Sophomore Style Update

Now that he's fifteen, D2 has become more style conscious.  Not a slave of fashion.  He's decided on his own thing, which I appreciate.  It's not necessarily the most convenient.  Non-blue jeans and V-neck shirts can be found.  And it was fun to sew him this overshirt from some of Grandma O's material.

But he wanted a new jacket, too.  And didn't like anything available on the department store websites.  Luckily, he did like the Forester Coat pattern from Twig + Tale.

He chose a tan suedecloth for the outside, and soft gray flannel for the lining.

And aren't these the most awesome buttons?  I used Extra-Strong thread to help them stay on.

He doesn't actually wear a jacket very often, but this will be ready for him whether he's going casual . . . 

or dresssing up.  And it was fun to sew!

Dragon Quilt

A few months ago, Rollo asked me to make a new quilt that he could take to college.  The turtle quilt I made when he was six was getting worn and a bit too small.  I thought he might want something more manly(=boring).  So I looked up some simple designs that could be nice.  He wasn't impressed.  He wanted a dragon.  

 So I started with this lovely Kona Bay panel.  I think I was lucky to find one still available.

 Then Rollo picked out three border designs from The Border Workbook, by Janet Kime.  I picked colors to coordinate with the dragon panel, looking for sort of scaly prints.  And some stars.  My boys' quilts always include stars.  I finished this quilt in record time, for me.  I ordered the panel in April, waited to check out the border book in June, and hurried to put it all together in July and August, in spite of a couple of unusual heat waves. 

I finished the straight-line machine quilting around the borders and bound up the edges the day before we left to deliver Rollo to his grandparents' house, where he'll live this school year.  I added some hand quilting on the central panel between shopping trips and visiting while we were there for a week.  And now he has a (really) big hug from me to wrap up in any time.

In other news, Scoot returned with honor from his mission to Belgium and the Netherlands.  He served well and enjoyed it, and we are happy to have him home.  We're also glad he's getting along well with our newest resident, Kasimir.  Both Scoot and the Caterpillar will be pursuing their studies locally for a semester or two, and it is nice to have them around.

And today is the first day of 10th grade for D2.  While he did get to go to the high school building for a couple of months last year, this was his first day to go to the church for early-morning seminary.  I hope he sets his alarm clock for tomorrow.

Grateful for Creativity

I always like to make things, but in these uncertain times, I have found much comfort in being able to take things I have, or things I can get, and organizing them into something beautiful and useful.  I've been busy!

Since the beginning of March, I've sewn

a dress for a friend's baby, using the last of one of my very favorite fabrics,

an apron, to keep Scoot's white shirts clean,

masks for others and ourselves,

a bookmark with my motto for the year,

a shirt for Rollo,

a weighted blanket for the Caterpillar,

curtains, and a couple of outfits for myself. 

I've crocheted

a blanket for another friend's baby,

a Dragon Neckwarmer, with coordinating hat,

 

and this All in the Family afghan.  I started it in the spring, using yarn I had at hand, and set it aside when it was getting too warm to sit around under an afghan and my colors were starting to run out.  I picked it up again this fall, added rounds in three more colors, and decided it was big enough.

 

I've done some painting:  

I have also enjoyed offering some advice, but mostly watching as the boys expressed themselves

with cakes,

costumes, and other creativity.

I have more projects to enjoy, ideas to realize, inspiration to express.  I'm thankful for the skills I've learned, and the resources to practice them.  It's one way to emulate our great Creator, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to do so.

 

What has kept your hands busy?

 

#givethanks

 

 

Grateful for Music

I am grateful for music.  I can't say I like all kinds of music, but I enjoy many.  I usually listen to classical and jazz music when I drive.  Not only are the local stations ad-free, but there's such a wide variety of pieces, and I can usually enjoy what they play.  I appreciate YouTube for making even more old and new music available.  The Caterpillar is really a connoisseur of interesting music from around the world, and his selections add a lot of variety to our atmosphere.  

I also enjoy making music.  I miss singing in the choir at church, and fiddling with a group at the mall.  But I can play our piano, and practice those fiddle tunes on my own--maybe I'll be able to keep up with the others when we meet again.

 

I'm grateful that the rest of the family is musical, too.  Dandelionslayer is a percussionist.  The Caterpillar plays brass and bass, and whatever he can get his hands on.  Scoot left his saxophone home when he set out on his mission, but he shares music in Europe with his recorders.  School band isn't really an ensemble thing these days, but Rollo enjoys his trombone and piano lessons.  D2, who used to claim that he hated music, is doing well with his clarinet lessons, and enjoys listening to classical strings.  

 

Sometimes we can even persuade them all to play together!

I've also been grateful for some inspiration to arrange and compose a few pieces myself.  Here's a link to one I wrote about a year ago.  At a Young Women activity, one of the girls lamented the short supply of Thanksgiving carols.  I challenged her to write one herself.  I don't know if she had any good ideas, but a few days later, I did.  I'm grateful to be able to share it at SacredSheetMusic.org, where I've shared a few others, and found many other pieces to enjoy from talented composers.

I love all the concerts and musical events that usually come at this season of the year.  I'll miss going out for those this year, but I've been finding some online opportunities for enjoying good performances.  I hope you will, too!

Music has such a powerful influence on our feelings, and I'm grateful to be able to listen and participate in music that soothes, peps, inspires, and pleases. 

What music do you love?

#givethanks

Give Thanks

 

 2020 has been quite a year, hasn't it?  Who expected a pandemic to swoop in and plague the world?  Because, you know, this definitely fits my definition of a Biblical plague: something unpleasant and attention-getting that affects everyone.

As far as the effects go, we're pretty well off.  We've stayed healthy.  Dandelionslayer and the Caterpillar have kept their jobs and worked all this time.  Scoot is still happily serving as a missionary in the Netherlands.  Remote school is not ideal for the younger boys, but it is possible, and the technology works pretty well.  Church discussions at home have been good.  Most of us are introverts, and don't mind quiet time and family entertainment.

Which is not to say that we're immune to disappointment, discouragement, or feeling boxed in.  But it feels so much better to focus on the good things.  

That's what Russell M. Nelson says so much more eloquently in the above video.  A man of long experience with faith, science, and family, he encourages us to seek out the healing power of gratitude, and to share it with others.  

So, today I'd like to tell you that I am grateful for my family.  My parents, who brought me up with love, faith, curiosity, humor, skills, encouragement, and adventure.  My sisters, who were silly and busy and active with me.  My loving, fun, faithful, creative husband.  Our talented, capable, hilarious sons.  

I can't tell you how grateful I am for them, but I can tell you that I am, and that my life has meaning because of them.  Thank you!

And thank you to you who are reading this.  I know I haven't provided much for you to read lately, but thanks for stopping by.  I'll share a few more things I'm grateful for in the next few days.

What are you grateful for?

#givethanks

Alaskan Baby Blanket

One of Dandelionslayer's colleagues recently became a father, so I had to whip something up for the new baby.  While the men have a running joke about Gollum from The Hobbit, I just didn't think that would be a comforting image for a blanket.  Instead, in keeping with the new father's outdoorsy personality and Alaskan background, we picked out some squares from The Crochet Crowd's Alaskan Inspired C2C Character collection.  There are 19 large squares in the free downloadable pattern book, and it was hard to narrow down the choices.  So Dandelionslayer selected six, and I crocheted them using 3 hdc per square, instead of dc, to keep them smaller.  It's still a big blanket, but he's already a big baby.

We did make some adjustments to a couple of the patterns.  Dandelionslayer redrew the caribou to have a more natural looking nose.

And I thought the moose ought to fill more of the square and have a more impressive rack.  (It has eyes, too.  You can see them up close.)

You can download a copy of our hand-drawn graphs here:
Moose and Caribou Graphs PDF

Still trying to keep it small, I only used the first round of the border described with each square, then joined the squares with one row of sc.  I then outlined the whole with one more round of sc.

This was a fun project for the summer, since the squares didn't get too big on my lap.  While most took longer, I did complete half of the moose square in one morning, waiting for Scoot to pack.  As soon as he finished, we dropped him off at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, where he's preparing to be a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He'll be serving in Belgium and the Netherlands for the next two years.  It's exciting, but I'm glad I had the moose to keep me calm that morning.

Dandelionslayer is pretty pleased with the baby blanket, and keeps using it as a cushion.  I hope it will still be in good shape when his friend returns from paternity leave!

Handmade Gifts

We had a nice Christmas.  How about you?

 In spite of a power outage and an impulsive movie run, I finished these before the last minute.  They are jerseys for the boys' homemade game, Penguiness.  It's kind of a rough game to play in the living room, but they haven't broken anything for a while.

And I made sure I could differentiate the shirts in the laundry.

 I also made a few things to send away, like this watercolor portrait of my sister's cat,

 and coordinating monkey shirts for my other sister's little boys.  I used this pattern, and I liked it.

 

One of those little boys hasn't been born yet, but I know he'll need a blanket.  I made this with my boys' old jeans, and scraps from other projects.

The back is soft and gray, the border sunshine yellow.  I was looking for a rainbow-peeking-out-from-the-clouds effect.  What do you think?

 Some other babies have caught my attention, too.  I decided this little guy needed the Four Corners quilt I made a while ago.  I improvised a couple of  crocheted hats to go with it.

 

Some other friends actually had a girl, after three boys.  I don't know many baby girls, so I was excited to finally crochet the Eloise Baby Sweater.  I hope she enjoys wearing it as much as I enjoyed making it.

 This was fun, too.  I was invited to bring a prize to an '80s-themed bingo party.  After a brief brainstorm for topical ideas, I struck on a unicorn hat, with a rainbow mane.  I used this Sock Monkey Hat pattern for the white earflap hat, then added the ears, mane, and horn from the Unicorn Hoodie in Brenda K.B. Anderson's book Crochet Ever After.

 Even though the unicorn parts were meant for a child's hood, they fit just right on an adult's hat.  And I had all that yarn hanging around already, even the sparkly yellow for the horn.

At the party, I watched people open their wrapped prizes.  Most contained things like soap or candles, the dull things women give to each other when they don't know each other well.  I hoped fervently that whoever picked the hat would appreciate it.  She happened to be sitting next to me--a young horse enthusiast who doesn't remember the '80s, but loves unicorns.  She was so thrilled, it was contagious.  Crochet (and other crafts full of love) for the win!

Halloween 2018

Hope you had a happy Halloween!  Here we are setting out for trick-or-treating.  I know, the boys are big enough to not need my services as an escort very much.  But I enjoyed the walk, and seeing all the costumes.

Speaking of costumes, D2's was based on his hair.  It was sticking up when he awoke in the morning.  He refused to wear any sort of costume to school, but consented to don the old lab coat in the evening.  That little skeleton has been wearing a child-sized bathrobe for the past couple of years, so he got undressed for the occasion.

Photo credit

Scoot found his Chinese jacket at the thrift store.  Doing some research later, he found the same pattern has been worn by influential people in the past. 

Image

Rollo had a very specific vision for his costume.  He wanted to be a Sandmaster, from Brandon Sanderson's graphic novel White Sand, illustrated by Julius Gopez.

I modified an old pajama pattern to look like it wraps in front, and added a hood from another pattern.  The sash came together pretty well when we found some a couple of cheap belts and some quilting cotton with a suitable pattern.

He was pleased, and did wear the outfit, sans sword, of course, to school all day.

Image

We're all big fans of the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, and when I saw her new outfit in the (second) #1 issue, I knew it was a costume I could live with, too.  Thanks, Erica Henderson!

It was fun to make, and to wear.  I even ran a 5k in, well, most of the costume.  Being unbeatable, Squirrel Girl herself would never enter a race with ordinary citizens, so I left my unfairly (dis)advantageous tail behind.

I crocheted the ears, and made the earrings out of real acorns.  When we went to the trunk-or-treat at church, Dandelionslayer consented to wear a tail, too, to be Squirrel Girl's pal, Chipmunk Hunk.  I'm not sure why no one wanted to be Koi Boi.  Maybe next year!