A Teenager Once Lived Here

Yesterday I moved some papers sitting on an old desk my sons had used while they were growing up, and I had to laugh when I saw this carved graffiti from days gone by:


Wow, I am glad those days of angry puberty are behind me!

So nice to have two wonderfully gentle and loving adult sons.

The Gnome Room

Welcome to the Gnome Room.


When we first saw our house, looking to buy, my youngest son dubbed the small room off his soon-to-be bedroom the Gnome Room because of its tiny door. (If you look closely along the right side of the window, you'll see a little gnome dangling.) When my sons lived here, we kept our futon in the Gnome Room along with a TV and video games. Yet, since it's unheated and un-airconditioned, one must be pretty desperate for space in order to use it for most of the year.

Well, I was desperate for a sewing room, so I packed up the video games, moved the futon to our basement library (once son #1's bedroom), and set up my sewing machine. Before, when I wanted to sew, I'd have to drag all my accessories out of the closet, take over the dining room, and generally it would be too great an effort to even consider. Now, as long I am willing to freeze or swelter, I can sew whenever I like!

I hope you were not expecting a decorator's dream craft room, because this isn't it! But allow me to give you a tour, anyhow.

When my boys were small, I went through a major counted cross-stitch phase: above are cross-stitched baby statistics for both boys as well as a wedding sampler. The blue embroidered piece is a Hmong creation purchased long ago at a craft fair in Minneapolis.

Taking over the Gnome Room also allowed me to finally move my out-of-season clothing from my tiny, over-stuffed closet and store them neatly and covered behind the curtain. Can't wait to trade out my woolens for all those stored Lillys!

Do you remember the yard sale score from last May? One of the pieces turned into my sewing storage. Note the Liberty of London from Target storage box! (I also found the watering can I wanted!)

My mom needlepointed the butterflies for me in the 1970's (can't you tell?).

And here's a peek at my fabric stash.



Now that it's spring, the Gnome Room is actually comfortable. And I've got the itch to sew.

This mess on the floor will ultimately become the Tunic Dress I mentioned a couple of posts ago. I hope to cut it out this afternoon and work on it this coming rainy weekend.

These beautiful Anna Maria Horner fabrics just arrived, along with two patterns. There's enough to make the Socialite Dress, the Multi-Tasker Tote, and a Tunic.

The fabrics looked so pretty stacked together that I took several pictures:



Happy weekend, everyone! I hope to share the fruits of my labors very soon.

Deep Thoughts by Cashmere Librarian

Wow, spring has come to the prairie. I have purple crocuses blooming in my yard and the tulips and daffodil leaves are four and five inches high. Unfortunately I have work duties today so I'm in my dark office. But it's hard to concentrate on legal writing when I know the sun is shining and the air is fresh outside.

So, instead of work, this is what I'm thinking about:

• Why don't I go to Vegas for a long weekend? Or Palm Springs? Can I do it for less than $500 a person, airfare included and a nice hotel? Um, guess not. Anyway, it doesn't work with my teaching schedule. Sigh.
  
• I want to drive up to Chicago this weekend and look at Porthault pillow shams at Maze Home. (Thanks--or no thanks--for prompting this obsession, Neo-Traditionalist!)
• What would it be to dress up like the Kardashians every day? Do they ever take their smoky eye make-up off? Do they wake up with their hair looking like that? Do they ever wear flats? Do they get bunions, or nail fungus? Could I afford to hire their stylist? Would I want to?
• [I am going to a French-speaking dinner tonight and ] I'm terrified. I think I will just make sure my mouth is always full.
• I really want to sit by the ocean.
• I really want a Iced Vanilla Blended from Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.
• [Having just finished "The Children's Book by AS Byatt,] what should I read now? Trash or something more serious?
• Why was A Bloomsbury Life in my dream the other night and why were we on a luge, running a snowy hill?
• If I met James Franco, could he keep his hands off of me?
• I really hope Gilt Groupe fills my waitlist request for the Kotur Wallace Satchel. Even though I'm not sure how I would pay for it.

Okay. I have a student scheduled to meet with me in two minutes. I'm getting serious now.

Liberty of London

At Target this afternoon I went a little crazy on the new Liberty of London for Target collaboration.



Many of the end-caps were half-empty so I'm not sure if they've been shopped over (although the opening is tomorrow!), or if Target is still in the process of filling them. So I just grabbed everything that possibly interested me, which was a lot! I'm not sure about the bra and thong. I'm not typically a fan of ornately embellished underwear but these are cute and the price was nice. The clothes in general were okay but not for me. Most everything else, however, was adorable!

There are two items I wanted but couldn't find. One is this sweet watering can, in the Sixty print. (Actually I was quite taken with the Sixty print and bought a Two-Tier Tray, Gardening Gloves, File Folders and a Binder in that design, as you can see in photo above.)

The other is a large storage box in the same print, which I want to use in my sewing room to hold patterns.



Speaking of patterns, for the first time in a long time I took a few hours to wander through fabric stores this afternoon. Remember my long-ago post on Caftans? Lately, I've been re-inspired by designer Jules Reid's amazing tunics and caftans. Today, unexpectedly but happily, I found a great McCall's pattern (FINALLY!) and more surprisingly, a pretty graphic cotton/spandex fabric in white and royal for which to make a dress. (The fabric's a little too heavy for a full-length caftan, I think.) I'm planning on using two striped ribbons--one lime/white and the other lime/royal--as side-by-side trim. I will share the results as soon as I can!