More Sewing

I have a nice little antique desk that was my Grandmother's that I use to work on my computer. The finish on top is a little bit worn in spots so I decided to make a computer rug to protect it from my computer rubbing on it. So I did and here it is.  I am still having a lot of trouble with binding and machine quilting. I think my machine isn't strong enough for some quilting. The back has some thread "bubbles". Maybe I just have the tension wrong for quilting. Any way the linen is lovely but was tricky at the binding and got a tad messed up at the top.  

Here it is next to my mug rug. that I made a while ago.

And lastly here is a notebook cover that fits over a sketch book. I was enjoying experimenting with the scrappy squares next to linen thing. I found out two things. One is that even if the squares don't look great next to each other when big they look fun when cut into a thin strip. Two -it is easy to get a bit too Rainbow bright looking. That's my only complaint about the cover here. Too many colors. (I should have left out the purple.) But it was fun and now I know what I like.

Tabasco

My hubby "won" a gallon jug of Tabasco. He has been doing surveys and posting pictures etc on the tabasco website and earned a bottle of reserve tabasco and a gallon jug.

Fun Barrettes

Here are some fun barrettes I made with a hot glue gun. Yep, it was a lot of work to dab some hot glue on the end of these pins and place the flowers on the end. Phew. So easy and cute and cheap. 

Books I Am Reading

 I managed to do some reading recently and hit on some gems. I read The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner on recommendation of another author I like and LOVED it and the whole series (there are 4 books so far). Joffre read them too and we both really liked them. The best part is the surprise endings!

 I can't describe them without ruining the surprises so I will just say they are super fun. They are "young adult" books and would be great for anyone over 9 or ten I think.

This book Travels With Charley by Steinback is about his travels with his dog to "discover America"via a long road trip. His insights into some of American culture (1960s America Culture) are very interesting. I am half way through and really like it.

This book, The Gift of Thanks, is sadly disappointing me. I heard an interview with her about her book, The Rituals of Dinner, and wanted to read it and this one. It is about the rituals of Thanks. So far I have been annoyed with how she is avoiding religious influence on thanksgiving rituals. I have not read much so hopefully it will improve.

December in the Garden

These were part of my Christmas present from my husband. A new wheel barrow and camilla as well as some more dirt for more beds. 

Here is a climbing rose I planted and made a cathedral window-like trellis for.

 Here are my peas finally covering my teepee poles. It looks really fun.

 Lettuce and spinach. I have more mixed lettuce in other beds too.

Garlic and rhubarb.

kale. I have cabbage growing too but they are so small I don't think I'll get any before a freeze. I am amazed how much I have growing still in December. We had turnips out of the garden with our Christmas meal.

The Organizing Has Begun

Sorry for the long silence, my friends. We got sick, went to Florida, got strep throat, and had Christmas and I just didn't feel like blogging much. We actually had a great Thanksgiving and Christmas between sicknesses. I hope you all had great holidays too.

I am resolved to get back in the blogging habit.

I am also resolving to get organized like everyone does this time of year but I have such limited closet space that I was struggling with where to put stuff. Then I had inspiration hit me. Hanging door organizers. So I started making them and haven't stopped. Here are a few of the things I've made to try and get organized.

This is a trash receptacle for my car. I used the cut off sleeves of a dress I decided to make short sleeved. The sleeve ends were tapered at the bottom with elastic. I sewed up the top ends and folded them in side the plastic.  Then I put a cut off 2 liter bottle in the tube and sewed on a velcro strap and voila!

 This is our new chore chart. Each child has 2 pockets. (They got to pick what fabric they wanted.) One pocket has laminated cards with the jobs on them. As they finish a job they place it in the 2nd pocket. They have to finish all their jobs before school time. I drew pictures of each job for the nonreading little kids (and because it was fun =).

  A shoe holder for my bedroom door. I am making a very similar one for packs of papers and craft supplies for the back of our homeschool closet. These and the chore chart are made from some plain old curtain panels I had. I have more and I am thinking of making some more for other closets.

Garden Plans

I have been having a great time drawing out my garden plans for the yard. The kids think it's super cool. Which makes it even more fun. They keep asking, "what is going to go here, Mom?" and "What's that supposed to be?" I think they are looking for a treasure in the map too.

These are two drawings. The top and bottom are the same larger one and the middle one is one I did of the side yard. The hard part is that much of this is in place now but the plants are teeny tiny. So now we just have to wait.....

Soccer

Here are a few pictures from our soccer season.. The two older two really got a lot better this year especially Renata. Last year she was so timid but this year she was blocking the kids big than  her with gusto. Joffre did really well and was very gungho. He's even more excited about basketball. And George was a little Fire Ant ( the name of his team). He scored most of his teams goals and just ran the entire game but remained the most excited about getting a snack at the end.. 

Firepit Love

 We have been using our partially built fire pit and enjoying it.  Joffre is reading The Lord of the Rings to the kids now and it was especially fun be around a fire while the characters are too. The cat even sat perched next to Joffre for much of the story listening. Then she snuggled between Ward and I .

2 Books I'm Loving

 I have been reading these two books and loving them so very much. The first is Peril and Peace. This is a children's book series that teaches about the people in church history. This is the first book in the series and starts with Paul. I am very excited about this because I think church history is way too neglected among Christians. You can learn so much about where ideas came from and how long they have been around and why. It is especially great to know heresies and see where they came from and how they are recycled through the ages. I am not sure this series examines the heresies but it is a great beginner church history series.

The second is a great gardening book about being creative and keeping the costs down. My favorite part about it is the balance she has about spending money. She tells you it is worth it to spend the money on a 15gallon tree because it has been researched to grow larger over the long haul but then she tells you what things are not worth spending the money on. For every purchase she gives 4 options of spending according to what you can afford and includes pros and cons for everything. There are lots of creative ideas and a surprising amount of pictures. I like books with pictures.

Remodels

 So life has been busy. We got a new roof (I haven't taken a picture yet.) and a new bathroom floor!After lugging four boxes of tile (which are VERY heavy) home I decided I didn't like it and lugged it back before picking out this one.  I really like it and now I am going to repaint this bathroom. I had a green linoleum floor before and had to work with a green color. Now I think I am going blue.

While the plumber was replacing the toilet in this bathroom he noticed we needed a sink in the other and offered this nice pedestal sink to us for free. It looks so nice.

Getting Ready for Reformation Party Time

These are the kids dressed as "The Chronicles of Narnia...and a knight". Earlier today all the boys were dressed as cowboys. I have a feeling they will be changing their minds about costumes a few times.

Projects

 I have been working on some other projects. Like making this planter holder for the chicken coop. It's from an old display shelf from our bookstore.

 I also planted a jasmine vine to make the coop prettier and hopefully a little smellier (in a good way). Next I am re roofing the coop and then I'll get a full shot.

 Here is the beginnings of our fire pit. I want one similar to this one. we've just begun but we put an old church pew from our bookstore out by it.

Here is a rock bed I am expanding.I've been using cardboard as weed barrier.

There are mostly the "before" picture to the hopefully great "after " pictures I will later show you.

Some of the Boys in My Life

Garden Update Fall

 peas

 kale

 green beans

 lettuce seedlings

 muscadine grape

So I'm back. It's nice to ignore your blog for awhile because when you go back you have lots to blog about. I planted some veggies for fall but I'm not sure I'll get to harvest before it gets too cold. I have been planting a bunch of plants I propagated and they look good but they are small  and not worth photographing. I am excited about trying grapes. Wine making maybe?

I love when cats find just the right sized place to sleep.

Painting