Being Creative

 If you could take a snapshot of us these days it would be an action shot.  It'd be of two or more of us gathered together making something.  Faces smiling.  Right in the midst of a creative project.  Undoubtedly the background would be messy, because who can keep up with all the chores when there is glorious creativity happening!  We've been doing a lot of this....

 Actually J and I have been playing music together at our church.  It's been really great to do it together and we enjoy making music together so very much!  The little lady is totally into the guitar, and in love with her papa, so sitting in his lap with the guitar is the best thing ever as far as she's concerned.

 We've also been trying new things.  This year for Easter we dyed our eggs with onion skins.  It was really easy.  We decided to just put the onion skins (that we had been saving for a few weeks) into the pot with the eggs while they were boiling.  We drew on them first with white crayons to make some designs.  When they were done cooking they were a lovely shade of orange.

 What?  You think that doesn't look like eggs in the pot?  Well...that's because I just couldn't throw that beautiful orange water away so I added some vinegar and some yarn!  Then I let it dry and now it's a lovely shade of orange too.

 We've been making lots of sentences.  Lots.  And you can't tell in the photo but he actually thinks it's really fun.  Tons of words on cards, one sunny, soft spot on the rug and one happy boy making sentences with crazy words.  He usually makes them nonsensical because he can.  And it's fun.

 As it warms up outside I am feeling the rush of "hurry up and finish knitting everything you want to" because soon it will be planting season.  Followed by weeding season.  And then if we're lucky harvest season.  I finished making baby A some little ruffled diaper covers.  Here's one in cream wool.

 Can you see how she stands on her tippy toes?

 No, I haven't cut her hair yet.  That's just how it is.

I also finished making another bookmark.  This one is a Scottish Thistle!  For a friend of mine who is getting ready to move to Scotland.

And all of this creating leaves us feeling pretty much like this... Happy.  Filled up.  Together.

The Etsy Shop! And a Giveaway!

I'm am so happy to share with you about my Etsy Shop!  Tree Shadow Designs is now up and running!

The shop is a place for me to share with you, friends, the fiber art that I have been happily working on for the past several months.  I just love yarn, and love the whole process of creating with it.  I love how it feels in my hands, the motion of the needle being wrapped up.  I love how you can make something three dimensional from a single strand of wool.  The items in the shop are a mix of crochet and embroidery, although I also love to knit and felt.  Perhaps there will be some of that in the future!

So....I'd love it if you'd go over and take a peek!  And because all of this has really happened because of the good things that I've been given...I want to give something to you!  A Giveaway!


Here's how it works.  One of you will win a free item from the shop of your choice.  To enter, just leave me a comment here on the blog telling me which one you would like, if you are chosen.   To receive another entry in the drawing, like Tree Shadow Designs on facebook, and tell me about it in your comment.  And get yet another entry if you sign up as a follower of this blog.  The drawing will take place next Thursday and I will announce the winner on the blog.

And lastly, but maybe most importantly, Thank You!  So many of you have supported me though this journey.  Sent me a note of encouragement or given me ideas....Thank You!  Your friendship means alot to me and just might be the best part of this whole endeavor.

September!

Ah, sweet, sweet autumnal air. How I've missed you and how very glad I am that you have once again returned. I love September. So very much. (October and November too.) Autumn is definitely my favorite season and J's too. It's so crisp and feels like Change is in the air, you know?

Anyway, I apologize for not blogging more, but not only does Fall call me outdoors to linger and play....it also is harvest time! So we've been very busy digging potatoes and picking pears and grapes. I made the first batch of grape juice just today and finished putting up the rest of the tomatoes for the year. It's going to be a busy few weeks as we also get started with the cider making. The apples are not so good this year, but we hope to be able to still use them for cider.

Fall also means eggs! The hens are just old enough to start laying and I'm soooo glad! Cricket found the first egg and he was so proud. It must have been an Auracana egg, because of the color....a lovely grey-green.

We've also been growing and harvesting food for the chickens. (Badger's idea) I think sunflower seeds are so lovely when they grew. They are all lined up just perfectly and to me it shows the wonderful design of our Creator.

Fall also inspires me to knit. I finished a hat that I was making for myself, but as usual it looks much better on J. Ha ha.

The man just looks good in anything. *sigh* Maybe it's his smile.

Anyway...I'm off to start bedtimes with the little crew. Then I've got a date with that scruffily dog of ours. Fall also means burs. Ugh. Anyone wanna give the girl a haircut?

Another Harry Potter Scarf

Cricket took the posing very seriously when I asked him if I could take a picture of him with his new scarf for you all.  These pictures crack me up!

So two Harry Potter scarves down....one to go!  Thankfully Grandma J said she would make the last one.  I wasn't sure I could sit through another one simply because I have a weird impatience with working with the same yarn for too long.  Anyway....I'm making a scarf for myself now!!!  Can't wait to show you how it turns out. :)

Hen's Haircut and other Happenings

Well....here is our beautiful boy before.....

See his whispy hair by his ears? :)  So sweet isn't it?  
Yet, at the same time, says J, there is something about the whispy thin hair, that reminds one of.....Gollum.   So it was time to get out the scissors.  Hen didn't mind at all.  He sat in Papa's lap while, I took one last long look at his beautiful babyness and then snip, snip.  Carefully collecting the fuzzy softness in an envelope for the scrapbook.
And here he is looking more like a boy.  *sigh*  It was bound to happen.  I just keep reminding myself to embrace what is and let what was slip into the realm of carefully tucked away memories.  To be revisited often. Not too often. Just often enough to keep the present rich with meaning and understanding.

Other happenings this weekend.....

Lingering over breakfast with my J and coffee(oooo, the french press is really great!) I love weekend mornings.

Baking oatmeal scotchies with Badger.  He continues to be so interested and successful in the kitchen.  It's fun to share that with him.

Papa had a great, long playtime with Owl and Hen sitting in his lap watching the traffic from the upstairs bedroom window.  Hen standing looking out the window at times while Papa and Owl play monsters on the floor.  I love watching them play together.  Owl is so in love with his papa.  All the boys are really.  He is such a good papa and I am blessed to have him as my partner.

Owl wearing his Harry Potter scarf that I finally finished!  He loves it oh so much. Hurray!  There was much HP play this weekend inspired by the new costume piece.  At one point, all three of the older boys were walking around the house under Harry's invisibility cloak (an old blanket) trying to get to Hagrid's.  :)

There was also a nice tea time yesterday where the boys set up a maze city on the table while they sipped their tea.  I'm not sure of the specifics of it, but it looked fun.  J and I attempted cribbage in the other room, but mostly we watched Hen as he walked around the train table and Millie as she attempted to eat Hen's socks.

And today is Monday again.  Fresh snow is falling after all the melting we had here this past week, and the white brightness of it reminds me of our Creator and I am "filled up" again.  And I'm glad to be starting our week in this way.  Thank you God...... for....for all of it.

Blessings on your week, friends. 

We love yarn

When I was a girl my mom taught me how to do all kinds of interesting things.  Like how to clean greenware and use a kiln and glaze things (not cinnamon rolls, ceramics) and how to paint on fabric and to crossstitch with pretty colored yarns.  I remember she also taught me how to finger knit once.  I think she mostly wanted to keep me quiet and busy and quiet.  I was always singing.  And I'm pretty sure it's truthful to say that it wasn't like nice little girl singing that is so sweet and just a pleasure to be around.  I'm pretty sure, since my Cricket is the same as I was (so my mother says), that it was the kind of singing that was loud and excited and never-ending.  Do you know that kind? Yeah.  I remember her saying things like, "please stop singing. did you hear me? stop singing." um okay mom. then a little bit of silence, then more singing.  I just would forget.  It's true.  To this day she does not believe me, but I really just would forget and Cricket forgets too.  And I when I ask him to stop singing, (which I try to remember to do only once in awhile...like when I'm nursing a sleepy baby, reading a story to Owl, and checking Badger's math problems all at the same time....)  I feel really connected to my mom (and to myself) and I love my little boy all the more for being his loud, crazy self.

Aah, I wandered a bit just there....

Well, I'm not sure if the finger knitting kept me quiet, but I do remember really liking it. :)  I loved the feel of the yarn.  I loved that something "straight" could make something three dimensional just by the way you twisted and looped it around.  Fun times.

It wasn't until much later that I wanted to learn to knit.  I think I was in my late teens.  I asked my mom to show me.  Afterall, she really does know how to do everything. :)  She showed me and I struggled to get it.  It wasn't easy to learn from seeing someone else do it.  And I admit, that although I firmly believe my mom is the coolest mom on the planet in most respects...it is a little hard to learn how to knit from a lefty.  So I made a few scarves, struggling all the while, and then put it away for awhile.

Then I got pregnant with Badger and I just had to knit some baby socks.  A teacher that I worked with had made some for a friend and showed them to me and I couldn't believe how cute they were. Eek! Get me some yarn! I gotta make me some of those!  And so I figured out how to turn a heel from a book and the rest is history.  Actually, just for the record, learning how to knit from a book was at first so complicated that once I figured it out I felt like I could read anything and know it.  I may just read a book about auto mechanics next.

Here are two knitting projects that we finished lately.  

These are mittens I made for J.  They took me...well... a long time to finish.  But they were fun to make and J said they keep his fingers toasty warm. :)

These are the first project I've made that have two color stranding (or whatever it's called)  See how the inside has the yarn traveling around with the pattern so that it looks almost reversible?

Here is a project that Badger made!  I am so pleased that he is knitting.  Like for real, knitting.  I tried showing him how a year or so ago and he didn't take to it right away.  This time he watched me do a few stitches and then just took off with it.  :)  He made this ipod case for papa for Christmas.  It took him only two weeks, working on it only during quiet time, and when he finished it he said, "I thought I'd never finish it!"  He loved picking out just the right button from the button jar for it and sewing it on himself. :)