penny carnival

I survived a make-and-take craft booth

As I just wrote on my other blog, I need a T-shirt that says that.

I'm back from 5 fun-filled hours teaching eager crafters (most of whom were darling little kids) how to make stuff out of secondhand materials at the North Idaho Fair. 

Take a look at some of their creations:

The one this kindergarten teacher made was one of my favorites:

How cute is this little monkey?

He sewed a pillow instead of a flower. And charmed my socks off in the meantime.

This is how the booth looked:

I displayed some of my crafty stuff to show folks how they could repurpose old objects.

And, yes, that's Amanda Soule's new book Handmade Home sitting in that wire basket. I bought it two days ago but haven't had a second to look inside yet.  

You can see more crafty photos from the booth here.

My only regret about the fair is that it fell on the night before the first day of preschool and I feel like I haven't properly ritualized the whole going-back-to-school thing with Bo. I think we'll have to get up extra early and go out for some pancakes to make up for it.

There's so much I could say right now about how inspired I was by the crafty kiddos at the fair, many of whom had never used a needle and thread before, and their ability to turn old sheets into beautiful objects.

Instead, though, I'm going to bed. G'night.

Ice cream social

Farm girl MaryJaneButters had a blog post the other day about how to organize an old-fashioned ice cream social. You guys know I'm a sucker for anything that builds community, so you know that kind of thing is right up my alley. But what kept lingering in my head after reading the post? Duh. A craving for ice cream.

The girls and I solved that tonight with a trip to The Scoop, a local shop that makes its own cold stuff. We always have to opt for "the kind that doesn't hurt our tummies," as Bo always tells the workers, so our order was 3 grape sorbets on sugar cones. Delish.

Fingers work just as well, apparently:

I knew we needed to linger a while because J was home sleeping (we're working our way through a case of the icks), so I brought along our felt pencil rolls and some paper.

We parked ourselves at a kid-sized wooden picnic table (easier for some of us to maneuver than others) and colored away.

Bo wanted to hang the signs on the shop's bike rack just to remind folks that they sell ice cream inside, but alas we had no tape ...

... She thought maybe curling the paper onto the bike rack would work. When it didn't, she moved on to twirling around in her rainbow dress on the lawn.

By the way, that beauty is NOT my bike. Too bad, huh?

We were there for so long that Bo built up the courage to ask two other sisters if they wanted to play with her. She's not shy, but she gets nervous about that sort of thing. The girls were thrilled and they played for all of 30 seconds until their mom announced it was time to go. I could just tell she wasn't one of those moms who likes to socialize, and that's fine, but I felt bad for Bo. 

The pencil rolls got me thinking about Amanda Soule and how her new book is coming out tomorrow. I should have pre-ordered--I would have had it by now--but the anticipation of going into a bookstore and flipping through the pages for the first time is fun, too.

Not that I have any time to follow her projects quite yet. I'm still swamped with writing deadlines and other responsibilities, including filling a few orders for book slings in my Etsy shop. By the way, I officially have a cottage license to make and sell Emmeline aprons now! I'm going to stock the shop with some once I get a chance, but for now I have a listing there for custom ones.

Are you ever so tired your stomach hurts? Ugh. Can't blame it on the sorbet, so it must be time to sleep.

To grandmother's house we go

We’re wrapping up a simple weekend that included a couple of fun outings: a housewarming party for friends and a polo match. Spokane has one of the oldest polo clubs in the U.S. It’s great fun to pack a picnic and go watch a match, but hardly anyone around here does. Maybe I’ll start a new trend.

Anyone else have the book "10 Apples Up on Top"?

Mostly, though, we’ve been packing for our two-week trip to Bellingham, Wash.--my hometown—to see family.

I took a more-is-more approach to packing this time, sort of throwing everything but the garden hose into the suitcase. I’m sure I’ll regret it in a few days.

Bo caught on and decided to remove every single pair of shoes I own from the closet and attempt to cram them into my already-stuff suitcase. Thankfully, I’m not a shoe whore, but there were still some ridiculously inappropriate ones on display tonight (can someone please slap me for buying a pair of platform shoes covered in sequins?).

Speaking of gardens, I'm going to miss our little patch while I'm gone. The sungold tomatoes are just starting to ripen and they are delish. Bo likes them enough to just suck out the juice (and then leave the flesh on the ground), sort of like a vampire. 

Check out the scarecrow she made a few weeks ago (the garden has grown considerably since then):

I managed to sew an Emmeline apron for my sister, who’s letting us crash at her house for one of the two weeks we’ll be there (my parents’ house will be occupied by our Rhode Island relatives, making my headline here somewhat deceptive; we got a smokin’ deal on a nice hotel for the other week).

I think this is the fourth Emmeline I’ve made now, and every time I do there’s always such a strong response to it, as in “I will pay you whatever you want to make me one of those!!!” Kudos to Meg over at Sew Liberated for designing such a successful pattern.

Because of that, I’m thinking of taking part in her cottage license program, which allows you to pay for the right to sell the items you make from her patterns. The cost is $75/year, which seems reasonable to me, and you have to be approved by Meg (understandably, she wants to make sure you know how to sew). What do you guys think? Is it worth pursuing and applying for? I'm always trying to reinvent the wheel, but maybe I should just do this since it's already such a hit with people.

Other thoughts …

Can someone please tell me how I can run 30-40 miles a week and not lose a single pound? I’m trying to burn off these last 10 baby pounds, but apparently my body is on strike. I know you’re not supposed to get on the scale every day, but I swear to you I stepped on yesterday morning, ran seven miles and ate healthfully all day (minus one smallish cupcake), got on the scale today and had gained two pounds. Seriously. 7 miles. Gained 2 pounds. And no, I'm not pregnant. 

I had hoped this was going to be the summer I didn’t have to wear a skirted swimsuit but it’s mid-July and I’m losing hope. Grrr …

A few things I’m loving right now …

-This house tour.

-Amy Butler organic bedding now available here. (Scratch one more project off my sewing to-do list, I guess.)

-The before-and-after gallery on Design Sponge. If I only had 1,392,022 hours to kill:

-Daydreaming of building a modern playhouse for the girls in the backyard. This one is awesome, but it’d pretty much be nicer than our actual house.

This one is adorable, in a different way.

I’m thinking we’ll start collecting supplies from the secondhand building-supply store, come up with a plan over the winter, and attempt carpentry next summer. Stay tuned.

 

Since we’ll be out of town, I’ll probably have a craft hiatus for a couple of weeks (God help me). You never know, though. My sister and I grew up in the same house. She must have a glue gun stashed away somewhere. If nothing else, I’ll have to share photos of her always-incredible cooking. 

Vintage toys, a country wedding and more farm charm

Is this the summer of the hoedown or what? I hope you guys aren't getting sick of my photos of country chic, but I can't seem to help myself. I keep going to these vintage barn bazaars and find myself leaving totally inspired.

This weekend was the Vintage Barn antique show in Rathdrum, Idaho. 51 vendors, home-baked goodness by women from a nearby Mennonite community, and live bluegrass music. This was the scene:

I thought this would make a great lemonade stand for the girls, but for $300+ I decided we'd stick with the card table for now:

Can you imagine the hours that went into this?

More tartan! This time plates:

Bo contemplates the "naughty chair." I'm not sure today's child psychologists would recommend this.

Wee! No buckles! No straps! A handle that can become dislodged and used as a weapon. 

Pretty paper flowers made from pages of vintage books, I assume:

I loved the sea of blues and greens in this booth by Wild Whimsy (photo above, too):

Given that my blog is named Penny Carnival, I couldn't resist bringing home this toy for $5:

Can you see the grumpy look on the Ferris Wheel operator's face? I love it. It's like me at the sewing machine when I need to use the seam ripper. Grrrr ... 

The girls each chose a vintage toy, too--a dog on wheels for Bo and a helicopter on a string for Magpie. Bo named her dog "Flower" and insisted we build her a dog house this morning.

There's something about painting 3-dimensional surfaces that thrills my children to no end:

That's why I rarely recycle cardboard boxes and I keep the hot-glue gun handy at all times.

Does anyone else buy their kids secondhand toys? The girls chose these vintage ones on their own, but on birthdays and at Christmastime, I always throw some garage sale finds into the mix. Just today, I heard a funny story about an old friend whose dad always bought his kids stuff from garage sales for gifts. So they'd be putting together a puzzle and get to the end only to discover that four pieces were missing. And one Christmas two of the brothers got bicycles--one bicycle worked and one didn't. That cracked me up, but it caused one of the brothers to vow to always buy new toys for his kids. You can probably guess which brother.

In other news from the weekend, we attended our nephew's absolutely gorgeous wedding in the, you guessed it, country.

I don't know if Bo was more thrilled by the bride and groom's kiss at the altar or the horse-and-carriage rides:

This draping was inside the barn where dinner was served:

Outside the barn looking in:

Inside the barn looking out:

At the risk of sounding completely unappreciative for the lovely wedding J and I had 7 years ago ... um, can I have a do over, please?

I did do some sewing this weekend, but it just involved adding straps to an otherwise revealing strapless dress. I'd show you the before and after, but the before shots would make this an x-rated blog. Not that I actually took before shots like that.

We did manage to hang my hammock in the backyard after it spent, oh, 15 years in storage. Literally. I bought this hammock while studying abroad in Costa Rica in 1994, lugged it all the way home on the plane, and then never hung it. Leave it to my task-master husband to get it swinging. That guy can plow through a to-do list like nobody I know.

It's dreamy to relax in there under the cherry trees, callused feet and all (don't zoom in. you'll regret it. I've been running a lot).

Speaking of cherries, I'm overdosing. I need an intervention. I just filled a small baby bottle with pits while writing this post. 

They're. Just. So. Frickin'. Good. And. Sweet. 

I mostly just eat them as nature intended, but we had J's cousin over for dinner last night so I made this dessert:

Bo took her job of making it snow on the clafouti very seriously.

OK, so she went a little overboard. What can I say? The kid is used to living under 4 feet of the white stuff every winter.

Going bananas for book slings, and randomness

A few random thoughts on this unseasonably crisp (but beautiful and perfect) summer evening.

-I sold another book sling in my Etsy shop! Yea-hoo! The buyer told me she wanted me to use the solid colors of brown and banana (read: yellow) as the main fabrics, and then gave me the creative freedom to add a bit of flair to it. Gotta love that. So this is what I created for her son, Nolan.

It looks a little wobbly there because the books are only on one end.

I made it reversible, so she can use either the lower case or uppercase side, or she can just go with plain brown or banana by flipping the whole thing inside out.

For you newcomers, this is what a whole book sling looks like (Bo's room was a mess today, so I didn't get a good wide shot):

Someone must have a put up a new link to my Etsy shop, because I'm getting a lot of book sling inquiries lately. You never know if a conversation with a potential customer will really pan out, though, so you might see more examples here in the near future. Or you might not. 

Selling on Etsy is way less profitable than my other life as a freelance journalist, but boy is it fun when someone honors you by wanting to buy something you made. 

-For you locals, check out my post on Dwell Well about what looks like another great funky junky fair this weekend near Spokane. It's called the Vintage Barn Antique Show, and it was featured in "Country Living" mag last summer.

-Cherries for sale! Cherries for sale! Organically grown, ripe cherries for sale!

And hopefully you don't get a cup with some of Magpie's half-eaten ones inside. 

Good to see the ballet recital costume is getting good use, especially since it never made it on stage during the actual recital. A repeat of her mom's (lack of) performance back in 1977.

Bo kept telling people a cup of cherries cost $5 instead of 5 cents. 

I'd like to build the girls a sturdy wooden stand like this one.

-My friend Joe alerted me to this. (WARNING! BAD WORDS.) I told him I need something along those lines for my front door warning people not to knock when the girls are napping. It's not quite as neighborly as what I had in mind, but it sure would get the message across, don't you think?

Update: Bo is sitting with me and just shouted "Mr. Obama!" when I clicked on that link. Cute.

-I'm in love with this nursery. Do you think it would translate well into a master bedroom? Hmmm ...

-And in other bloggy good news, Sew Mama Sew featured my daily planner today! Remember it? I'm so flattered. 

If you found Penny Carnival through that post, welcome.

This year's 4th of July dress

UPDATE: I'm getting a lot of hits on this post from Google. Just wanted to let everyone know that if you're looking for a 4th of July dress FOR SALE, visit my Etsy shop. If you want to buy the one you see here or something like it, let me know by leaving a comment below and I'll list it in the shop.

The girls and I recently made a rule that I'm somewhat regretting. We decided that every time we see a U.S. flag we have to sing "She's a Grand Old Flag." Unfortunately, I'm the only one who knows the words, so it's always me doing the singing. And, well, Spokane is a pretty patriotic town. I find myself singing the song A LOT.

Anyhow, with the Fourth of July coming up, I figured it was time to sew some patriotic dresses. Here's my first crack at it, which looks remarkably similar to last year's dress. Hmmm ...

And just like last year, I made it too big. I really should have read my old post before embarking on this one. 

The tiny sheep is there just to illustrate that there are pockets.

Gotta love hemming a dress with bias tape. So easy and crisp.

Bodice is lined, but skirt isn't. No zippers or buttons or anything. Just pull it on over the head. The pattern is McCalls 5370, but like always I only roughly followed it. The fabric is from a line called M'Liss at JoAnn's. I (heart) 40 percent off coupons.

Unlike last year, we won't be in Bristol, Rhode Island, next month for the oldest, biggest, best parade in the nation. I hate to miss July in R.I. Like any year when I'm not there for the Fourth, there will be times when I'll catch a whiff of something that reminds me of back east, making me regret that we didn't go. My sister and I went back there almost every summer as kids, so I think my body is trained to expect certain sensations in July, like the smell of salt water and the taste of clams. The need to tackle some house projects beat out our desire to make the trek this year, but hopefully we'll be back in 2010.

On a separate note, if you live here in Spokane, don't forget about this weekend's Two Women Barn Bazaar. I went last fall and really enjoyed it, especially the bluegrass music. Check out that link for more details or read what I wrote about it on my Spokesman-Review blog. You can also see some photos I took at last fall's show here.

Farm Chicks 2009

Too tired to say much right now, but I wanted to share some photos from today's treasure hunting at the Farm Chicks Antique Show here in Spokane.

I'm having a great time with my girlfriends, who drove up from Portland. We all found a few must-have items--I'll show you those later this week, once I have a chance to display them. The day ended with dinner here and then good conversation back home on the couch.

Here's a peek at what some of the vendors had to offer today. 

Vintage phonetic cards from Bella Shabby:

An amazing setup by the guys from the Barn House in SW Washington:

One of the Barn House boys in his burlap apron (love it!!):

I don't think it's actually burlap, because it's softer than you would think. I'll have to go back tomorrow and ask him what the material is.

The Top Stitch fabric and sewing store in Spokane and, an update based on Michelle's comment below, sewn goods by her mom, Elaine, at Fit to be Tied:

Another over-the-top display. I think this is the booth run by All That Glitters, but I'll double check tomorrow.

I was mad for cubbies all day. Cubbies. Lockers. Rows of post-office boxes. Anything with storage potential.

A "piano bar" from Retreat:

Get it?

Lovely tiaras, also from Retreat:

Butterfly mobile by the amazing Queen of Tarte:

The butterflies are made from the pages of vintage books.

More from Tarte:

And more (really, I just wanted to pull up a cot and move into her booth):

From Seabold Vintage Market (next two):

I really wanted this phone:

Yes, that's a hoop skirt playing the part of chandelier (from Luluz):

Adorable party hats from Luluz:

More cubbies:

Mmm ... top this baby with a slab of marble and you have yourself a dandy of a kitchen island:

This was this year's "one that got away":

It was sold (by Chaps) within the first few minutes of the show. Had I been quick enough, it would have been PERFECT in my kitchen.

Vintage child's Fourth of July dress. I want to re-create this, but I know whatever I make would look too new and crisp compared with this timeworn beauty.

Gas-station attendant badges, sold by The Farm Chicks themselves:

My mind is exploding with creative inspiration and good cheer.

Here, chicky chicky

I'm not one to read horoscopes, but anytime I do, the description of a Gemini (which is what I am) fits me to a T.

Flighty. Creative. Information collector. Starts projects but doesn't finish them. Outgoing. Wishy washy.

And Geminis, apparently, have two sides to them (they're the twins. Duh). One day they like pancakes. Can't get enough of them. The next day they forgot they ever liked pancakes at all and cringe at the thought of eating them.

That's me. I'm like Donny and Marie Osmond all rolled into one: a little bit country and a little bit rock 'n' roll.

This is especially true when you look at my house (or the way my mind imagines how my house will one day be fully decorated). I call my style "folk modern" because I like clean lines--with an antique quilt thrown in for warmth and history.

Every June (and sometimes May) for the last few years I've been able to indulge my more folksy side at The Farm Chicks Antique Show. It's a giant gathering of vendors with a keen eye for cool antiques and crafters who do amazing things with paper, fabric and other materials. Not only do these vendors know what to collect and sell, they have an amazing way of displaying their goods.

The original Farm Chicks, Serena and Teri, are two of the kindest ladies you'll ever come across and they work tirelessly to make sure the event runs smoothly. They also put a great deal of effort into the aesthetics of the weekend. I visit their blog often for clever ideas. 

Two friends are driving up from Portland for the show, which happens this weekend, and I'm doing my best to get all Chicky before they arrive. I'm following at least one idea in the Farm Chicks' book, which I'll show y'all later (once it's done!!) and hopefully more. 

Words really can't describe what a great event this is, so here are some photos from past years to hopefully give you a little taste. It's not too late to book a flight to Spokane. The fun starts Saturday. 

I still can't believe I let this one get away:

Floral apron over camo capris. Love it:

I remember saying that I wanted a kitschy cake topper for my wedding cake and everyone thought I was nuts. 

Am I the only one who loves anything that combines plaid with tin?

Part of one vendor's display last year:

Something like this would make a great Advent calendar:

For shopping at the farmers' market ... or containing an unruly toddler:

Keys off of vintage typewriters:

For kitchen storage, bathroom storage, craft room storage, whatever:

Reason No. 37 why my family thinks I'm nuts

This is what's wrong with me.

I needed to organize my life, be better about meal planning, and start clipping coupons (and actually use them instead of letting them turn into compost among the cookie crumbs in the bottom of my purse).

I needed a day planner.

The logical next step most people would take would be to go to Office Depot and buy one for $19.99.

Nope. Not me. I had to make one from scratch because I told myself the only way it would become a permanent part of my life is if it were extension of my personality. Did I mention my family thinks I'm nuts (not just my immediate family. The whole extended family)?

So here it is, Megan's very own day planner, sure to improve her life in immeasurable ways:

It's basically a slipcover for a 3-ring binder. I traced some of Bo's drawings of our family and embroidered them on front. How do you like the belly buttons on me and J?

The zipper pouch holds coupons which are alligator clipped together based on category (eating out, baby items, food, etc.). It's made from Amy Butler "gothic rose" fabric leftover from the Emmeline apron I made my friend Nis. The outside of the slipcover is plain old muslin. The inside is a birdie print from Ikea. And there's a layer of flannel (one of the girl's old baby blankets) in between to give it just a tiny bit of padding.

The best part of the whole thing? The filler pages, which the amazingly talented and generous Amanda Hawkins offers for free on her blog.

My photos of her work don't do it justice. Do check out her offerings.

Here's the back side:
Maybe not something you'd want to carry to a job interview, but since my main job these days is CEO of those little stick figures you see embroidered there, I'm not worried about it.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that the idea for the mini birthday bunting came from something I saw on Flickr. I just tried looking for it again but my searches are yielding 11,000 results with no luck.

UPDATE 2: I found it! Here's the original inspiration for the mini bunting:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22620364@N05/2675295586/

So, what else is up? Like I mentioned the other day, I sewed another book sling, this time in exchange for an hour-long massage with the amazing Mariah of Elysium Touch. The massage was last Saturday, and I'm still walking around like cooked spaghetti. Honestly, we all need to treat ourselves to massages more often. Promise me you will. An hour to completely relax and open your mind. I walked away from there wanting to be a better person.

Mariah choose the fabrics. Fantastic, huh? I can't remember the names, but I'll track them down if anyone is interested.

And I just have to share some photos I took this morning at a beautiful home decor store here in Spokane called 1900. Simply lovely.

I don't think I'd mind that my dishwasher is broken if I owned this dish rack:

Hoppy Easter!

Thank you, thank you, thank you all so much for the supportive comments about our pooch. Your kindness helps more than you know. Our plan is still to put her down next week. Although we're still heartbroken, we're more at peace with the decision. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. Ours was pretty simple: baskets and brunch in the morning, long naps in the afternoon and pizza with close friends at night (we decided Canadian bacon & pineapple was as close as we were going to get to cooking a ham this year). 

For the last couple of years, I've left the Easter baskets on the front porch the night before and let the girls discover them on their own in the morning. Bo gets so excited when she catches a glimpse of it in the window. She swings the door open, grabs her basket and screams "THANK YOU, EASTER BUNNY!" for the whole neighborhood to hear.

I probably mentioned this at Christmastime, but J and I have kind of a hard time with the whole Santa/Easter Bunny/Tooth Fairy stuff. We're going along with it so we don't spoil the magic of the holidays for them, but a big part of me feels terrible that we're lying to our kids. Does anyone else feel this way? That didn't stop me from searching the front yard with Bo this morning when she swore she saw the E.B. hopping by a tree.

I never did get my act together enough to make any crafty Easter projects, so let me show off the decorations at the restaurant where we ate this morning. This is the table at the entrance:

I love the Easter items, but I also am head over heels for the bird drawing on the blue wall behind the server. Can you see it? I need to learn more about it and report back with some better pictures.

A husband and wife own this restaurant (Luna) and the wife is an interior designer. Or decorator. Whatever. All I know is that I would be thrilled to live in just one of the bathrooms that she has designed. I don't know what you call her style ... French Provincial? Eclectic? Please-Please-Please come decorate my house for free?

The couple has another restaurant in town that we love. In fact we almost painted our house the colors of that restaurant's exterior.

OK, back to Easter. I love how casually mismatched these decorated eggs were:

We took the earliest reservation possible since you never know how things are going to go with young kids in a nice establishment. The girls did great and even had a chance to roam around--without too much fear of knocking over a tray of mimosas. 

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday.

UPDATE:

A couple of related sites that might be of interest. 

-The private home of Luna's owners (William and Marcia Bond) was featured in Traditional Home mag. You can see a slideshow here.

-And if you're one of my Portland peeps (as in people, not the marshmallow chicks), you probably know the restaurant Serratto on NW 21st. It is owned by a Bond family member. It's William and Marcia's son or daughter. I can't remember which.