design inspiration: asymmetry

I have been seeing so much asymmetry in clothing design lately. I love it, especially in dresses. I really want to make a midi/maxi skirt that's short in front and long in back, maybe with some lace in the front? Or maybe this first top?

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What do you think? Cute? Obnoxious? Worth a try?

help!!!

Happy Memorial Day weekend, if you're in the US! I hope everyone is having a happy Monday all the same.

My Pretty Blouse pattern got picked up by a really big sewing blog (yay!) and it will be available in a couple of weeks. In the mean time, I need 3-5 last-minute pattern testers to help me make sure it's good to go.

I'm looking for pattern testers who:

* Have a range of sewing levels (probably not absolute beginners, but if you've got a little garment sewing experience under your belt, that's great)
* Wear size medium to extra-large
* Have an editor's eye
* Can complete the top and get feedback to me by THIS FRIDAY.

I cannot offer any compensation, but hey, I'll love you forever + link to you here in a later post.

If you're interested, send an email to themodernmarigold at gmail dot com with "pattern tester" in the subject line. Let me know what size you wear and what level seamstress you consider yourself. If you have a blog or Flickr stream you can link to with examples of your sewing projects, that's super.  Got it, thanks everyone!

THANK YOU!! smoochies!

rhubarb comes to new york

There are lots of nice things about having a farmer for a next-door neighbor (a tractor snow plow and maple syrup come to mind, besides that they're just super nice people). It's also nice that they have about a billion rhubarb plants and are happy to offload a few pounds here and there.

Side note: new sandals this week. We each picked our own, can you tell?

{oh that toddler tummy! nibble nibble!}

Strawberry-rhubarb compote: 1.5 pounds chopped rhubarb + 1 cup sugar + 1/4 cup water, cook till it's falling apart, then add the zest + juice of 1 lemon and a bunch of chopped strawberries. It's like strawberry-rhubarb pie without the crust (which, ok, is half the point, but jeez, a lot easier).

{Red white and blue! Happy Memorial Day weekend!}

Breakfast. And lunch. And midnight snack. Yum.

giveaway winner

Woohoo for Stephanie! Thanks to everyone who entered & for all of your supersweet comments -- I was glowing all week long! And I'm so excited for all the new readers who've joined us -- welcome! See you soon...

the dandelion tee tutorial

I love dandelions! Technically weeds, ok, but I think they're really pretty. This tee has been floating around in my head for a couple of weeks, inspired by all the dandelion bouquets my little chickies have been gathering lately. It's an easy-breezy tee, meant for gardening, picnics, and cloud watching.

All you need are a few small supplies (you probably have some of them hanging around already) and about an hour.

If you have a shirt you want to use that fits well, great. Otherwise, you'll need to dig up that perfect-fitting white shirt of yours that's in the bottom of your laundry basket and is getting embarrassingly grungy because you're too cheap to buy a new one, so you wear it twice between washes and just about every day.

What?

Oh. So, take your men's undershirt and fold it in half. Fold your grungy white shirt in half and lay it on top of the men's shirt, matching the shoulder seams of both shirts. Cut the men's shirt about 1/4 inch bigger all the way around than your grungy white shirt.

Go wash your grungy shirt. Then sew up the sides of the men's shirt, right sides together. If you have a serger, you can finish the neck/sleeves/hem. Or not.

Cut a few small squares of your yellow fabrics and fuse them to a piece (mine is 7x12 inches) of Wonder-Under (man I love that stuff). You'll also need to fuse a long, skinny green fabric scrap to make the dandelion stem.

Cut the Wonder-Undered fabrics into wonky rectangles of varying lengths and widths. Mine were between 1-3 inches long and 0.5-1.5 inches wide. Go fuse yourself to the TV while you peel off the paper backings (I watched Prince Caspian. Kinda fun. I love the part where they storm the castle and one of the guards wigs out when he figures out how to turn on Edmund's flashlight.)

Arrange all the pieces into a design that suits your fancy and iron thoroughly.

Now for my favorite part! Head to the sewing machine and doodle away. Don't get all persnickety, just make squiggly lines and screw up and miss a few spots and then go back for more.

Done! Now go take a picture to share with us (and if you find a way to take a cute picture of yourself, call me).

Thanks for reading/sewing along!

it's giveaway day!

Three cheers for Giveaway Day! And welcome, cute new readers!

I'm giving away a luscious rainbow stack of vintage linens -- seriously my favorite thing.

And I bet you're gonna make something fabulous.

To enter, just leave a comment and your email address. Open internationally.

I'll pick a winner randomly sometime Thursday the 26th.

In the mean time -- poke around? check stuff out? and have a great day!

(*smooch*)

butter bar no more

So my man got promoted yesterday. I can't tell you how stoked he is about it (and to not have to wear the dreaded butter bar anymore). Lizzy stuck the new rank on his ACUs, I pinned the new rank on his beret, we kissed, and we had Burger King for dinner. All is right with the world.

Congratulations, love. Two years ago, we stepped off the edge of uncertainty and found a life better than we ever could have imagined. I love our life together. I love you. I'm so very proud of you. Thank you for being the best man a girl could ever ask for.

the prettiness overfloweth

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Normally I am not a doggy sort of gal -- but in this case -- it could not be helped.

Are you on Pinterest? I think we should be friends.

pretty blouse, coming along

The mumu has found its match. So excited! I decided to make the pattern for this blouse in 3 sizes (S/M, L, and XL), but since it's the first pattern I've ever made and there are bound to be some screw-ups, it's definitely going to be free. I'm really worried that something is going to be horribly wrong with it (like maybe I'm shaped like Quasimodo and so it won't fit anyone else right?), but hopefully it will all be ok. (You can see the first Pretty Blouse right here.) Hoping to have it finished by the end of the week!

What's on your work table this week?

dandelion season

We love it here so much. Every day brings bouquets of dandelions brought in from the yard, and each evening brings beautiful sunsets that make the hills and fields glow. Today's been rainy, but we're looking forward to a little family drive after naptime anyway.
What are you up to today? Anything fun?
(The man and I are going to be couch potatoes tonight and watch Harry Potter.)

week's end report

{a little notey-note - this was supposed to publish yesterday, but blogger was down, so Lizzy is all the way better now, hurray!}

tonight

:: basking in the utter gloriousness of spring

:: finishing up some pretty string blocks for do good stitches (shamefully late! gaahh!)

:: getting ready for a little downton abbey whilst ripping the paper from the blocks
(a little saucier than most bbc series I've seen, maybe a little too saucy, but it's so darned good)

:: fabric scheming for a special project for a special friend

:: listening to the dusky chorus of sleepy birds and waking frogs

:: also the wailin' jennys

:: with a side of (a little more) ben + jerry's...mmmmm

what's your night looking like?

lacey little folks

You guys I am sooooo excited!! I finished this just in the nick of time for a) Rae's spring top sew along, and b) my hot date with the man tonight. No time to blog, but I was just too excited to keep it to myself. More next week (more info here for right now). Muah!

breakfast: fruit with applesauce + tahini

You know how sometimes you make a recipe from a magazine, thinking it's going to be amazing, then halfway in you realize it was actually a really, really bad idea? Thankfully this was not one of those (although, halfway in, I thought it was going to be).

Last week I checked out some back issues of Whole Living from our little library (it's the size of a small house! So cute). It made me feel really inspired to cut back on processed foods (except for Ben and Jerry's, obviously). I'm no purist.

Some of the recipes in WL make me raise an eyebrow (creamy kale salad? not so much.), but fresh fruit with applesauce + tahini turned out to be a winner.

All it is: applesauce + tahini + honey (I left out the water), drizzled over fresh fruit. At first I thought the applesauce mixture was meant to be eaten alone, which it isn't, which is what made me think, halfway in, the recipe was actually a really, really bad idea. Thankfully, it tastes amazing in moderation, and the girls and I gobbled it up for breakfast. Take a hike, Marshmallow Mateys.

Anybody have some grand outside-the-cereal-box ideas for breakfast?

uplifting download: scripture power

Lizzy started going to Sunbeams (Sunday School) this year, and since then it seems like she's been singing non-stop. I LOVE it. She makes up her own songs, too. Most recently I heard her singing in the bathtub:

There was a little rag

She lived at the bottom of the sea

Swim round, swim round, swim round...

*Melt my mommy heart!* Anyway -- Scripture Power is a big favorite around here. Even Maren sings along sometimes. I found an uber cute + clever music video of the song if you haven't heard it before (or even if you have). The chorus goes:

Scripture power(!) keeps me safe from sin

Scripture power is the power to win

Scripture power; every day I need

The power that I get each time I read.

My day always goes so much better when I read my scriptures first thing. Tempers stay down. Voices speak sweeter. Everything is a little bit brighter, a little more saturated, a little more focused.

Feel free to download any (or all!) of the designs below, or you can print a 4-in-1 that's the perfect size for bookmarks. And let's stick to non-commercial use, k? And (ee!) guess what - I whipped up a button for these little freebies (see last week's here). I have so many more ideas that I hope to share with you. Grab the button and link up if you want!

Now get out there with your scripture power!

on balance

Last night I just about sliced off the tip of my index finger with my rotary cutter (like for serious). Since then there has been blood, gauze, tape, and more blood, gauze, and tape. Ben & Jerry's totally balances that, right?

Esquivel is also making me feel super jazzy tonight. Best listened to when doing mundane tasks, like scrubbing a toilet or something, because it will make you feel exotic and sexy in a Mrs. Incredible kind of way.

I'm working on a new little freebie for you (and a button for all these freebies! woohoo!). Hope you are as sung as a bug in a rug tonight!

pretties for monday

Kinda dark and stormy here today, how about you? Oh well, at least it's better than snowing. These pretties have been burning a hole in my pin boards.

I want this dress so bad...

Source: modcloth.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Drooool. I saw the complete aqua/white set at an antique store on Saturday but couldn't swallow the $40 price tag (fair though it may have been).

Source: flickr.com via Amanda on Pinterest

THANK YOU to La, who pointed me toward these (cheap!) shoes after my mustard-flat-coveting last week. Definitely looking for these on our next pilgrimage to Target.

Source: target.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Light + color. Yum.

Source: designalicious.typepad.com via Amanda on Pinterest

I love the shape of the skirt with the front crochet detail. Darn you for being so amazing, Free People.

Source: freepeople.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Can you believe this stack of happiness?

Source: attic24.typepad.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Happy Monday, everyone!

(ps. how 'bout that Osama?? R and I stayed up super late last night watching the coverage. you should have seen him when Obama announced that it was our guys that busted in and fired the shots. he was jumping around like a kid on Christmas. it's a big day in the Army community.)