A plain white slip

Before(ish):

During:

After:

Whoo, hoo! I finished a project I've been wanting to do for years!

This free-to-us chair is super-comfy, has simple lines, and is nicely-scaled for our little rooms. But it's ugly!

Don't worry, it never looked quite that awful in our house; we kept it draped with a white chenille bedspread, which looked lovely for about five minutes each morning before the kids started climbing all over it. But all that drapey fabric took up so much visual space, and hid so many dust bunnies and long-lost toys. I've always wanted a nice tidy slipcover, but the estimate we got was for $350, not including fabric!

Then I was given a gift of 4 hours sewing time (thanks, Karen!), and it was just the motivation I needed to finally tackle it. A $25 painter's dropcloth, a morning sewing with her, several late nights by myself, a few choice words for the sewing machine and my ineptitude, and we have a slipcover!

Now to tackle the other chair, and then the couch... (just hoping it gets easier each time!)

A fresh start: self-portrait basket tags

My fresh start applies to my work, too, not just my personal life. And, in the same way, I'm beginning with the environment. Yesterday's project was small but very satisfying: new basket tags.

Each of the kids in my early-childhood program has a basket where they store extra clothes, diapers, and lovies from home. Early on, when they were all infants and toddlers, I labeled their baskets with their photo, their name, and their personal color (which I use to identify their washcloths, towels, and other supplies). But now the kids are older (nearly 3-nearly 5) and can all read their own names, so that isn't all necessary. I'd recently ordered new photos for fresh basket tags, but before they got here, I had an idea I liked even better.

A fresh start

(slipcover, temporarily stalled in progress)
As all the various bloggers started writing about their one-word resolutions this year, one phrase kept coming into my head: "a fresh start." So cliched, for the new year. And yet, it was just what I was craving--desperately needing--in so many aspects of my life. And so "a fresh start" has become my mantra.

I've found myself very motivated so far in 2012, and I've been riding that wave of motivation to create a fresh start in my home. (When my environment is beautiful, it's so much easier for me to create a fresh start in other areas as well.) It has meant very late nights and very little time for blogging, but what a thrill to finally get to some things that have been bugging me for ages.

(Bathroom, on its way from the calming lovely blue we've had too many years to an exciting red; temporarily stalled, too, due to the unfortunate purchase of horrible cheap paint. Benjamin Moore, I do love you.)

(Hallway, being transformed from dull tan to lively pink. I have a hard time with change. Both of these new colors are shocking to me at the moment, but I trust that in the end I'll love it.)

(Andi, motivated to tackle the hallway by a friend visiting from Virginia. Sometimes a friend's help is exactly what's needed to get a fresh start!)

(Still scraping windows.)

Back to work!

2nd activity of Advent: decorate

Day 2 of the Advent calendar. Time to decorate!

The leftovers from our wreath-making: a pile of possibility.

A hold-up...I wanted to decorate the dining-room windows, but I just couldn't bear to look past ornaments and greenery to this mess for one more season:

We painted these windows oh, about 10 years ago. And we STILL haven't managed to scrape off that paint! At some point, we just stopped seeing it, and life crowded out that project. But when Christmas comes around, I notice it, and cringe. So, today was the day. An hour of scraping before nap, and then another hour after bedtime (it gets good and baked on after all those years!), and the window was finally ready to decorate. (Hard to see, but those are the Christmas-card ornaments I made last year.)

With window-scraping and 3-year-old-help and lots of cleaning required before decorating could begin, we didn't do all I'd like to do. But we got a good start.

Long-awaited Advent calendar

I've been wanting to make an Advent calendar for years, and this was the year that I finally did it. Rather than look at all the beautiful options out there and try to create the perfect design and fabric choices for us, I decided to just get it done. I remembered that somewhere I had a red corduroy pillowcase I'd gotten once at a thrift store, and I envisioned maybe linen pockets, or maybe vintage tablecloth bits? While I was fighting my way through the heaps of mess blocking my sewing closet door, I found a linen napkin I'd pulled out for another project last Christmas (yes, it takes us that long to put things away sometimes!). Hmmm... That got the ball rolling, and I began to cut and stitch, taking sizing cues from the already-cut-into pillowcase (what did I use that for?) and from the smaller-than-originally-envisioned tags I bought. As I began to sew, I realized the pockets were going on crooked and un-symmetrically, but I just kept on, telling myself when it was all done, the overall effect would be fine.

And you know what? It is. Done and ready to use is what I really needed--not perfection. (Might be a little more perfect with some paint touch-ups behind it though, huh?)

The tags are simple, too. My goal was to make sure we scheduled in all the things that matter most to us, so that the things that matter less won't crowd them out. The activities are mostly things we'd do anyway, but ritualizing them by putting them on our calendar and treating them as special changes them from to-do-list items to family events.

Here's what we have planned:
1. Let's write Christmas cards today.
2. Today, let's decorate the house for Christmas.
3. We're going to Boston today to buy books for gifts. (We do this every year, to visit good friends and shop at a huge bookstore that sells remainders.)
4. It's the second Sunday of Advent. We'll light 2 candles and add plants to our creche.
5. St. Nicholas comes tonight. We'll set out our wooden shoes.
6. It's St. Nicholas' Day. Let's surprise our neighbors with gifts.
7. Someone is coming to visit us today! (Uncle David, but I left the card open-ended so I could re-use it in future years.)
8. Christmas cards are coming. Let's find a place to put them.
9. Let's look for Christmas decorations today. (This might be a special walk or drive, or it may just be as-we-go-about-our-business, depending how busy life gets. I wanted to cut us some slack now and then.)
10. Today we will cut our Christmas tree.
11. It's the third Sunday of Advent. We'll light three candles and add animals to our creche.
and
Today we'll put up our tree and string it with lights. (I liked the idea of adding the Sundays of Advent to the calendar, but after I'd written up all the cards and tried to figure out how to work everything in, I realized that some projects only really work on weekends, and there are only so many weekend days! So sometimes, I put two cards in a pocket.)
12. Let's choose our gift for Project Heifer today. (We put this in here because this year, we want to include Lucy in the decision.)
13. Let's make chocolate-chip cookies today. (Andi's family's tradition.)
14. Let's wrap our gifts today.
15. Today we'll put ornaments on our tree. (Our tree sits ornament-less for a while, because I have so many young children playing here each day, and lots of fragile or precious-to-me ornaments. We like it just fine with only lights in the meantime.)
16. Time to mail our Christmas packages.
17. Tonight is the Florence Luminary celebration. Let's go.
18. It's the fourth Sunday of Advent. We'll light four candles, and add people to our creche.
and
Today, we'll go to the Messiah sing.
19. Let's write some more Christmas cards today. (We'll have to do a lot more than 2 evenings to get them all done, but I figured these would be the times we'd include Lucy in the project.)
20. Let's sing carols at the piano today. (I hope we'll do this often, but just in case, can't hurt to schedule it in!)
21. Let's wrap presents today.
22. It's the Winter Solstice. Let's celebrate with a fire. (Again, trying to allow for simplicity. Maybe we'll go to some event with a bonfire. Or maybe we'll just have a little one at home.)
23. Let's make vamino bars today. (My family's tradition.)
24. It's Christmas Eve! Let's read our favorite Christmas books. (We'll have read them all a zillion times by then. And we may do something else more exciting that day. But again, we're leaving room for last-minute craziness...)
25. Merry Christmas!

I finished it a couple nights ago, and am having a hard time not hanging it up yet (and by the way, it's just weird that Advent begins in November but Advent calendars begin in December). I still remember the Advent calendar my mom made when we were girls, and I hope this one will be as special to Lucy.

Bringing Advent home, bit by bit

We headed out yesterday morning for our annual "greens gathering." This year, we stayed very close to home, hiking into the bit of woods at the end of our block.

Our destination was this--the tangles of downed trees from our pre-Halloween snowstorm, which brought with them masses of bittersweet we can't normally reach.

We snipped and snipped until our bags were full.

Then, clippers in our back pockets (and heavy layers shed--it was warm out!), we headed for home.

When we found some white pine to add to our collection, Lucy carried it over her shoulder, telling us "I love the smell of these greens! I want to hold it in my nose forever!"

Today, we hauled the whole lot to my mother's condo and made a mess of her dining room and chatted as I assembled two wreaths. I gave her first dibs, and still ended up bringing my favorite one home:

Others of the greens were destined for the dining room, where I set up our Advent wreath in the wee hours of last night.

Coming downstairs this morning, Lucy stopped in the dining room, gazing upwards for the longest time. "Mama, that wreath is so beautiful! I love the way it looks." Then she insisted we eat breakfast in there, rather than our usual spot in the kitchen.

Before dinner, Lucy and I began to arrange our creche scene. Taking a cue from several bloggers, last year we began a new tradition of setting the scene bit by bit--stones in the first week, plants the second, animals the third, and people the fourth. So it's rather barren at the moment, set only with stones gathered by the kids at the river this summer. But isn't that perfect for the beginning of Advent--quiet, dark, missing something, waiting...?

I'm loving this gradual approach to preparing for Christmas, and to decorating our home for the season. Rather than a rush rush to get it all done, we're taking our time, savoring each bit. I hope your Advent has begun peacefully, too.

Aiming for a junkier garden

I used to think I hated garden ornamentation. Gnomes and shiny silver balls and most especially, junk as "art," cluttering up the yard. But then I moved to Massachusetts, where the garden is dead and barren for most of the year, and you're eager for a spot of beauty. And I began to see examples of garden objects, even junk, done well. And I started to appreciate it. Even to want some in my own yard.

But I'm not very good at it. When I put things in my garden, they look lonely, out of place, odd. So I've been studying gardens as I meet them, trying to figure out why they work. And for the past year or so, one of my main tag-sale and thrift-store missions has been to find good garden "junk."

On Easter, we went to a party in the yard of a friend who's a master at artfully arranging objects. Her home is a work of art, and I'm so in awe of the beautiful vignettes she sets up all throughout her life. I took some photos of her garden for inspiration (unfortunately, my photos do not do it justice. Trust me when I say it's much more beautiful in person.)

After wandering around her garden, I returned to my garden this week with new eyes. I've been rearranging the furniture, so to speak, moving the bits of things I've had in my garden for years and giving them new homes and new friends. It needs work yet, but I'm liking it so far. I'll share photos soon.
...
Outdoors today:

Play along with us during the month of April for Children and Nature Awareness Month by posting a picture of your child(ren) each day enjoying the outdoors! Get outdoors and climb a tree! Visit the other Great Outdoor Challenge players -lisa, sanders, angelina, phyllis, sarah, christie, jennifer, debbie, dong dong, denise, luisa, joy, stephanie, cori, alex, dawn, kristen, catherine, tricia, becky, christy, ruth, kari, courtney, branflakes, jessica, renee, haiku, brynn, amy, clemencia, sherry, leslie, lise, renee, anet, jenn, marina, amy, ella, marcia, karen, beth, julie, kyndale, kelly, lizzie, eileen, ag, mari-ann, cindy, robin, nicole, debbie, julia, renee, anita, lisa, jenn, montessori, marita, jeannie, hallie, mandy, kangaroo, andrea, joey, carmen, teena, stephinie, gidget, elizabeth, emma, rosina, saminda, melissa, katie, becca, atouria, barbara, ariella, missy

Happy Easter!

We're home, resting, after a beautiful, joyful Easter full of good food, good friends, and play.

Our dining room table, set for Easter:


with eggs from yesterday's dying party:


and Lucy's place at the table:

(with a bunny from Granny last Easter, new all over again, and a book from our shelves that she hadn't read yet but will love right now, and a basket ready for today's egg hunt.)

The Easter bunny must have heard me yesterday, because look what was waiting on the steps:


We went to a lovely backyard potluck party. There must have been a very big bunny delivering eggs there:
.

We played until we were exhausted:
.

Hope your day was as beautiful!

Fresh corners of my own

I read Soulemama's "Fresh corners" post earlier this week and desperately wanted some fresh corners of my own. So today, we tackled the kitchen. While Andi caulked and scrubbed, I emptied, scrubbed, weeded out, and reorganized shelves. It's amazing what a re-organized cupboard can do for your mood. So far...

I started small and manageable: the little tea cabinet. It was so stuffed, we couldn't shut the door properly! Now it all fits (barely):



(I've got to polish off some of that boxed stuff, because I want to fill this cabinet with my own grown and foraged herbs.)

That was satisfying, so I felt able to tackle a bigger mess: the cookbooks in my island. They'd outgrown their space. I gave each book a critical perusal, and was able to weed some out. Nice fresh shelves:



(There are toys interspersed because if I put toys in there, the babies and toddlers are less likely to pull out my cookbooks. The basket contains the heap of bibs.)

Time for something more fun. I did these shelves, refolding my vintage aprons and dish cloths and re-arranging a few tchotchkes:



With all that accomplished, I felt able to tackle the biggest task of all: the dish shelves. These were a wreck. The dust! The spider webs! (The stuff way up high is rarely used, or, apparently, cleaned.) Some of the shelves were crammed too tight. Some of the stuff we use daily was on the top shelf, where (short) Andi could never put it away. Some stuff had no place. Now, it's SO much better. (Of course, I still envy lovely cohesive things like Martha Stewart's all-white dishes, but this is more real-life us; things given to us or bought over the years, old and new, all mixed together.)

Resolved: make gifts sooner next time!

Happy New Year!

We spent our day cleaning up from the holiday decadence, sweeping up pine needles, and weeding out old things to make way for the new.

I'm hoping we've weeded out a few old habits, as well, and made a little room in our hearts for new ones. (I'm reading Simplicity Parenting, and I love what he has to say about how a less-cluttered space allows children to play more deeply and fully; I think the same is true for us.)

One of the things I'd like to do better this year is to avoid the last-second stressful crafting of Christmas presents, and instead, space them out throughout the year. A friend and I are going to keep each other motivated to get right to work on those great ideas we come across, rather than bookmarking them for later.

Are you doing the same? Here are a few more of the gifts I loved making this year; maybe they'll inspire your plan-ahead crafting (these are the ones I'd hinted about earlier).

I was so impressed when I saw this lovely initial wall-hanging idea on Cluck. Cluck. Sew. And if there's one thing I have plenty of, it's vintage white buttons! I planned to make 5 of them: 2 for my nieces, 2 for my best friend's children, and one for Lucy. But the store had limited supplies of stretcher bars, so Lucy's will have to wait. Here are my versions:






This summer, I'd loved the headbands I made myself using Blue Bird Studio's 10-minute headband tutorial. I thought they'd make perfect stocking stuffers, so I made a bunch (I forgot to photograph a few of them, I think.)

Here are some extra-wide adult versions:



And some narrower ones for girls:



And lastly, inspired by my neighbor, I decided to try my hand at making scarves from old t-shirts. I learned a few things from this:

I love the feel of old t-shirts and would wear one of these scarves every day if I'd made one for myself.

Appliqueing t-shirt designs onto t-shirt fabric is fun and satisfying.

Sewing t-shirt fabric on my sewing machine is a horrible, miserable experience I don't ever want to do again! So out went the lame attempt at a two-sided scarf. Only the one-sided scarves were given as gifts, and I'm not nearly as happy with them as I'd have liked. This is one of those gifts that needed more time and thought.

This is the first one I made, and I like it quite a bit. The fabric was oh-so-soft organic cotton.



This one is not as nice, and I wish I'd had more time to give to it:



I like the applique on this one, and the super-soft blue fabric:



This is a project I'm definitely going to try again, but by hand and with lots more time to do it well.

And the last gift I'd hinted at was these coasters, using the pattern from Denyse Schmidt's Quilts:



These were harder to do than I'd expected. I'd printed the pattern from online (Sew, Mama, Sew!), but used the directions from the book, and I don't know if there was a disparity or if it was me, but the fronts ended up 1/2 inch smaller than the backs in one direction, so I had to trim them down and they ended up a bit wonky. I'd want to figure that out before doing it again, but I did like the mix-it-up nature of the piecing, and felt like I was learning quite a bit about quilting as I sewed.

What are you making for next year's gifts--any ideas yet?