Tag Archives: Books

a sew-sew project

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Sewing books have been on and off the shelves for months now but today we actually got the sewing machine set up.  First time in this house. We moved in 11 mo ago so don't be too impressed.  I have a copy of Absolutely A-line and thought it might be a good first dressmaking project for Moira, not to wear, but to make for the little girls. In many respects it was that, but the caveats shared on Amazon do apply.

dress web

The pattern is very simple.  There are four pieces to cut out and the written instructions are straightforward. There are no illustrations showing how to lay out the pattern pieces however. (no guidance re:right side up etc) If you have sewn before you can wing it.  It's a great base pattern to teach someone else to assemble a garment.  For $2 used, the paper templates are cheaper than you could buy at the fabric store.  I would not try it for your own first sewing project without an experienced seamstress available. And this folks, is how we keep our amazon credits nice and low around here – discourage you from purchasing lol.  

The measurements given were pretty accurate.  I went a size up for Tess because she has gone through a few sizes in the past year.  It's pretty roomie right now but I expect it won't be by summer's end.  

dress web-2

I worked up this first dress and made enough mistakes to feel confident helping Moira make the second one tomorrow.  

In the kitchen with Alannah – Julia’s Potato Leek soup

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"A good homemade soup in these days of the can opener is almost a unique and always a satisfying experience." – Julia Child, Mastering the Art of French Cooking


alannah soup 2 web

alannah potato soup web

We recieved Julia Childs, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," from our friend (Miss Jen) and decided to finally make something out of it. We picked Leek and Potato Soup. To be honest, I was intimidated at first when looking through her cookbook, but when I went to actually make something, I found her directions super easy to follow. So if your in the mood for a good homemade soup, expecially with the chilly days approaching, this is definitely one to try. Enjoy! : )

Yarn Along – the pink hat

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Behold, knitting project number two. : ) The hat was actually done but I didn't get around to sharing for last week's yarn along at Ginny's.   I so enjoyed making this little hat although the yarn I used was lighter than called for so the hat was smaller than intended.  That's ok, there are a couple of small heads around here.

HAT

This was my introduction to circular and double pointed needles.  The circular knitting was a dream.  LOVED that you can get stockinette stitch without purling. No major errors, just a few stitches looser than the rest.  It seems my tension level isn't constant, much like in life…. lol.

The double points went alright but I did that part wrong.  I divided the stitches among all the needles and then began to knit so I kept ending up with too many stitches on one needle. Rebecca explained that part to me afterwards and I think I can do it right next time. 

HAT

I am stymied now for the next project. Trying to align pattern difficulty with yarn and needles I own has been impossible.  I think I am going to try to let go of the acrylic yarn stash I have and just find a pattern and the necessary yarn and needles for it.  Way too many hours on the net have not panned out. There is a fine line between thrifty and scrupulous.  A line I sometimes cross.  So someone have mercy and point me towards something small and pretty and simple.  I heard of a yarn shop not too far away and will be finding it next week.

Most of my reading has been aloud lately.  We found a Bill Bennett anthology we haven't seen before and have thoroughly enjoyed the renditions included.  The story about the young married couple and the fountain of youth nearly brought me to tears.  There was also a moving retelling of the Story of Ruth.  I see it got one glowing and one negative review on Amazon fwiw.  I like Michael Hague so it's thumbs up here. 

Another big hit was Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes.  It is all the more interesting since Sue and I have been working together at Snapshots Around the World this year.  We plan to exchange a box of goodies with their family.  This is the best sort of story stretcher. 

Continuing that WWII theme, Aidan just finished The Winged Watchman for school.  We are going to tackle the book report tomorrow.   We also coincidentally rented Sophie Scholl in German last week.  I didn't realize it was subtitled 'til we got home but everyone who watched loved it.  We agreed this story was much better with German actors, having lived here.  I tracked down the book version and hope to hit that soon.