An Egg-stra Special Suprise

This post is for you, mom. Guess what I found in our tree?




For you non-bird aficionados, it's a hummingbird nest. Our neighbors are super-excited! I am looking forward to peeking in on them from time to time and see how two little birds will fit in there.

From what I read online, the outer part of the nest is covered with moss and plant fibers and/or lichens. The inside is made of plant down and spider webs. Too cool!

One Done

Here's the first apron I created. I made my own pattern, based on the Jessie Steele designs, which I love. Somewhere I read a tip about drawing your pattern out on old wrapping paper. That worked great.

The pocket was the hardest part of this whole thing. Actually, it's the hardest thing I've sewn, yet! Getting the bias tape to not pucker around the curve of the pocket was nearly impossible. The best result I got was when I used my hot iron to "pre-shape" it as best as I could. Then getting the corners to look nice was also difficult.

When I thought it was finally finished, I tried it on for Doug and realized that I'd sewn the pocket closed!

Yummy Fabric

I've got it in my head to try and earn some $ and save some $ using my sewing machine. My grand idea is to make some nursing covers (like the one I used with E), aprons and eco-shopping bags. I can give some as gifts and then try to do a craft show or bazaar and see how they would sell.

I stumbled across this great quilting store nearby that just happened to have a 25% sale last week. They have an awesome selection of designer fabrics, and I had a blast picking out a few to start with.

We'll see how it goes!

Finally the Showcase Pictures

Well, the craziness of June is finally behind us. Now it's time to catch up! First up is the promised pictures from our dance Showcase. Thanks to CJ for some great pics! My dress did well, although I ripped the collar a bit when I first put it on. I'm not sure if I'll wear it again, as I am very much wanting to make another one. (I know, I know...)





C did pretty well with Grandma, but it was still a little long for her to sit through. She enjoyed "dancing" at the end.

Weekend Warriors

So this past weekend was busy. They're always busy, but this was extra busy. Thank goodness my parents were here to help!

Auntie Meesh stopped by Friday morning and watched the girls while I did some much needed pruning of our mint-weeds. It will be the last time we see her before she moves from Kentucky to New Hampshire! We'll miss having her "close" by.




I went to church Friday night to help make nametag labels (VBS), then Saturday night and Sunday morning Doug and I were at church doing worship for our kids. We were only able to do 3 of the 4 services, however, since Sunday was also our dance showcase! Dad watched C, and Mom helped me finish sewing my dress on Saturday.


I was pleased with the final result. What a LOT of work that thing was!



I felt like we did our worst yet at showcase, but it was a small one and not a lot of competition, so we actually still won top Freestyles and Doug won top adult! (Pictures coming on a future post...)

The weekend wasn't over yet! While we were gone at church and dance, my dad supervised the installation of our new air conditioning system. Mom took C to the showcase to watch us dance. After that, they went home and we took the girls to my friend Kristi's house after a rushed dinner (which the girls didn't eat). Then Doug and I went straight to church for VBS volunteer training. I was doing some training and Doug was being trained. He's taking off work and helping out with tech.

Man I'm tired just from writing all that!!! Did I mention that I'll be glad when next week's over???

Here I Sew Again...

I dug out my dress project this weekend to try to make some headway. I did get a lot done, but it is HARD and frustrating! My machine is not sewing correctly (still) so I need to take it in again. I ran out of material (user error...) and needed to fuse a couple pieces of fabric together for the last panel of my skirt! Then, the godets didn't come out the same size as the pattern. Not sure what I did wrong, but I needed to cut eight and no two came out the same. And now that the over-skirt is attached to the bodice, I found that it will be a perfect fit for someone 4 inches taller and 5 lbs lighter than myself.

I keep forging ahead, telling myself that this is a learning experience and my next dress will be all the better for it. Doug helped watch the girls a lot, otherwise this would never get done!

Here's where I am with it now:

Spring Crafting

I was inspired by the neat craft C made at F's house last week:


and decided to look up something fun for the girls to work on today. Kristi tipped me off that F likes using the glue stick, so we had a successful craft time, where the girls each pretty much constructed these little bird nests on their own: