the lovely nest :: in china

Bangkok Goodies

2011-02-11T04:36:00.000-05:00

I'm going to tell the story of our Bangkok trip in two posts: what we I bought and what we saw/did. First up, what came home with us. I packed a duffel bag inside one of our suitcases in preparation for all the fabric I planned to buy. The third luggage allotment ended up being used for something else (more on that in a minute). A few grocery items also made their way into our suitcases (grape jelly and Crisco among them).

Jill's Quilt Site is a blog by a woman living in Bangkok. She has great information about fabric shopping in Bangkok. I printed out her fabric market map and prepared for a big trip. Sadly for me, the day we went to Chinatown (where the fabric market is) was Chinese New Year. Oh what a stupid mistake! Most of Jill's favorite shops were closed. The ones that were open carried similar items to what I can get here in Xiamen. I left with only a few notions:

Although I felt a bit blue, I was able to console myself with numerous trips to a bookstore near our hotel. It's been six months since we've been to an English-language bookstore and this one was fantastic. And not just because of our period of draught -- it was a genuinely great bookstore -- very similar to a Barnes & Noble. I lost track of how many trips we made there. Each of us accumulated a stack of books, which made packing a little tricky. Here's my stash:

It was here that I bought my first copy of Burda magazine. I was so excited to finally have a copy of this magazine in my hands. There are two dresses and a boy's blazer (do I dare?) that I'd love to make from this issue:

I had better luck with fabric on Sunday when we went to the Chatuchak Market -- one of the largest weekend markets in the world. This market was so much fun -- they had practically everything you could think of from clothes, housewares, fabric to pets. I got lost several times, even with my Nancy Chandler map in hand (I have a terrible sense of direction). After wandering around the fabric section for far too long, I finally bought these Thai silks:

And these cotton prints:

During a walk to the grocery store, I discovered a little family-owned fabric shop on the same street as our hotel. They had an adorable collection of modern prints made in Thailand. First I bought the rabbits (it is the year of the rabbit, after all, and then I went back for the other one):

Now back to that third piece of baggage. Instead of a duffel bag stuffed with fabric it turned out to be a box. Containing this:

I'm now the proud owner of a serger! I spotted it in a department store while buying a hand-mixer (to replace my Chinese one that literally blew up). It's a Janome MyLock 204D and so far I love it. I was able to thread it pretty quickly (watching The Young and the Restless while doing so probably slowed me down a bit). It stitches so fast that it kind of scares me. I've been wanting a serger for awhile now and it was on sale and we had a coupon so it seemed like the fates aligned. Well, until they told me that they didn't have any in stock. They said if I paid for it they would deliver it to our hotel on Monday. I said I'd just come back on Monday (I mean really, who would do that?). We went back on Monday morning and there was the box -- waiting for me! I originally thought I'd get one in the states this summer and bring it back to China and then I remembered the voltage issue. I'm so happy that I found this one. Now I've got to get sewing...

So that's the shopping from Bangkok. Up next, what we saw and did during our holiday.

Crepe dress debuts in Bangkok

2011-02-07T03:38:00.000-05:00

Hello my lovelies, so sorry for my blog absence! We're currently in Bangkok -- today is, sadly, our last day. Bangkok is absolutely the bee's knees and I'm going to miss it. Hopefully we'll come here again.

I'm sure you're dying to know the status of my crepe dress. I had to move along without the sew-along in order to finish it for our trip. I took it for a spin to a cute little chocolatier where we indulged in dark chocolate fondue.

I'm not completely satisfied with the fit of this dress. I cut the pattern in size 2 and the top is too big, even after some alterations. I ended up ripping out the seam that attaches the bodice and skirt so I could play with the bodice a bit more. I cut off some material on the bottom and sides -- maybe two inches off the bottom and 1/2 inch or an inch off each side (I didn't keep any record). The shoulders could stand to have some material pinched out of them too but I got tired of messing around with it and it was trip time. The dress feels a little drab; a combination of the brown color and linen reminds me of little orphan Annie (although Chris points out that she did not wear a brown dress with a blue sash).

Probably my favorite part of the dress is the pockets. I'm a sucker for a dress with pockets, aren't you?

My least favorite part is definitely the facings. I just don't like facings; a lined dress would be much nicer. I pinked the edges of my facings to get the least bulk showing through but you can still see the line that it creates around the neck.

Right before we left for Bangkok, Dagim asked me to make him a shirt to match my dress. I had just enough leftover fabric and time to squeak out a shirt using Sew Liberated's Woodlands Shirt pattern.

There are many details to share about Bangkok -- from a bicycle tour through the city to breakfast with an orangutan. Rest assured, a good amount of shopping was done too. Including a couple yards from this yummy display of silk:

Goodbye, Bangkok!

Bedecked

2011-01-11T06:56:00.000-05:00

When we were in Yangshou after Christmas, Dagim was very interested in my pearl necklaces. He liked to hold them and play with them. One morning, as we were getting ready for breakfast, I put one necklace on and he asked if he could wear the other. I said sure, and held back the comments about pearls being for girls. Chris took this picture at the breakfast table. One day, Dagim will probably be furious with me for posting this but I just love this picture. I wish you could have seen how excited and proud he was to be wearing my pearl necklace. It reminded me of one of my favorite poems (perhaps my favorite): "Bedecked" by Victoria Redel.

I was lucky to study with many amazing teachers when I was in the MFA program at Sarah Lawrence College. Victoria Redel was the one teacher I wanted to study with but didn't. When I heard her read this poem, I fell a little bit in love with her (and this was before I had a son of my own). And then she did an absolutely amazing lecture about writing that seriously changed the way I approach short stories but that's a topic for a different post.

I'm sure I'm violating copyright laws by posting this poem here but several other bloggers have posted it and they don't seem to be in jail. Besides, Victoria always seemed like a lovely woman to me and I'm hopeful that she wouldn't mind me putting it here for you to read. Because really, it's the perfect accompaniment to this photograph. This poem begs to be read aloud. So go ahead, shut the door and read it. I won’t tell anyone.

“Bedecked” by Victoria Redel (from her book of poems, Swoon)

Tell me it’s wrong the scarlet nails my son sports or the toy store rings he clusters
four jewels to each finger.

He’s bedecked. I see the other mothers looking at the star choker, the rhinestone
strand he fastens over a sock.
Sometimes I help him find sparkle clip-ons when he says sticker earrings
look too fake.

Tell me I should teach him it’s wrong to love the glitter that a boy’s only a boy
who’d love a truck with a remote that revs,
battery slamming into corners or Hot Wheels loop-de-looping off tracks
into the tub.

Then tell me it’s fine—really—maybe even a good thing—a boy who’s got some girl
to him,
and I’m right for the days he wears a pink shirt on the seesaw in the park.

Tell me what you need to tell me but keep far away from my son who still loves
a beautiful thing not for what it means—
this way or that—but for the way facets set off prisms and prisms spin up
everywhere
and from his own jeweled body he’s cast rainbows—made every shining true color.

Now try to tell me—man or woman—your heart was ever once that brave.

new year, new look

2011-01-09T07:27:00.000-05:00

I'd been planning to spruce up my blog after the new year. It became quite easy to do when I won a giveaway on Bloom for a new blog template at Smitten Blog Designs. Thanks to both Bloom and Smitten for the new look! You'll see that I updated my blog roll on the sidebar -- be sure to check some of them out. And please become a follower!

It feels like we have some catching up to do, doesn't it? I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. We enjoyed a quiet family Christmas with Chris's parents and then we all went on a little trip to Yangshuo to ring in the new year. Yangshuo is crazy beautiful. As you can see here:

We stayed at the Yangshuo Mountain Retreat (and highly recommend it). Yangshuo is more "touristy" than our home, Xiamen. It was fun to meet people from all around the world (France, England, Australia, South Africa, Ethiopia). It was also nice to blend in a bit more (well, as much as you can in China). We definitely weren't a novelty in Yangshuo. What did we do there, you ask?

We went into town to do some shopping and had our picture taken with this man and his hunting birds:

We got a map and went looking for a 1,400 year old banyan tree. We couldn't find it on the first outing and Dagim kept muttering "We've got a big problem!"

We didn't find the banyan tree that day but we did see lots of water buffalo, chickens and this cow:

We sat here (the front yard of the retreat) in the early evenings for happy hour -- wine for the grown-ups, fresh juice for the little one and hot french fries for everyone:

And we hired a driver to take us to some neighboring villages where we walked around, getting a glimpse at local life.

On our way back to the van, I saw this little shop and couldn't resist a picture (for obvious reasons):

I really enjoyed our time in Yangshuo. It was interesting to see a different part of China -- the mountains, the rivers. It's definitely more rural than Xiamen. And it was a good reminder that living in one city here does not really mean we "know" China. No more than a visit to New York City means that you've "seen" America. After a few days there, I was happy to get back to our more urban (and increasingly familiar) city. There's nothing like a trip away to make a new home feel like a real home, don't you think?

The eve of Christmas Eve

2010-12-23T07:39:00.000-05:00

We spent the morning before Christmas Eve at the beach, enjoying the nice weather, and showing Mimi and Pop more of Xiamen. Growing up in New Hampshire, all my Christmases were surely white. I can't say I miss all that cold weather and snow (which we had in Indiana too). Although a white Christmas would be nice, cozied up next to a fire with hot chocolate. Provided, of course, that the driveway doesn't have to be shoveled and we don't need to get in the car to go anywhere and the snow disappears the next day. Until we're stateside again, I'll enjoy this different kind of holiday weather.

We spent the afternoon baking cookies for Santa Claus. Dag is under the impression that on Christmas, Santa will come over and we'll all eat cookies and drink milk together. Then we'll open our presents together too. I suppose that seems more reasonable than Santa sneaking into our house in the middle of the night.

We'll spend Christmas Eve preparing for Christmas dinner -- we've got some food shopping to do and some rolls to make. And of course, there are cookies to be set out and milk to be poured for a certain Santa Claus. Who will, unfortunately, not be able to sit down with us and enjoy his snack.

Tonight, before bed, Dagim saw these photographs on my computer and said "I remember that day." Um, yeah. That was today.

I hope your own holiday preparations are coming along smoothly. There is lots of excitement in our house. Most of it from a little boy who "can't wait! can't wait! can't wait!" for Christmas.

Crepe Sew-Along #2

2010-12-21T01:20:00.000-05:00

Progress on my Crepe dress is happening slowly. Very slowly. At this rate, I'm hoping to finish it in time to bring on our trip to Bangkok (we leave at the end of January). We've been busy with Christmas preparations and my in-laws are visiting. It's so nice to have family here for the holidays. I think we'd be a bit blue if we were alone in China. There are a surprising amount of Christmas trees at the shops and restaurants in our neighborhood. And Christmas music is playing nearly everywhere. I don't miss the commercial aspect of the holiday at all.

I finished my muslin for the top part of the dress about a week ago. To be honest, I feel kind of funny posting photos of myself -- most of the clothes I make are for Dagim and he's generally an agreeable model. Most of the sew-along peeps (including me) are having issues with the bust darts. So while I feel weird posting pictures and talking about bust darts, seeing and reading about other people's experiences has really helped me.

I wish I had used a different fabric for the muslin. This is the orange-y fabric I originally purchased for the ties on the dress. It's very stiff and I think the soft linen of the actual dress will drape much differently. But anyway, here's the front:

I lowered and shortened the darts on my right side. The left side darts are from the original pattern markings. I think I could stand to lower the bust dart another inch or so but I don't really feel like fiddling with this anymore (can you say lazy?).

Here's the back:

Please ignore the garbage bag in the corner!

I'm happy with the way it fits in the back. I wonder how close-fitting the top should be? The shoulders seem a little big to me but again, I don't feel like messing around too much with alterations at this point. This is my first time altering something to fit (other than adding some length in pants patterns for Dag). Right now, my plan is to just sew it with the repositioned darts. Hopefully I'll get a little sewing time in before the new year!

from Santa's Workshop

2010-12-15T02:00:00.000-05:00

When I asked Dag what he wanted for Christmas this year he said, "A doll. A boy doll." Fortunately, he didn't shame me by saying "One with two eyes." Alas, Poppy still has one eye and no mouth.

I was so happy to hear this request. I ordered Wee Wonderfuls this fall because I knew, as soon as I saw the cover, that I had to make Eddie, the boy doll:

Inside the book, Eddie is a bit naughty, drawing on the wall:

Dag loves this picture and he likes to point out that the doll has done something he's not allowed to do.

I used a cotton knit interlock ordered from A Child's Dream Come True. The hair is some kind of faux-fur fabric bought locally at the market (the shop owner wouldn't sell me a small square so I have a half-meter of this crazy fur fabric). The shirt is made from a shirt purchased in a clearance bin (the B was on the sleeve) and the pants are made from leftover fabric after I hemmed a pair of my pants. As you can see, little B has, like his friend Eddie, been a bit naughty. (Actually it was Dagim -- see in the bottom corner where it says "Goodah"? He thinks he wrote "Dagim's world." How was I supposed to be mad about that?).

He was so much fun to make -- especially on the sly! Little B's head looks a bit alien-shaped compared to Eddie, but I hope Dag doesn't mind. This pattern calls for embroidering the face before you stuff the doll. I found this to be a lot easier than the Poppy doll pattern. But Little B is smaller than Poppy and because he needs to stay sort of flat, he didn't take as much stuffing as Poppy. As a consequence, he feels a bit less substantial. But I think he's cute and I hope he's much loved by his new owner.

And now, for my favorite project of all time (seriously)... The other weekend I decided, on the spur of the moment, that I wanted to whip up the child's apron in Sew Liberated. This project has been on my to-do list since the book came out. And, I decided to finally cut into my beautiful stack of Far Far Away II fabric by Heather Ross.

I have such a hard time cutting into the "good stuff" but I'm so so glad that I did. I wish I could leave this apron hanging in my workspace until Christmas but since it's a surprise, it was promptly wrapped up and placed under the tree.

We've been doing a lot of baking together -- trying our hand at bread in particular. Today he requested that we make scones. "And cookies!'" he added. I wish he could wear the apron today -- it's so hard to save it for Christmas. Perhaps the best thing about this apron pattern is that children can take it off themselves -- it closes in the front with velcro. That's the one complaint I have about normal aprons. He gets frustrated when he can't take it off by himself. Well, come Christmas, he can do just that!

Crepe Sew-Along Post #1

2010-12-07T05:35:00.000-05:00

I'm joining in Gertie's Crepe Sew-Along. I ordered the Crepe wrap dress pattern from Colette Patterns when it was first released -- as soon as I saw it, I said: I need to make that. I had planned to get busy with it straight away but one project or another seemed to get in the way. So Gertie's sew-along couldn't come at a better time, as my holiday sewing is winding down and I'm ready to tackle a big project.

I went to the local fabric market for my fabric. We went at dusk. It turns out shopping at the market after dark is not a good idea. I wanted something that felt very fall-ish so I came home with brown linen for the dress and an orange-y color for the sash:

Only, when I got home, the orange material felt and looked completely different than in the shop. It was suddenly a bright orange color, almost like a pumpkin. In fact, the combination of brown and orange screamed pumpkin. And the fabric was thicker, more like a canvas than the brown lightweight linen, which has a lovely hand. Now obviously the fabric didn't change. I saw the man tear it from the bolt. I just wasn't looking closely enough. But surely I felt the fabric, right? The problem is that I get overwhelmed there. Shop after shop of fabric and more fabric. Nobody speaks English. Sometimes the shop keepers are busy preparing their lunch or dinner. I love going there but get nervous before each visit.

I was planning to head back to the market when I found something just perfect in my own stash: Shabby Chic blue linen that I ordered last December. I wish you could touch this linen. It's like butter. For real. When I paired it up with the brown linen, I knew it was meant to be (brown and blue were our wedding colors so obviously I love this combination):

Step #1 in Gertie's sew-along was to cut the bodice out in a muslin and thread-trace the seamlines (which is something I've never done before). She's going to guide us through the process of fitting the muslin. I'm really excited to learn some new techniques and make this dress. I completed step #1 today and I'm ready to move forward! As you can see, I'm using the discarded orange (only now it looks pink to me) fabric for my muslin.

Bicycle!

2010-11-21T06:19:00.001-05:00

Hello blog friends -- I'm back from my unintended blog break. I'll skip the excuses (busy grading papers and I've been sick -- first a terrible cough, then an ear infection which is still lingering...let's just say I'm well acquainted with the doctor down the road) and just get back to writing, okay?

True confession: I've always wanted a cruiser bike and to live in a place where I could bike to the market, to the bakery, etc. Well, today, friends, that dream came true. Introducing my new bicycle:

isn't she pretty?

As you probably already figured, a lot of people ride bikes in China. There are so many bike riders here -- the bikes range from small foldable ones, electric, rusty and old, scooters, to three wheel bikes with big bins in the back. Everyone rides bikes here -- everyday I see some elderly person scooting out into traffic without hesitation. And it's not uncommon to see more than one person on one bike.

And today, I joined this myriad of bike riders. Chris swore he did not want a bike. Not interested. Wouldn't get used. Too dangerous. He thought it was a crazy thing for me to do (in his defense, I did nearly break my ankle just crossing the street here). How many bikes do you think we bought today? That's right -- two bikes. Chris's has a child seat on the back for Dag. Dag was, not surprisingly, thrilled beyond belief to ride on the back of his daddy's bicycle.

After nap time today, we headed out for our first adventure.

practicing in our complex before hitting the streets

We went to the market and bought lots of vegetables and fruit to put in our baskets. I also bought ten eggs. Eight made it home safely (I bring them home all the time on the bus so I thought it would be okay but really, two cracking out of ten isn't so bad, is it?).

Xiamen isn't one of the biggest cities in China but it's home to 2.5 million people so it is crowded and busy. I was nervous about crossing a couple of streets. We waited patiently for traffic to subside which it really never did. Eventually I just gathered enough courage to push across. Biking was actually harder than I anticipated -- there's a lot to look out for with pedestrians, baby strollers, other bikers, scooters, cars, buses, broken sidewalks. But it was really great fun. There are lots of places we'll be able to bike to -- the market, the bakery, the fabric market, grocery stores, parks. It might even be easier than walking or taking a taxi or bus.

out on the street!

Of course, I think my bike is lovely as is but she needs a little something, don't you agree? The bag with the red star inside the basket is from Sea Bags, a Maine-based company that makes bags from recycled sails. I bought it in Camden, Maine two summers ago. It's nearly a perfect fit but I'm thinking a special liner might be just what this bike needs. The question is: to make or to buy? Betty Basket Liners are adorable and I'm tempted to ask for one for Christmas. I could also easily imagine some Heather Ross fabric inside that basket. Maybe two liners, then?

Sunday morning finds

2010-11-07T05:38:00.000-05:00

Now that I'm mobile again, we decided to head out Sunday morning for a little adventure. After a breakfast of French toast and bacon, we took the bus to our favorite bubble tea shop (we don't actually get bubble tea, rather we prefer a delicious chocolate drink without the tapioca balls). There's a park nearby and we sat while Dag ran around the trees. We had a nice chat with a Chinese woman who is studying English. Then we decided to head down the street in a direction we had never gone before. We found a couple great shops that sold lovely housewares and accessories, including Japanese zakka items. Of course, I was in heaven! I resisted most of the adorable items but did take home these:

a little tin for storing colored pencils

some sweet buttons

little clips for hanging artwork

And my favorite purchase of the day, a chalkboard for writing the weekly menus!

It wasn't until after I bought the chalkboard that I realized I didn't have any chalk. Fortunately, a friend has some and has agreed to share with me! The board has French writing on it but it doesn't really make any sense -- especially the "/g..." but I love it despite this, or maybe because of this.

Admittedly, this post would be more interesting if I had pictures of the actual adventure but we forgot the camera. Maybe next Sunday!

growing, growing

2010-10-29T05:33:00.000-04:00

September 19, 2008

October 15, 2010

I can hardly believe how much Dagim has grown in two years, as evidenced by these two pictures of him wearing my rain boots. He often makes it known that he is a big boy now and not a baby. It's all so bittersweet. I love that he's growing up, talking all day long, telling stories, having adventures, becoming his own person. But it makes me sad too. Some days I tell him to stay little. Usually he says "No, I want to get big like Daddy." But some days he'll say "I want to stay little like Mommy." And some nights, before bed, he still wants to be held "like a baby," as he says. Why didn't someone warn me that motherhood would break my heart?

convalescing

2010-10-26T22:38:00.000-04:00

It's been a week since I sprained my ankle. While the swelling and bruising is subsiding, I'm still not able to walk well and I'm confined to the house where I hobble like an old woman from room to room. I wish I could say this was one of those times where a respite was much-needed. Where slowing down and staying in was a blessing in disguise. The truth is that it's frustrating. The weather is finally cool enough to go outside and enjoy and I'm stuck inside. Not to mention a little boy who is simply desperate to go outside and play. We couldn't go to ballet class yesterday because I can't walk that far.

Yesterday, Dag wanted to take the bus to a bubble tea store where we've been getting delicious chocolate drinks. I told him I couldn't go because my ankle still hurts. He burst into tears. I held him while he cried and said "But chocolate drinks are my favorite. And I'm thirsty!"

I finally broke down and sent an SOS to my friends here to see if someone can take him outside to play. I'm one of those people who has a hard time asking for help. All of my friends have asked what they can do to help and I've turned them all away with an "I'm fine but thanks for asking." Do you have trouble asking for help when you need it?

Due to my condition (which I'm affectionately referring to it now), there hasn't been much sewing here. Or cooking or baking. Or laundry. Yesterday our building had no power from 10am-4pm. Dag said the batteries were gone. Which took the pressure off doing any of those household chores. I took a little of the down time to sew the buttons on a shirt I made for myself recently (Amy Butler's Anna Tunic). Over the weekend, I did manage to cut out the pieces for a bag from Amy Butler's new book. It's for my grandmother for Christmas and I'm really excited about it. I kind of want to keep it for myself. That would be rude, right? More details on both Amy Butler projects soon...

Potato Soup

2010-10-22T07:42:00.000-04:00

I've been making a lot of soup lately. Partly because in my mind, it's fall, partly because I'm happy to have my Le Creuset dutch oven as well as my copy of Peter Christian's Recipes back (chock full of great soup recipes) and partly because fresh vegetables are readily available here.

One of my favorites that I recently made is potato soup. Even my husband liked it and he is not a soup fan. Isn't there something so comforting and lovely about a pot full of fresh produce?

After a whirl through the food processor it becomes this. (I bought the food processor on China's Amazon site -- it's not quite as good as my KitchenAid back home but it was a quarter of the price and gets the job done; one thing I love about China Amazon is they do Cash on Delivery.)

Here's the recipe:

Cream of Potato Soup (adapted from Peter Christian's Recipes):

1. Cook in soup kettle, until vegetables are tender:

6 quartered medium potatoes

2 chopped celery stalks

1 quartered medium onion

3 cups chicken broth

1 teaspoon salt

2. Remove from stove and puree mixture in blender or food processor until smooth.

3. Return to kettle and add 1-2 cups light cream and/or milk (depending on the consistency you want). Season with white pepper and cook gently for 15 minutes.

Easy, right?

We are planning to hunker down for a rainy weekend as a tropical storm passes through. I wish I could say I'd be making a big pot of soup but we just realized that our propane tank is empty.

I'm okay with a rainy, lazy weekend as I injured my ankle this week and I'm pretty much laid up on the couch. I twisted my ankle the other night while stepping off a curb and found myself sprawled out in the middle of a street in China. I was holding Dag when it happened. Fortunately, he was fine. Chris helped us both up and we sat on the curb for awhile. Dag was crying hysterically even though he wasn't hurt. I was sort of in shock over the whole event, including the fact that I was sitting on the curb of a busy intersection, clutching my leg. My ankle was instantly swollen and bruised. It looked and felt terrible.

The next morning we went to the doctor's office around the corner (where we knew they spoke English). Chris literally carried me there because I couldn't walk. People looked at us strangely. The doctor sent a nurse with us to the hospital for x-rays. Talk about service! She even hailed the cabs for us. I think it would have been impossible for us to navigate the hospital without a Chinese speaker. She had to go to several different windows to obtain various slips of paper. She shuttled me off to one area to have someone look at my ankle, then back to the waiting room while more slips of paper were obtained and then finally to the x-ray area where we somehow skipped in front of everyone waiting in line. The hospital itself was something out of a 1950's movie: nurses in white uniforms and hats, glass bottles containing who-knows-what, white brick walls. It was disconcerting to see a trail of blood from the sidewalk up to the hospital entrance. But we persevered and the x-ray revealed no fractures, fortunately. Back at the doctor's office, he bandaged the ankle up and advised me to keep it iced and elevated. I can walk a little bit now (albeit quite awkwardly and not far). It was certainly an adventure. But one that I could have lived without.

In other topics, my friend Chloe has a great giveaway on her blog for a beautiful children's book -- along with an interview with the author. Check it out and enter the giveaway here. Good luck!

35.

2010-10-18T10:18:00.000-04:00

My sweet boy woke me up this morning by singing Happy "Dirthday." After talking to my grandmother on Skype, I sat down at the kitchen table to enjoy coffee, oatmeal and some new sewing books that Chris had squirreled away.

A nice start to the first day of being 35. Before lunch, a friend treated me to a smoothie and then I got some quiet time to sew as Dag took a long nap.

My birthday festivities centered around the letter M this year, beginning with a Massage on Saturday, trip to the fabric Market on Sunday (where I bought fabric for Me -- I'll be channeling the Selfish Seamstress in the coming weeks as the next few projects are all about Me) and Mexican food (and a Margarita) tonight with Chris and Dag. When we arrived home from dinner, three of my new friends stopped by to wish me a happy birthday. It reminded me of a surprise birthday party a different new group of friends threw for me my freshman year of college. It seemed such a sad thing back then, being away from the friends and family I had always known. Being surrounded by that new group of friends that year, when I turned nineteen, was something I'll never forget. Likewise, having new friends in China take time away from their families and busy evenings to wish me a happy birthday made China feel a bit more like home.

So, I think 35 will be a good year. I'm looking forward to it.

Fall, how I pine for you...

2010-10-15T05:05:00.000-04:00

Fall is my favorite time of year. Maybe because I have always loved a fresh school year in September (the unmarked notebooks, sharpened pencils, new clothes). Or maybe because my birthday is in October (I'll turn 35 on Monday). I just love everything about it. This year, I'm missing fall. Here are some things that I miss:

1. Apple picking
2. Pumpkins
3. Leaves changing colors
4. Pumpkin-spice coffee
5. Sweaters
6. Vests
7. Warm socks
8. Cider
9. Hot chocolate (with marshmallows)
10. Crisp days
11. Cool evenings
12. A fire burning in the fireplace
13. Hayrides
14. Acorn squash soup
15. Sitting near a fire wearing a sweater, warm socks and drinking cider.

Okay, I could go on and on but I'll just make myself sad. The one thing I don't like about fall is the one thing we do have here in Xiamen: shorter days. The sun is now setting around 6 p.m.

The good thing? I'll never take another true fall for granted again. And if I ever get to experience another New England fall, I will savor every day with complete awareness.

Another good thing? We don't take small things like a batch of warm chocolate-chip scones for granted anymore (more on that next week). And I won't get suckered into Dairy Queen's seasonal Blizzard which is never a good idea. No matter how good it looks on the picture. Just stick with Oreos and Heath bar. Trust me on this one.

And there's certainly a lot to enjoy about living here in China. Every day feels like an adventure -- as if something new and different could (and likely will) happen. I love living in a city. I love being able to walk to the bakery for bread, to the corner store for ice cream, to a dozen different coffee shops or to a juice bar where $1 will buy you a fresh, squeezed-in-front-of-you cup of juice.

But today I'm missing fall. This afternoon I clicked through some old photographs on iPhoto (funny how times change with technology), feeling nostalgic and kind of sad that there will be no pumpkin patch visit or apple picking for us this year. So I thought I'd share some of the photographs from our first two visits as a family. Because nostalgia is best enjoyed with company.

October 2008 (Dagim is 1-year old):

This is what I think of dirt -- even if it's on a cute little pumpkin.

October 2009 (Dagim is two-years old):

And yes, I'm missing that striped Boden sweater and that Kate Spade wool vest (bought on super-duper clearance). Today's high in Xiamen was 79 (low 66). How do you Southerners do it? I shouldn't really complain about wearing shorts in October. I guess I'm just a New Hampshire girl at heart, ready to put on a sweater and welcome fall.

Riyuegu Hot Springs

2010-10-14T03:30:00.000-04:00

We had a great mini-vacation at the Riyuegu Hot Springs Resort. It was very relaxing -- so much so that I've had a hard time getting back into our regular routine at home.

The living room in our suite. A basket of fresh fruit awaited us.

Hotel bedroom.

We booked a suite and it was quite lovely and spacious. I told Chris that a suite is really the only way to travel now -- otherwise we have to go to bed at 8pm with Dag. He said I shouldn't get used to it. Riyuegu is definitely the fanciest hotel I've ever stayed at. We had a huge living room (with a half bath), equally large bedroom with a desk and computer, separate vanity area and a large bathroom. Each room has its own hot spring tub (this picture doesn't really give you a sense of how deep the tub is). Dag had fun in the evenings taking a bath. Chris and I enjoyed playing backgammon and reading in the living room after he went to sleep.

The white streaks that you see on the tub are natural discoloration from minerals in the hot spring water.

Most pools in China require swim caps; these ended up being our souvenirs.

The hotel had three pools, including a shallow one for kids and one hot spring. A golf-cart shuttle brings you across the highway to their hot spring resort (we didn't bring our camera there). This was just as fancy and nice as the hotel. You walk around the beautiful trails to the various stone pools. There are hooks to hang your towels and robes at each pool. You can get new towels at certain stations as well as hot and iced tea. They have dozens of different pools -- each with different things added to them (like various kinds of tea, flowers, etc.). One hot spring has little fish that nibble on your feet (no thanks!). I thought it would be crowded because it was a Chinese holiday but we practically had the hotel and resort to ourselves. It was surprisingly kid friendly (but also great for couples). I definitely encourage anyone who plans on visiting us to pencil in a couple days to stay here. It was incredibly peaceful and a much-needed holiday from our new city life. We took a private car to the resort -- $15 for the thirty minute ride. There is a shuttle from one of the shopping malls but with a big bag and a small boy, it seemed like too much work. We did take the shuttle home without any problems.

Pouring water in the hot spring at the hotel

Yesterday I got to work on the Tee for Two pattern by Pattern's by Figgy's. It's a hot mess. I think it's the fabric I used -- a thin knit jersey I got on a remnant table at the fabric market here. I had a lot of difficulty cutting it (the cut pieces didn't end up the same size as the pattern pieces). It does come together quickly -- I finished all but the neck yesterday. Dagim loved it -- it's very soft and comfortable and I couldn't stop squeezing him (especially since he was also wearing his new Oliver + S Nature Walk pants, which are equally comfortable). He wore it out to dinner last night and spilled food all over it (hence no pictures). I tried to put the neckband on today but it didn't work out -- the band is too short (and trust me, I stretched that puppy as much as it would go). So, in the end, I think this is a muslin. Or a nightshirt. I think I'll just cut the too-short neckband off and call it a day.

Headless Poppy and Food Talk

2010-10-06T10:53:00.000-04:00

About a month ago, I started working on the Poppy Doll pattern from Hop Skip Jump. I found some lovely soft wool at the local fabric market (it's really too dark but I decided to go ahead with it anyway, for lack of any other available fabric). I sewed the body together and stuffed it -- it came together quite quickly and satisfyingly. But then I couldn't find any suitable felt for the hair (only stiff acrylic and I want to stick with natural fibers) and I couldn't find any embroidery thread for the face. So, the doll has been sitting around my work space, headless:

Dag asked me today "Where's the doll's head? Where's it's face?" Happily, these supplies arrived recently from the states:

Today I got back to work on Poppy, making only minimal progress as I ran out of light (the days are getting shorter here, as they are back home). I'm anxious to finish this project (a headless doll is a bit disconcerting) and I hope Poppy and Dag will be good friends.

The other thing on my mind the past few days is food and cooking. It's beginning to cool down here (today was about 75 degrees) and the cool(er) weather makes me want to hunker down in the kitchen and make soup.

I shipped a few of my favorite books. I had to be really, very, extremely choosy (sorry, we've been watching too much Charlie and Lola over here) about which books made the cut. I brought a mix of sewing books, cookbooks and literature. For a girl with an MFA in Writing, I ought to be quite ashamed about the literature selection. But the truth is, the sewing and cook books are more useful. I'm not the type to re-read books and I have a Kindle, so virtually any book I'd like to read is about sixty seconds away. I do miss having my personal library of books nearby.

I've been spending a lot of time the last few nights looking at the cookbooks. I adore the Apples for Jam book. It's really beautiful (which is why I brought it). I haven't actually made a lot from it though.

One of my favorite cookbooks is Peter Christian's Recipes. Peter Christian's Tavern was one of my favorite restaurants in New Hampshire (sadly it recently closed down -- a google search just revealed that it is supposed to re-open soon -- if anyone knows anything about this, please let me know). The cookbook has a very good soup section. Produce is widely available and cheap here so I plan to make lots of vegetable soups. I'll likely have to do some improvising and omitting for various ingredients and spices so we'll see what happens.

The other cookbook being dog-eared right now is by my mother-in-law (Marie Huntington): Cooks and Company: A Collection of Recipes from Main Street, Indiana. You can read about dining at her table over at my friend Chloe's blog here. I figure a few recipes from this book are sure to combat homesickness. I'm particularly keen to try the Chile Con Queso Soup which is, according to the book, one of Chris's favorites! Who knew? I probably should have. First, I need to email Marie about some substitutions (unless anyone wants to send me a can of mild green chiles).

So, what is the food situation like here, you ask? Well, it's not terrible. I can find most of the things I want but certainly not everything. The problem is that different ingredients are available at different stores. To get cocoa powder, for example, requires a taxi or bus ride to an obscure store that has little else I need to buy. I found frozen fish fillets at one store this week and I'm super excited about this. I tried to buy a fillet of fish at the local market last weekend but it was a disaster -- even with the help of a friend who speaks Chinese. I ended up tossing the fish in the garbage (don't worry, it only cost about a dollar). The problem is that there isn't much else I need at the store with the frozen fish and it's a huge store that's a pain to get to and is so crowded, I can barely stand it. The bottom line is that it requires much effort to get the ingredients I want and need. I suppose I could try and cook Chinese food all the time but I don't really know how to make much (other than stir-fry) and the fact is that I like to cook the food I'm familiar with. It brings me a lot of comfort and joy to put things like twice-baked potatoes and apple pie on our table. And it makes here feel a little bit more like home.

Tomorrow we are heading to a local hot springs resort for a mini-vacation. I'll be back next week with a full report.

Nature Walk

2010-10-04T06:46:00.000-04:00

I was terribly excited to get the Oliver + S Nature Walk Pullover & Knit Pants pattern in the mail on Thursday:

I got right to work on Friday morning and made two pairs of the pants. This was my first try with knits. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly these pants came together. The first pair was made with some fabric that's been sitting in my stash for awhile -- 100% organic cotton French Terry from fabric.com. The fabric itself is quite nice but the color I ordered -- lime -- is, well, not (why I ordered this color instead of one of the other perfectly lovely colors, such as navy or brown, I'll never understand but in my defense, the color looked better online). I had contacted fabric.com about returning the fabric and they were so great about it -- they refunded the cost of the fabric and told me to keep it and either use it for a different project or donate it to charity (shame on me, I chose the former). Now that's good customer service! So I stashed it away and forgot about it. Until I wanted to make these pants and didn't want to run to the fabric market.

Dag is crazy about these pants. He asked if he could wear them all the time. Chris calls them his "Las Vegas" pants. I wanted to make another, less loud, pair right away when I remembered that I had set aside a skirt to re-purpose:

The skirt was just enough fabric to make the pattern in a size 4T (doesn't it seem weird that a skirt that went down to my ankles is just barely enough to make a preschooler a pair of pants? I know I'm short but I'm not that short). So, the skirt became this:

Dag pronounced these "too gray" and said he liked the green ones best. I convinced him to wear the gray ones and Chris took him on a nature walk (naturally).

I spent Saturday and Sunday making the Nature Walk Pullover. I used corduroy, mattress ticking and a bit of leftover Kokka double-gauze rockets to line the pocket.

Making this pattern is a lot of fun -- I loved the way it came together. Like all the Oliver + S patterns, it has wonderful details and neat inside finishes. The construction is quite clever. It's not a difficult pattern but it did take me the better part of two days to put it together (I'm probably a slow sewer, though).

I'm excited to make more of these -- there are so many possibilities in terms of mixing and playing with prints, textures, fabric weight, etc. I want to make another one in lighter weight fabric for him to wear as a shirt. The kangaroo pocket on this pullover is my favorite part and I particularly love how a bit of the fabric peeks out at the sides.

Plenty of space in there to store leaves, twigs and nuts. As soon as the weather cools down a little here in Xiamen, we'll take this pullover out on a nature walk. In the meantime, here's an inside shot:

a few of his favorite things

2010-09-30T01:52:00.000-04:00

While it seems a bit hypocritical to write about simplifying and needing fewer things in one post and then to feature "things" in another, I thought it might be fun to share what we thought was important enough to pack in those 7 boxes.

The little boy in this apartment is still smitten to have his old toys back. Here are a few of his (and my) favorite things:

This wall looked so bare before the shipment arrived. I love how much the quilt warms up the room. It's the 100 good wishes baby quilt from Red Envelope. According to the ad copy, the inspiration for the quilt is based on a Chinese tradition (how ironic). The quilt has 100 words on it: virtue, compassion, knowledge, joy, and so on. The Paddington bear was mine when I was a kid and the blocks belonged to Chris.

I made the fabric garland from a "candy bar" stack of Oliver + S City Weekend fabric. It was an impulse purchase during one of my last days in the states -- I just couldn't resist a sneak peak at the not-yet-released collection.

I kept it super simple and just folded each fabric strip in half and sewed them to a strip of bias tape. I made two for our dining area with a different fabric collection. It's a fun and easy project that can really brighten up a space.

One of the hardest packing decision for us was which books to bring to China. Books were a big part of our house and our lives. But books are heavy. Really heavy. We could have easily filled all seven boxes with books. In the end, we were cutthroat about it and shipped only one box. I love that he now has a little stack of books in his room:

The day the boxes arrived, after playing with nearly every toy (and likely being overstimulated), I found him in his room, like this:

He is a very active boy but he also loves to sit down and read books. He has memorized some of them and will "read" them to me. He's very proud that he "knows" the words. He also loves games and we were all glad to have these back:

We are big fans of eeboo games and puzzles. And the Feeleez game is great. He loves to figure out what each face is feeling. He would probably play matching games all day long if he could find someone willing to play that much. Another of his favorite toys is his train set (such a boy!), which is back in action. Many adventures will take place on this mat, I'm sure.

Surprisingly, one of the things he was most excited about was his tea set. After we unpacked the boxes and ate lunch, it was time for a nap. About an hour into naptime, I heard a noise in his room. I went to investigate and found him on his top bunk, playing with the tea set. The noise I heard was one of the cups falling on the floor. I took it away and told him that he had to take a nap. He burst into tears. When I asked him what was wrong, he said "I really want to have a tea party and I can't."

And, just in case you were wondering, even superheroes enjoy a tea party:

PS: I was tickled to see that the Oliver + S Sketchbook shirt I made last week during the Kids Clothes Week Challenge was featured on Elsie Marley! See it there? In the bottom row of the second set of pictures? I only wish I had taken a better picture of the shirt!

happiness in a box

2010-09-28T10:34:00.000-04:00

Seven boxes, actually. Our shipment from the states was delivered this morning! There was much excitement in our home.

(This is an Oliver +S Sailboat shirt, made from kiyohara putidepome, purchased from PurlSoho.)

Somehow, we whittled our 3-bedroom house down to these seven boxes. There were many things that I was incredibly happy to see. Particularly the items in this box:

Hello, All-Clad! How I missed you! And that rolling pin, I plan to put it to use this weekend. There were many things I was delighted to see again, after a several month absence. And there were some that I found perplexing. Such as socks. Did I really think that I wouldn't be able to buy socks in China? I'd love to swap that pile of socks for some chocolate chips. And I'd trade a pile of clothes for some vanilla. And more books. And spices.

I'm amazed that we were able to condense our belongings into these boxes. And at the same time, now that we have much less (in terms of "things"), it feels better. We need less, now that we have less. It's a forced simplification, I suppose. Something I've wanted to do for some time -- live a simpler life -- but was so difficult to do in suburban America (although, of course, many people do it without moving halfway around the world). Sure, sometimes I think about the things we left behind and wish I packed this or that, but for the most part, I don't miss it. What happened to all those other things? A combination of storage, a garage sale and donation.

Dagim was happy to be reunited with his old friends:

His room looks like it belongs to him now -- with books and games and toys. We're all going to bed happy tonight, surrounded by a few of our favorite things. Our apartment looks and feels even more like home now. I'll share some of those favorite things in the coming days, as we settle into our nest.

kcwc: days six and seven

2010-09-26T06:53:00.000-04:00

Sunday is drawing to a close, marking the end of Kids Clothes Week Challenge. While I didn't complete everything I had in mind, it was definitely fun to challenge myself to complete the projects. I discovered some new blogs and loved seeing what others were stitching up for their kids.

I worked like crazy today to finish the Oliver + S Sketchbook Shirt. I came so close! It still needs buttonholes and buttons. I don't have enough buttons so they will have to wait until I can make a trip to the fabric market next weekend. Between you and me, I have a terrible history of putting on buttons -- in fact, that shirt I made for Chris many moons ago still doesn't have buttons. It came to China in Chris's suitcase and is currently hanging in my sewing room -- now with three buttons on it. Of course, if I procrastinate like that with this shirt, Dag will outgrow it.

(A certain someone was too busy playing a game to model the shirt but he did agree to point to it.)

I swore, about halfway into this shirt, that I would never, ever sew another button-up shirt again. Now that it's over, I think I'll probably do another one. It wasn't that bad -- just a bit tedious at certain moments.

On the living-in-China front, this weekend I saw a rat running down the street (he seemed really big to me but he's the only rat I've ever seen). Fortunately, I was on a bus; otherwise, there would have been a lot of screaming. I found little bugs in my flour which was a bummer because I was about to make cookies. We dumped all the flour out (sadly, a huge bag -- and I'm pretty sure it came home from the store with the bugs because most of it was stored immediately in a plastic tub, with a little bit in a Ziploc and both supplies had the aforementioned critters). So, I walked to the local grocery store to get new flour. They had a half-dozen different kinds of flour, none of which were marked in English. I called Chris and asked him to look up and then describe the Chinese characters for "wheat flour." Much ridiculousness ensued and I ended up buying two different bags. We still aren't sure what kind of flour they are. I did make cookies today and they were fine but a little different from last week's batch. On my way home from the grocery store, I gave a British woman directions somewhere which felt pretty awesome. I suppose I should admit that I got lost going to the same grocery store just two days ago. Whatever. It still felt good to be able to tell someone something about the neighborhood.

Anyway, Chris just headed out for some Chinese take-out and I need to grade a few papers. Hope you all had a great weekend! Thanks to Meg for hosting Kids Clothes Week Challenge!

kcwc: days four and five

2010-09-24T07:53:00.000-04:00

On day four of the challenge I began sewing an Oliver + S Sketchbook shirt. The shirt went from this:

To this:

Not a lot of progress but at least it's beginning to look like a shirt. Sadly, today, day five of the challenge, brought not a single stitch! It did, however, deliver the Best. Mail. Day. Ever (or at least so far, in China). Chris came home from school with five (yes, five!) boxes. Inside, were many sewing-related lovelies that I had ordered and shipped to family members to include in care packages:

Included above is some Heather Ross and Amy Butler goodness and some new patterns. I can't wait to get busy! The embroidery thread and felt in the back is so I can put a face and hair on a certain little headless boy doll that's been sitting on the windowsill for a few weeks. And the brown fabric is to make more dolls (at least another boy and maybe one girl). For those of you who think boys shouldn't play with dolls, I say: why should girls have all the fun? Whether the little boy in this house is interested in dolls remains to be seen but I think teaching a child to nurture and care for a toy is a wonderful gift.

Now the question is: which project will I start next? I'm really anxious to get to work on either the t-shirt or pants from Patterns by Figgy's. But I'd also like to make something for myself, too (perhaps to balance out the kids clothes week challenge?). In the meantime, I'm hopeful that days six and seven of the kids clothes week challenge brings the completion of the shirt. It's been fun to see what other bloggers have been sewing for their kids this week.

In the coming days/weeks, I plan to share some of our home and neighborhood with you. So, stay tuned!

kcwc: day three

2010-09-22T05:52:00.000-04:00

As day three of Kids Clothing Week Challenge draws to an end (well, it's nearing dinner time anyway and I'm useless in terms of sewing in the evening), my completed project count is one. The overalls are done! The pattern is The Overmost from Whipstitch.

I think the style is super-cute -- definitely something I would have bought at a store. I had a little difficulty with the pants -- the front was longer than the back so I had to cut a bit off. I think it's my fault (not the pattern itself) and happened when I taped the sheets of paper together (another reason why I'm not a huge fan of PDF patterns). The next time I make these, I will lengthen the torso and straps an inch or two so there is more growing room.

The pockets were a hit:

Here's a picture of my new labels which crack me up every time I use them:

And for those of you wondering where some pictures of China are, here are some pictures of Dag on a visit to a local temple a few weeks ago. I missed out on this little adventure. We went again on Sunday but as soon as we got off the bus I had a stomachache so the only places I got acquainted with were the bathrooms at the bookstore and McDonald's. Then we waited and waited to find a taxi willing to take us back to our neighborhood. A woman tried to steal our taxi and Chris nearly pushed her out of the way (in his defense, I really wasn't feeling well) and then a couple tried to push us out of the taxi. Oh the joys of living in China!

Here's Dag at the temple entrance (pretending to be a lion in the first picture):

And gazing at the gardens:

But back to sewing. For those of you wondering whether I started the Sketchbook Shirt today the answer is no. Instead I went for a massage with some friends while the dads took the kids on a hike up a little mountain. The massage was 1.5 hours long and ridiculously cheap (I wouldn't be surprised to find myself there every week). It started with a foot soak in hot tea, a shoulder massage, then a foot massage (with rose oil) which included some crazy hot suction cups on my feet (ouch!), then moved onto legs, back, arms and ended with a bag of hot stones on my back and stomach.

All in all, a lovely Mid-Autumn Day!

kcwc: day two

2010-09-21T07:32:00.000-04:00

Oh, how I wanted to finish these overalls today! Between grading papers, a Chinese class, tidying the house and being a mom, it just didn't happen. Here's a picture of the fitting -- my little boy is not generally very cooperative when I want him to try mid-project clothes on but today he obliged and was quite excited about being photographed. I think the overalls are darling but I'm not confident they are going to fit when cooler weather finally arrives here. If the straps were a wee bit longer, there would be much more wiggle room.

I still have to hem the bottoms and add the buttons and buttonholes. I briefly considered pushing through to finish it -- inspired by (or feeling competitive?) all the other Kids Clothing Week Challenge peeps who have already posted their first projects in the flickr group.

Today it rained some more. Right after I hung a load of laundry to dry. Our balcony is a mess from the storm yesterday. Our washing machine is outside and uncovered. I did not appreciate being greeted by a wet and dirty washing machine this morning. At least there wasn't a snail inside this time. We don't have a dryer here in China (most people don't) and for the most part, I love that we are now line-drying our clothes. But when it rains, it becomes impossible to do laundry. And I can no longer do laundry at night now. Well, I suppose I could, but it doesn't dry if left outside over night and we run the risk of rain.

I thought this presented a problem for Project #2, since I wouldn't have any washed fabric. As it turns out, I did wash the blue oxford shirting when I brought it home from the fabric market a few weeks ago. Yeah for me! I would have preferred to move onto the pajamas next, but I'll take what I can get.

Perhaps I'll cut the pattern out tonight while watching Boston Legal, Season 4 (I have not seen seasons 1-3 but Chris brought it home from the DVD cabinet at school and I'm hooked -- the pickings are pretty slim here so I'll take what I can get!).

Tomorrow is Mid-Autumn Day and school is closed -- another ~~sewing~~ family day!

kcwc: day one

2010-09-20T03:36:00.000-04:00

I kicked off Kids Clothing Week Challenge with a few hours of sewing in the rain. We found out last night that school was canceled for today because of an approaching typhoon. With Chris home, I was able to get a little extra sewing time in but of course, it's never enough! We have been stuck inside all day due to the rain and wind. It's probably the worst rain storm I've ever seen. At one point, I thought a huge tree outside was going to snap in half. I moved my sewing machine last night for fear that our windows would blow out -- fortunately, they did not. But we do have some water leaking into our bedroom from our balcony door which doesn't exactly have a tight seal. All in all, a rainy day inside with my boys has been pretty fun. We have plans for cookies and tea at 4pm.

Anyway, onto the first project of the week (my goal is two projects this week but we'll see how it goes).

I'm working on The Overmost from Whipstitch because I'm a sucker for a little boy in overalls. Did you know that Deborah Moebes (owner of Whipstitch) has a new book out called Stitch by Stitch and is currently doing a blog tour? I'd love to get my hands on the book. Maybe our next international Amazon order...

Here's the fabric for the overalls:

I should probably admit that I cut the fabric out last week:

But I didn't begin sewing until today:

I completed the outer fabric for the overalls. Still remaining: straps, lining, elastic, hem, buttons and buttonholes. I have a Chinese lesson during naptime tomorrow so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to accomplish.

Originally, I had planned to make the overalls with hip and back pockets. In the end, I ditched the back pockets. They seemed too small and I didn't feel like cutting out bigger pieces (and sometimes pockets look a little too "handmade" for my taste -- at least mine do). I did do the hip pockets and they are really cute -- just the right size for little hands to squirrel away items like acorns (although I'm not sure there are any acorns here).

Hopefully more progress tomorrow!

kids clothes week challenge

2010-09-17T10:17:00.000-04:00

I'm excited to participate in kids cothes week challenge hosted at elsiemarley.com. The challenge is to sew clothes for your kids (or kid, singular, in my case) every day next week for one hour. I have so many projects in queue right now, it will be hard to pick which one to start with. I'm planning to make the majority of Dag's cool-weather clothes (provided cool weather ever arrives here in Xiamen -- it's still ridiculously hot but I hear that by the end of October, the heat subsides).

On tap for falll/winter:

Two pairs of "overmost" overalls from Whipstitch -- one in red fine wale corduroy lined with blue shirting, the other in blue fine wale corduroy, lining TBD (all fabric purchased at the local fabric market here -- more on that in another post). This is a PDF pattern, which I've previously avoided. I love the feel and look of a prettily packaged pattern. But now it is rather difficult for me to order and receive new patterns so I'm a PDF convert.

Two Oliver + S Sketchbook Shirts -- one in blue oxford and the other in a blue and white striped oxford.

One Woodlands Shirt by Sew Liberated in a neutral colored linen.

A pair of pajamas in a funky mushroom print from Jay McCarroll's Woodland Wonderland collection (do you remember him from Project Runway?). I'm going to use the Oliver + S Bedtime Story pattern for the bottoms (love the pants from this pattern) and try a more traditional pajama top from an Indygo Junction pattern.

And I have three new patterns currently in the mail to me (this could take awhile). I'm so excited about these patterns though:

Dapper Dillingers pants from Patterns by Figgy's
tee for two also from Patterns by Figgy's (which will be my first try at knits -- I love the idea of being able to make t-shirts)
Oliver + S Nature Walk pullover and knit pants

I ordered the patterns from Pink Chalk Fabrics. I highly recommend this independent shop! Kathy is so nice, the website is amazing and she now does free shipping on patterns in the U.S.!

Phew! That seems like a lot of sewing. Anyone want to join me in the challenge next week? Of course, I don't plan on getting all of these clothes sewn next week -- I'd be a one-woman sweat shop if I tried that.

at present

2010-09-14T08:28:00.000-04:00

The subtitle of my Chinese textbook reads: The most popular Chinese textbook for foreigners all over the world at present.

Not very optimistic, if you ask me.

Neither is my outlook for learning Chinese. This language is hard. Super hard. If there was an alphabet, I'd have a fighting chance. I feel that there is nothing for me to hang my hat on with Chinese. The sounds, the tones, the characters -- it doesn't resemble English in any way. When attempting to translate characters, I'll say to myself "It's the one with the squiggly lines." Then I'll flip through my book, looking for the right character, only to think: they ALL have squiggly lines. And writing the characters is hopeless. I told my teacher to forget about it for now because I can't do it. She said okay, we'll let it go until chapter ten. Fortunately for me, I think we're a long way off from chapter ten. We've been stuck on chapter four for several weeks. Today, we finally began chapter five.

My teacher is lovely. She lives one floor up from us and she teaches and does translation for a living. She's young and creative, fluent in English and comes highly recommended (she tutors Chris's upper school principal's daughter). She helped us find our apartment and did all the translating of the negotiations. That first day she invited me to her apartment on Sundays for yoga and I've been going each week.

I'm alright at translating from pinyin to English and vice versa but it's a futile exercise. Writing in pinyin is not a very useful skill. And pinyin doesn't quite translate to the correct pronunciation in English. So you have to learn the correct way to make sounds in this made-up way of writing (pinyin).

I'm always surprised when Chinese people speak to me in Chinese and continue talking to me after I shake my head and speak in English. They always seem surprised that I don't speak Chinese. I think it would be more surprising if I opened up my mouth and spoke fluent Chinese. I was complaining to Chris about this the other night -- that people are always speaking to me in Chinese and he said "Well, what language do you expect them to talk to you in?" I don't know. I guess I would just prefer that we pantomime. Which I'm getting quite good at. Case in point: mimicking mopping the floor and pointing to the myriad of mysterious cleaners will lead to a saleswoman finding the floor cleaner for you.

Today I said my first successful sentence to a woman who approached me and Dag on the street. I shook my head and walked off and she come up again, saying something I couldn't understand. I replied "wǒ bù zhī dao" which means "I don't know." She nodded and walked away.

So, perhaps it's not hopeless. But at present, I'm really struggling with learning Chinese.

8 months later...

2010-09-13T02:37:00.000-04:00

And we're living in China. I've decided to return to this space to write about our life here in Xiamen. We've been here for a little over one month. We are settling in. We have something that resembles a routine. I'm sewing again. Chris is working (teaching English at the international school here). Dag is making new friends and charming the men that fish in the lake near our apartment.

A few friends requested that I start the blog up again so they could read about life here (emails to friends and family back home have been sparse, at best). I thought about it, spruced up the blog and then didn't post. But, I know at some point I'll wish that I recorded all this -- this new life abroad. It's certainly an adventure. Each day brings something new and interesting. Some days are frustrating. Other days are wonderful.

So, my plan is to share the little day to day things on this blog. As well as crafty projects and hopefully some recipes too (one of the most frustrating aspects of life here so far is the food -- why didn't I pack a suitcase full of chocolate chips and tortillas?).

I promise to try and be a much better blogger. While I think the best bloggers blog every day, I'm shooting for two or three times a week. I hope you'll join me again!

XOXO,
S.

procrastinating

2010-01-07T20:33:00.000-05:00

I haven't done much sewing this week -- just a little camera case for my husband, per his request. He wanted one similar to the one I made for his father but smaller. So I made this little pouch out of some fabric scraps:

This is actually the second pouch. The first one was too small. It fits a credit card. No joke. I based my pattern around the little sleeve the camera was packaged in, plus a seam allowance but it didn't work. I added another half inch for the re-do and the camera fits (barely).

Mostly I've been procrastinating this week. Not procrastinating in general -- I've actually been quite busy around the house with January cleaning, trying out some new recipes from Yankee Magazine's Church Suppers cookbook, and catching up laundry. I've been procrastinating my next big project:

That's right folks: I'm sewing a button-up shirt for my husband. It was supposed to be a birthday present but his birthday was last week. I thought it would be easy since I sewed a similar shirt for Dagim. But now I'm thinking this is a whole new ballgame. I'm very nervous. I want it to turn out nice. I want him to want to wear it (and take off his coat). Today I decided enough is enough and I got to work. First up: tracing the pattern:

Tracing patterns is one of my least favorite parts of the sewing process. But it seems silly to cut out one size and ruin the other sizes for future use. I've read about Swedish tracing paper that is very durable and can actually be sewn through but it's quite expensive. Instead, I went to my local art supply store and picked up a big roll of tracing paper (a seemingly lifetime supply for about $10). It works just fine.

Next up is cutting the fabric. Then the fun begins! I'm hoping this doesn't turn into the "Gordon Gartrell" shirt that Denise sewed for Theo on The Cosby Show. A friend of mine reminded me of that this week. Do you remember that episode? You should definitely go check it out on YouTube: here.

Let's hope that Chris's shirt turns out better than Theo's!

The gift of Blueberry Hill

2009-12-30T15:22:00.001-05:00

So, remember when I said how much I adore Heather Ross? And that I was secretly hoping to attend her Weekend Sewing Workshop at Blueberry Hill in August? I may have dropped some subtle hints to my husband (okay, they weren't very subtle at all but when you really want something, is subtlety the best course of action?).

Chris had me pretty well fooled that I wasn't getting the gift of Blueberry Hill for Christmas but he did say we could talk about it as the summer drew closer.

After I opened all my presents on Christmas, my in-law's living room floor covered with balled up wrapping paper (it was a very generous holiday on all accounts), Chris called me into another room and gave me an envelope containing this beautiful card:

Heather Ross drew these lovely trees with three owls nestled together just for me! On the back is a sweet note from her.

Then Chris gave me another envelope, containing this card:

On the back is another note from Heather -- this one saying that my husband had reserved a spot for me at one of the Weekend Sewing Workshops at Blueberry Hill Inn. Do I have the best husband or what?

Both cards have taken up permanent residency on my inspiration board.

You simply must go read Heather's blog post about the workshop last year. And check out the Inn's website. It's not just a weekend of sewing -- it's like a retreat, or summer camp -- a time to learn, share, relax, eat gourmet food and, of course, sew! The idea of sewing past midnight in a beautiful Vermont barn, with a group of women who love sewing as much as I do, makes me want to jump up and down with excitement. I miss New England so much and don't get back there often enough. Vermont is the perfect setting for this dream weekend.

Best. Christmas. Present. Ever. I'm such a lucky girl! While I'm not very patient, I love having something big to look forward to. Thinking about the workshop will definitely get me through the winter ahead (and spring and summer...).

Is it better to give than to receive?

2009-12-28T21:42:00.000-05:00

Here's a wrap-up of some of the handmade gifts that were given for Christmas. Next year, I'll keep all gifts a secret until after the holiday because one person (possibly two) that I didn't think was a blog reader, was, indeed, reading my blog. So, in an effort to not spoil any surprises, next year my lips are sealed!

My favorite thing to do was to pair a handmade gift with a little something else -- like this pencil case (Heather Ross fabric) with some Japanese erasers.

And this reusable coffee sleeve with a Starbucks gift card and a wish that I could sit and have coffee with a faraway friend.

I wanted so much to put something in this little basket (the pattern is from Zakka Sewing: 25 Japanese Projects for the Household) but I just couldn't think of the right thing. What would you have tucked inside?

This lunch tote (with matching napkins) gave me the most trouble. The pattern is from Cotton & Cloud and can be found here (and it's free!). I used Anna Maria Horner's Little Folks laminated cotton for the inside, so it could easily be wiped out (the outside and napkins are from Amy Butler's Love collection). It was my first time working with laminated cotton. I was surprised at how soft and flexible it felt. But I did have a bit of trouble sewing it. I'm sure it was operator error and I don't blame the pattern or the fabric -- I just need more time working with this fabric.

Another Buttercup bag, this one in a Marimekko fabric. I used a leather strap instead of a fabric one this time and I really like the look of it -- it dresses the bag up a bit.

My father-in-law ended up with a gift after all! I made him this ipod/digital camera pouch using a tutorial at Sew, Mama, Sew! that you can find here.

Even though there were a few moments where I wanted to pull my hair out, I had so much fun making these Christmas gifts and I wouldn't trade a minute of all that work.

As to the question of whether it's better to give than to receive...normally I would say yes -- I love giving gifts, especially when I find (or make) that thing that is "just right." Giving makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside rather than my general cold and heartless mode (I'm kidding! Really, I am).

This year I received a lovely present from my husband. I'm so excited about it! It definitely makes me feel that receiving was better than giving this holiday season, at least from where I'm sitting. I'll keep you in suspense about the gift for now...

have yourself a merry little Christmas...

2009-12-24T14:40:00.000-05:00

Wishing you peace and happiness!

We're heading out to be with family for Christmas. I hope all of you are able to do the same. I'll be back after Christmas to share some handmade holiday presents and upcoming projects for the new year!

The Christmas Tradition That Almost Was

2009-12-21T21:06:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I saw a great little mitten ornament pattern on the Oliver + S website. Liesl, the owner of Oliver + S, graciously made this pattern available free of charge. On her personal website, Disdressed, Liesl shared that last year she made the mittens into a non-traditional advent calendar -- sewing one mitten each day, with the corresponding number hand embroidered onto each mitten.

Brilliant, I said, wishing that I could whip up a mitten per day until Christmas. With some encouragement and advice from Liesl (she suggested cutting out all the pattern pieces in advance), I decided to give it a go.

I was beyond excited about this project. That very night (back on November 30th), I sat down at the dining room table and cut out all 48 mittens pieces, assembly-line style:

Does the fabric look familiar? It's leftover fabric from Dag's jacket! I used fabric scraps to cut out the mitten cuffs and ribbon that I already had -- making this project entirely free. While I cut, Dagim worked on his kung-fu:

Seriously, I have no idea where he comes up with this stuff. Nobody in our house does this and he doesn't watch TV. Boys really are different from girls, huh?

Each day, I sewed a mitten during nap time (I "cheated" and used a machine feather stitch rather than sewing the mitten by hand because I'm lousy at hand sewing). In the early evening, I gave Dagim his mitten for the day, with a small piece of chocolate tucked inside. Then we hung the mitten on the tree.

For awhile.

Well, for 9 days to be exact.

I just couldn't keep up with the mitten making on top of my Christmas presents. Chris encouraged me to let it go for this year. I was sad to stop the tradition-in-the-making but knew he was right. I have a tendency to take on too much (don't most of us?). I don't know when to stop or say no.

Fortunately, Dagim did not care that there were no mittens. He asked once or twice for his "treat" but then forgot about it. I hope to pick it up again next year and finish mittens 10 through 24.

I did finish his Christmas pajamas which is something I hope to do each year. I'll unveil the pj's in their full Nutcracker glory in another post. For now, here's a picture from the fitting:

In other holiday news (hopefully future posts will move onto a new topic), this was my first year participating in the Holiday Traditions Exchange through Meg's blog, Sew Liberated. I made a version of the holiday mitten for my partner:

I also wrote a letter with some pictures detailing our traditions, copied my favorite biscotti recipe and made a CD of holiday music. Sadly, my partner did not reciprocate with the exchange (making it not really an exchange at all). The deadline to mail the package was over a week ago so I've stopped holding out hope. So, I'm not sure if the exchange will become part of my holiday traditions or not. We'll see how generous of spirit I'm feeling next year!

All Wrapped Up

2009-12-15T16:36:00.002-05:00

This post is a wee bit overdue. A combination of sewing like crazy, wrapping presents, mailing packages and a sinus/head cold thing have made it difficult to keep up with everything. As we approach the homestretch, I'm alternating between cool and calm (I've got this one in the bag) to completely panicked (I'll never get everything done in time!). Right now, it looks like most everything will get done. A couple things have been removed from the list (more on that another day). But, for the most part, I'm feeling confident about sewing almost everything I intended to sew this holiday season.

I can't post pictures of some presents until after the holiday (since the recipients are likely readers of this space). But I'm pretty sure I can post about these two presents without ruining any surprises (I hope).

First up is the Buttercup Bag. This is the third Buttercup that I've made and I absolutely love this purse (after the holidays, I'm finally going to make one for myself). And, get this -- the pattern is free! You can find the pattern at Made by Rae. Another thing that makes this pattern so awesome is you only need two fat quarters of fabric! My mother-in-law's extended side of the family does a Christmas drawing each year (there are far too many people to reasonably gift everyone). This bag is for the gal I drew in the drawing this year.

Here are all the pattern pieces, cut and ready to assemble:

Pinned together and ready to sew:

Finished:

Then I had this brilliant idea (well, it seemed brilliant but I'm sure I'm not the first person to think of it) to use the torn-off selvedges as ribbon! I really like wrapping presents and this was a fun (and free) way to tie the wrapping into the present (pardon the pun).

The other project is a little zippered cosmetic bag. I used some fabric from Amy Butler's Love collection:

Tucked inside, a Sephora gift card so the recipient can purchase some cosmetics of her choosing. (I'm a big fan of themes -- theme gifts, theme movie nights, etc.)

All wrapped up with selvedge ribbon:

So there you have it -- this is what I've been up to since we last conversed. I thought Christmas was on Thursday this year. When I realized it is actually on Friday, I felt like a bonus day had been awarded to me! Maybe I really will get it all done...

What about you? Are you feeling overwhelmed by the holidays? Do you need to remove a few items from your to-do list? Or do you have all the presents wrapped and under the tree?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2009-12-06T22:14:00.000-05:00

This weekend we put up our first Christmas tree (yes, you read that correctly: our first tree -- Chris and I never bothered with this tradition before this year as it just seemed like too much trouble).

We went to a Christmas tree farm to cut down our own tree. This seemed important to me. As a kid, I always had an artificial tree. I knew I didn't want to do that. So we drove an hour from the city to a tree farm. We took a hayride out to the field and walked around in the cold, hunting for the perfect tree. Or the perfect tree for us. We knew that we didn't want anything too tall or too beautiful -- we wanted something a little odd, a little Charlie Brown-ish.

We picked out a pretty 5 foot tree -- kind of a fat tree, really. Short and squat.

Back home, we made some popcorn and hot chocolate and got busy with the business of trimming our tree.

We don't have a lot of ornaments and it doesn't seem authentic to go out and buy a ton so we made do with what we had and we'll add one or two each year. This year, we bought two ornaments made in Kenya, from locally sourced materials. We stumbled upon them at Meijer on Thursday and knew we had to get them.

We don't have a star for the top of our tree. It looked a little odd without something on top so we decided to put a giraffe made out of rope that we brought home from Ethiopia. We think it looks just perfect: a giraffe on top of our fat little Christmas tree. Perhaps a new Christmas tradition has begun?

How does your family trim the Christmas tree? I've enjoyed reading all your comments on the last post. I'd love to hear about your tree traditions. Do you buy an ornament each year? Do you string popcorn? Do your kids make ornaments? Please share!

Thanksgiving Traditions

2009-11-30T10:36:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking a lot about holiday traditions and family traditions in general lately. I signed up for the Holiday Traditions Exchange and then panicked, wondering what kind of tradition I had to share with someone. Growing up, it didn't seem like we had a lot of traditions so this is definitely something I want for my own family. Yet, I want to be mindful of the traditions we begin.

This Thanksgiving was a mix of "old" traditions (since I joined my husband's family) and new ones too. As a teenager, it was often just my grandmother and me at Thanksgiving; we would usually go to a restaurant for dinner. Which isn't as sad and lonely as it sounds -- it was just one of our traditions. My grandmother lives alone in Maine now and although she had three Thanksgiving dinner invitations, she chose to stay home. I tried to persuade her to join one of her friends but she declined. Although I respect her decision, I think Thanksgiving is a lovely holiday to invite friends to join your family (Christmas can be more awkward with the whole gift-giving thing).

Anyway, after spending a number of years dining out on Thanksgiving, I really love that my husband's family puts on a big spread, with more food than anyone could ever actually eat.

We had to forego our traditional post-dinner (pre-dessert) walk around the block this year because it was so cold! But a group of good friends of my in-laws (who really are good friends of ours now too) did come over for appetizers and a champagne toast.

And a new tradition was created with the help of my mother-in-law's dear friend, Nancy (who I met for the first time at my wedding and instantly loved). We took Dagim for a little walk to gather natural materials to decorate the table. We collected leaves, herbs, sticks, tree berries. Dagim loved it and we created a beautiful table with our findings.

Making their annual appearance were Mr. and Mrs. Thanksgiving Mouse -- two little stuffed animals that I've had since I was a kid. They were incorporated into the table decorations (only Mr. Mouse is pictured here, as Mrs. Mouse was at the other end of the table).

Traditionally, I had a cold over the holiday. This is one tradition I could do without! Friday morning, I took some cold medicine and started to feel better. I made breakfast, talked on the phone with a friend and returned some emails. Then I suddenly felt that I absolutely must go to bed. Two hours later I woke up and thought, something is not right. I went into the bathroom and discovered my mistake: I had taken NIGHTTIME cold medicine! Good thing I didn't have any big Black Friday plans because I spent most of the day sleeping.

Of course, there was some sewing over the weekend. I can't share the details right now because the recipient of the gift might be reading this. I'm feeling pretty good about making my way through my list of handmade gifts. I'm waiting on a shipment of new fabric from Pink Chalk Fabrics before I can begin a few more gifts. In the meantime, I think I'll finish up the vest for Dagim's coat.

So, that was our Thanksgiving. And now I'm thinking about Christmas traditions.

I'd love to hear about your holiday traditions. What does your family do every year for Thanksgiving and/or Christmas?

and the winner is...

2009-11-27T08:52:00.000-05:00

My little helper drew the name this morning:

Congratulations to Danni and Tommy!

I'll be in touch with you later today to let you know how to claim your super-cute t-shirt! Thanks to everyone who entered!

Giveaway!!!

2009-11-23T09:31:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited to be doing my first giveaway! Our sponsor is Jennifer from Lil Blu Birds -- please visit her etsy shop and her blog. Jennifer makes the most adorable applique t-shirts that have been selling like hotcakes among the Ethiopian adoption community.

Jennifer will be using the proceeds from her etsy shop in an upcoming humanitarian aid trip to Ethiopia. The people of Ethiopia are near and dear to Jennifer's heart and mine. Last year we both adopted our sons from this beautiful country (her son Abe is the model in these photographs). Jennifer will be using the funds raised from her sales to purchase food for orphanages and the poor. She will also be purchasing medical supplies and clothing to give to the poor and homeless.

One lucky reader of this blog will win an applique t-shirt of their choice. The winner can select either a child or adult size t-shirt, long or short sleeve, and an applique of their choice from among her many darling selections (basically a custom-made t-shirt -- cool, huh?).

In addition, Jennifer is offering free shipping on purchases at her etsy shop through December 5th with guaranteed delivery by Christmas! So why not do some of your Christmas shopping now and support a great cause? It's a win-win! To take advantage of the free shipping offer, please put "the lovely nest" in the checkout comment box on etsy and she will refund shipping charges.

So, how do you enter the giveaway? Leave a comment on this post. You can also gain additional entries by:

1. Mentioning the giveaway on your blog.
2. Adding the lovely nest to your blog roll.
3. Mentioning the giveaway on facebook.
4. Becoming a "follower" of this blog.

Be sure to leave an additional comment for each entry above.

The contest will close on Thanksgiving at midnight and a winner (selected at random) will be announced on Friday morning. Good luck!

I heart Heather Ross

2009-11-20T14:17:00.002-05:00

My favorite fabric designer is Heather Ross. The first time I saw one of her fabrics was when I found the Mischievous Gnome Messenger Bag Pattern by Meg at Sew Liberated (whom I also heart). I didn't know that the darling gnome fabric was Heather Ross at the time. I just knew that I had to have the fabric and the bag. I told my husband that some day I was going to make that bag, even though it seemed like a faraway dream (the bag has a zipper! and pockets!). I tackled the pattern late this summer (by the way, it's a great pattern) and have been toting it around ever since. It's probably pretty lame to use the same fabrics that Meg did in constructing the sample for her pattern but I don't care. I love those gnomes!

What I didn't realize at the time that I fell in love with those mischievous gnomes was that Heather Ross isn't producing more fabric. I don't know all the details but it has something to do with a legal contract and it makes me very sad. You can still buy some of her fabric through shops and on etsy (people are seriously cutting up pajamas produced with her fabrics and selling them an arm and a leg at a time, for an arm and a leg, I might add - no joke). I felt pretty lucky to get my hands on enough gnome fabric for the messenger bag.

This week I received some more Heather Ross fabric in the mail. Just looking at this stuff makes me happy! I'm almost too scared to cut into these darling fabrics but I've got a few projects in mind -- including a horse shirt for Dagim, who was quite upset earlier this week when I tried on a horse shirt at Anthropologie. "My turn! My turn!" he said. The shirt came home with me, along with a promise to make him his own horse shirt.

This week I've been working on some projects from Heather Ross's book, Weekend Sewing (which I'll sheepishly admit to renewing repeatedly from the library but I swear it's on my Christmas wish list). So far, I've sewn two Christmas presents from the book: the Market-Run Checkbook Cover and the Sunday-Dinner Hostess Apron:

I also made her recipe for squash soup which was quickly devoured by Dagim (and me).

Heather Ross grew up in Vermont. I grew up in New Hampshire. Which practically makes us kindred spirits. Right? Anyway, I'm secretly (well, not so secretly) hoping that I can attend her weekend sewing workshop in Vermont next summer. I do have that free plane ticket from my U.S. Air / United fiasco last month...

In other news, I'm going to be kicking off the giving spirit (hint hint) on Monday with the help of a friend. So be sure to check back next week -- you don't want to miss out!

Making a List

2009-11-18T14:38:00.000-05:00

Somehow it seems impossible that the holidays are just around the corner. One day Dagim was pointing out the red leaves, the yellow leaves, the orange leaves (and I couldn't help but feel nostagic for New Hampshire where the red leaves are, well, just better) and the next day all those leaves were on the ground. The trees are mostly bare now and we're spending more time inside. We still get bursts of nice weather and I try to remember to take advantage of it.

With the season change comes lots of lists: holiday dinner menus, gift lists, to-do lists, greeting card lists, shopping lists (to buy and to return). Everyone, with the exception of my father-in-law, will be getting a handmade gift this year. (If anyone has a good idea of something I can sew for him, please let me know!) I'm a little worried about getting everything done in time and not burning myself out either.

Making gifts is really much more satisfying than buying them. Not only is it more personal because I'm doing the work but also the selection process is different. Rather than thumbing through a catalog or taking a spin through a store, I'm really thinking about these gifts. What fabric might that person like? What colors do I usually see them wearing or carrying? Do they have a use for this item? The possibilities with handmade gifts are much greater than store-bought ones.

One item on my running to-do list is to serve a hot breakfast every day of the week. I'll admit that this doesn't always happen (especially on preschool mornings where we always seem a bit rushed to get out the door). I love a bowl of oatmeal, especially on a crisp, fall morning.

Dagim loves oatmeal too but he won't touch berries. Instead, I stir in applesauce, bananas, honey or cinnamon. Sometimes a combination of ingredients. This morning, he wasn't too keen on finishing his post-oatmeal yogurt and tried to enlist the help of some friends.

My goal for the next few weeks is to stay on task by checking things off my list, but also stopping to enjoy the unexpected moments, too.

Coat Check

2009-11-13T16:21:00.001-05:00

Earlier this week, I finished the Oliver + S School Days Jacket. I'm quite pleased with the results and can hardly believe that I sewed a wool coat. Holy smokes!

I'm going to give my first official pattern review here. I'm borrowing some of these questions from PatternReview.com which hopefully doesn't upset any of the kind folks over there. Sure, I could come up with my own questions but these are good ones and I'm feeling a bit lazy after all that sewing this week.

Did it look like the drawing on the pattern envelope? YES! It really does look like the drawing and the photographs on the Oliver + S website.

Were the instructions easy to follow? They were very clear. I usually have one (or two or three) moments in every pattern where I can't figure out what the heck the directions are talking about. There were none of those moments with this pattern.

What did I particularly like or dislike about the pattern? It's flat-out adorable, if you ask me. And with the option of using an oilcloth fabric to make a raincoat? I'm sure I'll be unfolding this pattern again in the spring.

There was a good amount of hand-sewing at the end (to attach the lining sleeves and hem to the wool). I've never done hand sewing before and it took me awhile to get the hang of it. There's a tutorial on the Oliver + S website that eventually helped but for awhile I just stared at it and couldn't make heads or tails of the photographs. Honestly, I think this is my fault and not Oliver + S because once I got the hang of it, it made perfect sense to me.

I also had some difficulty top-stitching through four layers of wool to finish the jacket. It took a good half-hour of forcing the fabric between my presser foot and feed dogs before I realized that I could raise my presser foot even higher. Once I figured that out, it was a lot easier to top-stitch!

Was the difficulty rating of the pattern accurate? Yes and no. This pattern is rated three scissors (out of four). Before the hand-sewing, I felt that the project was probably over-rated in terms of difficulty. But between the hand-sewing and top-stitching at the end, I think it is a fair assessment. Maybe now that I know how to do a blind stitch, finishing up a second coat would be easier. I would say I'm an advanced beginner in terms of sewing level. It took me about a week to make the coat (a few hours a day). So it is a bit time-consuming but not as much as I thought. My hope was to debut the jacket for Thanksgiving and I finished a lot sooner than that, obviously.

Did I make any pattern alterations? No. I thought about sewing in a loop to hang the jacket. I was afraid the jacket would be too heavy and pull on the stitches if it was hung from a loop. In hindsight, I wish I had gone ahead and done that. I haven't sewn the snaps in yet and I'm not sure if I will -- it stays shut and hangs nicely without them.

Is the sizing accurate? I'm not sure. Dag is two-and-a-half and fairly tall. Since the pattern and sizing are unisex, I went ahead and made the 3T, thinking it would probably fit better and last longer. It's bigger than I'd like on him (the sleeves have to be rolled up but I think it looks cute and shows off the lining). If I could do it over, I'd probably go with the 2T which would be a trimmer look now and I'd have an excuse to make another one next year.

Would I sew it again? Would I recommend it? Yes and yes!

Overall rating: I'm giving this 4 out of 4 spools (a rating system I just made up). This was a lot of fun to sew. I'm a little sad that it's done.

Which brings me to the quilted lining, which is not yet finished. I decided I wanted to make my own bias tape so I ordered a Clover bias tape maker and will tackle that next. I'm not in a hurry for the vest since it's 60 degrees here right now. The fabric is quilted and ready to be cut.

There you have it! If anyone has any questions about the pattern, please leave a comment or send me an email. I'm more than happy to talk about making this jacket (as you can tell). And I hope I've inspired someone else to tackle this very satisfying project.

I'm a loser. No, wait.. I'm a winner!

2009-11-08T20:37:00.001-05:00

I was trucking along quite nicely this weekend on the jacket. I finished the hood on Friday and let Dagim run around the house with it on his head, yelling "Hat! Hat!" and then flinging it to the floor. The fun ended when he picked it up with his teeth. A small screech might have passed through my lips as I begged him to let go of it. The hood came away unscathed, if a tiny bit wet.

By Saturday, the outside of the jacket was assembled, minus the sleeves:

By this afternoon I was sewing on the second sleeve and could barely believe that I'd get to tackle the lining before the weekend ended. After I cut the thread and pulled the coat away from my sewing machine, I saw my terrible, stupid mistake. I had sewn the second sleeve WRONG SIDE OUT! Of all the stupid things to do!

After showing my husband my error and taking a few minutes to pout, I pulled out the seam ripper (which has been getting a lot of use lately) and got busy on that seam. I don't know why (it's certainly not lack of practice) but ripping a seam out takes me a long time. When the sleeve was literally hanging on by a thread, I saw my second terrible, stupid mistake of the day: I had ripped the seam of the WRONG SLEEVE! That's right folks, I had just removed the good sleeve -- the one that had been attached to the coat correctly. I felt like a total loser. How could I make two mistakes in a row?

With both sleeves to re-do, I was ready to call it a day. I took an internet break and checked out some of my favorite blogs. I went on over to Progressive Pioneer to see if the latest giveaway winner had been announced so I could stop wishing for the wonderful Cloud 9 fabric.

And what do you think I saw? My name! I was the winner of the giveaway! Can you believe it? Talk about turning my day around. I won a set of eight fat quarters of Cloud 9 organic cotton fabric. I've had my eye on this since it was released recently. I can't wait to make something adorable with it. A big thank you to Amy at Progressive Pioneer and Pink Chalk Fabrics, a gem of an online fabric and pattern store.

With my spirits bolstered, and a gift of time from my husband (who took Dag to the art museum grounds for a tricycle ride), I got back to work on the jacket. I re-attached both sleeves (correctly) and then whipped up the lining.

Now I just have to assemble the jacket, hood and lining. Then I can move onto the quilted vest that will button inside.

I still feel quite stupid about my mistakes today. I don't mind messing up while learning a new skill but my mistakes were because I wasn't paying attention. Someone please tell me that you've made a silly sewing mistake too!

School Days Jacket

2009-11-04T11:14:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I started my "big" project: the Oliver + S School Days Jacket. I am beyond excited about this jacket -- I ordered the pattern the first day it was released earlier this fall. Yesterday morning, I cut out all the fabric while Dag was at preschool (and have a callus on my thumb to prove it). I sewed half of the hood before he woke up from his nap. I should be able to finish the hood today. This project is my biggest and most advanced so far. I'm terrified of ruining it along the way but hopefully if I go slowly and pay careful attention, it will turn out beautifully.

Here's the fabric I'm using:

The jacket will be made from the blue double face wool melton (purchased from fabric.com). The lining will be made from the green polka dot and the stripes will be used for the removable quilted vest (both cotton fabrics by Lecien). Don't you love that the pattern includes a removable quilted vest?

I'm simply giddy about this jacket!

All Buttoned-Up

2009-11-03T17:33:00.001-05:00

Last night I sewed the buttons on the shirt, finishing up the project. I'm quite pleased with how the shirt turned out, although I had some major buttonhole issues. I made a dozen practice buttonholes on scrap fabric and of course, when it came time to actually make them on the shirt, I encountered a slew of problems. At one point the feeddog was so clogged that it started eating my shirt. I had to remove the faceplate and give my machine her first cleaning (which I was secretly excited about). I lost count of how many buttonholes I had to re-do. Let's just say that the seam ripper got a lot of use.

I give the Kwik Sew Toddlers' Shirt Pattern a good rating. And I found this project very satisfying -- I made a button-up shirt! I wouldn't say it was "quick" though -- if I calculated the hours I put into the shirt and paid myself minimum wage, it would easily be the most expensive item in his wardrobe. But, since the labor was free and the fabric was $8 (from fabric.com), it wasn't very expensive. It did help to have one of his button-up shirts handy to look at for reference the few times the pattern didn't make sense. As with most things, I'm sure I could make the second (and subsequent) one more quickly. Oh how I wish I had time to whip up a bunch of these shirts (I've been spending entirely way too much time looking at shirting fabric online and have a ton of cute ideas) but a darling new project is calling... More on that tomorrow!

Trick or Treat!

2009-11-02T13:38:00.000-05:00

Introducing Peter Pan (busy sweeping the driveway)! Although a number of people thought he was Robin Hood. And one person thought he was a green been.

confidence and balance restored

2009-10-28T17:52:00.000-04:00

For the last two weeks, I was knocked out with a cold. That meant no sewing for me; I could barely concentrate to read short, fluffy magazine articles, let alone patterns. Between the unintended sewing break and the hot mess of a Halloween costume sitting in a heap on my work table, I began to doubt my sewing abilities. Add to that a pile of sewing-relating birthday gifts from my husband that were staring at me (an issue of Ottobre, Cal Patch's "Design-It-Yourself Clothes" and a cork "inspiration" board) and I had completely lost confidence. Was all that sewing I did just a dream?

There's something about being sick that really throws me off balance. I felt like I couldn't remember being healthy. Not only was I not sewing, but I wasn't cooking, cleaning (well, to be honest, that's always at the bottom of my list), reading, meeting up with friends, etc. I just didn't feel like me.

Until yesterday. Thanks to my husband taking a day off work, I got to work on this project:

In progress, before sleeves:

Sewing nearly all day yesterday (8 hours with only a short break to eat a cupcake - another gift from my husband) and an hour today, the project is almost done, save for the cuffs and buttons. All those buttons to sew on this shirt! My machine has a one-step button function but I've never used it. Needless to say, I'll be practicing on some scraps.

Working on this shirt completely restored my confidence in my sewing abilities. It's not quite perfect and there were definitely some scratching-my-head moments with the pattern but I'm pleased with it. Working on a new project has also helped to restore my sense of balance. I no longer feel sick. In fact, I can't quite remember what it felt like to be sick. Yet, I'm still slowly finding my way back to the normal routine around the house.

As far as the Halloween costume, after throwing it aside, we took a trip to Target. The selection was terrible -- I guess we were a little late in the game. I decided to make the best of what I started and honestly, it doesn't look terrible. It definitely looks home-sewn, but that's okay. I'm a bit of a perfectionist (in general, if I'm not good at something, I stop doing it) so learning to live with the imperfections of my sewing isn't easy. But, I'm glad that years from now, Dagim will look at pictures from this Halloween and remember that I made his costume. That's the kind of mama I always wanted to be. And now it's the kind of mama that I am.

So, what's next? I've got plans to begin my biggest project yet. Details coming soon!

Birthday Loot

2009-10-14T15:23:00.001-04:00

I had a great weekend in Newark and NYC for my friend's wedding. I went into the city for two short trips -- one on Saturday night and one on Sunday morning/afternoon. Saturday I walked around the village with a fellow bridesmaid (and new friend). We were exhausted from the wedding festivities (the food! the food!) but decided to rally and take the train in for a little visit. We ate slices of pizza even though we swore we couldn't eat another bite. I forgot how good NYC pizza is -- even at a little dive. Then we walked over to Magnolia for some cupcakes which we saved for the morning. I'm a huge fan of their cupcakes (and cupcakes in general).

Sunday, after the post-wedding brunch (more food!), I bid farewell to the bride and groom, old friends and some new friends and headed to Purl Patchwork. The shop is even tinier than I imagined. And I was prepared for small. It's teeny-tiny. It's also delightfully lovely. I'll admit to feeling a bit overwhelmed. The NYC yarn crawl was going on so the store was busy with people popping in from Purl a few doors down. The customers were a mix of locals and tourists (I wasn't the only one taking pictures). About fifteen minutes into my browsing, my phone rang. I almost didn't answer it because I didn't recognize the number and I think it's rude to talk in a store, especially a very small one. It was US Air, calling to let me know that my return flight home had been canceled. I spent the next forty-five minutes standing outside the store, trying to figure out how I was going to get home. I was nearly in tears. After dreaming about visiting the store and lucking out that the post-wedding brunch was in Soho, there I was, spending half of my precious shopping time on the phone with the airline! I called my husband and asked him to take care of it for me. At that point, I couldn't deal with it and wanted to get back inside. Inside I went and here's what I bought:

It may not look like much but I assure you that I spent all of my birthday money (and probably took an advance on next year). The top two fabrics (the dots and stripes) are for an upcoming project that I've been excited about for the last month. I can't wait to get started on it!

The splurges were these fabrics:

The one on the left is a Liberty of London cotton lawn. The print is dandelions. It's so lovely that I'm afraid to cut into it! The center is "piglet" by etsuko furuya. The right is a linen/cotton by Nani Iro with pretty turquoise and pale yellow flowers that look as if they were hand painted.

I couldn't resist these cute little notions: an iron-on patch and zipper pull from Putidepome. The patch says "Bonjour" and the zipper pull says "Bonne Journee."

All in all, it was a fun trip to Purl Patchwork and part of me wishes I still lived a short Metro ride from the city. A girl came into the store with her mother and said "Look, Mom -- that's a new print." I asked her if she came to Purl a lot and she said yes. I told her she was a very lucky girl.

Simplicity, you're not so simple

2009-10-07T15:58:00.000-04:00

I'm a few nap time sewing sessions into the Halloween costume. And I'm about three minutes from pitching it and heading to the store (a friend mentioned that she saw a gnome costume -- wouldn't that be adorable?). The pattern is by Simplicity and I'm fed up with it! For a long time, I stood with two pieces in my hand, rereading the instructions repeatedly and scratching my head. I finally figured it out but jeesh, should it be so difficult? The essential problem is that too many steps are combined together. Simplicity is no Oliver + S, that's for sure! Sewing with Oliver + S is like attending a sewing class.

But, I'm moving forward with the costume. It won't be perfect and it won't last a thousand years (really, it needs to last one day). I tried it on Dagim for fit yesterday and when I slipped it over his head to take it off, it got dirty. What can I say? It's fall and the boy has a constant runny nose.

Here are some pictures of the pattern and fabric. Can you guess what it is yet?

This wasn't the fabric I planned on using but in an effort to spend less and re-purpose, I decided it was silly to buy a new yard of green fabric. I had to finagle the pattern layout a bit to get it to work since it was just shy of being enough fabric -- so some pieces aren't placed the right way on the grain. But, since Halloween is a one-day affair, I'm not worried about it.

I don't think I'll get anymore sewing time before I head to New Jersey/New York on Friday morning. I'm sure the Simplicity pattern will be waiting, ready to go another round with me on Monday.

Next project

2009-10-05T16:10:00.000-04:00

The pair of pajamas to gift are done. One of many things to check off my to-do list.

The second pair (to keep) will have to wait awhile. The next project is Dag's Halloween costume. After opening the pattern, I wished I had just purchased a costume. Here are the pattern pieces after the initial unfolding:

Granted, there are three different costumes among these four pages but it was a scavenger hunt locating the numbers I needed. The project definitely felt a bit more manageable after I cut the pieces I needed and put the rest of the pattern pieces away. I think I'll keep the costume a secret for now. I'll reveal it bit by bit and see if you can guess what it is (no cheating if I've already told you!).

Dreaming of Purl

2009-09-27T14:29:00.000-04:00

I recently placed my first order from Purlsoho.com. For a few months, I've been putting fabric in my virtual shopping cart, taking it out, putting it back in. Deliberating and dreaming about all the yummy fabrics they carry. When I was a grad student at Sarah Lawrence a few years ago, I visited Purl, when it was only a yarn shop. They've since added fabric, a few doors down, at Purl Patchwork. At the yarn shop, I was dizzy with all that beautiful yarn stacked to the ceiling. I wished that I had knitting skills to make something beyond simple scarves for Christmas presents. I stayed awhile in the shop, touching the skeins of alpaca, wool, cotton. Getting this in the mail was almost (but not quite) as good as that visit:

I bet you're wondering what's inside that pretty little package. Some Freespirit "Oh Boy!"by David Walker and a waffle knit by Kokka:

Both to be whipped up into pairs of Oliver + S Bedtime Story pajamas -- one to keep and one to gift. I started on the pajamas to gift this weekend. Here's a picture of the pants, in progress:

Back to dreaming of Purl. In two weeks I'll be in New Jersey for the wedding of my dear friend, Chloe (check out her awesome wedding blog here). The post-wedding brunch for the bridal party is Sunday morning in Soho. The restaurant just happens to be a few blocks away from Purl (as well as my favorite bookstore in the world: Housing Works). And, as luck would have it, I've got a few hours to spend in the city before my plane departs. I've had several vivid dreams about visiting Purl, pouring over all that fabric, armed with some birthday money. I've heard that it's the best fabric shop around. I can't wait! In the meantime, I'll keep surfing their website, adding to the list of fabrics I love.

Welcome to my nest!

2009-09-24T14:17:00.001-04:00

For awhile now I've been visiting a number of sewing blogs, enjoying a glimpse into the work and lives of other women. I decided it's time for me to join in on the conversation and the community. So, I've created a little nest for this purpose. I'm fairly new to sewing. My first real project was about a year and a half ago (on a dusty old and cheap sewing machine I bought in college for reasons I can't remember) when I sewed curtains for my son's nursery, as we waited for our adoption to be finalized in Ethiopia. (If you're interested, our adoption blog can be found here.) I really enjoyed making those curtains but was busy preparing to bring Dag home so I put the sewing machine back in the box.

This spring, a friend hosted an "apron making party." I took my machine out of the box, packed Dag up in the car and drove across town. I didn't leave the party with a completed apron but I was definitely bitten by the sewing bug. Later that week, I finished the apron. Then I got a bee in my bonnet to make a curtain for the kitchen. Then curtains for our bedroom. In the middle of sewing the bedroom curtains, my sewing machine broke. I'll admit that I was pretty happy about this. By now I was reading SouleMama regularly and I wanted a fancy (well, fancier than what I had) machine. I did a bit of internet research, went to my local Bernina dealer and came home with a Bernette. In June, I ordered an Oliver + S pattern and fell head-over-heels in love with sewing. Since then I've been sewing pretty much every day, at nap time. I love being a mama but I also love nap time when I can shut the door to my office and get lost in fabric, patterns, pins and thread. It's a couple hours just for me.

I envision this space as a place to share a bit of my own lovely nest -- my home, my life as a mama, and, of course, my sewing projects. I hope you'll join me!