Crocheted Ornaments

I haven't crocheted anything in quite a while, but when I saw these over at The Royal Sisters (love that name!), I just had to try them. Based on a granny square, they are definitely fast and easy! I used my favorite cotton yarn, held together with a sparkly strand for effect. Cute, eh?!

Christmas crafting

I am trying to keep the costs down this year by sewing and crafting as much as possible. Here's the latest item I've made. It's for my mother-in-law (who never gets on here), made from an old family quilt that was full of holes. A cutter quilt, it's called.



It was very scary to cut into that old quilt, but it was unusable as it was. You can't tell in the picture, but it's worn out in lots of places. I'm also going to make some ornaments for her tree.

"Your Money God's Way" by Amie Streater

Thomas Nelson Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of another excellent book to review through Booksneeze.

Your Money God's Way is mostly about the philosophy behind our behavior with money, along with some simple steps to take and some timeless truths to learn to get you started down the right path. Understanding why we do what we do with money is the first step to making better choices. The author starts by telling her story, letting the reader know that she understands and can relate to money difficulties. She then gives seven “counterfeit convictions” - traps a Christian could fall into regarding money management. For example: Counterfeit Conviction “I'll just put it on my credit card. When the bill comes, God will provide.” Timeless Truth “He who loves pleasure will be a poor man...” Proverbs 21:17. Ever done that? I have; I just didn't put it in so many words at the time. Don't worry, there are also practical steps to take to get you going in the right direction.

I appreciated the information in this book, the way it was presented, and the fact that the author points you to God at every turn. I would recommend this book to anyone who has only just awakened to the fact that they need to control their finances instead of letting their money control them.

A Teaser

Here's a little teaser of the first item I've made as a Christmas gift this year. What could it be?!

Christmas Strategies

I have resolved to stop buying ANY sewing or craft supplies, unless absolutely necessary, until... I don't know when. Until after Christmas, until I have put a serious dent in my stash of supplies... until we have a house! Yeah, that's the one. I've started asking myself, "Do I want to buy this item more than I want a house?" That usually does the trick.

So Christmas is going to be more handmade than usual this year. I can't put most of my projects on here until after the gifts have been received, but I can talk about some of the things I'm doing.

First, I made a list of everyone to whom we need to give a gift. I actually keep this list available all year long. When someone expresses a desire for something, I make a note of it. (This works for birthdays, too.) And when I come across a craft I'd like to make for somebody specific, I make a note of it, too.

I have a large stash of fabric, yarn, and miscellaneous supplies. What crafter doesn't? Working only from this supply is limiting in a way, but it also forces me to be creative, which is a good thing! I will have to buy a few items, like interfacing, to finish some of the projects. But not until I absolutely have to! Look:
This is what I do when I only have bits and pieces of interfacing left. Part of the reason is that we live 30 miles from Anywhere and I don't have a trip to town planned until Friday. Not telling what this is going to be, but the recipient is going to love it! And if not, they can just give it back. Tee hee! Because I love it already!

Apron

Here's the latest apron I've done. I followed the instructions on a blog called Skip To My Lou.



Here's a little closer shot:
The original calls for a tea towel, which I didn't have, so I just hemmed up a piece of material about the same size. Super simple!

Look What I Did!

I found this idea at Dollar Store Crafts. I made a mosaic faux headboard for our room that reflects our styles. Is this cool or what?! I managed to do it for even less than the estimate on the site because I already had a partial box of leftover vinyl tiles.

Cost: scrapbooking paper on sale 3 for $1
tiles already on hand
2 packs of antique upholstery tacks, $0.97 each
Total: $5.97

I guess the picture's too small to tell, but the papers are (l to r on top row): horses, words that say things like rodeo, yee haw, etc., random stripes obviously, and music.

If you'd like to see the original post where I got the idea, you can find it here.

Fencing

Recently we went on a field trip to a fencing school in Shreveport with several other homeschooling families. We met Andy Shaw, the owner, instructor, and proprietor of the only fencing museum in the United States. Long story short, my kids are now hooked on fencing and have decided to give up all 4-H activities in order to pursue it this year!
Andy is from New York and has the most delightful personality! He spouts all sorts of trivia, some relevant, some not! Here he's showing Dalton some basic moves and the theory behind them.
Fitting everyone with a foil... My what big hands you have, Rowdy!
Learning the first positions.
Tana all suited up with helmet in hand.
Tana and Rachel duelling. Tana won! (Although to be fair, Rachel had a headache.)
Rowdy suited up and ready to fight Dalton!
Dalton says, "Bring it on, Dad!"
Dalton won because he kept his cool in the face of a very aggressive opponent.
The comic relief of the day was Diane sparring with her son, Luke. The sound effects were priceless. I wish we had video of it!

Canton Bluegrass Festival

Last year Rowdy & I went to the Canton Bluegrass Festival for his 40th birthday. We saw Rhonda Vincent and the Rage, which is one of his favorite groups. We also saw Louisiana Grass for the first time and became immediate fans! This year, we brought the kids with us so they could enjoy it, too!Louisiana Grass - Roger (fiddle) & Russell (banjo) Sparks, Scott Cruise (lead vocals & guitar), and Paul Tyson (bass). They are great musicians and total clowns! Not a moment of boredom watching them!
Scott spotted Tana down front taking a picture, so he RAN over and posed for her. Never missed a lick in the song, either, although there were complaints that he was trying to ruin Roger's song. ;-) They all do this sort of thing!
Our very favorite this year was Dailey & Vincent. Left to right: Jesse Stockman (fiddle), Joe Parker (mandolin), Jamie Dailey (guitar & tenor vocals), Darrin Vincent (the aforementioned Rhonda's brother; standup bass & baritone vocals), Christian Davis (guitar & bass vocals), Joe Dean (banjo).
Second from the right is Christian Davis. You would not believe the bass voice that came out of this young man! Truly awe-inspiring!
Dailey & Vincent and the Baker family!
When we sing "Camping in Canaan's Land", which we discovered from D&V, Dalton sings Joe's part. When Rowdy told him about it, he wanted to meet Dalton and said it meant a lot to him to be told that.

All in all, it was a LOT of fun!

A Re-purposed Shirt

I found this great t-shirt at Goodwill recently. There was only one problem - it was a size 3x.

So I cut it down to fit Tana! Yay! I cut the sleeves off, leaving the serged seam on the shirt. Then I turned that edge under to hem smaller sleeves. Two side seams & I was done!
She elected to leave it long and added a belt. Nice, huh?!

Book Review - Will The World End in 2012?

Thanks to Booksneeze, Thomas Nelson Publishers provided me with another book to review: Will The World End in 2012? A Christian Guide to the Question Everyone's Asking.

Dr. Hundley has done a fine job of briefly and succinctly addressing most, if not all, of the “end of the world” scenarios that abound today. He starts with the Mayan calendar, since it is the one that gives us the date of December 21, 2012. Dr. Hundley then works his way through scientific predictions (the potential reversal of the magnetic poles) as well as religious predictions (Islam, Jewish, Christian, etc.), many of which I had never even heard. He gave thorough information without becoming too technical or confusing.

The final evaluations give us a good idea of what is likely to happen and what is probably not going to happen. Written from a Christian perspective, the final chapter tells us what we can do to prepare for such eventualities, in whatever year they might occur. Then there is an epilogue to Christians in which he tells us that “the best preparation for holocaust is holiness.” A fascinating question is posed - “What would happen if all the Christians in the world acted as if the world were going to end in 2012?”

In summary, I would recommend this book if you are confused and/or frightened about the possibilities of the world ending in our lifetime. It's a good starting point, then if you want to learn more, there are plenty of resources listed.

Creative Recycling Challenge

After I posted this on Facebook:

For a long time I've had a passion growing in my heart: to re-purpose materials, whether cloth or wood or metal, etc. To reclaim them & make them useful in a new life. Hmmm, sounds like an analogy! ;-) This year I'm feeling well enough to pursue that sort of thing. Thank You, Lord! So I will be making an effort to do m...ore of that. I certainly have enough resources already in my possession!

I ran across a blog with a creative recycling challenge. Serendipity! So here's my first entry:
I made this half-apron for myself out of two blue jean legs, using a linen tablecloth for the waistband, ties, & pockets. I intend to use it while manning our booth at the farmers market this year.

Click here to see the blog I'm talking about. Maybe you'll be inspired to take up the challenge!

Birds

We have such a wonderful abundance of birds around here: mockingbirds, bluebirds, purple martins, etc. The list is long. But I was in the garden today and along comes this cobalt blue bird. It was so pretty! Here's a stock photo, but the one I saw was even darker blue.

It's a Blue Grosbeak!

Book Review

I was thrilled when Thomas Nelson publishers provided me with a complimentary copy of the book, Chronological Guide to the Bible. This book is a guide through the history and culture of the Bible. It divides the Biblical history into nine epochs. Some of the features are archaeological information, outlines, chronological reading guides, time lines, and maps.

From the introduction: “If we are to understand and appropriate the Bible's life-giving message today, we need some sense of the historical and cultural context in which its diverse parts appeared.... thousands of years later, we read the same words under entirely different circumstances [than the original recipients] and risk misunderstanding or only dimly understanding them if we neglect their historical and cultural background.”

This is so true. For example, without the explanation on page 88 we might not grasp the significance of the warning in Jeremiah 2:13. Likewise, we might miss the significance of Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well without the additional insights on page 157. This book is a valuable teaching tool for my family and I predict we will use it for years to come.

For more information, click here: Thomas Nelson

Daffodils

Rowdy's Auntie really loved daffodils! Flowers of all kinds, but daffodils are what's blooming right now. Tana and I have identified five varieties. I can't give you specific names, but I can identify some of the categories. I got the info here.

Division 1 - Trumpet Daffodils

Division 8 - Tazetta Daffodils

Division 4 - Double Daffodils

We only have a few of these blooming.

I can't figure out what variety these are.... They are two-toned yellow, which doesn't show up well in this picture.

These look like the first ones, but they're smaller and have two or three blooms on a stem.

Fort Worth Stockyards

Pistols at fifty paces. Wait, she's cheating!
Wild Bill Hickock says he's 173 years old!
Best friends.
Rowdy, the aspiring rodeo clown.

Archery Tournament 2010

Left to Right: Tana, Chelsea Parrott, Dalton, Tanner Robinson, Braden??, Dylan, and Cody Robinson. All Panola County 4-H'ers.

New Instrument!

Rowdy & I celebrated our 20th anniversary on Feb. 17. Look what he got me! And all I got him was a leather Bible cover & a double recliner loveseat. ;-)

Tana

She's growing up too fast!
Playing a fiddle made by the father-in-law of our new bluegrass teacher. Mr. Gill said, "He was showing off when he made this one." I'll say!

Local Food

So I've joined MaryJane's Farmgirls and I'm working on earning merit badges. One of them requires me to read the book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. To my surprise, I'm enjoying it immensely! The quality of her writing is not what surprises me. Rather, we have such differences of opinion that I thought it would be hard to get through. She's not a Christian, believes in evolution, that sort of thing. But actually, our beliefs run parallel in lots of ways. So I've been devouring her book (pun intended).

This excerpt probably sums it all up: "The psychic divide between rural and urban people is surely a part of the problem. 'Eaters must understand,' Wendell Berry writes, 'that eating takes place inescapably in the world, that it is inescapably an agricultural act, and that how we eat determines, to a considerable extent, how the world is used.' Eaters must, he claims, but it sure looks like most eaters don't."

This book is not a just a treatise on the importance of eating locally grown, seasonal, organic food. It's the story of her family's attempt to eat in that way exclusively for one whole year. And what a ride it was!

So what does this have to do with us? Well, I'm not just earning a badge here. Rowdy and I are planning a large garden this year. We plan to sell locally to various farmers markets and maybe have a roadside stand. This will dovetail into our organic fertilizer business and other things we have planned (like the sawmill) in order for us to make enough money that Rowdy can quit working for a giant corporation. So books like this one by Barbara Kingsolver are helping me learn more about our new enterprise!

Attention Apron Lovers!

Cathy, over at Live well, Laugh often, Love much is giving away an apron in honor of her 200th post. You can enter just by leaving a comment and you can get an entry into a second giveaway by blogging about it. (Hence, this post. >wink<) I'm posting a picture of my daughter in an apron I just made her in Cathy's honor.

The drawing for both giveaways will be held on Friday, February 5, 2010.
Sign ups will end on Thursday, February 4, 2010

MaryJane'sFarm

As you can see by the new button in my sidebar, I've discovered a new website and I'm loving it! You can join the forums for free and get LOTS of great information, advice, patterns, recipes, friendship, etc. And you can join with a $20 yearly membership and get even more. With the membership you can work to earn merit badges - kind of a girl-scouts-for-adults type thing. Actually, Tana and I will be working on them together since I can mentor her under my membership.

This is gonna be fun! I'll post pictures of the projects we do and the badges we earn.