belle epoque

I’m only visiting because Moondoggie is here entertaining the wee one. Crafty moms, how DO you do it? Not only have time to craft, but have time to blog? I’d love some advice that doesn’t involve full time help and total sleep deprivation and/or starvation. ‘Cause when she’s asleep I’m eating, sleeping, or showering! I WISH I was crafting, so, gals, help me out with some words of wisdom if you’ve got ‘em! Granted the wee is just 3 months old today, so perhaps I’m jumping the gun on thinking me-time could be possible at this point

Enough with the whinging, though! I did find something I could do while in the rocking chair– READ! And I was lucky enough to get my hands on some beautiful crafty books from Chronicle that are further whetting my crafty appetite, namely The Pillow Book by Shannon Okey and Lotta Prints by Lotta Jansdotter:

These books are both lovely and inspiring. What with supplies for my Gocco B6 dwindling in availability, and my love for printing growing proportionally, I’m particularly nuts about Lotta Prints, which offers multiple methods of printing and lots of inspiration (not to mention darling illustrations designed for use as stencils in the back!). I’ve ALWAYS loved leaf motifs, and so I’m particularly drawn to the section on leaf printing:

And having a baby in the house has immediately upped my appreciation for pillows– for putting my feet on, cushioning my back, and propping up the wee (who really doesn’t like to lie flat if she can be up and looking around!). So, The Pillow Book is right up my alley! I do love a bolster, and if you do too, you’ll find a ton of different options in the book. Like this nifty triangular one

Of course there’s also a lot of crafty I’ve been able to pine about surfing the web on my iPhone too, for example:
*Emily’s rag dolls! I managed to print out the pattern, and enlarge it at the UPS store (some fussing went on in the stroller as I spent a million years trying to figure out the zoom function of the copier, but I had to tell HMB that she is not the boss of me!). Anyway, one day I want to make one.
*The Magnolia Club! Oh, if I could knit I think I’d only really want to knit with Amy’s beautiful yarns. I almost want to join just to get them in the mail and stroke them.
*The CRAFT baby bootie contest She actually needs booties now that I put her in real outfits without built-in feet!

I’m sure there’s a ton of other stuff that I missed, but that’s what I’m thinking about today. Oh, and the Three Month Birthday Pic, Miss S chatting with her pal Monkey

Ok, *so* exciting. My contributor copies of Bead Simple arrived in the mail just a few days ago, and goodness, this book is gorgeous

My mom (who just left yesterday, wahhh!) was also blown away and kept thumbing through it saying “Oh! This book is so beautiful!”

I was so honored to be a contributor, and it is such fun to see the amazing photos they took of my version of Susan’s Duo Earrings

I had so much fun making them, and all of the other projects in the book are so inspiring too!

The beauty of the book is that all of the different takes on each project show you how to use whatever materials you have to make something wonderful. To celebrate the release of the book on March 25th, I made yet another version of the duo earring that I’d like to give away! I’m almost all out of beachy charms, so these ones are made with antique glass leaf and flower pendants that I got in Venice many years ago

Just leave a comment on this post and I’ll pick a winner on the book’s release date, March 25th. In the meantime, you can preorder the book at Taunton, Amazon or your favorite bookstore! And if you’re in the Portland, OR area, be sure to mark your calendar for Susan’s reading at downtown Powell’s on April 7th at 7:30pm!

Oh my goodness, blog friends. Thank you all so much for your comments on the last post. Thank you to those of you I know, and those of you who de-lurked to send good wishes (especially because now I have a bunch of new-to-me blogs to read!). I always wish there was some other, bigger expression than thank you to say how it feels to be so moved by gratitude, but rest assured if there was one, I’d be using it right now.

It has been looking a bit like this around here lately

Which inspired this

It is gingerbread from the wonderful Amy’s pdf of favorite recipe highlights (I just mixed it up like a quick bread- dry ingredients together, wet ingredients and sugar together, then everything together, stirred and poured in the baking dish). I wanted to say something clever about how what I was reading influenced what I made, and realised that scarily it totally did
Yes, gingerbread while reading a Nursery Crime. And no, I didn’t realise it until after the gingerbread was made and I wondered whether there was any connection. I’d best not start reading any books about insects. At any rate, the gingerbread turned out beautifully– all glossy on top and fluffy in the middle, perfectly spicy and not too sweet (particularly nice with a milky coffee). It is lovely as is for an afternoon snack or tea, and I think a dollop of whipped cream or a decadent cream cheese frosting would make it a yummy fall dessert.

Tomorrow is the day we find out whether the bean (as we call baby belleepoque) is a boy or a girl! Assuming it cooperates, anyway. So I’ll finally be able to get started on making wee things for it (not that they need, or will, all be either pink or blue, but I still think it is nice to envision the recipient when making).

I  know!  I promised you skirts, plural, but all I have for you is skirt, singular.  But it is a really great skirt, are you ready?

Now it is time for me to sing the praises of the wonderful book Sew What! Skirts. Oh, this book is fabulous. The authors teach you how to make all kinds of skirts based on your very own measurements, so they fit like a dream and don’t do weird bindy or gappy things, or cling in the wrong spots (I’m looking at you Burda skirt patterns). Anyway, I said “skirts” yesterday because after making the skirt above out of a vintage tablecloth I found at Goodwill for basically free, I was all revved up to make more in different styles. Eventually I will, it just didn’t happen today.

The centered zipper technique in this book is great too– I always have zipper issues, which if you aren’t a sewer you don’t know are HORRIBLE. For non sewers: you most often put in the zipper when you’re almost done with the whole dress or skirt, when you really really want to be finished with the darn thing, so you’re impatient but also totally nervous about messing everything up at this stage at the game. Anyway, I often end up with wiggly zippers wet with tears. But the zipper in the back of this skirt? Smooth and subtle as can be, thanks to the very clever authors and their fool-proof centered zipper advice. Lovely.

So, if you are a relatively beginnerish seamster like me (i.e. you’re not a professional tailor or in design school and drafting your own intricate patterns) and you like skirts, definitely buy this book. You will be ever so happy that you did! And be honest about your measurements– it is more depressing to try on the skirt and find it unflatteringly snug than it is to write down a measurement that is a wee bit bigger than you’d like (not, um, from personal experience with my own vanity or anything).

*Update: A Sew What! Skirts Sewalong is starting April 30th! So head over to Flickr to join the group!

After a splendid blowout Friday evening at Boulette’s Larder (want to know who the original Boulette is? Click here.) we spent the weekend here

doing mostly this

photos courtesy of Moondoggie
Then we came home and I sat on our little deck admiring our little garden, wearing a big hat, drinking lemon water and reading Alexander McCall Smith, whose writing I adore so much that I think I might enjoy his shopping lists and tax returns.

The weekend was not totally without craft, as I received my much-anticipated copy of The Apron Book from the lovely lights at Adorn magazine(oh! it deserves a post all its own), and started in on drying two huge bunches of mint cut from the wildly overgrown “garden” at the beach. I have some fantasies about making my own vintageof mint tea, but we’ll see…