mary makes merry

Hello, little friends

Thursday and Friday were in the 60s, and we had half an inch of snow today. Yes, it is March. Ellie and I did some nature observations in the front yard yesterday, and here are some of the things we found.

 

 

 

 

 

The tree is our new Enkianthus tree -- the buggy-looking things are actually last year's flower caps (not the technical term). Cross your fingers that it thrives! The soil around it is like concrete, so I'm concerned. The flowers are bulbs that Ellie and Clark planted in the fall. How great to see them peeking their sweet leaves up above the mulch.

Tube o' the morning!

First, a flashback:

We had a party for the neighborhood kids on Halloween (just six and a half months till Halloween, by the way!). This was one of the crafts we did, and everyone loved it. It came from this blog, via The Crafty Crow, source of all kinds of fantastic ideas. (Scroll down about half-way on the page at the No Time for Flashcards blog for the original.) Ellie's Frankenstein is in the foreground above.

A friend of Ellie's came over last week, and here's how we tweaked the original, excellent idea:

This leprechaun keeps his treasure in his hat:

 

And here are the two Ellie and her friend made:

A final shot of Ellie in her Irish dance costume, practicing the jig:

  Happy St. Patrick's Day!
 
 

Another puppet theater!

Ellie's school's huge fundraiser is coming up on Saturday. A few weeks ago, three of her classmates came over, so I set up our great Bend the Rules puppet theater. Both of my adult guests that day (the kids' moms) are room mothers and thought a similar thing would be a good item for the silent auction the class project. Naturally, I didn't start working on it right then, but I did meet the deadline.

I made a nice hang-tag giving credit to generous Amy Karol -- I really appreciate that she and her publisher are OK with making items from the book and selling them as long as she is credited and the book title/publisher are acknowledged, which is certainly very reasonable. This isn't being sold for a profit, of course, but I'm all for giving credit where credit is due! Anyway, cross your fingers that someone bids $1,000 for it Saturday! Just kidding. But hopefully someone will bid something for it!

Not original, perhaps, but delicious

Clark and I rented Julie and Julia a bit before Christmas, and, like several million other people, I was inspired to try the boeuf bourguignon recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I have had Clark's mom's hardback copy from 1966 for several years now but hadn't really cracked the spine. It's a delight to find her notes here and there -- it looks like she watched the master herself prepare several recipes on her cooking show on TV back in the day and made notes during the show, which is neat. But back to the beef. I made it for our New Year's Day dinner, and my heavens, it was tasty. A photo, for the record:

Yes, it did take 2 1/2 hours of preparation before it even went in the oven, and yes, one can make other dishes (even other versions of this dish) that are extremely delicious, but it does feel like an accomplishment to have done it. I'd even do it again! While it was in the oven, I poked around on people's blogs and learned that one person had found it needed much less time in the oven than the original recipe specified, and I found to be true that as well. Sorry I can't tell you either the blog or the time it ended up taking; my memory really is declining into mush. But if you find your way here because you're making this recipe, I would suggest that you start checking it much sooner than you think you should.

At the end of December I made the onion soup recipe, and it also was really, really good. Next up: the quiche Lorraine.

Ellie and I had earlier worked on some glasses (instructions here, if you want to ring out 2010 in December when we ring in 2011, or maybe celebrate the year's half-birthday) that she and Clark wore to a New Year's Eve women's basketball game. Go, Cats!

Hope you're still seeing the New Year through rose-colored glasses, yourself!

One of those before-and-after posts

I was really taken with this whole idea, but at the moment Clark has a dearth of ready-to-move-on shirts. My first-ever (but not my last-ever) trip to the Brown Elephant Resale Shop yielded (in addition to an Ann Taylor Loft suit in my size with jacket, suit and slacks for $12) this:
They charge $5 for these shirts, which is a bit pricey, but they really edit their donations (or only receive fantastic stuff, which seems unlikely), and everything is dry-cleaned or at least laundered and pressed. Anyway, I was all ready to make the kind of dress in the tutorial, but at the Art Institute on one of the aforementioned recent trips, I saw a little girl in just a simple dress with buttons up the back. Aha, said I.

I cobbled together two of Ellie's dress patterns and made this dress, complete with facings made from the sleeves. Other than the collar, the pocket, and a bit of the hem, I didn't have much of the shirt left over, but we're all really pleased with the result.

It has since been hemmed, incidentally.

That day actually was a two-day dress for me -- I made a muslin in the morning and the dress in the evening. Nothing like having the buttons and buttonholes already done for speeding things along! Ah, summer, how I love you.

 

Lights! Puppets! Action!

Just in time for the second book to come out, please allow me to present a project from Bend the Rules Sewing by Amy Karol:

I made this at the beginning of the summer and we had a lot of fun with it, though it's now in repose on the bed in the back bedroom. This was a fun and straightforward project. I didn't end up sewing the bottom valance on, but it's still upstairs with the trim on, so maybe for the theatre's second season.

I have come to believe that finger puppets are one of the five or seven best things in the world, and I try to get Ellie to make or play with them at every opportunity. OK, it's really an excuse for me to make them and play with them. Here's a cardinal flitting across the stage:
I think Ellie took this picture, which means I'm the puppeteer. Don't you think that if world leaders had to conduct press conferences, cabinet meetings, lunches with other heads of state, etc., while wearing a finger puppet, the world would be a better place?

Thank-you Thursday

I'm going to try to get myself into the habit of catching up on thank-you notes on Thursdays. I really would like to be better about them; this might be part of the answer. I wrote, addressed, and stamped two today that are only a week overdue, so that's a step forward. Once I get caught up in another week or two, I might even start dropping nice little notes in the mail that the etiquette masters would not expect me automatically to send. Will the mailbox burst into flames in surprise? Stay tuned!
I won't send a thank-you note to the Elbo Room, but I do enjoy driving past their sign these days!

Girls twirl

Well, it was only a matter of time before I succumbed to the cuteness of the skirt and the twirliness of the girl; presenting a Twirly Skirt from the awesome tutorial at House on Hill Road (ack! It's worth following the link just to see the banner photo!). This is a great tutorial -- I recommend it without reservation. As for the results, before I get to the photos I will tell you that Ellie wore it today, and on a trip to Vogue Fabrics in Evanston it caught the eye of two of those knowledgeable and occasionally friendly Vogue Fabrics employees (the crew today was friendly).

She also wore it to the new Modern Wing of the Art Institute, to which I also give my highest recommendation, especially the TOTALLY fantastic children's section. (Helpful hint: You don't have to pay to get to the new children's area, as long as you use the new entrance to the Modern Wing itself, on the very north side of the museum [I think this is Monroe and am too lazy to double-check.]
 On the other hand, if you live in Chicago and become a member of this museum, I promise you you will never regret it.) This is how much Ellie loves the Ryan Education Center: She and I went briefly on Thursday evening (free night!) on our way to the jazz concert in Millennium Park. She loved it so much she asked to go back on Friday, so we did. When we asked her on Sunday what she wanted to do after church, she said she wanted to go to the children's section of the Art Institute! So, we did. Hamming and twirling in an uncrowded area ensued.

You don't have to ask twice

Thanks so much, Trope, for the invitation to show more shots of my girl! I tried to do this post last week and Typepad keep sabotaging me.

Some silly and some normal, or what passes for normal around here:

This one was taken at a rest stop in Iowa on our drive to Colorado. (!)

Hope all are enjoying this marvelous month of August!

New (to me) shop love

How did I miss The Needle Shop for a year?? Of course, not knowing about it until this week has saved me untold buckage. The two top pieces were actually living in the free-scrap box -- the polka dot (Rowan) was a drawstring skirt with a very well executed pocket! Ellie hasn't forgiven me for forgetting the scraps she chose on the counter. The Needle Shop isn't huge but has a great selection of fabrics I'd only previously admired in cyberspace. I shall return. Good thing it isn't any closer to my house.

  I found it via How About Orange, whose fabrics are also at The Needle Shop...score!! I just have to save my allowance so I can buy full yards of a couple of them for bags. Yippee! I bought half-yards of the Kokka (pigs) and echino, but a full yard of the  beauty below had to come home with us.

This panel includes fishies; can't neglect the fishies! By Alexander Henry.