Wandering Knits

Moving to juliecache

2010-12-13T11:45:00.001-06:00

I've been blogging here at Wandering Knits for a few years, and Blogspot's been driving me N-U-T-S for all but the first year. So I've grown up and moved over to WordPress.org (free, self-hosted). I've used WP for a couple years for my home school business. It just made sense. And it's more predictable and much more customizable. (Let me know if you'd like to move, too. My local-business husband and I can host you and set you up on WordPress if you don't know where to start.)

My goal is to write at juliecache.com instead of here at Wandering Knits. You can subscribe to the new blog and leave comments just like you can here. But the pictures will be bigger, prettier, and not flipped sideways (unless I make it so), among other things. I will most likely keep my geocaching blog at blogspot. I'll refer to and keep the Wandering Knits blog, but not make new posts beginning Jan. 1, 2011.

Quick strap cover

2010-12-10T22:04:00.000-06:00

Quick to make is totally me! This project was fast and fun -- a strap cover.

I was gifted a POSH laptop carrying case last week. The main issue....it is really plain.

As I sit in my substitute authorization class, I see spiffy, but oversized, laptop bags. Like bigger than a carry-on. But the color scheme of one is right up my alley. I like the sleek size and look of the one I have. And I know that I'm keeping this one. The padding and pockets and everything are just right.

I'm in the middle of reading Grown Up Digital, by Don Tapscott, and he talks about the Net Generation needing customization of everything. Well, I'm not in the demo of the Net Gen, but I have almost always felt the need to customize my stuff.
Choosing things that are different also help me identify my stuff in the sea of conformity.

Looking at tutorials like the lovely Skip to My Lou blog (for camera straps) led me to use my Freebird fabric (shout out to Adventures in Dressmaking!) to cover the strap of the laptop bag. I used two prints (to conserve the remaining samples I have). Up close:

I guess I was so excited to shoot my new strap cover that I neglected to even up the ends. Rest assured, that has been fixed. The cushy shoulder pad and buckle (it adjusts the length) were not addressed in any of the tutorials that I read, but they were pretty easy to work through.

Blog Tour

2010-12-06T11:27:00.000-06:00

Where have I been lately? On a blog tour. In fact, I'm mid-tour right now. I am hosting the Des Moines Area Frugal Blog Tour over at Examiner.com.

Topics covered:

natural gifts that kids can make
bread
cleaning
gardening
meals
fruit
baby
gift giving
natural health
green living
eating or groceries
gift wrapping
finding deals or using coupons

There's also a giveaway at my examiner site (see Blog Tour Day 1) and at Sara's site. Join in and read!

Lakota housing

2010-12-04T17:50:00.000-06:00

As promised the other day, here are some shots from Pine Ridge. As mentioned in the LarkCrafts post, there is a real need for donations. For everything, not just mittens.

Batesland is a 'neighborhood' on the rez. Population 88. The towns on the reservation are not like a typical small town. This one has a lot of mobile homes.

You will not find a gas station or restaurant or grocery store in most neighborhoods on the rez. No coffee house, either.

You won't find garbage trucks stopping in the neighborhood to pick up your trash every week.

You probably won't find a bank or church or library. No big box anything. No sidewalks. No street signs. No fire hydrants (and prairie fire risk is very real).

The houses look similar to conventional houses from a distance. But many of them have graffiti. The windows don't have a place to install a screen. You probably will find three generations living in one house. The generations probably include branches of the family.

Statistically, at least one person in the house has a serious medical issue and all are expected to die before the age of 53.

Any house you visit may not have a floor, but a hole in the floor. With a view of the ground below. There is most likely no carpet, no air conditioning. We're building a wheelchair ramp here. Imagine being trapped in your house.

The South Dakota climate is terribly harsh. The free project mentioned at LarkCrafts would be a fast and easy donation. I have plenty more to say if you want to listen.

Free Project: Red Fleece Mittens

2010-12-02T11:06:00.000-06:00

Readers, I was blessed to work with the Lakota over the summer with my daughter and our church's youth group. This morning, LarkCrafts mentioned the Lakota of Pine Ridge in the "Craft Your Life" area with a Free Project: Red Fleece Mittens. I wanted to say that the people of Pine Ridge are always in need, no matter the season. After I take some time to sort through my thousands of photos, I'll put a picture up of their housing situation to help you understand. If you would consider the project suggestion from LarkCrafts, also consider prayer and other sorts of donations. Mitakuye Oyasin.

Souvenir Foto School Family Participation

2010-11-30T13:18:00.001-06:00

If you've seen my food shots on juliecache.com (best viewed in Chrome), here is a little "rest of the story." I typically take a lot more shots than what I post. My kids have definitely gotten into the challenge, all four of them. My youngest styled a shot for me last week. It's battling gingerbread men. Toothpicks are their sabers.

Here she is working on her subjects. (Panera Bread is responsible for the creation of the cookies, by the way. We did not make them.)

This is part of Darcy's Sweet Shot Tuesday. Click the button below and visit her.

Des Moines Area Frugal Blog Tour

2010-11-29T23:02:00.000-06:00

I am excited to announce the Des Moines Area Frugal Blog Tour. I will be your hostess, taking you on a tour around the area, stopping at some lovely destinations to help you incorporate frugality into different areas of your life. Areas beyond my usual "let's be crafty, let's use coupons" kind of stuff. I've got a fantastic itinerary with 13 area bloggers and examiners. To find each day's destination, visit my Examiner.com page daily between Dec. 1 and 14. There will be giveaways and fun along tour. See you there!

Chloe, the Chinese water dragon, is a stalker

2010-11-27T23:14:00.000-06:00

Our borrowed pet Chloe is a stalker, a cricket stalker. I don't think she tries to be sneaky, but since she's quiet, she seems to be stalking the crickets we give her to feed.

I think it would be fun to get her out of her vivarium and have her hunt her prey in the open range of our kitchen.

Apple peels and such

2010-11-27T00:41:00.001-06:00

He almost got the apple peeled in one long swipe of the peeler! A few minutes later, with a Jonathon apple, he did get one long peel, but it broke in two pieces just as I got the camera. You have to believe me.

This week, we've been casually baking and sewing and wood carving and sketching a self portrait and reading for fun. And watching tv and using computers, too.

We had my FIL over for dinner (stir fry) since he's 'bach-ing' it for a week, and had a little card playing with him afterward.

"I" of GAIN decorated the church for Advent. She LOVED it.

I also took a lot of food pictures this week for the food + foto challenge at the Souvenir Foto School. I'm halfway through the challenge (see my submission this week at my new blog), and I'm determined to have a different knife in each of the remaining weeks.

I always take many many many pictures before I choose my selection. This week, my photo pool included the apple peelings (pretty interesting), bagels (Martha Stewart styling and food ad styling), and pies. I keep the guiding words of the incredible Sarah in my head at all times, "It's hard to make food photos not look like barf." So true.

Notes about feeding a Chinese Water Dragon

2010-11-25T21:12:00.002-06:00

chloe's crickets

1. having a chinese water dragon is like having two pets -- the dragon is one and its prey is the second.
2. the prey would be a box full of crickets, which is really plural.
3. the crickets need to be fed, just like the dragon.
4. the crickets get food that is fortified with calcium, but we still have to dust them with calcium before feeding them to chloe.
5. chloe is almost out of crickets.

Pet-sitting for a Chinese Water Dragon

2010-11-24T11:37:00.001-06:00

Isn't the Chinese Water Dragon cute?

My 16yo said, "We finally have a pet!"

My kids have been blessed with a week-long visit from Chloe, a niece's Chinese water dragon. Delivered on Monday, she has been getting a lot of attention: frequent water mistings, cricket feedings, and exercise outside the vivarium. Humorous details later.

What a home school really looks like

2010-11-22T12:05:00.001-06:00

Me to the kids: "Are you working on your math test?"

No answer. I look into the other room and see this.

The kids are looking through binoculars so they can watch the rabbits better. "I" of GAIN has a quilt block on her head because it's fuzzy nap keeps her warm. "G" has a pendulum thing on the couch made of K'nex.

This is our school day.

Quilt top readiness

2010-11-20T12:05:00.000-06:00

After kids #2 and #4 and I worked to make our crazy blocks, I can finally say that the flannel scrap quilt is ready to make into a quilt top.

Three Teenagers in the House

2010-11-14T21:39:00.001-06:00

Oh my. I have crossed the line into "older-ness" today by having my third child turn thirteen.

If you live in my house and it is your birthday, you get to choose all of the family meals. You also get to skip school if it's a school day.

For part of his birthday gift, we visited the Science Center. We spent a fair amount of time in the "Why the Sky" area, then finished up in the "When Things Get Moving" area. He proclaims a love for dominos, as shown in this video, which was the last of three domino chains that he made. His older brother assisted with this one.

I_Blog, final entry

2010-11-12T00:39:00.000-06:00

So who was at the I_Blog Conference? I can't say for sure. I didn't attend every day and didn't get to speak to everyone. Wish I did. The following awesome people were there while I was. If you are reading this and you attended, please leave a link in a comment and accept my apology for not remembering or speaking to you. Blog love to everyone, JULIA

I_Blog, part 3

2010-11-10T21:20:00.001-06:00

I understand that some people attend blog conferences in order to meet the authors of the blogs they read. I get that. If I had a yearbook, like a blank page in my conference brochure for autographs, I would have had everyone there sign it. Everybody was _that cool_.

Who was there? I_Blog had speakers and registrants. The registrants, like me, came from a wide variety of backgrounds, representing several Midwest states. The speakers reflected the same. I can think of one who came from outside the Midwest, but I won't hold it against her. There were people with blogs and people who will soon have blogs. There were many like me who could not attend all three days. And there were some I did not meet.

Those that I did meet were great people, all with different points of view. This difference makes them all the more attractive. Like many functions that I’ve attended, nursing babies accompanied their mommas, and dads and kids hung out elsewhere.

What did the speakers say? Lots. Jody designed two tracks -- one for beginners and one for experienced bloggers. Choosing one workshop per session was difficult at times.

The experience was great. Having small audiences allowed for wonderful personal interaction and attention. The hotel had great ambience. I don't know if I can say more, other than I am still hungry for more.

E's debut in Sweet Shot Tuesday

2010-11-09T21:03:00.001-06:00

She is no newcomer to the internet, but here is Miss E's Sweet Shot Tuesday debut. I hope to have her featured in future SST's.

Until I get rid of blogspot, I have to live with no control over rotated photos. I've tried two different versions of this photo, and blogspot can't handle something that isn't orthogonal. Tilt your chin to the right. Isn't she sweet?

I_Blog, part 2

2010-11-08T23:44:00.000-06:00

In addition to the food buffet, we had a workshop buffet.

Ready to hear more about the I_Blog Conference? Yesterday, I forgot to say that a Picsio cam was given away on Sat. afternoon. And I want to make a video within the next 12 months, I soooo missed out on that. WAAAAH! (I am finalizing the storyboard now, so if you want to contribute to my camera fund, call me.)

So anyway, what did I do at a blog conference? Open a laptop and have everyone type posts as a group? NO!!! I learned how to make a blog “better." I really don’t like that word, but I can’t think of just one word that is suitable. Maybe "more effective" is what I want to say. I also heard business advice. Traditional business advice, given from a blogging perspective.

Afterward, I remembered some words I heard about 15 years ago – as technology use increases, the need for human interaction increases. That is, the more you communicate through digital devices to buy stuff, converse, and do research, the more you crave contact with live people. Moral of the story: Networking! It’s all about networking.

We also ate food. Good food. Some people don’t care about what they eat as long as it's food, but I do care. Coupled with the fact that I get hungry frequently, I definitely worry about food when I travel. Being a dancer and athlete probably works against me in this area. The Hotel Pattee provided great food for us. Having food provided was a convenience. We can maximize the networking and not worry about being late for an upcoming session because we left the building.

And the food was a little fun. If there had been a tip jar for the omelet man’s Sunday brunch, I would have left one, even though he had to use a torch to light a faulty burner. The torch impressed me. And Midwest Dairy had yogurt, OJ, and milk for us at all times.

Fun at the i_blog conference

2010-11-07T19:32:00.003-06:00

little blogs on the prairie

i_blog was this weekend and I love love loved it! Attending the i_blog conference in Perry was fun and educational. I love meeting new people and new ideas. I promised my sister, who just had a baby on Tuesday, that I would tell everything on my blog.

What was i_blog? I_blog was a fun, three day gathering of Midwest bloggers. Held at the Hotel Pattee, and sponsored by several rock star companies, i_blog provided adult ed through workshops for bloggers. [It was like a home school conference without a vendor hall, but for bloggers.]

Swag? I didn’t go for the swag. But there were plenty of goodies – pads of sticky notes courtesy of Cozi, a notepad and $50 discount coupon from Hotel Pattee, Midwest Dairy generously gave an afternoon snack, recipe books, and insulated bags (they will fit two gallon milk jugs), and Land O Lakes gave coupons for free yogurt and cents off for cottage cheese.

There were also fantastic giveaways: Kum and Go gave two $100 gift cards, Verizon Wireless gave a droid 2, Midwest Dairy gave a handheld blender (that I won!), and Brett Trout gave two copies of Cyber Law. (I am too lazy to put an amazon affiliate link here.) Verizon Wireless had a booth full of goodies and info – drawstring bags, water bottles, key chain fobs, cozies, non-slip pads for your dashboard, ink pens, you get the idea. There could have been more on Friday, but I didn't attend that day.

Well, are you jealous yet? You will have to go next year. Wait until my next post. Then you'll really wish you would have been there.

OK, I have no pictures from the event right now. How about this one? As I told the dairy moms at our Saturday morning breakfast, we saw Toy Story 3 Thursday night, and everyone loved it for their own reasons. I found these forgotten toys recently on closet shelf.

i_blog conference

2010-11-05T14:49:00.001-05:00

Our table seems to always contain a newspaper and book in the background.

I just traded purses, from the every day small to the large enough to fit a notebook in. It's the i_blog conference. I've never attended a blog conference before, just thought about it and read about. This year, I'm doing it. It's my adult ed. I've got family members and a brand-new ministry in need of assistance in the blog arena. Leave me a comment with your most pressing blog question. I'll see if I can find the answer in person this weekend.

Paste Paper Excitement

2010-11-04T18:06:00.001-05:00

Aren't they yummy-looking?

They're here! The paste papers are here! Being the paper lover that I am, I had to enter LarkCraft's giveaway.

Have you ever read any Laura Ingalls Wilder books? There is one part in a book that I relate to. Except instead of a cookie, it's paper. Laura says that her cookie is so beautiful that she almost cannot bear to eat it, because then she won't be able to look at the nice design anymore. She eats all around the edge slowly, trying to make it last.

That is how I feel about paper. I've mentioned to a couple scrapbookers before that some paper is so gorgeous that I can hardly stand to cover it with another piece of paper or a photograph.

Diane has elegant, lovely looking paste papers, and I am very inspired to use my winnings for greeting cards and bookmarks. If I use the paper as the centerpiece, I won't have feelings like Laura Ingalls did.

My package is so large and heavy, I feel that I need to spread the crafting love and hold a class.

pine ridge

2010-11-03T21:16:00.001-05:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Busy busy

2010-10-30T22:57:00.000-05:00

Scene from yesterday -- it's an oil stone. "G" of GAIN needed to sharpen knives. He wanted to use a sharpening steel that I keep in the kitchen, but I showed him the family oil stone, and he put the steel away quickly.

My grandparents came over this evening and experienced the crazy busy-ness of our household. Basically, no one sees us because we are not around. Can you relate?

Grandma and Grandpa got to witness one of Mr. GAIN's events live -- a telephone town hall (a very neat concept), then see one child off to Trick or Treat So Others Can Eat, a benefit for DMARC, which supplies area food pantries. They also got to assist another child with her "Smartie Pants" costume; watch us make the candy bowl -- we had a large quantity and variety of confections, and we have about 1/3 of it left; have a plate of roast beef dinner with three of us; see a few early neighborhood trick or treaters; and watch our oldest child come home from babysitting, dress for the evening, and leave to join the DMARC benefit.

This all took place in about two hours.

Happy Thursday

2010-10-28T21:49:00.001-05:00

I had much to be happy about today.

The winds slowed from their former 60 mph speed to 20 mph.
I won a paste paper giveaway and am excited beyond words. (Read about Lark Crafts (inspiring ideas. giveaway here. And visit Maurer's site. It's fascinating.)
The sun stayed out for a few consecutive hours, enough for my solar lights to fire up this evening.
We carved pumpkins after dinner, which is my entry for Simple Lives Thursday. Some wood carving tools, thumb tacks, a bowl of pumpkin goo. A little radio, replaced by a read aloud book about Catholic Mexico in the 1930's, followed by plain old conversation. Some photo breaks interspersed. Saved some seeds at "I" of GAIN's request. Loved it.

In the words of my older son, my kids are "Gourd Smiths." He's always had a certain way with words :-)

I like the simple activities. No television, very low technology. Kids using their brains to be creative with fine and gross motor skills, listening to rich language on an interesting topic (My Heart Lies South, by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino). No fighting, respectful opinions are asked and given, everyone loves each other. Based on this experience, I am considering having the kids all carve squash for future celebrations.

Business card holder, take 2

2010-10-25T20:52:00.001-05:00

My second choice of fabrics was quite difficult. The other 'egg patterns' left in my layer cake were not monochromatic. The grape egg was violet on violet. The other monochrome ones were already made into purses. The remaining eggs were contrasting, which is not what I wanted for a business card holder.

I settled on this combo. The blue is from the layer cake, the orange (monochromatic) was a Hancock Fabrics clearance bin find. No details on it.

I want to have something darker for the exterior to hide any dirt. I currently keep my business cards in an exterior pocket which leaves the top edge exposed to handling (which makes them dirty).

Business card holder fail

2010-10-24T20:19:00.000-05:00

I will be attending the i_blog conference in a couple weekends. To be fully prepared, and to meet a current need, I planned to make a business card holder with the leftover fabric from winning a fabric giveaway a while back (Thanks to Adventures in Dressmaking).

Because I didn't measure twice, or pay attention to directions while a friend popped in, I cut the wrong dimensions for Piece B (Grape Eggs). And I had only one fat quarter of this fabric. :-(

My HERO arrived!

2010-10-22T20:04:00.000-05:00

My package finally came -- the replacement that I need for my most frequently alphabet stamps. I asked for just the letter 's' which I dropped down the drain and GOT AN ENTIRE ALPHABET!!! Woot!

I also had a Stampin' Up! demo at my house two works ago, and that stuff came yesterday. Since I was the hostess, I received a box with everyone's stuff. I was excited to touch it all as I sorted it out with "I" of GAIN. I really liked the Medallion stamp. I'll have to invite Darcy over to stamp at my house soon.

12 Days of Handmade Christmas

2010-10-21T10:46:00.001-05:00

Guess where you'll find me this November --

I spent last year with Edie, too. Try it. You'll like it. :-)

depth of field fail

2010-10-18T10:51:00.000-05:00

I of GAIN plays with the tripod

We bought a new camera a few years back and I frequently ~~complain~~ state while using this new camera that it is not intuitive for me. Our old camera, much slower in response time, makes a lot more sense to me. Its buttons and dials do what I think they ought to. Our new camera, smaller with less buttons and dials, has a quicker response, holds a ridiculous amount of files, and the storage device is universally supported (another issue with the old camera). I just cannot figure out how to get it to do what I want.

I refer to the new manual frequently (after this many years, that's how non-intuitive it is to me). Even though I don't have an SLR camera, I've enjoyed following Darcy's October photography tutorial (www.my3boybarians.com). Today I took the time to (finally) tackle the aperture homework, getting out the tripod and the manual, only to discover that my digital elph doesn't give me control over aperture. I broke out the old camera for my homework (which I already knew how to operate without referring to the manual).

And while I prefer the small weight and appreciate the small size of our digital elph, it requires my hand/wriststrap for carrying. Our old camera, on the neckstrap, leaves my hands free. Trade-offs. I like having one camera for me to use and another camera for someone else to use while out and about. Are you having camera issues?

Hero Arts, you're my hero

2010-10-17T14:46:00.000-05:00

I used my Bird Branch Alphabet all the time until three weeks ago. I thought I would save time by taking all my inky stamps in my hand and rub them clean under a stream of water from the faucet. I lost the letter 's' down the drain. whoops. (I saved the letter 'l.')

Since I use the letter 's' frequently, this loss has put a cramp in my stamping.

I sent an email pretty soon afterward to Hero Arts, the manufacturer. After waiting two weeks, I inquired at the scrapbook store and was given a toll-free phone number. I didn't call it.

Then this week, I got this in the email inbox:

Thank you for your interest in Hero Arts.

Please provide us with your mailing address and we’d be more than happy to mail you a replacement letter at no charge.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Hero Arts

How awesome is that?

titles take 2

2010-10-15T08:41:00.000-05:00

Well, the new title didn't help. I'm trying one more title. If you want to read about the arts and crafts that I observed while on a mission trip to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, do it today! I'll have remove it if the spam doesn't stop coming.

I'm looking at whether content or title draws the spam. I think it's the title.

update on posts

2010-10-14T20:52:00.000-05:00

I haven't left the earth, but I'm really struggling. I made a post right after my return from Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, and it is constantly getting spam comments. I think I'm going to re-title a post. The content will be the same, but I think changing the title will prevent spam. If the spam goes away, I'll start posting again.

I've had a few cards and scrapbook pages completed since my last post, as well as held a Stampin' Up demo -- how fun to have a brand new baby stamper!

Until next time.....

JULIA

Yo-yo yo-yo

2010-09-29T22:43:00.001-05:00

Today, my youngest and I visited Living History Farms. Located in Urbandale, IA, this is truly living history. I really liked this day because 1) I got to meet new-to-me homeschool moms (Hi to Heather and Laura!) and 2) THE ANNUAL QUILT SHOW.

Living History Farms has a lot more than what is on display at the exhibits. There is an entire building of stuff archived elsewhere on the property. Once a year, different quilts from the archived collections appear in the Church of the Land (here and officially, down the page here). The stories of the quilts are just plain fun to read, the quilts are great to look at, and the volunteers working the event are nice to talk to.

I loved to look at the yo-yo's!

This is really not a quilt -- there is no backing or batting. It is more of a bedspread, and it's all yo-yo's! Love it!

Home schooling

2010-09-22T21:49:00.001-05:00

I haven't posted anything about home schooling for a long time. Home schooling has been very good for our family. One thing they enjoy is the freedom to move around. For example, reading on the kitchen counter or in a recliner.

This is part of Simple Lives Thursday, 11th edition, hosted partly by local mama, Diana.

Pile of scrap

2010-09-19T16:52:00.000-05:00

Some call it therapy, others support, more people call it fun. I call it all of the above. I went to my first Crop Night at Archivers this weekend. I'd never attended in the past because I figured for the money charged and food included, I wouldn't get my money's worth. Enter the new and improved crops, where you pay $5 to reserve your spot and get $5 in merchandise credit. That is a virtually free crop, plus the amenities of die cut machines and great lighting, so I'm all in.

I have a lot of journaling to add now. Busy week.

The future of baggies

2010-09-16T14:31:00.000-05:00

I've seen cloth snack and sandwich bags for a couple years now, but haven't made the dive into using them. Until I saw this helpful review at Kitchen Stewardship. I really like the thought of the Wrap-n-Mat.

We use cloth placemats and napkins already when picnicking because they don't blow away like their paper equivalents. We don't have much plastic baggage on such occasions. I'll have re-usable containers. But I usually just clear out the pantry and fridge, and pack an entire loaf of bread, and entire jar of jelly, etc. Everyone makes their own sandwich(es) on site. I'll have one sandwich-sized plastic bag with a wet washcloth for cleanup and storing sticky knives and spoons.

But I'm thinking about school lunches. I now have two high school kids making lunches every day. How do you get a high school kid to use a wrap-n-mat? Discussions will be following.

Cards

2010-09-07T23:03:00.000-05:00

Why did I hesitate to rubber stamping and card making for so long?! Good question. I didn't want to use stamps because I knew they would give me, as a new scrapper, more choices than I wanted to deal with. And they required an investment. Stamps take up space (a lot) and require money.

Now that I have several colors of ink and more than a few stamps, especially alphabets, I find myself making cards more and more frequently. I don't need my _entire_ table like I do for scrapbooking, and I don't make much mess.

The cards you see here were not very complicated, which means just a few minutes of time were taken. I know, blogger turns my photos. Just tilt your head. The folds are on the right hand side -- right is "up."

The alphabet stamps have definitely been a good investment. They are not consumable like stickers, and I can make them be any color I want.

I also have watercolor paints in the form of pencils, cakes, and tubes. The front of the Father's Day card here came to me in a dream. It's a monogram for the recipient, and looks a lot like the bath towels we had growing up. Because I'm not layering embellishments and attaching them to the card and/or using crazy amounts of matting, these cards are not labor intensive.

I had an extremely cute card designed for my SIL. In my head. Doh! My great card idea was forgotten before I had the occasion to make and give it. If I ever have the occasion to celebrate another certification, degree, or similar accomplishment, I'll have to use my idea. Moral: make time to make cards. Review your calendar and plan accordingly.

House crafting

2010-08-14T22:41:00.000-05:00

I made a teepee in the traditional Lakota manner! You can see me on the left with my back to the camera.

A teepee? It was just for fun, not for living in. I spent the first week of August crafting some BIG things on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwest South Dakota. Near the Black Hills, the reservation is very isolated from cities as large as the one where I live.

Serving as an adult chaperone for our church's annual youth group mission trip gave me new skills. In addition to building the teepee that you see in these photos, I also helped demolish a deck, replaced it and added a wheelchair ramp; painted over graffiti; tore off shingles, laid down sticky tar paper, and nailed new shingles. We changed locations every day.

Working with Re-Member, my week's work crew also built outhouses, dug holes, and installed the outhouses; skirted mobile homes; moved mobile homes; re-wired houses; and delivered mattresses to area families. And of course, playing with local children.

Re-Member includes mandatory cultural programming every night. One night was craft night, where vendors come to sell their wares. We also viewed an annual art show that combined native culture with visual arts. I'll get photos up as I get to them. Our share site (you can make your own at shutterfly) has over 850 photos to choose from at the moment.

I_Blog Conference

2010-07-28T23:34:00.002-05:00

See my new badge in the right-hand sidebar? I'm attending the I_Blog Conference this year! I would love to meet some of you at the conference. I won't be staying at the hotel, but I will attend each day's programming.

I read tweets about the conference last year, and as I've grown as a blogger here and as a webmaster for my homeschool business (gosh that sounds bigger than what I do), I really see the need to learn some things in order to be more effective. I'm also watching a lot of blogs evolve and thinking about my own blogs -- how could I make some elements of other blogs work for me? Similar to home schooling support groups, this is my continuing ed.

To attend the I_Blog Conference, I will miss the Iowa Honey Producers Association's annual conference (yes, we keep bees in our back yard), but I've never found much there for the recreational beekeeper.

Now for the obligatory photo. This is my youngest, a few minutes after she completed the Ankeny Youth Triathlon in 18:51.

Doesn't she look great with her chocolate milk? She wore this smile almost the entire race.

This shot is part of Darcy's Sweet Shot Tuesday. (I know, I'm always behind. It's Wednesday.)

Justify the bargain

2010-07-26T22:32:00.000-05:00

A favorite and frequently used quote from my early married days (17 years!) came from a dear gal in Texas, the one who told me that sure, I could home school. Love her. She said, "Just because something's on sale, doesn't make it right to buy." So true.

So what adult-sized person in their right mind would wear a ~~onesie~~ romper? Um, hopefully no one. But we would buy one, as in my oldest child and I, because the price was right. She asked me, "Do embellished tank tops ever sell this low? It's cheaper than the ugly ones on the rack." $5 is excellent for a brand new shirt.

Knowing that this garment was made of knit T-shirt fabric helped make this purchase worthwhile. It means that once you cut it, it won't fray, maybe just curl up a bit. I told "A" of GAIN to buy it, then cut it once we got home. She had to try it on to check the length of the shirt. She reports feeling rather silly, like she was 2 years old. It took extra time to try it on because you have totally undress to put it on. And it would be long enough to work as a top. So she bought it, took it home, then cut it up. Sorry about Blogger rotating my pics.

Flannel it is

2010-07-21T20:14:00.000-05:00

I chose to work with my stash and make the flannel comforter that I planned on making months ago. I didn't get all the fabrics in this shot. There are more than what you see here, including a blue camouflage, two dark pink prints, a pastel baby grid pattern, and a darling cow/farm print that was 75% off in the remnant rack at a chain store.

Cutting went pretty fast. I had more fabric than I thought I had. LOL I decided to cut 8" squares for two comforters/quilts. I will sew one and my youngest, "I" of GAIN, will sew the other. They will not be identical.

I thought I ought to start the flannel before the t-shirt quilt top because a baby gift should get priority over something that I want to make just for the heck of it. Also, I have all the supplies for flannel quilt top on hand. I need to constantly reduce my scrap pile. The pile is made of leftovers from things like pajama pants that "N" of GAIN smelted for Christmas 2009, other baby quilts, a Phrygian cap that I made for the fun of it, and jammy shorts from many years ago.

Why am I sewing? For baby gifts. To remain near my children instead of shopping at a store and overspending on an item that I'm not happy about. The act of creating a quilt defines my simple living today.

This post is part of the Simple Lives bloghop hosted in part by A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa.

Decision Seize

2010-07-21T10:04:00.000-05:00

I've stalled in my crafting for a while. I knitted for a couple weeks, then had a straight pin get taken to the underworld of my sewing machine. The nice man at Midwest on E. 14th told me how to fix the machine, and I'm ready to sew now. (It took a _long_ time to file out that nick.) I have a flannel quilt I'd like to make since I conceived the idea several months ago. I even dreamed about it last night, and considered cutting fabric this morning, but this other idea keeps coming to mind. Since I first saw it Sunday, I LOVED IT. It's T-shirt material! Both sides of the quilt top look divine. I think I would stitch it by hand. I'm frozen in my decision!

More Wood Carving

2010-07-14T14:06:00.000-05:00

My kids have done more crafting than I have this July.

The main project this week was a turtle. They retail, when finished, for $18 - 20. Some people carve the carapace and facial features, other do wood burning. Ours will be wood-burned later this weekend.

One more week to go with wood carving. Everyone has had a good time.

For the love of carrots

2010-07-11T22:10:00.000-05:00

Garden crafting has been on my mind a lot in the last month. I've watched my own garden struggle in its small space, and have been looking for other sunny areas to expand next year. Crop rotation and more diversity are on my mind. Mother Earth News had an article or two on edible landscapes/estates this year, and the concept really seems like the solution to increase the size of my kitchen garden.

I've grown onions along the driveway before, but that was just one year. That was as close as I've gotten to having an edible front yard. I replaced the veggies with perennials the next year. My perennials are taking more room, little by little, every year. When we moved here in 1999, my goal was to slowly decrease the amount of yard that needed mowing so that there would be less and less maintenance. Oh, I guess the chives count as both perennial and herb.

After I read about edible landscaping, my kids began wood carving class. While shopping for supplies at the Woodsmith Store, I HAD to walk through the garden section. I RESCUED transplants for "I" of GAIN's long-dreamed of herb garden, Thai basil,.and tomato plants from ending their lives prematurely. I had no idea where to put them, so I took only a few plants, but I had to do my part and keep them from perishing in their pots. I also noticed that the end of June meant that all of my town's HyVee Garden Centers were closing out merchandise in order to be gone in a couple weeks. I freed a couple heirloom tomatoes and 4 sweet potato transplants from their plastic pot confines for $1.50 total.

But where to put all those plants? Some of them ended up along the driveway. I'm thinking that this is a handy spot because I can walk out there and not worry about getting muddy feet. The rest were squeezed into the current kitchen garden.

I just finished Suddenly Frugal, by Leah Ingram. The section on 'lasagna gardening' looked like it would be a good way to transition into 2011's garden, while giving me a peek this year as to what the yard will look like. For a lasagna garden, you begin a season (or growing year) before you plant, by putting down damp newspaper, followed by layers of green and brown material. These layers (the lasagna) mellow and you get a nice planting bed once spring arrives. The plot is laid out before plants go in so you can visualize the space. "I" doesn't like change at all, so this is very good for us.

Here are my first photos of a small bed near her flower garden. It will be used for carrots, the only vegetable that she can stand to have there. Not that she eats carrots, but she likes the ferny leaves to play in. Yes, she is a kinesthetic/tactile child.

First, we laid newspaper on the ground, then added compost from our pile in the back yard. We didn't used to filter out sticks in the early days. We leave them out now, because they get in the way when we're retrieving compost from the pile. But we're not keeping out the pine cones. Pine cones will never be totally excluded from the pile because there are too many of them in the trees above to control their input.

I had to take a break after this layer was down. I had to visit a nearby Starbucks. Thank you, Suddenly Frugal for this tip. I knew from an area homeschool momma that businesses might give you their grounds to use in the garden, but the book put Starbucks on my radar. Starbucks recycles their coffee grounds.

This is the bag I was given. It was heavy. Yay for the double sacking.

And it's label was a nice touch.

Typically, the grounds are scooped into silver 5 pound bullet bags and deposited in a bucket near the front door. Calling a few different Starbucks locations showed me that every store handles grounds distribution differently.

"I" had fun with these coffee ground pellets.

Here is layer of coffee grounds on top of the composted material. I'll repeat as needed. Yay for an unflipped photo!

Wood carving

2010-07-06T22:54:00.000-05:00

Yay for me! I remembered to pack my camera. Forgot my broom though.

This is Jerry showing "G" of GAIN how to begin working on his Christmas tree. He also handed out extra trees and projects to my nephew and youngest child. You can see another instructor in the background with the other table of students. I think everyone is liking the class, instructors and students. I've gotten positive comments from both sides.

The boys working side by side.

They brought their geese along to show the instructors their work and to finish them with wax, spray, paint, etc. Our instructors have just gone the extra mile for us. We've gotten discounted tools ($10 vs. $17), sharpening and regrinding our tools, and sharing their tools. We're very happy.

Wood carving

2010-07-02T17:00:00.000-05:00

If you're a home schooler in Iowa, I'm sure you've seen my numerous tweets (@threesisjulia) and posts about wood carving.(Three Sisters blog here) We had lots of lead time on this particular program. (That almost never happens.)

Last Tuesday, June 29, was our first class. It was excellent. Except that I forgot my camera. Next week I'll remember. >cross your fingers< The moms were very happy, as was I -- I've wanted to give this experience to my kids for years. Boy Scout camp give my sons 6 hours total over a week in its wood carving class. Girl Scouts used to offer wood carving at 6 hours a day for five days. But what if you want move beyond that? Enter the retirees.

Three retirees lead our workshops. They sit at your side if you need, and they have all kinds of experience. If you are looking to take up a hobby or to increase your knowledge about a hobby, seek out retired folks in your area. They like extra money, and it doesn't have to be much. They typically have tons of stash to give away. And they share their tools and have lots of connections for you to take advantage of.

Purse

2010-06-25T22:16:00.001-05:00

I remembered to sew a cell phone pocket....after I installed the lining. Added another hour onto a 30 minute project. But, the pocket is definitely worth the trouble to add.

Friendship

2010-06-24T22:16:00.000-05:00

Everyone is in their jammies making friendship bracelets. I think it's a girl thing.

"A" of GAIN knows how to make about seven different patterns, while "I" of GAIN owns all the embroidery floss in the world (an inheritance or bequeathal). They talked about using rope to make a belt instead of a bracelet, too. LOL

Here is the tiny start of a bracelet. Everyone finished and had nice color combos. They made a basic diagonal line pattern. The sample on the right is the chevron pattern.

Pin cushion

2010-06-24T18:00:00.000-05:00

I have made a few pin cushions, such as this one. I've thought about wrist pin cushions, too (the cool people on Project Runway use them), but all thoughts of making a wrist pin cushion left my mind when the girls and I visited the Millinery Shop at Walnut Hill (Living History Farms). I found the PERFECT pin cushion there, modeled by my oldest -- it's a ring. How brilliant!

Homemade tubular yarn

2010-06-17T20:51:00.002-05:00

Experiment time from last week: homemade tubular yarn

This last year has been full of t-shirt yarn tutorials. (Go ahead, do a google searh for 't-shirt yarn tutorial.' You'll get a gazillion results.) I purchased a few skeins of tubular yarn for a pattern, and it was pricey. So it's fun to recycle old t-shirts into yarn (I'm all about free!), but what do you do with it? Since said pattern didn't work out, I now have expensive stash sitting in my trunk. It's been there since LYS Purls closed, over a two years ago.

I found only one use for the yarn so far -- a dishcloth. Cotton t-shirt yarn makes very sturdy fabric with a nice texture. Glampyre Knits, aka Stefanie Japel, created shrug and scarf patterns for this yarn. The photos on her website (haven't bought the classes or patterns) seem to use dyed t-shirts, and I don't know that I want a dye job right now. I understand why you would dye, but I'm not in that situation at the moment.

I decided a dishcloth would benefit from the stretch and texture of the fabric the t-shirt knitted up.

Post Script: Making the yarn and knitting with it leaves a lot of little 'crumbs' around. As this dishcloth sits on my table, it is leaving more little blue crumbs. I am hoping that as it is used, this will stop. I may do a swagbucks search on this to find prevention techniques, see how long this will last, see if I'm just abnormal when I make the yarn, etc.

My Hooray for Headbands

2010-06-09T10:14:00.000-05:00

My fingers got itchy yesterday, and I knew I'd need to be crafting something. I spent the morning cutting out a few pieces for my magazine rack (see top picture here). The glue is drying on them currently.

Later, as I was cleaning out a folder of forgotten downloads, I searched around for small projects. I came up Hooray for Headbands by Heather Bailey. Who knows how long I've held onto the file without using it.

"I" of GAIN chose fabric for a tester, and the headband turned out great. She chose a fabric that I was considering for myself. (You may remember seeing it in my yo-yo necklace.) The pattern calls for 1/2" elastic, but I used 3/8" elastic because that is what I had at 8:30 p.m. It was extremely quick to make and I don't think you could make a mistake while constructing it. It uses only 1/8 yd. of fabric.

Here is the back. You can see the black elastic peeking out above left of the knot. The elastic is key to the ease of this headband's look. And "I" of GAIN and I appreciate it. I considered not making a knot in order to have tails, because the 5th grade girls that I taught last year all wore headbands with long tails. But maybe that is so 2009. "I" doesn't care anyway. Her hair covers them. However, longer tails would be very easy to accommodate.

Graduation Cards

2010-06-06T21:35:00.000-05:00

May of every year means graduation parties. I knew I'd need to make cards, so I settled down this morning in front of bloggerland on my laptop. My research yielded these two ideas at Rainy Day Creations and Thinking Inking. I adapted the designs to my supplies at hand, a Close To My Heart hexagon, an untouched denim scrap pad, and generic card and envelope set from JoAnn Fabrics. Oh, and a tiny bit of Rowan yarn. Love that yarn. I'll have to figure out something small to knit up with it. I think I originally used it for fingerless mitts.

Cutest. purse. ever.

2010-06-04T20:58:00.000-05:00

Remember when I received a giveaway of a Layer Cake from the Fat Quarter Shop via Adventures in Dressmaking (she has the most clever ideas)? I've turned two of my Freebird fabrics into the cutest purse ever. As soon as I finished the crazy wonky house quilt, I took a quick break, glued some other craftiness together, then started work on this purse. I made the boxy version, with a 1.5" square cutout. Observe the quickest purse pattern in the U.S.

Laptops are great when you can have them right by the sewing machine.

I love my Tim Holtz ruler. Friend Donna made a group purchase for my scrapbooking group. It's a regular 12" ruler on one side. The other side is a 12" ruler that's got a 0 at the center. Symmetry, quilting, scrapbooking, they all meld in my life.

I finished before dark! Just in time to get a shot of this on the yews at sunset. I had all of the supplies at hand -- magnetic snap, handles, thread, fabric, and interfacing. I substituted Dur-O spray adhesive for fusible interfacing because that is what I had in my stash.

The lining is yellow. I had this fabric left from Christmas ornaments (links here and here). If I'd had enough, I would have made a pocket for my cell phone.

I am so very pleased with myself and this purse.

The Oven Squirrel

2010-06-02T09:39:00.000-05:00

Last month, my grandparents moved. We've visited a few times since, and noticed their Oven Squirrel.

"A" of GAIN traced it for me, and "G" of GAIN found an old board in the garage and cut this out and filed the edges for me last week. It's 8 3/4" long (per "I" of GAIN's measurement) and not nearly as cute as Grandma's squirrel, but that's OK. I don't need ribbon around the neck or stain.

You are probably wondering what an Oven Squirrel is. It's a handy dandy tool to pull and push hot oven racks. Here is G pulling our rack out. (It's not hot. We're just pretending. Or acting.) When you pull a rack out, the squirrel is upside down, hooking the rack with its ears.

When you push the rack in, the squirrel is right-side up, pushing with near its neck. "I" of GAIN took this photo, and I am not editing right now because that would require switching computers. And I am very comfortable in this spot with my laptop, thank you. (How does my new oven look?) You can still figure out what I'm saying without my editing.

I am guessing that someone who spends about 45 minutes could make a more finished squirrel that would be worthy of a craft fair. Unless you used a sander, then this project would take less than 30 minutes.

Open Mesh

2010-05-27T11:45:00.000-05:00

Finished another dish cloth. This pattern is a mesh that I found on Lion Brand's website. I used scraps from my stash. All I have left now (in kitchen cotton at least LOL) is white yarn :-)

Off the sticks!

2010-05-22T15:49:00.001-05:00

edited on May 25, 2010:

So idyllic -- fruit, bread, flowers, and a hand knitted dish cloth. I'm submitting this top photo in Sweet Shot Tuesday. Join in!

I worked this one pretty fast! That also means that I've spent a loooooooot of time in front of the tube.
The pattern is Open Star. Yes, I know it's sideways. Just turn your head.

On the Sticks

2010-05-20T16:04:00.000-05:00

My 16yo (yikes, that's old!) noticed this phrase at the end of the dishcloth pattern I'm working on. It does make you laugh. The photo shows the 'wrong' side of a pattern called Open Star.

Off the sticks!

2010-05-19T21:23:00.000-05:00

Don't look too close or you'll see a couple mistakes. That happens when I knit these over three or four very spread out knitting sessions. King Charles Brocade pattern.

Group Therapy

2010-05-10T23:59:00.000-05:00

I am a big fan of group crafting. With many years of lone ranger crafting, I have really come to enjoy having company. Some people never had issues with groups. I have seen groups as risky -- I might reveal something or hear something that I wished I hadn't. But I like the camaraderie now. Maybe I've loosened up. Maybe I figured out how to be there without talking. I have no idea.

Progress check: the prayer shawl is now bicolor. I will probably quit when I run out yarn. I must save some yarn for fringe.

The quilt has not been stitched upon since I bought the new thread (two days ago). I finished stitching in the ditch for all the "vertical legs" that go around the individual blocks. Yeah, that reads clear as mud. I guess I'm saying that I have half the quilting finished. Next step will be to stitch the horizontal legs. Step after that will be to choose one shape near the center, the interior of the block. Shouldn't take too long.

Running again

2010-05-09T23:15:00.000-05:00

Currently on the sticks: a prayer shawl and a King Charles Brocade pattern dishcloth.

I ran out of thread for the crazy wonky house quilt this week. Just bought a new spool yesterday on the way home from Prairie City. It is a fantastic match to the backing fabric that I'm using.

Since my 5k run in late March, I've fallen off the fitness wagon, just as I feared. I did really well at exercising for a month, then busy spring family stuff came into my life. It happens every year. Ball games, track meets, extra-long gym classes, recitals, etc. Every year is different, yet always busy in May. What I know: Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday are great days for me to schedule a work out.

Enter group fitness. I am always needing something new (new place, new class, new dvd, etc.), and through my email groups, I've discovered two groups to work out with -- a running group and a boot camp group. Both have no cost to participate and have an education component. I had the running club on my to-do list for the entire month of April, but didn't go until I heard they were giving out free socks last week. That's the incentive I needed! I liked it. And I liked the boot camp. Then my SIL told me about Sierra Club group hikes. Nice idea. Another group hike I've desired in the past meets during our regular mass time, so I've never attended. Maybe Sierra Club gets reviews as fantastic as the Washburn hikes that I've read about (for years).

So here's the dilemma: On Mondays, do I attend the fitness group or do I attend the knitting group? Mr. TellBlast thinks I ought to run with the group, then show up to knitting club late. On Tuesdays, I'll have to decide if I'll group hike with the kids (Sierra club) or attend boot camp (potentially with dh and kids). Both are held at the same time. I think the location of the hike will be the deciding factor. I'll call it cross-training.

Crazy Wonky Houses Quilt -- closer to done!

2010-05-01T22:14:00.001-05:00

My progress:

I am halfway done with connecting all the blocks. I have *just* enough fabric to go in between the rows. The stripes will be oriented opposite of the sashing, and I'm OK with that.

Connecting the blocks into rows goes really fast. I'm pretty excited to say that a baby presented itself to me this winter. His baptism is this weekend, so I may be able to give this quilt to him on Sunday.

I also ripped out the blue Homespun prayer shawl that I started an embarrassingly long time ago. It was much too wide. I reworked it to fit on the needles better. Substituting R.E. with family movie night and watching Liberty's Kids for history every day means that we've a LOT of TV. So I've gotten this skein of yarn almost completely worked into a shawl. I'll need to get more by next Prayer Shawl meeting.

Mother's Day

2010-04-30T14:46:00.001-05:00

I've been reading _Affluenza_, by deGraaf, Wann, and Naylor. It's taken me forever to get through it, but not because of the subject matter. Mostly because of the time of year. I started reading it right before a very busy four weeks of Three Sisters work. Very intense and extremely seasonal. In Chapter 19of the book, they have the following quote:

Think of Mother's Day. The most tender and sacred human relationship is turned into a means of sales promotion by advertising experts and made to turn the wheels of business. -- Wilhelm Ropke, _A Humane Economy_, 1958

Just about the time I read this passage, I came across a website that listed ten handmade things for Mother's Day. After searching my browser history (man, I visited a lot of places!), I see the original source here at CraftZine. It really inspired me in the work I do over at Examiner.com -- the article is here.

One great benefit to our home schooling (and working at home) has been the absence of commercialism. Not being surrounded by peer pressure to have material things truly frees a person. We can be in the world without being of the world. I feel that my home and family are better than if we lived a conventional life -- more wholesome, more sincere, more independent, and more moral. It's a life of intentional, purpose-filled, choosing.

Egg crafting

2010-04-13T18:54:00.001-05:00

We started dyeing eggs and everything went well.

Pocking eggs always follows. Pocking is fun egg-to-egg combat. All 3 dozen eggs get cracked and busted up. Because really, how many hard-boiled eggs can a person eat?

This post is part of Sweet Shot Tuesday.

FREEBIRD IS HERE

2010-04-09T22:46:00.000-05:00

Little crafty things going on here.

:: Figuring how many crazy quilt and wonky house blocks I need to fill out an entire quilt
:: Finishing the dishcloth I started oh so long ago
:: I picked up a large cardboard box from a screen door during 'junk day' on the east side of town. This will be for my magazine rack.
:: Buying thread to match the new Second Class Scout patch and sewing it on the left front pocket of "G" of GAIN's scout uniform.

And........FREEBIRD ARRIVED!!! 40 pieces of 10" x 10" color coordinated fabric by Moda. The colors are energetically lovely shades of brightness. Here are my picks for two purses -- a red one and a green one. I am super-excited to add some color to my very conservative wardrobe.

The challenge here was to figure out a way to use the squares for a decent-sized purse. The lining might have to be non-Freebird because I think a solid color would be good. I am choosing the two fabrics that came in doubles. The pattern I use will probably be this one that I found at Sew, Mama, Sew a while back. I'll need to buy purse handles and interfacing, and I conveniently have a coupon for both. Gotta shop with coupons.

This layer cake I won from Adventures in Dressmaking has got to be the most expensive giveaway I have ever won. I will need to be extremely thoughtful in using all of it in order to have very little waste (have you looked at Adventures in Dressmaking? She's participating in Stashbuster April -- that's no waste) and to maximize the look of the beautiful prints. In fact, I LOVE the Outdoors squares from my layer cake so much that I wanted it for a purse, but I think it would be best shown off as an entire square instead of cut into rectangles.

Picture Study for Holy Week and the Easter Season

2010-04-06T13:28:00.000-05:00

Through Art Masters Enhance Education, my younger kids organized some artwork for us to study for the 50 day Easter Season. I like that it includes different media, perspective, historical era, and of course, the seasonal nature. With the Teacher Manual, I can give some biographical notes.

Crafting this week

2010-04-02T10:34:00.000-05:00

I'm currently working on a rather boring dishcloth. I find the easy pattern to be a great thing while sitting with hubby. He has to watch his crazy "Lost" show, so to turn his TV time into "couple time," I am knitting next to him on the couch.

I've also sewn a few merit badges and one more crazy quilt patch. It isn't finished in the photo, but you get the idea.

I planted my salad this week. With the +80 degree temps and the upcoming showers, it made sense to put some seed down. I would photograph the dirt, but I don't know that anyone, including me, would find black dirt very interesting. I have placed a bunny fence all around the garden box -- it worked well last year, and I pray that it keeps the critters out this year. The new location I chose will hopefully keep the slugs away, too.

The most exciting news of the week is that I WON A LAYER CAKE from ADVENTURES IN DRESSMAKING!!! I am super-excited (if you follow me on twitter @threesisjulia, you know that I was hyperventilating -- haha) to touch and feel and smell the fabric once it comes from the Fat Quarter Shop. Look here and drool over everything when you get some time.

You can also read Suzannah's posts -- she is quite the crafty one. As in, when you look at her work, you think, "spectacular and wow." If only we had more time and less responsibilities, we all could sew all the time.:-) Ah, but now my youngest calls for me as I type....

Fitness

2010-03-30T21:34:00.001-05:00

Look! My first 5K.

This photo is part of Sweet Shot Tuesday. I chose it because it is meaningful to me. I've started to take more risks in 2010 -- trying new experiences with my family, blogging about more personal things, challenging myself in new ways (such as this race), exercising more with friends and/or in a group (this race qualifies there, too. Love you, Rita!), looking at new crafting adventures, etc.

Taking part in Darcy's link-up keeps me accountable to this new-ness and risk-taking. If I did something, I ought to document it and be proud of it. Even if I am very busy this time of year. (I totally missed last week.) Or, I can have my son document it :-) He was in charge of video and photos this day.

For you detail people, my time was 31:13, easily in the top half of all finishers.

St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-25T11:36:00.001-05:00

With our Irish last name, we of course attended St. Patrick's Day activities last week. The parade and celebration at the State Historical Museum put me in touch with many warm, old acquaintances. [event specifics were given here.] Not that the people were old, but that I've known them for many years. Like this lovely person and this one, too.

This was also the day that I invited my in-laws (that Irish last name!) to our house for homemade shamrock shakes and a gift. The gift was purchased after we had some Abraham Lincoln activities (again at the state history museum) last month.We spent some time in the gift shop. Amazing how a small space can have so much stuff packed in it! I noticed three cardboard boxes of old maps. They were sitting on a table. No fancy display or sign; it was very humble. I'd probably walked by these boxes every time prior without browsing through them. I decided for whatever reason to give a look inside -- the boxes were full of old maps.

I originally tried to find MY home place, but there were none from that county. After quite some time sorting through all of his county's maps and two phone calls to a SIL, I found two maps from 1896 for my husband's childhood home -- one larger and one smaller. I thought my in-laws would like the larger one for better readability, so I bought it, and left the smaller one.

Then I had remorse for not buying the small map and the large map. We have a room where we keep photos and artwork of places we've lived and visited, and the map I left behind would be great. The wall never looks 'done,' it's always crooked, and I like it. I have two things waiting for frames to go up there as I type this. Anyway, I went back the next day and bought the small map. It has different information on it. We presented the maps on March 17 and let his parents choose one map for their house. We'd take the remaining map.

Quote of the Day

2010-03-23T12:14:00.001-05:00

i heard my younger son and knew that he retained his cell unit as he made lunch today:

'there is cytoplasm all over my hand.'

'the nucleus blew up. it's mixing with the cytoplasm and i can't find the ribosome.'

'behold, the end of humpty dumpty!'

More Spring Break

2010-03-22T19:21:00.101-05:00

As I mentioned earlier, on Tuesday of Spring Break last week, we had families over for lunch. The funny thing was that there were a lot of kids. An average of 3.25 kids per adult. (And one family cancelled!) I laid out carrot and celery sticks. I love carrot and celery sticks. By the end of our lunch, the carrots were gone.
The celery, barely touched. There were no celery fans at our party.

I took some new carrots and the leftover celery, hummus, and mint dip to a different party, a home school moms meeting, on Thursday night. Almost all of it was gone by the end of the night. Yes! Celery fans! My people!

One highlight of the meeting was meeting Diana and Alice. New people -- new to home schooling and new to the town. I love to see people get turned on to something that I am passionate about. Homeschooling is one of those passions. It's been very right for our family.

Being in a group really energizes me -- knitting, scrapbooking, talking about a book, etc. Groups give me affirmation, new ideas, and inspiration. A spark in me turns into a flame by the time I leave. Here are the blogging moms at the meeting: Maria, Diana, and me.

Spring break, part 2

2010-03-22T19:13:00.000-05:00

3/4 of GAIN and I visited the rivers at their confluence (blogged about it here) Monday of Spring Break. We felt very small, to say the least. We hoped to see icebergs as we have in years past (I photographed some small ones here, or you might see bigger ones yourself from Walnut Woods State Park or near the area here), but there were none. We left the confluence to visit Bass Pro Shop.

We had friends and family over for a House Party (details can be found in my examiner.com article) one day last week. I would consider applying for another House Party. I can't say that I felt used, or pressured by the company. A nephew and neighbor spent the night with "G" of GAIN.

Bread crafting

2010-03-21T20:45:00.000-05:00

The kids and I took this last week as spring break. I'll report on our last week in small bits this week.

Just like last year, we attended the St. Joseph's Day luncheon and took in the family and group altars. It is a very enriching experience for my faith. The history in short form: Sicilians had a drought during the Middle Ages. They prayed to their patron saint, St. Joseph. He brought rain. They celebrated with fava beans, the crop that saved them from starvation (and usually reserved to feed livestock). Today's community maintains the tradition.

"A" of GAIN enriched her faith this week in same manner as last year, too. She volunteered with our church's youth group in its Faith in Action (FIA) program. In FIA, the group begins the day with daily mass, then does meaningful work in the community -- sorting the food pantry donations from the past weekend and cleaning the facility, cleaning our church and its gym bleachers, sandbagging in Birdland, and working on the parish's Habitat for Humanity House.

More about our week will come later.

sideways scarf, dark

2010-03-18T11:04:00.000-05:00

Again, finished in one night of watching the tube with the hubs. Even faster because I learned to pay attention to [right side and wrong side]/[where to attach the next row or yarn] from my first attempt. I made this a couple nights ago, using a circular size 6 needle (such as these). I decided to use the small needle because most of my dark yarns are dk weight. I didn't want to double the strand, but at the same time, I feared a shorter scarf with the small needles. Now that it is finished, here's what I think.

It is sturdier/stiffer with the smaller needles. Makes sense. The length is also more suited to a man than a woman. I would have made it longer if there would have been room on the needles. This scarf is not as soft as the light colored one. Unsure why, because the yarns were possibly nicer and definitely smoother than the light scarf. The color and yarn choices make this suitable for men.

Also, I used a pair of $1 needles from a huge chain store. Not the best. The attachment points where the cable and needle join is not smooth enough for all yarns. Stiff yarn that would not lay against the joint worked OK. I think $1 is a good deal only if I can use them. I could not practically use these needles for most of my stashed yarns. Definitely slowed my pace, and I will probably throw them out.

I liked the way I was able to use very short remnants (the coral 'confetti' yarn left from a prayer shawl, some leftover 'watercolors' yarn from "A" of GAIN's early knitting) -- working a bit of this yarn alongside another strand of different yarn as a base, and having the remnant run through the middle area of the scarf but not the ends -- was a nice look.

The pattern is like crazy quilts. Freedom within boundaries. I love freedom.

Here is the pattern in local blogger Girl with a sword's words:

Get yourself some size 17 (or so) circular needles, and a big stash of yarn. ANY yarn will do, from fingering or lace weight up to super bulky. You can choose a color theme, do a rainbow (as shown above) or just be totally random. I have yet to make one that is ugly; somehow, they always turn out funky and beautiful. And the more mixed-up the fibers, the better! I use cheap acrylic, handspun, and everything inbetween. Funky eyelash and ladder yarns are great, as are ribbons or even thin strips of fabric. Mix is up, it's all about texture. Anyway, cast on 80 stitches or so. 60 will make a short scarf, 100+ a long one. I have done it all. Leave a long tail when you cast on, and a long tail at the end. Now pick another yarn or group of yarns, leave a long tail, knit all the way across, and leave another long tail. Repeat until you run out of yarn, get tired, or decide it's done. Cast off, the knot the fringe ends. That's IT.

If you're using fat yarn, one or maybe 2 strands per row are fine. I used up alot of my sock yarn bits, then I'd do 4 or 5 per row.

Giveaways

2010-03-13T09:41:00.000-06:00

I love giveaways. I also like the way blog giveaways are usually designed -- you learn and see something new, and sometimes you get material goods. I like to stay current for occasional conversations, and I like being a consumer.

Here's my latest giveaway win from Tara at DSM Coupon Mom (soon to be changing her name).

I love getting happy mail. Priority mail just seems to be extra special.

This is where my kids might quote_The Emperor's New Groove_ -- "...put that box in another box, and mail it to myself."

And for the big reveal.....

I won a leather photo album and coupon for free product!

Every giveaway works similarly. This one happened to require answering a question in the comment area. Most giveaways, like this one, are trying to grow their readership and do market research (did you read about MyBlogSpark in Tara's post? Yeah, me neither, but that's what I think it is), so "following" a blog, naming a favorite product, identifying a new piece of information, retweeting, becoming a facebook fan, etc. can also give you entries. More entries are presented, flawed in my thinking, as increasing your chances of winning. (hello? really? have you heard of dilution and saturation? that negates the extra entries)

I will be having a giveaway later this year. Not so much for promotion (I'm not a business blogger), but to spread the blogger love and reduce my crafting stash. Let's vote: should I give away a sideways scarf or a yo-yo necklace? Look in the sidebar and vote for a week.

Sideways

2010-03-11T23:52:00.000-06:00

[Yes, I've seen the movie Sideways. How appropriate for blogger to turn my photo sideways.]

That was fast! With new yarn for every row, I had a little difficulty keeping track of which end to attach the new yarn to. Being a skinny stockinette stitch scarf made this fast. Casting on was slow, and I did not count my stitches. Sideways is very appropriately named.

You cannot see every yarn precisely. I used ribbon yarn, tube yarn, sock yarn in triple strand, acrylic leftover from Christmas ornaments, heather from my BIL's fingerless mitts, fun fur, thick Wool-Ease, chenille yarn, a nice blend that I bought in WI at the LYS -- basically any yarn that was not for a dishcloth or super special (angora, etc. that I'm saving for "something") went into this scarf.

This scarf will probably get a lot of use -- it's fairly long, light colored and goes with many outfits. I think I'll make a dark sideways scarf next, with a few bright strands.

knitting this week

2010-03-11T16:48:00.000-06:00

I really truly knitted this week! My church's Prayer Shawl Ministry met on Monday. 'Love the fellowship and the brainless knitting "pattern" of the shawls.

Another "pattern" has been on my mind, so I started it with white acrylic yarn, size 15 circular knitting needles. It's gonna be long. I know, you can dip the cable in hot water to get rid of the curl. I'm not worried about it.

how to make a fish print

2010-03-06T23:26:00.001-06:00

You can read all about our gyotaku experience on my geocaching blog. As I state over there, fish prints can elevate the typical day of fishing to artwork. Here, I describe the how-to. It doesn't smell, by the way.

0.5 Have a covered work surface.
1. clean fish of mucus (funny word, isn't it?). a bucket of water will work.

2. dry fish with paper towel.

3. if the fish is not very flat, support any parts underneath with clay. reserve this clay for fish only.
4. pin fins with straight pins into the supporting clay
5. cut a card into a circle to place over the fish's eye

6. apply small amount of tempera paint to fish, but leave an eye circle. work quickly before the paint dries (funny that blogger rotated this picture for me THE RIGHT WAY)
7. put the eyecard in place.
8. put Japanese (calligraphy or wall) paper over the fish

9. press gently over the entire fish
10. lift paper up.
11. remove the eyecard.

12. using a black marker, draw a "C" in the eye circle.

That's it! Large-scaled fish work best, from the store or fresh-caught. We used thawed fish that had been frozen three days beforehand.

Gyotaku

2010-03-06T14:26:00.001-06:00

We had a wonderful homeschool program on Japanese fish printing, gyotaku, yesterday. Since it is very related to our water quality and the environment, I will have a related post on my nature blog later. It's going to require more thought, therefore, LATER.

The artistic part of the program is much easier to talk about, so here is a picture.

Watercolor update

2010-03-02T14:30:00.000-06:00

Not very inspired this last week to paint. I started two (out of five), finished none.

Card making

2010-03-01T13:41:00.003-06:00

Like my extended family (here and here), I find card making to be a good thing. Convenient in that I don't need to leave the house and my family and spend an hour choosing the 'right card' (which we attempted during January), I can make something that satisfies my taste and the recipient's. Also, in the long view, it is cheaper than buying a handmade or factory-made card for $2 minimum in a retail setting.

The inspiration card on the left was my birthday card from my friend and business partner, Cathy (read about her here). Since I needed boy cards, I chose to stick with the circles and bands of her card, then changed the colors to be bright and congratulatory but not feminine.

All the materials I need to make cards are in my toolbox. For the cards above, I used cardstock stash and scraps, a circle punch and some alphabet stamps from Michael's $1 baskets, ribbon I received for my birthday, and deeply discounted ink that I found at Archivers. The blue and green inks are Fiskars high-density pigment ink, to which I say, "WOW!" The title is the truth, not false advertising. Twice the pigment gives very bright, true-to-color images. I am very impressed with it.

Monkey Magnets

2010-02-27T22:14:00.000-06:00

How cute are these? I got these monkey magnets from Mostly Magnets through a giveaway at Rants In My Pants. Wow, many prepositional phrases. OK, clearer -- I entered a giveaway to win these magnets. My youngest noticed that I had put them up. I asked if she liked them, and she answered by holding up the (open mouth) "Ooo!" and (smile with teeth) "I like" magnets.

I am very impressed by the strength of the magnets. And the images are so very cute. Whether they are used with the magnetic words or for keeping track of hair cut coupons, I'm hoping they bring more smiles into our house.

"He's a good stitcher"

2010-02-23T20:42:00.000-06:00

My son's art teacher said that "G of GAIN" was the best stitcher she's seen and that I must have taught him how to sew. She showed me the standard large 1/2" running stitch of other 6th graders, no backstitching, then showed me G's work.\ with neat, small, tightly-spaced whip stitches. He made "regular clothing" for a wire sculpture person -- a shirt, pants, and hat.

I did not teach him how to hand stitch. I made the materials available and let him have time to figure out the best way to use them. I didn't teach him to use a whip stitch or a running stitch, either. He determined that on his own.

I would say that my crafting has evolved the same way as G's sewing skills -- self-learned.

Today, in addition to three blocks of the crazy quilt, I scanned through this beading book today. I can't say that I've done any beading outside of knitted jewelry such as this attempt and a few bracelets (pattern purchased from Donna's, a store in Valley Junction that is now closed). I found this book at the library. It has instructions for some nice felt ornaments that remind me of my young childhood. I received just one felt ornament after my teenage years. I will probably do some prototypes to determine the cost with respect to difficulty and time. The use of beads puts the ornaments on a higher level than those without, and I'm looking forward to trying something new.

Crazy House Blocks

2010-02-20T11:35:00.000-06:00

I've been making 8.5" square crazy quilt blocks with backing. The backing is new for me, and was suggested by my older kids and a book. Using muslin to stabilize does add stability, but it also decreases my freedom somewhat. I liked the non-backing squares because I could "trim as you go" -- sew a seam to join, then trim the excess. With a backing, you just can't work that way.

Plans are to make the wonky houses from earlier into 8.5" squares by adding to the edges or trimming the edges. This means that the houses will have a lawn! Maybe I'll end up embroidering a tree or two as well.

$1.67

2010-02-19T10:54:00.000-06:00

I bought the Dove for Men deal at Walgreens last week or the week before and got $6 in Register Rewards. This week, I redeemed my Register Rewards. On my 'to buy' list was Skippy peanut butter was $1.50 each - (75 cents/2), salt for 50 cents, Crest on sale - coupon. I threw in the quart bags (N of GAIN reports that TWO sandwiches will fit in a quart bag for sack lunches) and two packets of 33 cent each seeds for good measure/overage. Taking sale prices and coupons into account, I got at least $8 in savings. How did I figure all of this out? Take a look at my Examiner.com articles: http://www.examiner.com/x-/x-13329-Des-Moines-Frugal-Family-Examiner~y2009m7d7-Using-coupons

Kid Crafting

2010-02-16T13:30:00.000-06:00

Mardi Gras! Pancake Day! Fat Tuesday! end of carnival......

Whatever you want to call it, it signals the onset of Lent. My guess is that less eating and more fasting will result in more crafting. But that doesn't start until tomorrow, so here is the only crafting going on:

As upper elementary students, my kids are able to finish their school work between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. So they're watching the History Channel (Indiana Jones, oooo!) and making a latch hook rug and a model of wooden dragon.

St. Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T15:47:00.000-06:00

Post church: spelling bee, winter hike, confirmation retreat, transport child to/from work, dinner, gas and newspaper, the list goes on........

yes, i am slow

2010-02-13T16:24:00.000-06:00

We had an unusual week. Nature program on Monday,

regular Tuesday, History Through the Arts on Wednesday, supervising teacher home visit on Thursday, and a re-visit to the Historical Museum and a sick kid on Friday.

Everything has been 'off' with this stuff. And don't get me started on tomorrow, which is unusally busy. Not our normal week.

So i've worked only two days to get some painting done. Take a look at progress from day one and most of day two.

I've made some progress on this picture (Monday), and on Tuesday's picture, but the rest of the week's paintings have not been painted. I am finished with my latest prayer shawl.

Finisher?

2010-02-09T21:00:00.001-06:00

A recent message from my college roommate asked how to start a project when you aren't going to finish right away. I think that's what she said. There are four solutions to this question.

First,

I don't finish everything. Some things, like scrapbooks, will never be finished. Inherently won't get done. Ever. I just let it go. So my desk and chair and space around the desk and chair are filled with things that will "some day" get into a scrapbook. I was able to contain everything IN the desk for a long time, but I don't see that happening again for a while.

(And in my defense, the side table top on the left there is mostly covered with stuff for an upcoming homeschool mom meeting. The table is usually clean. The pile of old jeans on the floor is addressed in the fourth solution below. Whenever you see valentine or card, substitute the word jeans.)

Second, some things don't get finished quickly, but I can hide some Works In Progress, like yo-yo's. Small enough to stow in a paper bag, then in my purse or drawer until I'm ready to work again. Knitting supplies go into a carved wooden chest.

Third, some projects I choose because they are quick. Dishcloths, cards, small sewing projects.

Fourth, Then other things are left out until they are finished. Seeing the mess serves as a reminder says, "HEY, FINISH THIS PROJECT ASAP!!!" For example, my youngest undertook valentine making for my two siblings and Mr. TellBlast's seven siblings and their families, and grandparents.

That's a lot of card making. And a lot of mess. Every time you walk by, you think, I ought to sit down and make a valentine. And to her credit, she does.

Card inspiration hits again

2010-02-07T10:57:00.000-06:00

I publicly announced my birthday this year, and with a birthday comes cards. Maria gave me this handmade card on the right. My brother wrote something obnoxious about my age inside, so I won't show that part of the card.

Last night, during a thirty minute wait to start a movie (Hoosiers) laid down by my husband, I made an inspired card, the one on the left. You can see where her card inspired mine -- the happy birthday strip of paper, the brad, the package with ribbon. But I had no patterned paper (hers was really nice). I stamped my own pattern on the background (it says 'friend to friend'), and stamped 'happy birthday,' too. letter. by. letter. I wasn't really careful with the 'a' stamp, so while I cleaned it on the scrubby pad, the rubber tore away from the foam. I used a glue dot to repair it. I don't feel incredibly bad since I paid $1 for the entire mini-alphabet, but then again, I use this set frequently, so I do feel bad in that regard. But I guess I've gotten my money's worth.

Puzzling

2010-02-06T18:49:00.000-06:00

We use "puzzling" as a verb. I think G of GAIN came up with this as a youngster. He still finds certain words "fun to say." He is a little like Buddy the Elf, always has been.

Below is the puzzle that mostly I have worked on. It came from my mom. G of GAIN thought it looked really cool when she delivered it -- guys and horses on top, with wolves cleverly looking like a reflection in the water. She said, "It's almost reversible." Of course, G's put in only five pieces. A of GAIN is the same way -- "It is so cool. I love that picture." She put more pieces in the puzzle than G, perhaps 30. She sorted a LOT of the pieces, without anyone asking, which helped me immensely.

This is what is supposed to look like. But I think I'm done. This might be the first time I've called "Uncle" on a puzzle.

Were we fashionable or what?

2010-02-03T21:12:00.000-06:00

Last weekend, my brother came over and brought a box of clothes he found in the basement. It was labelled "8-83," as in August of 1983. Many of the clothes were handmade.

We found a lot of crunchy elastic and a lot of plaid.

Some other great prints were in there, too. Like cars:

And cowboys:

Lots of terrycloth, so cool on the skin during summer:

Also, a stack of Highlights for Children.

I always wondered what a highlight was. I think I learned the definition in my teenaged years.

my craft activity this week

2010-01-29T10:21:00.001-06:00

it's been a slow week for crafting. on top of being the regular, crazy-schedule class day, running home school kids around town, my birthday was yesterday.

i had my hilarious nephews over for a couple hours. D's marble maze is just a tube. It was the tallest maze. The marble goes straight down. No bends, no curves, no frills. He thought it was "the best one."

Then we have B-man's marble maze. He took the slide and tried to make it more predictable by adding a length of tubing to the end. After many tests and "G" of GAIN's advice, he shortened the tube. They were really funny.

My boys made lemon bars instead of a cake for me. "A" of GAIN decided to top the bars with a "3" candle and nine individual candles -- it made for quite the blaze. So now I am publicly proclaiming my age for the first time ever: I am 39 years old. Still haven't said it out loud, but this is a first step.

As I look back on the crafting I did, I find that there was some productivity. I painted three more eggshells for eggshell dioramas. I accidentally gave away too many for Christmas, and when "I" of GAIN didn't find the one she chose (which I had forgotten), I figured that I could replace it with another one.

I also started to lengthen the prayer shawl started many moons ago. I picked up some yarn from my parish's fun knitting group. There was no ball band, but I'm assuming that this yarn is Lion Brand Homespun. I also read about using T-shirts to make tubular yarn (it's expensive. I bought some before Purl's closed.), and with all the Vacation Bible School T-shirts that leaders have to wear, I've amassed a collection to harvest. I've set aside a shirt (from the theme year of Fiesta!) to test.

I'll end this really long post with shots of this week's watercolors. "I" of GAIN and I like this calendar. I've hyperlinked because I'm getting questions. (Mine came from Barnes and Noble.)

Scrapbooking takes me forever

2010-01-25T22:27:00.000-06:00

I will never be done with my scrapbooking. We take a lot of pictures around here. Additionally, I am always out of some essential supply. Right now, that would be markers -- blue, red, and black. So I've got a backlog of layouts, waiting around for journaling or doodling.

Since joining a local MeetUp group (find or start one in your area at meetup.com), I've gotten to crop twice in two months. I'm using up my paper stash, and I'm meeting new people. As I said before, crafting in a group is more productive for me. Having my eyes and hands occupied helps everyone talk more freely, too. The conversation is great -- I've learned about MOPS, where to find Archivers coupons, dental woes, and gained sympathetic mommy souls.

Savory Baked Corn Cakes

2010-01-25T18:41:00.001-06:00

I'm reading _The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook_ by Diana Shaw, and found a fantastic recipe to share. I have no photos because, well, it's dark out, and my kitchen needs the sun to supplement its overhead light in order to make good photos. But take my word for it, these are good.

I bought my corn at Hy-Vee, 4 ears for $1. I was skeptical about the taste of the corn, being out of season and not local, but it allowed me to risk making this new recipe. If I had to spend more money, I probably would not have made these.

Savory Baked Corn Cakes (p.257)

4 ears of corn, cooked any way you like. I use the microwave for time and energy savings.
1 scallion, chopped. I used garlic powder because it was handier. Nothing like starting your side dishes well after the main dish is done. And I usually prefer sides to mains.
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 T flour
1/2 t salt
carmelized onion for garnish
sour cream for garnish

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Scrape the kernels. I also scrape the cob after the kernels are off, especially if I did not make a deep cut. I also thought about my paternal grandparents cutting their corn off the cob for the freezer when I did this. Place corn in food processor. Add scallion, eggs, flour, and salt. Process in pulses until you have a fine mince. Do not liquefy.

Drop the batter, about 3 T at a time on a cooking sheet, either nonstick (like the book) or coated with cooking spray (as I did). Bake about 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Flip and brown, about 5 more minutes. Serve warm. Garnish as desired.

I can see this as a summer lunch. The sour cream was OK, but we preferred our cakes without. You can taste the corn better.

Quilting plans

2010-01-24T10:02:00.000-06:00

I have not really spent my Christmas money. With the weather, I just didn't get out during our usual Christmas break. Then regular, non-shopping life arose. I've bought one $30 pair of shoes. That's it. I planned to buy a walking foot in order to quilt at home. I'm sure I could just place a phone call to Midwest and get it done, but I haven't. Probably because I didn't have a project in mind.

The project came to my mind this week. The wonky house blocks, combined with leftover and new crazy quilt blocks, will make a nice wonky quilt. My son began his second sewing class at school on Friday (insert dual enrollment love here) and I know that crazy quilt blocks for a pillow are on the syllabus -- my inspiration. Since the house blocks CREATE a lot of scraps, this should be an easy project.

So now I've got a reason to call Midwest, and new project to work on, and another shared thing to share with my kid. Life is good.

Music, Watercolors, and Scrapbooking

2010-01-23T15:48:00.001-06:00

Well, I've gotten used to using my husband's old laptop. I'm sort of accustomed to Google Chrome. Not the best with WordPress blogs, but I can deal. And I've had a very busy week. I always have one very busy week each month, and this week was the one. With a home school suport group meeting at my house and home school programming in Ames and West Des Moines, added to Boy Scouts and regular life, my week has been a whirlwind. The ice storm didn't really slow me down, contrary to popular thinking.

Thankfully, the HSAP in WDM has a J-term that is a manageable 3 weeks long. This was our last week of running to book making class. It was cool, but I'm glad it's over. I have a hard time thinking that once-in-a-lifetime programs can be passed up. We saw Musica Antiqua, and I keep thinking that some day, one of them will leave, as in pass away. They've been together for 30 years. My kids HAVE to see them. Such a special special group to have very close to home. And Japanese Tea? We did pass it up, but the presenter will hopefully be here another year or two. Luckily, I have a partner who can cover when I'm gone. So my week was full.

I still have a scrapbook crop (fun fun!) to prep for as soon as I'm done blogging.

I had 50-50 success with the watercolors this week. I still need major practice with cool colors -- violets, greens, blues. Browns and oranges, not a problem.

My yo-yo necklace is a keeper. I've worn it twice this week and like it bunches.

Yo-yo necklace finished

2010-01-19T23:19:00.001-06:00

OK, I was hoping for a better photo........

Spurred by a comment from Marigold at Hideous! Dreadful! Stinky!, I finished the yo-yo necklace last night. The one I took so long to finish. If I were to do it again, I would have attached the chain at the highest points of the yo-yo arrangement rather than the outermost points of the yo-yo's. It buckles slightly with the current points of attachment.

I think it's cute. It looks fab against the black velour tank I'm wearing. I'll put this in her flickr pool tomorrow. (Still hoping for better photos, even with the four day fog and now an ice storm coming) You can visit for your own inspiration.

Beverly/Bibay wins the bag giveaway!

2010-01-17T11:26:00.002-06:00

I was touched by all the entrants for my organic sateen bag giveaway. It's got lovely floral handles and a fresh pastel color to make it distinguishable from everyone else's bag.

Random.org chose comment 88 which was

"I always use my cloth bag whenever i am shopping =D"

Beverly/bibay will have an email to confirm. I just visited her weblog, which you may also want to do -- it is full of giveaways (and The GoGo's!).

Watercolors and Paper Snowflakes

2010-01-15T16:03:00.001-06:00

The watercolor calendar is everything I'd hoped for. I find that working on one in a few small sessions works really well. Taking breaks helps me look back with a new, usually needed, perspective on how to approach my next step. I still want to add a few things to the ones I've done, like the aspen grove above, so I'm saving all the pictures in the easel-container they came in.

And it is "that time" of year again -- paper snowflake time. The girls cut some nice shapes. "A" of GAIN Academy suggested we hang them from the windows again. When we hang them from the ceiling of the entryway, we get breezes and the heads of tall people tangling the flakes, so having them in the windows is a good idea. I would still like to have some flakes in the entryway, so I'm considering a garland of sorts around a doorway. Haven't decided yet.

Crafting in a group

2010-01-12T19:46:00.000-06:00

(sorry, michelle and pattie. i didn't ask your permission. i think six years time gives me rights, doesn't it? LOL)

Last night, I stopped in at our church's Prayer Shawl Ministry. I hadn't visited in a while and it was wonderful. There is something soothing about the monotonous, mindless knitting pattern, and it is very conducive to quiet praying and chatting. Praying for anything and chatting about anything. It gathers men and women, young and old, from different backgrounds. Even if you are not working on a prayer shawl (yarn supplied!), you are welcome.

I also enjoy scrapbooking as a group. There is something about the social aspect that makes me more productive. It could be the creative energy, inspiration from other people's photos and work, the rush you get when looking at supplies, I don't know. But like knitting, I feel that there is no judging of ability or person if you're with the right group. I've been in a few groups, the most active one at the moment is a meetup group.

If you are a lone ranger crafter, I encourage you to seek out a group that fits your personality.