Fancy Duds

We're getting ready for a wedding.  Alec wants all of his brothers in tuxedos, and I know they will be so handsome!  We generally don't mind dressing up at our house.  We gathered up all the boys and high-tailed it over to the tux rental shop.  Oh wait.  I'm missing a part.  That's the part where we pulled out all the tuxes that we own, spread them all over the living room for a few days, made everyone try them all on, and after wondering why we have all these pieces that no one fits!, then we headed to the tux shop.

I just had to snap this picture of my oh-so-tall Ben, getting fitted for tuxedo pants.  The store people are more worried about getting the waist right, since the legs are more easily measured and hemmed.  How fancy are we, with our ankles hanging out, and our tennis shoes?  They had a nice soft chair I could loll in while the boys passed out threats if I laughed at their trying-tuxes-on-ing.  I didn't laugh, honest.  But I didn't make any promises about later.

Angle's outfit was less of a laughing matter.  Alec's finance and her mother picked out the pattern, purchased all the fabric, and all I had to do was sew it together.  "All I had to do..."  I spent the summer sewing a quilt for the happy couple, and my sewing machine was pooped out.  So instead of getting it serviced and the tension fixed, I sewed another project.  With rolled circular hems.  And skipped stitches and broken threads like crazy.  There may have been bad words and maybe even tears.  In then end, I had to beg my professional-seamstress sister-in-law to finish the last rolled him and insert the zipper, because the sewing machine and I are not on speaking terms any more.  

But the dress was beautiful, fancy enough to hold her own in the sea of formal black tuxedos.  Lovely enough to make a little girl feel like a princess.  Formal enough... to roll around in the grass while we were supposed to be taking portraits?  I guess that's just right for us.

Blessings in Disguise

We had a women's meeting at church recently, where they were addressing some of the difficult things we go through.  They asked everyone to contribute a one- or two-word description of some of their hardest trials.  They gave me the list and wanted me to write the words on labels to be displayed on a wall at the meeting.  

The list was heartbreaking.  Rape.  Death of a child.  Bankruptcy.  Chronic illness.  Drug addiction.  Cheating spouse.  Depression.  Wayward children.  Widowhood.  My soul ached for these beautiful women.  Some of the challenges I know about - most I have no idea.  There were other less obvious trials that can be just as difficult and heart-wrenching: moving, difficult job, motherhood, messes, marriage, can't find joy...  I cried as I wrote the words.

Then something interesting happened.  It was surprisingly difficult to write these hard words in the beautiful script they wanted.  But as I saw the finished labels pile up, looking lovely and peaceful, I realized that some of these things that are sometimes so hard, like health or marriage or children, were actually some of my biggest blessings!  After the meeting, I asked for some of the labels and took them home.  I hung them next to my bed so I could see them often.  

It's a good reminder that it's often up to me to decide whether my challenges are trials or blessings.  They might just be two sides of the same coin!  Maybe that's some of what the Lord was talking about when He said that we need to have opposition in life.   It has made me a little more grateful for the adventures that come in my life.

Happy at Home

Every day, I see so many little scenes that make my mother-heart happy.  I walk past a room and see a happy moment or hear joy shooting about and I think THIS is it.  This is the good life that I've been working for all these mothering hours.  I just want to soak in all the happiness and memorize the faces and never, ever forget.  And then something else happens and I do forget.

Some things that happen often enough that I remember:  Freddy loves to listen to Josh Groban's "Don't Give Up."  I think it is one of Eddie's favorite songs too.  Freddy puts the CD in the digital piano and sings his little heart out.  Georgie joins in, but Freddy really belts it out.  Often.  And during the worst possible moments: we have company, Trent and I are trying to have a difficult parent discussion, I'm on the phone...  Many times, Eddie will sing along, too.  His voice is just starting to change, but he wants to be a deep bass so he tries to sing lower than he actually can.  That song has a wide range, and it's cute to listen to Eddie struggle to hit the notes, or switch to a lower register and still struggle.  Anything to avoid showing that a teenaged boy can hit high notes, right?  Hearing them sing just makes me happy.

Legos happen here all,  the.  time.  The older boys have always bought new Lego sets with the birthday and Christmas money they get from Grandma Jeanne.  Hooray for generous grandparents!  So they each have quite a stash of Legos, in various stages of assemblement.  We also have a big bin full of more plain bricks that Gram found at a thrift store and gave to us for Christmas.  We have such wonderful grandparents!  AND we have two bins full of Legos that live here at the house that were Grandma Susie's.  I think I see a theme running here with grandmothers and Legos.  On Sunday afternoons, the back room becomes Lego Central and they all get out their bricks and start building.  Older, younger - age and gender don't matter as they invent and create and play...together.  That's the best part.  Together.

Another music thing I like is hearing the kids play the piano.  We have two pianos: a digital one and an acoustic piano, sitting side-by-side in the front room.  The rule is that whoever started making music first gets dibs on the airspace, but the digital piano has earphones, so two work mostly well.  David plays by ear, and will sit down and pick out a song.  He teaches the twins how to one-finger some songs, and I enjoy listening to them all play different parts of "Ode to Joy" or other little songs.  Love the music in our home.

I love walking into a room and seeing two boys engrossed in conversation.  Or one boy leaning over another on the computer, helping him figure out his technical difficulties.  Or hearing someone announce he is going on a bike ride, inviting others to go with him, and leaving the house with a group.  Or hearing giggles under a blanket fort that the big boys built for the little ones.  Or seeing the kids take turns pushing each other on the swings.

These are a mother's payday.  This is when the hard work, the late hours, the heartache and tears are all worth it.  And I want to cherish each of these moments and remember them forever, but I can't.  Fortunately, new joys are always coming up to replace the old, faded ones and life is still good.

I hope that one day when I'm old and my brain isn't working quite like it does now, those happy bits will come back to me at random times.  My rocking chair will slow down, I'll set down my knitting needles and laugh - a little gravely old lady chuckle - and be happy all over again.

New Chore Chart

I was at my brother's house and saw a nifty chore chart he had.  There was a row for each child, magnets for each chore, and five columns: jobs to do, assigned to you, finished, approved, and needs help.  Most of the jobs start out in the first column, which is owned by everyone, and then either the child picks a certain number of chores or they get assigned out.  As soon as the job belongs to a child, they move the magnet to that second column.

As the child finished a job, she moves that chore magnet to the "finished" column, and the parent checks it off and moves it to the "approved" column, When I asked him about the "help" column, he explained that it was for jobs that the child could ordinarily do independently, but something unusual is preventing its completion, like the lawn mower ran out of gas.  I think he got this from his job - or maybe he made it up.  I dunno which, but my brother is crazy organized like that.

I loved it, and determined to make my own.  Since I didn't have magnets, I started out with jobs scrawled on sticky notes and stuck on the fridge.  That's the largest smooth space we have, since all the walls are coated with that extra-lumpy orange peel texturing.  I grabbed some random washi tape from my one-day-I'll-do-something-cute stash, and marked off a grid - older kids on the freezer and younger kids on the fridge.  The sticky notes soon lost their sticky, and I held them on the fridge with magnets.  It worked fairly well, but looked a mess.  

The chore chart's next incarnation happened when I found some clear glass stones and decided to do a little craft project.  I chose pretty paper in different colors to differentiate between daily, weekly, and periodic chores.  I cut them down , wrote the name of the chore in a nice font, and glued them to the backs of the stones with clear-drying glue.  As soon as they were completely dry, sanded the edges of the paper to make it smooth and hot-glued on a magnet.  Tada!  What a great crafter I am!

For two whole days, the fridge was a happy thing to behold.  All the chores were on cute little magnets, all organized in their slightly less-than-level grids.  I even thought about fixing the lines.  I told the kids we were going to make a new, concerted effort to get the chores done.  Anyone with all daily chores in the "approved" column would get dinner.  Hooray for incentives!

It was a little bit hard to read the chores through the rounded glass, but no matter.  We could get close and peer at them.  The colors I so carefully chose didn't show up well, either, but cute trumps practicality!  Yes!

And then on the third day, I realized that our magnets were stronger than the glue that held the paper to the glass stone.  When the kids tried to move a chore (or more often, playing with them), the glass came off but the magnet stayed stuck to the fridge.  I glued several back on before I gave up.  There is now a small pile of glass stones with lovely paper - but no magnet, or magnets glued securely to naked paper - sitting the next to the refrigerator.  The pile is growing each day.  

And now that I think about it, at no time during all this lovely crafting, have the chores actually gotten done any better.  Sigh.  Back to the drawing board.

In Search of a Good Marker

I love to write.  I have love to write - composing words - most of my life.  I'm not that great at it, but it doesn't matter.  I'm probably like that one kid at the dance who is blissfully unaware of how truly bad he is at dancing, but just closes his eyes and flails about to his version of the music and loves every moment.  

I'm trying to get back into writing, but I'm out of the habit so I just don't think about it most days.  Need to find ways to make it a new habit.

 

Even more happy for me than writing, though, is WRITING, making shapes with a pen.  I love to make a message beautiful.  Being the daughter of a printer, I was into fonts before fonts were a thing, and I begged my dad to give me his old font books.  I would pore over them for hours, like a Christmas catalog, highlighting my favorite ones.  Then I would spend all my junior high spare moments in writing the name of my latest crush.  Not with my name, mind you.  Just his name, over and over in every typeface imaginable.  

 

I haven't written much in the past few years, partly because I've been raising humans, and partly because the current fascination with fonts means that my handwritten scripts, once unique, are now just a messy, secondhand version of an easily accessible online font.  If it's not as good, I might as well do it more formally on a computer.

 

As a family, we have been studying a scripture every week or so.  I like to type out the scripture of the week and post it on the wall so we can read it and learn it.  Unfortunately, our printer is not playing nicely with the computer.  In fact, they are not on speaking terms at all.  So I had to pull out a marker and scribble a sign. It's been more fun than I thought it would be.  It's feeling good to get back into creating.  

Now I need to find a good marker that will work every time, not just some of the time.  And don't let the marker talk to the printer or neither of them will work.

A Tea Party!

It's Angel's birthday.  That sweet little girl of mine is turning 7!  I think I am getting old because these little ones of mine seem to be growing up faster and faster.  Before long I'll be telling stories about my rheumatism.

She has been planning her birthday party for... oh since about the last birthday.  And she wants everything under the sun, I swear.  Fortunately for me, her enthusiasm works better than her memory, and she is easily delighted.  Last year, we moved to a new house right before my birthday, so I was successful in begging off having a party.  This year I have no such excuse and we will be having a tea party.

She wants all her little friends to come, and I think there are about three hundred and seventy of them.   She wants plenty of goodies to eat, too, and has specifically requested doughnuts and cupcakes and brownies and pie and cookies and a birthday cake, of course.  She wants herbal tea or maybe lemonade and juice is good and I really like soda but we don't have it very often but can we have it for my party please Mom?  And we can't forget the pinata.

I'm looking on this page for ideas of fun things to do at the party because I'm not a very good party planner.  I'm not a very good party-goer, either - I'd much rather stay at home.  But I'll throw a party for my little butterfly because I love her.  It's a good thing she is only 7 and hasn't had a lot of experience going to parties, because my parties are decidedly low-key.  I am totally impressed with mothers who throw all-out parties for their kids - don't get me wrong.  There are some pretty amazing parties going on out there!  I'm just not one of them, and I've finally decided that it's ok.

I think we'll pass out markers and let the kids decorate their plates.  If I'm feeling really well, we'll make fancy hats out of paper plates.  We shall have a little lesson on tea-party manners, and serve tea and crumpets.  Or something.  With our little fingers extended, we shall try not to slurp.  We could even frost cupcakes.  Afterwards, we will break open a pinata in the front yard, stuff everyone full of candy, and send them all home.

Good enough.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Tuesday Doodles

I got a hold of some markers and a sheet of green cardstock.  I had some time while I was sitting in a less-than-gripping meeting, and this happened.

No, I didn't do the silhouetting with a Sharpie, but wouldn't that be cool if I could?

I'm not fond of how the font turned out for "am a", but I like the rest of it.  I wanted the "I" to be special, because we all have that infant divinity in us.  I wanted the "God" to be complex and beautiful, because He does so many amazing things for us.  The more I sat in the meeting (on a hard chair.  Ouch!), the more doodles got added on the end there, but I guess that is the way God is - always adding and expanding and loving us.

I am a child of God.  It brings me such comfort and direction.  I hope you can feel that, too.

Prom Season

Prom is coming up... again.  I feel like it does this every year!  I just read that the average prom this year will cost about a thousand dollars.  Say what?  I'm not sure where all of that money goes, but we do save a little bit by having a couple of teen-sized tuxedos in the closet, and doing the flowers at home.

This year, I'm not sure where my floral wire and green tape are - probably in a box somewhere.  I'll have to go hunting.  And I don't even know what color the young lady's dress is so I can make sure I have ribbon to match.  This is what happens when the young gentleman prom-goer is involved in track and never has time to speak with his mother.

Last year, or was it last fall at Homecoming time? Chris helped me make the corsage and did a pretty good job.  Hopefully he won't claim to be too busy and he can make it himself this time.  

I was surfing around, trying to find a good diagram that shows how to make a corsage, so we could be boring - I mean quick and efficient - and make this year's arrangement.  I'm really surprised that I couldn't find any!  I won't say they aren't out there, but I sure couldn't find any.  

I did find some good tutorials, though.  You can watch these while I go crawl around in the garage and look through boxes.

Decent Women's Costume Month

I was looking at the calender today, and I amazed that it is halfway through April!  The twins love to look at the "ky-lander" and have me tell them how long it is until their birthdays.  So we were counting off how many months until their birthday, until school is out, until school starts again in the fall (and they will be in kindergarten!  Aagh!), until Halloween...

We stopped at Halloween because it is their absolute favorite day of the year, until Christmas rolls around, that is.  They are already dreaming up what they want to be for Halloween.  Current favorite: minions!  I love to sew and create - always have - so making Halloween costumes is something I put a lot of thought and time into.  I like dressing up too, but let's be real.  With a family of ten, making costumes for myself is way, waaaayyy down on the priority list. 

And forget about buying anything ready-made from the store.  I'm not about to show that much skin in public - especially chilly Halloween night!  I don't know why it seems that costume manufacturers think that all women want to show off their legs and cleavage on Halloween.  Every costume comes from the same pattern: bare shoulders, deep necklines, and short skirts.  No creativity.  And no coverage, if you prefer to be modest.  I do.

I've decided to declare the rest of April to be Decent Women's Costuming Month.  There isn't much going on for the next few weeks (no major holidays, not yet the frantic end-of-school rush, no family vacations to plan), so I have time.  

I picked up these fun historical patterns a few weeks ago when there was a good sale at the fabric store, and I might be able to pick up some fabric tomorrow.

If I sew a little bit here and there, instead of doing a whole bunch all at once, I won't get sick of the project.  Also, I won't end up with back problems from hunching over the sewing machine, and my children will get fed.  Bonus that my house won't turn into a disaster.

Now I just need to decide which pattern I want to make!  I'm leaning toward the Regency dress, but that would mean I have to watch Pride and Prejudice again for inspiration.  Or If I choose the 1950s dress, I'd have to check out some Audrey Hepburn or Marilyn Monroe.  

Bring on the popcorn!

Soggy Sofa Solution

This is why I was working with fluff yesterday.  I have my mother's couches in the front room, and the back cushions are getting more that just a little saggy.  Droopy and soggy and saggy and sad.

When we moved in last summer, we had extra pillows from the beds of our two boys who left to serve missions.  And we no longer have guests, so we have extra guest pillows.  And I found a cupboard full of extra pillows that my mother had stashed away.  Lots o' pillows!

I gathered up the pillows - used and extras - and washed them all.  They got washed and bleached and dried to a fluffy near-newness.  Everyone picked a new, fresher pillow, and I cannibalized the rest.  Even washed, they were matted on the outside.  But when you pick it apart, the inside is light and... fluffy!  How many times can I use that word?  Fluffy, fluffy...

I unzipped the cover of the sofa cushion and found another cushion instead of loose fill.  When I opened that cushion at the side seam, I found that there were three baffles inside, to help the stuffing stay in place better.  I pulled the old stuffing out, fluffed it up, and filled two of the three baffles back up.  Into the third went an entire pillow of fluff.  It really wasn't hard, especially with enthusiastic fluff-ripper helpers.  The kids had a good time helping with that part.  Yes, it did occasionally look like a snowstorm, but it is easy to clean up.

Once it was full and firm, I hand-sewed the side back up with giant, messy stitches - because it's faster, no one will see it, and I imagine I'll be back in a few years to add more stuffing.

Look at the difference!  One cushion down,and a half dozen to go!  I love our newer, fluffier cushions.  Fluff, fluff, fluffy...

Pioneer Fail

I was working on this fluff today, and it took a long time.  Ben used to say that, in a whining way, when he was about 10.  "But it will take a loooooong tiiiiiime!"  It did.  Isn't it beautiful fluffy stuff?  It is the inside stuff of an old pillow, and we were stretching it out and pulling it into smaller pieces so it was soft again and we could use it for other things.

While we were working with the fibers - Angel and the twins were more than happy to help me - I started thinking of carding wool.  Isn't that kind of a similar idea?  You take dirty old sheep coats, wash them, and then comb the fibers out so they are soft and you can do other things with them.  

I grew up in a house with a 6-acre field out back.  It wasn't our field, but we loved it like it was.  The back neighbors kept flocks of sheep up in the mountains, and they would bring down the sheep that needed more attention and put them in The Field.  We grew up watching sheep with a limp, and sheep that were very gaunt, and sheep that just looked sick.  As far as we were concerned, they all got better and went back to the flock (I would imagine that wasn't always the case.).  In the early spring, they would bring the expectant ewes to The Field.  Every morning we would wake up and run to see if there were any new lambs.  How funny they were when they tried to run!  As they got bigger and the weather grew warmer, they would be sheared.  Poor little nekkid lambies!  

I remember walking along the back fence and picking little tufts of wool out of the barbed wire.  I had every intention to collect a whole basket full, clean it and card it and make my own clothes, just like Little House on the Prairie.

I was mildly obsessed with Little House on the Prairie, but I don't remember them actually carding wool.  Did they?  I think it might have come up in Farmer Boy, the book about Almanzo's youth.  I used to dream that I was transported back in time somehow and got to grow up in a white apron and sunbonnet.

As I watched my fingers bumble through the clean pillow fluff, I realize that I would not make a very good pioneer.  I can cook, yes - with groceries that come in boxes and meat that comes on styrofoam trays.  I can sew - with a machine.  I can crochet - slowly, with a large hook.   I can gather eggs, but so could any four-year-old pioneer girl.  I can not build a fire nor butcher a chicken nor knit socks nor write with a quill pen nor make a poultice for a sick child.

I think I'm glad I live now in the days of band-aids and ready-made clothing and refrigerators.  How lucky I am!  But I still want a cute bonnet.

A Stitch in Time

A long time ago, there was a lovely young woman who was engaged to be married.  She was bright and talented, often entertaining her friends and family with performances on the piano or organ.  She excelled at school and earned high honors for her time there.  She dressed nicely and was quite pretty.  Her intended, though not well known to her family, was said to be fun and charming.  She was about as in love as any woman could be, and happily spent her time planning for their upcoming married life.  

Her trousseau became well-stocked as she purchased a set of white china and kitchen sundries for her new home.  Her mother busily crocheted colorful edgings on white cotton pillowcases.  A favorite sister-in-law, married to her eldest brother, began cutting fabric to construct a quilt for the new couple.

She took dozens of fabrics in muted pastels and deeper reds and blacks and began cutting them into small pieces.  Each scrap had to have an exact shape to fit into the particular pattern she had in mind.  When all the pieces were cut, her scissors no doubt slightly dulled and her hands sore, it was time to lay them out and begin assembly.  The small patterns in ginghams, stripes, florals, plaids, and even polka dots were arranged with a simple yellow background, giving the quilt a cheerful countenance.

How many hours were spent in making tiny stitches with needle and thread, I can only imagine.  Every stitch was hand-sewn, pulling the edges of the fabric together with well-wishes for the couple's happiness.  Sometimes the pieces fit together as they ought, and sometimes they did not.  Some pattern lines flowed smoothly, others did not match up exactly, and some of the shapes are slightly distorted.  

At long last, the days and likely weeks of piecing were done.  The quilt front was finished and beautiful.  Next it was time to do the quilting.  She sandwiched a fluffy batting between the finished frontpiece and a plain yellow backing, pinning the edges together carefully.  

Now the stitches followed the lines of the pieces.  They outlined and distinguished the pattern.  Instead of so many individual little pieces, the larger shapes of the circles came out.  Between each ring, a four-petaled flower was stitched.  Each line of stitching had to be as pretty on the back as on the front, and I'm sure many threads were picked out and pulled out when puckers or flaws were found.

When that tedious work was finally done, a binding was sewn around the edges and the quilt was laid aside to be gift wrapped and presented at the wedding.  So many hours.  So much work.  And at the end, a piece of living art, breathing with the love and skill and creativity of its maker.

And so it is with us.  Each little piece is a snippet of our lives.  Our colors range from happy to sad and discouraged to triumphant.  The patterns and textures vary as we grow and learn, and as others enter and pass out of our circles.  Each scrap is held together with stitches, so small as to be nearly invisible - habitual, unimportant, routine, perhaps dull.  But with every snip of the scissors, every little choice of a fabric, every pass of the needle, we sew together our lives.  

In the end, I think we will be surprised at what an amazing whole our crazy lives become.  The mishmash of colors, the un-straight lines of our experiences, the places where our plans did not meet our expectations, and the plainness of our backgrounds can all come together in a beautiful pattern.  The rings of our breathing encircle us and connect us with others near to our hearts, all quilted together in love.  Beautiful.

Thank you, Aunt Shirley, for the lesson and the love.

Double Wedding Ring Quilt, made by Aunt Shirley for my mother's wedding.  ca. 1964

Polka Dot Dresses

We've been getting American Girl doll catalogs in the mail.  Angel has fallen in love with the dolls and their colorful clothes.  She is especially smitten with the idea of having a matching dress with her dolly.  She had been asking for a doll with blond hair for a while, so when I saw this one at Costco for a-whole-bunch-cheaper, I snapped it up.  For Christmas, I made them matching nightgowns.  The Angel was thrilled.

Recently, I was innocently walking through a store (and it wasn't even a fabric store!) when this pink polka dot material called to me.  Nay, it jumped off the rack and grabbed me.  It screamed, "Take me home to your daughter and make matching dresses for her and her dolly!"  What could I do?  I bought some yardage, brought it home, and let it sit in the bag for a few weeks.  Take that, screaming fabric.

One night, I got industrious and cut out the pieces for both the big dress and the little one.  Then I let them sit for another week or two.  Gah.  Hate half-finished projects!

So I finally sewed them up, and they were much easier than I thought they would be.  And of course, she is delighted!  It makes me happy to see my girl happy.  Now to see if any of my boys want a pink polka dot dress.

In Stitches

What do you do when you have kids with cold ears?  Why, you cover them, of course!  This is what I've been doing over the past couple days while I've been snuggling with my sick kidlets.  And I'm writing out the pattern for you.  You are welcome.  Actually, it's for me because I'll forget how to make them by next week when David decided that he wants a hat, too.

Crochet Winter Hats for Small Fry

I used this diagram I found on Pinterest (but can't find the real source, sorry) to make the top circle.  I will write out the pattern as if you already have a working knowledge of how to double crochet and you know how to do things like start a circle and join with a slip stitch and change colors.  I made the top, flat circle only 5 rounds for my 4 and 6 year olds.  It's a little loose, but I wouldn't want to go smaller or it wouldn't fit for very long.  They grow too fast!

Round 1: 12 DC

Round 2: (2 DC in one stitch)

Round 3: (2 DC in one stitch), 1 DC

Round 4: (2 DC in one stitch). 1 DC, 1 DC

Round 5: (2 DC in one stitch), 1 DC, 1 DC, 1 DC

Round 6-16: DC straight

That's all.  It's really easy, which is why I could make three of them in two days.

Girl Hat

I put bubbly puff stitches (3 DC in same stitch, but don't take off the last YO of each, then on the 4th DC, YO, pull through, YO, pull through all 5 stitches on hook) here and there to make it more fun for her.  She's a bubbly kind of kiddo, and was delighted with the added bit of fun.

Round 3: Puff, 1 DC around

Rounds 6, 9, & 12: Puff, DC, DC, DC around

Shell border: slip stitch, chain 1, skip a stitch, 4 DC in next stitch, skip a stitch, slip stitch

I got the cute little flower here, and it works up in just a couple of minutes.  Fast!

Boy Hat

This one was just changing the colors to make it more interesting.  Oh, and a puff ball on top.  The boys love the pom-pom, but I wonder how long it will be before all their threads are picked out!

Round 1-2: Color 1

Round 3-7: Color 2

Round 8: Color 1

Round 9-10: Color 2

Round 11-12: Color 1

Round 13: Color 2

Round 14-16: Color 1

Sick Day

We've had a bit of a bug going around our house the last while.  Oh yeah, I had it too.  Fortunately, it's not a nasty messy kind of cold, just a slow couch kind of cold.

While I was holding my little ones, I wanted to have something to do, so I got out my crochet hook and some yarn.  I wish I knew where my other supplies were, but I had some yarn and two hooks, so away I went.

I started out by making a little hat for the girl.  Her cute hair is not thick enough to keep her little head warm as she walks to school in the morning.  A couple of weeks ago, I let her pick out some yarn and I made her dolly a cap.  Now it was time to make her one to match.  It worked up in an afternoon, but as soon as I had it done, the twins wanted hats, too.  Of course.

So today I worked on hats for them.  I loved sitting on the couch, snuggling my little snifflers.  First one needed a quiet break, and then the other.  It won't be much longer and they won't want to sit on my lap or cuddle with me anymore.  I'll take all I can get.  They helped me hold the yarn, laughing as it tickled through their fingers.  They cut the yarn when I was done with a color, and dutifully tried on the hat several times.  Finally, Georgie closed his eyes and settled into me, pulling the blanket up to his shoulders.  He ran his fingers through his hair, then through mine, and drifted off to sleep.  I listened to his soft breathing turn into cute little snores and reveled in our closeness.  I'm so glad I get to keep him and hold him and cherish him for a while.

I love being a mama.

Jewelry-itis

I decided to make a necklace for Mother's Day.  It was kind of a cross between a necklace and a mother's ring and a grandmother's brag book.

It starts in the middle, with love, and represents every person in the family.  Every boy has a blue bead and every girl has a pink - pretty standard colors, I know, but I liked how the blue and pink ended up, and it just made more sense that way.  Grandma and Grandpa were pink and blue beads on the same pin, separated by a small clear bead and two more small beads on top and bottom.  After that, each of their children (they are all married) was shown as a couple, but with only one small bead at top and bottom instead of two.  After each couple comes their children, and then the next family begins with a new couple.  This one was for the Alaska grandmother.

The next one got more colorful.  I really enjoyed making these necklaces, because I had to think of each member of the family - aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews - as I strung the bead for them.  I like my families.  How lucky I am to be surrounded by so many good people!

And then I made a little bracelet, just for fun.  Can you guess who inspired this one?  Maybe it would give a better hint if I hadn't turned the Africa charm backwards for the picture.  Man, I love my boy!

Homecoming

Ben had homecoming last week, so I made another corsage.  I'm getting half-decent at this flower thing.  And I'm learning good things, too.  Like how to wrap green florist tape so it actually sticks.  And how to make a wire stem for a rose.  This time I learned that although the bunches of flowers you can get at the supermarket are cheaper than the little roses you can get at the florist, don't get the supermarket variety to make corsages.  They are too long from base to tip, and the corsage ends up kind of bulky.  Now I know.  But it sure turned out pretty.  In a big sort of way.

I'm flattered that they asked me to take pictures for them - their official pictures!  When I was in high school, we paid 15 to 20 smackeroos (a lot of my spare change back then!) for a single pose, all packaged up in a fancy black folder.  We waited in a ridiculously long line for half the dance, tried to come up with a decent pose, smiled our best, and hoped it turned out decently.

My corsage here had a gardenia - the most wonderful flower I've ever had.  I was so happy that my friend lent me that pretty dress to wear.  I never owned a formal until - oh about two years ago.  Too bad I haven't worn it yet!  Must find adult fancy dance to go to.

We waited a few weeks, and then lined up to pick our pictures off the long cafeteria tables where all the portraits were laid out.

Fast forward twenty-five years...  the kids pulled into our driveway and the picture-taking is not so simple.  We got pictures of each couple, of the group, of the girls, of the boys, of the missionaries who wandered by, and pictures of their shoes.  I really enjoyed myself, and it looked like the kids did, too.

I'm no photographer, but these shots turned out at least as good as the professional ones from way back then.  Thanks, new camera.

And you're welcome, kids.  I guess they didn't mind the non-professional tradeoff for the free price.  Thanks for inviting me to be part of your special evening.  I loved watching these awesome teens.  I think cameras aren't the only thing that is better this generation than last.

Summer Shoes

I just found pictures on the phone and thought I'd share.  David was going to scout camp, and needed some shoes to wear into the lake.  He had some good sandals, but they had no backs and we were afraid they would slip off in the water.  And it was already summer so water shoes were non-existent at the stores.  I think there was a school supply sale, though.

So we made do.  It was fairly easy to measure off a piece of wide black elastic and sew it onto the front strap of the sandal.  It only took a few minutes, did not involve going to the store, and it worked.  And it continues to work.  Gotta love a project like that.  Even if you have bad pictures of it.

Family Growth Chart

In our house, the growth chart is called a measuring stick.  It's what we use, instead of the door jamb, to record how tall our kids are growing.  To me, it's a great part of family history, because I grew up with the marks on the door frame.  My brothers were forever competing to see how tall they were and how fast they were growing.  They are all between 6' 2" and 6'8" now, and we still measure off when we all get together.  And we nearly had fits when Mom wanted to paint the kitchen.  Fine.  But not the door jamb.  Not the measuring marks!

It did get painted, after we transferred all the marks to a long roll of paper.  But it's not the same.

Years ago, I decided (after seeing it done in a women's Relief Society crafting activity) to make my own record of my kids' growth.  We painted long boards and marked the measuring lines.  We lined up the boys and stuck on star stickers for their height.  They loved it, and we used it all the time to measure them and other tall things.  AND it moved with us.  Good thing too, because we moved (counting...) six times after that.  But we always hung up the measuring stick and marked off their height on their birthdays.  It was an important tradition.

When we moved to our current house, we didn't hang it up (technical difficulties).  And this week, something bad happened to it.

(Gotta love that '90s sponge painting!)

I know the kids aren't yet done growing, so I had to make me another one.  Besides, there really wasn't room on the old one to record all eight kids.  No, I'd rather not have eight boards.  Really.

I wanted it to be big, but pretty enough to hang in the kitchen.  No, not pretty.  Very little we do in a house full of menfolk is ever pretty.  But it needed to look nice.  Enough space for eight kidlets, and able to be used practically for measuring other things.  And portable, just in case we move again.  Me?  Picky?

I found a perfect board in the garage.  It was primed white, so I didn't even paint it.  I cut off the end slightly, so it would fit in my not-quite-eight-foot kitchen.  I measured off the columns and marked them with another long board and a red pencil.  I like red in the kitchen.  This was the longest part of the whole project.  I marked off the inch lines and drew them with a marker.  I printed off the numbers, put where I wanted each one, and traced it with a pen, leaving a dent in the wood.  I traced and filled in the dents with marker.  Then I transferred the information from the old board.

Alec and I spent some time trying to decide on how to mark the heights.  One idea was to give each child their own color, and the board would end up looking like a rainbow (crayons come in an eight-pack, you know!).  We experimented on the back of the board, and it looks very creative.  We settled on black and white, with a little gradient (and room to write the ages).

I like it.  I'm sad we've missed a couple of years of heights, and I'll have to call the doctor's office and see how much information I can squeeze from them.  I'll keep marking the kids' heights as they have their birthdays.  Most of them have a lot of growing to do.  Actually none of us are done growing.  We all have a lot of growth left in us yet.

Hello, Cupcake!

Sick, still sick.  Well, not sick like I'm contagious sick.  Just sick like "I've been sick for six stinking weeks and I still have this annoying cough and I can't sleep and I'm so weak and atrophied."  Pretty pathetic, I know.  I'll quit complaining now.

But it made me not want to go to the store to get a gift for my adorable niece.  She's also Angel's bestest buddy, so we couldn't just be dorks and not get a birthday present.  And I know myself well enough to know that if I give a rain check, it will never rain.  I'm so bad at getting around to things once I've put them off.  Bad procrastinator, me.  (Or is that a good procrastinator?)

So we gave the little gift the Angel picked out when we were in the store a few weeks ago (a four-year-old is better at forward thinking than I am!  For shame!), and then I made her a hat.  I don't know if she'll wear it, but we sure had fun making it.

(tried to lighten it so I could see the stitches better)

Yes, it's a giant crocheted cupcake.  That you wear on your head.  But four-year-olds can be silly and cute that way.

We kind of invented it as we went along.  Imagination and a healthy (cupcake = healthy?) understanding of real cupcake dimensions came in handy.  That, and all the cute cupcake hat pictures on etsy.  I say that "we" worked on it because Angel had to try it on every few minutes.  I needed her as my head model so that the finished product would neither be too big and sloppy, not squish one's brains out.  A fine balance, indeed.

I started on the chocolate-brown brim.  

With brown, Chain eleven, turn.  

Single crochet across - only in back loops (10 stitches).  That makes the ridged look reminiscent of fluted cupcake papers. 

Turn and repeat until it is snug (but not tight) when wrapped around head.  I think we did 40 rows?  But it goes fast.

Join last row to first (to make a tube) with sliptitch.  End and weave in ends.

Pink frosting

Double crochet around top edge of brown cupcake base with pink.  (Did I single crochet the whole thing?  It's a possibility.)  

Work in a spiral, decreasing evenly as you go to make the domed shape.

End off at the top (when the opening is too small to be able to work in anymore), but leave long ends.

Again, at the top edge of the brown cupcake base, double crochet a pink ruffle.  Work two double crochets in each stitch to make the "frosting" spilling over the edge of the cupcake.  This also hides the joining between pink and brown.

Crochet a "cherry" in red yarn.  I'm really didn't think I could do a sphere, but David cheered me on until I figured it out.  It's not that hard, but I won't deprive you of the challenge.  And I don't really remember.

Add a bit of stuffing to fill it out.  Do this before you close off the end, or you'll be poking stuffing in with a toothpick.  Don't ask how I know.

With a yarn needle, stitch the cherry to the top of the hat, hiding the last bit of hole.

The pink "frosting" looked a little droopy until she put it on , but the grins were about as perky as they come.  What a cutie!