Crafting On

The act of creating, in one form or another, preserves my sanity amongst the chaos of life. This explains why I always have more than one project guoing at a time as well as why my housework tends to fall behind. I enjoy seeing what others are working on and keeping calm with, too. What are you creating? What is keeping you going? Snap a picture or two, post it on your blog, on Instagram #craftingon and/or Flickr and then share it with the rest of us by leaving your link below.

Knitting in the early morning light. There is just something so magical about rising early, especially since I have never been an early riser. It's life-giving. It fills my cup until it runneth over pouring into those around me - those that need a joyful, rested mama. This is my new routine of self care. Gone are my late nights of knitting (or sewing/crafting/baking) that leave me with mistakes in my projects and tired/grumpy eyes in the morning. I now rise with the sun and follow a slow morning.

Oh and I am still happily knitting Baby F an army of play food. Working on a little lemon at the moment.

What are you working on? Happy creating!

An InLinkz Link-up

Crafting On

*Weekend*

I already told Kevin that as soon as we are out of debt the first thing I am saving up for is another lens so I can capture photos from farther away. I love my 50mm but man it only works well somewhat close up.
I started this post last Sunday when my computer went haywire. I thought it best to go ahead a post it now while my computer is being nice. 😂

We enjoyed a full Father's Day weekend last weekend. Kevin's Father's Day request was that we go to the Eastern Delaware Nations Forksville Powwow about an hour away from us. We ended up spending most of Saturday there. All of my children were captivated by the drums and the beautiful dances, despite the heat. K was engrossed most of all. She didn't want to leave even for a break in the shade to cool down. Needless to say some of us (me and my children that are mini-mes) ended up sunburned and with a bit of heat stroke. It was worth it. I left there inspired and ready to take on our upcoming school year (lots of Native American studies happening this year).

After Mass that Sunday K made Kevin a batch of peanut butter cookies from 100 Days of Real Food and we spent most of the day outside. Our chicks got "chick recess" (as Kevin calls it) outside by our blueberry bushes for an hour. It is so much fun to watch them out there. It was even hotter Sunday than it was Saturday so we spent a good chunk of the day playing in our creek. We got to watch Nara really swim for the first time (she has always just waded in water everywhere we have ever lived). What a weekend!

p.s. - I had to share a little video of Baby F. He obviously really enjoyed watching the hoop dance at the Powwow. He set up his fire just like they did and everything. He was much more animated the first time around but of course as soon as I break out the camera he gets shy. 🙈

*Weekend*

Crafting On

The act of creating, in one form or another, preserves my sanity amongst the chaos of life. This explains why I always have more than one project guoing at a time as well as why my housework tends to fall behind. I enjoy seeing what others are working on and keeping calm with, too. What are you creating? What is keeping you going? Snap a picture or two, post it on your blog, on Instagram #craftingon and/or Flickr and then share it with the rest of us by leaving your link below.

Hey guys! So something is up with our country WiFi. It hasn't been working well for the past couple of days (which explains why there was no post yesterday and why I have been absent on Instagram.) We are hoping to figure it out soon. Somehow I was able to get it to work to upload a photo via blogger for this post though.

I am still working on knitted play food for Baby F. I am now on to a veggie dog in a bun topped with mustard. 👌 Not exactly related but since it is pictured I thought I should mention that my children and I have been staring at every image we have of Luna moths (the drawing above from this book is a personal favorite). We have been wanting to see one ever since we learned about them many years ago. They are supposed to be found where we are currently but so far no luck. Anyone know where they tend to be? In the forests? In the fields?

What are you working on? Happy creating!

An InLinkz Link-up

Crafting On

Crafting On

The act of creating, in one form or another, preserves my sanity amongst the chaos of life. This explains why I always have more than one project going at a time as well as why my housework tends to fall behind. I enjoy seeing what others are working on and keeping calm with, too. What are you creating? What is keeping you going? Snap a picture or two, post it on your blog, on Instagram #craftingon and/or Flickr and then share it with the rest of us by leaving your link below.
Still knitting play food for Baby F. This one will eventually become a corn on the cob. I thought it rather fitting with fourth of July round the corner.

What are you working on? Happy creating!

An InLinkz Link-up

Crafting On

Our rather unique situation *Miss Thelma's dish cloth pattern added*

Had to photograph this for posterity. Look at this cute old ironing board! I put one of Baby F's cars on it to give you an idea of size. These old 1800s floors! A little something I picked up on our cross country move (maybe it was in Iowa?). Seemed the perfect way to call the kids in for meals. We have a rather unique situation with this rental house - we not only get the house and land but all of the belongings of the owner. You see the woman that owned it - Miss Thelma  - passed away just 3 months shy of her 100th birthday. She left the house to her son who is now renting it to us. She lived in this house ever since the day she got married.  I feel like we are living with history here. What an honor! I can only imagine all the stories she would have to tell if she was still here. The stories the neighbors tell us about her make me wish I could've met her. I feel like we would have been kindred spirits.

Living here with all of her belongings has its benefits, for sure. As you might remember about 90% of our belongings are in storage (with 99% of of furniture) so having a couch to sit on and a table to eat at feels like a luxury after not having such things for a year in Oregon. Sure, they aren't my style but they work for us and that is really all that matters at this point. We are beyond grateful. Miss Thelma loved to bake and cook so the girls and I have been having so much fun finding all the cookie cutters and baking tools to use. She hand embroidered all of her linens which are like pieces of art that we get to use in our daily life. We found a drawer full of her hand knit dishcloths. You can literally feel the love and work she put into making this house a home for her family. Each day here is like a treasure hunt for us here. We never know what we will find.

That said, there are also drawbacks to our situation. Like anyone who survived the Great Depression, Miss Thelma has saved every.little.thing for she never knew when she might need it. Well, that means that every cupboard, every closet and every drawer are filled beyond capacity leaving little to no room for the few things we have. A good example of this are the spices and sprinkles I found in her cupboard from the 1940s! There is so much furniture that every wall is crammed. This clutters my brain at times making it hard for me to think straight (I need more of a minimalist style with things clear, open and clean to be able to function properly). We have been making it work though, shuffling things around to make room. Just don't try to open an of the closets if you stop by, okay?

I hope Miss Thelma approves and is happy to have her home filled with a loving family and children's laughter once again.

p.s. I couldn't do a post without some chick pics. They have already grown so much!

p.p.s. - For those of you that asked ...

Miss Thelma's dishcloth pattern: 
needles size 9 or 10 
cast on 4 sts. knit first row. row 2 - k2 yo k2 row 3 k2 yo knit to end of row repeat row 3 until you have 44 stitches now decrease: k1 k2tog yo k2tog knit to end knit the decrease row until you have 8 stitches left k2tog 4 times leaving 4 stitches. knit 1 row and bind off 

YO - yarn over 
K2 - knit two 
K2tog - knit two together

Our rather unique situation *Miss Thelma's dish cloth pattern added*

Crafting On

The act of creating, in one form or another, preserves my sanity amongst the chaos of life. This explains why I always have more than one project going at a time as well as why my housework tends to fall behind. I enjoy seeing what others are working on and keeping calm with, too. What are you creating? What is keeping you going? Snap a picture or two, post it on your blog, on Instagram #craftingon and/or Flickr and then share it with the rest of us by leaving your link below.
A banana it is! This one has a zipper peel that I know Baby F will love. However I have never added a zipper to my knitting before so it will be a challenge for sure. I haven't started yet with all the chick preparations and care but I will get to it someday soon...I hope! Oh and apparently I am on a yellow kick with my knitting again.
What are you working on? Happy creating!

An InLinkz Link-up

Crafting On

Homesteading dreams coming to fruition

A peeping package

Our homestead dreams are starting to come to fruition. We now have chicks! Friday morning Baby F and I were woken by the sound of chicks peeping loudly in our bedroom. The post office called around 7:15 to let us know they were there and Kevin and the three oldest kids went to pick them up.
We have 17 in all: 3 Americana, 2 Buff Orpington, 2 Barred Rock, 2 Golden Laced Wyandotte, 2 Light Brahma, 2 Silver Laced Wyandotte, 2 Speckled Sussex and 2 Welsummer. My children are beside themselves with excitement for these sweet little babies - Well, three of them are. Baby F is feeling a bit unhappy about them at the moment because he is not at the center of his sibling's attention. He'll come around though, especially since the 2 Buff Orpington chicks are his.

We have spent the past month or so waiting for these little ladies to arrive and during that time we grew some herbs that will help their health and did our homework on how to care for them. These two books were recommended to us and have helped us immensely: Fresh Eggs Daily, Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens, and a third book I purchased on a whim ended up being a huge hit: A Kid's Guide to Keeping Chickens. The children have had it by their bedsides every night with all the pages dogeared and notes written here and there. I think it really helped them to take on the chickens as their own. Each child also has 2 - 4 of their very own chicks to name and care for. We don't have them all named but once we do I will be sure to share them here. So far the names chosen are rather interesting! I plan on giving my Speckled Sussex a Downton Abbey name - just haven't decided who to name her after yet. 😉 Any suggestions?

Now that they are here we need to get to work on their coop. It will need to be very strong to keep out the abundant predators we have in our neck of the woods and also cozy and warm for the harsh winters. That shouldn't be too hard, right??? 😜 Wish us luck!

Homesteading dreams coming to fruition