It’s hard to believe that strawberry season has already come and gone. We recently went strawberry picking and made a giant load of jam. We picked 20 pounds of hydroponically grown unsprayed berries. Does anything in the world taste as good as a sun-warmed just-picked strawberry?

I made a double batch of jam and froze the rest for smoothies. That jam is going fast!  When I was stricken with regret for not picking more, or for not going back again, I remembered one important thing: peach season is coming soon.

Here’s what our winter nature table looked like before I cleared it off for spring.  I love that all of our nature tables contain seashells. Even in the winter.

A friend gave me this awesome vintage-inspired fabric because she didn’t have a use for it. I’ve got a top for myself and a skirt for The Girl all cut out and ready to sew, but I decided to make something for her as a thank you. The pink lining fabric and the salmon colored zipper were both from my stash.

I’ve been making these lined pouches for years, and today it finally occurred to me the best way to do it. This requires no hand sewing at all, and gets you a pouch with no raw edges, and an exposed zipper.  I really love it, and now that I’ve perfected my technique, I plan on making a lot more of these. You can, too! Are you ready?

Gather your supplies. You will need:

• fabric for both the outside of the bag, and the lining. You can choose any size you like.
• a zipper. Make sure your zipper is as long as the top edge of your finished bag.
• thread
• ribbon for zipper pull (optional)
• sewing machine, scissors, pins, iron and ironing board

Wash and press your fabric. Decide what dimensions you want your finished pouch to be, and add 1.25 inches. (For example, if you want your finished pouch 3 by 5, you would cut your fabric 4.25 by 6.25 inches.) Cut your outer fabric and lining fabric to the same dimensions.  You can shorten a zipper to the proper size by zipping it up, stitching back and forth across the teeth where you want the zipper to end, then cutting off the excess.

We’re going to start by sewing one side of the zipper.  Place one piece of outer fabric right side up, place the zipper (closed) right side down on top of that, and the lining right side down on top of the zipper. Line up the top edges of each, and pin.

Sew across this edge, at a 0.25 inch seam allowance, removing pins as you come to them. You can use your zipper foot if you have one.  I stitch this twice for extra strength.

Open this seam, with the zipper pointing up and the fabrics pointing down. Press.

Now we are going to sew the other side of the zipper.  This is done in the same way as before.  Place one piece of outer fabric right side up, place the other side of the zipper (closed) right side down on top of that, and the lining right side down on top of the zipper. Line up the top edges of each, and pin. (This part is a bit tricky, but you basically ignore the fabrics that you just sewed, and sandwich the new fabrics together as before.)

Stitch twice, open and press.

Open zipper half way.

Flip the outer pieces (right sides) together and the lining pieces (right sides) together.

Lining up the fabric edges, pin all the way around. Pull and press the zipper tape toward the lining.  When you sew, you are going to leave a 2 or 3 inch gap in the bottom edge of the lining fabric, for turning the bag the right way. I usually double pin at the gap, to remind myself to begin and stop there.

Sew all the way around at a 5/8 inch seam allowance. When you get to the zipper, be sure to press the seams and the zipper toward the lining. Also be sure that you leave the gap at the bottom edge of the lining open. After stitching, clip the corners, close to the seam.

Turn the bag the right way out through the hole in the lining bottom edge.  Huzzah! It’s starting to look like a bag!

Now you’re going to sew that hole shut. Fold the raw fabric edges in (if they aren’t already), line up the folded edges, press, and pin. Sew close to the edge, making sure you get both front and back layers.

Tuck the lining into the outer bag and press.  Add a little ribbon to your zipper pull if you’d like.

Hooray! You made a bag!

Life has been good, spending less time on the computer.  Less time on the computer means more time on the Featherweight. What’s not to love about that? I finished the Paris dress. I’ll have to model it in Paris, bien sûr.  Let me just say that it was not as easy to make as I had hoped it would be. But it all turned out well in the end.

In the midst of Paris preparations, sewing, tending home, and (ahem) homeschooling, a dear old friend got married. Eloped, to be exact. Which I think is awesome. If I were to do it all over again, that’s surely the way I’d do it.

I worked on this gift for them here and there, when I had the time, and I have to admit that I’m very pleased with how it all turned out. The Emile Henry bowl and the brush were purchased at Sur la Table. The apron is made out of a lovely nubby linen, with an adjustable neck (I just hate it when aprons are all saggy at the chest). The dishcloth is knitted from soft 100% cotton, and I used this pattern.  The small jar contains spoon oil, which I made using this lovely all-natural recipe. The larger spoon (on the right) is quite old (for a spoon, anyway) and belonged to the groom’s mother many years ago.  The spoon in the left was hand carved by me. It is my second attempt as spoon making and I have to say that I’m so thrilled with the results. My fingers are itching to carve more.

See you soon(er), I hope.

Check out the beautiful navy stretch satin I purchased last night on a child-free expedition to the fabric store. I am making this dress (Butterick 5383) for a very special occasion.  The Daddy Monkey is taking me to a French restaurant for my 39th birthday this year. In France. So yeah, I’m going to Paris.  I still can’t believe that we’re actually going to be able to make it happen. So I’ve been spending all my spare time researching flights and places to say. Looking at all of the art museum websites and daydreaming about when I get to stand here.

I think I may have written about how much I love France.  I’ve been pretty much dying to go there since my three years of French in high school.

So of course, a trip means new clothes.  Good thing I’ve got a head start on my Spring sewing. Now I’d better get cracking on mon français, which is très mal.

I gave her a couple of party options and she chose to light sky lanterns with a small group of friends at the beach.  I purchased five lanterns here, and couldn’t have been happier with the results.  It was cold that evening, so the celebration was kept short and sweet.  While bundled in our warmest sweaters, hats and gloves, we enjoyed cupcakes, blew bubbles, and played with sparklers.  After the beautiful sunset, we lit our lanterns and sent them flying with sweet birthday wishes. I was glad to have so many adults present, to help with lighting all the lanterns.  We had eight in all (a family member brought three more), and lost only one to the cold and windy conditions.

It was a sweet and magical party.  One I am sure no one will forget any time soon.

Now that the holidays are over, I can show off some of the toys I made for the kids. Here are the fairies I made, to go with these from last year.  All of them get played with a lot, by both The Boy and The Girl. I won’t show you how last year’s look now.  They have held up well, but they have been played with hard. Somehow I find that very satisfying.  I also love how I find these little fairies in odd places all over the house.  It’s a nice surprise.

I’m very pleased with how these came out, and now that I’ve made quite a few, they are getting much easier to make.  They are so cute, I am always tempted to keep them for myself.

I mean, they would look cute on my desk.

I’m here to talk about the Word of the Year, but first I think I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you about these cinnamon rolls. On a whim, I made them for Christmas morning, then again for New Year’s Day (today).  They have changed my life, in a very bad way because now I am obsessed with cinnamon rolls.  I am determined to make an orange version, similar to those pop-the-tube-on-the-counter sweet rolls from my 80′s childhood.  I have however, taken a liking to the Swedish tradition of fika in the afternoon, with a cinnamon roll and a hot cup of tea.  Really, what could be better than that?

The holidays were nice, even though I experienced them through the fever-riddled haze of a sinus infection. The week between Christmas and New Year’s is always my favorite time of the holidays.  Rather then feeling a big let-down, I tend to breathe a huge sigh of relief, as the pressure of the holidays seems to fade into a nice, slow, easy pace of nowhere to be and nothing to do. I love it. And this year I managed to stay up until midnight on New Year’s Eve, something I haven’t managed to do since having the kids. It was fun staying up late drinking wine, listening to The Daddy Monkey play guitar, and visiting with an old, old friend who may as well just be family by now.

In a tradition I’ve borrowed from my dear friend The Bird, rather than making New Year’s resolutions, I tend to choose a simple word to live by for the year.  I’ve been putting a lot of thought into what my word of the year ought to be this year.  Many words rose to the occasion: lovingkindness, gratitude, and peace. But really, I think for me it’s going to be about simplicity this year.  Simple meals, simple home, and simple schedules.  Keep it simple.

In 2012, I’d like to spend more time in this space, but less time on the computer as a whole.  I’ve been away from this space for longer than I would like.  Sometimes life just gets away from me and I’m not quite sure how.  I also would like to enjoy cooking again.  My cooking has been so strained lately, I’d really like to see some joy come out of my kitchen again (see cinnamon rolls, above). I’d love to learn how to play an instrument. The ukulele to be specific. I love how it sounds, and everyone keeps telling me it’s easy, even though in my many attempts to learn an instrument over many years, music just doesn’t come easily to me. I’d also like to spend some more time sewing for myself.  Make some new clothes which would allow me to  simplify (!) my wardrobe. I’d like to get back to some of my old cameras, and play around with film photography again.  It’s an old love of mine, and I miss it.

2012 was a pretty good year for us. There were some struggles for sure, but overall, it was good. I’m looking forward to The Girl’s fourth birthday this month, getting back into the swing of our normal rhythm of school and life, and enjoying the unbelievably gorgeous Florida winter we’ve been having.

Life is good. Happy 2012.

Another sweet and simple holiday–just how I like it.  Our celebration was very similar to last year’s. This year, St. Nicholas brought each child a golden nut, a tangerine, chocolate coins, a candy cane, a geode to break open, and a small wooden mushroom kaleidoscope. For The Girl, he brought a small wooden honey pot for her tea set, and for The Boy, he brought a tiny Lego set.

After celebrating the festivals for over a year now, I can see how the simplicity and the sameness from year to year really shines through.  It’s the resonance of the year’s passage and the comfort of the reliability and predictability that really makes celebrating the seasons so special.

And here’s how our nature table looked before I cleared it off for Advent.

Even though I felt like I was well prepared for the holiday season, it sort of crept up on me!  But vowing to do less every year has really taken the stress out of the holiday.  We are going to wrap up school this week, and get down to some serious crafting and baking in the weeks to come.  I’m really looking forward to it!