HA! It never fails, I chastise people for not commenting, and then I don't blog for a week or more! Well, I will try to get a few up this week, since school will be "light."

I had a few lessons in quilting from a wonderful, Godly woman a few years back (if you're reading this, Hi Peggy!). That said, she is no way to blame for how this quilt turned out  I started it when Arianna was just a baby, maybe a few months old. I was so excited about it! I planned to hand quilt it, and I thought about how she could take it with her when she went to college or got married....then what with taking care of babies, and being in too much pain to do much of anything with my hands, the days months years went by, and it began to seem that I might not be finishing it UNTILL she got married! But this past year or so I tried to work on a little at a time, and this month I realized just how close I was to being done, so I worked a little each day, and now, I've finally finished!  Hooray!

The thing is, all these years when it was just safety pinned together and unbound, DH was still using it! He said it was the softest and warmest one in the house. But the result is, that though I've technically just finished it, it already needs to be both mended and washed, LOL! Ah well, at least it's done, and much appreciated by Arianna on these COLD nights we've been having. DH asked, "How does it feel being finished finally?" 

Unreal. But warm and cozy all the same  

Well, that turned out to be quite a break from blogging, though I assure you it was unintended. Do not fear, however, for I have been quite productive in my absence and have much to share with you, though I may break it up into several blog posts. First things first: I am learning to sew! I am so excited about this! I have wanted to learn for a long time. I (mostly) know how to quilt, and always thought it would be really nifty to know to how to make dresses and whatnot, but I was afraid to try.  I have a fear of doing new things. Is there a word for this? Like nouvephobia? Did I just coin one, lol? Anyhow, I finally talked myself out of it and pulled out a pattern for jammie pants and some material I bought eons ago (seriously- eons - like before I had kids!)  and came up with these:

I made them short because all I do is wear out the knees of my long pants and end up cutting them this length anyway! And for the record, that is my son's leg jutting out of my side there, and YES his big toenail is painted red - the boy would give me NO peace till he was just like his sisters.  As an added bonus to finally conquering my fear, I also learned, through a little trial and error, how to use the buttonholing foot on my sewing machine! Of course, once I figured it out it was quite easy. The only thing these pants really need to make them perfect is pockets! And now that I've done one pair, I am dreaming of a whole slew of jammie pants as christmas gifts, hehehe  Before that however, I am making some napkins out of old pillowcases, because quite frankly, I am tired of wasting money and landfill space on paper ones. THEN the big project - making dresses for my girls. I haven't looked at the pattern instructions yet, but  I am hoping that it doesn't involve fancier skills than I currently posess. There are zippers involved, so yes, I have been praying for patience and wisdom!

In all seriousness and honesty though, I am glad to be learning a skill that is useful and productive. Scrapbooking is fun, I enjoy it very much, but aside from preserving memories (which is IMPORTANT!) it is not as purposeful as clothing. Plus I always feel like there is so much I don't know - I am so in awe of the early colonists and pioneers who, when they wanted a thing, made it; simple as that. While I don't neccessarily want to live like they did (Thank You, Lord, for flush toilets!)  it is a nice feeling not to have to depend entirely on someone else for bread or clothes. 

So, the scans are really terrible - greens look like yellow and the blue didn't show up at all - but I wanted to share some recent artwork of Noelle's (age 4). We watched Veggietale's An Easter Carol the other day, which inspired this picture:

You might recognize Mr. Nezzer there on the left, dressed in his 19th century best, and of course that's Bob in the middle. That is Larry on the right, apparently masquerading as a banana in this particular work. :)

You might also recognize (though probably not, lol) the subjects of her next work, Eric and Ariel from Disney's The Little Mermaid. Incidentally, my children have never seen said movie (it's not my favorite, for several reasons) but we have been unable to avoid the story in several books that have been gifted to us.

I suppose I should have mentioned that this is human Ariel, wearing her pink dinner dress, the pink-ness of which also did not show up (what is up with my scanner?) I also did not ask what horrible accident befell Eric to render him armless. I'm not sure I want to know ;)

And since we are on the topic of art, I suppose I will share these pictures of Arianna's too. My girls are quite the avid artists, but they have been largely self-taught. That all changed last Friday though, when we had our first drawing lesson (a tradition which I hope to continue on future Fridays). Upon my inquiry of whether we should draw a tiger or an elephant (two of my specialties) I received an answer that I should have seen coming: BOTH!! Giving in to their enthusiastic uninanimity, we preceded thenceforth (I've been reading Bronte, can you tell?). Here is Arianna's: 

    Arianna, always on the lookout for some drama, wanted to draw the tiger getting the elephant. I explained that while a whole pack of lions could accomplish the feat, it is unlikely that a single tiger could take down an elephant. Hearing that, she changed the story of her picture, adding a red bird on the tiger's back (see it?), saying that it's pecking, at the crucial moment, are what saved the poor elephant's life.  

And here is one more that reminds me of one of those "fictional autobiographies" that have been in the news recently. It is a coloring of our house:

Except that we live in one-story and we don't have a chimney. Oh, and our house isn't ORANGE. Remember, the scan isn't any good - that grass is really green and the house very, very orange.  Oh, and our van isn't black (do minivan's come in black?) However, we DO have a red front door, and red brick steps leading to it. So if you ever come to visit, look for that, and NOT for orange siding

I suppose my taste has changed since I left college and became a Mama, but I enjoyed them