In Bloom

Our gloomy, grey and drizzly winter produced the most spectacular wildflowers this year.  We are in full bloom here... and soaking it all in.

Happy weekend!

Creating Balance

People sometimes ask me how I find time for crafting.  Before Iris was born, the answer was pretty straightforward - I worked on my projects after the kids were asleep.  But, after Iris was born, finding time to sew has become infinitely more challenging.  Iris is a baby who has resisted settling into a routine from the start.  Even now, she isn't on a consistent nap or sleep schedule.  Many days, she only catnaps and she often goes to sleep at night at the same time as we do.  Now, instead of finding time I've had to be much more intentional about making time.

We are in a busy season of our lives, no doubt.  But it seems most people feel like they're busy, if too busy, regardless of family size or season of life.  I want to consciously resist the urge to claim to be "busy" and instead think in terms of choices.  Right now, I need to be particularly careful in the way I choose to spend my time.  That means avoiding things that leave me feeling drained and seem to suck time.  For me, these include - tv, facebook, pinterest, and other forms of social media.  I prefer to frame it as having lots of time for the things I love - spending time with my kids, spirituality, photography, cooking, baking, and a little sewing.  I prefer to think of my life as full, not busy. 

Sewing and spending time alone energize me.  In this more demanding stage of life, I find I need to prioritize both as part of practicing good self care.  Dan and I take turns holding the baby while the other spends time doing what we love individually.  That works for us.  We both understand the need for that time.  I've also found it immensely helpful to work on small projects that sew together quickly.  I feel a sense of accomplishment... and always love getting something done that stays done.

So in honor of this season, I plan to share three simple projects for beginner and expert alike.  Projects that are practical and add some handmade goodness to your home.  Coming soon...

{My niece and I made this lotion together while she stayed with us last week.  The recipe was from this lovely little book.   My niece designed the label.}

The journey of 6 green thumbs (by Dan)

After six years (that's twelve growing seasons in South Texas) of gardening with mediocre results at best, we were ready to turn in our trowels and get our vegetables from one of the local CSAs, saying hasta la vista to gardening in San Antonio.

Then a few weeks ago someone mentioned to Rachel what great weather we were having for spring gardening.  Cool, but no danger of frost, frequent light rains and as always, plenty of sunshine.  After explaining our brown-thumb predicament, the helpful soul suggested that all we needed to do was dig out eight inches of soil from our 112 square-foot raised gardening bed and replace it with some new, healthy soil.

Sounded simple.  Thankfully, I didn't do the math until after the work was done.  The bed has 87 cubic feet or about 27 cubic yards.  Each cubic yard of dirt weighs 1.5 tons which means there were 4.8 tons  (9,700 pounds) of dirt to dig out and another 4.8 tons to put back into the bed.  How's that for being mathematically dramatic?  But as they say, a journey of a 1000 miles starts with one shovel...err, step.

Actually, this was an incredibly fun event because I had my best buddies with me.  Indigo, "The worm finder"....

...and chief mulch / dirt separator.

Jude, the supervisor and king of the dirt pile (and who, truth be told, must have moved a ton of dirt on his own...this kid has a serious work ethic!).  I have never seen a seven year old work this hard in my life.

As the saying goes, many hands make light work. 

After the old soil was removed (day 1), we laid recycled paper on the bottom of the bed as a weed barrier and started rolling in the new dirt.

Everyone got into the act...even the youngest of the bunch.

We went through countless bottles of our family's favorite carbonated water.

And we had more fun than one family should have with 20,000 pounds of dirt and mulch.

After the new dirt was in the garden, Jude and I started mulching and planting.

Alas, not everyone was able to hang in there the entire time, but sleeping or awake, our sweet girl was great to have around.

With the Texas redbud in the background and our spring vegetables and herbs in the ground, our little garden is finally looking pretty good. 

But even if it flops again, the time with our our kids was worth every shovel full of dirt.

Another Circle Skirt

Whenever I get a cold, a powerful force overtakes me and I get an overwhelming urge to get organized.  As an INFP, normally, I can easily, even unwittingly overlook mess and clutter.  Yup, I'm a natural born slob.  Except when it comes to my sewing.  In that case, my brain suddenly switches over to detail-oriented mode.

Not one to miss an opportunity, when we were sick last week I took advantage of the compulsion to organize and sorted through six large containers of my girls' clothes. As beneficiaries of hand-me-downs galore, Iris and Evie have summer clothing in abundance.  We were even able to pass along an entire garbage bag filled with clothes to another family.  Yet Indigo's stash was in need of some re-building.

It was time for another circle skirt.

This is the easiest skirt I've ever made.  There are no side seams to sew or finish.

After drafting the pattern, this literally takes 15 minutes from start to finish.

Don't be intimidated by the math/geometry involved in drafting the pattern.  It's actually simple.  And once you draft one pattern, you can use it again and again.

As far as twirling goes, this skirt can't be beat.

{The fabric I used for this skirt is Meadow Flowers by Heather Ross.}

31, but who's counting?

Yesterday I celebrated 31 trips around the sun.  I woke to a bouquet from my girl Indigo

and a new mug that Dan bought from Etsy.

Thirty was good to me.  I'm comfortable in my own skin.  I'm satisfied in my work at home.  I've made peace with the angsty inner conflicts of my twenties, having wrestled my way through issues of faith and identity.  I've found that I don't really fit in in any particular group... and that's okay.  I'm not sure labels are helpful, anyway. 

As my birthday rolled around this year, for the first time in my life- rather than embracing it- I found myself clinging a little too much to the present.  I was wishing to freeze time.  To freeze my family exactly where we are.  To always have the love of a baby.  Evie has become a gentle, delightful, bright and happy preschooler.  She's finally started talking.  The other day she told me she loved me for the first time and it melted my heart.  Indigo is an articulate, thoughtful mother hen, our Pollyanna - I enjoy her companionship so much.  Jude is growing up fast, the ring leader of these three girls who adore him so.  I feel like I could stay right where we are forever.

In a society that values, even idolizes youth, I hope I can grow older with grace and acceptance.  Not clinging to what was, but embracing what is.

Dan and I headed out for dinner and some birthday shopping - with Iris in tow.

A virgin mojito, my new favorite mocktail

We ended the night by hanging out with a couple of friends.  I asked them over a glass of wine if 31 seemed way older than 30.  It does to me.  Now I'm in my thirties.  They told me no, that it actually seemed younger to them(?), less monumental.  

I have some really great friends.

A Favorite Tea

Our entire crew was sick this week.  And by 'sick', I'm not talking street slang for 'rad' or 'awesome'.  Though I was somewhat relieved that everyone was sick at the same time rather than each of us falling like dominoes, one right after the other.  Jude missed two days of school.  Yesterday I paid a visit to the urgent care to get tested for influenza.  My sidekick, Indigo came along to keep me company.   Be assured that if you go to the urgent care this time of year with a cough and a fever, you're going to be wearing a mask.  This in fact turned out to be a handy way to pass the time.  As we waited (and waited), we invented the game, "Guess if I'm smiling by looking only at my eyes."

We both got it right every time.  I also learned that masks can be turned into pretend parachutes and hang gliders.

I was influenza negative, but had a throat infection, an ear infection and bronchitis.  So this seemed like the perfect time to share my favorite 'sick' tea.  (And by 'sick',  I mean both sick and sick.)  Any time I come down with so much as a sniffle, I make this tea.  It may not be a cure all, but it always brings me some relief.  Here's what you'll need.

1.  Cut off a one inch piece of fresh ginger, peel it, and grate it with a fine grater.  I like my ginger tea really spicy, so I grate it directly into a 2-cup glass measuring cup rather than into a tea ball.

2.  Pour 12 ounces of boiling water over the ginger and let steep, covered, for 15 minutes.

3.  Strain through a fine mesh strainer into your favorite mug.

4.  Squeeze 1/2 of a lemon, a good dash of cayenne pepper, and honey to taste.  Don't be stingy with the honey, either.  Did you read that honey worked better than over-the-counter cough medicines for reducing coughs?

5.  Sip and enjoy!

Ginger tea is great for colds, chills and stomachaches, too.  (But if were making it for a stomachache I would leave out the cayenne, lemon and honey.)  No honey for kids under age one.  If you're pregnant and in your first trimester, go easy on the ginger - don't drink more than one or two cups per day.

Wishing you health and wellness!

A Lesson in Love

Comfortably perched in the haven of Dan's arms, Iris tracked my every move, eyes wide and present.  She was completely entranced with me.   Our eyes met and her smile lit up the room. I realized right then that babies offer love like no other.

 Their love is unconditional.

It's fully accepting.

Whether we're plain or fancy, rich or poor, through good days and harder ones, their love is unwavering.

They ask only for love in return. A ride in the sling,  a cuddle, some warm milk.  (Dan added, less sentimentally - to be walked around the couch again and again!)

In a world in which love is often offered on a strings attached basis, Iris's love is refreshingly pure, rich, full.   It inspires me.

Thank you, Iris, for sharing your love with us.  We couldn't love you more!