A Plain Path

Kristy's 4-H Project

She took this photo for the photograhpy portion of the contest. Her horseback riding teacher and 4-H instructor owns this stallion. He is an Arabian named Shahzaali (sp?).

Sonnet 14 - If thou must love me, let it be for nought

Brag Alert

I thought I'd share a drawing my 11 year old daughter did.  She is entering this in the 4-H creative contest at the end of the month.  I love it!  She's not allowed to sign it before entry into the contest.   When we get it back, she'll sign it, we'll frame it, and hang it up. 

Fall & Winter '09 Sewing

I've kept busy during this deployment.  We are half-way through and will be glad to have my husband home again.  Thought I'd post some photos of some of the sewing I've done. 

A quilted handbag for a dear friend. Appliqued a W for her name on the side.

Opposite side of the bag

The quilt motif, hominy star, I put on the outside pockets

Inserted a zippered pocket and magnetic closure

A cell phone pocket

Next are some photos for our church's Old Fashioned Day. I was teaching some of the ladies to sew as we worked on their dresses. It was a good time of fellowship. We had quite a variety. Poodle skirts, prairie dresses, colonial dresses, indian girls, and one regency gown.

This is a regency gown I did. This was my first time sewing with this kind of fabric. It was a beautiful, purple chatung. I learned a few things and would make some changes if doing it again. The front gathered a bit and didn't lay quite right. I'm still happy with the dress.

A friend did the buttons for me. My automatic buttonholer on my machine doesn't work right. She brought her machine over and it took her about 10 minutes to do these for me. Very nice!!!

Next are two valances I made for my great room. I found the free instructions for the applique block online and just made up the pattern for the single point valance. I then appliqued the block on the valance. I was going for a similar look to curtains from Piper Classics.

Pocket Organizer

My husband is set to deploy and he asked me to make a pocket organizer to hang on or by his bed.  I searched through my scraps and found this "Pledge of Allegiance" fabric, so came up with a patriotic theme.  I embroidered the phrase, "One Family Under God Indivisible."  You can tell my embroidery still needs work.  This is only my third go at it.  Seems like it should be easier or I'm embroidery challenged.  ha!

The organizer has three pockets.  One large one in the back and then the two smaller ones on the front bottom.  I appliqued our children's hands.  The flag fabric is Nathan's hand.  The pledge fabric hand on the denim pocket is Kristy's and the solid navy hand on the back pocket is Matthew's hand.  I love it and hope it gives a touch of home while he's away from us.

So much for that!

I just thought my break from blogging was over at the beginning of July.  Now it's the end of August and I hope things are settled enough to get back to the blog.  I do enjoy it.

Our friends that moved here lived with us for a month while the work was being done on their new home.  With 4 adults and 7 kids in the house, things were busy.  I did start some school while they were here, doing lessons with all the kids and now we are back to "full time" schooling.  We're off to a good start.

I put some seeds in the ground.  Hooray!!  Hoping for a fall garden.  I've planted some beans, peas, cucumbers, squash, pumpkins, etc.  I have some seedlings now and I have some weeds.  ha!  There were a couple places I didn't know if something was a weed or a seedling, so I've left it alone.  You veteran gardeners may laugh at me......I confess it's ridiculous.  ha!  I will learn this!

We are getting eggs and it's increasing daily.  We have 16 birds now.  Gave a couple away, a few didn't make it, and we decided the roosters are not for us....not right now.  So, we are down to hens only and I'm fine, just fine with that.

My ducks and geese are getting big.  I'll have to post pictures soon.  They were keeping my garden weeded very nicely, but I was worried, they'd eat my seedlings.  Currently they are banned from that area and I miss their help.  Does anyone have experience here?  What they will eat, what they won't, etc.  I've read they are great for weeding strawberries, but are they so kind in the veggie garden?  Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Glad to be back!!! 

2009 is flying by

Well, my break from blogging is over.  The pins are out of my finger and the cast is off.  I'm able to type two-handed again.  I did have an appointment today and was pleased with some of the news and not so by the other.  First, I thought perhaps the finger was still broken or that I rebroke it.  It's still swollen, red, and painful.  I seem to bump it often and that is very painful each time.  I've been exercising it and using it a lot, but still don't have full motion in the finger.  The doc said it has healed nicely, there is a small gap in the bone where the break was.  I broke off about 40% of the knuckle and he thought the alignment was a good as it gets for a joint break.  He was also pleased with the amount of motion I have for only having the pins out 4 weeks now.

The not so encouraging news was that I may never regain full motion in the finger.  Just need to get it as good as I can.  Also, the pain and swelling could take up to a year to go away.  So, I'm patiently enduring.  The scar tissue is thick, which also restricts the motion.  The exercises I do, which are painful, will help with that and hopefully keep it from thickening too much and in time will get better.

My brother came and stayed with us for 3 weeks.  It was good to have him here and I wish we didn't have to live so far apart.  Then, I went on vacation to Mom & Dad's in Florida for a couple weeks.  It was wonderful.  I needed to get away and there's no place of rest and comfort that can compare to Mama's house.  My father-in-law drove out there to pick up the oldest two and took them to Texas with him for 10 days.  They had fun with Pawpaw.  Nathan and I had fun in FL!!  I'm looking forward to a visit again this fall.

Now, to the homestead.  Due to the broken finger and other circumstances, my garden is not what it was supposed to be.  The only things that made it in the ground were a few tomato and pepper plants, which were devoured by some sort of caterpillers.  My plums were also invaded...I think by the Plum Sawfy.  I'll not fret.  Things are looking up and I intend to get some planting done in August for a fall harvest.  I've also read how to treat my plum trees and hope to be making plum jelly next year. 

My chickens are growing fast and the roosters are now crowing.  I also received my 2nd order of ducks and geese.  They too are getting big, feathering out.  We have them in their fenced in area now and moved Speedy, our sole survivor, in with them.  He's a bit stingy about sharing his pool.  Kristy and I sat in with them this weekend and fed them watermelon rind.  I just love them.  They are so pretty and enjoyable.

Our puppies.....3 have gone to new homes.  We have 2 left here, one we are holding for our friends that our moving here in 2 weeks.  He'll go live with them as soon as they are settled.  And as the saying goes, "When it rains, it pours."  The puppies got mange.  I suppose it's not so bad.  We are treating them and it was really pretty cheap.  The vet said it should take a couple months or a bit longer to completely get rid of.  They are already looking a lot better and growing their hair back.  Not to mention, they are just the most adorable puppies.  I believe we are keeping the other one.  With mange it's not easy to find a home for her and she'll be older by the time we are done treating her.  I've gone back and forth about having three dogs, but out of the litter, she was one of my favorites.  I suppose she can stay around.

That about catches me up.  This year is flying by and especially the summer.  I have a large to-do list for this week.  Trying to rearrange, work on some setting some routines/schedules, getting some sewing done, and some seeds and herbs started.  Oh, and start potty training Nathan.  He was really working on it himself, trying to be a big boy before we went on vacation.  I made him wear diapers while we were gone though.  Just not good timing.  He is so funny.  He kept saying, "I dropped my pee pee on the floor."  So, it's time to start dropping it in the toilet. 

My bible reading lately has been in Philippians, particularly studying and thinking on Chapter 2.  There is so much for thought, for prayer.  So much there to strive for.  The mind of Christ being in us, service, being humble, obedience, God working in us, doing all things without murmurings or disputings, being blameless, and lights shining in the world.  My prayers have been especially focused on not labouring in vain.  So many things I do and think I've done for God have been in vain, just empty works of my own doing.  I want to live in verse 16, "Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. "