Stitching Up

As usual I have a pile of projects in progress and even more ideas for things I want to make. But there's only so much time! Here are a few things I've made recently, well, within the last two months I guess. I wonder now if I've already posted some of these? Mommy brain. Not sure. Oh well! Most recently I've made a few make-up bags. It's my first experience inserting a zipper, which is fun and a tiny bit challenging. I'm doing it the traditional way where you sew up the seam and then unpick it. I found a few videos of shortcuts, where you just sew each side of the zip on but I figured I'd do it the way the sewing bible says to. I used Liberty fabric for the outside and some waxy, thick Lisa Stickley fabric for the lining. I love this Liberty fabric! It's HOT pink and I love the print. I used the same fabric for Ellie's birth announcement. I made this make-up bag for a friend and another one for myself (but out of a different outer fabric). I have pieces cut to make a few more. They are lots of fun to make and pretty quick. I don't really like the stitching up part because it takes some time right at the end when you're sort of teased by what's otherwise finished. You just want it to be done! The stitching up may take time, but it's worth going slow because it can often make or break the look and quality. I didn't stitch this one up as well as I should and the zip sticks a little in a few places.

I finished some curtains for Lois's room in Liberty's quilting cotton. I lined them and used tabs to match a different panel in her room, which is made from Amy Butler fabric in a very old print. Here they are below, before I hung them. I was sort of shocked that they were the same size and actually look really nice. I'm not so great at precision sewing.

I made Ellie some more booties. I didn't take an after pic, but here they are in progress. 

I appliquéd a few onesies (or vests, as I think they're called here) for Ellie. One tulip puckered a bit, but I went with it anyway. 

And I made her a tag blankie. Babies love tags, don't they?

Here she is enjoying her onesie and her blankie. Happy girl! 

So that's a bit of what I've made lately. I hope to finish a skirt soon and a tote bag for my mom. 

Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches

And speaking of ice cream... it's finally warm enough to eat it outside without freezing. This weekend for a bank holiday BBQ we went to we made ice cream sandwiches. Yum! I'm not a huge fan of the store bought ice cream sandwiches mainly because I don't really like the ice cream in them. I'm a bit of a vanilla ice cream snob and really only like sort of expensive brands like Haagen Dazs, which is my favorite vanilla. But homemade ice cream sandwiches seemed fun to make and, well, you can pick your ice cream, so that's what we did. I followed this recipe here. The pretty photos made me choose it over a few others I read, but there are plenty online. Speaking of pretty photos, I learned in food styling and photography class not to take photos at an angle like the one above, because then it looks like your food is sliding off the table, but that's one of the better photos I took so I decided to post it anyway. Do you have any thoughts on this matter in food photography? I recently read a magazine where one article was a food spread and just about every photo had the food shot at an angle and each dish was slip slidin' away, or so it looked. It made me laugh and I could totally see why it's not the best angle for food. I learned that you should take the shots from directly above or straight on, but rarely at an angle. I digress! Back to the ice cream sandwiches... Lois helped of course.

The cookie part is easy. It's the ice cream and assembly part, which is a bit tricky, especially when a 4 year old is "helping." Following the recipe's instructions for store bought ice cream, I cut away the plastic container and sliced the ice cream in 4 slices (it wasn't Haagen Dazs by the way, but something Andrew picked, not sure of the name now!). I put the sliced ice cream on a cutting board covered in foil, which I had previously put in the freezer for a while. Gotta make sure that ice cream is really solid and cut quickly with a big knife!

After making the cookies, which we made in butterfly, heart, and flower shapes, I put the cookies in the freezer for a while just to be sure everything would be as cold as possible. And then working quickly we used the cookie cutters to cut the ice cream shapes. We sandwiched the ice cream shapes between the cookies, lining up all the edges.  

I wrapped them individually in parchment and put them back in the freezer. Only a few got a bit soft as I was trying to take photos of them, but otherwise they all turned out nicely. Lois wanted sprinkles around some of them so we added sprinkles to a few. 

Definitely have to work fast, as you can see from the photo below. It's ice cream after all. 

We have some leftover dough so I'll be making more of these. The cookie part of the recipe is great on its own. I'd be happy to make just those again. Here it is again if you'd like to make these too. 

I Scream for Ice Cream!

I love dresses. They are probably my favorite type of clothing. Every year in spring I look forward to finding one special summer dress, and I've found this year's dress! I first read about There's Only One Amy Laws in a recent issue of Pretty Nostalgic (which is a wonderful magazine, by the way). There's a nice feature showing one of her silkscreen printed umbrella dresses. I really liked the dress but what made me go to her web site was the name of her company. How great is that name? I wondered if it meant there's only one of each item she makes, or if it simply meant she's an original. In any case, the name of her company is fantastic and it made me head over to her web site. As soon as I saw her ice cream dress I knew it would be my summer dress pick for this year. I LOVE it. It's handmade, the perfect simple shape, navy with polka dots on top, and a sweet candy pink on the bottom with ice cream cones. I love that the ice cream cones are hand printed onto the fabric and that you won't find this in every Topshop on the block. It fits perfectly and is very well made. I think her prices for handmade are very reasonable as well. So much work goes into one article of clothing! Having made (just) one dress so far, I really admire anyone who makes handmade clothing. (You can see my one dress at the bottom of this post. I'm very proud of it!) Some people like to keep great things to themselves, fashion being one of them. But not me. I'm happy to share. After all, ice cream is best when it's shared. Though I'm partial to the ice cream print, Amy also has a lot of other wonderful prints and clothes for little ones too. I might have to order two mini scoop dresses for Lois and Ellie. 

Paris in Spring is a Glorious Thing!

Is that a song, or a poem? If not, I think it should be! Actually Paris is great anytime of year, especially to me perhaps in spring and winter. I haven't thought most places are a favorite in winter, and winter is not my favorite season in general (fall is), but Paris has a sleepy romance in winter that is wonderful in its own way.

But for our week of spring in Paris we had a wonderful time! I enjoyed our week a lot, probably much more than our time there last spring when we were there for three months. We were in the process of trying to move there then and it was a bit stressful always wondering where we were going to live and being pregnant at the time only magnified the stress a bit, so it was definitely very pleasant not to worry about apartment hunting among other things.

Technically we went for Andrew's work. He was attending a conference, which kept him busy most of the week. But Lois, Ellie, and I still spent plenty of time out. It's a bit of work getting out the door with two wee ones even if we're just at home in London (argh, it takes forever it seems!), and most days in Paris I had to muster up a lot of motivation and do plenty of deep breathing just to prepare to leave. Normally I wouldn't need any motivation to head out the door in Paris, but with two children, and the piles of kiddy-related stuff I needed to tote with me, and the fact that we didn't bring a stroller or Lois's scooter, and that I don't speak French...well, lets just say it's a miracle I actually left the apartment by 11am each day. But leave we did! Below is pretty much how we got around, one strapped on and one free. I'd wear Ellie on the front and put my backpack on the back, though I flipped them around here at the zoo in the Jardin des Plantes.

Lois, being the typical four year old, wanted to do typical four year old stuff like go to the playground. Although Paris has some great playgrounds, that isn't necessarily how I wanted to spend most of my time. So my general plan each day was to pop into one or two places I wanted to go as we made our way to a park or playground. Then we'd spend a few hours having a picnic while Lois played, and as we'd make our way back, we'd pop into a few more places that we both wanted to go, like ice cream shops or toy stores, both of which are amazing in Paris, so I didn't have to be talked into going to either. Without a stroller, I had to motivate her little feet somehow! Ice cream and toys do the trick. The toy shops in Paris have convinced me that I was definitely born in the wrong country! I'm in love with French toy shops. They have the most beautiful, interesting, fun toys. Ah, I just wish I had filled a little suitcase with a bunch of things for the girls. More reason to go back!

Berthillon ice cream is really great. Out of the flavors we tried, I preferred the pistachio to chocolate. I didn't think the chocolate was very balanced in that it was sooo chocolatey and not very creamy. I would have prefered more cream to it! But still worth a stop. 

And lets not forget candy shops! My favorite that I've been to is Le Bonbon au Palais. It's not too far from Jardin des Plantes, and it's around the corner from a playground (good to know if you have kids in tow). And it's also around the corner from a place called Breakfast in America, which is just what it sounds like, a good o'l diner kinda place. No Waffle House in Paris, but they do have BIA. Get a milkshake. But don't forget to save room for your candy...

My plan with the kiddos worked pretty well most days. I was very impressed with Lois. We were usually out each day from about 10am-5pm, and I'm amazed that I had little trouble getting her to walk home (or walk to a bus or train station to get home). She had to walk though since we didn't bring a stroller, and I was carrying Ellie in a carrier. (We decided not to bring the stroller because we never use one for Lois at home anyway, and Ellie is still small enough to be carried pretty easily in the carrier. I knew the stroller would just be another level of anxiety for me--pushing it into teensy shops, clunking my way down narrow sidewalks, etc.). Just look at lil' Miss Confidence! 

Paris has beautiful parks, many of which are wonderful for kids. We stayed right next to Luxembourg Gardens in the 5th. We could have easily just gone there every day. The gardens are lovely, the playground is fantastic (though you do have to pay a few euros to get in), there's a carousel there, and on the weekends, children can rent sailboats in the fountains and take pony rides. Lois enjoyed her first pony ride! There's also a marionette theater in the park. They have shows on Wednesdays and the weekend, I think. We didn't go to one this visit but have before and they are wonderful. A visit to Luxembourg Gardins is easily an all day place with kids if you want it to be. The sailboats are especially charming I think. If you're hungry, two wonderful places to eat are Bread and Roses and Au Petit Suisse. 

The park gets quite full on a nice weekend! In Paris people are often not allowed on the grass, but they do allow it sometimes, I guess the weekends are one of those times. The flower beds in the park are very beautiful so be sure to stroll by a few of them. 

One day we also went to the Eiffel Tower for a picnic. There's also a great playground there, and then a huge carousel near the river just in front of the Eiffel Tower. We each wore pretty new dresses for the occasion. No shlumpadinka outfits for an Eiffel Tower picnic in this family!

I had a good time comparing lots of pictures of Lois last year in Paris to this year's visit. I have a bunch of these comparison sorts of photos, but unless you're her mom, I doubt you'd be that interested! But it's really fun for me to see her last year compared to this year in the exact same spots in various places. I hope she'll appreciate these photos when she's older. I might have to go back to Paris every year just to keep it up! (This photo has a wide white border, sorry for what seems like a huge gap.)

I was happy to revisit some of my favorite places. I stopped into La Droguerie for some craft inspiration and went to Rue Montorgueil right nearby to treat my tummy to some Stohrer pastries, specifically a puits d'amour (like a creme brûlée in a pastry). 

The general street scenes and window shopping around this area are wonderful. 

I also went to one of my favorite streets, Rue Saint Paul (you can find a list of shops on that street and in the area here). Two of my favorites are Au Petit Bonheur La Chance and EW, which are practically next door to each other (you can read my article on Au Petit here). More on this area here.

Andrew was busy working most of the time, but we did get 1.5 whole days with him. Here he is being silly with Lois. 

I have so many more pictures, but those are the highlights! And below are a few more snapshots. If I posted all my photos from our week, you'd need a whole day just to scroll through them. But I hope you've enjoyed a bit of our Paris week! Here again is a map of a few of my favorite places in case you are interested. I'm already looking forward to going back. I miss this view from our balcony!

Paris buildings. 

 The best macaroons were in this pink box below! Love their macaroons!

Lil' Miss at a market. 

Pretty flower shop. 

An evening stroll.

I did bring our new camera but all of these photos are with my iPhone, using instagram. I'm having a terrible time getting out of the habit of using my phone to take pictures! It's just so easy and familiar to pull out my phone. I did take some with our new little camera (a great little camera, by the way if you're in the market for a good, lightweight camera), and so I might add to this post once I get them off the camera. Au revoir until next time!