Riding Lessons

Rocky and the kids, of course the boys need no lessons. . . all of the guys are giving baby girl lessons, but she was doing pretty good holding her own!

What happens when I do devotions and leave the 6 and 4 year old to watch the baby. . .

I have no other words.

Knitting bag?

I am a gal who loves bags and shoes, but with being a stay at home mommy I don't have need or a budget for a ton of them. I did get excited though about Hip Mountain Mama's giveaway for an Off Hand Designs Fiona Tote in Foliage print.
I have been a big fan of their bags ever since I spyed a Tonya bag in a knitting magazine. I cannot afford one, ever, so I just look and admire and think they are pretty. . . all the while dreaming that one day, maybe just maybe something crazy will happen like I win one. . .
Suzy has a really cool site with items for both parenting and knitting. Just up my alley!

Baby girl gets her own room

It's almost completely finished. We have taken my craft room this week from full of yarn, fabric, fiber, patterns, tools, machines, etc. to this:

After dragging everything out we painted the walls a pretty purple. Rocky found cool Ikea storage shelves on craigslist so we went and picked them up. And lookee, EVERYTHING fits!

Not all of my stash/supplies left the closet, but much of it did and now Z's clothes, shoes and blankets fit nicely in here.

And today we finished the bed. I've never refinished furniture before. This was my bed from when I was a toddler until I was close to 8 I think. It had a dark stain finish and a cat decopage on the footboard. Very vintage, very retro, very icky after being in storage for 20+years.
It's a youth bed. Bigger than a crib/toddler smaller than a twin. We had painted it white and used it for the boys nursery from when M was born. I didn't want white for Zuri and the boys had been rough on the finish so it was going to need some touching up anyway so I stripped it down to the bare wood. Hours of stripping, sanding, peeling, picking, etc. later and a coat of satin poly finish and voila. The beautiful Cherry bed comes to life!

Now we just need to get her bedding, hang a few wall decorations and the window treatment and her room will be complete!

The day has come. . .

for Zuri to get her own bedroom. . . we knew this day would come and it crept up on us. We've been avoiding doing anything about it, but today we started making it happen.
Several major areas in our home were disrupted in the attempts and at the end of the day only part of her room is cleared. I won't show you her room yet since it's not done, but here's where 1/2 the stuff went that was in there. My new sewing area is 1/2 of the bonus room. It will be an adjustment to be sewing upstairs and have much of my supplies still downstairs. We have discussed some remedies but until we can get Zuri into her room, and settled, this is how it will be. This is not the permanent solution. Our plans are to still construct a 2nd bonus room for my crafting room. For now I am pleased with how it has worked out with the space we had. It beats the alternative of having to pack it all away!
The plus side is that I can attempt to sew while the kids are playing sometimes too!

 

plying lace Malabrigo at Stitches South on my Bee

spring time

It's been so nice outside. Rocky has gotten a ton of work done on our Avion. Here's the new flooring. . . and of course Zuri.

The kids have been getting more and more use from their playground. Zuri loves her slide, but loves her swing even more.

My Rays, just swinging away.

Happy Birthday??? The Herd has grown again! (for the last time)

When I started collecting sewing machines I wanted to get a Singer Featherweight, a machine in the 221 series. I just didn't think it would be possible. Everything I saw about them, the cost was too high for me to add one to my collection. If sewing was my livelyhood, and this machine would do something for me that no other one could, I could forsee it, but it isn't and doesn't so I had pretty much written off owning one.
Shortly after finding this machine love, I found out that one of our neighbors used to be the Regional Sales Director for Singer Co. for many years and happened to have a ton of stuff that he had obtained, collected, aquired, hoarded, etc. Including 3 featherweights. He however wanted current asking price so though there were 3 of them just up the road I still only had my sights set on one, and not until he significantly reuduced the price.
Well 2 weeks ago while conversing with yet another neighbor, he informed me that neighbor #1 came by to inform me that he had another buyer, and needed to know whether or not I wanted the machines, as he wanted to give me first dibs.
I had not spoken to him about these machines in over 3 years. He had not touched them in over 3 years when he had gotten them out to show me. I had not forgotten, and he at 89 had not either.
So I went to speak with him. He asked if I was still interested and mentioned his price. I almost choked on my spit. I cautiously asked him again. He repeated himself, and said he wanted me to have all three! I said, ahem, yes, but let me speak with my husband, as I turned on heel and levitated back to the van where Rocky was waiting to hear the bottom line.
That day after a bit of deliberation these two came home, to stay.
On the left a 1964 221-K with perfect paint and case.
On the right a 1951 Centennial 221-, commemorative machine marking Singer's 100 years of Sewing machine production and sales. Also with case, manual and accessories!

The third followed this Sunday, another 221- from 1948. There was one thing that we wanted to work out with the foot controller. Rocky got the controller from him, and an extra cord, and after about 10 minutes to replace the power cord, it worked!
The third one will be for sale after I have a chance to clean and recondition it and it's case.
I cannot believe how these machines were just placed right down the road for me in the hand of someone who had no desire to get rid of them until the right person came along. I will cherish the two that I keep!

So though I had a crappy birthday, with being sick and having sick kids and not even getting to go out or anything, this pretty much makes up for it! One of my crafty wishes has come true!

New Wheel

While Rocky and I were in Glendora for New Pastor Training I got to try out a spinning wheel that has just been released to be sold March 1. Rocky said that I could get a 2nd wheel, and I have been searching most of 2008 for the perfect one. This one so far is it. I preordered it because I loved it so. My SpinOlution Bee.
She arrived March 11th!

Zuri was there to help me get the package, as you can see we opened it immediately, yes that's the front door behind Zuri. She thinks the bobbins look like her brother's tinker toys and immediately determined that whenever she saw one, she was going to try to confiscate it as hers.

This made it rather difficult for me to test my new wheel, which I have named Melina. It means Honey. The fluidity of honey is a good visualization for how she spins. This wheel is so smooth and easy to treadle.

But eventually I was able to finish up this yarn, 281 yards around dk weight merino hand dyed. Navajo plyed. This is tightly spun as it comes in at 7.7 oz.

I love Melina, she's a great wheel!
I plan to keep and still use Bellaranea my Bellus from Heavenly Handspinning. It is an Irish tension (flyer brake) whereas Melina is Scotch tension (bobbin break). This means that I can spin different kinds yarns with greater ease. There are other differences like Melina is more compact, though heavier, and has more range and faster speeds. Bellaranea has huge bobbins, and I have more of them. I am so thankful to my sister to introducting me to handspinning yarn. This has become one of my handcrafts that I really love to do!

cup pouch

My Diva cup needed a pretty pouch for inbetween times. This little number was quickly crocheted in Lion Brand Organic Cotton and is so soft. My cup fits perfectly and it's the cutest little case. Much nicer than the cheap cotton baggie that it came with.

Your Wii age is 35!

For this year's birthday Rocky gave me these beautiful tulips. . . see the snow outside my kitchen window.
I had grand plans of what I could do on my birthday, but ended up spending it sick with sick kids and a sick hubby.

Happy 35th birthday to me!

Ravelry Going Green Swap Round 3

Thanks Casey for my package. I love every little bit of it, you were spot on with what you chose to gift me! Pictured below is my package:

A handknit market bag made from Fibranatura Cottonwood, a soft organic cotton
2 balls of Hemp4Knitting Allhemp6 in Pearl
The Better World Shopping Guide, a green book.

I have had a lot of fun knitting a kitchen towel for Mintrain. I have ordered her yarn, but it hasn't arrived yet. I am thinking it will arrive tomorrow or Wednesday so hopefully I can get this package out into the mail well before the end of the week at the swap deadline!