Some amazingly spring-like weather has come our way! We've found ourselves outside at each moment possible - standing in the warmth, soaking in the sun, and breathing in the fresh, fresh air of a soon-to-be spring. It feels so good to begin to stretch our legs - and our lungs - in the new way that spring asks of us.
With the sun sticking around a bit longer these days, my window of warmth on the sun porch (where I moved everything after moving out of my studio last fall) is opening up enough for me to get out there. And, oh, it feels so good. I'm starting in baby steps - making some gifts (above - working outside on a birthday crown, based on my pattern in The Creative Family), airing out some (2 year old) quilt tops-in-progress (seen in the background up there), and just generally reacquainting with it all. In small, simple, happy spring sewing projects.
With the bigger kids (Papa included) running in and out of the house on a recent sunny afternoon, Harper and I did a little bit of sewing. He's happy to play along in the sling or on a sheepskin at my feet - as long as I keep singing. (Because only a newborn baby can love a scratchy Mama's voice, right?) I used the Buttercup Bag pattern - found for free on Made by Rae. It's such a great pattern - easy to follow and quick to whip up. (I thought about making a prettier photo of it than the one above....but perhaps it's best left photographed just where it will spend most of it's time in my house - atop my desk and a huge pile of knitting patterns and notebooks. And likely some important tax documents strewn in there ever-so-neglectfully, too. Oops.)
For the happy cooing and sitting and chatting that he did while I made my bag (and for not telling me that my singing is scary), I whipped up these elastic waist pants for the little guy (once again, using the "pattern" I outline in The Creative Family.) The fabric - sooo good, isn't it? It came from good-ness (it's this one, in a lighter color).
One more photo - with baby toes and deer on linen fabric. Just because.
Have I told you that my new sewing space - albeit much smaller and colder and funkier than my old studio (she says with great restraint in those slightly selfish moments)- has cardinals building a nest right outside - inches outside - my window, so that I can watch and listen to them as I make things?
Life really is quite sweet. In beautifully small and simple ways.