Patchwork Scarves

Today is a particularly frigid day-- school for the girls is delayed yet again--so naturally I thought of bringing scarves outside to style them on the picket fence! Last weekend the girls thought they might like a new scarf each, so we looked through my stash of fabric and they picked out three colors to use.

I've always sewed by hand--pieced quilts, stitched my other bags on this blog--but I recently decided that using a machine is not a creative crime. In fact, it can make the pieces more durable! And I can certainly make them more quickly.

The result is two new scarves in an evening! I lined both of them in soft nursery rhyme flannel. I think I'll add an extra flannel layer to future scarves to increase their coziness. And I like to put a little tab on the scarf to slide one end through.

The girls have been putting them to good use in this snow.

Snow Day

It was a snow day today--three children home from school, and two professors home too.

The girls played for hours in the snow, loving the swirling drifts that engulfed our van in the driveway (the van that hasn't been shoveled out yet).

The boy marched around the house in his baby UGGs, stopping every so often to build a teetering castle out of blocks, then smashing it with his Pooh Bear.

I busied myself with some of my favorite fabric blogs--anna maria horner, heather bailey, amy butler--and dreamed up some new designs. This photo was taken the day before the big storm, hence the bits of grass peeking out from behind the fence. The bag on the left is my Anne of Green Gables bag, using imported fabric from Japan. I love this fabric because I'm from Prince Edward Island, home of Anne, for one, and two, because it has a heavier weight than regular cotton.

The middle bag is one of my "bibelot bags," useful for storing socks or other small collectibles. And the paisley bag is sized for a grown-up (see the longer straps?), embellished with ribbon from the talented Laura. All bags are lined with a contrasting fabric.

Some Spring-y bags on such a winter's day.

miss cavendish returns

After a two-month-or-so hiatus, I miss my fabric blog and have decided to begin again. I'll be updating periodically, with photos of things I make. I'd love to have your feedback, so please feel welcome to leave comments.

Here's a photo of a little pencil roll I made the other day; it's displayed on our snowy picket fence. It unrolls to display the mirror image: there's room for 18 colored pencils in the pink pockets.

I'm thinking that a smaller roll than this could be fun for eye pencils, make-up brushes, etc. What do you think?