This is no joke. The day we moved in, the temperature was sitting at 103 degrees. Welcome home, right? But even with the almost unbearable heat, we are glad to be here and are settling in. We don't have a permanent home yet, but a couple from our new church had an empty guest house. The Texas-shaped ice cubes were already in the freezer when we got here. No one has state pride like Texans.
The kids and I took a break from the house packing and went to Tennessee for 4 days. It was a nice rest, but now we're down to the knitty gritty of moving boxes and packing tape. I don't have anything new and creative to share, but I want you to follow the link to this video.
The artwork is beautiful, and has reminded me of the childhood desire of making my own stop-motion animation. Maybe I'll get started on that when we get settled in, in Dallas.
Kids are resourceful even when all of their toys have been packed away.
Toilet paper boxing gloves.
My poppies. I thought I had lost them this year. Everyone else's bloomed and faded, and mine stayed green and leafy. And then, last week, there they were.
And you know how I feel about poppies.
The year we moved here was the same year I got to celebrate my first official Mother's Day. Every year since, Donnie and the kids have treated me to a rose bush of my choice. Some of them have flourished, and those are the ones I'll be digging up and transplanting in Dallas. Here are my favorites:
So beautiful they make the chain-link fence look fancy. I don't know if we'll even have a yard to plant these in, since we haven't yet found a house. But my mother-in-law has offered to keep them in pots at her house until we do.
I wonder if the Japanese Beetles have made it to Texas yet.
I hope not.
Here's another favorite that will not be accompanying us to the Lone Star State. But if there was a way to do it, I absolutely would.
For several weeks during the summer, this honeysuckle vine blooms magnificently. It has taken over part of our fence, and at the end of the day, the wind blows its fragrance over to the back porch. Absolutely intoxicating. I could write a love poem about this vine.
We have roughly thirty days before we drive away to our new home in Dallas. One thing I'll surely miss is my garden. I am not a gifted gardener, but I love to putt around in it. Some of these plants I've had since the first summer we lived here, four years ago.
Like this peony:
This is the one and only blossom I've had since I planted it in 2005.
I'm going to take several of my plants with me, but this one, the state flower of Indiana, will stay here. It's a finicky plant, and since I finally got the soil depth right, I'm not going to bother it. I don't even know if peonies tolerate any heat.
But I'm so glad I got to see it once before we moved!
Happy May Day!
I guess I kind of left everyone hanging last week, but here's the scoop: Last Sunday we announced that Donnie had been offered a youth pastor position in Texas, so we'll be moving in late June. We are very excited to get to live near family again, but we are also very sad to be leaving our loved ones here in Indiana.
We have a family here. We have a life here. Emma was just 4 months old when we moved here, and Ethan was born here! This was our first ministry together, our first chance to grow up as a married couple out of the shadow of our parents. So in the midst of packing and planning for our future in Texas, we'll be trying to soak up as much of this place and its people as we can in the next six weeks or so.
I don't know what that means for the blog during the transition. I'll probably not be creating much new, but I will do my best to keep up with the Bible Study blog. (We're about to start Judges if you've lost track.) I'll check in from time to time and let you know how it's going. I'll also be going through my basement "studio" and making big decisions about what I really need and what I need to pass on. So my supply shop, Rope, might be getting a few updates here and there.
For those of you in our Christian family, we would appreciate lots of prayer at this time. There is much to do, and lots to feel. We also need to decide where we're going to live! Thankfully, we'll be popping down for my brother's wedding in a couple weeks, so we can scope some things out at that time. We also appreciate your prayer for our church family here in Indiana. We know that God has a plan for His beloved church. Just pray that He makes it clear to those who are making those decisions. And for comfort for the kids in the youth group here. The Sunday announcement was so sad. We'll miss these guys dearly. Thank you!
Anna
I am a little overwhelmed with something that's going on in my personal life right now. (I'll share more about that on Monday.) But I do want to share this really great article all about me on the blog, resweater.
Here it is, for your reading pleasure!
She also mentions the chicken dumpling fundraiser, which is again going more quickly than I expected. We have raised $120 so far, and the etsy shop has sold out of them! I'll be adding more this weekend.
Is there a better combination? I really don't know of one.
I added these little zip pouches to the shop yesterday.
Find them here if you're interested!
It's been a productive day. I did some sewing, added some things to the shop, and finally got around to this:
I carved this little chicken stamp for the top of my thank you notes. These are included with the purchase of a chicken pincushion, just as a reminder of the project. I think they make everything feel complete and official. Here's the card, all stamped and thank you-ed.
The chickens have already started selling, so if you're sure you want one, order quickly. They would make such a sweet mother's day gift--even for someone who doesn't sew. Find them here. I'll be adding more as I finish them!
In case I never told you, my mom is full of enthusiasm and great ideas. I know I've mentioned her new gardening business, but I haven't mentioned that she started an off-shoot of the business called Flowers by edible. She does free-lance floral design for weddings and other big occasions, and she needed a nice, professional apron for the on-site floral arranging and staging. So out came my grommets, hammer, and rivets for another heavy-duty apron.
If it's possible, I love this one even more than the first! (Sorry about the low-quality photos. I was in a rush to get this in the mail in time for a big wedding!)
The applique is very similar to the one I put on my friend's wristlet last week. I'm really getting fond of the messy thread "drawing" look of these appliques.
Mom liked it, and the wedding was a huge success. (The bride even called her personally the next day to tell her how much she liked everything!!) Mom already has about 4 weddings scheduled for this season, so the apron will get lots of use.
Here it is all packaged up like a present. Getting to package things for my own mom is the only good thing about living so far away. If I lived down the street, I'd probably just hand it to her.
Stay tuned for more items with free-form machine applique to be in the shop in the near future. I can't get enough of it!
I was reading through some great articles on the etsy blog, and I came to this article about needlework. It's a great article, but that's not why I'm excited about it. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and look at the selection of "related items". Go ahead. I'll wait.
That's me! Right there with the little acorn-embroidered bag! I don't know how they pick related items, but I'm honored to be part of the game. Thanks, etsy!!
I checked the date of sale on that little guy, and I found out that it sold five days after the article came out. I guess it pays to get noticed.
As long as I'm the one doing the labeling...
To make the labels I mentioned on this post, I pulled out some iron-on transfer paper that I'd been hoarding since Christmas '06. I printed out as many "lasso the moons" as I could fit on a page. (Make sure you print in reverse-image!)
Then, one at a time, I cut out the labels really close to the image. Iron face down onto your fabric. Mine was already backed with and iron-on adhesive to help prevent fraying.
Let them cool a little before pulling the paper off the label. Then, when I'm finished with an item, I can just hand-stitch them on. If you want to iron the label to the item before sewing, make sure you protect your transfer with some parchment paper to prevent damaging it.
Then you can just sew it down when you're finished with the item. Here it is on my friend Jessie's little wristlet bag.
I love it when I get to make things for friends. This was a custom diaper bag for a new momma.
I had never sewn with nylon before, but I gave it a try for the lining. I really like using it, and I'll definitely keep it in mind for future projects.
I also added a new label to the outside. I've been working on some ideas for making my own, and while I don't think this will be my final label, it works for now. I'll show you how I made them in another post.
She ordered some other stuff too, so I was able to send a whole package of goodies.
That's a baby sling and a linen wristlet. The applique style is different from my usual, and I love it. You'll be seeing much more of it in the shop in the coming weeks.
