Easter dress and some spinning success

Saturday morning we woke up to a frosty springtime wonderland.

 

Thank you Lord for the future garden-soakage!!

My car plays in the snow much like my Howdy does :)

What to do on a snowy Saturday morning while the boys are sitting around picking their noses.  Seriously.

Hmm.  Maybe make a springtime Easter dress for my leading lady?

I got to pull a "my Nana" and sit at my machine, sewing and stitching for my favorite girl, while she sat there playing with my jars of buttons.  I remember doing the same thing when we lived with my sweet Nana for a while growing up.  I would get to ask all the questions I wanted and Nan would answer them so patiently while she sewed and sewed for us.  I even got to play designer a time or two and add a ruffle here, some trim there... Needless to say, a sewing machine has always had a place in my life since I can remember.  My first stitches were sewn on her Singer when I was 6 or 7.  Roo tends to keep me company when I'm busy on a task and I love that she's happy to just be there with me, because I remember feeling the same way.  Saturday morning she could have been downstairs, picking noses with the boys while watching cartoons but she chose to hang with her mama, drawing in her sketch book and sorting buttons with her dolly Mimi.  I love her.  

I had this long tank top that I never wear.  There is a light stain on the front only a preschooler can get away with, so naturally it answered the call of duty to our tiny budget and Easter Cuteness needs.  

I released the seam at what was the bust of the top.  It will be an empire waist on Roo since she's just a little guy.

Then I sewed a new side seam, and trimmed.  It's more finished than this but only slightly...

I didn't take it in along the skirt so that I could add some gathers with the excess fabric.  My girl loves a full, twirly dress, ya know what I mean?

The skinny strap you see on the right became the shoulder straps once I ironed and sewed them together for double width.

No one will notice them since she'll likely be wearing a parka on Easter.

 

So there's a dress a girl can really twirl in!  And it was free :)

Typing this now, I wonder if she will remember this dress, what she was doing while I was making it... Me asking her if she wanted peasant pockets on the side or would she rather have gathers so it would be full and twirly?  Would she please try it on just one more time?  I didn't really think about it while we were working on it because I tend to forget what an impact small things are in their tender young memories.  And now I'm feeling bad that I got really frustrated with her when she kept saying how itchy it was, and wiggling as I was tediously pinning, and eventually crying about it, and ripped the strap (which I was short on anyway...) as she was trying to get out of it in a rush.   I wonder if she'll remember that more than the peaceful morning we spent together :(  She took some time to herself for a few minutes, while I was finishing the straps, and came back with two drawings in her sketch book:  One for me to make me feel good when I saw it, and one that she drew for herself that meant she was angry.  She art therapy'd herself with her drawings, and I did with some quiet time to finish the dress up.  We apologized to each other.  I adored her pictures and she adores her dress.  We win!  Maybe that's what she'll remember about our morning.

poor thing had to try it on like 12 times.

Later, after the most epic Costco trip in our family's history, (which consequently leads to an epic cleaning/organizing of our fridge and freezers and pantry, then epic putting-away of the ridiculous amount of food), Nick settled in on the couch  again (his basketball bracket forced him) and I ascended up to our room to get to know my spinning wheel a bit.  Yes, that was the longest sentence ever.  Yes, a little Roo was in tow, with her weaving loom this time :)  

I had to figure out some spare parts (which are not spare, they're imperative), unsqueak the squeaky wheel, watch several youtube videos, read some online material, error some trials- you know.  The good news is that all of the parts are there (or available in our junk drawer, as luck would have it), they just need to be wined and dined a little.  After a couple of hours and even some help from Mister, I got at least an idea of how it all flows.  See?

My method was much more of a 'park and draft' as they say in handspindling, because I'm not sure the tension on the brake and the whorl is correct and I'm constantly stopping the treadle to adjust stuff and draft the fleece.  My roving (the combed fleece you spin and wind onto the bobbin) is not what they use on television.  I might need it drum carded or something, which I know nothing about.  

Fortunately for my ambitions, I found THIS PERSON online!  WHOA.  She lives here in Golden and teaches classes!  Classes on spinning, carding, color theory, anything you can think of related to creative spinning.  They're $15 each so I think I can make it happen, at least a time or two.  I'm so excited!  We've emailed back and forth and I am hoping to set something up for this coming week.  She offers incredible group rates too, so next time you're in the area with a hankerin' for a spinning lesson, let me know and we'll split the cost. 

Today the Mister went to work, because working weekends is awesome and fun.  So I got cozy with the kiddos and a new chicken book for a little bit, made some pannycakes, and then went hog wild cleaning the house.  Half the house, actually, but it took me all day until bedtime.  Roo helped me with chores and earned a dollar.  She's saving for chickens :)  Knox strutted around in his undies and binoculars, spanking his booty a time or two our halftime entertainment.  See?  I cry.  I can't believe they're mine! 

Apparently temps in the 70's will be happening soon.  Coop's gonna get built, ya'll!

New b-i-b-l-e, yes that's the book for me!

I love the relaxing, mellow hours between the kids' bedtime and my own.
The laundry loading, the pinball rush around the house to rid the public places of the kid crapnel that has embedded itself underfoot, the m&m eating... It's so delightful.  I cut myself off at 10:00, and not just because the news is on and tonight's teaser is that they've found the way to prevent obesity.  Oh please, tell me more about this diabolical discovery.

No there was no spinning-wheel action tonight, but I know I won't be able to keep my hands off 'er too long!  LOOK!

 So anyways Chancho, I strongly dislike the news.  Mister watches it every night, so I absorb it as well HOORAY!  But there are just so many sad tales of the world that have no place invading my brain right before sleepy-time.  That's MY sleepy-time and I prefer to fill my head with bouncy happy thoughts before I drift.  Lately it's been easy to ignore the drama because... of... THIS!!!

Friends, meet my new bible.  New Bible, meet my friends.

Did you know spring is coming?  It is.  The days are a slightly darkish lighter blue at dinner time than they were a few weeks ago.  We have little bulb greens popping up through the snow... Crocus, I think.  A 40 degree day feels tropical and calls us to get some yard work done.  SPRING IS COMING PEOPLE!!  

Remember when we bought this house?  It was September.  We moved in in October.  October signifies the end of barbecues, random neighborly gatherings, muddy hands and feet... It got cold and while we had our lovely days or weeks sprinkled through the winter, it was still winter.  We still bundled and snuggled and closed our front doors, our bikes buried somewhere in the garage and Howdy longing for a date with his leash.  The giant yard that was THE selling point of this home turned brown and scratchy.  We lost ourselves in interior projects and the yard became a place for Howdy to escape, not a place to sit and visualize the 15 sunny hours a day we'll be living outdoors in our new acre.  Your home can be the smallest, shabbiest, funky-est little home, but if you love your surroundings it can feel like your castle.  Our yard is where we want to do our living!

A couple of weekends ago, Roo must have been pulling her backyard daydreams from the back shelf too.  At the library she only picked out gardening books.  We sat on the couch and showed each other our favorite flowers and bugs and rodents... Little girl thinks that we WANT rabbits and groundhogs in our gardens, so we definitely need to plant carrots and things they would like to eat, don't you think Mommy??  Yes, Roo, those raccoons are precious and gentle-looking, let's invite them over. 

 The books we grabbed were inspiring me to learn as much as I can about creating a little organic ecosystem as we plan our gardens.  Why not plant everything to work together as they grow, warning insects and fixing nitrogen and resisting drought and confusing veggie-nappers?  Right?  I don't want to spend time and money on fertilizers and water and pest control if it's always going to be a battle against Nature.  (Nature, I gave you a capital N.  Points, please.)  I want Nature on my side!    

I also want chickens.  

 So another day we were at the library again.  I grabbed about 33 MORE books.  AND THEN.  Guess what was on the shelf.  Free Range Chicken Gardens:  How to Create a Beautiful, Chicken-Friendly Yard. Thank you Jesus and Jessi Bloom!!!  The book of my dreams appeared before my eyes to save my soul!  Or at least, save me from nightmares of the 10 o'clock news and give me visions of happy little hens being the center of our acre's mini ecosystem.  Sweet, sweet dreams.  I love this book SO much that I ordered one on Amazon.  I hardly ever buy books.  But I need to flag pages and make notes and use a highlighter maybe, and I can't do that to library books anymore.  So I read this daggone book every minute I can, absorbing the information on what breeds are great with kids, how to train your chickens, plants that are toxic to the little poultries, and how they're gonna clean up every bit of the apple tree shrapnel that plummets to the earth near our tire swing- I think.  Did I mention the eggs?  Eggs!

I also nod and smile OH SO sweetly at Mister when we speak of landscape plans and he, with a sweet little shrug, specifies OH SO gently that there will be no chickens involved this year.  We both know that I will eventually make him think our new chickens are his idea.  Hello.

I have a feeling I will be filling these virtual pages o' celebration with tales of hoes and woes, weeds and chicken feeds.  Stay tuned if you want to learn a lot about composting manure and teaching a hen to 'sit'.  This book is exactly what I needed to help me blend our future chickens with a happy yard that just works!!   

Speaking of things that work... Knox's respiratory system- NOT!!  Tomorrow might be the day I call the docta for some advice.  Cough From Aychee-Double will not go away.  He cries every time it hits him and says, "Anudder cough is coming!!"  and cries and crawls up me so I can hold him while he hacks and cries.  My heart is pretty broken now that it's day three of it.  He just came upstairs so I can snuggle the germies away tonight, and look at this... He fell asleep sitting up after a coughing fit.  Sweet boy.

In case you didn't catch the sweetness above, here's another dose:

 Say a little prayer his pains go away, if you have a sec!  And find yourself a Chicken Gardens book!!

Amazon.  Duh.

Just thought you should know...

I'm about to go pick up 

MY SPINNING WHEEEEEEEL!!!

more later!

el fin.