Beach Party Dress

For Louisa's birthday, back in May, I made two versions of the Beach Party Dress by fiddlehead (a free pattern download!). I made the 24-month size and made a couple alterations the second go around.



The first version I made in Blue Wings from the Storybrook collection by Alexander Henry (bought on sale from purlsoho.com) with some yellow checked gingham for the lining (a fat quarter from Ben Franklin). It turned out a little big in the top and too short in the length, so when I made the final party-dress version I took it in an inch or so around the bodice and made the skirt two inches longer.




I also added a panel of the lining fabric to the elastic section in back, which wasn't necessary, but I like the look of it. I used two different prints from Heather Ross's Far Far Away line. It's a very nice double guaze that I also bought at Purl Soho when I was in New York visiting Meredith for my birthday. I store bought pink bias tape which was much easier (and cheaper) than making my own, especially since I was using such fancy fabric. Also I hate making bias tape.

Here's Louisa's dress from her first birthday. It was made from some simple cotton from Ben Franklin using Heather Ross's Smocked Sundress pattern from Weekend Sewing. 12 month size. Super easy, even for my first time sewing with elastic thread.

Garden Expansion

Now that we know we are not moving til (at the earliest) next August, we are making our garden twice as big this year. Ordered all organic seeds from Seeds of Change and Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. Planted lettuce last weekend and finally got the peas in the ground today. Started basil inside last week.

AJ hand tilled and cleared the new part of the plot while I cleaned up the existing area and planted the lettuce on March 7.

The basil seeds I started inside on 3/8 look like this on 3/16.

The finished expansion with posts in the ground and the pea trellis up. AJ did that work this weekend while I was in New York and I planted the peas today with compost from his parent's farm.

The onions and garlic in the foreground are from last summer and the parsley in the middle of the plot is coming back from last year too.

My bulbs emerging on March 6.

How they look today, ten days later.

Tete a tetes are blooming! One of my favorites.

Martha Stewart Multi-Grain Bread

From the February 2010 issue. Yum! I have to admit I had never made my own sandwich bread before. Turned out well, and even with organic ingredients it is much cheaper than the local organic bread I usually (and will most likely continue to) buy at the store.

Yoga Mat Bag

I was excited to make something to hold the fancy new Manduka yoga mat my sister gave me for Christmas. So, my sewing project for the January blizzard became Amy Butler's Nigella Yoga Mat (free PDF pattern here on her site).

I used Full Bloom in coral from her August Fields line. The fabric is home decor weight, and I lined it with a pale pink heavy weight cotton so it is sturdy without any interfacing.

The pockets are just big enough to hold my eye pillow and some extra hair clips.

Sand Box

Louisa's first birthday present came a week early... A.J. built her a deluxe sand box!

Natural Easter Eggs

This year, instead of using an old PAAS kit from the dollar store, we tied flowers, leaves, grass and weeds onto the eggs tightly with string and then boiled them in water with lots of onion skins. The trick is to use a lot of thread, wrapped around and around. There are more instructions here.

They turned out very pretty and 100% non-toxic, especially when the eggs come from the organically-fed chickens in my parent's backyard.

Lou's Brew

AJ got to work this weekend brewing a special beer for Louisa's first birthday. It's an orange summer ale and smells delicious already!

Bottling the Beer

Moving the beer from its second-stage fermentation carboy into the bottling bucket where it mixes with more sugar, which will carbonate the beer once it's in the bottles.


AJ getting set up to fill the bottles, after spending a long time sterilizing them all and all the equipment. Note his homemade bottle drying rack to his right.


Filling the bottles.


Capping the bottles.


Capping was fun.


Now we wait three weeks for it to carbonate, then we enjoy! We ended up filling 29 12oz, 4 16oz, 4 22oz, and 1 500ml bottles... assuming none of them explode during carbonation...