birthday baking

 A double batch of Applesauce cake (because it used up the whey and homemade applesauce I had in the fridge).   Plus peanut butter cookies, since the oven was on already.

Tuesday

~fresh yogurt waiting to be strained and put away, this batch gave me a lot of whey

~dinner is in the crock pot and dinner for tomorrow night is prepped

~waiting for my son to return from Cuba this evening

~hoping my littlest is ok at school today

~today, I got to see the excitement of a kindergarden class that discovered their first quail eggs

~looking forward to visits and celebrations this week 

Yarn Along ~ Daisy Chain

knitting~

I'm working on a hat for myself, but I'm not sure about the pattern-yarn-me match so I've been going slowly with it.  I'm just starting a little cardigan for Rowan using some yarn we dyed before Christmas.  I've dyed yarn many times, but this time I used the tutorial at Kathryn Ivy and found it worked really well, even on the super wash yarn I used.  The colour is bright and held with little to no dye coming off at the end.  Rowan was able to tell me the proper rainbow colour order from a song from the Cat in the Hat show.


reading~
I'm re-reading The Handmade Marketplace right now, hoping it will give me some more ideas for my business.  I'll be taking something else from the book shelf very soon though.

joining in with Ginny for this weeks Yarn Along.

The Weekend Past

Breakfast in a (indoor) tent 

A big batch of homemade yogurt (4L of milk) also providing a big batch of whey

Checking the garden and pulling weeds (so much easier after a heavy rain)...could my soil be any rockier?

 Visiting the new chicks

outside my window

It's beautiful outside, the load of whites is blowing like crazy on the line.  They'll be off the line soon and a load of darks will go up.  Tomorrow will be town day so I don't want to worry about laundry tomorrow.  The littlest one is outside picking dandelions to help her Dad make dandelion wine.

The shipping labels are printed, invoices sent, PUL ordered.  Now it's just some cleaning and grocery shopping to get ready for another family BBQ this weekend.

2012 Christmas

I made many gifts this year for my family, our families enjoy handmade gifts and I enjoy making them. Rowan is young enough that I'm able to make many of her gifts...it's much harder to make homemade gifts for our boys who are now 9 and 12.

'Newfie mitts' for my mom

Quilted bags for my sisters

Pixie hat for my youngest niece

                                     

felt playfood also for my youngest niece

preparing squash for Christmas dinner

working on Lego

sporting as many gifts as possible

I enjoy the Christmas season, but I'm ready to start anew.  Time to move past the excess of December and onto the new year.  I'm looking forward to getting back to our normal rhythm.  My son is going off to Florida with his Dad for a week, while he's gone I'll sleep in his room while we (specifically Bill) does the drywall in our master bedroom.  I despise drywall work, but I just can't wait to have proper curtains hung on the bedroom windows and making the room at least a bit more pretty.

Watch for a shop stocking on Monday! 

A Catch All Post

I know there's ends that need tying up here, things I said I would post about and haven't yet...so here goes. Get ready to be overloaded!

I said I'd post about my Waldorf doll making experience and really all I can say is make one! It's a fun and easy project. That said be sure to have a thimble and bandages before you start...don't be scared! I just found that while forming the head I cut/pricked my fingers a few times (who said crafting was easy?) injuries aside it is NOT good to mark your work with a little smudge of blood, so just get some band aids in case.

I used this pattern for the body, it's a wonderful pattern. Read it through a couple times so you know exactly what you're doing. This seller also just came out with a 16" doll pattern which I grabbed up. I used this tutorial for the hair (the pattern I bought also has hair directions too, I just wanted a different style).

This is how the doll has sat recently, unclothed and one sock is missing. Truthfully Rowan rarely reaches for her, though I'm sure there's still time for her to become a favorite.
Another picture of Rowan painting which is almost a daily event here. She's painting with Q-tips here, but all painting experiences usually end up with finger painting which is fine with me. She was moving her tray of paint and it tipped into her face (and hair) she then thought it might be good to try and lather some paint in her hands and rub it through her hair. A bath followed that night.

I posted in my last Yarn along post about my girlie Milo vest. It worked out just as I'd hoped and it was fun to knit some scraps up. It did take much more yarn then I'd expected. I'm adding my notes here because I would like to repeat it.
I followed the directions for the bodice section of the Milo pattern, though I shortened the bodice a bit (I used 9 month size).

-switched from size 7 needles to size 10's and switched yarn colour.

-k 3, M1 around

-knit 3 rows

-k5, M1 around

-keep knitting until almost desired length, switch back to bodice colour (but keep larger needle size) K1 row, P1 rown until desired length. bind off

It's soooo soft and snuggly (& warm!)

Now the flannels, I mentioned I'd bought some new flannels and I finally found my pictures of them. I'll be adding a few pads to my shop later this week (or this weekend) and there's a couple from these prints. I'll be showing you a new pad design soon too :)

A New Turkey Tradition

These wild turkeys turned up in our yard yesterday afternoon, there was nine of them. They wandered around our yard for a while and showed up again this morning though they didn't stay long with our dog outside. The boys watched them for out the windows yesterday and it provided some slow and gentle entertainment that they were in need of. Last year a larger group of turkeys showed up on December 26th and spent a very long time exploring the yard. Wouldn't it be nice if it happened every year? When Rowan woke up from her nap we went sledding and came home for stew from the crock pot.

The boys went outside this morning for some playing in the snow. We're having a bit of a thaw here so it was really slushy and wet out and Rowan and I stayed in, though she would have loved to go outside. The nice thing about having much older brothers is that they make snowmen for you.

And sometimes even deliver them to the front door....

While the boys played outside I made this blanket as a gift for a co-worker of Bill's. They just welcomed a baby a couple weeks ago and these extra big two layer receiving blankets are always a welcome gift. The Christmas decorations are being packed away slowly, mostly to avoid jarring the littlest one. All that's really left is the tree, this year is certainly a record for me. I don't think I've ever left my tree up this long (not in my own adult life anyway!) Tomorrow I'll clean it off and Bill will put it out in the yard and then we'll vacuum and vacuum those needles up! I've enjoyed the slower post-Christmas this year. There's been lots of knitting and some sewing. Next week they'll be more sewing than knitting as I get a couple of orders finished....for now though I'm back to my needles :)

Have a Happy New Years!

The crafting is done!

You'd think with all the coverage this doll is getting she's the only thing I've crafted this season. I got the boys pj's done on Saturday and I love how they turned out. Last week I had walking pneumonia which really slowed me down (it's karma for all my complaining about the chicken pox - which Rowan still hasn't shown any spots). It did force me into the reality of what I really could get done though. I'd like to knit one more hat, I'll cast it on today and hope I can have it done by Sunday.

My house though is a disaster, that kind of feeling that I just don't know how long I can stand it but there's just other things I need to work on first. I'll keep puttering away at the baking, the cleaning, and wrapping. Somebody remind me next September to get started on my Christmas stuff....please?

I'm hoping to share some tips from my doll making experience in January, for now I'll just say try it! It is really is simple, what a memory it creates. I hope Rowan just loves her up. By the way do you see the sewing basket she's sitting on? It's perfect isn't it, my mom brought it out to me last weekend. It belonged to my great grandmother who passed away in September at 98. I'll cherish it for certain. It will be perfect for holding all my hand sewing supplies, I seem to be doing more and more hand sewing.

12 days of Christmas

I've been away again, as I explained in my last post there's usually just a few reasons I'm not able to blog as often as I'd like and one of them is childhood illnesses, this week it's chicken pox. Quintin (at the age of 7) finally caught them and now I'm just waiting for Rowan to show the symptoms, there's no way she'll escape it!

Though I really wish it could happen in the new year the spots will probably show up in the coming week. I'm trying to get caught up on all the Christmas baking and making that need to get done before she needs me to stop everything for at least three days. The nice thing with sick seven year olds is they can understand that soon they'll feel better and they can say my 'throat hurts' and you can do something to help them. I don't think it will be that easy with a 20 month old!

So with 12 days left till the Christmas day I've still got most of my craft list to complete. I should be doing something other than blogging right now but maybe typing it out will help me to stay on track and figure out what I can cut back...


-make a wise men or sheppard costume for the school play on Wednesday (eeepp) I can't even start this until Monday night because I don't know what he is yet!

-finish Waldorf doll (she just needs hair)

-finish knitting a hat (I'd love to get a second knit too and I've got this as a project I can work on if the pox hit Rowan before Christmas)

-sew 2 pairs of pj pants and applique 2 shirts for the boys (this is really stressing me but really it won't take long at all)

-sew gifts for my sisters (not even positive what yet....not good! at least they'll happily take a rain check on their gifts, but I do really want to get them done)

-baking (I made a triple recipe of macaroons today, I'm keeping it simple this year and only baking 4 types of sweets but in larger batches)

We still need to cut our tree and decorate it, organize and wrap gifts, and I know there's more errands to run as much as I've tried to avoid this.

phew, am I stressing you out!? I don't mean to be! I'll share some picture end on a more relaxing note...

this girl just loves to craft

This picture was take Thursday afternoon, you can hardly see the spots, but look at the next picture

See, this picture was taken Thursday night, look at those spots! Liam had the chicken pox as a toddler so he's clear.

And the Waldorf doll! I took this picture on Monday, since then I've gotten her body sewn and attached her head. She's got underwear, pants a shirt and even some bamboo velour socks. This morning I even added just a touch of blush to her cheeks. All she needs now is her hair, I just need to get some dark brown embroidery thread. I keep forgetting this or that at the fabric shop. I'm hoping to share more details and info. on her in the new year, I've so enjoyed this doll project.

Getting Organized (and a plea for blog help)

A few blogs and sites I like to check into and there seems to be a search for finding a rhythm and a balance at home. I find this search reassuring-I'm not the only one looking for balance! I've been doing this stay at home mom thing for almost seven years. In that seven years there's been a fair amount of turmoil, ups and downs and changes so it's safe to say that while I've maintained my sanity there's a lot of room to feel more balanced.

One thing I've stuck to all these years is making a daily list, my list saves me and reminds me at the end of the day I've been busy, I haven't wasted time. Over the next couple of weeks I'm going to use my list to get more organized. It's hard to stay organized with a family of 5, two kids who travel to their other parents, a toddler and a house that's been under constant renovations since we've move in. So my goal is to be a little more organized, and I'm starting with a purge and overhaul of Rowans play area. This seems the best place to start, if her play are is more toddler user friendly then mama (in theory) should be able to squeeze a little more organizing time into the day.

Here's some photos of the newly overhauled play space. I removed the huge storage unit I was using because it hid her toys more that organized them and over the last few days I've put away several toys (I like to keep lots of toys so I can rotate them in and out, truthfully this is great BUT I need to get rid of a lot more toys still!) I wish I'd taken some before photos because this is a big improvement. Looking at these pictures now I can see there needs a bit of warmth added, a little rug and maybe some art on the wall.

now for my plea for blogging help. Can someone please help me out with how to add links to my blog posts? I'm sure it's easy, I just can't figure it out!! I'll be posting my Christmas to-do craft list but I'd like to be able to link to some the patterns/tutorials I'll be using. thanks for any help :)

A bit more sewing (& building!)

Here's a skirt I made for the girl of the house. It's denim, it's stretchy, versatile, dark, comfy...I love it! I think it will fit for a long time too so it's perfect! I bought a meter of stretch denim several weeks ago to sew up a pair of cloth friendly jeans for the baby and I had enough for the skirt too, the fabric was about $8 so I guess that's pretty good value especially since she'll wear them again and again. She wore the jeans in a mud puddle yesterday and they washed up perfectly-love!

Here's a sneak peek at some wetbags I'll be listing at my Etsy shop on Thursday.

Lego is the toy of the moment around here, I hope it keeps up. I much prefer playing with Lego than army guys, I find myself joining in with the Lego play :)

Being Home

I've spent the last few days stuck at home, my partner was away on a business trip and my tire was flat. So, a flat tire right? It's not a big deal it's just I have to wait a bit for my partner to fix it, tomorrow I'll be able to use our second car (thank goodness we have two cars!). Being home though has made me realize that often my outings are an escape, sometimes I get out of bed in the morning walk out to our open concept living area and I'm overwhelmed, sometimes consumed by the clutter. The clutter I'm sure I just cleaned up the day before. Being stuck here has made me realize that I need to purge and re-organize. There's been lots of that happening already and I'm thinking the next step is to get my family to help out with this-they'll be rewarded with a much happier mama/partner.

I took this picture of the little one this morning, she loves some outside time and I'm trying to make sure she gets more of it....I'm trying to make sure she gets more of my time. I'm feeling very needed by her right now. This morning I made a big batch of apple sauce, (it's so yummy!) I gave some to Rowan as a treat after lunch mixed with some homemade yogurt, she thought it made better finger paint than food. Hopefully her brothers will help her understand the yumminess of applesauce after dinner tonight.

I've been busy sewing some fall clothes for Rowan, my shop hasn't been updated in a while. I have been keeping up with custom orders though. I have some shop sewing goals for the week, but I think I'll be a little behind with my schedule due to the flat tire and some juggling. I'm trying to find a better balance. When I sit at my sewing machine my toddler lets out a screech, so I'm taking that as a sign to slow down, at least for now.

phew!

I'm very happy to be back saying we're getting back into our routines, including nursing! yeah!!! Here's a little pick me up I made for myself. It's topped with swirl dyed bamboo velour, isn't the dye job fabulous, it's done by The Indigo Onion. I just backed this with some matching flannel since I don't need much protection right now.

The rest of today is about laundry, paper work, cleaning, a walk, and starting to pull the garden out.

good grief, what a week

good grief, I've taken to saying this lately-a lot and often. This week was no different, the littlest has been sick all week, miserably sick. Lots of tear, lots of tantrums, night waking and not even wanting to nurse unless she's sleeping. Our usual nursing to sleep routine has been blown away, I'm not sure if it's the bug she's got or if she's maybe starting to wean-this thought make me so, so, sad. She's 18 months-oh, I hope it's not weaning...

The older kids have gotten off to school fairly well, one week into school though and I have to say how much I admire those of you who home school, truly I do. I'm not sure exactly what it is that scares me about homeschooling, I think it's just that a fear, a lack of confidence too I'm sure. The same way I used to be afraid of driving and thought I wasn't smart enough to drive and got my license at 27.5 years old (how silly is that!?) I don't know that homeschooling would even work with our blended family but I see the value in homeschooling.

I'm hoping the little one is over the worst of her symptoms, I've got a lot of catching up to do. Errands, and sewing, cleaning and organizing.

the beach

We went to a little beach this morning, we had it all to ourselves. We dug in the mucky sand, watched minnows, played with rocks and seed pods. I had time to think, the kids were peaceful. They're won't be many more beach trips left with school starting Tuesday and some sharp temperature decreases coming this weekend. The kids peaceful play gave me some time to think, some things I've been thinking about...

~how to go even greener and be more self sufficient. Raw milk, a pressure cooker, sheep, goats?
~the disarray of of our house which is going to get worse for a while as our wood stove is installed, how can we use this space better?
~grief and how we each experience it
~school starts in just a few days, the summer has flown by

What's been on your mind?

Exhausted Sunday

I woke up so exhausted this morning, I think Rowan nursed all night last night. Still tired of course but things needed to get done so I pulled myself together and got some stuff done. I finished up some sewing, went for a walk in the rain with Rowan in the Ergo and an umbrella. Changed two beds, put away my sons laundry (possibly my least favorite chore!) fetched the eggs, made banana blueberry bread. It feels good to get so much done in such a fog.

There's more work to this afternoon including shop listings, another bed to make, washing diapers, and making a batch of homemade leftover soup. Making soup from leftovers is so fast and my family loves it. This batch will have a base of some of a leftover curried chick along with some rice and pasta from the week and a bunch of veggies thrown in. So easy :)

Here's a sweater I got finished up yesterday, it's made with a whole bunch of leftover hand dyed yarns. I cast it on just before we left for our camping trip and I surprisingly had time to work on it. My son picked out the bee buttons, he really wanted some red fire truck buttons but the sizing didn't work. It's made using the Mossy Jacket pattern in the 18 months size, I wish I'd knit the body a couple of inches longer. Hopefully it fits through the winter.

Here's another scrappy project, it's a double pocket wetbag that I should be able to get listed in my shop later on today.

And a quick custom pad (yes, custom orders can be just 1 pad ;) ) I love this Heather Ross print.

back from camping

here's some pictures from our camping trip, we had an afternoon and night of pouring rain, we let the boys play in the rain-they had a blast! The next day cleared up and was beautiful. We've found a new favorite spot for camping.

I'm back at my sewing machine and moving along on custom orders.

Buttons

I finished knitting a sweater for Rowan last night (after I said no knitting for the week). It needs buttons so I got out the button jar. Most of these buttons are vintage from my mom and aunts, I decided to try letting Rowan search through them too. My son used to love to just sit and look at the buttons actually he still likes to look through them. Rowan though....I wasn't sure how it would work out, she still (at 17 months) likes to taste everything and sometimes doesn't transition well from things. It worked out all right though and I did find some buttons for the sweater. I'm hoping to get them sewn on while she naps so I better keep this short!

More canning, these are some bread & butter pickles. I'm branching out a bit in canning recipes and it's keeping me motivated. I also made a double batch of relish this week it's yummy. I'm going to get another batch made so we have enough to share and last through the year. I'll try to post the recipe, it's a good one.
And a custom order. I had two custom orders to complete this week and they're both done (yaaa!) This is a stack of flannel topped pads.

Off to sew on some buttons.