The sewing venture for the fair

Several of the grandmunchkins wanted to enter the fair this year as they have seen their Mom and I do for the past several years.  The entries were online this year and two weeks earlier than normal...yikes!  With VBS the second week after school and the fair entry the very next week we had to jump on it.  Jump we did.  Three entered sewing projects and one, having tried sewing in the spring, wanted to do a bird house in wood.  We convinced him a bird feeder would get more use.  So away we went.....

                                          cutting.....

                                         serging....

                                         sewing.............

                                         measuring...........

                                         more sewing.........

                                         hammering........

                                         more sewing.........

 TA DA!  A finished bird feeder.  Despite Graypa being very sick, he sucked it up to help get the project done.

 And when the sewing machine wasn't humming, the garden was getting some tlc.  I must admit it one pretty garden.  And the first zucchini found it's way to my lunch plate today.

The kids weren't the only ones sewing.  I dedicated an entire weekend to the sewing room to get the traditional 4th of July shirts and dresses done.
Now off to try and finish my knitting project for the fair.  Wish me luck!

Hello Summer!

I cannot believe the school year ended today.  Now the crazy really sets in.  Keeping 6 or 7 children busy and having fun.  We're going to study the American Revolutionary War this summer which should be fun?  I'm working on some things, knitting, sewing, and crocheting, to enter in the fair but they are either complete and I haven't got modeled shots yet (due to the models being in school) or they aren't quite finished.  Next post.  Fingers crossed.  The scrapbooking is completely caught up, or rather was, until there was a t ball game, so there is more time for crafting.  We do start our birthday season next week so we'll see.  

 This is my Mom with 2 of her sisters.  One older, one younger.  One suffering from alzheimers.  Three of my Mom's five siblings suffer from the dreaded mind robbing disease.  As did her father.  Her youngest sister died a few weeks ago at the young age of 69.  She had alzheimer's.  I firmly believe in my own mind that it robs the body as well.  It was a hard memorial service but made me very thankful for my mom and that her mind is intact at almost 80.  Sure she forgets things but don't we all.  She has to have a list.  So do I!

 Do the crime and do the time at my house.  These little "criminals" wrote on my car.  I am grateful it was with the end of a jump rope that was wrapped in duct tape.  It was first mentioned it was sidewalk chalk!  It came right off but they had to do the washing.  I supervised.

Our garden looks mahvelous!  We've been ahead of the weeds so far and anxiously awaiting harvest.  Especially the tomatoes and cucumbers.  I have bacon in the freezer for the BCT sandwiches.  I'm drooling thinking about them.  As you can see below the beans are up.  What kid doesn't like to drink from a hose?  We didn't have a hose per se going but the soaker hoses were on so getting a drink from them was the closest he could come to drinking from a hose.  I'm not sure how much he got.

School is OUT!  Bring on summer!  We had 3 first graders going to second grade, a second grader going to third, a seventh going to eighth, and a freshman going to sophomore.

But the one that got the most attention for the end of the year is the sixth grader finishing elementary school and heading to junior high.  This one made me tear up.  I remember him in kindergarten just yesterday.

The fair entries are due in 2 weeks and I still have 3 projects to get ready.  I didn't realize it was so soon.  I may not enter for the Niftiest Needler after all.  People, not things or hobbies so if my time is taken from my hobbies to study the American Revolution and make rootbeer or take trips to the library for special programs or play with origami with the kids, or, as in today, play paper dolls....so be it.

You can't be an ant all the time.

But it is that time of the summer when you have to at least THINK about being an ant.  Fall is out there on the horizon, the garden is in full swing, except the tomatos, and the fruit is falling.

We have apple trees.  Two of them.  They are a dwarf variety.  But I don't think they know that.  At least this year.  The Gravesteins are falling.

I believe if you're going to eat, you're going to help.  Since the grandmunchkins are under my roof many days and since they eat here, they can help in the garden and putting up the produce.  Funny thing though, they don't mind in the least.  They love being in the garden.  Especially if Graypa or I are out there with them.  Which we usually are.  We get excited about what's ready to pick or what's coming up and they do too.
Gardens provide so much more than food.  We've used the garden to study bugs, talk about seeds, the water cycle, plants, sunshine, and on and on.  It's a wealth of education as well.

                                                   See what I mean?  She wasn't asked to pick beans.

Even a two year old can work in a garden.  She wasn't asked either.  She watched and followed the example of the other kids.

She was asked, sort of.  Let's just say I brought out big knives, set them up and they started in.

She was told she was going to help.  But that's all it took.  She is a worker bee that one.

The whole summer shouldn't be spent as an ant though.  There should be some grasshopper time.  And there has been. 

Plenty of playground time.

We celebrated birthdays all summer.  9 birthdays in 7 weeks.  This little one patiently waited her turn.  She's last.  She's been witnessing birthdays all summer waiting for her turn to blow out candles, have a party, and open gifts.  For the two weeks preceding she was so excited she could barely stand it.  It was worth the wait.

There was a trip to the Children's museum.  Great place for kids and Nonny's too.  I could have brought my knitting and sat because it is so kid friendly and they could entertain themselves.  But it was too much fun to join in with them.

And what is summer without water?  Our little town boasts two water parks.  And we've tried both of them out, more than once.

This summer included baby snuggles.  All of a Saturday afternoon thus far but there are some opportunities in the near future to snuggle this adorable little one.

I started a 30 minutes a day quilt project.  I work on it 30 minutes a day.  I can do more if I feel like it but the minimum is 30 minutes.  It is a huge project and looking at it as a whole seemed daunting so I'm taking it 30 minutes a day.  I've wanted to do a new quilt for our bed for some time with a sea theme.  It's started.  Oh, and if you're doing one, why not two?  So, I am doing two of each block.  Our daughter and son in law's quilt is in need of replacement so they are getting the second one. 

Off to enjoy the summer.  Spending part of it as a grasshopper and part of it as an ant.

Were you looking for pictures of cute kids?

Well, there won't be any in this post so you may want to come back another time.  We just had a holiday weekend.  Which meant, not only was it a holiday weekend for my husband, but for the grandmunchkin's parents as well.  So 4 days with no little ones around.  Yes, we went through withdrawals but we had a looooong list to accomplish so it kept the withdrawal symptoms at a minimum.   We had wanted to go camping but waited too long to get reservations.  We could have camped a ways away but what would be the point if the whole weekend was spent in driving and only a day or two to actually relax.  So.....

 I secluded myself.  5 days to get 5 months of pictures into 5 albums.  I took over the dining room.  I brought it all out and I focused.  And I have the aching back and mental fatigue to prove it.  But they are caught up....for now...again.  I keep thinking I'll stay caught up and not do these marathons but the shiny knitting needles  and yarn fumes keep my focus and before I know it, whoosh 6 months have passed.

 I can't do the marathon sessions unless everything else is sort of organized.  So before the weekend, I planted the herb garden.  It's a smallish herb garden, right outside the kitchen door.  We learned last year what we'll use and what we won't.

 And I planted the flower garden.  I don't like to weed or keep flower beds but I love lots of color in the summer.  And I love to water.  So bring on the pots and the color.  It's getting more and more every year.  Pretty soon there won't be a deck left to sit on.  We've already had a hummingbird at the hanging baskets and butterflys. 

 My husband is one of a kind.  He encourages my various hobbies.  Especially the ones that have to do with the grandmunchkins.  He encourages and supports me staying home and taking care of them and teaching them.  And when he gets home, he tries to give me a break by reading to them or finding things to do with them.  This weekend he planted the garden, by himself, so I could get the scrapbooking done.  He mowed the lawn and he washed the beast and he cooked dinners, so I could scrapbook.  And then he looked at the scrapbooks when they were done.  He's a keeper.

 He planted "Duck" tomatoes.  They are actually a heirloom tomato from Germany known as Zebra tomatoes.  We tried them last year for fun and they were so good and prolific, we planted two this year.  Our grandson dubbed them "duck" tomatoes because they are yellow/green when ripe and green flesh.  He also planted beets.  Because we have a granddaughter that has reminded us over and over that we must plant beets.  We do every year but she didn't want this being the first year we didn't.  And when I told her Graypa planted the garden, her first question, "Did he plant beets?" 

 Our daughter entertains herself well.  She crochets blankets for hospice and knits hats for charity.  But this weekend she worked a puzzle.  A 500 piece puzzle.  By herself.

 It may not seem like much, and for a normal 25 year old it isn't, but trust me, for our 25 year old, this is huge.  For her to think logically, to see the pieces, to do it herself, just to do it.  We were practically jumping up and down. 

And she was so proud of herself!  As well she should be.

It wasn't ALL work, there was lots of play

First up, I finished something and now I can reveal it.  The last swap was Hedgehogs and Hippos and we were to include either the flip toy-from squirrel to hedgehog, or the hippo.  I made my first toy that did a magic presto chango.  This little squirrel flips in to become......

 A hedgehog.  I want to make another.  I'm not sure if I'll make an animal or the Cinderella for a birthday.

 I also whipped up two dishcloths.  Now these are fun and the hedgehog cloth was designed by Ber in our group for us to use.  She made 3 and I only had time to do one.  I've got the other two saved though and will do them soon.  They were just plain fun to knit and she did a great job designing the pattern. Details for all on ravelry.

 We are into late spring which means the winding down of the school year extracurricular activities.  The one we are heavily involved in is Awana.  For a couple of years now the end of the year activity is a skate party.  It is really popular with the kids and because we go on a Wednesday night, the rink pretty much belongs to our Awana kids.  Graypa and I helped the kids stay up for a bit and then they pretty much rolled on their own with a bit of help from Graypa.  I don't think they needed Graypa's help but they liked having him around to play and he came home saying, "Now that was fun." 

 The kids were given end of the year gift bags which included a stuffed animal.  I'm not sure if the animals were taken out in the rink for fun or for extra cushioning ;).

 Spring also means it's time to plant the garden, ours and my mother in law's.  My husband rounds up the grandmunchkins for a work crew and we head over after he's rototilled and plant.  A couple of hours of work? (more like play) and she has her garden in.  I could not begin to teach from a book what they learn with the hands on experience of planting a garden.  Plus they have fun and get to be kids. 

 The littlest of the work crew had a rough start but she rallied and was soon planting along with everyone else, or rather, digging and getting dirty.

 Miss S is an expert bean stringer and she was put in charge of training the younger crew.

 Sorry, couldn't resist posting this picture.  We found this on a consignment sale and it had to be on this boy.  It was designed for him. 

 They worked diligently.  For the first hour.

 And then the boss (Great Gram), not the crew chief (my husband) decided they needed a break.  Complete with a snack.

 I think my favorite memory of this day was watching the kids be kids.  They dug in the dirt.  They found tadpoles in the pond.  They released ladybugs and let them crawl all over.  And then they had lunch at McDonalds.  For a kid, that's a perfect day.

 And the next day was my perfect day.  I played all day.  It was the annual Guild shop hop.  Board a bus at 9am and get escorted to 5 different yarn shops.  This was the end of the day and we were enjoying a glass of lemonade before it was time to board the bus for home.  And we're still smiling. 

 It was Miss S's first shop hop and we'll take her again.  She won the gift certificate for the first shop and bought yarn and needles. She was a trouper the whole day.

 Mrs. C is still smiling too.  7 months pregnant and shopping.  Although at this point we were hungry.  Shopping is hard work!  We are not shoppers, any of us, but that goes out the window when it's the Shop Hop and we are shopping for YARN!!

 And here's the loot:  Madelintosh, Blissful Knits, Berrocco, Cascade. and others.  We had fun together.  Now it's time to put the Cold Sheeping into play and knit up what I have.

Which might take awhile considering the dining/school room is now scrapbook central and there are 6 months worth of pictures to put into albums and an order from Creative Memories has been unpacked and is ready to go.