What I made for Easter

I am just posting this now due to taking a little break after having some dental work that is only really feeling like it is healing well now. I made two dresses for my daughters for Easter using only materials I had on hand (except a zipper for each dress) and in the colors they picked. I also made them each a matching knit shawl/bolero/jacket thing in matching yarn that was not only stash but stash yarn but originally bought at a thrift store. Beaver did not want me to make him anything and Mouse got a hand made kilt - that was not really finished by Easter but wearable - and got to be in the photos with the men in kilts at church. He was very proud. There is a large group of Scottish descendents in the parish so for major holiday they all wear their colors. I will post more about his kilt as I finish it.

 This is Badger's dress, I wasn't sure about the colors but she was determined and I like it now. Please excuse the wrinkles as this is after she wore it and I washed it but before I ironed it again.

 These pile of fluff do not look like much but on the girls they are fuzzy cuteness and covered their arms, halter style dresses not the best choice for this years weather.

A sneak peak of Mose's kilt. I decided to go with a flannel shirting in a color very close to his fathers ancestors, but not to buy the really stuff for a 8 year old. Someone else I have in mind to make on for will be all out though.

 This is Butterfly's dress. It looked great on her and the best part of both dresses is the pattern thinks little girls are much bigger that they are.  I had to take the dress in 4 inches and up four inches for Badger and 2 each way for Butterfly. Even then the dresses are very long and not snug. So they will last a long time!

I am a day late joining Crunchy Catholic Momma at the Stash Bash! I hope your creating fun, useful, maybe even beautiful things! ~ Julia

Yarn Along - sweater without thumbs.

Joining Ginny at Small Things for the yarn along!

I knit like crazy to get out of the body of this sweater, mostly two days of nothing but knitting fast and watching videos from the Colonial Williamsburg website (www.history.org)  I am in the hood now! I knit too much too fast and followed it up with a lot of handstitching, mending, and darning. My thumbs ache, so progress has stopped. The yarn bowl was a gift from my mother in law! Love it! I finished this book today, very good, very him. The good guys are good the bad guy megalomaniac and the stakes are high.

Yarn along - size 35's and fuzzy yarn to the rescue

Linking with Ginny at Small Things for the Yarn Along this morning.

What does a scary crafty mommy due when she made two halter topped Easter dresses (Pictures tomorrow at the Stash Bash) for her daughters but the weather is supposed to be 35 and raining? Search her yarn stash! I found this yarn and a similar but pink one in the stash. Grabbed the biggest needles I own, 35s (that 20mm) and set to work I am working 41 stitches across, then I bound off the middle three, I am working the remaining stitches on both sides to match the back, then I will sew the corners together to make a little shrug. A soft fluffy cloud of orange for Badger and pink for Butterfly.

I am also sewing a kilt for Mouse's Easter outfit. Lots of the men in our church are of Scottish decent and wear their kilts for special occasions. Mouse asked if he could have one. So I am hand-stitching like lighting and praying I get it done in time. I am only using flannel as I could not find a proper plaid and it did seem a bit silly to spend that much on something for a boy who is always outgrowing his pants. He asked me if my sewing machine knew how to make anything other than dresses, so I am happy to be making something for him.

As far as reading, I read two of the books I got last week, Creative Spinning - it had some interesting plying and colorway ideas but was not of great use to me - and the fiction book Glory by Heather Graham.  I like her work - most romance, suspense, and ghost stories - because of the research she does about the area she sets her work in and it history, which she often give a summary of at the end. This one was a romance set during the Civil War. I liked her portrayal of families that loved each other deeply but had members on both sides actively working for their cause, and view into those on the southern side who were both pro-cession and anti-slavery. 

Thank you Blog!

 I was just saved by the blog. I thought I should post a picture of this wool. I dyed it Sunday night after using the dye for Easter eggs with the kids and wax painting eggs. I wanted to put away the wool before people come over tonight. Out came the camera. As I took the photo I realized I needed to charge my camera. Mouse has his school music program tonight and I nearly attended with no battery charge left!  It is plugged in, now I just have to remember to put the battery back into my camera.

 Badger drawing snowmen and stick figures. I may be spring but we still have snow! They say we might see 40 this week.

These are the painting wax resistance eggs I made and in the bags are yarn eggs the younger three did in Sunday school. We are going to make an Easter tree, from sticks in the yard, when they get home and hang these eggs. The picture is My Great-Grandmother Ruth Delilah, she is holding Beaver whom she told me was a keeper. She passed on not long after this photo, it is sitting on the under the tea pot cupboard in my kitchen with my cookbooks and keeping an eye on us.

Hope you manage to remember all the little and big things you need to today! ~ Julia

Yarn along - sweater and flowers

Joining Ginny at Small Things for the Yarn Along!

 I tired to get it all in one picture! Nope. So the work space in front of me from left(above) to right(below). The current Spinoff magazine! Lots of info on selling your craft work. My garden plans are moving along. The inside of Mouse's sweater, look and armhole. I finished the back panel and and on the last side, that said, I tried it on him and want to add about 1.5 inches, luckily I left the stitches live.

Some more flowers, actually I am up to about 25 of these. I decided to make 91 and the stitch them together, 7rows of 13, for a back of the living room couch blanket. Badger and I went to Half Priced Books today. I got Glory by Heather Graham, Early American Weaving and Dyeing-The Domestic Manufacturer's Assistant and Family Directory in the Arts of Weaving and Dyeing by J. and R. Bronson (first published in 1817, ) Creative Spinning by Alison Daykin and Jane Deane, and Crochet Master Class by Jean Leinhauser and Rita Weiss.  Badger got the Princess' cookbook and a book titled I Love You. I haven't started them yet but they sure look good.

looking forward to seeing what you are all making! ~ Julia

Monday Morning Musings

Linking up with Nadja at Patch o' Dirt Farm.


Right Now...
 I am sitting in my quiet kitchen, cooking up some leftover baked potatoes to go with some eggs.  I have a cup of hot decaf chai at my elbow. The older three children are off at school and Badger is still in bed. As she has been sniffly I am letting her get her rest. Jim is working and the snow is falling fast, last Monday of winter. It is 8:50am.

This Weekend...
Friday, I was all excited to go to a spinning guild meeting.  I had never been before but found their website and the Badger and I gather up our stuff and drove over. But there was no one there. very disappointing. That evening I went to a gathering of people from school, some of whom I haven't seen since my graduation. One of the Professors hosted and made chicken curry, we watched a Thai horror film, not bad, and a Lithuanian movie about a warrior and a princess. Wolfhound was very good, a bit Conan like but more likeable. I got home late but had a very nice time.
Saturday, I slept in while Jim played with the kids. That evening we went to close friends' house to play Star Wars so part of the day was spent building a character.  I am playing an Archaeology professor and had a nice time translating what I really would do on a dig to both my friends and to the Star Wars universe. It was not my idea to play myself, as I normally try to play something completely different, but since he was starting us on a dig, everyone said it made the most sense for me to be the professor and them to be students or guards. As a side note if I could get a real life crew to move that much dirt in a two month season I would be a very happy archaeologist. We all had fun, and so did the kids who had a movie night with their friends.
Sunday, we got up for church, early as I remembered as I was falling asleep that we were supposed to bring the snack for Sunday School. I wanted to bring something shelf stable, so they could use the extras another day, so we stopped for granola bars on the way into church. Adult class was a continuation of the program we have been doing on Sabbath as resistance. Looking at ways to focus on God and Family on Sundays as a method of resisting the ways of the world and as a way to recharge in faith and love to face the work ahead. I find that this course is resonating with my sustainability and simple living reading, focusing on the thing you are doing and doing it well then doing the next thing. I have been wanting to do family dinners on Sundays, and think I will start. Maybe one weekend each month invite my parents, then the next month invite Jim's and his sister's family.

Some plans for the week...
I want to work on cleaning the house well this week, I feel like I have been just getting enough done for awhile now and really want to get more than enough done. I also want to work on Mouse's sweater, make more crocheted flowers, finish Bec's skirt, and make some Easter dresses and an Easter Kilt or two (depending on whether Beaver would wear it, I know Mouse will.) I also want to place my garden orders this week.

I am grateful for...
Mom was released from the hospital Friday and is resting at home!! Bec is settling into a new home and job, that if I had sat down and created for a job that would be perfect for her I could not have done a better job. My brother in law got a new job that is much closer to home and is making him, and my sister happier.

Some prayerful intentions this week...
I want to set a little time aside to pray for all of the people on the prayer request list from church.

Stash bash - apple sauce

Linking up a day late with Crunchy Momma's Stash Bash!

What is a momma to do when she finds out that she has canned (& canned, & canned) a whole bunch of applesauce from the apples from her trees, only to discover that only one of the kids likes applesauce! This was 2011's summer crop as our apples produced nothing with this past summer's weather. I still have lots of applesauce!

Then I discovered that I could get them to eat it if I took my 'stash' of applesauce and make it into something they all like - fruit leather. This is a great snack for school as my younger kids are required to take either a fruit or a veggie that is also not messy as snack time is during course time. So my dehydrator is getting a workout this week making school snacks.

Side note: I firmly believe we as a society would be better eaters (with less health problems) if we spent a little less time harping on what we ate and a little more time eating. My elementary kids are given 20 minutes to get to the lunch room, go to the bathroom, get their lunch and eat. I really think that making eating important and focusing on doing it would be a better lesson in the long run than teaching kids to eat as fast as they can without thinking about the food or tasting it. I know my Butterfly would be nicer when she got home if she had enough time to eat her lunch, she is so hungry but never gets through her lunch.

On a more crafty note my stash busting crochet flowers are coming along well. I am using up all the bits and pieces of yarn I have, I think I will stitch these all together when I am done and make an afghan for my living room.

Hope your creativity is turning your leftover supplies into things that improve your life!~ Julia