Spring summer hats at the DeCordova

This has been a busy week here. The weather is turning more and more sunny ( maybe that is just me hoping for it!?)

If you have time this mothers day weekend visit the DeCordova museum in Lincoln.

I delivered a fun bunch of hats and a few selective scarfs.

This scarf will make you smile when you try it on!

Linen and cotton bucket hat.

Just loaded a few pins on Etsy

Deep and rich....

Sharp and summery...

Catch my eye...

Pink and turquoise...

Round and sparkly...

Pom pom chick

Spring = Chicks!

Every wednesday I spend the day in the company of a charming young lady. This wednesday  it was very rainy and windy and so for some reason she did not feel like running errands with me!
A while ago I saw this project on the Crafty Crow, so it was decided that we will go to our local fabric and yarn store to buy a pom pom maker! Yeah!

Oh how fun! I have never used one of these devices , but it is so easy. Our chick did not have the florist wire legs from the tutorial, we used pipe cleaners and our chick is MUCH bigger (I got the bigger pom size) so ours is just sitting happily looking at the world!

Oh and this guy is wearing a scarf, spring can be cold in Boston!

Now I have to make at least 5 more!

Happy spring!

Linen hat.

Yes, everyday around here feels more like spring and summer!
Today I would like to show you this linen hat that I just love! I first thought that the decoration makes it too dressy , after all it is a fabric hat. But the more I look at it the more I like it.

I used a copper color linen for the hat and for the decoration I used a small pink vintage feather, a piece of leopard silk chiffon and a piece of Anna Maria Horner fabric.(love)

This hat could be worn everyday, but I can see it with an amazing linen suit, or dress.

Linen skirt.

After my promise to sew more for myself I have purchased and cut some skirts to sew for summer, but found myself needing an in between skirt that is not made from summer prints and will go with "most" of my other clothes.

Enter the linen skirt, and what better colors to use than latte brown and grey-ish black!

As you can see it goes really well with a red and white polka dot sweater!

I came across this great skirt from Anna Maria Horner. And I think what my skirt needs is one more row of elastic. I also did not make mine so wide and measured my hips and added a bit onto the side to help it fit. It is true that wearing it higher in the waist makes the skirt fit, flattering. 

I can't wait to wear it with a t-shirt and cardigan!

Anna Maria Horner

Dress up your hair for spring!

Very soon we will all be outside wearing summer dresses, dining outside and wearing sandals! How about wearing a fun piece in your hair? These are all one of a kind, fun and easy to wear.

A skirt that spins!

A while ago I had to patch a favorite skirt and while doing this I quickly traced the pattern and made this skirt.
It was really easy and quick and looks great, but best of all she likes it!
Happy Friday!

A lot of prints and color going on!

Small change , big impact!

A while ago on one of my many wonders around the isles of Savers I came across this amazing piece of patchwork/fabric history! 

Someone went to great trouble to cut up outdated clothing form the 60's and 70's and sew them together!

I could hardly believe my luck and grabbed it at once! 

But after I washed it and looked at it I was unsure of its future. I first thought of cutting it in two and making two "matching" throws for the kids rooms.

The way this was pieced together though was row by row across so just cutting in two was not an option. And then there is was one day! I was going to hang it on the wall!

BEFORE

AFTER!

I can't tell you how much pleasure I get from this big color change! Every time I come up the stairs and see it I just love it! It has made the room so warm and cozy!

The kids also love lying on the bed and choosing their favorite block.

Do you remember wearing suits from this non-destructive fabric?

Spring hats in the making

It has been so hard to get going this year. But wait it is really hard for me every year!

I have some amazing fabrics to work with this season! 

Look at this hat! I am so pleased with how it came out. The fabric is so lovely and easy to work with. I also made a similar hat with the blue roses.

This is "innocent crush" home dec collection by Anna Maria Horner.

I love how the roses just gets absorbed by the hat .

Organic cotton cowl

 This week I finished two more cowl scarfs. One for me and one for this little girl. 

After making the previous one for myself so big I started with far less stitches and it worked out really well. I find myself keeping mine on the entire day, you  forget that you are wearing it!

The other amazing bonus is the yarn. I used Nature's Choice organic cotton from Lion Brand Yarn.

 Wow so worth the price and so soft and comfy to wear.

Luckily I had yarn in this cream color that matches her coat and made up this neck warmer for her!

I love the way it looks with the coat, but best of all....she likes it and she keeps saying how soft it is !

Happy Valentines Day!

Valentines day: This year we made fast, easy Valentines cards. I gave the kids red paper and white paint, white, pink,red and purple crayons and we started crafting.
The aim was to make heart shapes with circle foam brushes, but that lasted only as long as my demo!
They then had fun using their hands, bubble wrap, and anything else they could find that would make a pattern on the paper.

After the cards dried I cut them into heart shapes and we wrote all the fiends names on them.

The other craft I made with Ady is a heart garland. This was great fun. We first drew the hearts onto watercolor paper with crayon and then used watercolor paint to paint over the crayon and now she is old enough to keep the paint inside the heart shape.

After they dried I cut them out and we strung them onto bakery twine.

They look so much like spring that I will leave them up for a while.

Crochet cowl

 
I am starting to fall in love with crochet again! It has been so long since I have done this that I am taking my time and teaching myself again. Lion brand has a great section on learning to crochet.

 Here is a cowl scarf I made last week. I used the very bulky Wool- Ease Thick and Quick yarn form Lion brand and it really was great to see just how fast I could see progress.

I found a great free pattern here.

I love it, but know that I have a LOT to learn. Not only do I now have an excuse to get stuck on the couch watching really , really bad TV, I also get something in exchange!

I already purchased new yarn. The next one I will make will have less stitches as to make the scarf more snug around the neck and will be 100% cotton . I find myself getting very itchy by the end of a day.

Monkey pajamas

Ady is really outgrowing her clothes too fast. I turned around this last week and she was out of PJ's that are warm, cozy but not fleece. This girl can really overheat so flannel it best for her to sleep in!

A few years ago I bought two pieces of Sock Monkey flannel by Moda, in a great quilt shop in New Hampshire.
I was immediately pulled in by the monkeys and thought that she would love them.  I now realize that they could be scary to a little girl. She took two days to agree to try them on and the good news is that she now loves them! Phew!
I did not have enough of the fabric to make a matching top but I found a soft long sleeve t-shirt on sale and i think the color matches very nicely. To make sure she will be able to wear them for a while, I added a three inch seam allowance to be let out as needed.

As for a pattern, I just traced around a pair of pants that fits her and added here and there to make them roomy for sleep time. I also added the elastic band in a separate piece in stead of folding the top over. I think this helps with the fit in the waist.

Making goo!

We have had a lot of indoor days lately. I have to say it is kind of fun to just play and not go anywhere.

On our last trip to the library I found this great book. I know there are a lot of books out there on science for kids , but this one is simple and I have almost all the ingredients in the the house. 

Of all the experiments we have done so far this one is my favorite!

Making goo out of corn starch. It is truly amazing!

The book : I'm a scientist, Kitchen by Lisa Burke
She also has a backyard book that looks interesting for summer.

You start off by measuring two cups of corn starch in a bowl and slowly adding one cup of water.
It is pretty hard to mix as you can see !

Then add food coloring of your choice and keep mixing!

It is really interesting how my kids played so differently with the same goo.
My son got his hands in at once , but my daughter wanted more spoons and things to prod it with and would not put her hands in!

It was amazing to see how long they kept going. Making balls and watching the goo go from solid to liquid and back to solid. If you push your hand down on it the goo is a solid , but if you scoop with a spoon it becomes a liquid.

FUN!