snippets and handbag fever

I've been back at my sewing machine and draining my fabric budget! (I don't really have a budget for fabric) I've been surprising my family with my new handbags that are so fast, fun and easy to make. Bend the Rules Sewing by Amy Karol has been my source of inspiration.
Here is the Pleated Beauty Bag. It's such a great size, I think I'm going to make another one.



I've already made two of the Charming Handbags and I'm sure I'll make more soon.



Our 4th of July Parade was especially fun this year because our very own Pumpkin Girl played her flute with a marching band comprised of kids from 3 different area schools.



It was such a proud moment for us.



Gavin videotaped them in front of the judges and then followed them along the rest of the parade route. He almost got stopped by a bike cop along the way!


I've already been pretty sporadic with my blog posts - so different from my intentions at the beginning of the year. As I've previously mentioned, my mother-in-law has metastatic liver cancer and has been undergoing chemotherapy. About a month ago she went back to the hospital with complications and now she's back home (right across our driveway) with hospice care. We're trying to just soak up our time with her. It's been such a blessing to have her at home instead of at a care facility. Our kids have been able to come and go, and are very natural in their interactions with her instead of sterile and awkward if we were going for a visit. We've been hosting lots of family and friends who have come to help, spend quality time with her and to say good-bye. They've been such precious moments mixed with laughter and tears. Right now she's on a plateau and we're relieved that she's fairly comfortable most of the time. Hospice has been great as has all the help from local friends and our church. We don't know God's timing in all this, so we're just taking one day at a time and trying not to borrow worry from the next.

craft hope dolls

A few weeks ago we took a weekend trip to a friend's cabin with their family and my friend said she had a sewing project she planned to work on while we were there. It's this cool project for Craft Hope where they're sending handmade dolls to kids in an orphanage in Nicaraugua. A missionary is going to deliver them on her trip there. I hadn't touched my sewing machine in two months, so I wasn't sure whether I was 'in' or not, but nevertheless brought my machine, supplies and fabric scraps just in case. Our oldest kids (ages 7-10) were pretty interested in making the dolls, so we decided to at least get started. We didn't finish during our trip, but knew we had plenty of time before the deadline to complete and send off the dolls.

Well, the deadline is Saturday and my girls and I just finished the dolls and sent them off (Priority Mail, mind you) yesterday! Even though I helped with some of the assembly and I had to remind them to keep things simple (you wouldn't believe the embellishments they wanted to do!), they made the dolls all on their own and were very proud of their results.




Now they're ready to make more dolls, and this time I think I'll let them embellish however they want since we're not on such a short timeline. Of course we also have fabric waiting for the reading caddies they want to make for themselves ... we've also talked about making some skirts for the summer ... as well as more pj pants since their current matching pair seem to get smaller after every wash ... not to mention that Craft Hope will have a new project announcement on the 14th.

Not enough time!

honored

My oldest daughter's 4th grade class took me by surprise the other day. Last week was the end of school (yes, I'm a little late with this post), and like most of you, it's a scramble with teacher gifts, class parties, and deciding what to do with the massive amounts of projects that come home in that last week! Well, in the midst of the chaos, Pumpkin's class put together something pretty special for their volunteer Art Docent (aka: me).


They made watercolor pictures that incorporated their initials and tied it together to make a book. They also gave me pretty flowers and a few chocolate bars that are long gone. :)


I was totally blown away. Their such a thoughtful group of kids and they got so much pleasure out of watching someone receive something they had made. It truly was an honored moment for me.



The kids and I had fun working on gifts for their teachers, too! We decided to make reading caddies for their teachers. The girls made theirs completely on their own and I made the one for Worker's preschool teacher (unfortunately I forgot to take a photo!)




I also had fun making a tangy tomatillo salsa. Hubby was pretty excited that it hadn't all been given away!



Lastly, there were group gifts from the class to their teacher. I wasn't sure whether I would be able to pull all this together and was quite doubtful up to the last minute. Being the art docent for my daughters' classrooms, I have an opportunity to have the kids create something as a group that would be near impossible outside of school. Given that, I decided to make my final lessons of the year into something we could give to their teachers in appreciation.

For Sunshine's class, the kids made watercolor apples which I mounted on mat board and framed.





For Pumpkin's class, the kids watercolored small squares of paper with their names already on them and then, when dry, wrote something encouraging to their teacher. I decoupaged a small box and labeled it the Encouragement Box.





It was very fun doing all these projects, however, I discovered that all my normal downtime (you know, 5-10 min. sitting time, max!) was being taken up by these other activities. They were very fulfilling activities, but I definitely needed a break! And as my husband noted, what's going to happen next year? (I think I'm beginning to get a reputation at school - good or bad??)

more cuties

Our two blue cochins arrived the other day and, boy, did they cause quite a ruckus in the box! Our biggest chicks turned into well, for lack of a better word, chickens! They were trying to get as far away as possible from these little fuzzy newcomers. It was pretty funny to see. I kept checking in on them throughout the day to make sure no one turned on these little gals.

Introducing..... Speck



and Snips



Now they're all great friends and sleep in one big huddle.

chicken fever!

As promised, after Spring Break, we got more chickens. The original plan was to get four more so we'd have a total of eight. That's a lot of eggs, considering that we get four every day right now! However, get a gal who can hardly resist all those cute little peeping furballs in a room with close to 600 new chicks, and she's bound to get a couple extra! So Worker Boy and I picked up 5 the first time (the girls were quite bummed that they had to be at school!), and then I special ordered 3 more which should be coming in this week! We'll have a grand total of 12 chickens, which is our maximum for space.

Now to introduce our five little girlies:


Starla is our biggest chick. She's an Araucana and she's the dominant one of the bunch. I think green eggs are pretty cool, too.


Sunshine is our Buff Orpington and is pretty mellow overall. (I know, Sunshine is also my nickname for our middle child!)


Snowy is a Silkie Bantam, and I can hardly wait to see her plumage when she's grown! Gavin loved her so much, he wanted to get another one, so I ordered a buff-colored Silkie.


Brownie is our other Araucana and is almost as bossy as Starla.


Our added extra this time around is Midge. She's quite tiny but doesn't allow herself to be pushed around too much. She's showing that she's quite capable of holding her own! I found out she's a Mille Fleur d'Uccle Bantam and will be quite beautiful. I also love her feathers on her feet.

www.mypetchicken.com has been a great resource for us, and has pictures of all the breeds.

Yes, we've named them all. I know there are those who think livestock shouldn't be named, but we keep them as pets, not as future food! Of course, the eggs are a great benefit. However, clearly I was going more for the appearance this time as the bantam eggs are pretty small and infrequent.

I can hardly wait for our next three - more photos to come!