Check Box #2 & #3

On the list to be finished were spring purses for my mom and myself. Mom's purse is her old purse, but the handles were wearing thin. She liked their style, and so I came up with this solution to keep the old: a new felted band along the top, encompassing the hold handles. It turned out quite well, and mom chose the bright pink flower for a decoration.

This is my new spring purse. I just realized that the flower I couldn't part with, and which I designed the whole decoration around, never made it on the purse -- somehow a smaller, pinker flower got in the center. So, there is still a corner of the check box to fill in when I rip of the wrong flower and put the right one in its place.

I like the basket design of the purse and the lovely cables that still show from the original sweater.

I couldn't resist including a picture of the daffodils that are sitting on our table right now. No, they're not from our garden, but they really do brighten up the room and remind us that spring is just around the corner.

Right now I'm working on a few "check box diversions" which I'll show you soon. In the mean time there are quiet times to be had, chores to do, and a plan to make for the next few days. Michael is away on church business and we'll be on our own.

Check Box #1

As I mentioned, I'm trying hard to check things off my list of to-do's in the craft department before this baby comes!

Last week I finally finished up a very belated wedding gift -- this is a set of 6 linen napkins embroidered with the couples' last initial.

I do love embroidery, and am reminded of that every time I do a little project that involves it. With the napkins finished I moved onto my spring purse as well as one for my mom. More pictures to come....

Drawing Class

Yesterday was the last day of Drawing Class at homeschool co-op. I taught 6 weeks in the fall and 3 weeks this term. It was a lot of work, but it was very rewarding to see the kids draw -- especially in this 7-8th grade class where the attention span was longer and everyone put real effort into their work.

It was a bit of the blind leading the blind, but my mom gave me some good ideas and I used to some really helpful books (like Teach Your Child to Draw by Mia Johnson and Drawing for Older Children and Teens by Mona Brookes).

I didn't take any pictures last week, when the still life the students did came out really well, but we had some good birds/animals this week too.

In the 7th-8th grade class we covered Lines & Texture, Shading, and Shapes. A fun exercise for shapes is to give each child a bag of construction paper shapes and see what picture they can make -- hopefully they begin to be alert to shapes in the objects they are drawing.

But now I can unpack my bag and settle in to no teaching until the baby is a bit older. It will be back to teacher-helpers at homeschool group.

Like Mother, Like Son

Andrew has discovered he likes taking pictures. He wants a camera. I'm wondering how long I can wait until we actually get him a simple one of his own.

Check out this sequence of his photo shoot with cousin John.

First, show John the toy and get his attention.

Next use the toy to hold his attention for the photo.

And then show John the result. John seems very interested....

Ah, how can I blame Andrew? It's hard to say no to a kid when you love taking pictures yourself. I'm going to have to keep my eye out for an old camera.

Valentine's Tea Party

It's taken me awhile to post about our Valentine's Tea Party with Auntie C. She kindly had us over to celebrate a few days early.

Inside the box are the gluten-free chocolate almond cookies from The Cooks Next Door.

The table was all set and ready with teacups, candy, and cards:

And cookies too!

Christina put Valentine jokes in all the cards:

Doesn't her house look serene and beautiful?

Here are the happy children with their aunt. They so kindly complied with my wish that they wear red shirts.

Red was everywhere:

And then Baby John joined the party:

And we all enjoyed making him laugh and smile:

We forced them all to have their pictures taken again and again:

And I had to join them too:

Here's Christina with Baby John:

And my handsome Andrew who was wearing red only because he loved me:

More mice made their appearance:

We've had another dusting of snow overnight -- but just a fraction of an inch. It certainly has been a snowy February -- but, that means more gets done inside! I'm off to get school and chores done and then I'll be taking two of the boys for dental evaluations downtown. It will be a busy day....

Nesting

Nesting has definately started around here. However, rather than cleaning (like I probably should) it's all about sewing. Now that Christmas is behind us and the first round of flowers are made and put in the shop, I feel a great urge to finish up all those little projects that have been sitting around forever -- like my friend's wedding gift, my mother's spring purse and my spring purse. I'm making progress!!!

But, Rachel and I finally got out to Joann Fabrics last week to buy some fabric just for our new little girl baby. It was so fun to pick it out!!!

Here are the fabrics for the planned diaper bag -- a recycled jean skirt, some Ralph Lauren rose fabric I found at Goodwill and some pink duck fabric from Joann's.

I decided we needed pretty burp clothes -- no more of the white cloth diapers. Here are the flannel fabric selections, along with the pink chenille-like fabric for the backing.

And last of all the quilt. I found a crib skirt, sheet and bumper set on Craig's List that was originally from Pottery Barn. The only thing missing was the quilt. However, a quilt was the one thing I knew I wanted to make for our baby.

Rachel did a fantastic job helping me to find colors to coordinate. We made a quilt design and cut it out and have almost the whole quilt top sewn together. Pictures will be posted in a separate post. I'm amazed at how much the quilt actually looks like it really goes with the bumper. We even bought checked ribbon to go on the quilt -- just like the bumper.

And now we are off to ballet and then we're going to my sister's to catch our first glimpse of the Olympics. We couldn't pass that up!

Valentine's Day

After church on Sunday we enjoyed a Valentine's lunch with friends and family. I had so much fun getting ready for it and enjoying it with everyone.

Yes, I really like the mice.

Dinner, which took so much longer than it should have, was still very yummy: roast beef, mashed red potatoes, asparagus and salad.

Good food and good fellowship!

And plenty to enjoy at tea-time.

There were cards all around and Andrew's special Valentine Story that he spent weeks writing.

And strawberries that tasted like the month of June on your tongue:

A very happy day.

And now it's a pleasant memory.