weekend projects

Fabric bucket pattern here. For an artist friend. I have one that I keep my paint tubes in.
Baby kimono pattern from Weekend Sewing. It was a bright windy weekend here and I loved spending time at my sewing desk with the windows open. This little kimono is for a sweet girl who's due to arrive in June. It was fun to sew, but I was confused a bit by the tie placement and ended up not following the pattern exactly. Also, the underarms are kind of wonky. Oh well. I have some of this beautiful Lecien fabric in the blue colorway too, so I'm starting on a boy version of this tonight. Three cheers for getting my sewing mood back!

oh my.

via bigBANG studio

I am so in love with Kay Tuttle's Cover Stories series. Swoon. I can't even decide which one I would get. I do have a thing for foxes, though. I love that charismatic little fox in the top painting. Crows are pretty amazing too. I wonder what my spirit animal is... And how do I find out?

ready for spring!

These poor tomato seedlings are so ready to be outside. We bought seeds this year from Baker Creek. Their catalog is just luscious. We are trying Dr. Walter, Nature's Riddle, Japanese Black Triefle, Southern Night and Violet Jasper for the first time. Our old stand-bys are Stupice, Black Cherry, Cosmonaut Volkov, Ciudad de Victoria, Cherokee Purple, Striped Roman and Aunt Ruby's German Green-- not necessarily from Baker Creek.

Also coming up: peppers! I am newly infatuated with hot peppers. We are trying Black Hungarian, Tunisian Baklouti, and Odessa Market.

deodorant.

I've been really into making stuff lately. Not so much sewing or knitting going on, but our kitchen has been humming. A few weeks ago I tried this homemade deodorant recipe from the Angry Chicken blog. It is AWESOME. (The deodorant. And the blog.) I have been using Weleda and Dr. Hauschka for a long time. I love both of them-- I mean, I love the way they smell-- but I would find myself needing to re-apply several times a day. With this homemade stuff, I only apply it once, and I'm good to go for the whole day! Seriously life-changing. I'm impressed.

I also recently tried making spoon oil (recipe and lovely pictures and description found here). I hope to start a regular practice of oiling my wooden kitchen pieces, and I'd like to try this on my bamboo countertops.

Creepy angel matchbox.