made…

oh hi! so, i feel a little funny creating this post about some underwear i made for my kid. but i’m doing it anyway, i think because it may have less to do with underwear, and everything to do with the fact that i made something! i consider sewing my job (the best job), but it means that i don’t often take the time to make things that stay in our own home.

i know i could have gone out to any old place and bought underwear, but girl’s underthings are strange – they don’t ever seem to fit well and it’s hard to get away from those licenced characters we all love so much. plus, i’d rather spend an hour in front of my sewing machine than an hour at, um, any shopping place. anyway, i have lots of scrap knit fabric around (and i thrifted some pieces just for the prints), found this pattern (i am always happy to buy patterns, especially printable ones. i would much rather support someone who has already figured it out than take the frustrating time to do it myself), and gave it a try. i made a very big deal about these when they were done because i think they are amazing and want a whole bunch for myself. and they actually get worn! hugely satisfying.

these are so easy, no serger required – a definite recommend…

growing…

i love our yard right now. with some big projects complete i can putter a bit more and watch the green slowly creep and overgrow. the grapes tangle themselves onto anything they can find and i added strawberries and tomatoes this weekend…

us two…

 

…work/play…

five good…

{i find myself under some stress, so it’s time for a five good things list to even it all out a bit…}

1. we took a trip to visit my family and took in my nephew’s funny words and all the moments of pouring rain, and so many good desserts. celebrated a birthday and father’s day and enjoyed the best thrifting around (i don’t know what it is, i always leave that place with the best finds)

2. visited the camp where t and i used to work, and i like that it doesn’t feel like too much has changed. it smells the same. i remember how we all lived in a big bubble for the summer, and how amazing that would feel now, for a few weeks. oh yeah, we were married here too!

3. came home to a garden that shot up and peonies that waited for us to get here for all their crazy pink glory

4. found the perfect patio lights (i hope)

5. get to spend the week with everyone home. i wonder if it will be nice enough for a beach day…

yurt building / dandelion picking

…a little ways out of town today, two of our friends (and many of their friends) helped to build a yurt. this is going to be their canadian prairie home, just on the edge of the farm yard where they keep their animals and garden. the whole thing went up in less than a day, and the inside, even empty, felt pretty magical. i’m jealous of their bravery.

i was on dandelion-picking supervision duty for the morning, even L is very much into the ‘dand-o’s’

begun…

our summer feels like it has begun. the slams of the back door are frequent (and so are the times it is left wide open) and we move easily from the kitchen to the deck, into the water and patio chairs, down the slide and back for more snacks. full time with the kids, and wash off all the sand and dirt every evening when they fall asleep a little more tanned and totally exhausted…

hello there summer

 

Umbrella Prints Trimmings…

Deer to the Party!

This photograph is my entry in the 2013 Umbrella Prints Trimmings Competition. I received this assortment of their lovely printed fabrics to create, well, whatever I liked. The hat, scarf, and polka dot garland in the background are all made from these fabrics – I loved creating something that was a little different for me, and the process of making this photo. I think the colors came together beautifully in the end. Here below is a close-up and a look into my hilarious-precarious photo shoot!

The competition is based on votes/repins over on Pinterest – so you can hop over to the competition board and vote for me (if you like!) and see the other entries beginning June 1st. Thanks!

west…

…our dear friends are newly settled in BC, and a visit was in order. it was a week of airplane rides, delicious food, kid chatter, mixed up slumber party sleeping arrangements, the oh-so greeness, the moments of showing our true saskatchewan selves (all those trees going straight up on that mountain give me vertigo, i told them…), the adventure, the stones and sand in our pockets, shared stories and midnight dutch blitz, and goodness i don’t think our girl said two words to us for four whole days. we were all a little entranced, and we left full.

one of those trips that i’m not even sure i have words for, thanks friends…

 

 

…a porch full of little plants, bubbles inside and out, these two always holding hands, and finally putting away our winter clothes. the sun gets up earlier than us (but not by much), new dolls get made more slowly now that there is competition from the yard, and we get ready this morning for a visiting trip, west on a first-time airplane for little L. see you soon!

hibernate, to spring…

 

oh hi!

haven’t shown my face around here for a while. i think i needed to finish hibernating, i think i needed winter to end. and today, on the first real t-shirt outside let’s clean up the yard kind of day, i find myself back here. but, i’m not sure i’ll be back in the same capacity that i once was – something about this whole sharing of my life has changed for me. maybe you’re in this same boat and can relate here, but lately with so many ways to tell everybody exactly what you’re doing all the time, i just got…freaked out. nervous that i would get sucked along without really considering what i was doing. truthfully, i’ve moved away from reading most blogs that once interested me, and i don’t check facebook multiple times a day. i don’t want to live my life from behind my camera or do things just to share that i did them. that’s nutty. i just want to live my completely ordinary life (and maybe a few lovely photos will sneak in there). i want to keep writing this for myself, and for my friends near and far who actually check in with me this way (love you!).

anyway!

this last month was officially lovely. t turned thirty and we potlucked and ate poppy seed cake. e turned five and the birthday celebrations went on and on and i felt her change into her five year old self (in which i see my little self more and more) in the best and most challenging ways. i can’t say enough about what an amazing big sister she is. honestly, these kids are so sweet at this moment. we took our fam on a little trip to my grandma’s 90th birthday (lots of big days this year!). i took my first me-only vacation for one glorious day and night and came home feeling like a normal person again. we dyed easter eggs. the snow got shoveled off the roof and is finally, finally almost all gone. the grass is green, sky is blue.

happy may to you…