Late summer

These three guys went to Baxter State Park a few weeks ago. A going away trip for our second son who has left for college. He wanted to climb Kathadin but they realized it would take most of their day and they wanted to make the most of the trip so they climbed Double Top. They had started Double Top one other year that we went, but didn't finish it because of bad weather. So this was a good feeling that they conquered a mountain.

Things have been busy here and certain things have gotten me into a funk again. So here I am again and I will try and catch up. I did take pictures and have a lot to write about. In about a week things will be significantly less busy and slower around here.

Here is a quick list of what has happened in the last month. Some I will blog about, others I will just sort of mention and try and forget. Some are good things, some are not.

The computer got a nasty virus and I couldn't use it for a while.

My chickens got massacred in the night. I lost 12 of my 18 birds.

I had a tough couple of weeks realizing my second son would be leaving soon. At the same time I was also missing my oldest son who I will not see until October.

I have been doing a lot of shopping to get my son ready for college, and to get my youngest boy off to high school.

We went way up north, (4 1/2 hours) for a 'sending off to college' party.

My youngest son has started pre-season cross country, which means a car ride into town every morning of the week. With two young girls who would rather stay home.

I made myself a skirt and I am almost done with a shirt also for me.

I finished three books.

I signed up for two quilting classes with a friend.

I successfully got the kids all signed up for whatever they are doing this year.

Made a pretty little schedule to put up on the refrigerator.

Said goodbye to my second son until October.

So now that I wrote it all down, I am realizing I did a lot this month. When it comes to finding time to blog, it will come after family & friends, sewing, and reading. I feel good about that.

A Little Sewing Time

I have had a few nights where I was able to get some sewing done. I made a pair of shorts for the oldest girl, a skirt for the youngest. I want to make some more, and have the patterns already cut out.

Here is a close up of the hem on the skirt.
I got the pattern online at http://www.oliverands.com/blog/2008/08/lazy-days-skirt-free-pattern.html
It really is as easy as it says it is.


This skirt came from a tutorial online at http://neverenoughhours.blogspot.com/2007/12/easy-skirt-tutorial.html
It also was very easy. Both these skirts were very fun to make too.


Here are a couple of blocks I have been playing with from a jelly roll. A friend and I are going to make a second raffle quilt for our library and we are trying to come up with a pattern. She bought a jellyroll and thought we could do something from it.
We made our first raffle quilt last year. Here it is.

I have some more shorts and skirts to make, and I will work on the raffle quilt, but I also have a project in mind for myself. This is the fabric.

It will be a simple 10 or 12 inch block comforter, that I probably will not quilt together, but tie. I hope to get working on it by the end of the month.
I love fabric, and sewing, and creating.

Perfect Example

I have a perfect example of how I get off track. The first two weeks of January seemed to be fine. I rode my bike, walked, did school with the kids, got meals together on time, even had time to get some sewing in. Monday was ok but after that it was downhill the whole week.
I got a stomach thing so I couldn't exercise. Three of the kids had doctor appointments. My oldest needed a ride to his girlfriends school which is an hour away. I had to drive two of the kids in to school because my husband had an early meeting. Then of course it was grocery shopping week. So, nothing happened as it should have. But, I am trying to keep a positive attitude about it and I plan to get right back on track next week. Also I am trying to see the positives of last week. I brought the two youngest to a children's museum when I went to drop my son off. They had a blast. I was able to get caught up on some rest while my stomach did flip flops. While in town on one of my many visits I was able to see a very good friend for tea. So much got done outside the house last week that I can only enjoy the inside of the house this coming week.
Next week will hopefully be calmer and we will have more down time. When the days are all coming and going I feel stressed and it makes the day feel chaotic.
I did plan a couple of sewing projects. I am doing a block a week that I found on Jen's blog. http://cre8tivequilter.blogspot.com/ I am working on a rag quilt made out of 8" flannel blocks and I picked a hand project too. I had a throw that can be cross stitched on and I will cross stitch some of my favorite things on it.
One thing that happed last week is my camera broke. Funny how just when I start a blog it breaks. I am hopefully going to find someone that can fix it. For now I will have to use old pictures or none at all. I wanted to post my blocks of the week but I will have to do it later.
It is late here. I am without a husband for the night. He went to bring our oldest son back to school. We will all miss him. The family feels so whole when he is home and we feel his absence when he is not.

First blog

This is my first blog and first entry. This is a picture of our house. It is small for seven people but it is cozy. In this house live a mom, dad, three boys and two girls. One of the boys actually lives in his dorm in college, but he used to live here and still comes home.
I don't have big plans for this blog yet. My youngest children want me to blog and I am curious about it too. I want to record some of the fun things we do or have done.
I am a stay at home mom. The children homeschool. They homeschooled since day one and the first two boys chose to go to high school. They did very well. The first one is graduated and off to college and the second is a senior and will be off to college next fall. The third boy is not choosing to go to highschool right now. His interests are different than the other two and he wants to stay home for now. The first girl is home and starting to read and do some math. The youngest loves stories and nursies. We mostly have let the kids lead the way. It has worked for the most part.
We practice attatchment parenting and are on the laid back side of things. Some think too layed back, but again for the most part it works for us.
My husband works full time to enable me to stay home with the kids. Money is very tight, but it always has been and we are used to it. We are very frugal, and we all do without a lot of things that are commonplace in a lot of families. We eat well, play some, and most always enjoy each others company.
My hobbies are my family, sewing, quilting, reading, cooking and gardening (when I have time).
One of my hopes is that this blog will get me back into some of my hobbies. My youngest child is 2 1/2 and life has been very busy. I am constantly saying 'I need to get back on track'. I would say this is my biggest hurdle right now. I have made lots of schedules and plans but they don't work out or I am not disiplined enough.
Wish me luck on the blog and I welcome any suggestions.