Toccoa Falls

Last weekend, we went to Suches, Georgia. We make this trip several times a year, but we have never stopped at Toccoa Falls. We had to take a very slight detour to see the falls, but it was well worth it. The girls loved every minute of being right up next to the water and rocks as you will see from the photos.

The little white pants they are wearing were my first "stretchy" fabric project on my serger, and I think they turned our well. I put a lettuce edge on the bottom instead of a real hem, and it is a cute, whimsical addition.

I am also adding a picture of my serger which I am getting more and more comfortable using. I finished a project for Mother's day just a few minutes ago, but I can't say much about that yet. Lots going on around here over the weekend so I better sign off for now.

So as promised, this is the MORE I am adding. I have tried 4 times to upload some photos to post, but something must be wrong with blogger. Anyhow, I finally have added them one at a time. These are some of the things I have made for the girls for the summer. Nothing fancy, and in case you are curious, I often have to bribe them to pose for a photo. That's why Ava is not always smiling!

I am the proud new owner of a serger. I have used it to make a wrap skirt for myself- maybe I can get Ed to take a pic of me wearing it. The serger is awesome, but a bit intimidating, even for someone who is technically minded. I did spend 8 years working with audiology equipment, but none of that required 8 spools of thread on one machine! So far, I have only used 4 spools at one time. I am taking a serger project class tomorrow so hopefully that will boost my speed.

That's all for now!

Spring Happenings

So, These are some of our pictures of spring planting. The girls love to garden with Ed. I love the benefits of the garden: fresh organic produce! I will admit that I have not been an active participant in the gardening process.

I'll add more later!

Better Late than Never

First things first, I will be making some confessions during this blog post.

1. The girls and I went to Dunkin' Donuts this morning in our Jammies. I was even wearing my Ugg houseshoes. We only went through the drive thru, but that is the first time we have done that. Ed is in Dallas, and the coffee I made just wasn't cuttin' it this morning. As much as I like coffee, I am hit or miss with it suiting my palate.

2. I really do want to be a good blogger, but there are some things standing in my way.
Our new computer likes to hide the pictures when I download them even after I have tagged them. It is like an Easter egg hunt to find said pictures to post them. I also find my thoughts are very random and not in any logical order to share with anyone. I can barely string them together these days- Perhaps it is because I am going through the grammar stage of learning again with the girls and am retraining my brain to memorize things such as the presidents of the US. I can now sing the presidents in order and skip count through the
12's. Here's the humbling part, Ava & Jenna can do it better than I can!

Now, on to the actual pics I have posted. I don't know what order the pics are in, so bear with me. The kids are my nieces and nephews in Louisville. While Ed was in Kenya, the girls and I took a trip to visit my sister, Stacey and brother in law, Chris, who have added a new baby (Max) to their family. Clay is now a big brother! Sorry I didn't get any pics of Max b/c I was too busy holding and feeding him. We also got to see my brother, Neil and his lovely wife, Patricia and their sweet girls Lily and Beth. It was a great time to reconnect with them. Ava & Jenna had so much fun with their new found cousins. My father and his wife, Brenda also made the trip to the big city to see everyone.

The photo of Ava in the skirt and top is of a skirt I have made for them for summer. I am making most of their summer clothes (for better or worse). This leads to my next and last confession for this post.

3. Compulsion is defined as an irresistible persistent impulse to perform an act. So here goes, I have a sewing compulsion. It goes like this: I have cute fabric, but I need the right pattern for it OR I have a really sweet pattern but need just the right fabrics to make it. This leads to getting more fabric and even more patterns, and it is a never ending cycle. (At least Ed is understanding because of his woodworking. I may be getting a serger this summer. I have some patterns I am saving to make with the serger because they will go so much faster. Okay, I may not be able to wait to make them, but we'll see, and I will keep you posted.

I am typed out, but feel I have mostly caught you up on things here at Little House in FA. P.S. Ed came home this week with the just hatched premiere edition of magazine by Hobby Farms.

Goals

While Ed is away, I have a few goals:

1. Sew A LOT. Or at least cut out a lot of my projects so I can simply go from project to project without stopping to cut out new patterns which is my least favorite part of sewing.

2. Do the bare minimum of cooking, cleaning and housework. I went to the grocery yesterday and purchased many many lean cuisine meals.

3. Spend some time with family in Kentucky..

So, that's it sweet and simple. So far, I have finished one and a half dresses and one and a half skirts for the girls. I must be developing some ADD b/c normally I would never dream of starting a new project before you finish a prior one, but once I got the pattern for the Handmade dress, I stopped cold in my tracks, pushed the second skirt aside (which only needs to be hemmed- I can do that anytime, right)and set to cutting out the dress. I finished it yesterday and have the second one halfway finished as of now. Maybe I'll finish it today? The girls and I are going to later church today, but I still better sign off for now. Hope everyone has a wonderful Lord's Day. P.S. Ed arrived safely in Kenya yesterday.

Something New

So, this weekend my husband cooked a wonderful meal from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and we had some dear friends over to share in the bounty. I have had a desire for a while to try making homemade bread, but I had not purued this interest until recently. Why, you ask? I wasn't sure I wanted to buy a breadmaking machine mostly due to cost and space concerns in our kitchen. But, a friend from our homeschooling group shared her story about these 2 books: Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day & Healthy Bread in 5 minutes a day. I got them from Amazon along with the platic container(s) you see in the fridge. It really is simple. You mix up the ingredients- no kneading involved, tear off a portion of the dough, let it rise and bake it when you want fresh bread. I have only made a couple of the recipes, but it is tasty. My contribution to the weekend meal was a freshly baked French Boule of bread. Doing it this way is also economical- costing a fraction of what healthy bread costs in the store. I have made whole wheat sandwich bread as well.

The Tulips are included in the blog just because they are pretty in the dining room. The other pic is of my dear friends, Kristy and Debby. It's the only picture we took that night. I had intended to take more of the actual meal, but my camera batteries went dead.

So, what else is going on around here? Ed leaves for 16 days in Kenya on Friday. Please pray for the medical team as they travel and minister to the physical and spiritual needs of the children and their families in Kijabe. I am back to sewing smaller things for the girls, and I've just purchased some adorable new patterns from the Handmade Dress and landed some clearance boutique fabric from Chez Ami (some for only $3 per yard). I just couldn't resist. I hope to sew a lot while Ed is gone, and we plan to make a trip to Kentucky to see all our relatives there- which is including a trip to Louisville to see my brother and sister who live there. I have not been to Louisville in at least 10 years- maybe I've been once since finishing grad school at U of L. Anywho, Jenna is up now and ready to be "breakfast helper" so I need to go.

Ahh..I love a project once it's finished

Well, since I don't blog very regularly, no one will probably even see these, but I finished my drapes. They took about 5 or 6 weeks of sewing in my spare time. It was not difficult, but it was a LOT of fabric to deal with. They are triple pinch pleated and lined. I had to cut them out on my kitchen floor. Now, I am ready to sew simple little skirts and jumpers for the girls with no more than a couple yards of fabric per project. And, also I need a bedskirt for our bed because I keep stashing plastic packers/containers under it. It started out just being one and now maybe four or five so it's time to get on the custom bedskirt.

We just finished half of our Spring semester with Classical Conversations (our homeschooling group). The kids had a grand time playing fun games today. It's great to see all they have learned and very encouraging, too. We have company coming over the weekend and a fun dinner party planned for Saturday night. I hope to get some good pics to post later. Also, I've fallen in love with a new book. Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day! Simply wonderful bread. I'll post more on that later.