I’ve been plopping myself down at the sewing machine every chance I can… with the intention of whittling down my fabric collection to a reasonable amount. (Must have room to store more should I find the perfect piece! Which I will. I always do.) I’m also trying to work on some inventory to put in an etsy shop and list here. At the moment I’m still working on patterns and mock-ups, but I’m hoping to have everything up and running mid-summer. It’s hard to try to force perfectionism when it doesn’t come naturally, but I’m getting better. Here are a few of the fruits of my labors:

A word about making your own clothes.
I’m fully aware that it would probably be much, much easier to just go shopping. (And believe me, I still go shopping.) But like anything handmade or homemade, I think the love and creative spirit that goes into something you make for yourself or a loved one just has a little bit extra. I know I take better care of our handmade clothes, thinking twice about dumping something in the washer that I had to rip seams out of and restitch 10 times.
So I guess its more about the process for me, although the end result is lovely too.

My Easter Egg Bantams arrived yesterday! They are super cute and really, really freaking loud. Hence, they are living in a rubbermaid bin in the sunshine during the day and in the warm garage at night. Here are the new ladies:

This is Twinkle… can you guess who chose that name?

This is Serama the 2nd, in honor of our last Serama.

This is Daffodil. I got to name this one.

This is Elizabeth… Ozzie chose her name. Apparently my children resent weird sounding names already.

I hate grass.

Not in nature… gorgeous meadows of wild grasses and flowers blooming together, that kind of grass I am fond of. That soft, lovely green stuff found on golf courses and outdoor stadiums, that stuff is fine.

I’m talking about lawns, specifically. Such a resource-wasting-time-consuming-non-producing bit of Americana. The whole white picket fence syndrome. Its so needy… constant watering, cutting, trimming and weeding, reseeding and aerating. It’s boring. And the only color you get out of it is green. Or yellow.

So, I’m going to make my flat, water starved, bland front yard go away. Or at least reduce its size dramatically. I’m thinking a huge flower bed with a semi-oval of grass in the middle. Bordered with Japanese Sea Grass and other ornamental tuft-ish looking plants. I’m thinking I’ll move my herbs out to the front for beauty and function. Leave one of the rose bushes in and get rid of the rest.

Hurry up fall, I’m ready to go!