The Everyday Summer Skirt

For years, I have had a skirt I bought on the street in Cold Spring that I love because it is easy (read: pull on and walk), comfy (read: elastic waist), yet stylish (read: undeserved props from mom friends).  

I am not a super-confident garment sewer, but after the busyness and chaos of the last few weeks of school, I really needed to do something for ME.  So yesterday I decided to buckle down and try to recreate this fave skirt.

I learned a couple of tricks on the first attempt, but I am really happy with how it turned out overall---so happy, in fact, that I just ordered a whole bunch of fabric to make a pile of these and stock up my Etsy shop, so keep your eyes peeled for that link!

School's out for Summer

 The first Monday of summer vacation was SO lovely.  I really treasure the change of pace. Instead of starting the day with waking and rushing and packing, we slept in (a little), cooked together,

ate a delicious, leisurely breakfast,

did some work, theirs

and mine, 

 swam 

and then, slept again.  Wake up and repeat.  Oh, it's going to be a good summer!!  

What are you looking forward to?

Go Yankees!

Another in our birthday season has come and gone.  He's 6.  Wut?!

This baseball fanatic.

Charming and energetic fellow.

Always out for a good time and always thinking of others. 

Best Jasper quote of all time: 

"Mom, am I sweet, kind and generous?"

Me: "Well, yes, in fact, you are."

xoxox Jazzman

Sound Sculpture at Storm King

 

On a recent beautiful spring day, we pulled into the parking lot of the Storm King Art Center to have a family outing and were silenced by the all-encompassing sound that surrounded us when we opened our car doors:

Being in an awe-inspiring landscape dwarfed by monumental sculptures is enough of profound experience, but the sound added another layer to the whole day, as it rose and fell depending on our relationship to the taller trees or the fields. I knew many people around us were experiencing the cicada invasion, but for some reason they are not near our house, so this was the first we had actually been in the midst of it and it was WILD!  

My first view of a cicada mid-molt:

The self-proclaimed "Cicada Whisperer"

Cicada earring

Storm King Art Center is one of my favorite family outing destinations, it is a place we come back to again and again.  We recently celebrated Henry's 8th birthday and during this visit my mind went trolling down memory lane to when we took some sweet baby photos of a boy now SO big!   It is amazing the joy and change that 8 years can bring. We tried to re-create this picture in front of Isamu Noguchi's "Momo Taro" for kicks:

Henry and Mom ca. 10/2005

Henry and Mom ca. 6/2013

Then 

Now

A brave, happy and kooky kid, Henry has become the leader of this family tribe and he holds his position with honor.  

To cap off our spectacular cultural day, he performed that night in his first tap and jazz recital:

I am so proud of this amazing young man. Congratulations and thank you, Henry, for all that you have become. We are blessed to have you in our life.

Linking up!

Today I am linking up with Kristy @ Quiet Play.  Check out her awesome paper piecing at her blog here.

And check out some other linkers by clicking below!

Deadlines.

Let me start this post with a little background.  1) I LOVE deadlines.  Pretty much if I don't have a deadline, nothing gets done.  2) I am also a terrible procrastinator. Always have been, always will be.  3) After having four kids in quick succession, I have very bad sleep habits.

So...when the invitation to the Garrison Children's Education Fund "Spring Thaw" fundraiser arrived last week, I thought: "Oh, what a great opportunity to do something with those quilt blocks from sewing class last winter!!" Six of my sewing class students that worked on these blocks go to the school the auction benefits, so I thought making a quilt from these scrappy green blocks they made would be a nice addition.  

*Note: Most likely this photo was taken at about 2 a.m.

The morning after that late night, I got right to pinning...

Pinning led to a great fort diversion...

And dove into quilting:

A quick machine binding last night and, voila, a finished quilt for tonight's auction! (I am still kind of in shock myself).  

 Hopefully, the parents will think this turned out as great as I do!  This is a wonderful cooperative effort and I am so proud of all of my students!  Thank you Anna, Fiona, Evelyn, Caroline, Emerson, Ava and Natalie for your contributions to this quilt!!

Tutorial Tuesday

Here is a quick photo recap of my favorite way to make HST (half-square triangles).  Somehow, early on in my quilting life, I ended up with the nifty little tool seen below:

I bought mine ages ago, but I found it online here recently.

So you position your two squares right sides together and make three lines down one diagonal as seen above.

Next, aligning the left side of your foot with the dotted (or center line), sew two seams on the two solid lines. In this way, you could chain piece a bunch and then come back down the other side.

Finally, slice with your rotary cutter through the center line and, voila! Two HSTs!!

Good luck!