Feelings of Spring

Hello!  As of late I've been having feelings of spring.  The weather has been very warm and above freezing many days.  It's led to open windows, organizing and long hours outside.    The Lord has greatly blessed and I am thankful for each new day!  Seeing the sunshine first thing in the morning definitely helps get me out of bed to care for my family easier.  I find myself humming more as I do my chores to, one of my favourite happy things. :)  Humming songs that I learned from hymns to little ones I've thought up on my own.  Those mixed with the sounds of birds, squirrels and dripping water from the eves makes for a delightful mood.   I love how the Lord Jesus pays such attention to detail.  Life is so full of wonderful simple things if we would only take the time to notice.

I finally got to organizing the yarn stash I have into the bottom of my hutch.  The top is all my acrylic yarns an then bottom left are stacked blankets that have been made, the bottom right is a bag of all my cotton yarn and behind it is a bag of wool blends.  It looks so pretty now.  Before it was just a collection of a ton of little bags of yarn as I collected them over many months from here and there.  The container on the ground in front of the cupboard is full of the little round bits and pieces that are still useful for somthing. 

I have been blessed with finding this lovely striped towel and lovely cloth napkin. I have found that even though my family isn't ready to do the cloth napkin thing, I love having them around.  They are wonderful for covering rising/ cooling bread, for covering baskets of food and just to look lovely folded nicely in the drawer. :)

With the warmer weather I was inspired to pull out my gardening things and get some seeds started.  Actually it was a homeschool project done with all of my children.  We planted tomatoes (two varieties), basil, english thyme, parsley, lemon balm, spaghetti squash, pansies, fennel, & anise.  For now....there will be more to come.  Most of the seeds have germinated and are now a delight to check on.  I did have some damping off going on with my pansy seeds that have yet to sprout so I spritzed some chamomile tea over them.  If that doesn't help I'll be trying hydrogen peroxide....I've heard that works well to.  It'll be about three months until they can go outside, and then the windows of my home will be full of green plants! :)  Here in the Yukon it's important to start some things early so that they can be enjoyed before the summer is over. 

Do you start plants early?  What are your favorite plants to plant early for your garden? 

Thank you for dropping by my blog to see me!  Praying you have a blessed day!

Sharing with The Art of Homemaking Mondays.

A Delightful Week

Hello Friends!  Today I'd like to share some things with you from my delightful week!  The Lord has been so good to my family and I am so very thankful!

Above is a project that I'm beginning.  It's a baby blanket that I'm making with some very fine soft yarn that I came across.  I'm using the moss stitch and it's super easy and I love the effect it gives the blanket.  With using a small hook (4mm) it is going to take some time but it'll be worth it in the end.

A couple weeks ago the lady that we had been buying eggs from needed to find a new home for her chickens.  No I couldn't give the a home (but would have loved to!).  I was in need of finding someone that I could buy eggs locally from and the Lord provided my next door neighbour!  :)  She has lots of other egg customers but could take us on to!  When we got the eggs I opened them up, and to my delight there were these lovely green eggs in the cartons! How splendid!

Then as spring is coming in the next couple months.  For us in the Yukon the snow starts really melting in April.  Then the grass starts growing in May.  For those of you who love growing things, it helps to start plants to get through the rest of the winter.  So my boys have kicked off the growing things this year with a science project.  A dear friend of ours gave my son a kit with huge test tubes that he can watch the roots growing to! It's really cool and since planting a bit ago, the radish is up and it's inspiring!  He planted a carrot, a radish and then started an green onion from a scrap from the kitchen.  Next is the pot that my son planted lima beans and nasturtium in.  They've been placed in their sunny window in their room.  

Next I need to pull out my shelving and trays to begin my seedlings for the garden.  It is one of the things I really enjoy!  How amazing to see the little plants grow and how wonderful to see the plan of the Lord God in his creation!

So just a few little tidbits of my week. I pray that you are also finding pleasure in the simple things of life!

Sharing with The Art of Homemaking Mondays.

Homemaker-in-Training

I am delighted to share with you all some of the things that my homemakers in training are doing lately.  They have been busy this winter sewing and crocheting things for themselves and others.  

I found this sweet sentiment online and it's what my girls are striving for.  

Titus Chapter 2: 3-5

 "The aged women likewise, that [they be] in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,

To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed."

My oldest has said for a long time that she doesn't enjoy sewing AT ALL.  Then after looking through fabric she decided she'd like to try making a quilt.  WOW! So after making the beautiful lap quilt above she jumped into making this fun dog bed cover and learned how to sew an invisible zipper seam.  Now she has changed her mind about sewing. :)

My other daughter loves sewing and now has her own machine that she can work on anytime. She likes to make aprons and other things like it.   

Both of the girls love to crochet (grandma got them started).  I love it when younger women can learn skills from older women and not just on youtube.

They make lots of blankets and pillows and hats and mittens and other odd things like hearts. :)  It's fun to see the Lord teaching them through it all and creating opportunities to use these gifts to benefit others.

Thank you for dropping by!  May your day be blessed.

Sharing with The Art of Homemaking Monday.  

Lace Holders

Hello Friends!  Today I have a bunch of lace holders that I made.  My stash had gotten a bit messy so I wanted to tidy it up a bit.  I came across the above vintage boards from the Shabby Art Boutique where they're a freebie download.  I printed them off and then cut them out and inked the edges of them.  I stuck them to some old file folders with craft tape for added strength.  Then added the ribbon secured with a pin.

I love how these boards are beautiful and practical at the same time. :)

I also found these lace boards on Pinterest....yes I joined just so I could get these!  There are lots of interesting things on that place, but I am determined that I'm not going to loose my days there.   I've been warned. LOL
They are boards made by Un Boudoir Dans Un Tiroir.  I thought they were pretty.  My printer didn't cooperate and printed them out kinda pink instead of brown...so I inked around them with some extra pink ink.

I then took a ribbon holder from my stash and used it for a template to trace out on some patterned paper I had and then taped them with craft tape to the folder board like I did with the others. Some fun colours to add to the basket.  Now I have a delightful basket of lace on pretty boards that is much easier to use then what I had before. :)

Thank you for dropping by to see me!  I hope you liked the boards and you can click on the links if you'd like to try them to!
I love all the fun little things we can all do to beautify our working spaces.

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A Lovely View From My Kitchen

Hello! Today I'd like to share with you a lovely view from my kitchen.  The snow outside was falling softly and coating the trees again with a lovely white softness.  I just sewed some new curtains with some lovely vintage fabric that a friend had given me.  I love how the material really brightens up that section of the room.  I chose to go with a simple panel style with tabs on top.  I'll be adding a tie string to so that more light will come in during the day.

To me a bright inviting room is a must for a kitchen as I and my family spend lots of time there.
How do you like your kitchen?

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Planner and Pillowcases

Hello!  Today I have a couple fun things to share.  I went looking this year for a new planner and couldn't find one that I liked.  So I went to Staples and found this sweet journal and decided to try using it.  I have drawn lines on the lined insert paper to make days of the week and bought some colourful pens to use for different needs (meals, lessons, apt., journaling).  It has an interesting way of binding and the pages can be taken out and inserted easily.  This way I'm hoping that if it works well I can just take out the old sheets, pop them in an envelope and file them away.  Then I can refill it and use it again next year.  I started with just one pack of the dividers, but they are great for separating the months, so I'll go and get some more of them.

Then my kids have been doing some sewing projects.  My young boys wanted new pillow cases, so they helped me sew them.  It was so fun to watch them enjoy using the machine....Mom helped with the alignments, and of course the ironing part. :)

Then with the machine out and ready, I made another sweet pillowcase for me. :)
The fabric is quite white, so in real life, the lace blends in quite well (not so in the pic.).

Do you like doing sewing projects with your children?  At times I am nervous about letting them use certain things, but am usually pleasantly surprised at their capabilities.  It is a sweet thing to be able to teach our children in even the simplest tasks.

Sharing with The Art of Homemaking Mondays.

Mittens and French Tarts

Hello!  How many of you like mittens and french tarts...not necessarily together like little naughty kittens?

I've was given some wool and thought that it would be best used as mittens due to the fact that they're warm even when wet.

I used a half-double crochet pattern for the mittens and made them to fit my hand size.  But they'll fit any of us that need it ok.  For added warmth on really cold days an extra pair of mittens can be tucked overtop or inside.

My family has been enjoying some french tarts and they are very simple to make and are like little mini fruit cheesecakes.
The recipe is all in grams and such and since I don't have a scale, I just made it up as I went along. :)
So my recipe is:
1 package softened cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbs butter
1 egg
3/4 cup whipping cream
2 big tablespoons flour
*I mixed it all up together then spooned it into pre-made shells. Then bake at 200 degrees for about 10 minutes.   Above I used homemade pie shells and below I used store-bought  tart shells.  Both were delicious. :)

For this set I made two mittens from wool I'd been given and then I made a cowl in the v-stitch pattern.  It's very warm and I love how the v-stitch is so stretchy and just about anyone can comfortably wear it.  Also it could be worn over the head and not just around the neck.

It's amazing how the Lord provides for what are at times the most simple things.  I cannot count the times that the Lord has brought wool/ yarn to my door for projects...some for my family and some to give away.  He is so good to me and I'm so thankful that the Lord Jesus cares about even the simple things in my life!

Today I'm sharing with The Art of Homemaking Mondays.