Here is one side of the new bag I have been working on.

Here is the other. I haven't quite finished. There is some hand sewing left to do. The pattern called for using 7 different fabrics and I only used five. I think I would even prefer to use 3. I like things a bit more uniform and matching. I like the bag and I like the way it went together. I would just like more uniformity in look.

Today looks like it's is going to be beautiful. It is cool and there is a nice breeze blowing. Yesterday was quite lovely. I weeded some in the upper garden. I sewed, cooked, cleaned, hung out laundry, and crocheted. I spent time with my family. It was a nice day. For supper I made an egg casserole and used some sage out of the herb garden in it with some deer sausage we had. It turned out pretty good. I have some lemon balm and white peppermint cut to use in tea on the counter in a pitcher.

Sew Long for Now!

The past two days have been full. I have stayed busy and gotten in some sewing. I have been working on my project. It seems that I only get to work on it for small sections of time so it is not quite finished yet. It has proceeded smoothly though. I finished the machine quilting and put the sides together. I attached pockets and now am at the zipper.

The gardens look good. I have blossoms on my beans, small tomatoes and cucumbers on the vine, even okra starting. My spinach never came up. When we finish pulling the radishes we are going to replow that area and sow some more bed lettuce.

Friday morning the boys went in the bee hive. They are still trying to locate the queen when they check the hive. They find larva, but she seems to evade their eyes when they look for her. The bees are busy. It has been very hot here and the hive is on a hill with no trees around it, so no shade. When it gets really hot in the afternoons the bees can be seen all in swarms sitting on the front of the hive. It is too hot in the hive to do any work. The General put up a shelter with a tarp over the hive to give them shade. Since Friday morning when he did that it has been in the 90's and the bees have been busy all afternoon Friday and Saturday instead of sitting on the front of the hive in large groups.

Last night I made a dessert I found at Chas's blog called brown sugar cinnamon focaccia bread. It was easy and totally delicious! Thanks so much Chas for the recipe!

Sew Long for Now!

We have been testing. We finally finished. We haven't done much else. I have been machine quilting a little on a project. It is not finished. I did get to read a great book during testing. The Homeplace by Gilbert Morris. It is book 1 in a series called the Singing River Series. It took place right before The Great Depression. I ordered book 2 through the library website this morning! That is one advantage to testing. I have to sit quietly and man the timer while they do the work and so I get to read! It is probably the most I get to read in one sitting at any time!

Sew Long for Now!

Skunk part 2

Last night when I left the house at about 3 a.m. to deliver papers I heard a noise in the live animal trap. That pesky rabbit has been back in my gardens lately. He sits there in it most mornings and stares at me. I looked at the trap and there was our little skunk friend! I left him because I had to go and I needed to figure out how to get rid of him without getting sprayed. About 6 a.m. I called the General. Needless to say he was not happy I had caught a skunk. He wanted to just let it go in our back yard. I reminded him that skunks eat bees. I told him I would get our oldest son up in a little while and get him to help me take the cage somewhere and let the skunk go. At 6:20 when I got home the skunk had dug up all the grass under the cage and made a bed and was laying down sleeping. I think he was a baby skunk because he was so small. I waited until 8:30 and got our oldest up and ask him to come help me. Now you must know the trap never really actually was locked all the way. One of the bars that is suppose to fall so the animal can't open the door didn't function and so the skunk was never actually locked in. When we went out the skunk was gone. He had tore up trap also. He broke the tray that holds the food that also causes the doors to swing shut. He must have finally figured out that the door was not really shut because there was no other way he could have got out. The General calls and ask if I took care of the skunk and I told him what happened. Now he is worried about his bees! Off to find a natural repellent for skunks.

Sew Long for Now!

Friday I spent the day shopping. If you don't know I hate shopping. Saturday I embroidered three blankets for a customer to give at a soccer banquet today. I have also been working on a new bag and the fabric you see here will make that bag! It calls for seven different fabrics. It will be interesting to see how this turns out. I usually make my own patterns up, but I wanted to try this pattern after I saw some bags made out of it. JoAnn's had a 50% coupon and a 10% off your total purchase on some holiday weekend a while back. 60% was a good time to buy a pattern.

I need to make some cards, maybe I will get to that this afternoon. I hope so.

Sew Long for Now!

Perfect words to describe the my life. My life has been a precious gift from God. Some days I forget that. I need to remember to be thankful everyday for the all the precious gifts God has given me; Jesus, my husband, my children, my home, my friends.... Actually, there are so many more, more than I can count and list.

These words are on a pillow I finished yesterday for a baby gift. I love the color of the fabric. It is for a little girl with a very Irish name. A precious gift to her lovely parents.

Yesterday was another lovely day here. The weather was nice, the windows were open. I worked in the garden and it is looking good. I hung out clothes and worked with the children on school work. I did household chores and went to the grocery. I sew this pillow and pulled out fabric to try to decide about making a purse. Just an ordinary day, put a precious gift. How I love days that are ordinary. Today looks to be similar and I look forward to it!

Sew Long for Now!

It was a nice summer day yesterday here. The sky was that beautiful deep shade of blue with only whisp of clouds. It was not to hot and there was a nice breeze blowing. We shut off the a/c and opened the windows. I didn't do any sewing. We went to the post office, the library, the bank, and the gas station. I tied up my tomatoes. I spent some time sitting on the back verendah.

For supper I had ran out of salad dressing so I found a recipe for ranch dressing from a back issue of Country Home magazine and made that. It was good, not as thick as store bought though. I used parsley from my herb garden in it. I had also cut some kale earlier in the day and used that in stir fry for supper. Fixing supper was a nice chore yesterday because captain kitty and the little bee keeper both helped me cut up vegetables and get it ready. It was nice to have them in the kitchen and all three of us working together.

Early this morning it was in the 50's. Today promises to be beautiful. Temperatures in the 70's and sunshine. This is the kind of weather I love.

Sew Long for Now!

Poster from allposters.com

Yesterday I took the sleeves off this shirt to make it a summer shirt. It's 100% cotton. I had bought it at Goodwill and decided to make it sleeveless for summer. The other shirt I did this to took me two days and a lot of work. I was beginning to think that making a shirt from scratch would have been easier. I spent some time thinking about how to go about it before tackling this shirt. I knew there had to be an easier method than ripping the whole sleeve out and then either trying to hem it on the bias or using binding. I decided since I paid so little for the shirt I would try another method and see if it worked. I cut the sleeve off, but left 1 inch of material from the former sleeve attached. The I folded that material under once to cover the raw edges and again to make it even with the shoulder seam already on the shirt. I pinned it and then stitched it down using the seam already on the shirt as a guide. Since it was 100% cotton and lightweight already there wasn't a lot of bulk to the seam. It came out nice! It took maybe 1/2 hour to complete. I was happy with that method. I don't know if you can tell by the photo, but the shirt has a collar and buttons down the front. I would like to find some thin cotton, very thin and make some shirts for summer with long sleeves for myself. This one was for Captain Kitty. She always seems to be hot and wants sleeveless, but we have to find something decent for her to wear that doesn't show everything. Most of sleeveless shirts we have around here in the store are either too dressy (silky or some other unsuitable fabric) or too low cut for our standards. I would prefer something to cover up my arms from bugs and sun burn. As I was thinking about this project I was thinking that a really thin breathable cotton would be nice to try.

Sew Long for Now!

Today is the 14th and so I am participating in another day in my life with Jenny Wren and Co.

This morning I got up at 2:30 a.m. and our little bee keeper and I deliver papers. It was a nice morning. The temperature was not too hot so it was pleasant to deliver. We got home about 6:15 a.m. I was really tired for some reason so I decided since it was Saturday I could go back to bed and get a nap. I went back to bed until 8:30.

When I got back up I went out to check the gardens and water them. I decided not to weed today because I have them caught up pretty good. Everything is looking good. The General and I sat on the back verenda awhile and watched the bees. The temperatures have been so hot and this morning was not as hot with a nice breeze blowing. I called my Momma and talked to her awhile when I was sitting outside. The General was getting hungry so I came in to make breakfast.

We had egg burritos for breakfast. I made them with sauteed mushrooms, onions, and added grated cheese. After breakfast the customer brought me back the 12 shirts. She wanted the initial of the company embroidered on the middle of the back one inch below the collar. I went down to the sewing room to work on this while the General, Captain Kitty, and the little bee keeper went outside and cleaned the verenda and the basement stairwell. Below is a picture of the smallest hoop I own. I used this to embroider the initials on the shirts. I very rarely use this hoop because of it's size so it was fun to get to use it today.

We all finished up around the same time. I started a load of whites. The General and I next worked on our budget. We made a spreadsheet and worked on numbers and while doing this it started to rain! Yes, I was so happy to have rain. God watered my garden instead of me having to do it this evening. A friend called and his son was locked out of their house a couple of blocks away and he ask the General to let him in, but we couldn't find our copy of his house key so the General went and picked him up. Not long after the General got back the friend showed up and they went to have a chat so I went on line to read e-mail and blogs.

After our friend left I cooked supper. We had hamburgers, beans, salad, and fried ocra. The General came to help me with the hamburgers and ocra and I started making muffins because I have to help bring breakfast for Sunday School in the morning. We had supper and I packed the General's lunch for tomorrow, set up his coffee, and finished making muffins. I made 12 lemon seed poppy, 12 mixed berry, and 12 blueberry. The blueberry are for dessert here tonight. I laid out some frozen zucchini and thought I might make a batch of zucchini bread in the morning also. Captain Kitty put the laundry in the dryer. Whites are the only load I dry each week. I don't like my neighbors seeing all our unmentionables hanging on the line. Since she will be cleaning up the kitchen I came down to post this and then I am off to bed. It's a little later than usual, but since I had an extra nap today hopefully I will not be so tired in the morning. Sunday papers are a lot of work.

Here is a picture of Captain Kitty's cat Orion asleep on our bed. This is the life and how I would like to spend my days! I think I would like to spend my days like this, but I really know it would drive me crazy to lay around all day! He looks so comfortable though!

Sew Long for Now!

Our latest foe in the garden. Yesterday about 11 a.m. the little bee keeper went out to check something for me and he was growled at by a ground hog headed for our lower garden. The little bee keeper didn't take it well and went after the animal. Does that boy ever fear anything? After chasing it into it's hole he set the live animal trap back up.

What bees can do in a week is amazing. When they replaced the frames they couldn't do them all because the bees had filled up the lower plastic ones. On the second level when they pulled out one of the plastic frames it was dripping honey. They put that back. They only ended up replacing the ones in the top two levels. It all went well as far as I can tell.

I spent all day yesterday embroidering. I finished 12 shirts! Off to work in the garden.

Sew Long for Now!

I am trying to catch up on things. I finished making a table runner and three valances for a customer yesterday. Today I am embroidering 11 shirts for another. I have spent at least 1 1/2 hours everyday in our three garden patches. They are still over run with weeds right now. Why don't rabbit and birds like to eat weeds instead of the good stuff? That would sure save me a lot of work and frustration.

Last evening the General, Captain Kitty, and our little bee keeper went to our friend's home on Bent Mountain and made frames for the bee hive. I hear they will be replacing the plastic frames this evening.

Tuesday was a very hard day. We went to a viewing. One of our friends passed away. She was the wife of a man my husband used to work with. He took early retirement and so she was still young at 65. They treated us like part of their family and always included us in family celebrations and picnics. He has always been the one to till our gardens up until this year when we got our own tiller. She went to bed early Saturday night because she was tired and never woke back up. It has been harder on us because they had invited us to the annual Memorial Day picnic at their house and we couldn't go because we went to my neice's graduation from high school. The things you reflect on at times like these. I just pray it will help us to hold those we love nearer and dearer while we can.

Sew Long for Now!

Boy has it been busy around here. Lots of errands and outside work. We also went out of town Saturday and I ended up going out of town Sunday with the children. I am so behind on household tasks and sewing.

Thursday evening the General and little bee keeper opened up the hive for the first time by themselves and checked on the top frames. Not much was happening. On Friday the General's friend who is helping him learn this stuff came by and showed them how to take all the supers off and look down through them. They found brood in the main hive body. The queen is on this frame. They wanted to check on her and she is busy doing her thing. One thing they did notice was that we were given both wooden and plastic frames. The bees like the wooden frames better. They have not done as much work on the plastic frames. One day this week they are going to build wooden frames and replace all the plastic ones in the hive.

Saturday we went to Lt. Col.'s girlfriend's graduation in another county. We went to her folks house afterwards for a graduation party. It was mostly family and some friends. It was nice and laid back. I found out while there that she and Lt. Col. were singing a duet in church Sunday morning. While he is at college he attends church in that town and that is where he met this young lady. The General and I decided on the way home that it would be a nice surprise if I went up there Sunday morning to hear them. I called him when I got to the parking lot and he still didn't know I was there. Finally, I ask if he saved me a seat. He was surprised to find me standing there! He was really happy also. They sang beautifully. It was a Casting Crowns song off their new album, I think it is called East to West. Two more weeks and summer school will be over. Lt. Col. will then be home for a little while before heading back to college in August.

I cut out a matching table runner and three curtains for a customer last week that I need to get sewn up today. I also have lots of shirts to embroidery.

Sew Long for Now!

The perils of living in a big city! Last night when I went out to deliver the papers I was met by a skunk on the back verenda. I found two cucumber plants missing their leaves this morning. Hmmm, do skunks eat veggies? I will have to look that up. I know they eat grubs and we have found many holes dug in our yard this spring. I also know they eat bees and since we don't want this one eating our honey bees I will have to find a way to drive it away. Mothballs is one idea, but I don't know if they really work. Another may be to leave the back lights on for awhile. I doubt if that will work since I see lots of skunks while delivering papers and they don't seem bothered by peoples porch lights. I think we will move the live animal trap down the hill next to the where I saw it go under the fence and see what happens.

Sew Long for Now!

This picture was taken yesterday by the little bee keeper. A lone flower that popped up in our back yard. It had bloomed a few days ago, but by evening all the petals fell off. Yesterday we saw it again in the same spot. I think it may be a poppy, but am not sure.

It rained last evening. I was happy because we needed some for the gardens. It was a bit of a storm; thunder, lightening, and such. Last night I found out a tornado touched down in the Tanglewood part of town. We don't often have tornado's here in this valley between mountains.

Our little bee keeper's recital went great last night. I was so happy for him. He was nervous. This is only the second recital he has ever played. He took his books up with him when it was his turn, for security, but he had memorized all four pieces that he played. He really has a talent for the piano and I pray he will pursue it if for no other reason than music can bring such joy to lives.

I put the elastic in the casings of the bee suits. Thursday they will be opening the hive to check on the progress of the bees. They must be doing something up there they are always busy. Even during the rain last evening I saw them coming and going. Today I am hoping to work on a table runner and kitchen valances for a customer.

Sew Long for Now!

Yesterday was busy, but not too bad. I hung out two loads of laundry. Captain Kitty and I worked on weeding the upper garden. We did lessons. I finished CK's shirt and put the casings in the coveralls of the bee suits. We went to the grocery and library. I made supper and all the other every day chores that it takes to make a home.

Today our little bee keeper has his end of year piano recital. I look forward to it because to me he is doing so well and plays beautifully. I could be biased I guess! BWG.

I had best be off,

Sew Long for Now!

Today promises to be hot and sunny. It was very humid and warm this weekend. We had rain forecast all weekend, but it skirted around us here. Saturday morning Captain Kitty and I went to the downtown farmer's market. They had peaches from South Carolina and we wanted some. I can't wait until our local peaches are ready. The man I always buy them from said about a month more. He said in two weeks he would have cherries ready. I am so looking forward to making a pie. I found cucumber plants and planted eight more. I also picked up some lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, and tomatoes. It will be about a month before ours are ready.

Saturday afternoon Captain Kitty and I helped a friend's daughter and her dance group dress at their recital. Captain Kitty has helped for the past three years and this year my friend ask if I would help. It was so cute. We had 5 and 6 year olds. They had two dance numbers. The first one they had these beautiful ivory ballet outfits. The second number they dressed like ducks for a tap number. We had nine girls and they were great. They listened and did what they were suppose to. They went when they were suppose to. I don't know if I could ever be involved in that field all the time though. The chaos of hundreds of girls back stage getting ready and the coming and goings was just too much for me. I am so used to quiet and calmness. Even our little bee keeper is easier on his most chaotic days.

Today I hope to be busy. The garden is going to need more work than we have had to give it so far. I have several loads of laundry to do. It's library day. Just puttering on and of course there is sewing to do. I had to take in the shirt I took the sleeves off of because without sleeves it had a bigger gap around the arm hole than we would let CK wear. I finished that part and now just need to bind the edge of the armhole.

Sew Long for Now!

One of my herb planters

Can you believe this is the last day of May? Spring has just been rolling along. I did some sewing the last two days. I completely finished and mailed one baby pillow and embroidered the other. I hemmed a pair of pants for Captain Kitty and ripped the sleeves out of a pretty cotton button up shirt that I am going to make sleeveless for her. I need to hem the arm hole areas and the shirt will be ready.

On the garden front I replanted three hills of cucumbers. I bought seeds. We had read that seed companies are having a problem keeping up with demands this year. I didn't know what that would mean to buy seeds. In the package of cucumber seeds I bought there were only nine seeds! I was amazed. I expected more. Just enough for three hills. At least the way the General and I had been taught. We grew up being taught to plant three seeds to every hill of cucumbers. I am going to look around and see if anybody has any cucumber plants for sale. I still would like to plant more. I had eight hills planted and I think I have three left. I also planted cherry tomatoes in two planters I have. I bought a pack of lettuce seeds because I used all I have and want to replant them later in the summer as we use up what we are growing now.

Our excitement for yesterday came in the evening. When I went out to work in the gardens last evening after supper I almost stepped on a black snake. It was about two foot long. It was a small fella. Some may not understand why this was an event, but when you live in the city you don't see many snakes, well not of the animal kingdom! LOL!

Sew Long for Now!

Yesterday my husband called me from work with an idea. You see we live on a hill. We have for 18 years. Our front yard is all up hill then our home is on a flat spot and our back yard is up hill. It is a bear to mow. He or our oldest son do all the mowing because it is so steep. For years we have talked about what would work good on our front hill as ground cover to keep from having to mow it. We have watched our neighbors try different things like juniper. Nothing seemed to work for them. We have honeysuckle growing in our backyard wild. It has had to be cut down several times because it takes over the fences. His idea was to plant honeysuckle on the hill. He ask me to research it. The internet is a wonderful tool at times. I found information about using honeysuckle as ground cover. I found information about rooting honeysuckle. I found information about planting and then keeping honeysuckle under control. Cool! So here is some cuttings from our back yard honeysuckle that I am attempting to root and then we will plant on the front hill to see if we can get it to take. What is really nice is the price tag. Free. When we built our front porch they couldn't destroy all the concrete of the old porch and it looked messy to me under there. I wanted to get some of that crushed red brick and cover it up, but the price was not something we could pay at the time so we left it. Now a couple of years later nature solved my problem for that other great price, Free. Wild English Ivy began to grow under there. I have no idea where it came from, there is none anywhere near our home in our neighborhood. All I know is each year it spreads and now the whole area under our front deck is covered in English Ivy and looks beautiful.

Here is another thing I got for that great price, Free. One of my newspaper customers was throwing it away. It had a crack down one of the back slats. I brought it home. My husband spent $2 and some change took 5 minutes and put a metal brace on the slat. Works great and I love it. I wish I could find a couple of more for the great price. I don't want to get off on one of my soap boxes about our throw away society, so I will share what I found when going into the garden this morning...

The beans are coming up! Isn't that beautiful?

I didn't do any sewing yesterday so this morning I already have my embroidery machine sewing away beside me. I think the cloudy rainy day yesterday just left me feeling blah and I didn't motivate myself to do much. Today promises to be in the 70's and sunny!

Sew Long for Now!

This robin is living near us and is a very brave and forward bird. This morning I did some work in the gardens and then I sat down on the back verandah in my rocking chair and read scriptures. After I finished I sat there awhile and enjoyed watching a woodpecker going to town on a telephone pole in the corner of four yards. I was enjoying the coolness of the morning, the songs of the birds, and the next thing I know this robin was sitting there just talking to me. No, not in human words. It was just twittering away. It isn't the first encounter I have had with it in the last several weeks. It is a very brave bird. It comes very close to us. This morning it hopped around near me and then just went off on it's merry way. We haven't had many robins near our house. We usually have these two blue jays that live near and so they seem to chase others away. I don't know if this is the usual personality of robins, but it is interesting!

I did get the sewing room cleaned yesterday and the kitchen mopped. We got lessons done. I mailed my father-in-law his birthday present, went by the library, and took Captain Kitty to the orthodontist. It was a busy day, but it didn't feel too bad. Speaking of my father-in-law's birthday, we sent him a very neat present. He is 71 this year and I always have a hard time buying presents for him because he never really needs or wants anything. I took some pictures of the family I had taken since January on a cd to CVS. I used their machine and made a photo book for him. I was able to add captions also. It looks like a scrapbook, but was loads easier. I was very happy with the way it turned out. I hope he will like it.

I am going to try again today to get to some sewing I want to do done. Let's cross our fingers!

Sew Long for Now!

Sometimes I mention our homeschooling here. It is not something I go on and on about. It is and has been our way of life for 13 years. I do get upset at the ignorance of some people and I do often chose things because of my convictions. I know I cannot as an American consumer avoid every thing that offends me, some that are blatant I can though. Subway will be one of those. The article here will explain why.

Sew Long for Now.

I never got the sewing room clean. One thing led to another and I got sidetracked by stuff and then the weather was gorgeous so I spent some time outside. My sister tried to show me how to do Suduko puzzles when she stopped by. I spent some time trying to figure out a puzzle. Unfortunately, it was rated hard and I didn't do very good. She told me to try Monday's puzzle. They put them in the paper and the ones on Monday are easy and they progressively get harder as the week goes on. She loves them and so does our youngest older brother. She was all excited because our paper had three in it on Sunday and I told her to take them.

Sitting outside has been so nice lately, the weather is not too hot and there has been a nice breeze. The smell of honeysuckle is every where. Oh, how I love the smell of honeysuckle and Mimosa trees.

Yesterday the General had off for the holiday and so he side tracked me all day and I got hardly anything done. I have been watering my gardens a little to keep it from drying out too much. On the upper garden I have had to cover the cucumber plants every night because the rabbits ate several of them the first night we planted them. I cut the bottom and top parts off empty 2 liter bottles and put them over the plant. They act like a sleeve to protect the small plants until they can start vining. The rabbits usually leave them alone once they start growing vines. Every morning I take these plastic sleeves off, if you don't they magnify the sun's rays and that can wilt the plant.

Maybe today I will get the sewing room clean and some sewing done. Hope so.

Sew Long for Now!

It's Sunday morning and I am not at church. I have sick children. I am also waiting for my oldest sister to come by with my oldest son on her way to drop him off at school. Complicated eh? LOL. Friday my oldest sister who lives in Northern Virginia came down to Lexington to visit a friend then she was headed down to Stuart to our youngest sister's oldest daughter's high school graduation. LOL, don't worry my husband says it's a Southern thing. She kindly picked up Lt Col. and dropped him off here. Then yesterday we went down to Stuart to the graduation and he stayed with his aunt and cousins for the night and today my oldest sister is kindly bringing him by to pick up his clean clothes and stuff and drop him back off at school on her way home. Makes perfect sense to me. LOL.

I haven't sewn since I embroidered those shirts Friday morning. I worked outside Friday and then went to the store. Of course Saturday I was gone all day. I did have something sewing related happen Saturday. My niece's graduation party was a combined party with her friend at her friend's grandmother's house. The grandmother has a pool. I had never met these people and so when we got there I noticed a quilting machine in her basement. I ask and found out she teaches quilting. She is such an artist! She gave me a tour of her quilts in her home. They were amazing! It was so inspiring. So I enjoyed that!

Today I may clean my sewing room. Our little bee keepers last fish died and so they cleaned out the fish aquarium and moved it to his bedroom in preparation for his getting new fish. Now, I have more space in my sewing room and I might try to get some of my stash out of the closet and find a way to see it better.

Sew Long for Now!

Yesterday I had a slow start to my day. I thought I just wasn't going to get much done. I seemed to get distracted and interrupted. Finally, I did accomplish something though. I got two loads of laundry done and hung out. The wind was blowing just enough to dry them fairly quickly. I vaccumed the living room, bathroom, and kitchen floors. Lessons were completed. I embroidered 4 more patches, and worked in both gardens.

This morning I have already finished embroidering four shirts for two ladies. So, this day is starting on a better foot.

This is a picture at the upper garden looking down on the house. I live in SW Virginia. Everything is up hill! You can't see from this photo, but down on the right is the other garden. If I had my way I would plant the whole yard. I think the General would like to plant the hills so he wouldn't have to mow them!

Sew Long for Now!

We got the upper garden tilled and almost all planted yesterday. I still have two rows of beans to put in. This picture is of Captain Kitty with her feet buried in the soil. My children love to play in the dirt, even my older children. You would have thought we were having a party in our backyard this week. When we worked on the gardens we all went out and we did as much playing in the dirt as working. We all commented at one time or another how much we love the smell of fresh plowed dirt. I guess it's those German and Scottish farmer genes in our ancestory. We had as much fun together doing this as going on an outting some where!

I still haven't done any sewing since Monday. I haven't done any laundry since Monday! I haven't done any house cleaning since...since last week. I am not talking everyday tasks like making beds, washing dishes, etc. I mean the ceiling fans need dusting and the floors need mopping kind of stuff. They house is straight just needs some extra tlc. Hopefully, I will get some sewing in this afternoon. Off to hang out laundry and check the gardens.

Sew Long for Now!

Picture taken by Captain Kitty overlooking our valley

I feel like I am on that ride at the park, you know the one, that is round and has bars radiating from the center. You and several others get on it and beg your Mom to push you faster. It spins you round and round. I really never liked that ride growing up so I definitely don't like it now! I just want it to stop and get off, but who ever is doing the pushing thinks it is funny and keeps pushing me faster and faster around.

Life this past week has been a series of days of running around. I just want to hide in bed and never get up. I don't like all this running around. Everyone knows I don't. I thought today I would finally get to stay home. Noooooo. I have to take the van in to get new tires installed this morning. I have to go with the General to his swallow therapy appointment. What about my sewing? What about my laundry? What about the rest of my garden I need and want to plant? I keep telling myself that God never gives us more than we can handle. I can do all things through Christ. This is the Lord's day and let Him guide my steps.

Sew Long for Now!

We live in what is called the Star City. The nickname comes from this huge star that sits atop a local mountain.

Saturday afternoon our Sunday School class had a picnic up on this mountain and I took this picture of our city from the overlook. I actually live more towards that hill in the middle of the photograph between the city and the mountains in the background.

It has been busy here the last several days. Friday the General picked up Lt Col Cool from school. His first year of college is over. He survived. Today I take him back, summer school starts tomorrow. So about six more weeks and then he will be home for about six weeks and he is going back for his second year.

We bought plants for the garden this weekend. We bought a new tiller. Then it rained and showered and rained. So the plants are not in the ground yet. I will get my herbs in today.

Right now I have to leave to take Captain Kitty to play practice. Tonight is her play. If you have time stop by her blog and read the great poem she wrote.

Our little bee keeper got his first bee stings this weekend. I was so proud of him and the way he handled it. He was adding to the water jar and blew on the bees to move them. They didn't take that well and he got about 5-10 stings. He said he learned that you don't blow on bees. I bought him the coverall part of his bee suit yesterday and the General is going for the rest tomorrow.

Sew much more, but no time so I will try to talk to you later.

Sew Long for Now!

Yesterday we were expecting rain, but the sun came out until the afternoon. I was able to hang out my dish clothes and tea towels, which I had soaked over night. Then I hurried and washed two quilts and a fleece blanket to hang out. I made two pairs of jeans into capris for Captian Kitty and I made some patches for 4-H. I had some pain in my arm so I didn't finish my embroidery. I ended up taking a nap yesterday afternoon because I forgot last night was Bernina club. Since it is every other month I have tried to go to that. I was so thankful I went last night. They covered how to use the ruffle foot. I bought one last year on sale and have never taken the time to figure it out. Now I don't have to! She showed us how to use it. She also showed us a great technique for using a tailors tack foot and putting fancy edging around two pieces of material you butt together. I have one of those feet and I don't ever remember using it so that was useful information.

Today Lt. Col. Cool comes home for a little break between the end of the school year and the beginning of summer school. I have to finish the embroidery because the shirts are being picked up today. I am not sure what else I shall do involving sewing. I have so many ideas I want to work on though. I really need to spend some time and clean up my sewing room. I have neglected it lately. We don't do lessons here on Friday because it is one of the General's days off so I might have extra time in my day, I am very tired though. Even taking a nap when you only sleep for 5 hours it catches up with you, so I will probably take a 1/2 hour nap sometime today. Tomorrow I have to stay up late again. I am not good with messing with my sleep pattern and this week has been so out of wack with the beginning of next week not promising to be better. By about next Wednesday I should be good and teary and cranky.

Sew Long for Now!

No exciting sewing pictures. I did embroidery four shirts yesterday and I took one of the pair of pants we bought for Captain Kitty at Goodwill and made them into capris for her to wear last night.

This picture was taken last Thursday when they added the rest of the parts to the hive and they checked the bees. I got a laugh yesterday about the bees. We have a jar of sugar water sitting on the landing deck of the hive. We put it there to help them out until they become established and find enough nectar. Since added the other parts to the hive the bees have really hit the water. They are working hard to fill those other supers. When the General came home from work he needed to add water. I fixed up the solution and he brought me the jar to fill. When he went to put it back on the bees were pretty mad that he made them move to put the jar back and he got chased down the hill. teehee. I just thought that was funny, I guess I shouldn't laugh.

Last night was awards night at Awana. Our little bee keeper is our last child in Awana and so I took a nap yesterday and stayed up to see him get his award for finishing his book. Next year will be his last year and he will get his Timothy award if he completes his book. I got a little teary eyed watching all those cubbies and sparks then thinking that I have gone through this for all these years and after next year my last child will be moving up into junior high. It seems so unreal, sometimes the years seem to fly by. A friend of mine had her last child, her fifth, finish Awana last night. All of hers started out as cubbies and went through at least the sixth grade. I thought about this young man as they mentioned this. In the last year I have noticed how mature and kind he has become. He has grown up so much. I was thinking how I hope that our little bee keeper will also go through this metamorphis. He's a great guy already, but I see so much need for maturity in him. Another friend wants him to go to summer camp with her son. She doesn't want her son to go this year by himself because this will be his first time. We usually make the children wait until they are older before we let them go away and spend a week without us anywhere but Grandparents. We let Captain Kitty go a few years ago, she was so much more mature at that same age than him. The General said he couldn't go. He needs to mature and start living on our planet before we felt comfortable. He just seems to be off somewhere else all the time. He never remembers if he has been somewhere. He doesn't remember the names of the children in our neighborhood he plays with. He is very bright, but his thoughts are usually on dreaming up something to build or some fantasy world he creates. These are not bad things in my opinion, but they do make you have second thoughts about letting him do certain things. My friend was not happy about our decision and insisted she would talk my husband into letting him go. I have to laugh again. She doesn't know my husband very well!

Today I am going to embroidery little emblems on the backs of those four shirts. I am also going to make two more pair of pants we bought into capris for CK. I need to work on more patches for 4-H. Off to sew!

Sew Long for Now!

I wanted to join Little Jenny Wren in her day in my life post.

My day started at 2:15 a.m. today. I got up hoping the papers would be on time, but of course they were not. I packed the General's lunch and did some reading. Finally about 3 a.m. I got the little bee keeper up because he was going to help me this morning. The papers arrived at 3:30 a.m. and we hurried as fast as we could getting them out. We did great because we finished and were home by 6:15 a.m. The little bee keeper went back to bed and I talked to the General before he left for work at 6:30 a.m.

I came on the computer to do my paper work and read e-mail and blogs next. About 8 a.m. I started laundry. At 9 I got Captain Kitty up. She woke up on the wrong side of the bed and when I saw what a bad job she did of her evening chores it didn't help my attitude. She sat down at the table to eat breakfast and read a book. I was sweeping the living room and kitchen. After I calmed myself I sat down to talk to her about her work ethic, which caused a great amount of tears. Sigh, I don't like moodiness. Finally, after getting her to calm down and talking to her about what was expected she went to get dressed and I ate my breakfast. During this time the little bee keeper got up. I got the first load of clothes on the line.

After breakfast both children began their lessons for the day and I got the second load of laundry on the line in the midst of cleaning the stove and oven. I do not care to clean the oven. It is suppose to be a self cleaning oven, but in the 17 years I have owned it that feature has never worked. Since I dislike this task I had put it off for too long and it took a while to get it clean. I don't use oven cleaner. During all this I would stop to help with lessons so that prolonged the job also. Also during this the little bee keeper took a break between studies and checked on the bee hive. Ants had decided to descend on it and he felt I needed to do something about it. I try to avoid working with the hive. I like to leave it in the hands of the General and him. At his insistance though I called the General who ask me to put some ant deterant around the hive. We don't own any protective gear yet. The General is going next week to get some, he has to drive to another city to visit the store. So I sucked in my feelings of fear and went to do the task. Of course the little bee keeper shadowed me and was flicking the ants off the hive while I put the stuff in a circle around it. The bees buzzed around me as I did this, but the little bee keeper told me to just walk calmly and not make any sudden movements. I was glad when this task was completed. A customer stopped by with four shirts for me to embroidery. The children finished up their work about 1 p.m. and I got ready and ran to the store. I hurried home because I needed to take the little bee keeper to his piano lessons. While I was at the store Captain Kitty and the little bee keeper helped me out by cleaning the bathroom. On the way to piano I stopped to pay a bill and then after piano lessons we came home and I made supper. Captain Kitty helped me bring in the laundry while supper was cooking. I made a tuna casserole, baked a sweet potato for me, and made a salad. I don't eat much meat and try to avoid pasta. While I was setting the table for supper the General arrived home with more bee hive equipment that a friend had given him. After supper I packed the General's lunch for today, the little bee keeper cleaned out the van from the haul of dirty bee hives, and Captain Kitty cleaned up the dishes. I put away the clothes from washing and by 7 p.m. I was in bed. Everyone else stays up later than I, so they all settled down to watch tv.

Sew Long for Now!

Good morning, here is the hive with all the parts together. This picture was taken last week. The weather has become overcast and chilly again here. I have no sewing pictures today, because I did no sewing yesterday. I took Captain Kitty to her drama practice. While she was there I did lessons with our little bee keeper in the car. Afterwards we went to Goodwill because CK had no shorts or capris. We found some great buys. I found her 4 shirts, 3 pair of shorts, and 4 pair of pants. On the way home we stopped by the library to drop off and pick up books. When we got home she had to do her lessons and then the General was home and supper had to be fixed and the day was over. Time just seems to fly on some days. Today is our little bee keeper's piano lessons and usually the General takes him, but some one found out we started a hive and invited the General to come by after work and have his pick of his bee keeping stuff. This man is no longer keeping bees and was going to throw the stuff away. I told the General I would take him to lessons. So add that into other things I have to do today. At least I only have one customer order for sewing right now. It will all get done, if not today tomorrow, or next week. This last picture is of our little bee keeper smoking the hive last week when they put the rest of it together. He just jumps right in and does what ever needs to be done. Amazing.


The weather today is suppose to warm up. I am so glad. I don't really like hot weather, but I would prefer not jumping back and forth either. I am ready to plant my gardens.

Sew Long for Now!

It's been a busy weekend. I finished the table topper for the present. Aren't Momma's wonderful? She didn't notice any of the flaws. I finished embroidering the shirts and jacket. I also hemmed three pair of pants. Friday was the General and I's 22nd wedding anniversary. We never celebrate because two days after our third anniversary, on Mother's Day we gave birth to our first child. This year though we actually got to go out to eat together, alone. Said child, who turned 19 yesterday, was off in the woods playing survival games. Of course Saturday was spent at my parents with some of my brothers, sisters, and nieces celebrating Momma's 74th birthday and Mother's Day. Sunday I had a horrible sinus headache and went back to bed when I came home from the paper routes. I missed church and spent the rest of the day in my p.j.'s. I went back to bed early. The children were great and I got two beautiful cards and lots of attention. One card included a coupon for ten free hugs (this was from a teenager!) The other card, from my little bee wrangler, was in the shape of a honey comb. On the back it said I was the "qeen bee and sweeter than honey." Awwwww! They can be so cute and sweet. You just gotta love em!

Sew Long for Now!

I spent a lot of time yesterday working on my present. I sewed all the strips I had cut out into five sections of eight fabrics each and then I cut them into triangles. Today I have to get these triangles sewed together. I only have today and tomorrow to finish this project. I also have three shirts and a jacket to embroidery by tomorrow. I also have to go to the store, the cupboards are bare. I also promised last week to meet a friend today for a play date at the park. I also have to be home by the time the General gets off work because he and his friend will be here to put the rest of the bee hive together. I also have to pick up a cake for our oldest because his 19th birthday is Sunday and tomorrow morning he is going back to school for a week and so we will not see him on his birthday. I am calm, I can do this. Well, I can do it if God wills it. I just have to trust Him and let Him have today. The day so far hasn't been going the way I would have chose. The papers were late and then within the first fifteen minutes of starting to deliver them I developed a flat tire. I had to call the General at 4:30 a.m. this morning to come help me fix the tire. We got home in a reasonable time though for all the trouble.

Yesterday our little bee wrangler took 40 more pictures of the bees. He got quite close for some of these pictures. We don't have a telephoto lens! This is just one shot. I ask him if the bees didn't mind and he told me they didn't like it, but they let him. Sometimes I am just amazed.


Sew Long for Now!

Today's post is filled with bee pictures. This first picture is of the main body of the bee hive that now sits filled with bees in our back yard. All of these pictures have been taken by our 10 year old bee keeper. He spent most of yesterday "checking" the bees. He is not afraid to get up close and personal with them as these other pictures will atest to.

He began a journal yesterday. He is going to write the temperature morning, noon, and night then write entries about the bees activities. I need to order some bee suits if he is going to keep wanting to be this close to the bees! This is becoming such a great learning project. He is practicing his penmanship and outlining also. Oh, and don't forget photography.

Besides the buzz about the bees here, (sorry I couldn't resist) I embroidered 3 shirts yesterday and cut out all the strips for the birthday/Mother's Day present. I was thinking about what I write. You know I do a lot more things in a day than I write about. I often do not include the simple tasks I do in a day. Just some of the things that stand out. I have been reading a blog of a homemaker in Tasmania and one day a month she writes everything she does in a day on her blog. I love to read it. I like to see what other homemakers do. If I were to write out what I do in a typical day what would it look like? How about yesterday?

I got up at 2:30 a.m. and got dressed. I packed my husband's lunch and copied things on the family calendar that I hadn't written. The papers were late so I got our daughter up around 3 a.m. and we left to deliver papers. We finished delivering papers at 5:45 a.m. and came home. I fixed some toast and talked to my husband until he left at 6:30. At 6:30 I came down and did my paper work, read and replied to e-mails, and read blogs until 8:00. At 8 I hung up my first load of laundry. When I came in I dusted the livingroom, opened the windows and curtains, swept the living room and kitchen. At 9 a customer came and dropped off sewing. Next I pulled out our bill file and sat down and wrote out bills. Around 10 I helped our youngest with his math, language arts, and read from The Life of St. Augustine out loud to him. At 11 I woke our daughter and hung out a second load of laundry. By then our oldest son was also up (he's home on leave from school for this week.) I made pancakes for lunch. Next I wrote out a list and gave our oldest some money so he could run to the grocery for me. After this I worked on my sewing until 3 when my husband came home. I talked to him for a while before he took our youngest to piano lessons. I went back to work in the sewing room. About 4 I stopped for the day and went to begin supper and check our daughters school work. Our daughter and I worked on supper together. She had already brought in the clothing and folded it for me. We had supper around 5. After packing my husband's lunch from supper leftovers I went outside and sat in the rocking chair while he and our youngest checked on the bees. Another customer showed up about 5:30 bringing me pants to hem. At 6:30 I popped some air popcorn and watched 1/2 hour of tv. I went to bed at 7. LOL, that's a typical day. I love my unexciting life.

Sew Long for Now!

Yes, I did find material in my stash for the birthday/Mother's Day present. Yes, that was all I basically got done yesterday. Sad isn't it. Today I must do more. With that I am off to start the day!

Sew Long for Now!

Efforts for Sunday afternoon card making. I used a simple idea. I also made all the cards the same since I needed 6 thank you cards and two Mother's Day cards. Mondays are a strange day around here lately. Captain Kitty is in a play this month and for the past several months we have to be out of the house at 9:30 a.m. to get her to practice. I don't get home from our Sunday night prayer group until late. So instead of going to bed early and getting 7-8 hours of sleep I don't go to bed until later and get 4-5 hours of sleep. That makes me tired when I get home from work so I lay back down for an hour or two. When I lay back down I don't get my day started or anything done before I leave the house. Everything just gets off. Add in that today the General and I are going to Lexington to pick up Lt. Col. Cool and my day is all out of whack! I don't think I am going to get anything accomplished. Maybe I will get to go through my closet of material and find what I need to make a birthday present. My Momma's birthday is Sunday, so is Lt. Col. Cool's. Since LTC has to be back at school Friday for some trip over the weekend and his last exam is today he is coming home for a couple of days to relax and to visit. It will be hard to not have him here on his birthday. This has been a year of many hard things with him. You know these days are coming, but you try not to think of them when they are little. Days when your baby will grow up and start living a life away from you at times. I remember days when he was small and played under my feet in the kitchen as I worked and now he is off with a wave and the kitchen floor is barren of cars and trucks. I know there will be more birthdays, Mother's Days, and holidays he will not be around. It's just getting used to that idea is sometimes harder than it seems on the outside. I smile though because I want him to become a man. I spent 19 years helping him get to this point.

Sew Long for Now!

Revise that list. One baby pillow half finished. One is off to be delivered today!

Sew Long for Now!

TADA! I just had to pop in again this afternoon. I finished my bag. Several months in the making and it is finally complete. That suede is hard to sew through when you get four or more layers of it together. It feels so good to have another UFO done. What's left on the cutting table? Two baby pillows half done, material to cut out shopping bags, hemming for Captain Chaos, and 3 shirts + 1 jacket to embroider for a customer. Oh, and the badges I can't forget the badges. I found a way to make them look the way I wanted. I will write about it later when I have them done and can show you what I finally settled on.

Sew Long for Now!

Yesterday was a beautiful spring day here and not a bit of sewing got done. I spent most of the day outside. I guess for some one who has to take a prescription for vitamin D that's a good thing. My body has stopped producing all the vitamin D it needs and the doctor has had to put me on an extremely high dose of vitamin D by prescription, will I ever be normal? Today they called for rain, but it is looking like another gorgeous day so I am off to do some more things outside. I don't know if I will get any sewing done today. The General commented last night that it was a perfect day, all of us working together around the house. He loves to have the children work with him on projects. We all like to be together.

Sew Long for Now!

Silver thread monogram on blue jacket

Yesterday I worked in the yard and on the wash and ironing. I did redo a digitize I set up to change the size for another project. I talked to the General about how last week I seem to get so much done and this week I just couldn't seem to. This morning I did embroider two jackets already. I need to go hang out clothes and do some house work. I hope to work on some unfinished projects I have sitting here this afternoon. When the General comes home from work I need to help in the yard again. He is mowing and I am raking some to collect the grass for my compost bin. He will bag the backyard today so that will be a little easier to get the grass in the bin. We live on a hill. Our front and backyard are steep with a few flat spots. It is hard to bag our whole yard because of the steep incline while mowing.

Oops I almost forgot I wanted to tell you about supper last night. The friends who gave us the bee hive also gave us some deer and elk meat. We have never had elk. I decided the best bet would be to mix it in something to find out the taste first. I mixed one pound of ground elk with one pound of ground beef and made spag. sauce. It tasted great, no complaints. I froze the leftovers for later.

Sew Long for Now!