We begin our 17th year – – Y E A R (I can hardly beleive it) of homeschooling today. This year we will be doing 9th grade and 2nd grade.
The best news of the day, Jerry is coming home after being gone for a month for work, it will be nice to see his face again!
:0)
PS – I personalized Rebecca Small from Little House Needleworks to make this little keepsake.
A sweet friend told me about a handy helper called Magni-clips, which I tried and loved and this same sweet friend asked if Impie, Hattie, & Bea might think about making a little case for the clips (and they did.) Well, one thing led to another on the design table and I’ve come up with a couple of helpful accessories – Impie, Hattie & Bea style. Neither of these are anything new, but here is my interpretation in beautiful fabric.
~ Cushion/Catch-all, a heavy pincushion holds this in place on the arm of your chair or edge of a table. Handy for resting your needle between color changes or keep several needles threaded ready for changes. The soft bag can hold your glasses, scissors (I suggest a scissor sheath) or catch bits of snipped threads. I used a button from Grandma Ella’s box on this one – the button on the ones at the shop will vary.
~ A Magni-clip case, a smaller sized eyeglass sleeve designed to fit a pair of magniclips in their vinyl protector. I carry the clips now too, very handy and a good range of magnification levels to choose from.
You can see these here in the À la carte section of the Impie, Hatie & Bea category. One of my favorite aspects of the new webshop is that I can add very limited quantity items and one of a kind things and not worry about selling out before I update the page – it does it for me! Things I used to sell over at Etsy, I can list at my own webshop now (I get into too much trouble when I visit Etsy!)
Lastly, a handy deal today for me – 2 new (to me) chairs for my sewing room! I’ve wanted 2 chairs so that Jerry can pop in for a visit and because I have two sewing machines I use, These were fixtures at Hobby Lobby that they were practically giving away at $10 each. They are really sturdy and in very good condition. I’ve Fabreezed the heck out of them (they smelled fine but just to be sure) and soon they will be in place for use. Ethan wasn’t too excited when I said he could use one for his school work while I’m working. 10 days til we start our school year here!
Thanks again to my sweet friend!
:0)
(content and images copyright 2010, Impie, Hattie & Bea)
My first thought while stitching this little kit was to make the stitched work into a pincushion, as I progressed, I came up with another idea. I did change the linen and the threads from those that came in the kit for this finish using 26 count natural linen (over 2) and mostly Crescent Colours thread instead.
I picked up this kit during my visit to the Shepherd’s Bush shop in Ogden, UT during our trip. Being mindful of our schedule and my budget I didn’t shop long or buy very much but it was a nice quiet break in our travels. My pictures inside the shop didn’t turn out well at all but there are lots of good ones over at the Shepherd Bush website.
A little more info about the new webshop. After much consideration (and some of it very difficult) I’ve decided to reduce the variety of items I offer. Having a 2nd grader in the house again means that my ‘homeschool mom’ duties are increasing from what they have been for the past several years. I know there are lots of websites out there to choose from and we can’t all carry everything. I hope you will still find things you like, I have lots of inventory to list but eventually you will see mostly my favorite designers and current blog projects available at the website.
Hope you are having a great week so far!
:0)
(Kellen wearing Tyler’s glasses, Tyler wearing Amber’s sunglasses)
Sorry about the lack of regular posts, it’s been a very full week and I have more things to do than I have time to do them – I know you all know exactly what I’m talking about, especially if you have kids.
I spent a rare day out with all 4 of my children last week. They range in age from 7 to 24 so you can imagine that it isn’t so easy anymore to have a day together like this. We went to Ft. Collins and enjoyed Old Town, stopped for cupcakes (the one with the blue on it was my favorite – Lavender Blueberry) and just had a nice time together.
Tonight we are celebrating Tyler’s ‘graduation’. As I’ve mentioned we homeschool so graduation is a little different. Basically he is at the age he would be if he were graduating from high school but he actually finished high school almost 2 years ago. We are going to a nice dinner tonight to honor Tyler and there are a few other plans in the works.
PS – Tyler is rarely the ‘Life of the Party’ so this is a funny picture to us.
Hope you had a lovely long weekend! I took lots of photos of our day in Grand Lake (and the trip there), I’ll share a few more on Wednesday, I keep thinking ‘just one more day…’.
The kids have been urging ‘just one more day’ but we are officially starting school Tuesday, September 2nd. This begins our 16th year of homeschooling and also marks Ethan officially being ‘in school’ here at home. I thought this Dear Diary design from Little House made a perfect keepsake for our school, it would also be a nice first day of school sampler for a child or grandchild.
One thing I will extend just one more day is the .99 shipping sale at the webshop ($1.49 international).
:0)
I’m not really calling my stitching ‘amazing’ but I am really enjoying this Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey Sampler from the Sampler Girl.
These are the two charm packs I picked up on Wednesday. Two great new fabric lines creating lots of ideas in my head!
Tyler and Ethan created a very fancy train track in the living room this morning. Ethan is having a good play.
Why I called this post ‘amazing’ is really because of this movie I watched last night. I have read a biography of Wilberforce, but I have to say how much I really enjoyed this movie. I highly recommend it. I always forget how young Pitt and Wilberforce were when this was going on. Anyway, I don’t want to be too sappy about this movie, but it is more than entertainment and really good for the heart, if you have a chance – do watch it!
:0)
I thought the first picture was just fun. Kellen and Ethan watched the live NASA feed of the space shuttle landing yesterday, Ethan was taking notes :0)
I don’t have any current stitching to share – I sent one exchange out and am wrapping up another. I forgot to take a photo of my squares that have been received by Kim – but you can see them here.
Jerry took the three older kids to hear Rob Bell speak in Denver yesterday. Ethan and I made a quick trip here. I picked up this fun pattern and fabric – like I need one more project!! There was a model in the shop that was adorable. I wish you could see this shop but they have a no photo rule, their website is sadly lacking in photos. It is crammed full of Amish made quilts, fabrics, tea cups, books, candles, linens….a lady walks around with a tea cart with china tea cups and cookies. It is a wonderful place to spend a little time…AND speaking of fabric, did you see the new Dandelion Girl fabrics coming out from Fig Tree Quilts!!?!? I still need to make something with my Allspice Tapestry & Folklorique stash!
I had mentioned on one of my yahoo groups that I needed a serger – well, a sweet lady sent this to me! I haven’t figured out how to thread it yet, I just haven’t had a quiet moment – but if you have one like it, any and all help would be appreciated!
One other thing I’m looking for, is The Beatrix Potter Quaker Sampler. I know of 2 ladies who would dearly love to obtain the design, if you know of one out there, please let me know so that I can pass the information on to them.
(Random school books)
I’ve been trying to add this entry to my blog all day!
I received this wonderful mail art from Beatrice in Italy today. She made the sweetest little bunny fob and sent along some other goodies. Thank you Beatrice!
I brought home a new victim for the ‘Plant Slayer’ (me). I’ve always wanted an African Violet and the price was right, the supermaket had these on clearance. I’ll try to resist killing it immediately, I think it would look nice in my office for a few weeks, hopefully longer – :0)
I wanted to start a new quilt today using these bright batiks – did you know it is National Sewing Month? I’m sure my pattern is still in that special place where I was sure to be able to find it. I just can’t remember where that special place is and I’ve about used up all my sewing time looking for it! Maybe tomorrow.
We did start school today – no comment.
I’m off to write a sternly worded email to my DSL ‘provider’ and I might even be able to send it to them if I can stay connected long enough! *I think I’m a bit hormonal – maybe*
:0)
Here is my tiny start on my someday Jane Austen Sampler wall. These designs from Tanya at The Sampler Girl were quick stitches and I love how they turned out. I need to get my 2 bigger finishes added and then it will begin to look like a real collection.
Two other designs by Tanya I have in the works are the ‘Lady Washington Sampler’ and ‘Abigail’s Sampler for John’ shown here (I’ll add a photo of my progress on both this week). I found these two designs by Designs from Pamela. I think I will add them to my shop and to my arrangement of First Ladies Samplers that I plan for another wall.
From Designs by Pamela:
Just a photo I snapped while out running errands this weekend.
:0)
PS – I’m having a $1.50 shipping on all US orders special at the webshop, $3.00 for international.
I’ve made some progress on my little Meg’s Bunny project from Sheepish Designs and added a few more titles from that same designer to my stash! I need to round up the Anchor thread before I can get started on those.
Thank you so much for all the wonderful compliments on my little Daisy Sampler pillow. It was a fun project. Also, thank you for all the support for my beaded fobs. I’ve picked up more beads and more snail charms, also some little kitty charms so watch for new additions at my Fobs 4 Sale link at the top of the page.
As a treat for being done with school I took myself to Borders to pick out a book as a present to me. Something I can just read because I want to. My family had a good time teasing me when I brought home this book! I really enjoy this author’s blog (there is a link under ‘Blogs I Read – homeschooling). I’ve also created a book list at Good Reads.
Speaking of school, I’ve warned the boys that the party is over and we will be getting back to full days of school VERY soon!
:o)
