Sewing

I'm trying to catch up on posting pictures and information about the sewing and crafting that I have been doing in the past year.

E's Latin teacher has MS. We try to do little things that she can't do herself. I'm basically her crafty go-to girl. Crochet around a baby blanket? Done. Write 30 names on 24 handkerchiefs? Done. I love the creativity, and I love that she thinks of me. Recently, she hosted her MS support group and needed some little gifts to give. All six kids and I spent a couple of hours painting wooden clothespins. Fifty-five of the little suckers. They turned out so cute.

From Family '11

Early in the summer we made curtains for an empty space at her NC mountain cabin. It was made from 2 towels that I sewed together. It turned out to match her bathroom space perfectly. The picture doesn't show the colors very well.

From Family '11

New accessory

Thanksgiving was in need of some excitement, so O decided to break her arm. O and I were in the yard climbing up the slide. Who thinks kids won't do that? Of course she fell and broke her arm. She acted like it was a beautiful fashion accessory when she first got the cast.

From Family '11

Now, it's ratty, dirty, and well signed. She is tired of telling people what happened. She just answers that it's a secret when someone asks her what happened. Oh good! That would be the perfect answer to get someone to call DSS.

It will come off Dec. 29. Yay!

Christmas dresses 2011, continued

The Christmas skirts are done, mostly. I've finished everything but the hems. They are bias cut so they won't fray, and the girls have been wearing them anyway. No pictures, yet, of the finished skirts.

Last week my arm started hurting - a lot! Turns out it's tennis elbow. And, I have to x-ray my hand to see if I have arthritis. Nice, huh? I had skirts for E, H, and O done before it started hurting to move my hand at all. L actually sewed her own skirt. I sat with her to show her what needed to be done. She did a great job.

I am making some ruffled fabric flowers (adapted from these) to put on the girls' t-shirts. That totally messed up my hand/arm. They are not quite finished. Each girl was given 17 strips of fabric 2.5" x 5" to put in any order. They all ordered them differently.

H's

From Family '11

E's

From Family '11

L's

From Family '11

O's

From Family '11

I hope to get the flowers finished. The one's I have done are pretty stinking cute! Charlie is getting a brace for my arm. Should help.

And we homeschool

Three year old counting

1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10...11...12...13...14...15...51...52...53...54...55...54...55...56...

57...58...59...30......

too funny.

Christmas dresses 2011

The great Christmas dress project has begun. Here are the beautiful fabrics.

From Family '11

The blue diamonds is for E, red snowflakes for L, blue snowflakes for H, red diamonds is for O, and the green is for I and anything extra. 16 yards total.

They are actually getting skirts instead of dresses this year. I have circle skirts planned. O's is already done, and it is so cute!

More later.

Dentist fun

Tomorrow, one of my littles has to have some cavities filled. All the kids eat the same and brush the same, yet a couple of them seem cavity prone. ELH need orthodontia. O probably will too, and I'm waiting to see what happens with those fused teeth. J has absolutely gorgeous teeth. How? I do not know. My teeth were always good until multiple pregnancies or age or laziness or some combination of the three.

O is easier to sedate for these things than L. Charlie will stay home with the rest of the kids while I stay with O. Since she can't eat none of them will eat until she leaves. They'll live, but they'll whine a bit.

We're going to get back on track for school this week. I mean it. For sure this week.

Added:

She did well during the procedure. We wound up getting 2 silver teeth. At least she thinks they're cute. We will have to go back for the top ones. Ugh!

What I got done

A friend was asking me how I get everything done. ROTFL! Like that will ever happen. It did make me be conscientious of my activities for the evening. It's average, I guess. Some days I get a lot more done, and some days I get a lot less done.

3:30 I sewed a brunch of trim on a pair of L's pants so she could wear them to church.

4:30-ish Charlie took the big 4 kids out for dinner because I asked him to. They had to be back at church for Proclaim practice by 6:30

4:30 - 8 The younger 2 love our Tuesday nights together. Usually it's only from 6-8, but I was hoping to get some work done here. First we made dinner. A lovely combo of hot dogs and grits. They got the hot dogs, I got a warm bowl of grits. Dinner of champions all the way around. I spent some time looking at a catalog with I while O watched a little Dora and played with my fabric scraps. Then we painted our nails. Poor I, he always wants to color his fingers and toes, too. Then we all made a big batch (10 cups) of chocolate syrup. Then it was get-ready-for-bed time. We read a few books until the rest of the gang came home just after 8.

Somewhere in all of that I picked a bunch of junk off the floor. I found shoes so we would be on time for PE today.

Later I transferred the sauce to jars for the fridge. I went to bed early.

Actually, I didn't get much done. I was tired and winding down. I woke up feeling much better today. I'm going to go to bed earlier again.

Today

Tuesdays are usually a bit busy. O has PE at the church from 10-10:30 then H has PE from 1:25-2:10. I drop them off and hang around until the first class is over the go home to eat lunch and get back to church for the second class. Today, Melissa and Danielle wanted to meet us their for lunch and play time for the kids. I was there at 10 and didn't leave until 2:30. That's a very long day.

James Lester Goode

One of my favorite people passed away last week. My mom's dad. Easily one of the best grandfathers ever. He was an awesome Christian who loved his family. I haven't posted about him because it makes me so sad to think about it, but I need to keep myself from forgetting.

April 5, 2011 Pawpaw was driving. Yep, 96 and driving. Lovely. He pulled out into traffic and was hit by another vehicle. It was totally his fault, and he was the only one hurt. He had some scratches on his face and 15 broken ribs. Apparently, he had to be resuscitated at the scene. The lack of oxygen to his brain made him age 40 years in the past 6 months. He never acted like a man in his 90's. The day before the wreck he was in the garden getting ready to plant his tomatoes. After the wreck, he couldn't even stand unassisted. He no longer knew who we were or much about who he was.

Charlie, the kids, and I loaded the van and went to see him. Wow. That was hard because it brought back so many memories about my mom. He surprised many people just by surviving. Not many doctors deal with trauma victims in their late nineties. He eventually was able to get off the respirator and feeding tube. I went home after a few days and waited for my aunt to call.

The call finally came October 21. I cried like a baby. I don't have a lot of relatives. Losing him was very hard, even though I know he went straight to heaven. Salvation of his family was a priority for him. Again, we loaded up the van and drove to Birmingham. We drove on Sunday and crashed at the hotel. The visitation was Monday, the funeral was on Tuesday, and we came back home on Wednesday.

There were many extended family members that I got to meet. I heard more about my grandmother who passed away in 1971 than I have ever heard about her. Awesome! My family tree is getting more completely and accurately full. There were also a few people visiting who attended the church that I attended. They got to see E who is the same age I was when I lived in Birmingham. She liked being told she looked like me.

I need to end this before it becomes a book.

Hug your family members. They won't be there forever. Jimmy Goode was 97. He had 2 children, 4 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren, and 1 beautiful legacy.

More food

The pumpkin seeds turned out delicious. I used the recipe from Kitchen Stewardship. They were soaked and dried before roasting so the nutrients are more readily available. Lots of good salt, and they were perfect. I want to make some more. Charlie will have a lot of pumpkin puree so I can get all the seeds.

The pickles were flat out nasty! I tried to like them because I hate to throw out so much time, effort, and food. I used regular cukes instead of the pickling kind. That's all I can think of that was different. Christina got me a half-bushel of pickling cukes while I was on vacation. I've made 9 quarts from them, and they taste fine so far.

The sauerkraut turned out fine. Charlie's parents really liked it! Wow. We ate one quart there, left one quart for his parents, and had one quart left here. It's almost gone. I made 3 more jars from a huge cabbage that we got at Lyda farm when we got our apples.

Actually, all the food we made for our trip was a success. His parents ate and enjoyed everything but the kefir which they won't try. A few coconut balls are left. L and I made 3 different batches of fruit-nut bars. The ginger one was made for Charlie. Miss Edith liked them, too. We didn't care as much for the chocolate batch. It was too dry. Charlie's parents liked it, so we left them at their house. The plain fruit-nut mix was the crowd favorite. It had some dried pear and banana mixed in with the coconut and almonds.

More food is cooking as I type.

Today I made...

a lot of food.

*17.25 cups of pumpkin puree

*1 gal of pickle slices

*3 qts of sauerkraut

*pumpkin seeds from 4 small pumpkins are soaking

*5 pounds of nuts (pecans and almond) were soaked last night and dehydrated today

*peel from 1 lemon was dehydrated to make lemon pepper

*1.5 qts of kefir was made and is in it's second ferment in my cool new bottles

*a double batch of filling for coconut balls was made and is waiting to be shaped and dipped in chocolate

We are going out of town on Monday, so this seemed like the perfect time to get a boat-load of produce. And Dewey came over to work on some plumbing with Charlie. And the kids were invited to a birthday party.

Charlie and the kids like pumpkin and fall spices (allspice, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon). I do not like any of that except cinnamon. Last weekend, Charlie made some pumpkin pancakes for them to eat. Also last week, I saw a recipe to cook pumpkins in the crock-pot. Charlie, J, L, and H hacked apart the pumpkins. They went into my big roaster on the back porch. The dehydrator was already running, and I didn't want to add anymore heat to the kitchen. When the pumpkin was done we just peeled it off the skin and mashed it. I divided it into 1.5 cup portions and put it in jars for the freezer.

Getting the seeds is gross, but we like them. Some of us like them. I just want the "free" food that comes from something normally thrown away. I'll season them and add them to different recipes.

The nuts are to make almond bars, granola, and just for eating straight. L helped make the filling for the coconut balls. She will help me finish them up tomorrow. It will be good to have snacks while we are out of town.

We are also taking our fermented pickles and sauerkraut. We all love those things! I hope to get some carrots going tomorrow as well. They are probiotic, nutritious, and delicious. They will likely be done when we get to Charlie's parents' house. The kids and I can't wait to see how all of our strange food goes over with them. We will also have our raw milk.

Making dough

Today I made play dough. I had never made it before today, and I have been wanting to try. One batch was made with the good salt. That adds a sparkly speckle to the batch. One batch wasn't enough. Why did I think it would be? I made a second batch with cheap white salt and added a pinch of cocoa for color/scent. The kids are having a good time outside with it. J isn't out there. Oh well.

We will definitely be making this again. It's easy enough for one of the big kids to make. bonus! Maybe I will look for some natural colors at WF next month so we have something besides off white speckle and light tan.

The recipe came from clumsycrafter.com

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1/2 cup salt
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup water
• 2 tsp. cream of tartar

Melt oil. Mix the rest. Stir until the dough comes together and gets stiff enough to break your wrist. Let cool a bit and knead. Pass to kiddles.

A little bit of this and that

School has been going well. Nine days down, 171 to go.

The heat is killing us, though. Everybody is cranky. The beach last Sunday was awesome. There was a wonderful breeze the whole time. All the kids finally got to go to the beach and play. There was also a pool with a huge slide. The big kids had a bunch of fun with that.

Yesterday, L decided she wanted to have a lemonade stand. I said she could. So at noon, the hottest part of the day, on one of the hottest days of the year they all head outside with a pitcher of blueberry lemonade and a pitcher of tea. They made $40! Many people just threw money at them. One lady gave a $10 bill for a $.25 cup of tea. A pizza delivery guy gave $5. Lots of people gave money without taking a drink.

I've done a tiny bit of sewing. I made a rice sock and hand warmers for Mr. and Mrs. McDowell. They have been L's SS teachers for 2 years. I also finally got around to making a bag for our Rummikub game. Now we can play without seeing the tiles in a zip lock baggie. Both of those together were half a yard. I'm 5.5 yards in the hole. I should be able to sew up something to break even.

14 years

I've been a mother 14 years and never had a crayon run through the washer and dryer. Until now. Nothing valuable damaged, but I'm working on getting the stains out.

We used extra hot water and baking soda with some oxy-clean to get the stains out. They all came out! I have a front loader, so I just added the baking soda on top of the clothes instead of putting it in with the detergent.

L helped. She was relieved that the clothes were clean again. So was I.

Why am I not sewing?

Charlie is gone for a week. We are going to start school tomorrow to give us something to do while he is gone. I have it all planned, and some of the kids are excited. We will need to go to the library for some books.

I don't have anything specific to sew for myself. I hate making clothes that don't fit. The last 2 dresses I attempted were failures. What should I make? Dress? Skirt? Top?

Crafting with the kids

DIY moon sand!! Done 6/2/11. I'm not sure how much we like this one.

Food

I never really cared about food. I didn't want to cook frequently. Hated shopping for food. Really hated having to stop whatever I was doing and eat. That was fine through college and early married life before the kids started coming.

Now, I feel like I'm always thinking about it. When pregnant and nursing I had to start eating regular food at regular times. Hungry toddlers and children need to be fed. Cooking from scratch requires planning. I'm thinking about the next two meals while eating.

I keep working on planning our menus because that seems to take some of the work out of the middle of the whole cook-three-meals-every-day process. But, it adds work up front. The menu for this week worked out pretty good. Now I'm working on next week's food because I have to plan for the groceries. Six kids don't eat cheap. What used to last me and Charlie a few weeks barely lasts one week. I never buy one of anything. Even the family-sized stuff doesn't always cut it.

I'm not complaining. Usually it's funny to think about how much our kids eat. I love it when they like my food. I just don't like having to think about it all the time.

6/12/11 - 6/18/11 Meal plan. What worked and what didn't.

Sunday

B) soaked oatmeal with applesauce. Loved by all but me.

L) eggs, grits, and bacon. Nothing simpler.

D) spaghetti pie. Just another way to serve the same thing.

Monday

B) cereal. Easy for me.

L) oatmeal muffins with frozen banana pie. Awesome. The muffins were not sweet, but the banana pie was almost too sweet. No sugar added.

D) Meatloaf with green beans. Sauteed the beans in bacon with garlic. Yum.

Tuesday

B) Hot chocolate popovers. These were OK. I'm trying to have fun food while we aren't in school.

L) eggs with cheese

D) Greek salad. We added chicken to it.

Wednesday

B) cereal again. Bad start to bad day.

L) blender drinks.

D) Loaded baked potatoes and ham.

Thursday

B) cereal. We're bound to run out soon.

L) Coconut blueberry muffins. Pasta with alfredo for some.

D) Welcome to Moe's. Mom wanted a break.

Now I have to go plan the next 7 days.

Busy

I'm tired. I've had an extra kid every day this week. Poor girl, she's an only child. Then she comes here to my house. I wonder what she thinks of all the noise and activity. It's been me and the littlest two most of the day during the week with my big four at PROCLAIM camp. The last time I was a mom of two little ones I was 29. Sadly, I am no longer 29. Their personalities are so different when it just them. It's fun to watch, but it is also a lot more hands-on without my big ones to help.

Last year's grades are almost done, and I've started planning for next year. Planning for the new year is always more exciting than wrapping up the old one. I will have 9th, 8th, 6th, 3rd, and K5 grades.

Catching up

Well, where do I begin? I get behind then get overwhelmed thinking about catching up. This holds true for this blog, sewing, cleaning, everything. Sigh. Here goes trying to catch up.

I have been sewing quite a bit, but with very few pictures to show for it. I've also been organizing my scraps and supplies.

I will try to post more without waiting a month.

April craft ideas

Painting with wax on rocks!! Such a cool idea. done 4/11. kinda fun for all.

What can you do with an old T-shirt? Make a headband.

DIY twin bed with storage. It's amazing what this woman can do! Plans for a hutch to go on top.

Tips for making a strip quilt from filminthefridge.com

Another reusable snack bag to make.

Cute scrappy fabric flower headband.

A cute, modern ruffle skirt for a grown-up.

Covered night light.

AG doll patterns. Some free, some not.

Twill tape clothing labels. I need these for my sewing.

Cascading, ruffle-front shirt. All the girls would like this.

This is a holder for all those loyalty cards.

Decorated scissors. I want to make these for the Oaks teachers.

Painting with crayon resist lines. This would be a cool craft for the kids. The site is full of arts and craft projects.

Pinwheel hair clips! How adorable! From the Mother Huddle

This is the type of bag I would like to make for E. The site has other tutes.

How to make a knit jersey knit bracelet. Like using a knifty knitter.

This is a unique way to make a random quilt block.

Birthday clothes

I am so far behind on updating here. Oh well. I made H's outfit on time this year. I used the Tessa bloomers pattern from Marie-Madeline for the bottom. I love, love, love this pattern. Simplicity 4568 was used for the top. I had made this top before. It's easy, too.

From Family '11

She likes it quite a bit. Even though not a skirt, H can wear it to church. She says it's pretty comfy too. The top was too short so I added a ruffle at the bottom. I think it makes the top look much better.

Stats:

fabric in from PPQ 4 yds

fabric out

Tired

I am one tired mamma! Crossroads has started a walk/run ministry. We all went this afternoon. It's casual which makes me happy. There were 12 other people. Everybody meets at the gazebo for a short devotional. Then we all drive to the Sawmill Branch walking trail. Everybody runs or walks at his own pace. Two miles are marked off on the trail. We made it one. The littlest ones rode their bikes. That was sorta good and bad. They got tired on the bikes and wanted to walk with us. Then they got tired walking and wanted back on their bikes.

Tired. All of us.

February 2011 craft ideas

A tutorial for mop shoes. L would love these.

A list of ways to crochet a flower

This is a way to make a clean facing with no raw edges showing. Here is another way.

Marble painting is a cool craft that I want to do with the kids.

Ice fabric dyeing

Scrap-busting tree pillow for fall.

This is a very cool idea! A re-purposed pill box. Maybe for Darlene?

This is a new way to make a mitered corner. So cool! I bet this would work for my napkins.

Yet another corner bookmark made from paper.

edited to add new link

January 2011 craft ideas

Paper food baskets like in some restaurants. Great for our felt food goodies.

Valentine's Day cards for kids to print from Alphamom. More from here.

This is a tute for a very cute scrappy rose. Here is a rose made from a zipper.

Child ID cards that I would like to print out. It would be good for L's shellfish allergy.

Pleated headband tute, and some more felt flowers

Country Cabin quilt from Quilt Dad

This is a different way to alter a men's shirt into a girl's outfit.

Instructions for a 1-yd infinity scarf

Magnetic spice jars from baby food jars. Cool! I still have a few jars left.

Prudent Baby has some awesome labels for handmade goodies.

Better Homes and Gardens has many, many, many, many ornaments to make or recycle.

Here is a fabric star that I would like to make. It would work for any season, not just Christmas.

Directions for a circle skirt for E.

Moda has a quilt that looks simple enough for me to make.

I think this is my new favorite quilt block. It looks like stained glass.

I love the look of this embroidery stitch. The site has lots of directions for different stitches.

Here is a little vinyl bag to store small goodies.

She has very good, picture-filled examples of blanket stitches.

More felt! Little heart barrettes. Done 1/20/11

Martha has some paper heart-shaped cones for Valentine's Day.

Someone made a little book for stickers for kids

Another quiet book sample

This is another way to dress up boring milk crates. That way when I use them to store junk in the living room it will look nicer.

The most amazing mat for toy cars!

2010

This is what I managed to get done in 2010.

• *stockings for EJLHOI
• *curtains for Mrs. Peterson
• *Jalie 2558 for ELHO
• *Stop Staring 4 for LHO
• *McCall's 6123 for E
• *Scientific Seamstress vest for I
• *curtain for master bath
• *tablecloth for kitchen
• *key fob and lanyards for money
• *backpacks for EJH
• *coasters for gifts
• *doll tankini for H
• *doll sundress for L
• *McCall's 5574 for E
• *McCall's 4703 for J
• *Simplicity 9497 for H
• *crowns and party hats
• *McCall's 2150 for O

I probably managed to miss a few, but I'm not going to sweat it. I'm just glad that I'm keeping up at all. There was a lot of mending, too. Lots and lots of mending jeans!

The fabric stash totals are also off a bit because I inherited Mimi's fabric (and patterns, thread, buttons, and much more). I didn't count her fabric. I just tried to keep up with what I am purchasing to make sure I'm actually sewing. Just buying fabric isn't very helpful. It has to be sewn to be useful.

Fabric in was 32.25 yards, and fabric out was 59.75! I have already started using up some stash for this year. I didn't sew 100 yards in 2010, but I made a good dent.