Straight to Hawaii

Never in all my days have I had to deal with school in June, but here we are with Rush still going for the next few days.  Tate's free, Holly's always free, but until we meet Rush at the bus stop later this week, the real summer release hasn't happened.  We're so close.

The official theme of my summer is Party Like It's 1994.  We're taking all the best parts of summer when I was in middle school, but we're going to enjoy it because we're not spending it with any actual middle schoolers and their intense meanness.  We're keeping a bag packed with swimsuits and peanut butter crackers to be ready for the water at a moments notice.  The summer will feature homemade Casa Ole queso, recipe courtesy of the college student who drove us around the summer of 1994 and teriyaki burgers with pineapple slices .  Lots of Beach boys, a road trip to Florida, and minor league baseball.  We're going to be crusty and dry from sunscreen and chlorine when we lounge around reading library books in the afternoons.  We'll work in as much Hawaiian-ness as possible.

Last weekend was a "cleaning weekend" so we can spend our Saturdays doing fun things. That was more or less the most pointless thing ever, as I would turn around to face a closet, turn back around three seconds later and see that Holly had squeezed a tube of toothpaste into the carpet.  But it's cool; would a thirteen year old girl worry about that?  No, so neither will I.

I'm teaching myself to use a Weber grill today, so I should probably look up how to do that before naptime ends.  It's going to be the best summer ever.

Shark Bite

I’m really trying to use the fabric I have, both because I said I would and because it’s highly inconvenient to go to a store and browse for fabric.  I’m ignoring the whole universe of buying fabric online, because, again, I need to deal with the current fabric situation.

Being a quilter is great because you can save all the small scraps for future quilts, but I’m accumulating scraps more rapidly than I’m making quilts.  To really make a dent I could make a giant quilt, but one hand quilting project at a time.  My summer goal is to rewatch all of Mad Men, start to finish, finishing a quilt from a few years ago in the process.  Maybe we’ll have a blog series called What I Worked on With Peggy Olson.

Some gray scraps will never make it into a quilt, because I recently used them to make a shark bag.  It was inspired by my niece Carolena, who is planning a Jaws themed birthday for the big #4.  I wanted to make a shark bag for her, shaped like a shark with the zipper for teeth.  This was the first pattern I found, for a pencil case, and I think I’m going to make something different for her.  It’s smallish.

I see more shark projects in our future.

Sink or Swim Situation

My parents have planned some renovations on their home.  Builders will get them started, then they’re going to do about half the work themselves.  They have each separately expressed to me that they think their part is going to take a long time, that starting in June they will probably be finished by November.  Because they never call me (although once every two or three years I will get a text about a pet dying or a family member in the hospital- but only the hospital text a few days after the event) and yet I’ve talked to both of them on the phone about it, I suspect that they’re a little apprehensive about the amount of time it will take.

But wait, isn’t it two adults working on it, with full days devoted to the project?  No stopping what you’re doing because Holly dumped a cup of milk on the couch?  (2 hours ago)  No one climbing somewhere they shouldn’t be and needing to be rescued with great haste but without any startling movements?  (1 hour ago)  No one getting his head stuck between wooden fence posts?  (Also 1 hour ago, same moment as the climber)  No one unraveling your work behind you?  (Constantly)

I recently painted a room, including the ceiling, with Tate.  If only there had been someone recording it; it was a frantic, comical, Mr. Bean type situation, with paint spilling on carpet, jumping over a bed covered in a paint-splattered drop cloth to get to the falling paint, falling and pulling the drop cloth off and more paint spilling.  But we painted that room, and then Rush joined us to paint the landing and part of the wall by our stairs.  And we painted all of it, carpet be damned.

This is the most productive I have ever been in my life.  No other option- sink or swim.

Peasant Dress

After a four month hiatus –it was cold?  dreary?  winter?-  I’m back to my sewing machine. 

Little peasant dresses come together so quickly.  This one could be hemmed as Holly grows and morph into a shirt to wear with jeans.  It’s white though, so instead it will be totally stained and be lucky if it makes it through the summer.

Next step, adapt the pattern into a woman’s shirt.

Wrapped Around Her Finger

Strawberry, as in Holly’s favorite must-have for sleep and comfort lovey, is missing.  We realized she was missing Monday at naptime and I’ve looked all over the place and can’t find her.  Due diligence, I even checked with the dry cleaner to see if somehow she ventured out Annie-style in a pile of clothes.  No luck.  Holly is handling it better than expected and has been able to sleep.

Trent, however, is taking it pretty hard.  He has looked in every inch of the house, car, and backyard, except for the inches where Strawberry is currently located.  I want to find Strawberry too, but I also want to have time in my day that is not spent looking for her or wondering aloud where she might be.  But that’s just kind of how Trent is with Holly.  “Daddy’s girl” comes to mind.

Trent pulled a few shirts out of his closet to get rid of and I intercepted a few of them for the possibilities.  Pastel blue and pink gingham seemed destined to become a dress for Holly.

 

I cut apart the shirts for the fabric and used a new pattern, Simplicity #1702.  Initially I thought it would be super quick to sew because it isn’t lined, but it has bias tape all around the neckline and sleeves.  My emotions towards sewing bias tape can best be described resigned apathy.  It took longer than anticipated, but I think it would be faster the next time I use the pattern.

I kept pulling out pieces of ribbon and trim, because it needed something.  Finally I realized that the perfect detail was to cut apart the strip of buttons left over from the center of one shirt and use it as trim across the waist.  It’s a little nod to her dad’s shirts.

The back is the reverse of the front, blue on bottom, pink on top.

If Holly could title the following picture, I’m guessing she would call it “The Story of My Life”.

The pattern also calls for a side zipper, which I had never attempted before.  It turned out fine, but I think in general I could use some assistance with zippers in clothing.  If it had called for a back zipper, I think I could have manipulated the shirts to use the existing buttons instead of the zipper.  Maybe next time, because it looks like Trent has a few more shirts he’s clearing out.