Summer already?!?

It's official: today was the last day of school and graduation at The Free School and the kids are home until September! I'm completely unprepared but realize that I will always feel unprepared for this huge change in our schedules and am determined to embrace it and make this the best summer ever!

Unfortunately blurry photo of my girl singing Like a Prayer at graduation. This year she received the "Put another dime in the jukebox baby" award--pretty apt!

As is my yearly tradition I made gifts for all of the staff at the (small) school because they all play a part in teaching/learning with my kids. I like to change it up each year (last year was personalized tote bags) and this year decided to do a bit of cross stitch after finding a bunch of perfect, simple, fun-to-stitch patterns from the awesome Etsy seller andwabisabi. So I made embroidered hoops for the teachers and zipper pouches for the interns. And even though I began this project this past winter I was finishing it this morning, true to form. Granted, it was a lot of stitching:

another inexplicably blurry photo--what is wrong with my camera?!?

This pile of poo was given in deepest admiration, honest! It's a long story :)

And with that another school year ends. Next fall Tigerlily will be in 3rd grade and Lyric will be in Kindergarten! I cannot believe it. Though I can believe that Lyric is finally old enough to go to a local day camp this summer :)

Skye's up in the Adirondacks this weekend for a bike race so I'm flying solo with the kids for the next two nights. Tonight we watched Jurassic Park which was actually way too scary and I nearly turned it off more than once but they made it through and now want to learn everything there is to know about dinosaurs. Awesome, me too! First stop: up to the Museum tomorrow to check out the dinosaurs that lived in our backyard!

Here's to the summer of '11: the best summer ever! What do you have planned?

Lots of Pictures Today: Valentine's revisited

This year I am all about being ahead of the game, especially with making gifts. So far, so good--I churned out a scarf for for each kid's Valentine's Day gift with plenty of time to spare!


They were a hit and inspired lots of love:


Both patterns (and yarn) are from Morehouse Farm. They turned out super cute, Tigerlily's heart scarf was super quick and easy and I love how the hearts kind of link together when she wears it. The bandit look of Lyric's raccoon scarf is totally killing me! This one took a bit of time, partly because it calls for sport weight yarn. Next time I'm totally using worsted.

Gifts made and given

Thanks to everyone for the rave reviews on the fairy house! It is definitely a hit around here, too.

While we're on the subject of gifts given this holiday season I thought I would show you more of the gifts we made to give to friends and family this year.

chocolate truffles in handmade origami boxes for the teachers
(paper decorated by the kids before folding)

super yummy apple wine à la Skye

simple and modern candle holder made with this tutorial along with fabric bag wrapping (which has a second life as a baguette bag)

more bread bags for my Mom (who makes the best bread in town)

monogrammed pencil case and notebook set for the cousins

:I feel like I must have gotten the idea for these little notebooks somewhere online this fall but I can't seem to find any tutorial that I referenced. It's not like I invented anything here but it's such a cool idea and so easy to make (with all recycled and vintage materials!) that I think everyone should have a go at making at least a few of these. If folks are interested in hearing my process I'd be happy to share!

Playing catch up

Yup, I'm still alive. This here blog might be on its last legs but I'm determined to rejuvenate it! I have so, so much to share and am brimming with ideas and have just accepted that "the time to blog" will never just appear so I need to make time.

I've been dying to show you the Christmas gift that Skye and I made for Tigerlily for Christmas. It was such a perfect collaboration of his carpentry skills and my sewing skills and we had a blast working on it together. So, of course, it turned out wonderfully!!

Presenting: The Fairy House!

Skye had this hollow tree stump that he thought would be perfect (and it so totally was). He cut off a bit of one side and attached it to the top for the roof, drilled some large holes for windows and made a door. He also added an elevator and made the table, fireplace (complete with firewood!) and bed. So cool!

I made the bendy fairy dolls (with this tutorial--so easy!!), a little fairy hut, lots of leaves (including the leaves on the roof, the leaf sleeping bag, leaf bench, and lots of "throw" leaves), log and bark benches, mushrooms, and scattered logs. I had to stop myself, it was so much fun!

Crafty Round Up

It's been a while since I've shared my completed projects and it seems like a good way for me to ease back into a routine here. Hopefully I'll be productive enough this season to make this a weekly post!

Cloth Books ::

monogram book

first and last name book

transportation-themed book in Spanish

10-page full name book

Buntings ::

Small shaped quilts ::


Large quilts ::


Gifts made & given ::

skirts made with a favorite pattern