Lasso The Moon

Pirates!

I hinted about this yesterday...a new design that I just sent off to a couple of birthday boys in Indiana.

The overalls are for the 2-year-old.

The polo shirt is for the 5-yr-old.

Front:

Back:

And just to be true to the theme, and because we miss Baylor and Cooper and wish we could be at their party, I added a small bit of "treasure" to one of the pockets.

I would love to offer finger puppets in the shop someday, but I cannot find a process that would make them affordable.  I put too many details in them, or something.  So for now, they are just for giving.

Happy birthday, boys!

Quilt Tuesday - the half-way mark

The pirate outfits are done, so this week I was able to get back to my string quilt.  I really like the pace of working on something until you are sick of it, and then abandoning it for a couple of days.  After a week without this project between my fingers, I was anxious to get back to it.

Thus far, all of the quilts I have made have had fairly simple tops--the majority of the time being spent on quilting and binding.  This is the first where I have really had to have patience, and watch the project come together gradually.  I'm loving the aspect of delayed gratification in this.  I can put it aside and work on a short-term project, but I am really looking forward to the sense of accomplishment that is sure to accompany the finishing stitches of this quilt.

Green Cleaning

I found this book a couple weeks ago on Amazon, and I’ve been so pleased with it!  The first part of the book names traditional house-hold cleaners and whether or not they are really beneficial to your household health and safety.  The rest of the book lists actual recipes that have been tried and tested to replace those that you used before.

I am having so much fun cleaning with my new home-made cleaners.  And above that, I appreciate the change in odor from bleach- and ammonia-based cleaners, to vinegar- and baking soda-based cleaners.  So much easier on the senses.

Next on my list: get some prettier containers.

Sometimes things die.

We don't have pets.  We love animals, but as a family we have never lived anywhere that would support the idea of a pet.  The apartment was too small.  The parsonage was too near a busy street, and the house where we now live is too temporary--to say nothing of the bobcat who lives on the property!  But even though we did not invite this living, breathing creature into our family, still she came.  We didn't notice her at first.  We thought she was just another creepy-crawly member of the country.  But then one day, there she was.  In the middle of her intricately spun, bug-catching web was Charlotte.  Also known as arigope aurantia.

We admired her day and night.  We found that we could see the magnificent web through our kitchen window.  She was a study in God's care for the least of creatures, as well as His attention to color and detail.  But she wasn't a part of the family until the day we started feeding her.  We began ending our evening walks with family grasshopper-catching races.  We squealed with delight as she wrapped her prey at lightning speeds.  We watched the movie, and prepared ourselves for the time that she would lay her eggs, and when she did, we had the bittersweet talk about what would happen next.  And then one day it did.

We found her beautiful intricate body where it had fallen under her web, and made a bed for her out of a scooby doo band-aid box.  We dug a hole and placed it inside, each of us adding a bit of dirt to her grave.  We talked about the fact that her body would turn to dirt that would soon be helping flowers grow.  We talked about the fact that her job was done.  She had left new spiders in place to catch next year's bugs.  And most especially we talked about what we loved the most about Charlotte.

Ethan liked to give her bugs to eat.

Emma liked the way the raindrops sparkled on her web after it rained.

Fuse and Reuse

Playing around with fusing and reusing plastic grocery bags.

I'm still "ironing out" the details.  (Pun intended.)

I'll share more as I get a little better.

As seen here:

In this article:

 

A great magazine if you are looking for some fun techniques.  But it's expensive:$14.99

I got it at Joann's with my 40-off coupon.

Quilting aside

I had to put my quilt project away this week, because there is something else that is grabbing my attention. 

A new appilque design for my friend Jessie in Indy. 

 

Pirates!  More soon!

For the love of birds

My eighty-year-old neighbor loves birds and birdwatching, and in the two months we have lived here, she has taught me a lot about the birds that call Texas home.  This mobile was inspired by her love of birds.  And my love of mobiles.

linen, wire

made at Mom's on one of our Craft Tuesdays.

And speaking of books...

I cannot believe I have not mentioned this book before.  It might be my all-time favorite parenting book.  This book was Montessori before Ms. Montessori was taking her first step.  I got it at a goodwill for the funny drawings, and only later discovered what a treasure it was.  I hope to go through it chapter-by-chapter, and take you along with me.

I'm currently buying every copy I see for baby gifts, and I'm thinking of selling some in my shop, since they are officially vintage.

Library Sale

They were $2 apiece, and I had a stack of more than twenty.  Time to make some criteria.  I decided that this time through I would only buy books that would inspire the kids to do something creatively, using their hands and their imaginations.

Growing up, we had many books of this kind, and as you can probably imagine, I ate them up!  I still use ideas and techniques inspired by my collection of "make and do" books from childhood.  So here's a start for my own kids.  I could buy new, but then you wouldn't have these hilarious illustrations from the 70's!

Note:  I did not get my stack down to 5 books, but these were the only 5 I could find at photo time!

Stack 'em up

Made a little progress this week, but I ran out of pre-made foundations.  Now if I could just find my gluestick...