A friend of mine came by and took the children to the pool with her today. In the quiet I made and canned salsa, made 6 more pairs of fleece socks, made a tote bag for a friend, worked on school planning, and putzed. I could have done the same with my children here. My children are great helpers. Our youngest son does yell Mom every five minutes and come and tell me things and ask me questions. No matter how much one on one I spend with him it's never enough so I have to tell him that I will give so much time a day totally devoted to him, but I have to spend some time doing other things. He knows that I will listen and pay attention even when I am sewing, cooking, or cleaning; I just can't stare him in the eye at that time. It is tiring, but I love him. Most of the time I try to incorporate him in helping. A lot of the time he doesn't want to and will go find something to do for a few minutes. He is very obsessive about things. Today his obsession is if he had the equipment he could make a tv commercial for his favorite toy. He has come and told me the same thing ten times since three o'clock. I am sure I will hear it again a few times before he goes to bed. Yesterday he spent all day writing a song about his favorite toy. He sung it to me over and over and over. It was very interesting.

Sew Long for Now!

This a picture of a pair of fleece socks I made last evening for our ASG's community service project. These are so easy to make. They require three pieces and it took me no time to put them together. The nursing home I visit once a month listed socks as a need for residence for their Christmas wish list. I think I will make some, but I will put non-skid fabric on the bottom. Most of the residence at the facility we visit do not wear shoes and that will be safer for them.

I have been busy lately with non sewing related things. Even though we do lessons all year around here, come August I get the bug to organize. I usually makes lesson plans and other scheduling. I have spent the past several days working on 52 weeks of plans. We heard from Lt. Col. Cool last evening. He survived h*ll week. He sounded very good and upbeat. Classes started today for him. We are all looking forward to next Sunday when we get to see him take his oath at New Market Battlefield.

Sew Long for Now!

Yesterday was a very productive day. In the evening I put binding on a case used to hold a sail. I also embroidered two gym bags for soccer players. This week is our start to get back into a routine week. We are slowly getting there.

Sew Long for Now!

Captain Kitty's pillow for her grandmother's birthday is finished. She cross stitched the picture and picked out the fabric to go with it. I sewed the border around and made it into a pillow. She did such a great job. I can't wait to mail the present off to Kansas tomorrow.

Sew Long for Now!

One of the things we have been busy with was getting our oldest ready and off to college. Saturday he began matriculation at Virginia Military Institute. It's not going to be an easy ride, but it is what he has always wanted and strived for. This week especially could you pray for him. They call this h*ll week. It is an intense time of physical and mental challenge to get him ready to become a VMI cadet.

Sew Long for Now!

It's done! This is the wall hanging I made for my mother-in-love, whose birthday is today. Blue is her favorite color and her first initial is L. I used an alphabet that has a rose bud to match the material used in the middle border and sashing. Captain Kitty cross stitched her a picture of a bird that we will be making into a pillow tonight.

Sew Long for Now!

My mother-in-love's birthday is next week and I have been working on a present for her. This is a close-up of one part of it. I finally finished "the curtains" tonight. I need to give them a press and Sunday I will give them to the customer at church. I will post a picture of the finished present when I...well finish it!

Sew Long for Now!

Here is a picture of my sweet baby Captain Chaos. His 10th birthday was this past week. He has the sweetest heart and I love the freckles on his face! I often tell him I am going to keep him just because he has handsome freckles. All our children are special because we were told we would never have children of our own. Then when I was pregnant with both boys the doctors told us they would not live. I spent three pregnancies in the hospital and went through many procedures and even surgery to have them all. I wanted six children at least. I am grateful to have half as many. After spending the first six months of Captain Chaos' pregnancy in the hospital we were told he would have a disease worse than Downs and never make it to his 1st birthday. They ask us to choose to have him. We told them there was no choice. Our faith would help us to love and deal with what ever God choose to bless us with. I remember the morning I went into the delivery room. They hadn't told us that they had gotten a special pediatric neurologist to come assist in the delivery because of what they expected. He introduced himself after I was strapped down on the table for the c-section. I was blown away. I don't know if it was anger or just perturbment. Couldn't they have warned me? CC came out healthy physically except for a huge umbiblical hernia. He has had some special characteristics since he was born. The doctors thought he was deaf, nope. They thought he had sight problems, nope. They thought he had autism, the early tests showed not. Reading about Aspergers lately has us convinced that he does have that. We don't think it will affect his life negatively and that we can help him overcome some of the challenges. He has such a loving heart and is my right hand.

Sew Long for Now.

One set of scrappy pillowcases to replace old worn ones. I did tuck in those serger threads last night before taking them out of the sewing room.

Sew Long for Now!

Another embroidery finished. This time a quilt square for a couple to add to an anniversary gift for friends.

Sew Long for Now!

My days have been so busy with laundry, cooking, gardening, lessons, cleaning, and relationships that my sewing is having a hard time fitting in. Over the weekend I did make it to my favorite local sewing machine dealer and JoAnn's for some supplies to work on things, but no actual sewing. Yesterday I was determined to complete something for some one so last night at 8:30 p.m. I embroidered four towels and a wash cloth for a girl to take to college next week. Don't you wish you had all day to sit and sew? Why do people have to eat and have clean clothes any way? LOL!

Sew Long for Now!

I recently came upon a a site called Burda Style that has free patterns. These are not Burda pattern company patterns, but they do seem simple and look interesting to try. Take a look and see what you think.

Sew long for Now!

An altar cloth I embroidered for an upcoming wedding. Such a delicate piece of linen.

Sew long for Now!