A new skirt from old clothes

Something that I enjoy doing is remaking clothes. I like doing it for several reasons, First it gives us something new to wear without costing anything, also we get to use something that might otherwise be thrown out (which I like very much for environmental reasons), and also it is a great way to express your creativity (you are using free stuff so if it turns out ugly it isn't a big deal, you can make it in to something else).

One of my recent projects was a skirt for Mara. I had been given a piece of material that had been part of somebody else's dress that hadn't gotten holes in some of the other parts so they could no longer wear it. I decided to combine that material with the top of some old jeans to make a skirt.

Here are the materials that I started with: Old jeans that were to short and a part of an old dress. (Both materials were still sturdy which is an important thing to check otherwise you are just wasting your time.)
I cut the jeans off like pictured above. Then I pleated the fabric on (which was already sewn into a tube) and hemmed the bottom and I was done. It was very quick and easy and Mara was very pleased. One of her friends had a store bought skirt like that and Mara had liked that and was happy to get one for herself.
Here is a picture of Mara wearing the finished product.

Have you done any re-making of clothes? I would love to hear what you have done.

I just wanted to share with you how much fun I have been having teaching Jonathan lately. He is learning to read right now as well as learning about money and very much enjoying doing math. I find teaching somebody to read to be a little challenging but oh so rewarding when they learn! Jonathan is really starting to catch on to both reading and math and it is so exciting.

One of the things that I love about homeschooling is very selfish on my part. I am so glad that I get to be the one that watches and helps out in these big steps in my child's life. I love getting to be with my children each day and totally enjoy their companionship. Homeschooling is the best!!

Works for me Wednesday ~Boy's room organization

A month or so ago my parents brought over a couple of desks for our boys. We were excited about it as then they would have a place to store their stuff and work on projects. However when we moved them in the room in left very little space for actual playing. What to do? I decided to try out putting the dresser in the closet. It has worked out very well. They have plenty of room for playing and still get their desks. Some of our other organization methods in their room are:

• We have their toys divided up in different containers according to type. The kids are only supposed to get one type out at a time and then pick it up before they get out something else. Some of the smaller types like legos are kept up on the high shelf in the closet so they need to ask for my help before getting it down.
• When hanging up their clothes we have them divided into each boys' clothes and then all the pants hang together, all the short sleeved shirts, all the long sleeved, etc. It makes it much easier for finding everything.
• On the shelf we also keep boxes of clothes that are too big for the boys. I have them labeled according to approximate size and it makes it very quick to find what we need.

That is what works for me in our boy's room, How do you organize your children's rooms?

Dreaming of Gardening

Yesterday evening I was over at my parents for a little while and Dad and I had fun pouring over the seed catalog (Fedco Seeds) and put together our joint order. It will be fun to get the seeds, plant the varieties inside that need an early start and then get to plant the others in the lovely dirt in the garden. I am looking forward to gardening again. It is so much fun to plant a little tiny seed and then watch and wait for God to make a beautiful plant come up. After that comes the joy of eating fresh from the garden food and then preserving all the extras for the winter. What fun!!

If you are dreaming of gardening like I am but also have a long time to wait may I suggest making sprouts. Sprouts are so very easy to make, are very inexpensive, are healthy and give you the fun of watching something grow.

This picture is of some alfalfa sprouts that I made. These are wonderful in salads and in sandwiches. You can also make bean sprouts, mung beans are popular and I recently tried a mix of beans to sprout which was good. To make sprouts you simply have to soak the seeds for a while (overnight works well) and then drain them, keep them in a container where the can get air and then rinse them around twice a day until they reach the desired size. For a very nice article on the health benefits and good directions on making them, go here.
Today for lunch we enjoyed fresh homemade bread (made from fresh ground whole wheat, rye and bean flour, oatmeal, flax and pumpkin) with cream cheese, sunflower seeds and sprouts on top. We also had some home canned applesauce. I love being able to have some healthy homemade meals.

Are you dreaming of gardening? Do you ever make sprouts? How do you like to use them? Tell me what you think!!

Finally at least a little bit of knitting

So here is a picture of my son that we took the day we left the hospital. He is wearing the very first things that I ever knit and boy does he look small.

This is the pinwheel baby blanket, which was completed about two days before he was born.

It is really more of a lap blanket now, but that is what you get when, as an ambitious new knitter you choose to use size 4 needles. I really don't have a great deal of patience, and so it is only about 36" in diameter, I just stopped when I ran out of yarn. The border is crochet. I like the way it turned out, but if I ever make another, I will definitly use larger needles.

And now for some random pics of my little love and his daddy.

Wow, look at the love!
Mmmmmmm! Tasty, fingers!