Feather Ornaments

I have a yearly tradition of making my daughters an ornament for our Christmas tree.  Usually, it corresponds with some new craft I learned that year or something that was new for the kids.  One year I knitted little cardinal birds with their initials on them.  This year I was inspired by our Year of Chickens.  Having begun the chicken raising adventure at the beginning of this year, I thought it might be appropriate to design an ornament to commemorate that.  After all, my children are the ones who now snobbishly refuse to eat store eggs because in their words "they taste like chemicals!" :-)

Once I got on the ornament making train, I couldn't stop myself.  I made more than just one for Noodle and Hopers.  I made one for an ornament exchange party.  I made one for a friend.  One for my mom.  Here are a few of them that I grabbed photos of:

I used only things I had already, like buttons, fabric scraps, beads and lots of hot glue.  In the aftermath, I only ended up keeping the two I made for the girls, but I want more, more, more on my tree!  Plus, they were fun to make.  If you're not careful, I might end up making one for you too!

Fall Door Hanging

I have to admit, I've been a little jealous of all the cute front door wreaths I've been seeing lately.  The crafty person inside me was quietly dying a painful death over not being able to make a Fall wreath for my house because of this:

 

 

 

* Cue ominous music... *

 

 

 

Ah, the dreaded stained glass front door.  It was there when we bought the house.  The previous owners had it installed as an homage to the family shield.  I kind of like it.  I mostly don't.  Every time the holidays spur that wreath-y feeling in me, I take one look at that bright blue family crest and shlump back inside to knit something instead.

The colors will clash, I whine to myself.  It's too busy looking for anything else up there, I complain internally while browsing solid front doors with adorable bow-topped wreaths on Pinterest.

Eventually, my crafty side shoved my whiny side out of the way like a bully on a playground and came up with an idea.  Cover that baby up!  I zipped to the sewing machine, dug in my fabric scraps, made a trip to the craft store, and by the next day, Fall had found its way to my front door.

Fresh cut leaves and berries front the front yard make great colorful accents, too.

So there you have it.  My take on the front door Fall Wreath. What's yours?



Egg Hunters and Memory Loss

At our house on Easter Sunday, we like to enjoy a traditonal egg hunt. With all these kids, it's a must. Mom and I hid 135 eggs (yeah, yeah, overkill, blah blah blah) boiled and plastic, around my yard. The dads were working swiftly on the new treehouse during the hiding, so it was up to us ladies to remember where every single egg was.

 . . . .

What was I talking about?


Oh yeah.  Easter. And so,

Underneath these calm, smiling faces are wheels and fireworks waiting to burst into action!  How cruel of me to make them wait just one more moment.... Ready, set, GO!

In a blitz of energy, everyone sprints off to find the little hidden treasures.

Like father, like son.  Tate and Dad wore their matching work blues today.

Victoria's eggs were the coveted "golden" eggs of the day.  There were only two, but Tabi found one.  The prize was a grand feeling of victory and a pat on the back.

Tate.

Hopers found a few of the eggs we dyed with turmeric.

And Faith found the other Victoria egg.  Give yourself a pat on the back, honey, I'm holding a camera.

Teegan.

 

 

Faith and her Daddy, searching for more eggs. Somehow (yet not surprising because it happens every year) we didn't find all the eggs. I swear the missing eggs are the ones Mom hid.  She swears they're the ones I hid.  But at any rate, there are nine out there in my yard right now.... or in my dog's stomach.

 

Happy Easter!

Identify That Shoe

I have girls.  They are not so close in age, but oh so close in size.  We seem to spend way too much of our time asking, "Whose shirt is this?"  "Who left their shoe in the middle of the kitchen?"  "Which one of you dropped this sock?"

It's the way life is.  Unless I freakishly color-coded everything they own...one child only wearing orange clothing...The other only wearing purple....

I've come up with one small step toward sanity with their shoes, however.  Those with laces, anyway.

Alphabet beads.

Anyone with female children knows what I mean.  We have thousands of them.  Beads! Beads! BEADS!

*cough*

Anyway.  I simply slide each daughter's corresponding initial into their shoes, and I instantly know who to yell at when I find a soccer cleat baking in the front yard.

This is not just for shoes that are identical.  This helps out dads who have no idea what their kids' shoes look like because, well, they're dads.  It helps kids select the right shoes at a quick glance as they're flinging themselves out the back door.  It's also for the times when shoes get left at friend's houses, giving them just a bit more identification.  You may have to use the full initial set on them if you did what my mom did and name all seven of your children with the same first initial.  Or, your children may be like my sister Tabitha and me and have the exact same initials, and then I ask you why? Why have you done that to yourself as a parent??

In the months or weeks to come, when your children have grown out of their new shoes and must pass them on, the bead is just removed, or traded out (sorry all you hand-me-down younger children out there!).

Watch Out NASCAR, There's a New Driver in Town

For a couple of months, the go-cart has been out of commission.  Hopers, the most enthusiastic of our household drivers had run into a tree while being distracted by her sister jumping around a corner to scare her.  The frame was bent.  Children were scolded.  Repairs needed to be made.

Finally, today, Seth coaxed a friend into bringing over his welder and fixed the go-cart just as the girls came home from school.  This was a great delight to Hopers, who immediately hopped on and began vrooming around the figure-8 path we have fashioned out of our driveway and woods.

Seth decided the chain needed oiling since it had been sitting a while and had Hopers pause in her drive around the track.

"Daddy, hurry! I'm racing!" She said, her imagination already rolling with visions of herself driving past a cheering crowd and prize money to be won.

"Even race cars have to make pit stops," Seth replied.

Hopers didn't skip a beat. "Well in that case, check the tires, too!"

Mobile Blogging, Sewing and Fall Gardens

As I was sitting on the floor in my living room sewing aprons and bonnets for my darling daughters' costumes, I meditated on why I never have enough time to blog as much as I want to. 

Well let's see, there's the fact that I have two kids, a husband, and a part time job.  There's the fact that I have an old house that needs lots of new paint. There's also the fact that, perhaps, I have way too many hobbies.  Everyone likes to have vegetable gardens, sew, knit, refinish and reupholster furniture, run, bake, photograph, craft, read and blog in their spare time, right? Back me up here friends.

Okay maybe I do need to cut out a few things. You know that book If You Give A Mouse A Cookie? My husband says it was written about me. I try to ignore him. I just like to do a lot of things!
So, in an effort to find ways to keep up with more of my favorite diversions, I've discovered I can do some of my hobbies at the same time! (Insert your eye roll here.)

For example, did you know you can read a book and knit at the same time? Granted, it helps if it's digital.  Also, don't be trying to knit anything complicated, like a sock, or you might end up with two left feet. But still, it can be done!  And also, right now I am sewing and blogging at the same time. What??  I discovered a mobile app for my phone while I was sitting and pondering a moment ago, and voila! Found the answer!  I stitch a little while I think of what to say. I type (or swype) a little while the iron heats up.

Being able to use my phone to blog especially appeals to me for two more reasons:
1. I always have my phone near me to take a photo or jot a note.  Big cameras and desktop computers are a little hard to fit in my pocket. (However, this does not mean I will be giving up these items...I just have more options!)
2.  I'm often out sitting at appointments or waiting on my children. Blog a little? Yay! Instant productivity for me!

So, in honor of my first multitasking mobile blogger test run, I will now

(hold on, gotta finish this gather stitch)

I will now satisfy the A.D.D. in me by taking photos of my fall garden and show them to you while sewing and blogging. Thank you for continuing, those of you I didn't lose back at the eye roll.

Carrots

Fava Beans

Bell Peppers.  They're feeling much happier
with those 90's outta here.

Radish.  Almost ready!

A few okra plants still going strong.
The rest, I pulled up to make room
for onions and garlic.

Kale

Lettuce

Eggplant, uh, tree?

A happy eggplant indeed!

Butternut squash 



Red cabbage

Collards

As you can see, my garden is also pretty busy, but I swear it's not my fault! My brother-in-law gave me way too many seeds! They were all just begging to be planted.  And really, who doesn't love to eat food they grew themselves? (Did I mention this is only a part of my garden?)

Well I think that this post has gone on long enough.  I have better things to do than sit around and show you vegetables. 

I'm thinking of taking up basketweaving, anyway.

Under...water.

Paint

Today I would like to mark a monumental day in my life.  I painted the back of my house. Most of it. Okay, just part of it.  But geez, I'm on the road to finishing it now okay?  When we bought our house last year in the spring, it was blue.  A faded gray-blue.  I've never been a fan of blue houses.  Perhaps it reminds me of the 80's-- I'm not sure.  I'm trying to forget those unnattractive days.

Yes, there it is.

If your house is blue, I'm so sorry.  I don't mean to offend.  Perhaps yours looks awesome.  Surely there are awesome blue houses out there in the world. 

Mine is now white.  The front has been white for a while.  So has the back deck area.  But this part...

Is white! (I'm a teensy bit in love with white in my home.)

It's the back of my sunroom. You can't ever even see this part unless you're standing in the back yard, but it's the kind of thing that haunts me--a half-painted house...ayeeeeeeee!

I even painted the light fixtures.  They used to be brass-colored at one point, but had been partially sprayed over with blue whenever the last time the house painting had occurred.

Posting this, I now realize I put them on upside-down.

Sheesh.

Hopers asked me the other day, "Will you ever be finished working on the house?"

"No darling," I answered her, "that's the curse of humanity, the product of eating that fruit from the forbidden tree in the Garden.  Owning a house is a never-ending trail of stuff to do."

Now excuse me while I go flip around some light fixtures.

Reupholster a Chair and Never Surrender

Last month, I decided to take on a new type of project that I'd never done before: furniture reupholstering. You know me, I'm always up for a new challenge.   Mostly though, I just reeeeeaaaallly wanted some new chairs for the sunroom and spending hundreds of dollars on them was a no-go with the budget committee.  Go figure.

So I decided to find some thrift store chairs and re-do them. This was easier said than done from all angles of the project.  First, to find some chairs. I sifted through several stores that had nothing.  I sifted through several more that really thought well of their junky, torn, stained chairs and wanted nearly as much money as a new chair.  Bah!

Finally I found them, super cheap and fifty percent off, tucked in the back of a Good Will.  Score!(Mind you, I would never have looked at these chairs before and thought "whoo hoo!" but my mental plan was set on the outcome and they were beautiful.)

At first thought, I was going to do a whole tutorial on How To Reupholster a Chair, complete with step-by-step photos.  Then reality hit me with its snarky sarcasm: you don't even know what you're doing!  How can you tell someone else how to do it?   Fine.  I conceded.  I surrendered.  No tutorial.  I was defeated by my own inexperience.  I didn't even take "before" pictures.

Now that I have finished them, I realize I totally could have done a tutorial because it WASN'T THAT HARD.  Believe me.  Here are the chairs, after:

I did manage to save a scrap of fabric from each chair to show you what was on it before.  This was the larger chair.  It was worn through on the seat and "well loved" as a place to relax I think.

The smaller chair had this pink fish scale fabric.  Perfect for anyone who likes pink and classy eighties decor.

And now for a few tips for anyone itching to reupholster something:

1.  It's not that hard.  Don't psych yourself out.

2.  Get a staple gun and a glue gun.  They'll be your best friends. (And yes, that's how the pros do it.)

3.  Take lots of photos as you take apart the old fabric. I did it with the first chair and shoulda' done it  with the second but got lazy.  Like this:

4.  Get a notepad and write down each step.  Start with the bottom/underneath of the chair.  Remove one piece at a time.  The chair itself will guide you through the process because certain parts are stapled on top of other parts.  When you've taken everything apart and written it down in order, you will be able to work backward through your notes to put all the new pieces on.

5.  Save every piece of fabric.  Use it as the pattern for your new fabric.  Just trace, cut, and replace.

6.  Save and reuse anything that's still good, like tack strips.  You'll save big bucks.  I re-used the "welting", that cord inside the fabric trim, for most of the chair.

I also re-used the zipper.  (My first zipper project.  What?? Awesome!!)

Next stop, the flower couch....Never surrender!

Just News and Stuff

We have so much to catch up on, where do I start?  If I start with one of the kids, the other one will complain, "That's no fair!"  Gosh I haven't heard that phrase very much have I? (insert sarcastic tone)  If I start with myself, that might seem prideful and a bit "Me Me Me," so I'd better start with Seth.

Seth

He's great.  He's out hunting turkeys right now with his brother Mark. 

His current projects are working at the fire department, working for EMS, fixing rafters in the barn, playing horseshoes in the barn, and next weekend, he'll be cutting down The Giant Dead Tree (I think there's a blog post to come about that) with my dad in our front yard.

Noodle

Back in February, I told you all about her upcoming surgery.  Well, she had her surgery on March 13th.  The surgeon seemed a little less optimistic about her recovering her full hearing abilities after getting in there and seeing the reality of the damage.  Her eardrum had been liquified by the tube and the tube was floating around in there.  She's still healing.  We are currently waiting for the skin grafts to fully take, the packing to dissolve, and praying for great results.  Right now, she's pretty deaf in that ear and the other ear is currently clogged up too.  On the up-side, she got to miss school for an extra week before Spring Break and not do any of the class work.

In other Noodle news, 4th grade is going superbly for Noodle as she continues to make all A's and a B.  They took their BIG field trip last Friday to St. Augustine, which Noodle was rather nervous about, but had an awesome time.  It was her first time being out of town without parents or grandparents.  They went to the alligator farm, the old school house, the fort, the trolley ride, and had dinner on St. George Street.

Her current projects include homework, drawing, reading, knitting, and playing The Settlers of Catan boardgame.



Hopers

This happy girl is having a wonderful Spring with all her school activities and friend opportunities.  She recently visited Wakulla Springs, as I wrote about here, and the Gulf Specimen Marine Lab in Panacea.  She is growing like a weed (currently the tallest kid in her class) and does everything with boundless energy.

Her current projects include helping Mama cook, using her imagination with friends, riding her bike, and snuggling.

Me

I have been gardening like a mad woman for the past month or two.  I can't help myself.  The yard is like a drug and I need to get out there for my next fix!  (Why am I sitting at the computer? Oh yeah, the blog... Focus, girl!!)  In addition to the two peach trees, three apple trees, five pecan trees, and the blackberry patches that were already here when we moved in, I have added even more food:  A satsuma (mandarin orange), another peach tree, a loquat tree, and two blueberry bushes.  And that's just the more permanent fixtures.  I dug up a second garden patch and now have okra, tomatoes, bell pepper, and basil planted from seed.

In other news, I recently picked up a job.  Not only do I like blogging (almost as much as I like gardening), but now I'm going to get paid to blog.  Woohoo!  I'm now the blog writer for the super awesome Michelle Lawson Photography company based in South Florida.  Head over there and check out my first post on April 8th.