Indie Handicraft Exchange

A friend and I made it to the Indie Handicraft Exchange this past Saturday at the Harrison Center downtown. I thought I would put up links to some of the vendors so you can see what we saw......

Kinaloon - loved some of these silkscreened cards
KellyLimberg - jewelry
Shopshawnasmith - sewn things for kids
Cordial Kitten - illustrations
Marcy Davy - prints
1606 - sewn accessories
Crimson Tate - modern quilting
Muggy Tuesday -- beautiful crochet jewelry -- this is what I would have bought
Paper Acorn - paper accessories (they had the cutest booth!)
Owlette - sewn items for children
Ello There - stationery
Circle Street - sewn cards
Two Seaside Babes - crochet for kids
The Wind & The Sail - gorgeous handmade animals
Of Little Matter -- miniature sculpy art
Curly Pigtails - handmade clothes for kids
Rag Trader Vintage -- lovely vintage watch jewelry
Boris Loved Natasha -- handsewn purses and zip cases
Moira K Lime Jewelry - jewelry
The Paisley Tab - sewn accessories
Sally Harless -- illustrations
VisuaLingual -- seeds

Mondays are for Grace

"Christians preoccupied with their families,

struggling to make ends meet,

living their mundane lives are, 'all in a state of holiness,' 

according to Luther, 'living holy lives before God.'"

The Garden and Other Subjects

Summer is wonderful! At least, this summer, for me, is wonderful. I think it's the fact that homeschooling this past year was more work than ever with four different grades, despite the fact that it was a good year. It's also the fact that when I'm homeschooling I also have to do the housework, cook, mother, and be hospitable. It's so much easier in the summer to enjoy housework, just "be a mom", and not feel so stressed about the schedule. Why is summer so short???

We are beginning to harvest from our garden. So far we've had 4 bunches of radishes and 2 salads, which included some of our snap peas. We enjoyed this simple dinner of Stephanie's Stove Top Baked Beans and salad, also my latest favorite GF bread.

Cousin John comes over most Wednesday afternoons to play. He and Laura are still the best of friends and the worst of enemies. I was surprised to turn around and find them so sweetly sitting together in a chair!

I'm so happy with my patio garden. It looks bigger and prettier in person but it is beginning to make the patio feel like a little escape.

The broccoli grows bigger every day. I can't wait to eat it!

I've been putting enormous amounts of energy into the vegetable garen. I tried the square foot gardening method without raised beds this year. So far it is working pretty well. We'll see in another month.....I do have trouble with rabbits.

Laura is into baby dolls. I'm so happy!!!! I love to watch her play. And Laura likes her new nickname of "Dolly" and refers to herself in the third person as "Dolly". "Dolly wants milk," "Dolly is here," etc.

Did I mention Emily found her wedding dress?? I think I did, but we're excited about it! She and Craig and Mom have just spent a week out east at another wedding and visiting friends. 

Michael will be traveling a lot the rest of the month. We haven't been to the pool much because the weather has been so delightfully on the cool side. Not so anymore! I'm off to a craft fair later today but first I must go and tackle the piles and piles and piles and piles of ironing.......

Words and Wool

I think I'm coming out of my lack of inspiration for knitting right now by going back to work on some of my unfinished projects. Not a bad idea, eh?

With the purchase of our "new" couch this past week I thought about turning these lovely Japanese rose crochet rounds into an afghan for the couch. I would only need to crochet about 60 more.......???? Well, might as well work on it while I'm inspired. I do love the colors. Maybe that's why I love the corny painting of my great-grandmother behind on the wall -- must be the colors!

 This past week I finished The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert by Rosaria Champagne Butterfield. I devoured the book. It tells the story of Rosaria's "good life" in which she had a tenured position as an English teacher, had a stable relationship with her partner, and was involved in hospitality to students, and with activists that supported the causes she championed. 

Rosaria never imagined her life changing. And then the idea that Christianity might be right about who God is entered her life and turned it upside down. This is a powerful story of the irresistible grace of God in one woman's life. I highly recommend it.

 The Gospel and Sexual Orientation was published as a companion volume to The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. This 67-page book gives an overview of what the Bible has to say to this very controversial issue. Ten key Scripture passages are examined, science and the doctrine of man are discussed, and there is a helpful bibliography at the end. You will find this a thorough and compassionate look at a difficult topic. 

Pictures taken from Crown and Covenant website.

Diamond Jubilee

Queen Elizabeth has been celebrating 60 years on the throne this weekend, culminating in the service of Thanksgiving today. We've been talking about the Jubilee all weekend and watching news clips as they become available.

Queen Elizabeth is someone that I greatly admire -- her strength, determination, self-denial, and commitment. Not to mention her ability not to be swayed by what people think.

Christina and I will be celebrating today with a cup of tea and a chat. Long live the Queen!

Mondays are for Grace

"If you water the garden of family and children and love and life-giving and beauty,

it will grow and flourish -- it is a long-term work."

--Sally Clarkson

Friday

Well, I didn't get the expanded book review written yet because that time slot got taken over with buying a couch. :) We've been trying to find one for ages and when the right one popped up on Craig's List I had to drop everything and go get it.

So far I'm very pleased with the couch. Next task is to find chairs to go with it as our chairs are in quite desperate straits. I also have a different picture to hang above the couch. Decorating is an ongoing saga.....Life is an ongoing saga, isn't it?!

It's a rainy, cool day here. Very welcome after dry, hot weather. I've been working on housework and projects and the kids have been playing with friends. Tomorrow is Goodwill 50% off.....

I will get to work on that book review and hope to have something for next week. Happy weekend!