changes

As you can see, I've made some changes to the look of this space.  Sarah over at Clover Lane has a wonderful tutorial for making blog banners using Picasa.  I followed her directions to create the new banner you see at the top of my page.  Besides the changes you see on my blog, our family has been experiencing changes in many other areas of our life during the past couple of months. 

 As a matter of fact, I feel like I'm on a brand new stretch of road in this journey of mine.  As I look around, the landscape looks quite different from what I'm used to seeing as John and I navigate this family down the freeway of life.  John and I are pretty steady folk.  We've made it one of our goals to raise faithful, steady, God loving children.  If we join a group or team, we finish out the season.  If we make a commitment, we follow through on that promise.  I drink the same coffee every morning.  John's worked at the same job for 19 years (Praise the Lord).  We've lived in the same house for 15 years.  I've cheered for the Mountaineers every year, win or lose.

 Don't get me wrong, we're by no means boring people, but we are steady.  We stick around to see things finished out and we don't give in or bail out quickly.  However, the past couple of months have found us in a new church (we'd been at our former church for over 20 years), using a new piano teacher (we'd been going to the same instructor for 8 years) as well as making some other significant changes in our schedule and routines.  Whew, it's been enough to make this girl's head spin.  I think I'm ready to sit for spell if you know what I mean? 

We've prayed our way through each of these descisions and have waited for direction from the Lord regarding each change that we've implemented. And even though all this change can be a bit unsettling, I'm so thankful that I have a Savior I can turn to when the scenery is unfamiliar.  He's been faithful to walk with me (us) through change and new beginnings.  Isaiah 58:11 has been a powerful reminder to me during these past couple of months:  "The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." I can assure you that this promise has been real to me in the midst of all these changes.  I pray that the same will be said of your journey...that wherever you find yourself as you make your way through life, that you are well watered and blooming!

avoidance...it's in the bag!

Over the weekend it was too cold to work outside and to avoid inside work because I had some cute fabrics I wanted to use, I did a bit of sewing.  I saw this cute project tote on Yarnmonster's blog and had just enough fabric to try it out. 

 I've been wanting to cast on for a sizable knitting project, but can't quite seem to settle on a pattern, so dishcloths have become my back up therapy.  I have a fondness for dishcloths and whenever I'm in between projects these little babies fill the gap for my idle hands.

This little bag is perfect for holding my cotton yarn, my needles, tape measure, scissors and chocolate.   Now my dishcloths in progress have a totable, practical home. 

 You can whip one of these up with a mere two fat quarters of fabric.   Jessica's tutorial is easy to follow and satisfyingly quick.  The only modification I made was to add eyelets for my cord to pull through.

These little bags would be great for holding socks, hats, mittens or hand sewing in progress (whatever your addiction might be!)  And since we're full swing into baseball season, now I can grab my bag and head for the ballpark!

And in the midst of my weekend sewing, I received my napkins from Elaine!  She made these out of special indigo fabric her mother sent her from Japan...aren't they gorgeous?  And check out the mitered corners she did...fabulous. (Thanks Elaine...I love them and they've already been put to use!)

I hope your weekend was full of good things even if you were in avoidance mode like me...and since I'm on the prowl for a new project let me know what projects you have going on right now?  (I might be wanting to avoid more indoor jobs....)

swap it out!

I can't believe it's almost April the 15th...are your taxes and napkins both finished?  I mailed my napkins off this morning. (and my honey took care of the taxes a while ago! so I'm good to go!) Thanks to everyone who participated in the Napkin Swap.  It turned out to be a lot of fun!  I've been seeing some napkin sets popping up here and there around blogland. 

 It's so fun to see what everyone chose for their fabrics.  Courtney set up a flickr group so everyone can see everyone's napkins...isn't she clever?!  Thanks Courtney!  Just click on the words flickr group and it'll take you straight to the group, you can sign in and upload your napkin swap photos to share! 

I've also added Mr. Linky...if you've blogged about your napkin swap, feel free to add your link below.  Make sure the post you link to is the specific post where you blogged about your napkins, not your main blog url.  Simply copy the url from your post and add it to the Mr. Linky that way everyone can see all the homemade goodness that's being shared!  Feel free to add your link even if you wrote it last week or for that matter, when you get to it next week....no worries.  I'll leave the Mr. Linky up so we can all see the fantastic napkins from the swap!  Just come back to this post to add your napkin love. 

Special thanks again to Courtney for all her help with the Napkin Swap! I couldn't have done it without all of her help! And thanks to Kristyn for the Mr. Linky idea and for allowing me to bounce ideas off of her before going 'public'!  So, go ahead and link up to the flickr group and the Mr. Linky so we can see what you and your swap partner swapped out!

weaving in the ends: 2 finished knits!

I love finishing off things.  I think it's great to use up the last bit of yarn, empty the shampoo bottle, check things off my list and I just adore it when someone finishes off the last of the leftovers.  You know what I mean?  But I've noticed that I tend to put off the finishing when it comes to my knitted items.  All that weaving in of the ends turns me into a procrastinator first class.  Kristyn is right though, it's really not that big of a deal to finish off a project.  And today, I knocked off two items!

This is the Marley hat from Itty Bitty Knits is for our sweet friend Gabe.  I started it in February and just finished the last of it today.  (there were tons of ends to weave in!)  Gabe isn't able to regulate his body temperature and therefore he wears hats a lot of the time. They help to keep him warm and happy!  I knit this out of cotton yarn thinking it would be perfect for spring and summer and the cotton also makes it perfect for his mom to throw it in the wash when needed. 

John Samuel modeled it for me with the emphatic request that I not show his face!  {It's too bad, because he's just so cute!}  I made the 2 years and up size and cast on 88 stitches.  It made quite the large hat.  {Rachel, you might need to shrink it first!} I used Tahki Cotton Classic yarn and some Lion Brand Cotton Ease.  It was great because I could use up some of my leftover yarn!  The original hat has a knitted topper that I decided to omit.  I liked it enough without all the extra hoopla that the topper added. 

I also finished another girlfriend scarf.  I took this with me to the HSPN tournament in Lychburg and only knit on it in the car going and coming.  I finished it watching March Madness here at home!  It's knit with two yarns held together: one strand of Rowan Kidsilk Mohair and one strand of Koigu merino wool.  I love the subtle color changes, it's just enough to keep things interesting.

The Girlfriend Scarf is a fast and easy travel knit because there's no counting or concentrating...just seed stitch the entire length of the scarf until the koigu runs out.  When I finished I had this much yarn leftover from the koigu and the kidsilk. 

 They just belong together don't they? 

 Happy Spring!  Happy Finishing! 

happy Easter to my peeps

It's Good Friday and we're headed to co-op this afternoon.  We're plugging away with our Logic class and then we'll enjoy the sunshine and have an egg hunt.  I saw these cute little toppers {they're free!} over at eighteen 25 and thought they'd be fun treats for all the moms!  I made about 20 of them...such sugary fun!  If you've got some special peeps in your life, these are fun and easy to make & share.  I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend knowing the hope that we have because He has risen!  Happy Easter my friends!