Laowai

Claire has a friend who started something she calls The Little Free Art Gallery. It’s like those little libraries that people put up but it holds art.

So you make some art and leave it or you can take some art. It’s the sweetest thing ever!

Claire and I added some art last week. I made some quilt art and Claire made the cut-paper fruit pictures and a couple bracelets.

She has an instagram account and I see that the art is constantly changing. I love it.

Brian turned 50 yesterday. We had a little celebration – just the three of us. We went out for a yummy dinner at a restaurant called Ada Street and then had cake at home.

It’s frustratingly hard to get something special for this person who gives us everything. He has to settle for a nice dinner with us.

After dinner Claire drove us home – she’s doing so well driving in Chicago even!

These two look like they are related don’t they.

Bea will be home on Sunday to they can eat some cake together too.

Happy Birthday Brian.

While Bea is away and Brian is often traveling for work – Claire and I are holding down the fort. 

Claire is learning to drive this summer so I’m either driving her to and from driver’s ed or I’m riding around in the passenger seat helping her practice. It’s been fun.

Otherwise I’m up to my typical pastimes. Like being pleased with the things I’ve grown. My sweet peas are just starting to bloom and I think it’s going to be a good sweet pea year.

Here’s my friend with the fuzzy tail – I spend a lot of time with him.

And I’ve been making lots of mini bouquets. It’s small scale abundance filling up my windowsill.

I’ve gotten to do some yarn shopping and some knitting.

With Bea and Brian gone we go through a jug of milk much slower and there aren’t as many mouths to consume baked goods. So I’ve only been doing occasional baking. The most picture-worthy thing was the sculptural pile of dirty baking tools on their way to the sink.

And so it goes.

Conveniently the trains are set up with space for bikes.

They started in Vienna and Brian rode between 75 and 110 miles each day. They stopped in Melk, Linz, Salzburg and Innsbruck – staying near the Danube most of the time.

So 402 miles of riding for Brian and the two of them got to do some hiking too. I think they had a fantastic, memorable time.

And Claire and I got a pile Austria’s yummy chocolate wafers.

We’re having a heatwave suddenly. So I made a new shirt. I used some of the pretty gingham seersucker that I got in Japan. It’s the Fern shirt from Seamwork and it’s perfectly loose and light for this weather.

Don’t look too closely – I was doing some baking and didn’t realize I had a sprinkling of flour all down the front. 

I think I might shorten the sleeves a bit next time I make this pattern. And maybe a little drawstring around the bottom hem would be cute.

And here’s a photo of Bea. Brian flew over and met her in Vienna – and they are going to spend the week biking and seeing the sights.

I tried a new pattern from Liesl and Co. – it's the Kyoto Dress.

I saw this dress online and I've wanted to emulate it. So I made sort of a wearable muslin. I found the fabric at a church rummage sale and only spent $5. Is it taffeta? Maybe? Seems like a home dec. fabric that you would see at Joann's or Calico Corner.

Here are the changes I made to the pattern: I straightened the v-neck – I just like a more severe shape. I took an inch off the length of the bodice because I'm short. I made a size 16, D cup but then after it was sewn I ended up taking about an inch off each side seam at the waist. I made short sleeves with an elastic-encased hem. I cut the bodice out of one piece of fabric instead of having a seam down the middle. And I lengthened the skirt. 

For a second version I would like to deepen the v-neck and made the sleeves poofy. I also find the skirt sort of awkward – probably because this pattern is not intended for a stiff fabric like this. I think if I use a similar fabric I should either add more fullness or take fullness away. Also, at this length the back of the dress seems sort of boring – again maybe more fullness is the answer but not sure how I would do that.

So I'm happy with this and as always the Liesl and Co. pattern was a pleasure to use. I didn't take a photo but I matched the plaid perfectly along the back zipper – yay! It feels good to make a dress that is fitted properly to me!

Just one daughter celebrating with Brian this year.

He cooked his own Father's Day dinner. Yum.

Earlier in the morning I came down and found him having coffee and wearing my sweater (?).

We love him.

I finished my latest knitting project the other day. It's a chunky little cardigan. And since we've had such a frustratingly cold spring I've been throwing it on all the time.

The pattern is called Audrey's Cardigan by Elizabeth Smith. The yarn is a really soft Merino wool.

I'm really pleased with the fit and the feel of this sweater – I know I will get a lot of use out of it.

And even though it's not a very knitty season I do feel like starting another sweater. It's going to be stripy.

Here are a bunch of photos that Brian and Bea took in and near Dresden. Brian flew over and helped her get settled so they were able to explore a little together. She's been taking her German class for about a week and a half now and she's been riding her bike all around the area.

Lately I've been thinking about knowing when to stop and when to start. 

When knitting I tend to keep going and going when I really should stop. I make sweaters longer than I intend to. I've been trying to improve the fit for my knitting projects. Here's my latest project where I really tried not to make it too long. I've been trying it on as I go and I can't wait to see the final fit.

We've been having a very chilly spring. I'm longing for warm days and so are my plants. The hardest thing is to wait to plant. I think it's better to wait to plant certain seeds like my green beans. They just don't like the cold. In the past I would try to get a jump on the season by starting seeds under cloches but for some plants it's just not worth it. They will grow happier and faster if I can just manage to wait for that warmth.

So I planted my bean seeds last weekend thinking that we were done with the 50 degree weather. We'll see… this morning I woke up to another chilly day so maybe I should have waited another week.

Chives season has arrived.

I did a spontaneous thing last weekend before I planted my beans. I realized my garden was a strange wonky shape. The edge on the East side was sort of curved and not perpendicular to the brick path. So I dug out the brick edging and added a couple feet. It makes more sense now. 

Here are a couple more recent project I've finished. A whole cloth quilt for a dear friend's high school graduation gift. Green flannel because she's off to Michigan State. I would love to make a quilt like this for my Bea but she is going to be living out of suitcase for the foreseeable future and so it's just not practical.

And I finished this fun zig zag scarf. Luckily Both of these project have unambiguous finishes – meaning I just quilt to the end or knit until I'm out of yarn.