I went through Kameron’s clothes for fall/winter and found him in need of pants- he’s a little shortie. So I made him two pair. One is from an old sweatshirt from highschool and the other is from a gap sweater that was mine and became holey. I loved that sweater and can’t wait for him to wear the pants this winter!

I started a shawl:

I made 3 baby taggy blankets (12×12) for an order and to keep on hand for gifts. I just couldn’t decide on one, so 3 it was.

I still didn’t finish one apron…sadly the pieces are all cut and on my sewing room floor in a stack. Maybe next week? Have a great weekend!

I’m sure you’re tired of seeing these little housess…but I made myself one this morning. I couldn’t resist the cuteness and had to have one for my bag! I used the same polkadots as I did for Taylor’s roof, but my lining is different. I have been saving this blue with black and white bird print for a few years now. then I bought the polkadots earlier this year and when I saw the two together I could not imagine not using them together in a project. I still want to make something else with them together, but this satisfied a little of that craving. Blue is my favorite color and right now I love birds and polkadots and houses – I could not be more happy about this little thing. Joy comes from strange places sometimes! I don’t know what it will hold yet, but it’s going with me wherever I go.

Once again the pattern/tutorial can be found here at The Long Thread.
Polkadot fabric is: Naomi’s Rose by Helen Weinman for Timeless Treasures, from: The Murray Sewing Center
Bird fabric is: Floragraphix III by Jason Yenter for In the Beginning Fabrics, from: Hancock’s of Paducah
Tree fabric is: Apple Tree (Tiemless Treasures), from: Hancock’s of Paducah
The outside of the house is made from canvas just as the other two were.

So, the maybe is because now that I’ve made these two blue houses, I’m not liking the pink anymore. I guess what I’m really not liking about the pink one is the lining and window/door fabric choices. The solid fabric looks better to me – what do you think? Should I redo the gift pouch? I’d feel better giving a gift that I like better than I do that one I think. So maybe one more house on this kick and then I’ll move on. I did get almost all of 4 aprons cut out this week too and one of them is actually pinned. So if you are looking for an apron stay tuned and I’ll hopefully have some of the them up here next week:)

For any of you out there that think I must not make mistakes and that everything I make is cute (I really doubt that there are any of you, but just in case) this post is for you!

I have been wanting to make a cute little layered tulle skirt ever since I saw one of our cousin’s daughter wearing one at her first birthday party. i am pretty sure it was from ribbon chix* and it was the most adorable thing ever. I had some tulle leftover from the tutus I was making so I decided to try tonight. Let me just tell you this: I HATE WORKING WITH TULLE! The tutus that I tie are fine enough, but trying to lay it out and sew it – fugghetaboutit.

Problems I have with my version:

1. You can see through it. That’s 6 layers of tulle and still you can see what’s underneath. Not going to work for what I wanted.
2. The waistband looks like yuck.
3. It is near impossible to see what you’re sewing with that many layers of tulle and be able to tell what tier they go to. I messed up and didn’t realize it until I had cut off the extra.
4. It’s just not the one I saw and what I want.

So, in my opinion, if you make these cute skirts you are awesome and whatever you charge is totally worth it. I guess if I want one for Taylor bad enough I’ll have to break down and buy one. We’ll see. She’s almost too old for a cutesy birthday party outfit isn’t she?

* If you are on facebook, look up ribbon chix and check out their profile pictures. They have a lot of different tulle skirts, but there is a purple one that has a shirt with it that says big sis. That is similar to the one Bella had. So cute!

or, rather, Taylor and her best friend, L’s, little houses. I made these little house pouches lsat night and finished them up this morning. The tutorial can be found here. The house is made with some canvas I had because I wanted them to be sturdy without extra work. I used little scraps of fabric for the doors and windows. I had some Timeless Treasure Apple Tree fabric (one of my favorites) that I cut the trees out of. I decided I would like this better than the flowers – I am a tree girl! This was a fun little project and was pretty quick too. I almost don’t want to give them to the girls for their upcoming birthdays. I really want to keep the blue one, which Taylor has claimed for herself. I might just have to make myself another one to match.

I also finished the knitting of my vest. I ended up just doing a ribbed edging, because I just can’t do the applied I-cord edging. This is the second project that I have tried to do it on (really tried) and I just don’t understand. My hands and needles just don’t work together. Anyway, since I did the ribbed edging I decided that I needed a zipper up the front instead of toggles and I can’t find a brown zipper of the right length right now. I’ll have to check the thrift store soon – then I can wear the vest this fall:) Yay!

Here’s a parting gift – Kameron with our basket of veggies that we picked yesterday. We are not getting much at a time, but we are getting some, so I should be happy. I am getting ready to plant some lettuce and snap peas and spinach this weekend so that we’ll have some good stuff for the fall. I hope that your garden is doing well if you have one. I hear of many that aren’t this year. Probably not the best year to start gardening, but at least I’m learning!

2. Being called a “big meanie” by my almost 5 year old daughter and not caring that she just called me that.

3. How my children’s stomachs always have room for dessert. Where, on earth, did they get the idea that we should have dessert at every meal everyday? I sure haven’t given them that so I’m a little confused.

4. No matter how much I clean each day the house looks like a wreck. Seriously, how does anyone keep up with 9 rooms and 3 children and a husband?

5. How everyone else in our town has huge amounts of tomatoes, but we only get one or two a day. Hilarious! And there is nothing I like better than a good ripe tomato in the summer. I could live on them…if they would just grow and ripen. I think I’ll plant twice as many next year.

Anything funny to you today?

I haven’t started the other kids hats yet, but I do have in mind to finally finish my Estes Vest from the Interweave Knits Fall 2008. The last time i worked on this was about a year ago. All I have left is the edging and buttonloops and it will be done. Shouldn’t take too long. Maybe the mojo will stay long enough to finish it.

In other crafty news, I turned this little number that cost me $1 into something I just love. I got the chalk/bulletin board from a local thrift store and removed the cork. Then I painted it and covered the cork with fabric. I do still need to make some kind of piece for the cutout at the top. Thinking about using chalkboard contact paper so I can write my title in and change it whenever I want to. I bought some chalk markers and I love those too. If you have never used them, get some. They make chalkboards desireable again!

I also fixed (with nails, amazing) and painted this table and chairs that were mine and my sisters when we were little. We are going to use this for a our school table for now. While we would like to get something like this, it just isn’t in the budget now. This was free and will be big enough for 2 of the kids to work on. Sometimes you just have to work with what you have!

And, in garden news, we are picking green beans, banana peppers and tomatoes now. Just not as many as I had hoped for. My in-laws gave us tons of tomatoes though and some green peppers, so I can can and freeze some things for winter. I bought some corn from my favorite producer here and am working on it today. I am still hoping my second planting will be worth picking. The first was destroyed by deer, ants and worms – we only got about 5 ears. My cucumbers, gourds and cantaloupe are producing small babies now and I am hoping that they are able to grow to pickable goodness. I also have several cold weather crops to plant in a week or two so we have some yummy stuff for the fall. At least my flowers are beautiful!

Help me, Father God, to lead others when they can’t do it for themselves and to never leave someone hungry for love, hungry for You.

Sanctus Real – Lead Me

Here are the lyrics:

I look around and see my wonderful life
Almost perfect from the outside
In picture frames I see my beautiful wife
Always smiling
But on the inside, I can hear her saying

“Lead me with strong hands
Stand up when I can’t
Don’t leave me hungry for love
Chasing dreams, what about us?

Show me you’re willing to fight
That I’m still the love of your life
I know we call this our home
But I still feel alone.”

I see their faces, look in their innocent eyes
They’re just children from the outside
I’m working hard, I tell myself they’ll be fine
They’re independent
But on the inside, I can hear them saying

“Lead me with strong hands
Stand up when I can’t
Don’t leave me hungry for love
Chasing dreams, what about us?

Show me you’re willing to fight
That I’m still the love of your life
I know we call this our home
But I still feel alone.”

So Father, give me the strength
To be everything I am called to be
Oh, Father, show me the way
To lead them
Won’t you lead me?

To lead them with strong hands
To stand up when they can’t
Don’t want to leave them hungry for love
Chasing dreams that I could give up

I’ll show them I’m willing to fight
And give them the best of my life
So we can call this out home
Lead me, ’cause I can’t do this alone

Father, lead me, ’cause I can’t do this alone

I feel like I have learned a lot about myself in the past few years and figured out what sort of relationships work for me. First, having my husband to talk to and do things with is wonderful. Having that male companionship is important to balance out any drama coming from my female friends (even though the males can have their fair share of drama too.) Second, I have a best friend who I can share everything with. Drama is non-existent between us, I think, and she is someone I can share anything with and I don’t have to worry about what she’s going to think of me or if she’s going to tell someone or whatever. If everyone in the world had a spouse and a best friend like this I feel like we’d have less depression and emotional problems. I think you also have to have a strong faith and relationship with Jesus. Without that it’s hard to keep the right perspective and easy to get caught up in the drama that may not be noticeable if you are in the Word and praying.

I understand that sometimes the drama unfolds unplanned and I’m not saying I am immune to it (in fact I’ve struggled with it this week, but I just keep praying for God to love that person through me so that it won’t be as hard), but having those key relationships (Jesus, spouse & best girlfriend) helps you to keep the right perspective and get over whatever it is before the drama escalates. How was that for a run on sentence? Ha!

Not sure why I felt compeled to share this – but it was on my heart tonight even more than it has been the past few days. I guess maybe part of it is that I see so many women out there who don’t have any of these 3 relationships and it makes me so sad. Maybe if those friendships were there (REAL friendships) then so much drama and ridiculousness wouldn’t exist.

So anyway, just my opinion – have a great weekend celebrating your freedom! I think we may end up staying home for a quiet few days of reflection and family fun. It’s better (not to mention safer) that way sometimes!

So, we are doing the summer reading program at our public library again. We are a reading family, so we’ll probably do it as long as it is offered! The great thing about our library’s program is that they include the parents and younger siblings of children who are actually the right age to participate. So Kristopher is actually “signed up,” but Taylor, Kameron and I also get to keep a reading list and earn book bucks. Kameron gets special baby ones and I get adult book bucks. At the end of the program in a few weeks we will get to spend our book bucks on items like school supplies, little toys, coffee mugs, paper, etc. The reason for the different colored bucks is so the babies only shop at their table with safe toys and the adults stay at their designated tables. I think involving the whole family is great and actually encourages reading more than a program just for the K-12 crowd. Kristopher has already filled up 2 front and back pages with chapter books and is working on his third sheet. He has a little friendly competition going with his best friend B. He also really wants to reach the maximum number of allowed book bucks – although he really doesn’t need to. Last year he had over 100 and didn’t end up spending all of them because the merchandise is priced low so kids can get it! But he’s reading and enjoying, so if he wants all those that is fine with me!

Usually I don’t read much because our summers are so busy. I will count the books I read to Taylor and Kameron, but only read one of my own. This year I decided to actually read some books that interest me and I have enjoyed them. I have gotten less sleep this summer though! Here is my Summer Reading List:

Ford County: Stories by John Grisham – I’m a big fan of John Grisham and I really enjoyed his latest work.
Knit the Season by Kate Jacobs – I probably should have either skipped this one altogether or waited until closer to Christmas. I read her first novel last year, The Friday Night Knitting Club, and while it was enjoyable, this one just seemed to go on and on and just updated me on the old characters. It was kind of boring.
Ever After by Karen Kingsbury – Such a sweet story. Her books always make me cry, a lot, and this was no excecption. Even though her works are fiction, I always learn something from her writing because she uses so much of what is going on in the world to tell her stories. So good.
The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks – I had a vague feeling that I’d started this one before, but not finished it. I did enjoy it though and am glad I read it. I have read most of his books and think his love stories are very good reads.
A Bend in the Road by Nicholas Sparks – Now, this one was sad too. I did like it, but after the last two sappy love stories I was getting ready for a change, so my heart wasn’t in this read as much and I had to hurry to finish it! It was a good story though. Wonder if they’ll make a movie out of it – might be kind of a thriller…not his typical book turned movie romance.

I’m currently reading The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule. I actually own this book and have read it mostly before, but I wanted to reread for ideas so I checked it out from the library so I could count it. :) I think this will be my last for this summer (at least on the list.) Too much other stuff going on to focus on books right now. I’ve read many little kids books to Taylor & Kameron and will continue to do that. I let them pick theirs and then I pick some good ones for them so that we don’t have all Disney and board books to read.

Do you have a summer reading program at your library? If you do, and aren’t involved in it, check it out. We have a lot of fun and reading new books is always an adventure!

Can anyone tell me what this bug is? It has 6 legs and appears to have bright red fangs hanging down from it’s face. We looked in our bug book and didn’t find any answers. If you know tell me!