Back to School Fashions

I broke my Wardrobe Refashion pledge BIG time. I do get a Get Out of Jail Free card once every two months, but I don't think it was intended as a pass for a shopping SPREE. Anyway, the kids and I got new back-to-school clothes, and since I haven't made anything in a few weeks, we wanted to put on a fashion show for you.

dress: Gap 1969
boots: Rocket Dog
necklace: The Black Apple

For about a year, I've been experimenting with a vegan diet. One thing that I haven't yet been willing to give up yet were leather shoes, but these non-leather boots fit the bill. I'll need to wear tights or leggings with the dress at school - a little too much bare leg for work.

jacket: Hanna Andersson (thrifted)
top: Mini Boden (thrifted)
skirt: Hanna Andersson outlet (from the $5 rack)
boots: Gap
book bag: made by me

hat: Gap
t-shirt: Target
shorts: Gap
shoes: Skechers (I found a good sale here)

Here we are at the new homework center I made for the kids near the kitchen. Finally, I don't have to wipe off the breadcrumbs off the kitchen counter before they can do their homework (and, yes, I always wear skirts and heals when I'm helping them with their homework:))

top: J Crew outlet
skirt: J Crew outlet
shoes: Dansko
necklace: made by my cousin

tie dye tee shirt: made by the little guy

boy's shorts: thrifted

boy's shoes: Gap

butterfly tee shirt: Target

skirt: thrifted

girl's shoes: Skechers

Here we are in the "Garden of Weedin". In my defence, I recently read that butterflies prefer unkept spaces in the yard. At least we're finally getting some ripe tomatoes.

necklace: refashioned from one of my mom's pieces
cardigan: Banana Republic (thrifted)
top: Anne Taylor outlet
skirt: Donna Karen outlet
shoes: thrifted
bag: thrifted (vintage)

dress: Hanna Andersson outlet
boots: Gap
hair clips: doller store

hat: Gap
tee-shirt: Hanna Andersson outlet
jeans: Gap
shoes: Skechers

girl's hat: Gymboree

girl's shirt: made by me

skirt: Gap

women's jacket: Pendleton outlet (only $25!)

women's bag: Amy Butler Birdie Sling, made by me

women's jeans: J Crew outlet

women's shoes: J-41 Vegan

We had a lot of fun putting on this fashion show. I don't think we'll make the pages of Vogue, but we like our styles regardless! Thanks for being such a nice audience.

Squeezing Out the Last Little Bit of Summer

Hey there....I'm still here. I haven't posted for a while because we've been so busy enjoying the last of our summer breaks.

The End of the Oregon Trail Museum in Oregon City

What a fun and happy summer this has been for our family. My husband and I both feel so fortunate and grateful to be teachers.

Walking the dog in my Mom's Newport neighborhood.

With the summer break, we have a lot of opportunities to enjoy being with our kids.  

The free trolley in Oregon City.

Being 8 and 6, they're big enough to swim, hike and camp with us. I just love the stage of life they're in.

The mineral pool at Kah-Nee-Ta

I started back to work today. The public school cuts in Oregon, like most everywhere else, have been devastating. I sat in meetings today with teachers who were facing, among other things,  31 kindergarteners, 43 first graders in one math class, and a superintendent who tripled up his duties by taking on the curriculum director's and the facilities director's jobs. We don't even know yet if we'll get a full school year.

I guess it's a lesson in making the best of what you have.

It sure has been a great summer, though.

An Artful Trade

My talented cousin wanted me to make her a small hipster bag and suggested to do an art trade. We've done this before and it was a lot of fun. Here's the bag I made her:

fabric: Sandi Henderson's Meadowsweet

I love how these fabrics come together. I've taken to making all of my bags now with an adjustable strap - they're so much more usable than without.

I've also started putting my tags on the inside of the bag, rather than the outside. More subtle, no?

Here's what she made me - a sketch of my sewing machine to hang onto the wall. I love this, she has such a talent for animating inanimate objects. Here are a few pictures from an artful coloring book that she made with her mom, who is also an artist:

Of course, I can't ever stop at just sewing one bag because I have to do everything in bunches. I've started on a few for the shop.

I wish I could tell you when they'll be in the shop, but I've been a lazy seamstress this summer. I might not finish them for several weeks.

I hope that you're all enjoying the end of your summers. I have to back to work in a week and a half.

Girl's Japanese Dress

If it's not love, it's definitely very much like for me with these Japanese patterns. So cute and easy...even I couldn't mess this one up. Here's my girl in a dress to wear to first grade:

I love the crochet trim, but when I first looked at the pattern I thought it very odd that it was sewn to a raw edge (no facing or lining on the dress).

At first I scoffed at the raw edge and started to line the bodice, but then I thought, "Hey I'm going to live large and take a chance!" It looks really cute this way, I think.

 The bodice has the tiniest bit of gathering in two places at the front.

 The back closes by tying the extra trim.

Originally this fabric was a sad lilac calico that was given to me. I dyed it with two packages of RIT dye on the stove, then threw in some white crochet trim that I'd purchased at a garage sale.

The pattern came from "happy homemade vol. 2." Sadly for us, the sizes only go up to 130, so we'll only be able to use it a few times since that's the size my daughter is wearing right now. Hopefully one of you can use it when I'm done. Look for this in a giveaway coming up.

Pie-ography

A few days ago, I had a rare afternoon at home by myself. With a silent house and a sleeping dog at my feet, I made some pies with the peaches I got at the orchard down the road.

I started thinking about the role of pies in my life as I was fluting the edges. My mom taught me how to flute the edges, using a sideways thumb on the bottom and two finger pressed on either side on the top. I think I did that once before I invented my own fluting technique.

I loved watching Mom make pies. She made a lot of them because we had a berry and vegetable farm. With the exception of the occasional fight with the crust (probably where I heard my first swear words), it was a peaceful time. The process of making pies from scratch is the highest form of alchemy in my mind.  A pie emerges from basically flour, butter, fruit and sugar. Whoever coined the expression "easy as pie" was obviously not referring to the making of a pie. They're really quite tricky to make if you want the crust right.

My parents had a contentious relationship. There was a lot of fighting in my house, fueled by the stresses of managing a family farm; the tragic death of my brother when he was just 19 and my mom's struggle with alcoholism. But, pies were the good times. Looking back, I think that my mom made Dad pies as a way to please him, maybe even as a peace offering. He loved pie. We often laugh over the story of Mom's first pie for Dad. It was cherry, and she lovingly picked all of the cherries by hand from the tree in the back yard. It wasn't until Dad bit into the pie that she'd realized that she forgot to take out the pits.

Once, when I was in my 20's, I made a boyfriend a nice chicken dinner after we'd had an argument. He said to me, "You know that you can't solve all of our problems with a chicken dinner."

He was probably right, but food made with love sure makes the world a nicer place.

By the way, this was THE BEST peach pie recipe I've made. It's the vegan peach pie from About.com.