Not a Lot Going On Here

I would like to say I'm sewing up a storm...but I'm not.  I managed to get these curtains done before we had visitors come for Easter.  That's about all of the sewing I've done in the past little while. (Remember my post from a while back...? So I didn't go black and white, but did go geometric and simple)

The fabric is this navy blue wax resist dyed loveliness that my husband brought back for me from Ghana, way back in January. It's only taken 19 years for him to learn what I really want as a souvenir:)

I left the side edges raw (they even wax resist dyed the name and some other things on the side) and then simply used a rolled hem for the top and bottom.  I didn't want to waist any of the fabric by hemming too much.  As I was cutting it out to the measurements, last minute I remembered to make sure that the circles would line up from panel to panel...that was a close call.  I'm kind of loving how they look. Simple, yet stunning to look at. And they are simply hung with little clips on a simple rod.

As for what has been keeping me busy, besides chauffeuring my kids around, on the days it is nice outside...I love Spring...I've been outside discovering what our flowerbeds have to offer. Since we bought this house and moved in July 1st, what blooms in Spring is a nice surprise. Every day it seems like it is something new, awakening to the warm sunshine that has become more the norm.

So here are some of the surprised for your enjoyment.

 One night a couple of weeks ago, there was a chorus of probably 50-80 of these guys in our little pond...it was loud! The result is now a ton of tadpoles swimming around. The girls are having fun with daily observations...got to love backyard biology!

 And this lovely sight is from a drive on Easter around a local park. How many turtles can you count?

In Black and White

So it's been a while...with the holidays (can you say 3 different concerts?!), camera not working, sick kids, life...and...and...it's been a while. But I am going to be better...

I thought I'd share what is on my mind at the moment though...it's cold here and I still haven't put up window coverings of any kind. While we have fairly good windows, I wonder if having some sort of curtain up would help in the whole heating department.  Not sure if it would or not, but it sure would help in feeling that the rooms were "completed". 

That's what I have on my mind...curtains.

I've ventured into curtains before and plan to reuse those, but I need some new ideas as well.

These I made from some vintage handkerchiefs...still love how they turned out!

These are from Ikea fabric with black trim.

I find that I'm still drawn to the simple white with black lined details, like this one from Ikea

Or this one from Ikea:

And not only am I drawn to black and white, but to the more organic looking designs verses the actual patterns.  This is probably why I'm drawn to doodling like this: 

My Christmas present to myself, found on Amazon.

So my thinking is going down this road: I wonder if I could design/draw my own fabric. I have a bunch of white (same fabric used in the handkerchief curtains actually) and I'm thinking with a sharpie I could come up with something that is not only really cool, but really unique.

The question is, is it doable? 

Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Pumpkin Eater...Over at GYCT

 I'm over at GYCT celebrating 31 Days of Halloween, but if you remember from last year, I'm not a big fan of this particular holiday. So this year I decided to share something a little more Autumn oriented...3 delicious recipes that incorporate that festive gourd.

So go check it out, if you want some easy but crowd pleasing pumpkin goodness! 

Be sure to check out all the other great ideas that have been shared!

Are you moving?--Organizing Guest Post

Howdy Ho...while I'm still unpacking and organizing here at home, I'm over at GYTC sharing some tips to help a move go smoother. Not completely smooth, because there are always some unexpected bumps in the road (like your desk top not wanting to recognize the new wireless connection or the fact that the different schools have people there on different days so that I can't register all the kids on one day...that would be too easy). 

So until I get my sewing room unpacked, which is surprisingly low on the list right now...family sanity is much more important at the moment...here is something to think about and pass on to someone you know that might be moving.

A Little Tip and Something Beautiful

I love doing rolled hems, with my rolled hem foot...really I just hate the ironing part of doing a regular hem, so I avoid it when at all possible. That being said, I hated how the rolled hem looked when I first start a hem.  My solution...tissue paper. Just take a piece that extends an inch or two from where you want to start. Then start sewing on the tissue paper and start your rolled hem as normal. No more wonky hems at the beginning. Then all you have to do is tear away the tissue paper.  It's that easy!

 Now on to something beautiful. Today we woke up to ice coating everything...the joys of living in the South, but just far enough north to be on the edge of freezing weather. This meant the kids got off school, but by noon things weren't too bad and some of my kids had places to go. Just down the street from our house is a stream and just as I was about to drive over the bridge, this beauty of a Great Blue Heron flew down and landed. I grabbed my camera and got a couple shots off before he either decided there wasn't anything to eat there or that it was just too cold.

 As I think I've mentioned before, if I had to pick my dream job I would be a photographer for National Geographic, just so I could travel the world and take pictures of nature...she never ceases to amaze me.

Our Little Mantra

Our family mantra that I put on to canvas. Black chalkboard paint with white paint. I used the pencil scribbling method on the back of the paper (designed in word), but used chalk instead of pencil. Then you just trace over the front and it leaves a little outline for you to fill in with paint. Worked great!

Two summers ago, we were visiting our relatives in Utah and decided to climb 2 mountains while we were out there.  When I say we, I mean all of us, even Clara who was 4 at the time...and much too heavy to carry.  When I say mountains, it wasn't the highest peak, but they certainly rivaled any 'mountains' in the East. The first one was 'Y' Mount right by BYU. It was a little over 1 mile of switchbacks to get to the top of the big 'Y'. 

This is when we came up with our little motto...to keep little feet moving. And guess what, it worked.

 Our second mountain was the trail up to Timpanogos Caves. This hike was done with a lot of cousins, so was a little more fun...diversions are always nice.

 For this hike, we also divided up into age groups/leg sizes with an adult or two with each group. The little ones were behind us by a switch back or two when I took this picture.

So there you have it...You are tough and strong and awesome and can do anything you want...even climb 2 mountains when you are only 4 years old!

My Other Passion

This is Sophia when she was only 6. She has been and still is a very precocious reader (we are talking a couple of chapter books a week). At least a couple of times a week I still come in to find her like this. I LOVE this picture!
Another reason I love this picture...all of the homemade goodness to be seen: quilt was graduation from HS present to me from my mom, pillowcase was made by big brother for her, doll and clothes made by me, nightgown made by me, giraffe (under doll) handmade from Togo.

I thought I'd tell you about one of my other passions today (what you'll usually find me doing when I'm not taking care of my family or sewing/crafting)...reading. I love to read and I love reading to my kids. I also love to pass on my love of reading and think I've succeeded so far.

 So far they've all been rather precocious readers (and by that I don't necessarily mean reading early, but rather once they learn to read the also love to read and go through books like candy). And it seemed to go hand in hand that the more they read, the more ahead they got, so that by 3rd grade (even the one that didn't start reading till 1st grade) they were reading well above grade level (and no, I'm not one of those mom's that have pushed her kids to read...Clara is not reading yet and will turn 6 here soon. Am I worried at all...No. She will get it when the timing is right, but she loves to read with me and that is all that matters). Anyway...this difference in age and level led me to this site, Compass Book Ratings. It's a great resource to "see" what is in a book without actually having to pre-read the books my kids were reading (I was trying to do that and realized it was no longer possible with 3 readers that were reading through 3-4 books a week in the summer). The ratings are given for the categories that worried me the most when it came to content that was too mature. 

Well after using the site for a while, I decided that I was reading a lot anyway and looked into being a reviewer. I made it through their little trial and am now an official reviewer! You can find a little bio of me on the reviewers page. So now a few times a month I submit a review for books that they ask me to review or that I just want to add to their data base. It's fun for me because I feel like that I'm doing something useful with the time I spend reading and I hope that I'm helping someone else, that finds themselves in my situation. So go check it our and pass it on to your friends that read!

It's Been Kind of Quiet

It's been kind of quiet around here, but not because I'm not sewing things.  They're things that I just can't share with you right now. In the mean time, I thought I'd share some of my kids creations.

The first one here is of Clara's portrait, still life, landscape (can you see them all) that she did on microsoft paint. We had just finished reading a book on different kinds of art.

These next pictures are of a coloring book that Sophia made to surprise Clara.  Clara was so excited (Sophia wrapped it up and left it on her pillow as a surprise), and had them colored in less then a day.  There were about 10 drawings all together.

 The fun thing is though, she used their stuffed animals as inspiration. Here are a couple of my favorites.

 The coloring is Clara's (5 years old and in a rush of excitement) and the black outlines are Sophia's (10 years old).

Craftsmanship

Craftsmanship

I've been thinking about that word lately and I thought I'd tie it in with my Veteran's Day tribute.

There are 2 reasons I've been thinking about it. The first is because my wonderful husband gave me a glass blowing class (one of the Amazon local deals) for Valentine's Day. The glass ball hanging over my kitchen sink is my creation from that class and I finally just got it hung over the weekend. I was waiting until I got my curtains made and in place, because they were meant to go together. This is the window over my kitchen sink.  

 I'm one of those weird people that likes to do dishes by hand. I grew up in a house without a dishwasher and I hated it when it was my week to do dishes (yes, we had a weekly rotation and yes, there were 12 people total in my family, but several were a way at college by the time I got to dish duty age).  Now I love doing dishes, because it is my time to think...I mean really think. Some people get answers to life's problems in the shower, for me it's while I'm doing dishes. Now I have something that makes me happy to look at while doing dishes and pondering deep thoughts. (Fabric is from Ikea, but it doesn't appear to be sold any more)

Back to the glass blowing class....it was hard! The knowledge and skills required for that craft are amazing. You need scientific knowledge (melting temps, chemical reactions to get the right colors, just to name a few), physical stamina (it's HOT in the studio!) and patience for this craft. It was such a fun experience, but I gained a deep appreciation for those that choose to keep a craft like glass blowing alive.

 The other reason I've been thinking about craftsmanship is because I recently watched all of the episodes of Life on the Edwardian Farm. It's kind of a reality tv show for history junkies like me, done over in England by the BBC. It was fascinating to say the least to see all of these crafts and ways of life play out as they tried to make living on a farm in that era work. One of things they said though was how it's sad that a lot of these old crafts aren't being passed down and how these types of craftsman are hard to find. The interesting thing they said though that the real catalyst wasn't the Industrial Revolution, but WW1. The loss of the young men that would have taken over the craft shops was so great that many of the skills just disappeared.  There was no one to pass the skills on to in England...that many young men had died.

And that is how this post is a tribute to those men and women that serve to keep us free. Their sacrifice is great indeed, because what they are willing to give up is impactful to not only themselves but all of us. And I'm not talking about just the skills they possess, but to the influence they have to those around them and the lives they touch on a daily basis. 

Today and every day I honor them. 

(There are strong ties to the US Navy in my family with my 2 grandfathers, my dad, several uncles, my brother and my sister having served with it, but there is also some having served in Army and Coast Guard as well)

Go Check Out My Latest Guest Post--It's a little Spooky

I'm over at GYCT to share my spooky literary tribute/addition to our couch and my thoughts on literature appropriate for the up coming holiday.  So on over!

Keeping Busy

You know that little dream you have when your kids are finally all in school and you will have so much time to get to all of those projects you've been putting off for years?  Call me when you send your last to school and I'll fill you in with the reality...it hasn't happened yet for me.  My day seems to fly by and if I didn't have this blog I would wonder what I've accomplished.  At least here I document some of what I do so that I have a little record of my time spent.  I have been busy and am still sewing. Lately, most of my sewing has been documented over at Sew Cool for the Tween Scene, so go check out my latest review if you want to see some sewing for my kids.

 As for other projects, they were all put on hold for these that I volunteered myself for.  You see I firmly believe in serving others through your God given talents. I think sewing is one of my talents, so I do what I can with it.  This is a bunch of dance costumes that need to be altered (and these are the easy ones...there's a whole other batch that will require some thinking and time to fix). The 2 companies, a junior and a senior one, at my daughter's dance studio perform all year round at places like nursing homes and children's hospitals (one of the things I like about this place...they don't do a Christmas/Winter recital just so that they can focus on serving the community). Anyway, that means they need their costumes now, so I'm tightening straps and taking in some bodices.

 These are going to be super hero capes. My oldest, who is high school, will be headed to Grand Nationals with his marching band in a couple of weeks up in Indiana. Instead of wandering around the mall for hours in their down time between performing, the parents thought it would be a good idea to do something service oriented. They found this project called The Hero Project and plan on having a cape for each member of the band (160+) to give to one child in the hospital up there.  The capes come to me cut out and I just add the applique and sew the inside and outside together. Someone else is adding the velcro. Pretty easy on my part and just something little I can do in my own little way.

From Old to New Again

My oldest son is in the high school marching band...and it's a serious thing.  Tons of practices after school, football games and competitions mean this band bag gets dragged around a lot and takes a beating.  After only a year, his bag looked like this:

 The top was pulled out and the grommets completely gone.  Being the frugal (and awesome...if I do say so myself) mom that I am, I figured I was up to the challenge of fixing it.  Two grommets and 1/8 of a yard of black duck cloth later and I had given new life to his band bag.

I love being able to fix things!

Flax to Linen

 A couple of weeks ago I had the wonderful opportunity to go somewhere with just my husband...no kids. He had a conference type meeting in Washington DC that fell over the weekend of our anniversary (17 years!). I tagged along and my very kind sister came and watched the kids for a week.  To DC we went.  The interesting thing about this trip was that my husband was busy all day, every day from 7am-6pm, so guess what I got to do? Everything by myself, whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. It was heavenly!

 I picked the things that I wanted to do and one day I spent the entire day (I did sleep in rather late) walking around Mount Vernon. I took my time, read every sign, sat in the garden watching the butterflies and one of the most interesting things I did was listen to the entire demonstration on how flax is turned into linen and was able to ask as many questions as I wanted.  I was fascinated. I of course knew that flax was used to make linen, but I don't think I've ever seen what exactly flax looks like, what part of the plant is used and how they spin it into the string.  Who knew? I just wish I would have taken more pictures, but I was so interested in what she had to say and plus I was the only one standing there for more than a minute and I was asking a lot of questions.  Here below you can see a fresh picked bunch of flax and one that is dried out. It then goes through a process of pounding/whacking to knock off the course stock to get to the fibers inside. It is then combed and the fibers are then spun together to make the string.  Now I know how linen is made.

 So now I'm back, a little more relaxed and trying to catch up with everything I need to be doing.  But it was so nice to have a little time to myself to just enjoy the flowers.

Treading Water

Summer time is not my most productive time.  I don't get a lot done with the kids home...that's just the way it is.  I feel like I'm treading water most of the time, barely staying afloat trying to make sure everything is getting done and it's not because we are that busy.  I guess that is just how life is sometimes. 

Anyway...here are 2 things that I have been busy with:

Our garden, which is really 2 10ft x 5ft planter boxes, has been really productive lately. This is the harvest from just one day last week.  We've been eating a lot of tomato and cucumber chopped salad. I even tried my hand at canning pickles.  

 And this:

My mom got this serger for free and since she already had one, she asked me if I wanted one. I of course took it and have since been trying it out.  It's a little different mindset, sewing with a serger, don't you think?  The project on board there is actually something for me {gasp!}

Another Bag And Name This Flower

Another bag...this time for an auction for my husband's place of work.  They have to "raise" money to send their trainees to things like the big meeting for infectious disease. It's kind of a running joke, because they don't bring in the big bucks for the hospital (there aren't many procedures when it comes to infectious diseases...you usually just prescribe medicine and if that doesn't work, you prescribe another kind of medicine). While other fellows have offices, infectious disease fellows have a cubical, if their lucky...you get the idea? 

Well the fellows are asked to contribute something for the auction and being the helpful spouse that I am, I end up doing the work.  Last year, I didn't know my "customers" very well, so my offering of a custom made dress for a little girl didn't go over very well. The baked goods sold for double the price, just to give you an idea. The reason being, there were only 2 or 3 people there that had kids. This year I thought it through a little more and figured a bag would go over better. I'll let you know what the going price was for it.

(My husband laughed at my color choice. I was going for trendy, but a little neutral so that it would appeal to a broader range of people. Unintentionally, I picked the school colors for the university my husband works for. He thought I had done it on purpose. I'm wondering now if anyone else will pick up on it.)

 I am making some pies again this year and my 10 year old daughter was helping me. As I was tucking under the top crust and then crimping it she asked me why I had to tuck it under first. I said to seal it to keep the juices in. She said "Like at the bottom of the skirt or dress with the hem. You do that to keep it from fraying." I thought it clever how she came up with a sewing analogy...she's speaking my language.

Now on to the flowers, can anyone name these?  The pictures were taken on our latest excursion out west.  The top one was on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, UT and the bottom one was in the butterfly house of the St. Louis Zoo. They are both new to me flowers, so I'm just a little curious as to what they are called.