Snoodle

Birthweek

Happy Birthday to my beloved husband! 

Eleanor's birthday was Thursday, and it has really felt like birthweek.  The first sailing race of the year was also on Thursday, and to avoid losing daddy to the bay, we tagged along with him.  After an evening of sitting on cleats, rope burn, and white knuckles, I've decided I'm going to stick to pleasure cruises.  Eleanor, however, was hip to every tack and jibe.  She scrambled to the high side like a pro.  After the race, she got to steer and hang out on the foredeck with dad. 

There was no cake.  Heck, dinner was Pringles.  But by the silly grin on her face, I don't think she noticed.

We had a family celebration on Monday for the first BBQ of the year and birthday cake.  I forgot the sailboat toy so I made an impromptu decoration for my Mac Geek... who also likes dinosaurs.  The rest of the credit, of course, goes to my mother. 

Eleanor's first request for a gift has become quite clear lately.  Naturally, it would have to be a toy that is no longer available in stores!  Through the generosity of a dear coworker, however, Nora's dream came true.  "Pinch me!" she kept saying.  I wonder where she gets her sense of drama?!  More about Felicity in a later post.  There's surprisingly much to say! 

Right before we left grandma and grandpa's house, as if it knew it were her celebration, a rabbit came out of the woods.  Apparently, it will sit watching while my father mows the lawn, but we're letting Nora feel like she is the rabbit-whisperer.  After all, birthdays are full of wonder.

Another First Communion

Eleanor celebrated First Communion with her class today.  What a joy to celebrate this sacrament twice! I will share some more about the memories from this special day later, but now I must go say a rosary with my little girl.

First Holy Communion

At the beginning of this school year, when asked about what she was most looking forward to, her answer was receiving communion.  So excited, in fact, that I agreed to teach the second grade religious education class at our church.  So excited that even though she is being taught the same material at her school, she came to class with me every Sunday so that she could make her First Communion in the same parish that I made mine.  She was glowing with that excitement on Sunday... and maybe just a little nervous.

She had the honor of reading the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

We are all so grateful that our large family and many friends were able to celebrate this day with us including grandparents, Godparents and even Monsignor who gave her the blessed sacrament.

The cousin away at college even remembered to call.

Grandma, of course, made a lovely cake topped with one of the two cake toppers that was on my sisters' cake.   Being twins, however, no one was quite sure which twin it belonged to!   I was pretty sure I had one of these toppers as well.

It gives me such joy that Eleanor truly understands what it is to receive the Holy Eucharist.  She radiated the light of that special moment throughout the entire day.

Rewind

Once again, I never typed a word here in December.  Oh, I've composed posts in my mind, but until Typepad can upload that, you'll have to settle for a little rewind!  The whole holiday season (yes, Thanksgiving through New Year) felt a bit ...strange.  Vermont conjures up images of skiing, Snowflake Bentley, and the white-capped roofs of postcard towns.  But we've had snowier Easters than this winter.  Last night, we actually got some accumulation, and it is still here!  Nora and David are out sledding right now.  The computer is free so I thought I would start with a little rewind.

We had Thanksgiving at David's mother's house.  David's sister brought one of her turkeys.  Last year the turkey was 38 lbs.  This year:  41 lbs.!  It didn't have a chance of fitting into a roasting pan so an aluminum foil juice-funneling system was developed.  It took three people to do this, but there was a lot of hard cider involved. 

 

I made a scrumdiddlyuptious almond torte which was devoured long before dinner.  Note for next year:  Thanksgiving day requires lunch.  There was no way that bird was going to be done by 2:00 which is, for some reason, the official time of Thanksgiving dinner.

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We got our Christmas tree from a fundraiser at Nora's school.  David schlepped it home over his shoulder.  The neighborhood children thought it was quite entertaining.  I think this photo is quite entertaining:

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Somehow, our whole family was in the Nativity play at Nora's school this year.  For the theater major and dramatic child, this is no surprise.  However, this was a step waaaay out of David's comfort zone.  So, what was his role?  Why, Joseph, of course!  As we say, "If you're gonna do it, do it to it!" He did it and was great.  Mary helped him remember to face the audience, and he remembered all of his lines which was perfection for this performance which included a host of giggling angels and concluded with baby Jesus wailing during the last 15 minutes of the show.  I wish there were more photos, but being on stage as the innkeeper's wife, I was unable to snap any.  These were taken by Jon Hughes.

David as Joseph sleeping.  He's been in training for this scene for years!

 

Nora as a shepherd (perfect!)  She also did great with her lines. 

I made these costumes.

 

I also made the sheep costumes.  I think they're sleeping in this scene.

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Our church's Nativity event continued this year.  We showed our family's nativities:  Playmobile, our slowly-growing Ostheimer (Mary was added on Christmas), and the one that Nora made when she was in Kindergarten.

 

My mother has many Nativities and depictions of the Holy Family.  I think the official baby Jesus count on Christmas day at Grandma's house was 42!  Here she is at one table filled only with her Nativities:

 

My favorite, though, is the nativity that we had when I was a child.  The original figures are long gone/ broken.  Mom wistfully wishes she could have the same style again.  I've been searching ebay.  But the stable is the most nostalgic piece for us.  During some lean times with three children and one (me) on the way, my father took at 2x4 and split it into thin slats to make the rustic outside.  The base is a Tide box!  For years, you could see the bright orange logo on the back, but feeling embarrassed about it, my mother since covered it with the sturdy paper of a grocery bag...  I think I'm getting a sense of where my frugality came from!

 

The Nativities were blessed by our Monsignor.  If you're Catholic, you'll recognize that this was Gaudete Sunday as he is wearing his rose-colored Chasuble.

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On an entirely different note, we say this display on the way to Nora's Christmas concert.

This is an SD Ireland tradition.  They also entertain us with pink concrete mixers and a parade of their fleet on March 17... I wonder why?

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We had a fun time at my sister's house playing games (Awkward Famly Photos, Scategories, and Apples to Apples) on New Year's Eve.  Some of us didn't make it for ringing in the New Year, but I'm glad you made it to the end of this post!

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I'm not quite done rewinding.  I'll fill you in on why this child is running next time!

 

 

 

The Night of the Gypsy Princess

If you had asked me a couple of months ago, I would have guessed that my evening tonight would have been spent with a Revolutionary War Era lass or even a large rabbit, but this wasn't the case.  Instead we spent the night with a gypsy princess.  Now, I'm not sure where the gypsy idea came from.  I don't actually know if my darling daughter knows much about gypsies other than their fabulous skirts made for twirling and a knack for the tambourine.  So, I drew my inspiration from where most of my inspiration seems to be flowing:  Mad Men! 

I thought I would buy a vintage pattern, but it wasn't necessary for this project.  I had my eye on the one below from New Vintage Lady on Etsy- which is still available. 

Instead, I took inspiration from it and set to make do with what I had.

The top is white quilting fabric from my stash.  It could serve as a future underdress layer this Fall/ Winter.  I used the same pattern that I used for her Easter ensemble and beloved green dress that I wrote about here. 

I just gathered four tiers of colorful fabric to make the skirt- fast and easy!  The bottom tier is over 200 inches and the others decrease to the top tier which was the 45" width of that fabric.

The head scarf is folded in a half triangle and tied in the back.  The striped waist scarf is just tied at the hip.  We borrowed both of these as well as numerous other options from our local Front Porch Forum.  Thanks, neighbor!

Grandma loaned the shawl which was essential as it's dang cold on Halloween in Vermont!  She's also wearing a leotard and a long sleeve tee and fleece pants under there!

The necklace and clip on hoop earrings were the only items that I purchased.  I got them at Claire's on a rare mall trip.

Thanks to my friends in music and theater, we borrowed the perfect gypsy tambourine from a local high school theater department.  I tied ribbon streamers into a jingle-less slot.

 

Overall, it was deemed a very successful costume.

A Little Bit Country

Nora and I are back from our fabulous weekend in Vermont.  As the old joke goes, "Why do people live in Burlington... to be close to Vermont."  and while my city is technically within state lines, we saw a whole lot of the real Vermont over the course of three days.  In fact, by Sunday evening, we had travelled through 57 towns!  My sister-in-law's farm is just lovely.  Her home is an early 19th century colonial with a "new" addition: new meaning late 1800s-1910s.  Her 10 acre farm is home to horses, chickens, quail, rabbits, turkeys, sheep, goats, and a black labrador.  Nora has been anticipating barn chores for weeks and was thrilled to sweep the aisle of the barn and gather eggs.  She stayed up very late each night, but waking up to hot chocolate made with raw milk from the farm across the road was totally worth it!

On the way to the Wool and Sheep Festival (every thing's a festival in VT), there was a row of cars pulled over.  It took us a moment to figure out what was stopping traffic, and then we saw him!  A moose!!!

Okay, I've never seen a moose before; a fact that my husband, an Alaska native, finds hilarious.  (Don't get me started on the aurora borealis either.  I'm sure it's a myth!)  So, I was snapping away with my camera from the safety of the car.  Some folks were not so cautious, and one woman was bringing her child closer to it.  Then, a trucker laid on the horn of an 18 wheeler -maybe due to the traffic congestion.  Yikes.  It was time to get outta there!

So, we continued on to the Vermont Wool and Sheep Festival.  It was fun to go with people who have sheep as well as angora goats as my sister-in-law (a knitter) and niece (a weaver) asked questions to vendors that I wouldn't have even considered.  So, I wound up learning a lot.   Although I'm pretty sure that the question of owning my own flock of sheep is decided: no, there is a rich amount of to be learned about all of those fabulous natural fibers that will keep my quite busy for a lifetime!

Jacob sheep

Falling in love with angora rabbits.  She had to settle with a Folkmanis puppet.  Though, I think it's just a matter of time...

Weaving at the children's table

Border collie trials: my favorite!

and on the way back, we saw a lovely horse team passing us on the road.  I whipped out my camera fast enough to prove it.  Oh, it is clear that I am a city girl.  I don't want to be, but I am.  I'll give it a year or two before I settle into a life of felting, taking care of the angora rabbit Nora so desires, and I'll be so country, I'll just leave my camera in my bag when a horse team trots by... but I'll still take it out if there's a moose!

Thanks again, Wen and Heather, for another wonderful woolly weekend!

Happy Birthday, Jim Henson

 

Few people have left a legacy like Jim Henson.   I wonder if I would have been a teacher without knowing at a young age that it was possible to have fun while learning.  At every age, there was a special fondness for Muppets.  When my parents bought a color console tv, I was thrilled that I would get to see Big Bird - BIG and in color!  I attribute much of my early learning to catchy Sesame Street tunes.  

 

 

 

 While "too old" to see Follow That Bird  I recall the excitement of my big sister taking me to the movie theater and I'm pretty sure I was her excuse to go.  The Labyrinth was by far the coolest movie I watched as a teenager.  While dating my now husband (who taught me that the Goblin king actually had other material), there was a lot of Fraggle Rock watching. I think I fell in love discussing the finer points of the Minstrels.  

Then, we got married and had a baby who had this poster in her room since before she was born.

and her first plate was mine as a child.  She used to point to the letters of her name in the alphabet around the rim.  I thought it was funny that I could find it in this old photo.

When Nora was a young child, there was always an internal struggle with my desire to keep her media-free and my desire to share the Muppets with her.  Ultimately, the Muppets won and the first television that she ever watched was The Muppet Family Christmas just after we had decorated our tree. 

She didn't watch Sesame Street until the Old School DVDs came out and we've nearly wore a hole in them.  She still doesn't watch much television... lately, there's been only The Andy Griffith Show and The Muppet Show.  She loves Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem Orchestra.  Just this afternoon, she was  rocking out to Can You Picture That?  Oh Yeahhhhhhh!

 

..and mama has a blog *Snoodle*  A word I learned from Jim Henson's The Storyteller (Hans My Hedgehog).

The mother  in the tale says,

"I want a baby to wrap in a bundle and sing to and snoodle with and hug to bits"

Later Hans says,

"I want you for my princess of sweetness and cherry pie.  I want to catch you up and sing to you and snoodle you and hug you to bits."

Here's the whole episode:

 

As Nora describes it:  "A snoodle is an important kind of cuddle."

It's important and cuddly to those who need it - from a baby to an adult.  We all could use a little snoodle now and again.  Thanks, Jim, for inspiring so many snoodles, so many happy memories, so many lives from the young to the old.

Happy 75th Birthday, Jim.

From,

The lovers, the dreamers, and me.

 

Said She Was a Dancer

Ballerinas don't suck their thumbs.  So, when Nora requested dance lessons there needed to be an agreement.  Not dance until she was thumb-free.  It took a lot of work.  She held up her end of the bargain.  Today, I held up mine. 

She woke up this morning saying, "Today is going to be the best day of my whole life!"  I think it would be lovely if we could all arise with the same sentiment.  She danced around the house when she discovered the little drawstring bag that I made her last night after she had gone to sleep.  How had we gotten her to sleep?!  I had the ballerina fabric (Windham Fabrics presents Storybook IV c. 1930 Pattern #24560) for a couple of years.  I think it was waiting for this moment. 

She's not taking a traditional ballet class as I couldn't find her one that would work for our schedules, but rather lyrical dance.  A mix of ballet and modern, lyrical dance is described as "Perfect for the dancer who enjoys using imagination with dance."  And so, we found the perfect class for our imaginative little one. 

Tonight's bedtime story was, appropriately, my favorite childhood book, The Little Ballerina.  I remember my older sister braiding my hair just like Carol's in two little loops and pretending that I was the fairy queen in the ballet.   Now, my favorite picture is this one:

I am quite proud of Nora's determination and am in no way ashamed that I resorted to a bribe.  It worked!  By the way, firefighters don't use pacifiers.  If you stop by the firehouse, they'll tell you.

 

The Make Do Desk

Our little compartment, I mean apartment, is small.  Really, really small.  Exacerbated by a seven year old who likes to dance, a mama who uses the kitchen floor for basting quilts, a daddy who tinkers with computers, and a whole family who collects books, this place often feels like it is shrinking around us.  We've had to "make do"  a lot:  laughing at the idea of a queen sized bed and sharing a dresser, a loft for said seven year old to make room for dance and play, a dining/ sewing table - one which often pushes the other aside...

One thing, however that I was not willing to "make do" with is going without a place for Eleanor to do her work: school, art, newspaper writing, mad-libs, jewelry making, sewing, whatever it is that she does; I feel it's important for her to have a space of her own and certainly not add to the dining/ sewing table usage!

It was clear that she needed a desk.  We had an old school (literally) desk with the flip-up desktop and inkwell, but I was always worried about her pinching her fingers, the angle always caused the writing utensils to roll off, there wasn't space for anything to be left on the top.   It never really got used.  So, I was thrilled when I found a child-sized desk at my favorite thrift shop, ReStore.

It certainly did NOT look like this when I got it.  It was painted white and appeared to be left in a garage as the top sustained a lot of damage and was quite rough.  It was so rough that I thought twice about getting it, but I checked out the drawers, gave the chair a good shake and all appeared intact and sturdy.  I coughed up my $25 and brought it home.  Fast-forward a few months and it's done!  Much of the time was spent just picking out a color.  I had no preference which might have made the decision harder.  Nora chose green and we got many, many paint samples and observed them in different lighting throughout the day... for many days. 

Nora finally decided on  "Little Apples" by Pratt & Lambert.  (a semi-gloss acrylic latex).  It makes me think of jadeite but brighter and a bit cheerier.  Thanks to David for finding time to do this.  I can't paint. 

After the paint decision was made, it was my job to come up with a lovely coordinating fabric.  I was struck with the jadeite/ 30's inspiration. I thought I would use something from my small collection of reproduction fabrics.   Though, anything would be better than the original:

Now, I don't fault the previous owner for the fabric choice.  I'm guessing it was fine 80's fabric... in the 80's.  And you've got to expect a fair amount of wear and filth, but what I don't understand is why the fabric was pieced.  It was clearly sewn together before the chair was upholstered and not a repair.  Kudos to the person who sewed it because the pattern matched up perfectly. But for the small amount of fabric needed to cover a chair, why not use a continuous piece of fabric?  Which makes my ultimate fabric choice so ironic:

Yup, that's a lot of piecing!  The paint color choice was not the only area of indecision.  I couldn't figure which fabric I wanted to use the most, and when I did, I only had scraps left.  So, I crazy quilted the scraps that I had.  So, now I am the  woman pieced the chair cushion.  I did, however, use fusible fleece to hold it all together.  I think it will last until I get tired of looking at it and want to reupholster it again.

To make the actual cushion, I used nap mat from work that had ripped and was going to be thrown away.  Because it was covered with vinyl, it was easy to use a marker to trace the wooden seat's base and just cut it with strong shears.

The drawer pulls that were originally on the desk looked like this:

They're not horrible, but needed cleaning that I wasn't going to do.  The knobs that I used also came from the Restore.  They are wooden knobs that I painted with white craft acrylic.  They're fine, but I'm noticing that arty-y fingerprints are appearing on them at a steady pace.  I might replace them with vintage milk glass or porcelain knobs. 

Being unimpressed with the inside of the drawers which were (almost) painted in a previous life, I told David not to paint them green and that I would figure out "something."  Once again, the ReStore came to the rescue!

I always peek at the wrapping paper/ wallpaper section there, but have never taken anything home with me.   Maybe I was looking with a different eye that day, but I found the perfect wallpaper (from 1979 according to the paperwork in the roll).  I put the good ol' Mod Podge to work and papered the inside of each drawer.  It looked quite antique when the glue was wet (sort of tea stained) but also looks lovely when dry.

I'm loving Nora's little desk accessories.  The toadstool eraser/pencil sharpener was in her Christmas stocking, the toadstool stapler was a lucky garage sale find.  The caterpillar is a wind-up toy and apparently essential to homework completion.  The bulletin board in the first photo came from (surprise) the ReStore.  It's Melissa and Doug and was still in the original packaging.  Score!

Eleanor is really enjoying it.  I think she's writing more ow that she has her own space. The typewriter really pulls together the whole 30's theme!  I'm happy with the depression era thriftiness that made the whole project quite economical!

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I'm really excited to be giving away a copy of  

Singer: Sewing for the Home.

All you have to do is leave a comment on my last post.

 

 

Sewing for the (mom's) Home ...and a Giveaway!

I love sewing curtains:  straight lines and dramatic effect.  Curtains were really the first thing that I learned to sew.  My first curtain was not good.  I didn't know that fabric could be straightened and the resulting drapery reflected my lack of knowledge! 

After college, I happily taught third grade while a teacher took a year of maternity leave.  When she decided to return (drat), I had to find a job.  Alas, there were no teaching positions in my area.  So, I applied to the home decorating fabric shop only a block from my house and in the same building where my fiance and later husband was working at the time!  The manager was fabulous. 

A former home economics teacher, she spent lots of time teaching me when business was slow... which was often.  I learned a lot!  First of all, I did learn the different ways of straightening fabric as well as calculating yardage, inserting a zipper, and sewing a mitered corner.  In retrospect, there was an awful lot of down time! 

She was very influential to keeping up my interest in sewing and my desire to learn more.  Thank you, Joanne, wherever you are.  Sadly, that shop closed a few years after I started working for my current employer, and while I do not want to work retail again, I am thrilled that I had the experiences working with interior decorators, seamstresses, and homeowners helping them find just the right fabrics for their projets. 

While working at the fabric shop, I was introduced to the book, Singer: Sewing for the Home.

It is part of the Singer sewing reference library.  While out of print, it seems pretty easily attainable from used booksellers, and I've seen this and other books in the libarary at garage sales and thrift shops.  The fabrics are a bit dated, but of couse, that's not what you will be using anyway!  This book has exceptional photographs of each step of a project's process.  Being a visual learner, this is the closet thing that I have found to Joanne sewing it in front of me!  I have a lot of sewing books, but this is always my go-to for curtains and home dec.

So, when my mother asked if I would sew a new valance to replace the one that came with the house, quite possibly from the same era as this book, I happily agreed.    Curtains can change the whole look, style, and light of a room.  I was delighted to be part of a transfomation... and then she asked if I would make Roman shades, and tab top curtains for her sliding door, and could I have it all done before Labor Day weekend?  Um, sure, mom.

But I whipped out my copy of Sewing for the Home.  And they were done with plenty of time to spare.  It's an awkward room to photograph, but they're fabulous!

Her living room went from a dated pink and blue floral motif to a lovely "bourdeau."  She ordered a new couch and recliner, but the truck they were on got hijacked!  Seriously?!!  So, the Country Life toile is sharing a room with pink and blue peonies for now, but if you keep your eyes on just the one side of the room, it's just lovely!  This Waverly toile is the same fabric that I have in my bedroom, but mine is blue.  It has a huge repeat, but between the curains, shades, and valance, I had just barely enough.  Calculating for a repeat was one of those things that I learned at the fabric shop!  I'm so glad that this fabric is fairly common as I will have lots of options for sewing accessories for the many years that she will enjoy these curtains.

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Giveaway!

I'm so excited about finishing up this project, and I do so love Singer: Sewing for the Home, that I'm going to give away one of my copies and save you a search at the thrift shop.  I did it for you!  If you would like it, leave a comment before Wednesday, September 14.  If there is more than one comment (tee hee), I will randomly select a winner and announce a winner on Wednesday.  I would be over the moon to know that someone afar was reading this blog.  So I'll be happy to ship it anywhere.  Good luck!