Bliss Beyond Naptime

SS Wednesday - Spring Oatmeal

The snow is almost gone and it's warming up some but there was a sneaky chill in the air that seems to have froze the liquid inside my ears. Is that possible? Either way, it feels like there's a fishbowl over my head, filled with water, and two goldfish bouncing around, and whenever one of the children talks there's this high pitch buzz I hear. Trippy.

On a less high pitched buzz note, I'm finished my Oatmeal Sweater! Just in time for that inner ear chill weather. I have two skeins of this beautiful yarn leftover so if anyone is interested in some yellow Puffin shoot me an email. Or maybe I can knit up some matching earmuffs. Hmmmm...

I saw this sweater intially at Soulemama (on Soulemama?). I know, if you follow the link you'll see that I made the sweater not only in the same yarn, Puffin from Quince and Co. but also the same colour. Kind of lame, no? I couldn't help it, I just fell so in love with hers that all the other colours seemed to pale in comparison. Though, it was a fun, quick (for me anyway) movie watching friendly knit, plus it took a surprising little amount of Puffin ~ just six skeins, so maybe I can make one in another colourway. Maybe an oatmeal Oatmeal?

 

As for the rest of the ensemble for this SS Wednesday (for new readers, that stands for Sustainable Style, where we try to sport mostly sustainable):

pilot gloves: a handspun and crocheted birthday present from my friend Ellie

mini-bloomers: organic silk/cotton ones from my shop

hat: (that I should have kept on!) I knit up using the Gretel pattern from Ysolda Teague

tights: American Aparrel

boots: Hunter Wellies

Leave a link to your SS in the comments if you want to play!

 

And Little Boy Blue

And Kale wanted a dress too. In blue he said. We like to call it a beach cover up around these parts though. Especially when Dada's around! More spring sewing projects in the works this week. See you tomorrow for SS Wednesday! What kind of handmade/second hand/sustainable threads are you going to sport?

 

Little Girl Pink

I've been so busy this winter working on my blog redesign, setting up the Spring Sewing Camp and then my spring collection that I've finally felt compelled to back away from work related pursuits to focus on sewing some family spring get ups. Edie, of course, comes first.

First project she wanted me to giddy up on was something, anything, made with the fabric that grandma brought out with her on last year's visit. It has all things Edie loves splattered throughout; butterflies, flowers, pink, purple. Whoops, no fairies though. The pattern was from Mani Mina. It's called the Chic Everyday Dress. Super fast and easy whip up. Seriously only took me an hour from cut to finish.

But this one was even faster! The first dress was well recieved but Edie's face really lit up when I presented her with this one. This is the Olivia dress from Farbenmix.  Sorry that that link is all German but here's another shop that offers these uber-cute frocks in English but couldn't find Oliva there. I did find heaps more of Farbenmix and Studio Tantrum - sheesh. So much cute to sew in this lifetime! I made her this one I think two times before and then I just noticed that the pattern sizes go up to nine years old. Who's going to be the cutest nine year old in town?

I have a mountain of organic cotton fleece I purchased for my shop so I dipped into that stash and picked out a procion dye colour called 'Bubble Gum Pink' - perfect! I just want to shove this little thing in my mouth and blow bubbles it's that cute. And the heart I cut out of some pink hemp canvas I've had kicking around forever. I love how the warp and weft make it look like it was painted on with water colours.

The Olivia pattern also includes a pinafore that poofs up when you pull on a top secret release cord hidden in the seam. I'm going to make her one of those just as soon as I can get my hands on more hemp muslin. Heads up on some cuteness coming around the corner; Kale insists that he needs a dress just like this too. My sweet little snag (sensitive new age guy).

This Moment - Just a Neeble, Neeble

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~Amanda Soule

These Are the People in My Neighborhood - Kate!

I thought this might be a fun new category in the blog; People in my Neighborhood. I have so many friends here in this little town that have the best energy and live in the most idyllic, simple,  beautiful homes.  Meet Kate. She was kind enough to grant me permission to feature her and her husband Sam's pretty little cabin. No, her face did not get attacked by a cat, she was face painting with my kids. Kate watches them Thursday mornings so I can get some work done and they, in turn,  be exposed to the outside world. Kate picked up one of my skeins at an annual fundraiser I donate to for the local watershed, May Day, and she was kind enough to model the shawl she knit up with it.

Here's the skein that was auctioned off. Love the big slab of sequins tucked in there. Love how Katie integrated that nicely into her shawl. Can I just mention how fast Thursday mornings fly? The kids get so excited to go it's really sweet. And Kate's place is just as cute as can be and so comfy it take me half and hour to get the gumption to leave again when I go pick up the kids.

And check it out! I just about peed myself when I first saw her book shelf. She colour codes her bookshelves too! And those sheep skins. Is it grim to say I want to raise sheep so we can swim in sheep skins inside?

And I know that Craig has some serious wood stove/oven envy. How amazing would it be to cook a meal with this beauty? And the sliding doors above are for keeping meals warm. Craig thinks we can make it happen here but it would be a tight, hot squeeze. Oi, that sounds kind of naughty.

And how I pine for a claw foot tub in a wall-less bathroom. See their toboggan hanging with care? I guess they've added plenty of mileage to it this snowy winter.

Such a sweet little cabin. So glad my little ones get to hang out in this love-drenched digs while Mama gets productive. Or at least gets paralyzed with indeciciveness with that four hour freedom window!

SS Wednesday - Chick Eat-ah

There is just the slightest whiff of spring in the air. You know what that means; Mama has to bust out her happy skirt. Instant spring! At least instant spring in my step as you can see from this picture I had Craig take of me when I first scored this skirt from Curious Bird.

 I think this is the fourth time I shared this picture on the blog - I'm just so proud of the air I caught there! As you can see it's probably the twirliest skirt you can imagine. I need to take some flemenco dancing classes or something to truly own this skirt.

Our outdoor couch is making an appearance now that snow is finally starting to melt around our property. Bad news, the chickens have noticed this too. During supper I spotted them having a hen part on my couch so I went running outside, drumstick in hand, and chased them off. I put a blanket on there and tried to make it look as uncomfortable and sinister as possible. Luckily they scare easy and fled. Big chickens.

Ahhh, the best outdoor couch in the Kootenays - and it faces the sun and garden to boot. What I'm wearing:

top: my leg of glam . Might rename it leg of chicken if I find poop on my skirt!

poncho: my grandma who lives in Peru crocheted this for me. She's the cutest ever!

scarf: my mom goes to Peru each Christmas and brings me back lots of warm layers. This alpaca scarf is from last year's trip.

skirt: the vintage score from Curious Bird

Hat: my good 'ol ganomy. What can I say; it keeps the wind out of my ears!

bag: a new creation I'm playing with for the shoppe. Hemp and lace bag. It's big. It's hemp. It's a reconstructed lace curtain! Maybe call it the Pretty Hippy Tote? Hmmm?

leggings: my organic two tones

boots: tsubo

Vlog Post ~ I Do Craig Good

 

This Moment - Mommy Time

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~Amanda Soule

Pinspiration Board

I've been inspired to get an inspiration board happening in my studio for quite a while now. I finally to around to making this simple one based on one I found in a book I've had kicking around forever called Crafting Vintage Style. Super fast and easy. All you need is a slab of wood, clothes pins and wood glue.

Lord knows we have lots of wood boards laying around the property since we have milled some trees on site to build Craig's office a couple of years back. Just had to dig under some tarps to find this perfect piece. Edie was my assistant and 'little dab will do you' glue girl.

After the glue has dried the board was placed in between two rafters up in my studio so it looks like all my inspirations are suspended in mid-air, waiting for the day to land here on earth. I'm just so happy to finally have a place to keep fabric swatches, magazine clippings, early love notes and my growing collection of naked Craig pictures.

Until I got my Naked Craig Board I've been using Pinterest as the place to play with the images I find online that exude my style or just simply talk to me. You can see my boards over here. I have to warn you this place is highly, highly addictive! To join you need an invite. You can ask for one over on the site, didn't seem to take me long to hear a response,  but if you want to giddy up the process just shoot me an email and I'll send you one; kathy at whiletangerine dreams dot com.

And finally, hanging out to dry on the inspiration line outside, the first pair of socks I sewed. Way faster than knitting! Why haven't I thought of this before? I found a Jalie pattern but made them thigh high because that's how deep the snow is still in these parts! Love how they look like they're dancing on the line. Very inspiring!

 

SS Wednesday - Hand Me Down Town

Let's point the sustainable style lens over on these two cute specimens today for I'm not getting in front of the camera until something is done with this mess (imagine me saying this as I floof my hair all exasperated-like)! Pretty much everything in their wardrobe is handmade or handed down so this will be easy peasy. Truth be told I don't think I ever bought either one of them an article of new clothing other than their wool under layers. This phenomena is mostly due to lots of hand me downs, crafty grandmas and my disdain for shopping offline.

Let's look at lovely Edie over here:

hat: one of my first knitting projects. It's the kitty hat from Stich and Bitch Nation .

jacket: made by my mama; Grandma Abuelita.

scarf: I knit this up with silk/alpaca and there is a crocheted butterfly nesting in there. People often mistake it for a flower and we just decided to just let them think that. The pattern is from Stitch and Bitch Nation too.

dress: another Grandma Abuelita special

pants: this is a pattern from the super cute Japanese pattern book Girly Style wardrobe. I made it from an old couch slip cover.

boots: hand me downs from who I can't remember but I do know that they're starting to get a little tight and maybe starting to give her blisters. Come on rain boot season!

 

And this sweet little man:

hat: my mom brought this back for him from Peru last year

coat: My mom made this for Edie when she was little like this and at the same time made Craig a matching one. I borrowed Craig's yesterday so Kale and I could be matchy match at the park.

scarf: I knit this for Edie years ago. It's a keyhole. I get less worried about scarf strangulation with keyholes. Hole figure.

mittens: Grandma Nancy knit these! She actually made the whole family mittens complete with strings for Christmas one year. Strings had to go. You know; the mitten string strangulation thing.

pants: My incredibly craftily gifted friend Elly makes amazing repurposed kids clothing and I got these from her.  I've blogged much about her work over the years including "The pants that made Edie feel scared" post.

boots: These were Edie's at some point. Ugh, it's going to be so hard to let these go come rainboot season for Kale's the caboose in our own family's hand me down train!