Bluebirdbaby

Rainy Day Play

A Special Shirt

Late last fall, I stumbled upon a beautiful skirt on flickr made by Jimin of Smallville. I was immediately drawn to her classic designs and marveled over the quality of her items. The first outfit I ever made was last summer and my sewing skills madly needed help. I really didn't even know how to get better. I kept trudging along, hoping with time the stitches would look neater, the patterns more professional (I made my own because I was too intimidated of others), and somehow I would figure out that darn serger. When I found Jimin's clothing, a sense of professional quality emanated from each photograph and it was clear that a lot of time, love, and careful attention to detail went into each and every piece she created.

Jimin and I soon struck up a friendship online and she was always willing to answer my questions on sizing, garment construction, and pattern making. I valued her advice and she inspired me to really improve my sewing; something I really needed for the direction I wanted to head. So thanks to her, over the winter I got busy and my sewing grew by leaps and bounds. I studied the way store bought clothing was put together, cut up cheap shirts and pants to study the shape of the separate pieces to get ideas for my own patterns. I bought some patterns to take apart and saw how the shape of each piece changed as the sizing got larger. I traced the rise of a favorite pair of the little one's pants and used that as a guideline for making my own. I went through yards of muslin, sheets of paper for writing patterns, a basket full of scraps for mastering the serger, and read all I could on constructing your own clothing. And I honestly wouldn't have done the majority of this without being inspired and supported by Jimin.

So when her spring line came out, I knew immediately that one of her beautiful purple shirts had to find a home here. It came in a lovely package, complete with some fun "extras" and was worn by the little one right away. It fits perfectly. The craftsmanship is amazing and the details were all so obviously lovingly created. Elisabeth loves her new special "purple shirt" but I think I love it more. Thanks Jimin, for all your help and inspiration.

You can find her Etsy shop here!

Happy Weekend!

Fresh flowers from the garden. The perfect addition to our dining table to make dinner a little more special.

I've added a couple of "sample sale" items to the shop. Hopefully my motivation to do some more creating will come back, but for now the sun is calling...

Enjoy your weekend!

Making

I've spent little time in the green room lately. Really little. The weather has been beautiful, so why would I want to spend my time in a tiny, dark room with no fresh air? But a couple of weeks ago I finished another design for the shop. This morning was the first time I actually got a picture of it in action. It's a long style "bolero" jacket that is perfect for spring and on chilly summer nights. It's reversible too. I still have some kinks to work out in the sleeves, as well as making the pattern in a couple of other sizes (these will be available in 6 mo.-2T), and I need to drastically reduce the number of hours I worked on this to make them available for the shop. But hopefully in the next month the listing will be up. I also plan on making one more suited for the boys out of a navy linen/cotton blend. I am having such a difficult time finding a good boyish cotton print. Any ideas?

I learned how to needle felt this morning. A big thanks to my friend for teaching me. I made this "spring fairy" doll for our nature table. I still have to work on her face and I'm making an apron to go over her dress. It was a very fun process and quite easy to do! I think my next project will be a bird mobile. The little one would like that...

We also made our first batch of ice cream today. We purchased an electric ice cream maker yesterday so we could regularly make ice cream. The little one and I can't do dairy or sugar, so store-bought ice cream is out. We made our first batch using half almond milk and rice milk, sliced almonds, crushed dark chocolate bits, and maple syrup instead of sugar. It was marvelous!

I hope your days are filled with warmth and sunshine! Until next time...

Spring Growth

Blue

Apparently it's a blue-sky kind of week. The weather has been gorgeous and we've been enjoying every second of it. We only have a couple of weeks until the black flies come out, and then we're stuck inside again. Such a short window to enjoy the lovely weather!

Stephen took the day off to work on our deck. The floor is almost finished, then we'll be working on the railing. Finally, a screened room will be added and stairs that lead down to the ground. We think a hot tub would look fabulous up there in the future...

We've discovered Otay is definitely an outdoor cat. She whines and meows and jumps all over you until you open the door to let her out. She's just like a dog and will chase us all over the yard, comes when we call her, and digs large holes in the garden. Oh, and the sandbox...she thinks that is the best thing ever.

The little one has requested that every minute be spent outside, evident from the tantrums she displays as I try to get her in for lunch and dinner. She'd happily play outside until the sun went down, and I admit to expending a great deal of energy chasing her all over the yard, mostly trying to steer her clear of the road. But we have been enjoying ourselves. We've been walking everyday down the road to see the horses, chickens, tractors, and our friend "Mamee's" house. There are buds on the trees and flowers popping up everywhere.

This internet break has done me good. I've enjoyed it and do not intend to stop. I think I'll say to expect random posting for a while. I'm just enjoying everything that's been going on here. Books have been read, seedlings have been ordered, gardens have been prepared, flower beds have been raked and weeded, we've baked everyday, Stephen and I have been enjoying our quiet time reading at night, but mostly I feel like there is a certain "frantic" feeling that has disappeared. Trying to check e-mails, upload pictures, etc. all while multi-tasking left me stressed and frazzled. It's allowed me to be more present with myself and the little one. I almost wish we were back in the computer-less age.

As the little one and I were raking the garden yesterday I began to think of my mother. We had beautiful flower beds around our house growing up. We were always outside gardening or inside baking. I was trying to imagine how much of that would have been lost if we had a computer in our living room. How would I have felt if my mother was online instead of getting her hands dirty in the garden? (And this is in no way said to make anyone feel bad about their computer usage! It's just my feelings about how my time is spent.) Those times spent gardening and baking are some of my fondest memories. I want to make sure the little one has that too.

I have two new things to introduce to the shop, and while I felt I was under a time crunch to do so, I am just taking it easy. I'm enjoying the orders coming in and spending whatever time is needed in my little green room. I've made a goal of dressing the little one in only handmade this summer, so I'm excited to get working on some special things for her. Of course, I'll share some finished pieces here in the future.

So now I'm off to get some reading done in the sun on our half-finished porch before the little one wakes up from her nap. Enjoy your week! I hope you're sky will be as blue as ours.

Dress-up

Saving my many dance costumes from years and years of ballet and tap proved to be a very good choice. While Papa worked away on taxes over the weekend, the little one and I had fun trying on old tap  and ballet shoes (my ballet flats from 3rd grade still fit), and of course the many tutus and sequined leotards (which no longer fit me, thank goodness).

Limited Edition Growing Shorts

Still enjoying my computer break, but I wanted to let you all know that there are some lovely new shorts in the shop. Because of how they are designed, they will last for two seasons! See more about them here.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

A Break

I love writing. I especially adore sharing my thoughts, sewing projects, dilemmas, and daily bits of our lives with you all. But with the warmer weather arriving, I'm feeling a need to escape from this lovely community online. The internet is an amazing resource; one I feel I often take for granted. I have limited my computer time in the past month to only when the little one is sleeping. But it still feels like too much. I'm in a place right now where I need to change my pace. I need to enjoy being outside, meeting new people whom I can actually have coffee with (although I treasure each and every online friendship I have made), learning more by reading books and by actually doing, and enjoying life by living in the moment.

I'm feeling a deep need to connect with the land, nature, our food, our community, our family, and living as simply as possible. Many health issues have emerged in the past month, and I feel I need to slow my life down, find out what's causing my body to be out of balance, and take care of myself. Every time I turn the computer on, I feel my body tensing up while thinking "I have so much to do in such little time." My precious alone time is also when I get caught up with house chores, do all of my sewing, and spend time with Stephen. It leaves little, if any, time for me to do something for myself.

Mostly it's about the hours I feel are lost each day. I will never get those hours back. There are gardens to be pruned, seedlings to plant, cold frames to construct, chicken coops to build, trees to clear, decks to finish, rooms to paint, and books to read. The weather is glorious, and the little one and I have been spending every free second outside.

There is such a great community here. I don't want to stop being a part of that, but I feel I need to slow down for a moment. Up until the last few days of warmer weather I hadn't given this a thought. Maybe it's my inner "back-to-the-land" passion surfacing. Or maybe it's simply because I want to live a slower paced life, and the internet is as fast paced as it gets. Or maybe it just feels like there is too much on my list right now with getting our little homestead ready for the spring.

So I'm taking a computer break. I'll be checking in briefly with my Etsy shop daily, possibly uploading photos every couple of days to flickr, and you might just hear from me once a week or so. Right now, in this moment, I need to live life fully, and for me that means turning the computer off. Maybe next week I will desperately need to write here regularly again. There's no telling. So I'm just following my instincts and hoping you all will understand and still check in every once in a while.

It's been said before that I can't sleep unless I write. So I think my writing will take a slower pace and quietly be written in a journal. I appreciate having this space to record the daily details of our lives, and would hate to become out of touch with that. So please do not feel that this is the end of Bluebirdbaby! Not so at all! Think of it more like a short vacation...

Be well, my friends. Thank you for being here. See you soon.

Everything Bag Tutorial

It's up! You'll see a link to it (click on the photo of the bag) on the left hand side of my blog! Phew...that took me a good afternoon to do. I found it a very interesting process to verbalize exactly how I put a bag together. Normally I don't think about it, I just do it.
So if my wording isn't clear, or you find a mistake, or you need help, just e-mail me. My new e-mail is erin@shopbluebirdbaby.com

Of course, if you do make the bag I would love to see the finished product. So e-mail me or leave me a comment with the link to your blog or photo!

I'm taking a bit of a breather the next couple of days. I've got more pattern work to do and fabric searching. Be well!

I'm Beat

I've got the bag tutorial all ready to go, but I have no idea how to even make a tutorial with Typepad! Does anyone know? And if so, can you e-mail me with the details? It would be much appreciated.

It's been a hectic weekend with little sleep. Apparently we can cross salmon off the little one's menu. A night of constant awakenings from her left both of us pretty tired. So I don't have the energy to post about much. But I would like to say that the pleated denim shorts are now available in the shop. I'm so happy I finally found the perfect weight denim. The store I get most of my apparel fabric from has slim pickings when it comes to denim. Usually one light weight denim, a couple of medium weights, and a lot of heavy weights. So when I saw this medium weight denim that didn't scream 1980's to me, I snatched up all that was left, knowing it would be perfect for these shorts.

In other news, I dragged out our old matchbox cars from the loft. Stephen had a set and I had a set, so together there are plenty for the little one to pick through. She adores them and "drives" them all over the house. Such fun to watch.

And forget about crayons and paint....markers are much more fun. Crayons always ended up in the mouth and not on the paper, but not markers. She'll color sheet after sheet of paper with these. Her new favorite thing is to color on the wood floor. Luckily I've found with a bit of water, it will come right off. Getting it off her face, on the other hand, is a bit trickier!

Shorts!

I finally found the perfect material for these shorts. I've had the pattern completed for two months, but wasn't quiet thrilled with the heavy denim I had on hand, so was waiting until I found something more suitable for summer. They are inspired by my favorite pair of shorts I've owned since high school. Thankfully, I still fit into them and the two pairs I own are in remarkably good shape.

They'll be in the shop soon! I need to tweak some of the larger patterns and I'll probably change the location of the pleats on the final product. Also wanted to mention that I will be offering some custom crown listings in my shop every once and a while. The supplier of my wool felt has pretty steep shipping rates, so I try to get a big order together to make it worthwhile. So when I find I need an order, I will be offering crown listings. (And you'll notice a tote in the shop too, that will be announced later this week with more information!)

Spring!

Okay, I know just about every week I've mentioned how spring is here, and then the next day we end up getting more snow. But I truly, honestly, definitely think it's right around the corner. Definitely. Because I have to believe that, or I think I might go a little crazy thinking about more white fluffy flakes falling from the sky.

Let me show you a bit of evidence that spring is indeed close, if not here already...

Diapers drying on the line outside. (I won't mention that when I brought them in at 8 p.m. that they were frozen solid...)

Lambs! They really are that adorable.

Going for a hike, followed by two pregnant goats.

The first flowers finally popped up in our yard. Let's not think about the two feet of snow directly behind me that has yet to melt.

My new mud boots. The most comfortable footwear I have ever owned. The little one now has a puddle jumping competitor. We spent almost two hours outside yesterday jumping in and out of puddles. Seriously, I never realized how fun it was.

And Stephen started up the tractor for the first ride of the season. After the little one got over the tractor fumes and really loud engine, she enjoyed the ride quite a bit!

I hope spring is finding you all too! Enjoy your weekend and see you back here on Monday.

Hello, It's Me

Here I am. An actual photo that includes my head. I bet you all were doubtful that I even had a head, with all those neck-down shots I take. I skipped the fancy camera and annoying tripod, and settled for the grainy version of Photobooth. This grand gesture of revealing my full-self is in honor of my first "About Me" page.

Sometimes I stumble upon a blog and want to know more about the person writing it. I find that if I first learn a bit about the author, I feel more connected to the writing, as well as the person writing it. So I think you'll find more than you ever need to know about our little family on my new About Me page. And, of course, I'm always willing to answer more questions. I get a lot of questions about photography, so I included a bit about my camera and lenses.

Find anything missing or have a particular question that wasn't covered? Let me know. My e-mail link is right below the new About Me link in the left hand menu. I'm always happy to answer questions!

Week 9

For the Six One Way flickr group.

Yesterday the little one decided she wanted to spend time outside. A lot of time outside. A few minutes after going out, it started to rain. Didn't bother her a bit. The camera and I got a bit damp, but we stayed outside and had fun exploring newly emerging patches of grass that lead into the forest.
We threw sticks for Mac, ate lots of dirty snow, watched birds soaring high above, found acorns to gather, felt the texture of different trees, checked out our boats stored in the yard, jumped in puddles, went in and out of the greenhouse, and checked the mail...all in the rain. The camera held up (mostly stored under my coat) and I managed to get a few shots from our rainy afternoon outdoors.

I hope you're all having a wonderful week and able to spend some time outside!