Stepping back in time...

More fun this weekend at Sturbridge. We met Grandmommy there for OSV's Wool Days. Aurora, as usual, had a blast... I really look forward to doing many of the program offerings with her as she grows older... cooking and gardening classes, crafts, homeschool days...

Working on her mad spinning skills

Chillin' on an 1830's style rocking horse. She just looks terrified here, she's actually quite happy.

Churning some butter.

A sheep run down the main down the main street of the Village. This was wild to see.

More OSV

There was Sheep Shearing

Aurora built a stone wall.

Ok, here she actually is terrified.

new dress

An easy sew... the material came already shirred by the yard. Just had to sew some straps from some of the scraps. I gave them two rows of shirring to add some flair. And as a bonus, Aurora seemed to be genuinely excited about this dress.

Just a few...

pics I wanted to get up here...

The fabric for her cupcake pants, washed and waiting to be ironed.
She said she wanted the purple polkadots 'on the bottom'. I think I'll make them capri length, with a ruffle along the bottom. Very girly for my girly girl.

playing birthday party... yet again. we got her some party hats at the grocery store. didn't want to take it off at bedtime- she told the hat 'don't worry I play you tomorrow when Rora wake up.'

Mother's Day at White Flower Farm in Litchfield

finally wearing the tutu I made her for Christmas. once.

silly girl

some simple sewing

A couple of things I've been working on lately....

Reversible Pinafore dress, using this tutorial. I had to freehand draft the pattern myself, which was a tad tricky, given I'm so new to all this and my little model was asleep. There's a few alterations I think I'll make to the pattern I made, but for now it works. Aurora picked out the fabric herself... lots of baby animals.... and carried the bolt to the cutting counter herself!

The back, showing animal print side

and the front/blue side. I just used seam-a-seam for the 'applique' orange bubbles

And then, after finding this tutorial over at Indietutes for using elastic thread for shirring, I decided to give a little skirt for Aurora a try. It was so, so easy! I highly recommend this method. I measured her waist, doubled it and then measured how long I wanted the skirt to be, added hem and seam allowances, and cut a rectangle to those dimensions. Then I finished the top edge and then sewed four rows of shirring, finished the bottom edge, sewed it into a tube and voila! It was easy and quick and Aurora can put it on/take it off easily. I see a summer wardrobe full of these for Little A, and maybe a couple for myself as well ;)

detail of ribbon edging

So, turns out I have a budding little seamstress here in Aurora. She now loves the fabric store, and has taken to noticing people's clothing and mentioning what nice fabric it is, lol. Yesterday she was on her bed with her special blanket and saying how nice the fabric is, etc... and that she picked it out herself! We were also outside recently, when a friend (who's blog is here)brought out these cute little cupcake pants she had sewn for her daughter . Aurora's eyes lit up! "Mama, go to fabric store, get cupcake fabric?" Well, who can resist that, I ask?!

I've got my eye on this beautiful wooden toy sewing machine.... perhaps for her birthday (which is shockingly only 4.5 months away!).

Gracie and Aurora

A couple weeks ago we had an opportunity to meet up with some good friends of ours, Diane and Gracie, at Sturbridge Village. Diane and Grace were on their way to Boston from Ithaca, and Sturbridge makes a nice stopping place for them and not too far for us. When we were living in Ithaca, I worked as a nanny for this sweet girl and her older sister and brother. After Aurora was born, I went back to work, and she came along for the ride in the sling. Grace and Aurora became very close... it was so nice for both of them... Grace had an opportunity to play the older child, and Aurora had somebody to look up to, imitate, chase. They both had been missing each other very much!




It was great to see you guys! We miss you Gracie Girl!!

Still Here...

Just a quick note to say that we are all still alive... it's just kinda been one thing after another, so I haven't really been on the computer more than a moment or two. First, Pete had surgery on his leg to correct a vein problem, and the recovery was harder and longer than had been anticipated- including an all-night trip to the ER for an infection that had set in. Then Aurora came down with Roseola-- for the second time in her short little life-- which had her feeling pretty sick for a good week or so. And, now, of course, I am sick... but at least Pete and Aurora are on the mend, and hopefully me as well, soon.

Mother's Day was very nice... we went out to dinner together as a family on saturday, and then sunday we went up to visit White Flower Farm, in Litchfield, CT, to wander around all their beautiful show gardens. When we got home a nice long nap was enjoyed by all. Pete did all the dishes over the weekend and a lot of the laundry and cleaning up, which was so, so nice.

I'll try to be back very soon with more pics and goings on. Hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day!!