garden birthday party

don't know why it has taken me so long to post this--- e and a had a joint birthday party this year- along with their friend c... 30 kids in our backyard--- it was fun... no disasters ;-)when i got down lo to take their pic they decided that they should too...

we had some newsprint pots to plant seeds in.

log turned into a tea party spot ;-)

i made some tissue paper pompoms and fabric bunting... loving bunting right now!

more bunting... and initials for the birthday kids.

the bow tie was really easy to make-- i see many more in our future... there are lady bugs on it!
note the cast... luckily she was in such a boot phase that she didn't mind the permanent pink one ;-)... i had so much fun designing and making her dress... makes me so happy!

two and four... wow. how did that happen?!

263 circles

263 circles have been hand quilted on our queen sized quilt,,,, now I just have the binding! I started this snowball quilt made with Anna Maria Horner voile and linen accents last summer. In february I was finally finished with all the cutting and sewing together each of the 140 blocks... By the end of the month I hope it will be completely finished and ready for a photo shoot;)




I finished the hand quilting on our road trip home from the beach...



I think my little bitties love the beach as much as I do- hurray!

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a few things...

i made a few things for the auction at elisha's preschool---

this was a quick little scrappy skirt and a matching hair bow.
this is a simple drawstring back pack...
i let each child in his class draw with fabric markers on a square and then i sewed them together for the front of the bag. i let each child pick a flash card with a picture of an animal on it as inspiration (i think that helps them focus instead of just drawing scribbles... plus it is always easiest to draw something while you look at it instead of just imagining it...). the lining and the straps are made out of a cute green dot fabric that i got from ikea... i bought a queen sized duvet cover with the intention to cut it up- it was so cheap that it was worth just buying for the fabric.

hunting for eggs

no, we aren't hunting for fresh eggs in our hen house yet... still a couple more months before we can expect those. i was looking through pics on our computer and realized that i should get some things documented....

easter 2011

it was a very nostalgic easter for me... for the first time my children had an easter egg hunt at my grandmothers house-- just like we all did every year! it was really sweet to watch them and remember what fun i had when i was a child.
i made that cute pink bow tie on elisha... really not very hard to do with the help of some online tutorials.... andrew felt like he was really making a statement by wearing a pink tie... he was curious about what that statement was. i told him it was showing how he could have fun and match his kids(my necklace and shoes were pinkish, so matched a bit, too)... made me smile when we got to church and 4 of his friends also had on pink ties or shirts ;-)

a winter wedding quilt

for my dear cousin, who is considered the fifth sister in our family. she met and has now married, a man who shares so many of her loves... he is so right for her that multiple mutual friends told her he was the man she was going to marry before she had even really met him!they share many interests in common, but at first their basic design and color leanings didn't seem to have any similarity. this was quite a challenge for me.... but after mulling as long as their shortish engagement gave me leave to ;-) i decided on a design that merges each aesthetic... her loves of rich color and exquisite design is obviously present in the stained glass-esque (yes, that word is also one of my creation ;-) string pieced center. his simple modern aesthetic is nodded to with the more modern square shape of the throw and the gray framing blocks. i love how it is such a picture of the merging and complementing of their personalities.
i paper pieced the string blocks (my first ones to try-- loved making them!)... the gray is mostly linen.
the backing is a gray sateen sheet from ikea... and i hand quilted with gray dmc perle cotton and hand tied the centers of the squares with turquoise. i love to add a little home on wedding quilts ;-)

a poem i love

i have been thinking about this poem lately and just pulled it out to read again. it still just hits me like it did the first time.

Kindness

by Naomi Shihab Nye

Before you know what kindness really is

you must lose things,

feel the future dissolve in a moment

like salt in a weakened broth.

What you held in your hand,

what you counted and carefully saved,

all this must go so you know

how desolate the landscape can be

between the regions of kindness.

How you ride and ride

thinking the bus will never stop,

the passengers eating maize and chicken

will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,

you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho

lies dead by the side of the road.

You must see how this could be you,

how he too was someone

who journeyed through the night with plans

and simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,

you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.

You must wake up with sorrow.

You must speak to it till your voice

catches the thread of all sorrows

and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,

only kindness that ties your shoes

and sends you out into the day to mail letters and

purchase bread,

only kindness that raises its head

from the crowd of the world to say

It is I you have been looking for,

and then goes with you everywhere

like a shadow or a friend.

Is it just me, or is that just right? I have been "catching the thread" lately and sometimes feel so overwhelmed by the "size of the cloth" the it is hard to breath... i am so grateful for the kindness that ties my shoes and sends me out into the day-- the kindness of my friends, my children, my husband, my God.

May days

We have not disappeared....


We have been celebrating anna's birthday, putting a pink cast on her leg, chasing hawks out of our chicken pen, killing copperheads, going on garden tours, planting our gardens, celebrating otis' birthday, finishing preschool, having thirty children in our yard celebrating a triple birthday party, missing Andrew while he was in Brazil for a week, celebrating his birthday, celebrating Elisha's birthday, and so much more... The month is not quite over.
I have made some things... I'll be back and show them - here is a little something I made for e's preschool teachers- zipper pouches:



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cute chicks!

this is a tutorial for a super cute little easter birdie-- mama with egg and baby chick:
i really hope i will get around to making one for e and a for easter... it would be just right for our spring of chickens... I have been placing phone calls to local feed and seed stores and farms to find six little chickies just right for us! hurray!i know what these fun loving little folk are going to think about our chicks....
but i'm not so sure how this old guy is going feel...?

Kitchen Christmas

here are some better pictures of our kitchen Christmas----they uploaded in reverse order...Christmas morning--- it is a hit!! they made us a delightful breakfast ;-)
anna has been quite the little mama -- strolling her babies (and in this case- a dvd). she is wearing her the new dress up skirt i made {this is what happens when crinoline is on sale ;-}
a top view-- notice the fried egg... felt food was fun to make on car ride during holiday travel. i think the eggs turned out the best...

here she is in her humble beginnings ... we had so much fun in the basement making it... note: santa's helpers had plenty of milk and cookies to fuel the work ;-)

broccoli slaw

have i told y'all about the broccoli slaw recipe from smitten kitchen?

we clogged our drain with broccoli around this time last year (i botched the recipe and put it all down the disposal... then the pipe busted and flooded our basement... and andrew had to pull up all the flooring.... single-handedly while watching the kids b/c i was deathly ill) and so i have been warned from making it again... but finally a year later i have made another batch--- yum yum yum!

old pics

i don't know if i ever posted these lovely pictures.... i just love our 4th of july tradition with andrew's fam!
here are all the grandchildren at the parade...i have such a weakness for watermelons on little girlies!
sarah and thomas took some breathtaking pictures of anna while we were in the mountains on this trip...
oh! i just want nibble on the little cheeks and arms! thomas and sarah have SUCH a gift! check out there site-- t2photography.com

i have uploaded some "new pictures" ... as in everything from the fall and Christmas... maybe i'll start blogging again... hhmmm....

happy anniversary to us!

today is our 6th anniversary... and it is as lovely a February day as the day we wed. for some reason i don't have any wedding pictures on our computer (at least that i can find) so here is a honeymoon picture. we had a wonderful time on the secluded cumberland island... we are really itching to get back. ...
I think i'm coming out of a grumpy hibernation-- this glorious weather should do the trick ;-) i can't promise that will translate into more blogging... it may just mean more living...

fall wedding quilt

my sweet cousin faira (a fellow artist) married her buddy j in november. a wedding quilt seemed like just the thing they needed as they make their home together.
here is shot of the back... a little rainbowish action for my hippie couz who registered for more than her fair share of brown things... hehe... i teased her about this, but i can certainly appreciate all the beautiful shades of brown.
i really! enjoyed making this quilt for them. it felt more like a work of fine art than anything i have made in a while. the wonky star blocks were a lot of fun and i am very pleased with the dappled brown background.... i used a very random selection of brown fabrics that i had on hand-- cotton, linen, corduroy, even silk.
and here is the happy couple... just starting their life together... in a little bitty home(do you see it down in the corner?) with a big starry sky full of dreams.

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Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!

We have been bustling here... I like to bustle through December. I've stayed too busy to leave any proof here ;) I have a few pictures, but they aren't the best quality ( on my phone...) I think I'll post them anyway b/c there is no time like the present...


I really hope I post more pictures of this darling thing! One of my favorite memories of this Christmas will be the late nights in the basement with Andrew making this little play kitchen... like I said, hopfully more on that later.


Do you know how happy I am about what came in that box? I love the little girly- don't get me wrong, but I am thrilled about the seeing machine that arrived in the box! I have made many many a thing on my old/ never been serviced singer, that cost less than $100... But I am going to be much happier and quicker and neater on this machine... And apparently sneakier. Andrew said that ge doesn't know when I've snuck down to the basement to sew anymore because he can't here my banging machine all over the house;)


What a fun white Christmas! I think it will be well remembered!

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Excuse me please...

...while I indulge in a WAR EAGLE! I've been humming my Alma mater all day... We were thrilled to get invited to the big game...



I didn't realize that it had been five years since I last went to an auburn football game. What an awesome one to see! When we got home we started watching it again on dvr... And that is really something coming from me b/c in general I am not much into watching football.



I made Andrew stay until they played the Alma mater after most of the crowd was gone...
I'll end my football post with a quote from a friend who went to the university of alabama, "I hate to say it, but this year God is an Auburn fan." I'm glad to say I believe she's right!
Bodda getta bodda getta bodda getta ba. Ra ra ra sis boom ba. Weegle weegle war eagle, kick 'em in the butt big blue!

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Dress up

Halloween is a fun time to dress up... I want to try and extend the fun. We should play dress up more often!















We made this Thomas the train costume after church... Yes, I waited until the day of to ask e what he wanted to be. Maybe I wanted a design challenge... Maybe I wanted to avoid multiple mind changes...
The big box made walking up hills tricky for e... So there was a lot of "I think I can, I think i can, I think I can."








We had a monkey costume (you may remember our cute little boy monkey from two years ago), but e insisted that a had to be the strawberry. This picture reminds me of a picture if me in a watermelon costume when I was a couple years older than her. The red with black seeds and how her knees are locked back... Aw! And let me tell you- she was a pro at trick or treating... No one needed to teach her what to do!

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Fallish

Ah! Such fallish weather we are having...



Can you see the pansies and parsely in the background? (and perhaps the beloved red shoes?)




The wind was blustery as we did some fall planting this weekend... I say- just the perfect occasion for some hand knits ;) looks like anna's earflap hat is too small... I better get knitting! ( and her sweater is a pinwheel sweater I worked on over July 4th weekend)



Our little guy was a great helper...when he was helping fill pots with dirt he said," mama, I love to do stuff just you and me, just mama and Elisha!" it made me do happy ( and also made me stop listening to Jane Eyre in my earphones... Hate to miss his sweet words! ... Consequently, I just finished it... again, for probably the 5th time... But it was so wonderful... Ah!)

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