Snow Day

We are having a snow day today! It is heavy wet snow- good for snowmen but heavy to shovel. I am sure I could use the exercise.For now, we are having fun inside.I just love the Fisher Price stuff.Oh, and that girl in green reminds me, Happy Bench Monday!That's all I have time for today. I must go knit.Have a great day!

Snow Day!

We FINALLY had some fresh snow! There was even enough for schools to be canceled yesterday. Yay! We knew there would be no school before we went to bed so we slept in and then played. P and I made snow angels and lots of mitten shaped holes in the snow. She wanted to take a walk but high stepping in the snow was harder than she thought it would be. We did explore the garden space. Look at those old sunflowers.

I finished another project yesterday too. P chose a beautiful rhinestone jewel for the front of the doll sweater.

There is a larger rhinestone button on the back. She thinks it is very beautiful.

Now, I think I may be ready for some Olympic knitting. We cast on tomorrow night.

Yesterday evening we had a fairy sighting. P said the wings didn't help her gofaster or help her fly. But, she said, they did make her smile.They made me smile too.

The Big Sewing Room Clean Up

Some of you may know that we live in an old farm house. We have s-l-o-w-l-y been renovating it for over twenty years.Shortly after M was born the tiles in the shower of our only bathroom started falling off the wall. We had made plans to put two bathrooms upstairs so we decided not to spend the time to fix the bathroom that was to be torn out and turned into our mudroom.Well, M is now 16. And we still have no bathrooms upstairs. We are still not using the shower in the downstairs bath.  Sixteen years of baths. The sink has started leaking into the basement.  So it goes.Now is the time. We are putting in the upstairs bathrooms. We have adjusted the plans and are getting ready to make some progress.The flooring in the upstairs bath areas was removed years ago and used to repair the floors in the other rooms of the house. The next step is to remove the temporary plastic ceiling that has been in my sewing room for 18 years so that the plumbing can be installed.  There will be lots of dust and debris.SO yesterday was spent cleaning in the sewing room so that everything does not get buried in debris. I am starting at the construction end of the room and going through everything. I found many piles of vintage patterns that I have picked up at sales. In sorting them to file them by size and style I found that I am TOTALLY prepared in the doll clothes department.Any size doll and any style of dress. I now have half a copy box of doll dress patterns...  It's a sickness. Have any of you ever seen a looping needle? Well here it is! After looking at the directions it appears that someone has developed a really complicated way to crochet. I could be wrong but really, that is how it looks. If all of my crochet hooks break or get lost I am ready and even have 22 EXCITING patterns to make!  This is just one of the many strange and quirky sewing/crafting items I have accumulated.I found this partially made smocked dress. It is a size four. If I hurry P might be able to wear it. I didn't check to see if all of the pieces are there.I think it may be too late for this one. It is a much smaller size but I really like the fabric. Someone even started the smocking.Do you think these hat designs will be coming back? Bow ties might already be back in. Didn't Martha demonstrate how to make them on her show recently?  Those rick rack flowers are pretty special -that is an idea I think I can use.I am telling you. It is a jungle in here. Look what else I found. Yes, I wore that on my head when I got married.  It looked a bit fresher then.I had better get back to work. That ceiling is coming down on Friday!I wonder what treasures I'll find today.   

Snug as a Bug

We are trying to stretch the winter break enjoyment as long as we can. We love these lazy days at home. We have enjoyed almost two full weeks at home together. Sadly, it is time to prepare for the return of the school/work routine.Yesterday we packed up the all of the holiday decorations that are not on the tree. Someone has enjoyed the Christmas cds so much that we left those out too. P loves to listen to music while watching the tree.We will leave the tree up a while longer because we like the glow of the lights at night (and during the day). P says the living room is her favorite room in the house now because of the tree.I am off to bake blueberry and peach pies.I hope you enjoy your weekend.

Tea Towel Designs

P really enjoyed her grandmother's visit earlier this fall. She loved sitting next to her at the table and watching her embroider butterflies on a pillowcase. After grandma left P really wanted to make a special gift to give for Christmas.I was working on some embroidered tea towels to give as gifts and P decided that is what she wanted to do for her grandmother.She drew out a very detailed picture that included people, flowers, and sky. I looked at it and told her it was a lovely drawing but that at the speed she embroiders would take a VERY long time to finish. I suggested that she finish one of the projects she has started and we could make a gift from that. No, she REALLY wanted to give grandma a tea towel.I remembered some drawings she had done the day before of some vegetables. We looked at those and I suggested that we take those designs and applique them to a towel.Carrots, a parsnip, and a beet.P chose the fabrics and threads and helped at my sewing machine. I think it turned out pretty cute.She drew these vegetables because they grow in our garden. We ate a lot of them while grandma was here.We had a wonderful time in the sewing room together thinking aboutgrandma and being excited about the surprise we were making for her. Ah, THAT is what it's all about.I'll share a few more of our hand made gifts tomorrow.

Play Time

P and I had a play day today. I got to wear my fantabulous vintage apron that was in my stocking while we prepared a tea party with some of P's new (vintage) tea party stuff.  Ack. I can hardly stand the cuteness of it all --the "Three Little Kittens" dishes, those little ice cream bowls, and wood handle utensils. And don't you just love that tiny cake holder???!!!We set out this morning making some tiny shortbread cookies.After the first tray which only held four tiny cookies we switched to a slightly larger play tray. The tiny cookies bake in about half the time of the regular cookies.We also made a tiny layer cake to fit in that little cake holder. With the cake, ice cream, cookies, and milk it was a fun party! And the servings weren't so big that they spoiled dinner.Actually, the boys said that you could accidentally inhale one of those cookies and never even notice!Boys.What do they know? I guess that is why they were not invited to the party.

Happy Christmas

We enjoyed a slow and quiet Christmas Day at home.Still, it seems to be gone in a blur.Have a great weekend.

My Little Angel

P an I were looking through this Christmas book and really liked some of the simple and classic decorations that were described.  We decided to try making the angel shown in the book but to use felt instead of paper. P was able to practice some stitching. She couched the rick rack, did some spectacular beading, learned to stitch X's, and even learned how to make French Knots.I think they turned out pretty cute. I do wish I could have gotten the face and head on mine to look a bit more like the picture in the book. P really likes her angel because it has such a happy smile.I hope you have a happy smile on your face today too.

Popcorn and Thank Yous

We have been enjoying family time. P has not been taking naps so much anymore but now likes when we pop a big bowl of popcorn and sit in our reading corner to read Christmas stories in the afternoon. I enjoy that quiet time too.I also like my quiet time here, composing and sharing bits of our life that will help me remember these precious times later, when I am older and more feeble minded than I am now.Thank you to all of you who visit and especially those who leave comments for me. I do enjoy hearing from you.I also want to thank JEK at Scrumdilly-do and Bella Dia of The Crafty Crow for featuring P's cat bean bag tutorial. I am glad it is not just me, her mother, who thinks her little cat bags are the bee's knees.

P's Super Easy Cat Bean Bag Tutorial

P made another cat bag today. We thought we'd share a tutorial. Here is the pattern It is on one inch grid so that you can draw your own. I hope you can follow P's directions.1. Fold the fabric over and put the cat on top of the folded part and then cut it out. Then take the pattern off.2. Put pink thread on your sewing machine.  Sew around the cat. Leave a little hole on the bottom.3. Turn it right side out. Make the face with a permanent marker.4. Stuff it with rice. (about 3 tablespoons). Sew the hole on the bottom closed.5. Hold the cat upside down by the bottom corners.6. Put one corner under the other.7. Stitch them together.Another kitty for the set.There you go. Super cute and you can even wear it on your fingers.

Something in the Air

I love the flurry of creative activity that occurs in the last days before Christmas. Everyone in the family seems to be working on projects.D made this origami crane. Tiny. VERY tiny.P has cranked out a few of these little cats on her sew handy sewing machine and filled them with rice. I think they turned out super cute!Here is a peek at one of my recent projects.I'm still working on this one.Yep, we love all of the holiday crafting.It's time to put my feet up and knit....I hope you are keeping warm and doing things that you like to do.

Christmas Memories

I have said it before, but the holidays always bring back a lot of memories for me.This 1950s Santa is one of my favorite decorations. It was given to my mother by one of her friends. I remember visiting in her friend's home and seeing this Santa on display when I was young. My mother had a large collection of Santas and her friend gave this to her to add to her collection. It reminds me of my mother and the wonderful friends she had and the joy she got from giving to others.I love that in December my home is filled with reminders of family and friends.

Decking the Halls

Decorating for the Holidays is always a trip down memory lane for me. I love getting out the decorations that we haven't seen since January and recalling the history behind them.These old favorites always make me smile. The one on the left made by M in third grade and the one on the right made my B with leftover plaster from a home renovation project. I love how they are like family so, different yet still alike.This girl with the roses around her dress is another favorite. When I was young we had three of them on our dining room table. My sisters and I each had one at our place to admire during meals. We thought they were so very special. I hated to split them up at first but now I am happy that we each have one at our homes.These deer belonged to my mother. We did not have them when we were young, she thrifted them after we left home. They do remind me of my mother's love of Christmas and her favorite quote from Santa, "It is better to give."Holiday decorating brings new opportunities for memory making each year. The kids and I enjoy making decorations and I enjoy picking up a few "new" items like these during the year.Yes, the holidays are a time to remember, share, and pass on the family traditions.

Family At Home

I love times when we are all at home without a lot of planned activities. We had almost a full week over Thanksgiving holiday with both boys at home. Homework was finished early and there was a lot of time for games and activities. The boys showed a renewed interest in origami.They both belonged to the origami club in elementary and middle school. The club met once a week and they learned how to make a lot of projects.I had recently gotten out a few of our simple origami books for P. We did a few of those together. D and M, however, found some interesting projects online. Oh, the joys of a faster internet connection. I lovethe way they challenged and encouraged each other.The project on the far right has a tiny, black, origami crane trapped inside. The red one on the left is made from one  piece of paper where the orange and green one on the right is the same shape made with origami units.I always think of December as a crafty time when I like to make gifts for family and friends. While creating I think about the person the gift is for and what they mean to me. It is fun to remember people in this way. This year P and I have started a few projects together. I like to see her excitement in thinking about loved relatives and close friends. To me the spirit of the holiday season lies in making something (or thinking of something) that will make the recipient smile.I think with these projects we are off to a good start on the crafty holiday spirit that I remember from my own childhood.Also in the spirit of enjoying the season I will be taking a holiday theme photo a day. You can see more from others in the Christmas Countdown 2009 flickr pool.  Here is the first: 

Giving Thanks

We have a lot to be thankful for this year. We are all healthy, have enough food to eat, have a warm home, and loving, and supportive friends and family.We are enjoying a wonderful family weekend without homework (M finished his homework Wednesday!) and the usual routine of lessons and activities.Yesterday we had a lovely afternoon of food and games with friends. I contributed a couple of pies to the meal. The pumpkin pie was made with one of our pumpkins using the recipe found here. It was delicious!We have been doing some crafty things too. I'll probably share some of that later.Thanks to all of you who stop by and make this such a wonderful place for me. I hope you are also having a wonderful weekend of fun with your family and friends.

Six Thousand Days

Over the years we have tried to celebrate the 1000 day anniversaries in our family. It is sometimes hard to do as they are of course not annual events and always occur at different times of the year.  This also makes it fun.  Kids who have summer birthdays get to celebrate during the school year and vice versa.  Yesterday, M turned 6000 days old!Also on the theme of celebrating at different times of year, we had our Thanksgiving dinner yesterday!  D will have his wisdom teeth out Wednesday so it was nice for all of us to enjoy the turkey with trimmings.Really, can there be such a thing as celebrating too often, being too thankful or having too many wonderful meals together?We also enjoyed a walk in the new county park near us where I took these photographs.

At Least Ten Quilts

You  may have noticed that I really like quilts. I like making them. I like looking at them. I like sleeping under them.I really like quilts that have a LOT of quilting in them. After washing they get very crinkly and drapey.  They make me want to snuggle up under them.This quilt has a lot of quilting in a mix of traditional and modern designs. I put traditional feathered wreaths in the yellow blocks and then quilted all of the background white with a more modern swirl design. The animal print blocks were left free of quilting as were the triangle star points. This makes those star points float a bit on the design.  I like how the combination looks here.I finished and washed it just in time for a show tomorrow. I love how it looks and feels after the wash. I would tell you how big it is but I forgot to measure it before setting up my booth tonight. If I still have it when I come home tomorrow I'll let you know.My grandmother always said that you should have at least ten quilts in your cedar chest when you get married.  She also said that when she was first married and had a house heated with a wood stove she slept with five quilts on their bed in the winter.  Later, when I was grown and used to visit her in the winter I would sleep in her guest bed under two or three quilts that she had made.  We sleep under two quilts during our Michigan winters. I still have a lot of quilts to make if the next generation of the family is going to have the proper number of quilts.I had better get busy!

Magic Science

When I was little I remember placing leaves between layers of waxed paper and pressing them with a warm iron to preserve the fall color a little longer. I tried this when my boys were smaller and learned that waxed paper contained far less wax than it used to. That little project did not work.After posting many photos of fall leaves on flickr, Sarah pointed me to this website showing how to dip leaves in melted paraffin. Uh, why didn't I think of that? As soon as I clicked on the link P and I headed out for a walk to gather leaves.We came in, dug some 30+ year old wax from the depths of the basement, and went right to work!We had so much fun with these we had to go to town to gather different leaves!One day later, here are two leaves gathered from the same tree at the same time. It's like MAGIC!Thank you Sarah for giving me that link on the PERFECT day. We have since had a fierce wind and rain storm and all our fall leaves outside are gone.Our next project is to figure out how to hang the dozens of preserved leaves in the window.

A Visit to the Farm

P's preschool class visited the farm yesterday.  I did notice a few differences from our place.  Look at those apples!The trees were loaded.I could make a lot of sauce from all those blemish free apples.The farmer helped each child pick a few apples.After looking at the beehives, learning about bees, and having a hay ride we went to the pumpkin patch to choose pumpkins.It didn't take miss P long to find the PERFECT pumpkin. 

Enjoying Fall - or How I Spent My Time at the Cross Country Meet

Be warned that this post contains several thrills.The weather on Saturday was predicted to be cold and cloudy. I was pleased to see the sun and clear skies on our way to the cross country meet. I dressed for the cold because it was in the 30s! I stopped in town to take a picture of this tree that catches my eye every time I drive by. There were lots of pretty trees and leaves at the park where the meet was held.This yellow tree was right next to the finish line.Even the ground was beautiful.Oh, and did I mention I was there for a meet?