yesterday afternoon, but there was a crowd of children who all look very much alike gathered in my great room watching Midsummer Night's Dream and I kept being inexplicably pulled into their presence.

Especially delightful was watching how perplexed Mary Beth and Christian were when Karoline kept explaining plot and characters. At first, everyone (except Karoline and Sarah) were a bit at a loss with the language and the names. When Karoline kept filling in the blanks for them and then Sarah embellished Kari's tutorial, the big kids were more than a little chagrined. How were the little girls comprehending so well when they were struggling? Then it was revealed that they'd recently been reading this excellent picture book and listening to this read aloud.

The whole scenario did make me wonder though: print version first or performance first? Shakespeare's plays were written to be viewed by an audience. But the language does make it tricky to follow along the first time you see it.

Last night, we found ourselves at Michael's and Kristin's house. Knowing I had no sewing to report, I asked Kristin about  her quilt. I think perhaps she'll come back and report on it another day. Stephen is trying out for a new soccer team that is 24 minutes from our house and 4 minutes from theirs. I currently allocate an hour to get to the team where he's played for the the last five years. That team is dissolving. This one sure looks like an answer to prayers. Is it fair to ask your prayers on this one?

How is your summer sewing coming along? Leave a link and show and tell or just chat about it in the comments:-)

needle & thREAD

I love to sew with Oliver + S patterns. For over a year now (almost two years?), I've been telling you I learn something new every time I use an Oliver + S pattern. I've lost count of the times I've used the free Popover Sundress pattern for both girls and dolls. So, what new could there possibly be to learn?

This time, I adapted the pattern for Katie (#1 new thing: adapting a pattern to size up). The pattern stops at an 8 and she's a 10 or a 12. Then, I shortened it to make it  a tunic (#2 new thing: shortening a pattern into something else entirely). I had the new pattern all drawn and ready bright and early on sewing day. Three hours later, Katie still couldn't decide on fabric. Those straps take a deceptively large amount of fabric because they're cut on the bias. We don't have a big selection of solids. Actually, you're looking at the only solid color we have. And Katie has grown so much that a yard of main fabric isn't enough for her, even for a top. So, we must have unfolded and re-folded everything in the stash before I suggested this Ladies' Stitching Club fabric (#3 new thing: sewing with a border print). I learned that I should have eliminated the curve in the hem when using the border print, but it was easy enough to fix at hemming time. I also used French seams on this one, not a new skill, but one I haven't used since Cari thaught me 21 years ago on a christening own. I remember thinking they were so cool back then!

I really love the finished product. I think this top will be darling with capris in the dog days of summer. Katie is delighted. As I rearranged the girls' clothes for the seasonal shift this morning,  I recognized that we are coming very, very close to the end of Katie's little girl clothes days. This makes me so sad--for her and for me. I wish there were a teenaged equivalent of Oliver + S and that both mothers and daughters could love sewing clothes together well beyond the elementary years. 

I picked Kristin Lavransdatter off the shelf last night when I went down to retrieve my copies of The Great Gatsby. (Notice how suddenly it's cool to read Gatsby? It's in demand in this house and there are no copies in the library.) Several years ago, there was lots of chatter about Kristin Lavransdatter. I bought a used copy and started to read. I couldn't get into it at all. I learned that I had bought a bad translation. I bought a much better translation, but never got very far. We'll see how it goes this time.

What are you sewing and reading this week? I am eager to hear!

What's on your summer reading list? Do you have a summer sewing list?  Or are you embroidering? Pulling a needle with thread through lovely fabric to make life more beautiful somehow? Would you share with us just a single photo (or more) and a brief description of what you're up to? Will you tell us about what you're reading, also? Would you talk sewing and books with us? I'd love that so much.

    Make sure the link you submit is to the URL of your blog post or your specific Flickr photo and not your main blog URL or Flickr Photostream. Please be sure and link to your current needle and theREAD post below in the comments, and not a needle and theREAD post from a previous week. If you don't have a blog, please post a photo to the needle & thREAD group at Flickr. 

       Include a link back to this post in your blog post or on your flickr photo page so that others who may want to join the needle and thREAD fun can find us! Feel free to grab a button here (in one of several colors) so that you can use the button to link:-).

Needle & thREAD

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    I guess that just before Lent Karoline heard me say that I was going to make Easter dresses during Lent. All through Lent, she insisted that one of her Lenten "sacrifices" was to be making dresses for her dolls. She spent a great deal of time in the scrap basket, twisting and turning and pinning scraps to make clothing. She also spent a great deal of time begging me to help her make "real" doll dresses. I had every intention of making dresses for dolls to match the girls' Easter dresses. I just didn't get to it before Easter.

    Yesterday, I was operating on very little sleep--just days and days of deficit. I planned to push through it to super-clean my house and get ready for Frist Communion festivities this weekend. Instead, I delegated a few housekeeping jobs, sewed with Karoline, and binge-read Heaven is Here. Have I mentioned that sewing with Karoline is really just an excuse for me to have her on my lap so I can inhale her sweetness? 

    It is.

    It occurred to me as I was sewing for a doll that this pattern takes just as long for a doll as for a six-year-old girl and I have some girls who need clothes. So, I think I might make my girls some dresses to match their dolls, too;-)

    And the book? I couldn't put it down. I'd take a picture of it by I handed it to Mary Beth at bedtime and I'm pretty sure she fell asleep on it around dawn. Best part of homeschooling is all night binge reading...

{Warning: there is an incident of religious bigotry that is sadly aimed at Catholics. It's clearly a product of the author's ignorance, but, there it is.} 

    What about you? Sewing? Reading? A little of both? What's on your summer reading list? Do you have a summer sewing list?  Or are you embroidering? Pulling a needle with thread through lovely fabric to make life more beautiful somehow? Would you share with us just a single photo (or more) and a brief description of what you're up to? Will you tell us about what you're reading, also? Would you talk sewing and books with us? I'd love that so much.

    Make sure the link you submit is to the URL of your blog post or your specific Flickr photo and not your main blog URL or Flickr Photostream. Please be sure and link to your current needle and theREAD post below in the comments, and not a needle and theREAD post from a previous week. If you don't have a blog, please post a photo to the needle & thREAD group at Flickr. 

       Include a link back to this post in your blog post or on your flickr photo page so that others who may want to join the needle and thREAD fun can find us! Feel free to grab a button here (in one of several colors) so that you can use the button to link:-).

needle & thREAD

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These days, I'm "sewing" dance costumes. I use the term loosely, because really, I'm rigging alterations and hoping there are no wardrobe malfunctions. Karoline has exploded into reading the Junie B. Jones books. She requires someone to sit next to her and help quite a bit still, so that's what I've got to show for my reading this week. Because of Junie B. and her journal, Karoline wants to start a journal of her own. I've promised her we'll make a cover for a composition book either today or tomorrow (something like mine). And I promise you I'll take pictures along the way so you have a  tutorial.

What are you sewing and reading this week? I really do want to hear all about it!

Make sure the link you submit is to the URL of your blog post or your specific Flickr photo and not your main blog URL or Flickr Photostream. Please be sure and link to your current needle and thREAD post below in the comments, and not a needle and thREAD post from a previous week. If you don't have a blog, please post a photo to the needle & thREAD group at Flickr. 

       Include a link back to this post in your blog post or on your flickr photo page so that others who may want to join the needle and thREAD fun can find us! Feel free to grab a button here (in one of several colors) so that you can use the button to link.