FABRIC SALE TODAY ONLY....

THERE IS A FUN FABRIC SALE IN THE SHOP TODAY. ALL FABRICS ARE 25% OFF. HAPPY SHOPPING.

Wool has Taken the Spotlight in my Studio....

Maybe it is just the chill of winter, but I have gone head over heals for working with wool this year! I have been playing with recycled wool sweater for over 6 years now, but this past year, they have found their way onto center stage in my studio (aka my laundry room). This time of the year, in the shop, it slows down, giving me a chance to reorganize, clean, and prioritize new projects. So a little flip occured in the space. Here is the after...

I have been trying to put what we have to a good use. Since we moved our family room to the basement this past year, I had some leftover cabinets and a countertop sitting in my garage that I decided to put in the laundry room to give me a space for designing my hats and mittens. The laundry room had just enough room. And my wool shelf moved into the space as well.

I have gotten a few new pairs of mittens made this past week.

A wild new owl pair...

Some new grape jelly mittens...

And the girls have designed their own pair of mittens.

Madi did a monster mitten...

Joslyn did a puppy pair...

Always fun to get the kids involved in my work!! Love their minds!

Just a Moment of Insanity..Sometimes it's a Good Thing

I am finding, thanks to the blog world, that I am not the only one like this..but none the less...it is a bit crazy. Yesterday, the kids and I finally packed away the Christmas decorations in the house. And I was feeling the need to REALLY clean. The little ones just seem to be going from one cold to another no matter how hard I try to keep those little hands washed, bedtimes strict, and bellies fed with fruit! It has gotten me a bit discouraged and I was feeling a bit desperate to kick this cycle. So as I finished vacuuming the dust from UNdecorating, I looked down at the nasty carpeting I was attempting to clean and thought-well-actually I didn't think-I just did!!! I took one good grip on the carpet and yanked-I ripped it out furiously and the kids came in and looked pretty amused and joined in. With their help, we had it out within 30 minutes!! Now I feel compelled to mention-the carpet was very temporary-we had laid it over our hardwood floor when we found out we were expecting Noah, feeling like we wanted at least one area in the house that had a warm soft floor for our soon to be new crawler. So we put down a very cheap carpeting. We have had it for 4 years now, which was longer than we had expected. But I kept thinking it was going to be a HUGE job to pull it up until a few nights ago Matt and I had been talking about it and I mentioned I was not looking forward to getting the glue up, and he says-"there's no glue, remember, we just taped it down". Oh my!!!! That wretched thing would have been pulled out years ago if I had known that! So, there you have it-that is the back story to what led me to my impulsive carpet attacking yesterday! The girls helped me scrape a few spots that the tape had stuck to, but all in all, it was a very fast and I am now feeling like we may be able to stay a bit healthier now that we are back to hardwood floors. And since we have pared down the furniture in the living room to accomodate a dining table, the room has become a place of peace. Here is the after.

GoD's EmBrOiDeRy-a LEsSoN fOr JoSLyN

Joslyn has been carefully stitching the last two days a new design. This morning she finished after our Bible Study time and showed it to me. Of course it melted my heart and I am anxious to get it hung in a special place, but this special piece of embroidery held with it a lesson as well. She flipped it over to reveal a mess and seems to be discouraged by it even though it is the side unseen. But it reminded me of one of my favorite passages from "Not Good if Detached" by Corrie ten Boom. It is entitled "God's Embroidery." So I had Joslyn go pull the book out of my purse and bring it to me so we could read it together.

Corrie was sharing about a young immigrant women she met who asked her "Can I really trouble God with the petty things of my life?" This women spoke of how she certainly spoke with God about her soul, but I carry the weight of my everyday troubles and loniless, alone.

Corrie shared Psalm 147:11 with her 'The Lord taketh pleasure in those that hope in His mercy.' This verse struck me deeply this morning. Not only is He a God who created us, loved us enough to save us so we could spend eternity with us, has plans to use us and grow us, He actually delights in us bringing our everyday struggles to him, He wants us to ask for help and to hope for His help!! I needed this so much-probably more than Joslyn....

As Corrie spoke with this young woman about prayer, she shared a story from when she was in a concentration camp. She shared how she had gotten a bad cold and asked her sister Betsie, "what can I do, I do not have a hankerchief?" Betsie replied, "Pray" Corrie said that she laughed, but sure enough Betsie prayed very simply and asked that the Lord provide her a hankerchief because of her cold. And sure enough, as she said Amen, Corrie heard her name called by the window. It was a friend with a small package for her. This friend had brought her a hankerchief and Corrie asked her "Did you know I had a cold, did someone tell you to bring this to me?" Her friend said "No, but as I was folding hankies in the hospital, a voice in my heart told me to bring this to you" Corrie said that changed her-it told her that there was a loving God who cared about impossible little things for His children on this small little planet! She shared that God does not always answer us the way we expect, sometimes he even says no. But that is because he sees more than we do. He does not panic and He has no problems concerning us. And then she shows a beautiful piece of embroidery, showing the wrong side and mentions how it is complete chaos.

My life is but a weaving, between my God and me,

I do not choose the colors, He worketh steadily,

Ofttimes He weaveth sorrow, and I in foolish pride,

Forget He sees the upper, and I the underside.

Not till the loom is silent, and the shutters cease to fly,

Will God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful in the skillful weavers hand,

as the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.

Joslyn's little embroidery for me will help me to remember that I can rest and trust in His plans. Even when life seems like chaos or not what we had planned, He is always at work. He knows what our beautiful embroidery "Life" is going to look like.

ELLIE HAS FOUND A HOME...

SOME OF YOU MAY REMEMBER THAT WE ADOPTED ELLIE A FEW MONTHS AGO. JUST THOUGHT I WOULD SHARE A FEW PICTURES OF LIFE WITH ELLIE. SHE HAS BEEN A VERY GOOD ADDITION TO OUR LIVES, ONE THAT WE CANNOT IMAGINE BEING WITHOUT. SHE SENSES WHEN SOMETHING IS WRONG AND LAYS FAITHFULLY BY OUR SIDES. WE GOT TO SEE THIS OCCUR OVER CHRISTMAS WHEN ALL OF US GOT THE FLU. SHE ALLOWS NOAH TO CLIMB ALL OVER HER AND ACTUALLY RIDE HER-AMAZING.SHE CHECKS ON THE KIDDOS AT NIGHT GOING BACK AND FORTH TO BOTH ROOMS AND SLEEPS WITH ME ON THOSE NIGHTS WHEN MATT IS AWAY. SHE DOES BARK WHEN "INTRUDERS" ARE AT THE DOOR AND EVEN WHEN SHE SEES HER OWN SHADOW-WE ARE STILL TRYING TO WORK ON THOSE FALSE ALARMS:) LOVES WALKS AND EVEN CAME THIS WEEK WHEN I WENT CROSS COUNTRY SKIING. SHE DOES GET PRETY PLAYFUL WHEN WE PLAY FLASHLIGHT TAG AND WE END UP LAUGHING UNCONTROLLABLY. AND ALRIGHT, SHE DOES HAVE A DOWN SIDE-SHE IS LAB REMEMBER-SHE IS A TERRIBLE FOOD THIEF!! SHE DARE NOT TAKE IT FROM ANYONES HAND-BUT I WISH I HAD PICTURES TO SHOW HER UPSIDE DOWN IN THE GARBAGE CAN, STANDING AS TALL AS ME LICKING OFF ALL THE DIRTY DISHES AT THE SINK, POSED IN HER BEST BEHAVIOR STANCE AT ONE OF THE KIDS FEET AS THEY EAT WAITNG FOR EACH LITTLE CRUMB THAT MAY DROP. IT ACTUALLY MAKES ME LAUGH HOW MUCH SHE LOVES FOOD! ANYWAYS...SHE REMAINS A KEEPER AND WE ARE COMPLETELY BLESSED AND HAVE BEEN TRANSFORMED AS A FAMILY INTO SOMETHING BETTER!

WAITING TO BE INVITED DOWNSTAIRS-SUCH A SAD PUPPY-SHE HAS THE WHINE TO GO WITH THE FACE! REMEMBER HOW I SAID SHE LOVES FOOD?! WE ARE EATING IN THE FAMILY ROOM AND SHE WILL SIT AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS WAITING TO BE INVITED DOWN. SHE HAS A FABULOUS POUT.

WEEKEND SALE-FRIDAY THROUGH MONDAY....

THE WEEKEND SALE HAS BEGUN-IT RUNS FRIDAY THROUGH MONDAY. EVERYTHING IS 25% OFF. HAPPY SHOPPING!!

JUST ADDED QUITE A FEW NEW PAIRS OF MITTENS THIS WEEK...

SOME FUN NEW WEE ONE'S HATS.....

FAT QUARTER BUNDLES.....

AND VINTAGE CLOTHING AND ACCESSORIES...

Time to Start Fresh!!!

Today is the day to start again!!! Time to start sharing....and not worry about where to begin. So a few quick peeks-nothing out of the norm.

First-for my customers who like to check here for sales-I will try to begin daily updates again about each day's sale. TODAY! All bed linens are 20% off. I have recently added quite a bit of new bundles and yardages. Take a peek:)

Mittens have continued to keep me busy at the machine. And I never tire of them or finding "new" old wool sweaters! Here are just a few new pairs that I have made.

On a side note, over Christmas when we were all house bound with the flu-we worked on a project together. We made these mitten stands for drying our mittens. They have been a fun way to display my mittens as well.

Every one pitched in. It was fun to work together on a project.

I have some big news on the sewing front! Something I have longed for, for as long as I can remember has come to live in my studio!!! A SERGER!!!! Thanks to a very special woman from church and my sweet husband, I opened up a big box on Christmas that had my dream in it!! What an amazing treat to have this-it will so bless the work of my hands! I am still just so very overwhelmed with this gift, it is so beyond what I ever expected. Christmas break was pretty fun for the girls and I. I had just got back two of my machines from my Mr Fix It, so we had all four machines set up on a long table in the family room and my three girls and i sat at that table sewing for hours! Even our sweet little Bell just goes to town on my first sewing machine I ever bought. We get such a kick out it.

Barbie clothes were of top priority for the girls-I loved watching their little minds work!

Madison got her cast off!! And her wrist is in excellent condition! Yeah!!!

Last year Matt surprised me with a new set of cross country skiis for my birthday. Back before we were married, I used to cross country ski a lot. I absolutely loved it and moving up to MN for school was perfect for this! But after we got married and soon was expecting Cole, we needed to sell anything of value to survive and finish school! So parting with my skiis was a must-and being that I had an ever growing belly, I was not able to get out to ski very much anyways. But 14 years later, I was beginning to get an itch to start skiing again. And what a blessing to have places like "play it again sports" for the unathletic people who are not making a career out of it!! Well, snow here is not always reliable, so even though my birthday is in February, I didn't get to use them last year. But this past week I finally was able to get out to ski. Matt and Ellie came along with me just in case I broke my neck since it has been so long!!! But wow! I absolutely loved it and wish snow was year round! So we are hoping to get Matt a pair so we can take a few days away over our Anniversary to go skiing.

I know there is more to catch up on-but I need to get to school:) So, I will share more later today hopefully! May your day be rich with the Lord's blessing!