mini me

do you remember caldor? it was a store—kind of like a kmart, not quite a walmart. it was of the era before walmart. there was woolworth’s, and bradlee’s and caldor and probably some others i don’t remember.

anyway, when the caldor near us finally gave up and had a big “GOING OUT OF BUSINESS” sale i was probably…oh, 9? and mom and i found a dollhouse kit marked down to $6. why i remember that i don’t know. but it was a huge discount and my 9 year old heart got all fluttery.

mom and i eventually assembled it, but it was a raw kit—no doors, no windows. we bought some shingles, i think i may have even painted the outside. over the next 3 or 4 years i would drag it out on occasion and work on it a bit…most of the furnishings cobbled together from clearance sales and things i could make. mom and dad re-papered and carpeted their bedroom—i trimmed the tiniest bits off the edges of the wallpaper to make border for my dollhouse. carpet remnants became wall-to-wall in my dollhouse.

as i got older my dollhouse hacks became more sophisticated. witness the wooden thimble turned hanging plant:

a leaf plucked surreptitiously from one of mom’s fakes, sliced into tiny plant shapes and glued into the center. embroidery floss becomes the hanger.

yup, i still have it. because i never finished that dollhouse, but there came a point when i knew it was time to give it up. the dollhouse went to the trash—but the few good things i had in it got packed away.

even then—at what, 14? 15? i knew one day i’d have a daughter, and i would finally, finally make the dollhouse i’d been dreaming of.

i had my daughter back in 2000, and then i had 3 more, plus my one boy. the dollhouse dream was always there lurking. but there was always another baby—too small to start working on such delicate things around.

then a couple of years ago we hit the jackpot.

i’m sure if i took a poll i’d find a huge percentage of people who had unstarted or half-finished dollhouses at some point in their childhood. and i’m sure, like me, at some point during a spring cleaning they finally realized it wasn’t going to happen. time to give it up.

this huge dollhouse, along with bins and bins of supplies was on someone’s curb. the major work was done—the house assembled, sided, shingled, even some rooms started.

and it looked like a major attic cleaning had occurred, and the dollhouse was given up. the bins contain carpeting and wood flooring and tiny light fixtures and miniature area rugs and rolls and rolls of wallpapers. all the tools for wiring this house so the lights work! tiny trims and windows and staircases—it’s all here. literally hundreds of dollars in supplies.

no, really. i went online to price 3 doors and 3 windows that we need because they’re either missing or broken. $65 plus shipping.

this thing is pretty huge. and it even had an addition piece with two more rooms that attached on one side.

i have flat out refused to part with it since my mom so wonderfully trash picked it for me us and brought it over. it has moved from place to place in our house for the last 3 years, waiting for the day i deemed our kiddos old enough to begin.

it’s now.

last night we pulled it out and began sorting through the supplies. the kids picked wallpapers for the rooms, and we got started on the bottom floor.

they are beside themselves with excitement. i woke up this morning to find furniture placed in some of the still unfinished rooms. they’re beginning to decorate.

we changed it a little, mommy. this is going to be the girl’s room, and the boy’s room will have a balcony!

it’s going to take quite a bit of repair work to really finish this house. but i WILL do it.

because last night as ava and i sat side by side gluing down the carpet in the living room she chattered away about this house. and how it was going to be so fun for all of them.

and then she said and when we grow up, we can pass this to our kids! and they’ll have it! and they’ll get to play with it too!

hello, heartstring tug. if that doesn’t make me stick to it then nothing will. and in that case, i’ll post a curb alert for you—3/4 finished doll house. maybe you can finish it.

i dub thee, the “quanket”.

so i knew i was lying, even when i said it. i even entitled my post “promises i don’t intend to keep”, because i could feel it in my bones—like crochet and sewing clothing and ::coughcoughmakingbabiescoughcough:: quilting was something i was going to return to.

but (and it’s a big but) in my head i’ve broken quilting into two vaguely defined categories: the traditional types of quilts, and a more modern or contemporary quilt. i’ve been lurking on quilting blogs and quilt pinterest boards, and i’m starting to see a pattern to the types of quilts that catch my eye.

it’s that second type i’m digging. that blend of the traditional art of quilting and the more simplified color schemes and patterns. i’m down.

so, another quilt it is. was.

a gift for a friend’s soon-to-arrive baby boy. the room’s design is beachy—but not babyish beachy, more soothing vintage nautical—like how you’d decorate your actual beach house. you know, if you were awesome and had a beach house. (that i’m certain you’d invite me to, cause we’re cool like that. right? right.)

i was stressed beyond all get out choosing the fabrics for this thing. the momma and her hubs have a very clean, minimalist vibe that i wanted to honor in my choices for the blanket. something youthful and appropriate for a baby’s room, but not too juvenile.

i even made the momma’s sister come with me on one shopping trip to help gather the initial fabrics. (sidenote: hey meg—guess where the last $8 of your gift went? that’s right…you kind of paid for some of your own blanket)

in the end, with a simple scheme of grey, navy and white, i think it all came together.

i kept it super simple: straight horizontal bands of fabric broken by a solid white vertical stripe and blocks on one side.

and then i’m pretty sure i broke some kind of Quilting Rule, because i did the back in minky.

and now this is where i get lost. because my simple little straight stripes and minky backing bear little if any resemblance to some of the quilted works of art i’ve seen. quite honestly i just don’t feel right calling this a “quilt”. but, well, it’s more than just a “blanket”, right?

(sidenote: hey meg--this spot with a little whale on the back? this is where HIS NAME WOULD HAVE BEEN. IF THE POOR CHILD HAD A NAME. ahem. i was forced to pursue an alternative course.)

either way—it’s got a top and a bottom and organic cotton batting in the middle, and i quilted it in a whale pattern (UGH!) because i said to guinevere hey, i can quilt this in straight lines, or crazy lines, orrrr i could trace a whale shape all over and do that and she was like THE WHALE DO IT DO IT DOIT!!!

cut to me 3 hours later with soooorrrrre shoulders and hands permanently in a claw-like position. (sidenote: hey meg--shannon is technically a unisex name. THREE HOURS OF WHALE STITCHING. just sayin’)

so yeah, i kind of blame guinevere for that. but i think she was right because the whale quilting is subtle but fun. it kind of looks like paisley at first but nope. i remembered it’s not the 80’s.

slap a tag on it, it’s done and done. the googiemomma quilts. again.

the shower was delayed a couple weeks due to family sicknesses, so this guy ended up sitting on the back of the couch for a while. i’d be lying (again) if i said i didn’t curl up under it once. or twice. and consider keeping it. it’s pretty much perfect for snuggling under and reading in the corner of the couch.

but i don’t have a nautical theme in my living room, so it went off to it’s new intended owner.

and just so i don’t leave you with the wrong impression—yes, the quanket was technically “done” a couple of weeks before the shower, but you know i was putting the last few stitches in a couple of spots on the binding the day of the shower. just keepin’ it real.

sidenote: hey meg—just kidding. name him whatever you want. but i’ve totally already named him sailor in my head. ;)

little golden dress

sewing, like any art, has definite ups and downs. sometimes your sewing mojo is on like donkey kong and you can’t hardly sew fast enough to keep up with the ideas churning through your brain.

and other times…not so much. all the fabric seems meh. nothing inspires.

but then…THEN. you see a fabric and BOOM! the dress it’s meant to become just jumps into your head like whoa.

this little golden books fabric was one of those. the instant i saw it, i saw a full skirted dress with short sleeves, a peter pan collar, and brown accents.

and boom. this happened:

unfortunately, these are from the same series of pics i talked about here—the ones hampered by a complete lack of interest in the photo taking process by my children. hmph.

not even the addition of a Bribery Lolly helped. she popped it in her mouth like the tiniest james dean and gave me the straight face she does so well. this kid has a whopper of a poker face.

so NO. NO cute photos for you of cute blonde baby/toddlers wearing fluffy full dresses and reading little golden books.

nope. you have to be satisfied with semi-blurry, too dark shots of a grump.

dress details: it buttons up the back with 4 brown buttons. 2 matching buttons on the front center. poofy slip—slightly too big, and thus slipping down—under the skirt, which is as big as i could make it once i cut the bodice pieces from my yard of fabric. bigger IS better, at least when it comes to skirts.

and finally, i’d like to share this little series of photos. proving that no, it’s not all glitter and sunshine in the googiehaus. in case anyone actually thought that (ha).

the look on elliot’s face in that middle shot? priceless.
#keepinitreal