Down on the Farm with ChiknGirl

Happy New Year

Happy New Year friends!  I hope 2010 is a wonderful year for you.

Resolutions:

• to stay aware of the joy creating brings me and not let it fall to the wayside due to lack of time, energy, or prioritizing.
• judge people less for our differences and more for our commonalities.
• continue finding contentment in my domesticity.
• read another 50 books this year, including one by Dave Ramsey.

Recap:

• After doing very little crafting from January to October, in November and December I sewed several outfits for Anneliese's American Girl doll Ruthie, I knit a set of dishcloths for my mom, I knit a mitten, I sewed Anneliese a pair of leggings, and I did quite a bit of paper crafting.
• I spent most of April through September taking care of my mom while she had some serious health issues.  She is now doing fabulous and living only 2 blocks away from us.  It is wonderful to have her nearby.
• Gary didn't work for 9 months of the year.  We enjoyed the time together and managed to survive financially.  This amazes me.
• I read 48 different books and 52 books total in 2009.  I set myself a goal of a book a week on average and I succeeded.
• I've done lots of home organization and feel more at peace in my home.
• We had an extremely successful garden that fed our bellies lots of really good food, provided lots of enjoyable family time and an oasis of color and peace while we're stuck in the city.

I hope to be blogging more frequently, but have decided to rid myself of the guilt of not blogging.  I've got to dash to the kitchen now.  Chili's on the stove, chocolate flan cake is ready to come out of the oven and cornbread is ready to go in.

Changing Things

So far, 2009 has proved to not be crafty.  I haven't done much outside of sewing Anneliese's birthday dress.  Her dress turned out wonderful.  I used pattern #32 from Ottobre 3/07 magazine in size 122cm, which fit perfectly.  The fabric is 100% linen I purchased from Vogue Fabrics, it is a lovely ercu color with butterfly fairies and flowers all over. 

It has been a year (almost anyway) full of medical challenges, family upheaval and financial worries.  I'm crossing my fingers that we are coming out of the worst of it now, and life can start settling down a bit.  Our school year starts in a week and I'm really looking forward to it.  I've got most of our curriculum planned out for the year and I think it's going to be really fun for the kids and me.  We are using Ambleside Online's curriculum, which is a Charlotte Mason based curriculum.  We'll be reading lots of really great living books and spending lots of time outside exploring nature.  I plan to use this blog to post about the challenges and joys of this coming school year.  And hopefully I'll have something crafty to post, too.

I'll be doing a bit of remodeling to suit more homeschooling updates, so expect to see some changes soon.

Hot Mama Apron Swap

I participated in the Hot Mama Apron Swap and received a gorgeous apron from Heidi of Foxgloves, Fabric & Folly.  The attention to detail was incredible and her fabric choice was perfect.  Thank you Heidi!  I sent out my apron today, a few days late due to some unexpected medical problems with family that  I had to take care of.  I hope my partner likes her apron.  I used a vintage pattern and think it turned out adorable.

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Coming soon... a picture of me in my new apron.

Catching Up

Thank you ~L~ for reminding me that it has been ages since I've blogged.  This has been my least productive crafting year since before I had kids.  I've started quite a few projects, but haven't completed much.  I made 4 nightgowns a few months back, 2 for Anneliese and 2 for her friend Mila, from thrifted top sheets.  Mila's were too long and needed to be re-hemmed and they've been sitting on my sewing table for months waiting for me.  I started a Tomten for Trevor in August, according to Ravelry, and it has been collecting dust on my bookshelf since I realized that he really has enough sweaters for this winter and I don't have that old yearning for knitting.  I got ambitious and planned to sew Anneliese's Halloween costume for her.  It's cut and partially sewn and will be great for the dress-up box whenever I get it finished.  Instead of crafting I have been spending a lot more time reading this year.  I'm hoping to finish the year having read 52 books, not counting children's books, cookbooks or parenting books.  I'm a few books behind, from when I went on a Netflix movie binge, but I think I will come close to my goal.  I forgot how much I used to enjoy reading in bed until my eyes wouldn't focus anymore and then falling swiftly to sleep.  It's been nice revisiting that.

Up next, a post on something I did complete.  :)

My Carrot on a Stick

After sickness and injury and sickness again I have finally managed to complete my second strip of the baby blanket my knitting group is making for a friend.  I didn't take photos.  It looks just like the first strip did, but with the colors in a different order.  The first strip can be seen here. 

I had been not allowing myself to do other crafting until I had finished the baby blanket strip, because I knew if I did other stuff I'd never get my strip done.  There have been so many, many things I have have been wanting to do.  I signed up for the Flirty Apron Swap a while back.  You know I love me some aprons.  For those of you who love aprons like I do, there will be another round of swapping in the near future.  I used Butterick B4087 view C.  I love the finished product, but the way it was put together left a bit to be desired.  If I make this pattern again I will definitely make some changes.  I hope my swap partner likes it.

apron

pocket detailing

Yesterday I got to make a project I've been itching to make for a couple months.  I am so pleased with it and glad that it's done.

carrot table runner

Just by chance I happened to find this on clearance the other day.  It goes perfectly.

carrot wall hanging

The carrots make me smile.

Coming soon: a new shoulder bag for me, summer dresses for Anneliese and more!

The Last FO of 2007

For Christmas I made Anneliese a tee-shirt dress with some remnants she had picked out at the fabric store a few months back.  The remnants are flannel and very soft and the tee-shirt is 100% cotton, I think I picked it up at Target for $3 or $4.  I left the waist dropped so that she might get 2 winters of wear from it.  I'm looking forward to when the awkward-stance-can't-make-a-normal-face-for-a-picture phase ends.

Happy New Year

  Holiday outfits 
  Originally uploaded by Chikn Girl

I had a very enjoyable blogging break, in fact, I wasn't sure if I was going to return to blogging.  I finished a few projects, had a lovely Christmas and I'm looking forward to a terrific 2008.

Anneliese's dress is a simple summer dress (Butterick 3772 size 6) made from a heavyweight cotton flannel and trimmed with a velvet ribbon.  The top is lined with a fabulous black and white striped print and Anneliese picked out some gorgeous flowered vintage-style buttons.  I picked an easy, comfortable dress for her knowing she would want to wear it everyday.

Trevor's shirt and pants are from the Winter 2007 issue of Ottobre design.  I made the 98 cm size since Trevor measures 95 cm tall and I found both the pants and shirt to be WAY too big.  I love all the design details in the Oliver pants.  You can see the pants (and shirt) in a lighter color corduroy on the Ottobre site if you click on the "view magazine 6/2007" and then on "Neo Romantic Meets Practical and Charming."  This outfit is the most "finished" of any garments I have ever made.  I am very pleased with the way it turned out and will definitely be making more patterns from Ottobre.

I finished a pair of Dashing fingerless gloves for myself.  I used a super-soft wool from 100purewool in a gorgeous and subtly variegated grey/blue/purple.  I've had trouble photographing them, but have enjoyed wearing them everywhere.

The mailing date for the Loopy Ewe Swap that I'm involved in is coming up.  I've got my yarn and my pattern ready and will be getting started in the next day or two.

Coming soon - a post about 2008 goals and a blog birthday contest.

Happy New Year!

Pony Pajamas

A few weeks back I made Anneliese a pair of pajamas from some pony flannel she had picked out.  She is very pleased with them. 

Pictures, As Promised

I was gone much longer than I expected yesterday and I didn't have a chance to get pictures taken.  I did, however, enjoy a day of parties and spending time with friends.  Here is a picture of the newest refashioned twirly jeans.

The fabric is a variety of Olivia prints.  We LOVE Olivia.

More Twirly Jeans

I found a free e-book that describes in detail how to use a ruffler foot, which I happen to have as part of my hand-me-downs from my Grandmother, but I had never known how to use it.  It is SO much easier than sewing basting lines and ruffling by hand.  I whipped up another pair of refashioned twirly jeans yesterday morning.  This pair doesn't twirl quite as big as the first pair because I was working with a limited amount of fabric.  I did, however, manage to use only 3 fat quarters to make this pair.  That is half of the fabric allowance the pattern calls for.  I was super frugal!  Anneliese will be wearing them to a birthday party today.  (Pictures will be posted in a few hours)