Current Projects

Since I am on the Bernat mailing list, I saw that they were starting a Mystery Afghan Crochet Along.  None of us know what the final afghan will look like, but we are working on it together.  Each week we get a new "clue"....It has been alot of fun and great learning different tips from the other ladies working on it together.

Here are a few pictures of what I have so far:

Clues 1 - 7

Clues 1 - 4

This is how many say the 16 squares for clue #5 are going to go together in each corner of the afghan, I think that is a fair guess since we made one huge granny square that would be perfect for the middle!

My girls don't know it yet, but htis one will be for my eldest daughter, I will make a second afghan with the colors switched a little bit so that there is more purple for my youngest daughter.  I am also making some curtains for their room that these afghans will look really cute with, I am way too excited!!!

Here is the fabric for their curtains...

Also, I have been working on an afghan for my husband....the best part is I am using yarn that I have around the house.  It is a really simple pattern made up 3.5 square blocks made of half double crochets.  It is a great project to work on while getting the boys down.  I sit on their floor to keep them calmed down, so this gives me something to do :o)

Aside from these obviously fun projects, I am working on getting the house and property settled before winter comes!  Lots of broken/tossed things in the back of the property are being removed to the dump, we have rototilled the gardens and got them ready for next year, and have tons of raking to do so that I have leaves for the compost through the winter....Also, I am trying to get a bunch of cleaning inside done so that winter does not seem so long looking at a bunch of things I need to get done, lol ;o)

Thank you for encouraging me to keep posting and sorry they are so few and far in between, hopefully it will get easier over time :o)

Scripture Cubes

Earlier this month I had gone out of town to visit with my family for the weekend.  I had a wonderful time!  While I stayed at my Aunt's home, I noticed that she had little scriptures set up around her home.  I thought it was really neat, because your eyes tend to land on that sort of thing frequently.  SO I started making some "Scripture Cubes"  I have two more that I plan on making.  Here is what you will need:

Paper cutter (or scissors), scrap pieces of paper (I had scraps from scrapbooking), glue, and the most important part, a photo cube...I picked mine up from Km*rt.

Here is the first finished cube...

Here is the second cube:

Ready to be placed in their strategic location ;o)  Best part is that I can change the verses in the cubes as I would like to.  So if I feel i am being worked on in a particular part of my life, I can change the verses to stay focused on what He is teaching me.

Eco-Friendly Water Bottles

It seems like forever ago that there was a bunch of talk about stainless steel water bottles and some trying to find out where they might be...I know I was really interested and never ran into any.

This past week I found some real cute ones at Old N*vy for the children and thought I would share where to get them in case you are searching for them.  The monkey ones are great!

Remember

Gen 9:14-15~  And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:  And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

Deu 15:15~  And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day.

Jos 1:13~  Remember the word which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, The LORD your God hath given you rest, and hath given you this land.

There are alot more verses in the Bible with the word "Remember"...Here are 3 that describe the purpose of this post pretty well....Yesterday I shared some of the things I was doing in the kitchen to decorate it....I wanted to share with you what started the "makeover".  A simple dish set.  I originally planned on putting a verse with this set...but this area, seemed *full* enough already.  In more ways than one.

I did not realize the sentimental value this dish set had for me until I seen it sitting there at the 2nd-hand store just waiting for someone to purchase it! The first thing I thought of when I saw it was, "That is the first set of dishes I picked out on my own when I was setting up house with my husband!" Then I started thinking about other things, like, "Things were so simple and easy back then, how things have changed." But I felt in my heart, the words, "Things still ARE that simple, just lean on Me."

I had some of these pieces still in my possession, others the 2nd-hand store finished...the most amazing part was that I had the lid for the sugar bowl, but the sugar bowl had broke...the one I bought from the 2nd-hand store had the sugar bowl without the lid!
Whenever I look up and see the serving set, it reminds me that God's plan in our life will prevail, regardless of how distant it might seem right now.

We do eat off of the plates and bowls and mugs (and the serving set for big dinners), so it is more than just a shrine!!  I hope that they last longer than the first set I had ;o)

Inspirational Kitchen

This week, I have been working on my kitchen.  Since we moved in, the top of our cabinets have been pretty well empty minus a my oil lamps and other odds and ends that get tossed up there.  I decided to make it have some more character finally. 

This is the first cupboard we see as we walk into the dining room...I feel it is still needing a little help, but it is looking much better for now.  Perhaps you can see the little frame behind the small birdhouse?

Here is a better look...it is a reminder that we don't need to worry about provisions, He has that under control...

Here is a view as you step into the kitchen...

This is straight ahead as you step into the kitchen, more of a close-up... 

Here is a close-up to the left....

And a close up of the verse card placed here...

Here is a closer picture of how I set up the right....

And a close up of that verse card...

And here is a verse I put with the salt/pepper shakers...

This Week's Harvest

I was so excited with this week's harvest!  Tons more tomatoes and lettuce to be picked also, yay!!  Obviously the carrot was not old enough yet, haha!

Let the Fun Begin!

I had to take Alisha to the dentist last week and before heading home we decided to stop at the library.  It has been quite some time since I had gone to the library.  Most recent trips proved it easier to purchase from the "Friends of the Library" than to be expected to get my books in on time ;o) 

Anyway, we are trying *again* .  I was really impressed with the changes that they had made since the last time I was there!  Their "Inspirational" section for the children has grown quite a bit and it seems that they are placing books together by age group, which *really* makes it more simple for me.

Here are a few that we started out with:

This is a cute little book of a child asking Mama and Papa questions about God.  The pictures are lovely.  The best part is the listing of verses in the back that go according to Mama and Papa's answers, pretty neat.  It was great hearing the boybies (5) respond to the questions what they felt the answers would be throughout the story.

This was a really cute book....our favorite line in the book was:  "Hello, hippopotamus.  Big bottom-a-mus, hippopotamus.  See you later, hippopotamus."  It was funny because the children thought I was making up the words in this part and thought that I was the one who said "Big bottom-a-mus", which of course, I did not.  Heehee :o)

When I get home from the library, the first thing I do is put them in a pile next to the computer and start typing up the list of books so that I can cross them off as they are returned.  As I was typing through the stack of books, I came across this Walter the Farting Dog book.  I was a bit surprised!  But then I remembered that I had asked dd11 to grab 10 more books for the boybies while I started checking out with what I had.  LOL!  So, anyway....needless to say I was less than pleased...needless to say, they are thrilled, lol :o)

This was a sweet little story about a little boy and his wagon, getting ignored by a couple of friends, but later on showing a big heart and forgiveness helps them along the way.  We really enjoyed this one, mostly ds5D since he has a large stuffed rabbit like Wyatt ;o)

A Teeny Tiny Treat...

Time Keeps Ticking By...

"Yesterday is a canceled check; tomorrow is a promissory note; today is the only cash you have - so spend it wisely" ~ Kay Lyons

“You may delay, but time will not.” - Benjamin Franklin

"Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.” - Jim Rohn

“Defer no time, delays have dangerous ends.” - William Shakespeare

Lost time is never found again.” - Benjamin Franklin

Crocheted Baby Girl Set

 Here are a few pictures of my most recent workings....The sweater, hat, and booties all match the baby blanket that I crocheted a while back...

This isn't the best picture, but there is a little flower up on top of the hat, very cute!  The directions didn't make any sense so I ended up making one up...

And here are the little booties...I got these done in such little time!  Took a while to get the lace in them though, lol :o)

I am sending all these things out in early May, so I have a little time to add a few more projects...if I run out of time for anything, that is okay.  There is always birthdays/holidays, right?!  lol :o)

This Year's Project ~ The YARD!

I am really hoping that we accomplish some of the bigger things that need doing around here this year.  Especially the outdoor things!  For example, here is what we can see from the french doors of our home most recently...a HUGE bald spot....

Not only is it a bald spot, but it was also a mound.  We used to have the dog chained here and all the dirt would push toward the center where the end of the chain was...So it created a hill AND a bald spot. 

The tile here shows about how deep we had needed to go to get rid of the mound and make it a more level area...From the tile up it was about 6 to 7 inches to smooth toward the ends.  We had alot of work ahead of us!

In the following picture, you can see the mound leveled out!!   So exciting!  It took *alot* of shovelling and raking.  Neighbor Guy came over and used the landscaping rake to finish it off and put in the stakes.  I was more than thankful for the help!

We were extremely thrilled when we saw that grass was already starting to sprout!!  I can't wait to look out of the doors and actually see GREEN!!

This week we also got the tent up for warmer nights!  We slept in it last night, unfortunately I did not sleep very well.  Tonight will be the last warm night for a few days, so we will sleep out there again....hopefully I will have things set up a little better so the sleep comes more easily...I like sleeping in the tent because we tend to get up earlier, which always makes for a better day.  This fact works a litte better if you actually get some sleep, however.

Other than that, I have put up my laundry lines again and have been hanging all my laundry, nice little breaks during the day.  I have also been working on small parts of the yard and getting some raking and clean up done here and there.  So that is pretty much what I have been up to!  I really do need to return my focus to my brother's tub I need to get sent out....*sigh*  It is suppose to be cooler and FINALLY some rain over the next few days, SO maybe I will finally get some inside projects finished up ;o)

SCF ~ Circles to Squares Baby Afghan (Part 2)

I got everything sewed together and the whole blanket stitched around the Sunday after I posted the pieces to put together, I guess I just have gotten computer lazy, lol :o)  It is bright and sunny out, what can I say?!  Anyway, the blanket it turned out pretty neat :o) 

One thing I need to learn is to have the same amount of slack with the yarn *every* time I go to work on a single project, that part is a bit frustrating...I guess I need to just not touch it when I am feeling too calm OR too uptight, lol :o)

Right now I am behind in my crafting schedule and have been feeling overwhelmed with a few other things.  It is coming together though, so I will rejoice for that!

If you would like to join in on the crafting fun, click the button below and sign the Mister Linky so others can come see your creation!  Have a great day!

My Next Read...

Look what showed up in my mailbox last week!!  I am excited about reading it.  Kelly @ Wisdom Begun is having a little "book club" type event using this book.  She is still getting plans together for it, so if you have the book, go on and join her!  I won't be joining in, only because I can not be held accountable for reading or computer time.  SO I will be going through it at my own pace.

Have you read this book?  What are your thoughts?

SCF ~ Circles to Squares Baby Afghan (Part 1)

If you have some crafty fun you would like to share, click on the above button and sign the Linky!

I am currently working on an afghan for my soon to arrive niece!  I am so excited to get to be an auntie, she will be the first!  The pattern I am working on can be found there --->  Circles to Squares Afghan

Instead of the suggested yarn, I used Bernat Baby Coordinates, it is very soft and part of the ply has a shiny look to it.  Very nice!

I needed to make 3 large squares, 5 medium squares, and 16 small squares...I made a few of the smallest, 2 of the medium, and one large and was going to continue that plan at first.  Once I got one large one done, I wanted to hurry and get the other two done as well because they took the longest and I wanted them out of my hair! lol :o)  Here are some pictures of the finished squares...

For whatever reason the color here looks a bit dull in these pictures...

This morning I finished the last two squares, all I had left was the purple round on them.  This picture shows the color a little bit better (although the purple looks too dark, now!), all my squares are done and ready to put together!

I thought I might be able to finish this today before I posted.  BUT then I realized not only do I need to put the squares together, I need to do the edging around the whole blanket as well. SO here is part 1, look for part 2 next week!