Still ... no sewing machine

I guess this is supposed to be one of those lessons in patience that I hate so much. Ugh. My sewing machine is still in the repair shop. It's funny that it took me so long to get up the courage to open up that sewing machine and get going with it, even with Mom's help, and then as soon as I discovered how much I enjoyed sewing and making things, the machine died and has been out of commission for almost two weeks.

However, I am still making progress towards my first quilt. Having chosen THIS circle quilt pattern, I purchased the fabrics for the circles, ironed on all the interfacing, traced my circles with a 5 inch template, and cut them all out two night ago. Tonight, I started cutting the squares that will be that background pieces for the circles. Maybe my machine will be ready by the weekend, and I can have some fun stitching up my blocks and seeing how far I get with the rows. I have a lot of excitement and anticipation built up for this project, so it would be nice to see it start coming together in more of a tangible way.

Just for kicks, I will show you the fabrics that I chose for the circles. My quilt will be 8 blocks by 8 blocks, so I had to find eight patterns with colors that coordinated. That was a lot harder than I expected, by the way!

Here we go...

The backing fabric is a cute dot print too, but I'll show that one later. Tomorrow I'll post pictures of the circles and squares --- I'm sure you'll be waiting on pins and needles, right?

Wednesday Morning Bible Study Group

I haven't mentioned my new Bible study group, but today was the fourth meeting. Our teacher is leading us through the book, Shepherding a Child's Heart, along with the Parent's Handbook. The basic premise of the study is that the only real authority or instruction manual for raising Godly children is the Scripture, and so you learn to use Scripture in the training, correction, encouragement, and discipline of your children. The memory verse regimen is pretty tough (assigned my our teacher -- not so much from the book) but I can already see that Evelyn is responding well to this approach. Even though Gunnar doesn't know what I'm saying, I still use the same language with him, because I figure while he is learning new words and language, why not teach him that he needs to have "self control" as opposed to simply telling him to lay still while I'm changing his diaper. "Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control." (Proverbs 25:28.) Having pointed out their action as a specific sin, you also use Scripture to instruct them in the response that you want them to use as a replacement (kindness, obedience, grace, etc) and you remind them that the action was a sin against God and that it needs to be confessed. Even though I grew up in the church, I never really thought about how my daily sins were a grievance to God. As I got older, I felt like God should cut me a break, since, after all, I hadn't done anything that bad, and I was really angry with Him when I felt like life was getting tough. If, on the other hand, you can train a child to acknowledge sin as sin, then not only do they learn to confess it, but they also realize their immense need for God's grace, mercy, and salvation. 

I admit that it is a foreign concept to me to tell my 4 year old or my 15 month old that their actions are sin and that at the core, the condition of their heart is the real problem. I just don't think of my children as sinners. In addition, I have to remind myself that I act as God's agent, to correct and discipline them in a consistent and Biblical way, as opposed to disciplining them because they are finally getting on my nerves or have pushed it too far this one time. This study leads you to discipline based on revealing their heart issue, as opposed to discipling them based on my own convenience or lack of patience at that particular moment. That is where I struggle. Evelyn is just not a bad kid. I don't have to discipline her often. But if I think about how consistent discipline will help point her to God for grace, then it becomes a matter on a whole different level of importance. 

It helps to have other girls in the group who are struggling with the same issues and thought patterns as I am. I only knew a couple of the girls on the first day of the study, but this incredible bond of trust has already begun to form between us, and the encouragement that we get from sharing with each other and learning together is incredible. This is just not something that you see being fleshed out on a daily basis, even in the church. As our teacher said today, "It's like we're expected to get this (parenting) by osmosis, because they certainly don't teach it to us in the church." 

And with that, I think it's time to call it a night.

Mommy & Daughter are Both Crafty

Okay, so don't think that it will be normal for there to be more than one post per day, but I have some super cute pics to share. While Erick was on set this evening, I took the kids to Michael's Craft Store. We bought a sand art kit for Evelyn, and I picked up the rest of the supplies I needed for a pincushion project. Gunnar didn't get to do any crafts, but rest assured that he had a blast riding in the buggy all over Michael's getting to flirt with every female in the entire store. I swear, I have no idea how he knows how to flirt, but watch out... he will flutter those long lashes, show those twinkly blue eyes, and flash that adorable smile, and every woman in a 10 mile radius goes to total mush.

Evelyn agreed to pose with her sand art collection, but insisted that Pink Bear and Strawberry Shortcake (blanket) got to pose with her. Here are her pics.

And now a sweet smile...

Now before I reveal my pin cushion extraordinaire, let me point you to this TUTORIAL that I found a couple of nights ago.

Here is my first attempt at a cake pincushion. I decided to use colors to match my craft closet, which worked out really well.

Here is a view from the top, which shows the flower detail. The pins are cute pearlized pins that I hope will be an inspiration for my continued sewing projects.

That's all for tonight. I did get the new part put on the dishwasher, but haven't quite gotten up the nerve to actually run a load of dishes. Yall say a few prayers, okay???

Goodnight!

Revolt of the Machines

Okay, so here is the situation. The machines in our home are clearly in cahoots. In the final stages of a new sewing project last week, my sewing machine inexplicably died. The light bulb worked, but no power to the motor for sewing. Great, huh? Never fear. I took the machine in for repair, but it will be a week before it makes its way back home to my craft closet.

Seriously, here is the empty spot where my sewing machine should be. Doesn't it look sad??? Note the obvious lack of sewing machine.

Not to be undone, and refusing to be beaten, I have already cut out the pattern pieces for my next project. Oh, and see the nearly finished apron to the left side? Seriously, there should be a law against sewing machines that die when all you have left on a project is two little pieces of bias tape to sew on the neckline. Come on.

Here is the fabric for the next apron, which will be a double-layered half apron. The black check fabric will peek out below the pink floral print. What do you think?

While we're at it, here is Evelyn's artwork, which she has chosen to hang in my craft closet.

Okay, now the next machine to join the revolt. I unloaded my dishwasher yesterday morning, and found this...

Close up view... notice the cute little chew marks on the tube that is supposed to pump water up into the top rack sprayer? And no, we don't have a dog. I have absolutely no explanation for this phenomenon.

So that's the state of affairs in our home. No dishwasher until the part comes in. (Could I really believe that it will make it today???) And no sewing machine until at least Friday. Ugh! Honestly, I'm not sure which one I miss the most. My head (not to mention my hard-drive) is brimming over with sewing projects that I want to try. I want to make a quilt, more aprons, a tote bag, a baby play pad, and some pincushions. That's just for starters. 

I'll update you on the status of our household machinery revolution. I'm sure everyone is dying to know who wins... the people or the machines.

Recent Craftiness

Okay, so this will be sort of a conglomeration of recently finished projects, but I wanted to try posting some pictures and here is my excuse to do that.

First up, is a blanket that I knitted for a friend's baby daughter. The pattern came from Ravelry, and we chose the colors to match the linens in the baby's nursery. I had the yarn and kept looking at different patterns, even starting a couple of other patterns, before settling on this chain-stripe pattern. I loved the completed blanket, and I think it's safe to say that my friend liked it too. Here is the blanket...

First a shot of the whole blanket.

And here is a close-up shot showing the chain stitch detail. This is definitely one of my favorite things I've ever knitted. The longer I worked on it, the more nervous I got about giving it to my friend. I wanted her to love it -- I wanted to be proud and happy when I gave it to her. It had to be just right. And when she saw it, the look on her face made it all worth while. She was happy, and I was thrilled to have been able to make something that her sweet little one can treasure for a long, long time.

I have finally gotten up the nerve (along with my Mom's help) to try using the sewing machine that a friend gave me a few years ago. I've been so nervous about threading it that I just kept putting off trying. (How crazy is that???) Having fallen in love with craft blogs and sewing tutorials, I decided it was time. So I made a couple of scarves (okay, so I made four scarves) using THIS pattern. That gave me the courage to try something else.

Here are my cloth napkins, which I made using a TUTORIAL from Chez Beeper Bebe.

Here is another picture, showing all the prints that I have made so far.

Pretty cool, huh?

Okay, and now my most ambitious project to date, which I made from start to finish yesterday during Gunnar's LONG nap. It is from this TUTORIAL from the blog, From An Igloo. It's an art bag to hold crayons (I love these Crayola Twister's Crayons, by the way) and a coloring book and/or notebook. Can you believe that I actually MADE this all by myself???

Here is a picture of the outside cover.

Now for the inside, which is absolutely brilliant. No lost crayons on my watch!

And, finally, a picture of the proud recipient.

Okay, that's all for now. I'll get the blanket picture uploaded, so that I can post it too.