visions of Laura Ingalls

Awhile ago my daughters went to a pioneer picnic birthday party. We got pretty excited and I made these fun outfits for them: linen skirts, aprons, and white puffy shirts. The shirts were originally sheets from our local thrift shop I made into dresses for their school holiday program. For the shirts I just cut them, added elastic and eyelet trim. The bonnets were part of the party favors. So cute!

Kathy over at Pink Chalk Studio made a cute peasant ensemble for her daughter. And just like hers, my daughters have worn them often just for fun.

This summer I want to teach the girls (and eventually Worker when he's older) how to work the sewing machine. I told them we could make aprons and quilts for their American Girl Dolls (Samantha and Nellie).


So while the kids were scampering around the garden, I had to face a hard reality: I think I need to leave the gardening to the green thumbs!


Actually, Gavin's been doing most of the work anyway. However, we don't seem to be having as much success as in the past.... just not the right year I guess.

the wraps are done

I actually finished the wrap skirts for the girls last week (when I wasn't feeling so yucky), but got around to taking the photos today. Since it was an impulsive decision to make them, I rummaged through all my extra fabric and made separate (somewhat) coordinating panels.

'Sunshine Girl' tends to like brighter, flashier prints and her skirt ended up with five panels. 'Pumpkin Girl' likes more understated prints (although the watermelon is quite bright) and her skirt has three panels.

I love that my girls still love wearing stuff made by 'Mom' and I hope that lasts for a while! I'm trying to ingrain in them that homemade is really special - even though it's not always perfect.

So yesterday while I was a 'blob' on the couch, Gavin worked with the kids in the vegetable garden. Today he's going to hookup the watering so we can put the soaker hose on a timer. There will be much less of a chance of plants dying because I forget to water or get lazy later in the summer! And I think the kids and I will plant some of our seeds (carrots, beans & flowers) in some egg cartons today too. I'm still hesitant to plant in the garden this early because, even though it's warm right now, it can still change pretty dramatically this time of year. I think we'll wait a few more weeks.

Last night I ran out of books to read, so I started sketching from some children's books and really enjoyed it. I think I'll do some more today and possibly even paint. I'll try to have some photos later in the week of these exercises.

Thoughts for the Day...

I think this is such a cool mug! My absolute favorite color is chocolate brown, and I love this light blue with it. I'd like to think that I could've designed something like this - but I wasn't asked! When I think thoughts like this, it basically tells me that I need to be spending more time at my art table just painting. Often when I paint I'm trying to create a finished product and I desperately need to get out of that mode. I really like the combination of watercolor with pen and ink - I get inspired whenever I see that style in my kids' picture books. Ok, enough said, now go 'do.'

These were some cute 'finds' from my local thrift shop. Just fun containers to put 'stuff' in! The middle one is pretty funky, but I like the colors.

I went to the nursery the other day and practiced A LOT of restraint! I did end up with these yellow bell peppers and Sweet 100 tomatoes - yum! And also lots of seeds - carrots, beans, sunflowers, morning glories - I hope my kids can keep up with the watering because I don't have such a good track record. I have a lot of gusto in the beginning of a project, but then I peter out or get too busy! Here's the beginning stages of our garden (we have to wait a few more weeks to plant):