urban earth mother

The Good Life , known in the US as Good Neighbors, was a telvision series about a couple who opt out and decide to become self sufficient - growing their own food, producing their own electricity, etc. The gimic being that they do all this while living in the suburbs. The show is charming (and available on Netflix if you haven't seen it) and much is played for laughs, but I have always seen it as aspirational. The idea of growing our own foodhsa been appealing to me for so long. When I lived in Somerville, we tried having a garden one year, but nothing much grew. Shortly after I moved to a building with no available green space. The tiny unit we are currently in does not even get enough light to grown things on the window sills (well, tables as the sills are far too shallow for even the cat to sit on.) Soon I'll have the opportunity to see how green, or not, my thumb is. One of the things we looked for when house hunting was a large lot. I needed to be able to have a gard...

I've not been sewing at all. All my grand schemes of homemade maternity and baby clothes are as dust. But I did find something easy to make that might get me inspired! A Baby Sling! Spouse and I are pretty much on the same page in terms of how we're going to care for this upcoming child and baby wearing is part of that. However, there are several different types of slings and other carriers out there, none of them cheap, and how do we know which kind we'll like? I had been gravitating toward ring-adjusted slinks like the Maya and lo and behold they have a pattern to make your own on their site! I've gone ahead and ordered two sets of rings and now need to hit the fabric shop ! In other pregnancy-related news, I keep waiting for that nesting instinct to kick in where all I want to do is clean. I've done some random cleaning, like scrubbing the cupboard doors in the middle of the night, but that's mainly because I can't sleep because of RSL and start t...

Happy New Year! I'm not one to make new year resolutions (you know, because I break them) but may just set myself a new year goal this year. Not weight loss (which is my constant struggle) or exercise (already have Spouse nagging me (because I asked him to) for that) or packing a lunch every day (although I did bring in three days worth of meals today) but sewing. This year I would like to make one item of clothing per month. The item need not be elaborate, even an accessory could do, but I would like to make use of the expensive sewing machine repairs and this seems rather practical. I may even go all out and finish some of the knit UFOs lurking in the closet as well! So that's the plan for me. Anyone else have any goals for the new year?

I replaced the belt on the sewing machine last night, fired it up and she works a treat! I still haven't oiled anything yet, but I'm already planning a real, non-hankie project. I just ordered this skirt from Davenport and Company in Springfield. Fantastic email customer service by they way if you ever decide to order anything. This looks like it should be easy enough for me to muck about with using whatever fabric I can find around the house before I go buy something nice. The next project I'm contemplating is a vintage jumper with an Ubuntu logo embroidered on it for spouse. That will probably take a while though, and I still have a few other things to finish first. I promise I'll get the pictures of the tea cozies I made over Christmas plus the one I'm working on now.

I've been perusing vintage patterns again (as is my wont) and found this little number from 1922. I bought a huge skein of Alpaca a couple years ago and have done nothing with it and think the Fairfield would work well on me. Just imagine a model just as frumpy, but with bigger boobs.