Since we homeschool we have the freedom to arrange our schoolwork in a way that works best for us. We’ve done it all… schooled year round with a predetermined schedule; schooled year round because that’s just how life worked out that year; started school after labor day, took holiday from Thanksgiving until New Years and […]
wedding gifts {picnic blanket and a book}
We have some dear friends whose oldest son is getting married in a few weeks. Carl and I love weddings and try really hard to make the gift that we give something that is truly useful – something that goes beyond picking a gift off of a registry. Because sometimes newlyweds really don’t know what they […]
"goin’ green"
It’s funny how things that our grandparents did very naturally are now “hip” For example, almost everyone I know who is over 50 either has a garden, grew up having a garden or both, but when I was growing up I didn’t know anyone who grew anything but grass and flowers (other than the “old […]
baby shower gifts
On Friday afternoon Phoebe and I ditched all real work and made some baby shower gifts for a friend who is expecting her first baby. We grabbed some onesies and cloth diapers at the store and went to work. I’ve always used cloth diapers as burp rags, but apparently this has eluded Phoebe since she […]
zippered pouches
For the vast majority of our marriage, Carl and I have used a “cash” only system for budgeting our money. It works well, if we don’t have the cash for something we just don’t get it or we save until we do have the cash for it. What I haven’t done so well in the […]
Christmas Dresses for the girls
We, as in Phoebe and I, decided that the girls needed matching Christmas dresses this year. Because of their age difference, we had a hard time finding matching patterns. So we used several different patterns and altered them… it’s good that I have a thing for NOT following instructions. The rest of the photo shoot: […]
creative avoidance
We are enjoying our last few days of summer. While most of our friends have already started school, we are not starting until next week. There is alot to do before next week… you see we’ve been a little preoccuppied with Esther this summer and have been playing most of the summer.I had one more […]
little dresses for Africa
Phoebe and I have been making pillowcase dresses for Little Dresses for Africa. We’ve had so much fun that we decided to host a sewing party! A sweet couple at church own an RV park and they allowed us to use their clubhouse for the afternoon. What a fun afternoon we had making dresses, socializing […]
A Bit of Crafting
The boys have had a friend over the last couple of days so Phoebe and I have taken the opportunity to do some crafting. While I did some mending Phoebe made these cute pin cushions. We found the instructions here. We used some “vintage” fabric that was given to us by a very sweet lady […]
Basic Sewing Supplies
When I started sewing, I really knew nothing. I knew I needed needles and thread, pins, scissors, a sewing machine and fabric, of course. But I didn’t really know what kind of scissors or pins to buy. I made a few buying errors along the way that served as teaching tools. I hope with the following […]